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☆ Inflation rose at a 4% annual rate in May, the lowest in 2 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Jeff Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

So-called core inflation rose 0.4% on the month and was still up 5.3% from a year ago, indicating that while price pressures have eased somewhat, consumers are still under fire. The inflation rate cooled in May to its lowest annual rate in more than two years, likely taking pressure off the Federal Reserve to continue raising interest rates, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. Food prices rose just 0.2%. Average hourly earnings adjusted for inflation rose 0.3% on the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said in a separate release. The consumer price index report featured a growing discrepancy between the core and headline numbers.

Persons: Dow, Jeffrey Roach, hasn't Organizations: Federal Reserve, Labor Department, Dow Jones, Stock, LPL, of Labor Statistics, BLS Locations: U.S

☆ Here's the inflation breakdown for May 2023, in one chart
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The CPI is a key barometer of inflation, measuring prices of anything from fruits and vegetables to haircuts and concert tickets. Where consumers saw inflation, deflation in MayConsumers saw gasoline prices decline 5.6% between April and May, according to the CPI report. "Energy prices at this time last year were just absurd," Leer said. watch nowBut food and energy prices can be volatile. "The progress on core inflation has stalled out in recent months," said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.

Persons: Michael M, Leer, Greg McBride, They're, Ben Bernanke, Olivier Blanchard Organizations: Lincoln Market, Santiago, Getty, U.S . Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumers, CPI, Bureau of Labor Statistics, BLS, U.S . Federal Reserve, Peterson Institute for International Economics, Bankrate Locations: Prospect, Brooklyn, New York City, U.S, Ukraine

☆ We're adding this DIY hardware-and-tools giant to the Club's Bullpen
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Jeff Marks | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

We're adding Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) to the Club's Bullpen — a collection of high-quality stocks we've identified as having the potential to join Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust portfolio. Stanley Black & Decker is a global leader in hand-and-power tools, household hardware and engineered fastening. There remains a significant imbalance in the market between housing supply and demand, with the U.S. housing market still short millions of homes. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Stanley Black & Decker drills are displayed for sale at a Home Depot store in Emeryville, California.

Persons: Stanley Black, Decker, Jim Cramer's, DeWalt —, Stanley, Patrick Hallinan, It's, Jim Cramer, Jim, David Paul Morris Organizations: Trust, Stanley, Federal Reserve, Deutsche Bank, Jim Cramer's Charitable, CNBC, Bloomberg, Getty Locations: Ukraine, U.S, Emeryville , California

☆ These 'undervalued' and 'enticing' stocks are screaming buys heading into summer, analysts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Michael Bloom | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Zillow An "enticing buying opportunity remains" in Zillow, according to Stephens analyst John Campbell. MarketAxess Atlantic Equities analyst Simon Clinch advised investors buy the dip in MarketAxess, the electronic trading platform for credit markets. To be sure, Clinch acknowledged that pressures remain, but the "long term growth opportunity remains attractive" and headwinds should soon turn into tailwinds. Booking Holdings- Argus, buy rating "We believe that BKNG shares are undervalued at current prices near $2,713. As such, our rating remains BUY.

Persons: Bowlero, Steven Wieczynski, Wieczynski, John Campbell, Campbell, Simon Clinch, Clinch, Zillow, Stephens, Cowen Organizations: CNBC, Liberty Media, Lucky, ZG, Company, Liberty Formula One, Booking Holdings, Argus Locations: Zillow, Atlantic

☆ When you come up short one month, here's how to prioritze which bills to pay first
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Jeanne Sahadi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The last thing you need is to have what is most essential to you taken away or to ruin your credit. For starters, speak upThe most important thing you should do is let your creditors know you’re in a jam. Then think about your credit cards: These shouldn’t be your highest-priority bills to pay when you’re up against a wall. If you are late with a payment, call your credit card issuer to see if they can waive the late fee, Robertson said. The initial review is typically free, and beyond that someone using ongoing counseling services may pay $35 to $40 a month on average, McClary said.

Persons: you’ve, ”, Bruce McClary, McClary, you’re, Linda Robertson, ” Robertson, “, Robertson Organizations: New, New York CNN, National Foundation, Credit Counseling, Energy Assistance, Housing Locations: New York

☆ Measuring inflation can be tricky and quirky. Here are 3 examples
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

HousingRichard Newstead | Moment | Getty ImagesHousing is perhaps the most consequential category in the consumer price index, a key inflation barometer. But Covid-19 warped that dynamic: Housing costs shot up but have slowed and even started to fall in some areas, economists said. Overall inflation is expected to slow sharply during the second half of the year as the CPI incorporates the housing price cooldown, economists said. The government doesn't calculate health insurance inflation by measuring consumers' direct costs, such as monthly premiums. Health insurance inflation readings may flip positive in fall 2023 and persist into 2024 due to this dynamic, Zandi said.

Persons: Housing Richard Newstead, Zandi, Price, Mark Zandi, Andrew Hunter, Hunter, There's, Jordi Mora Igual Organizations: Housing, Capital Economics, U.S . Bureau of Labor Statistics, BLS, CPI, Health, Images, Kaiser Family Foundation, Consumers

☆ Midwestern housing market looks hot while sun belt region stays cold, says Zillow’s Skylar Olsen
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailMidwestern housing market looks hot while sun belt region stays cold, says Zillow’s Skylar OlsenZillow’s Skylar Olsen and Deutsche Bank’s Joe Ahlersmeyer join 'Power Lunch' to discuss the U.S. housing market with a 7 percent mortgage rate putting pressure on the sector.

Persons: Zillow’s Skylar Olsen Zillow’s Skylar Olsen, Joe Ahlersmeyer Organizations: Deutsche

☆ What Elizabeth Holmes’ life in prison could look like
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Holmes reported to the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, on Tuesday to begin serving out her 11-year sentence after being convicted on multiple charges of defrauding investors while running the now-defunct startup Theranos. Located approximately 100 miles outside of Houston, where Holmes grew up before moving to California to attend Stanford, FPC Bryan is a minimum-security federal prison camp housing more than 600 women offenders. Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes is escorted by prison officials into the the Federal Prison Camp on Tuesday, May 30, 2023, in Bryan, Texas. But according to Mark MacDougall, a longtime white-collar defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, the prison won’t be a walk in the park for Holmes. Housing at FPC Bryan typically consists of dormitory-style arrangements featuring a four-bunk cubicle and communal bath facilities, he said.

☆ A 'Big Short' investor sees financial disaster brewing in housing markets — again
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A 'Big Short' investor fears an often-overlooked climate risk could see history repeating itself in the housing market. He helped two of the protagonists of Michael Lewis' bestselling book "The Big Short" bet against the mortgage market in the lead-up to the 2008 economic collapse. Now, Burt believes the mortgage market is underestimating another systemic issue: flood risk. If realized, he warns the fallout could resemble the massive correction seen during the global financial crisis. So, why does the U.S. housing market seem to be underestimating the cost of flooding?

☆ US mortgage giants were placed on credit watch. Here’s what that means for home buyers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Anna Bahney | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Washington, DC CNN —The credit ratings of US mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were put on watch for possible downgrade by Fitch Ratings late Thursday. The warning came because the ratings for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are linked to the sovereign rating of the United States. The aim of Freddie and Fannie is to provide liquidity into the mortgage market and enable a reliable flow of affordable funds to mortgage lenders. “The housing GSEs continue to benefit from meaningful financial support from the U.S. government,” the Fitch statement said. “While politics are at play, the ratings watch is a just that — a watch,” she said.

☆ Lowe's cuts full-year sales forecast, even as it tops earnings and revenue estimates
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Melissa Repko | In Melissa-Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Net sales fell nearly 6% to $22.35 billion from $23.66 billion in the year-ago period, but exceeded Wall Street's expectations. Lowe's is the latest retailer to warn of slower sales ahead, as consumers become thriftier and reluctant to spend on discretionary items. Like Lowe's, Home Depot also chalked up lower sales to colder and wetter weather in the western U.S. and falling lumber prices. About 75% of Lowe's sales come from DIY customers, while Home Depot typically gets about half of its sales from home professionals. Sink said Lowe's expects sales from pros to outpace those from DIY shoppers for the rest of the year.

☆ As the Nasdaq recovers half of its bear market losses, signs of broader strength emerge
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Michael Santoli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

This particular conversation has been chewed over pretty thoroughly, and I've hit on it last week and the week before . And perhaps more relevant, last week saw at least tentative signs of a desired broadening out. It's worth pointing out too that the recent surge in the familiar Nasdaq megacaps has a lot to do with mean reversion, after the Nasdaq lagged the equal-weighted S & P 500 in 2002 by 20 percentage points. The NDX has been in a long-term structural uptrend relative to the S & P 500 for the past decade. As noted, the S & P 500 touched 4,200 late in the week before easing back a bit.

☆ Column: World can't afford US-style home energy consumption habits
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Gavin Maguire | Thomson Reuters | Gavin Maguire Is The Global Energy Transition Columnist. He Was Previously Asia Commodities | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

HOMES RULEA key driver behind America's outsized electricity consumption is the preference for single family homes over all other types of residences. For many in the United States, owning your own home is a key part of the so-called American Dream. According to the EIA's latest Residential Energy Consumption Survey 57% of electricity used by detached households is used for space heating, and 64% for air conditioning. OTHER WAYS OF LIVINGThe United States is not alone in facing rising living costs while trying to improve the efficiencies of buildings. Similarly, a vast majority of China's population lives in apartments, and apartments are more popular than individual houses in the cities of India, Japan and Southeast Asia.

☆ U.S. existing home sales post second straight monthly decline
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) - U.S. existing home sales fell for a second straight month in April, with prices rising in roughly half of the country, which together with possibly higher mortgage rates could delay a housing market recovery. Existing home sales dropped 3.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.28 million units last month, the National Association of Realtors said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast home sales would fall to a rate of 4.30 million units. Home resales, which account for a big chunk of U.S. housing sales, tumbled 23.2% on a year-on-year basis in April. The housing market has taken the biggest hit from the Federal Reserve's fastest monetary policy tightening campaign since the 1980s.

☆ There's one simple reason why US housing inventory is set to remain low for the foreseeable future
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The share of outstanding mortgages financed at less than 3% jumped during the pandemic, said Pantheon Macroeconomics. New home listings in April were down more than 20% from a year ago, according to Realtor.com, with steepening mortgage rates a factor. It also found that about 97% of outstanding mortgages are fixed for 15 years or for 30 years, and 60% are just one to four years old. "In other words, most existing homeowners are not going to move unless they absolutely have to, due to death, divorce, or an—irresistible—job offer," said Clancy. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate is averaging 6.55%, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association on Thursday.

The euro, meanwhile, dropped to a six-week low versus the dollar at $1.0811 . Wednesday's data showed that U.S. single-family homebuilding increased in April, but data for the prior month was revised sharply lower. Single-family housing starts, which account for the bulk of homebuilding, rose 1.6% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 846,000 units last month. In late morning trading, the dollar rose 0.7% versus the yen to 137.37 yen, after earlier climbing to a two-week peak of 137.445 . In the offshore market, the dollar rose 0.2% to 7.00911 .

☆ Stock Market Today: Dow Futures Inch Higher
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Stock futures are ticking higher, suggesting major indexes could recover slightly after falling Tuesday on worries about a potential debt-ceiling default . Meanwhile, regional bank shares are jumping, on track to extend a recent stretch of high volatility. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell to 3.536%, from 3.548% Tuesday. The two-year Treasury yield bucked the trend, rising to 4.099%, from 4.072%. The WSJ Dollar Index gained 0.3%, on pace to finish higher for the sixth session in the last eight trading days.

☆ Home Depot posts worst revenue miss in about 20 years, lowers forecast as consumers delay big projects
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Melissa Repko | In Melissa-Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Home Depot reported its biggest revenue miss in more than 20 years and lowered its forecast for this year, as consumers delay big projects and buy fewer big-ticket items like patio sets and grills. The company said it now expects sales and comparable sales to decline between 2% and 5% for the fiscal year. Yet he said the anticipated pullback has been compounded by rising mortgage rates and a shift toward spending on services. It marked the second quarter in a row that Home Depot missed Wall Street's revenue expectations. Home Depot in the quarter sold fewer pricier discretionary items, such as new appliances, McPhail said.

☆ 'Big Short' investor Burry bet on regional banks in first quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( David Randall | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A branch of First Republic Bank is seen. First Republic collapsed May 1, making it the largest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis. The filings did not show whether Scion had sold its positions before then. The positions were revealed in quarterly securities fillings known as 13-fs. Burry was featured in the 2010 nonfiction book "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis which was made into a popular movie five years later.

☆ Credit Suisse's chief US economist says home prices will likely fall another 5-10% — and that gridlock between buyers and sellers will prevent both appreciation and a larger crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( William Edwards | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Credit Suisse's Chief US Economist Ray Farris says home prices will see a 'long recession.' Rather, the market is likely to go through a sort of holding period, where activity stays low and prices neither boom nor bust. You can spread the housing market over many more locales in the US and that's what's happening." And the way I think of that, as a base case, it means that even as mortgage rates come down, the housing market doesn't recover rapidly. Morgan Stanley's Ellen Zentner is one economist that — like Farris — doesn't expect a recession, and only sees prices falling another 4% this year.

☆ The $31 trillion debt-ceiling fiasco could punish markets and it's complicating an already complex economic outlook
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

In any case, one outcome that many hold with a high degree of certainty is that financial markets are going to feel pain if the "x-date" bell tolls. This $31 trillion debt ceiling argument "comes at the worst possible time," according to Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee. "Many past instances of debt limit standoffs have been resolved without significant market fallout," the strategists wrote in a recent note. That's according to LPL chief global strategist Quincy Krosby — she says it boils down to these three reasons. With recession risks climbing, Bank of America analysts slashed their 2023 outlook for oil prices.

☆ Here’s the inflation breakdown for April 2023 — in one chart
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Where consumers saw prices fall in AprilConsumers saw average prices decline outright in April in certain categories. Housing — the largest component of the average household's budget — was the largest contributor to inflation in April, the BLS said. watch now"It looks like inflation in the [shelter] category has peaked," Andrew Hunter, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics, said. Overall, households are faring much better than they were months ago relative to inflation in staples like food, energy and housing, according to Zandi at Moody's Analytics. Why inflation surged to multi-decade highsConsumer prices began rising rapidly in early 2021 as the U.S. economy started to reopen after the pandemic-related shutdown.

☆ The Fed could deliver the final rate hike of a historically aggressive cycle today. Here's what to know.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

All eyes are on the Fed today as officials ready their decision on what could be the final rate hike of the cycle. We'll hear from central bank chief Jerome Powell today at 2 p.m. The last time the fed funds rate hit that level was during the housing boom in 2006, in the run up to the 2008 crisis. Broadly, markets are acting as if today's potential rate hike will be the final one of the Fed's lengthy, aggressive cycle that's brought so far nine consecutive raises, the last of which was a 25 basis-point move in February. "The market is telling you, in terms of forward yield curves, that they expect the Fed to make a mistake."

☆ U.S. housing market is stabilizing, Saint-Gobain Group CFO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailU.S. housing market is stabilizing, Saint-Gobain Group CFO saysSreedhar N., CFO of Saint-Gobain Group, discusses first-quarter earnings and the slowdown in fixed business investment.

☆ Pending home sales fell last month for the first time since November
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Anna Bahney | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The pending sales index, a forward-looking indicator based on signed contracts to buy a home rather than the final sales that are accounted for in existing home sales, dropped by 5.2% from February to March. Month over month, contract signings fell in three US regions, but increased slightly in the South. Pending home sales retreated in all four regions compared to one year ago. “The lack of housing inventory is a major constraint to rising sales,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. With mortgage rates projected to fall even more the next year, NAR forecast that sales will then jump by 15.4% in 2024, to 5.26 million.

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