Archive for July 2021

The Friday File: While fluid dairy milk consumption has declined from 247 lbs/person in 1975 to 146 lbs/person in 2018, fattier milk is very popular. 38% of households have 2% milk in their refrigerator, followed closely by whole milk at 36%. Non-dairy milk is stocked by 12% of households, 1% milk is in 11%, skim…

While June annual inflation as measured by core CPI was 4.5%, the highest rate in decades, Treasuries were unmoved. Price increases for used cars and trucks singlehandedly drove one-third of the index rise. More generally, 90% of the items in the basket were up 2% Y-o-Y, while 10% of the items were up 20% Y-o-Y…

YTD gaming revenue in Vegas is $4.06 billion, down just 5.2% from Jan-May 2019, and YTD auto traffic is up 5.6% compared to two years ago. However, deplaned passengers and room nights are both down 41%. But, comparing 5/21 to 5/19, gaming revenue is up 25.9%, auto traffic is up 9.8%, and deplaned passengers and…

To keep very short-term interest rates above zero, the Fed recently boosted the rate it pays banks to lend money back to the Fed (you read correctly) overnight from zero to a whopping 0.05%. The first day after the increase, $750 billion flowed into the “high-yielding” reverse repurchase facility. Could this mountain of sideline liquidity…

In June, construction employment fell 7,400 and totaled 7.42 million, 238,000 below its 2/20 pre-pandemic peak. Residential construction employment rose by 15,200 in June and it’s 3,051,000, 51,000 higher than in 2/20. Conversely, June nonresidential construction employment shrank by 22,600 and is now 4,372,290, 289,000 below its 2/20 level. Relatedly, private residential construction spending is…

The Friday File: Until recently, the world record for the tallest stack of M&Ms was jointly held by Silvio Sabba of Italy and Brendan Kelbi of Australia. Recently, however, Will Cutbill, a British civil engineer, broke the Guinness World Record. He immediately celebrated his new Guinness World Record by joyously eating his entire gigantic stack…

From 1900-1929, marriage rates ranged between 9.3/1,000 persons and 12/1,000. During the depression, rates bottomed at 7.9/1,000 persons in 1932. The rate then steadily rose, peaking in 1946 (following WWII) at 16.4/1,000. Marriage rates then steadily fell and bottomed at 8.5/1,000 in 1960. When Boomers started marrying, the rate again rose, peaking at 10.9/1,000 in…

During June, employers created 850,000 new jobs, the best growth since August 2020’s 1.58 million. Leisure and hospitality led the way with 343,000 jobs. Better yet, unemployment rose to 5.9% from 5.8% as slightly more persons joined the labor market. Job creation totals a strong 3.25 million YTD, but employment remains 6.76 million below its…

For the week ending 6/18/21, demand for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel were all down compared to the same week in 2019. The four-week moving average for jet fuel was 75% of its 2019 level, for gasoline it was 94%, and for diesel 98%. At their lowest points in 2020, jet fuel demand was just…

The Friday File: Happy 246th birthday! Back in 1776, the US population was 2.5 million (it’s 332 million now), 56 of whom signed the Declaration of Independence. The current flag became official in 1960 and is the 27th version. We will eat 150 million hot dogs, and 48 million Americans will travel more than 50…