Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Crude trading at $73 and Brent Crude at $77. Gas is fixin' to be real cheap-like, and probably for a while.
So where is the shortage from STILL no Russian oil? Where are the fears of Diesel running out?
Where is all the bullshit they fed us to make the prices jump up $2-3 more a gallon?
Oil is a futures market. The speculation now is that there is plenty of oil. OPEC is pumping, China is shutting down due to covid, MBS is in the clear, Qatar is pressuring OPEC and the market still thinks a recession is coming. This all makes sense to me.
Crude trading at $73 and Brent Crude at $77. Gas is fixin' to be real cheap-like, and probably for a while.
So where is the shortage from STILL no Russian oil? Where are the fears of Diesel running out?
Where is all the bullshit they fed us to make the prices jump up $2-3 more a gallon?
Oil is a futures market. The speculation now is that there is plenty of oil. OPEC is pumping, China is shutting down due to covid, MBS is in the clear, Qatar is pressuring OPEC and the market still thinks a recession is coming. This all makes sense to me.
Crude trading at $73 and Brent Crude at $77. Gas is fixin' to be real cheap-like, and probably for a while.
So where is the shortage from STILL no Russian oil? Where are the fears of Diesel running out?
Where is all the bullshit they fed us to make the prices jump up $2-3 more a gallon?
Oil is a futures market. The speculation now is that there is plenty of oil. OPEC is pumping, China is shutting down due to covid, MBS is in the clear, Qatar is pressuring OPEC and the market still thinks a recession is coming. This all makes sense to me.
Opec hasn't agreed to pump more though?!?
Not more, but considering the falling prices and macro outlook, there was a chance they would reduce oil output from the current targets.
Crude trading at $73 and Brent Crude at $77. Gas is fixin' to be real cheap-like, and probably for a while.
So where is the shortage from STILL no Russian oil? Where are the fears of Diesel running out?
Where is all the bullshit they fed us to make the prices jump up $2-3 more a gallon?
Oil is a futures market. The speculation now is that there is plenty of oil. OPEC is pumping, China is shutting down due to covid, MBS is in the clear, Qatar is pressuring OPEC and the market still thinks a recession is coming. This all makes sense to me.
Opec hasn't agreed to pump more though?!?
Not more, but considering the falling prices and macro outlook, there was a chance they would reduce oil output from the current targets.
which they weren't meeting yet before the last meeting...
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
It's fucking price fixing.....oil should be regulated like a utility
Utilities sell nat gas, which is a volatile commodity, and it is sky high right now. But utilities can throw smoke and mirrors and make it difficult to identify the price hikes
A slowdown in US inflation eases some pressure on households
By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
Today
WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation in the United States slowed again last month in the latest sign that price increases are cooling despite the pressures they continue to inflict on American households.
Consumer prices rose 7.1% in November from a year ago, the government said Tuesday. That was down sharply from 7.7% in October and a recent peak of 9.1% in June. It was the fifth straight decline.
Measured from month to month, which gives a more up-to-date snapshot, the consumer price index inched up just 0.1%. And so-called core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy costs and which the Federal Reserve tracks closely, slowed to 6% compared with a year earlier. From October to November, core prices rose 0.2% — the mildest increase since August 2021.
All told, the latest figures provided the strongest evidence to date that inflation in the United States is steadily slowing from the price acceleration that first struck about 18 months ago and reached a four-decade high earlier this year.
Gas prices have tumbled from their summer peak. The costs of used cars, health care, airline fares and hotel rooms also dropped in November. So did furniture and electricity prices.
Grocery prices, though, remained a trouble spot last month, rising 0.5% from October to November and 12% compared with a year ago. Housing costs also jumped, though much of that data doesn't yet reflect real-time measures that show declines in home prices and apartment rents.
"Inflation was terrible in 2022, but the outlook for 2023 is much better," said Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank. “Supply chains are working better, business inventories are higher, ending most of the shortages that fueled inflation in 2020.”
President Joe Biden called the inflation report “welcome news for families across the country” and noted that lower auto and toy prices should benefit holiday shoppers. Still, Biden acknowledged that inflation might not return to “normal levels” until the end of next year.
One sign of progress in November's figures was that prices for new cars didn't budge from October. On average, new cars are still 7.2% costlier than they were a year ago. But that's down from a 13.2% year-over-year jump in April, which was the highest on records dating to 1953.
The decline in new-car prices helps illustrate how supply chain snarls, which have unwound for most goods, are also easing for semiconductors and other key automotive parts. Economists say this should enable automakers to boost production and give buyers an expanded supply of vehicles.
It also suggests that the Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hikes, which have made it more expensive to borrow for homes, cars and on credit cards, have begun to slow demand and limit the ability of auto dealers to charge more.
Wall Street welcomed the better-than-expected inflation data as providing further support for the Fed to slow and potentially pause its rate hikes by early next year. The S&P 500 stock index was up more than 1%, in late-morning trading.
On Wednesday, the Fed is widely expected to raise its benchmark rate by a half-point, its seventh hike this year. The move would follow four three-quarter point hikes in a row. A half-point increase would put the Fed's key short-term rate in a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, the highest in 15 years.
The increase will further raise loan rates for consumers and businesses. Economists have warned that in continuing to tighten credit to fight inflation, the Fed is likely to cause a recession next year.
“There’s growing evidence that the worst of the inflation scare may be in the rearview mirror,” said Jim Baird, an economist at Plante Moran Financial Advisers. "On the horizon is the potential for a recession — the next hazard in the road that policymakers will need to navigate the economy around or potentially through.”
Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said he is tracking price trends in three separate categories to best understand the likely path of inflation: Goods, excluding volatile food and energy costs; housing, which includes rents and the cost of homeownership; and services excluding housing, such as auto insurance, pet services and education.
In a speech two weeks ago in Washington, Powell noted that there had been some progress in easing inflation in goods and housing but not so in most services. Some of those trends extended into last month's data, with goods prices, excluding food and energy, falling 0.5% from October to November, the second straight monthly drop.
Housing costs, which make up nearly a third of the consumer price index, are still rising. But real-time measures of apartment rents and home prices are starting to drop after having posted sizzling price acceleration at the height of the pandemic. Powell said those declines will likely emerge in government data next year and should help reduce overall inflation.
As a result, Powell's biggest focus has been on services, which he said are likely to stay persistently high. In part, that’s because sharp increases in wages are becoming a key contributor to inflation. Services companies, like hotels and restaurants, are particularly labor-intensive. And with average wages growing at a brisk 5%-6% a year, price pressures keep building in that sector of the economy.
Services businesses tend to pass on some of their higher labor costs to their customers by charging more, thereby perpetuating inflation. Higher pay also fuels more consumer spending, which allows companies to raise prices.
Prices for many services kept rising in November. Dental care jumped 1.1% just from October and is 6.4% costlier than it was a year ago. Restaurant prices rose 0.5%. They're 8.5% higher than a year earlier.
Auto insurance prices jumped 0.9% in November and are 13.4% more expensive than a year earlier. The average cost of an auto repair rose 1.3% last month and 11.7% over the past year.
Yet even in services, excluding housing, there were some signs of cooling prices. The cost of car rentals, airline fares and hotel prices, for example, all dropped in November.
Overall, a measure that approximates services excluding rent was unchanged in November, after having dipped 0.1% in October. That measure had soared 1.1% in both April and June this year.
___
AP White House reporter Josh Boak contributed to this report.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Shaq says it's "shrinkflation and just another form of robbery"
I typically call Shaq when I want guidance on the economy or economic policy, particularly monetary policy and what the Fed might do and where its all headed. Gotta stay ahead of the curve.
Shaq says it's "shrinkflation and just another form of robbery"
I typically call Shaq when I want guidance on the economy or economic policy, particularly monetary policy and what the Fed might do and where its all headed. Gotta stay ahead of the curve.
The problem is the comments, that the rate hikes are likely not over. I think the market expected this to be the last one after yesterday's inflation news.
The problem is the comments, that the rate hikes are likely not over. I think the market expected this to be the last one after yesterday's inflation news.
Yeah but the bond market did not seem to believe everything he was saying though. That is why the 10 yr, after initially jumping up, is now broaching 3.4 again. As he was talking it was going down. If unemployment ticks up to the level he mentioned, that is a recession. They're not going to continue raising rates if we're nearing that level. I bet we see mortgage rates around 5% ish or below a whole lot faster than most people think.
Logan Mohtashami is a good follow on twitter for this stuff.
Also, I don't think the market realistically expected yesterday to be the last increase. Likely have just a couple, maybe a few left.
The problem is the comments, that the rate hikes are likely not over. I think the market expected this to be the last one after yesterday's inflation news.
Yeah but the bond market did not seem to believe everything he was saying though. That is why the 10 yr, after initially jumping up, is now broaching 3.4 again. As he was talking it was going down. If unemployment ticks up to the level he mentioned, that is a recession. They're not going to continue raising rates if we're nearing that level. I bet we see mortgage rates around 5% ish or below a whole lot faster than most people think.
Logan Mohtashami is a good follow on twitter for this stuff.
Also, I don't think the market realistically expected yesterday to be the last increase. Likely have just a couple, maybe a few left.
Yes, we will have a few more increases most likely. It's friggin crazy.
Houses, rightly so, are losing 33% of their gains. I thought the housing market was an inflated bubble anyways. Bungalows that couldn't sell for 200K are now offered for 800k where I live . GFY!
The problem is the comments, that the rate hikes are likely not over. I think the market expected this to be the last one after yesterday's inflation news.
Yeah but the bond market did not seem to believe everything he was saying though. That is why the 10 yr, after initially jumping up, is now broaching 3.4 again. As he was talking it was going down. If unemployment ticks up to the level he mentioned, that is a recession. They're not going to continue raising rates if we're nearing that level. I bet we see mortgage rates around 5% ish or below a whole lot faster than most people think.
Logan Mohtashami is a good follow on twitter for this stuff.
Also, I don't think the market realistically expected yesterday to be the last increase. Likely have just a couple, maybe a few left.
Yes, we will have a few more increases most likely. It's friggin crazy.
Houses, rightly so, are losing 33% of their gains. I thought the housing market was an inflated bubble anyways. Bungalows that couldn't sell for 200K are now offered for 800k where I live . GFY!
Yeah but there was soooo much equity there to start with. Once rates start coming down, the values will swing the other way.
Wells Fargo to pay $3.7B over consumer law violations
By KEN SWEET
1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer banking giant Wells Fargo agreed to pay $3.7 billion to settle charges that it harmed customers by charging illegal fees and interest on auto loans and mortgages, as well as incorrectly applying overdraft fees against savings and checking accounts.
Wells was ordered to repay $2 billion to consumers by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which also enacted a $1.7 billion penalty against the San Francisco bank Tuesday. It's the largest fine ever leveled against a bank by the CFPB and the largest yet against Wells, which has spent years trying to rehabilitate its image after a series of scandals tied to its sales practices.
Regulators made it clear, however, that they believe Wells Fargo has further to go on that front.
“Put simply: Wells Fargo is a corporate recidivist that puts one out of three Americans at risk for potential harm,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, in a call with reporters.
The bank's pattern of behavior has made it necessary for regulators to take additional actions against Wells Fargo that go beyond the $3.7 billion in fines and penalties, Chopra said.
The violations impacted more than 16 million customers, the bureau said. In addition to improperly charging auto loan customers with fees and interest, the bank wrongfully repossessed vehicles in some cases. The bank also improperly denied thousands of mortgage loan modifications for homeowners.
Wells Fargo has been sanctioned repeatedly by U.S. regulators for violations of consumer protection laws going back to 2016, when employees were found to have opened millions of accounts illegally in order to meet unrealistic sales goals. Since then, executives have repeatedly said Wells is cleaning up its act, only for the bank to be found in violation of other parts of consumer protection law, including in its auto and mortgage lending businesses.
Wells paid a $1 billion penalty in 2018 for widespread consumer law violations, the largest against a bank for such violations at the time.
The bank had signaled to its investors that it anticipated additional fines and penalties from regulators and aside $2 billion in the third quarter for that reason.
Wells remains under a Federal Reserve order forbidding the bank from growing any larger until the Fed deems that its problems are resolved. That order, originally enacted in 2018, was expected to last only a year or two.
CEO Charles Scharf said in a prepared statement Tuesday that the agreement with the CFPB is part of an effort to "transform operating practices at Wells Fargo and to put these issues behind us.”
While Wells Fargo tried to frame the agreement with the CFPB as a resolution of established bad behavior, CFPB officials said some of the violations cited in Tuesday's order took place this year.
“This should not been seen as Wells Fargo has moved past its problems,” Chopra said.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Comments
Where is all the bullshit they fed us to make the prices jump up $2-3 more a gallon?
There are no kings inside the gates of eden
You answered your own question. It was bullshit.
And oil companies made record profits.
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
which they weren't meeting yet before the last meeting...
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
it difficult to identify the price hikes
WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation in the United States slowed again last month in the latest sign that price increases are cooling despite the pressures they continue to inflict on American households.
Consumer prices rose 7.1% in November from a year ago, the government said Tuesday. That was down sharply from 7.7% in October and a recent peak of 9.1% in June. It was the fifth straight decline.
Measured from month to month, which gives a more up-to-date snapshot, the consumer price index inched up just 0.1%. And so-called core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy costs and which the Federal Reserve tracks closely, slowed to 6% compared with a year earlier. From October to November, core prices rose 0.2% — the mildest increase since August 2021.
All told, the latest figures provided the strongest evidence to date that inflation in the United States is steadily slowing from the price acceleration that first struck about 18 months ago and reached a four-decade high earlier this year.
Gas prices have tumbled from their summer peak. The costs of used cars, health care, airline fares and hotel rooms also dropped in November. So did furniture and electricity prices.
Grocery prices, though, remained a trouble spot last month, rising 0.5% from October to November and 12% compared with a year ago. Housing costs also jumped, though much of that data doesn't yet reflect real-time measures that show declines in home prices and apartment rents.
"Inflation was terrible in 2022, but the outlook for 2023 is much better," said Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank. “Supply chains are working better, business inventories are higher, ending most of the shortages that fueled inflation in 2020.”
President Joe Biden called the inflation report “welcome news for families across the country” and noted that lower auto and toy prices should benefit holiday shoppers. Still, Biden acknowledged that inflation might not return to “normal levels” until the end of next year.
One sign of progress in November's figures was that prices for new cars didn't budge from October. On average, new cars are still 7.2% costlier than they were a year ago. But that's down from a 13.2% year-over-year jump in April, which was the highest on records dating to 1953.
The decline in new-car prices helps illustrate how supply chain snarls, which have unwound for most goods, are also easing for semiconductors and other key automotive parts. Economists say this should enable automakers to boost production and give buyers an expanded supply of vehicles.
It also suggests that the Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hikes, which have made it more expensive to borrow for homes, cars and on credit cards, have begun to slow demand and limit the ability of auto dealers to charge more.
Wall Street welcomed the better-than-expected inflation data as providing further support for the Fed to slow and potentially pause its rate hikes by early next year. The S&P 500 stock index was up more than 1%, in late-morning trading.
On Wednesday, the Fed is widely expected to raise its benchmark rate by a half-point, its seventh hike this year. The move would follow four three-quarter point hikes in a row. A half-point increase would put the Fed's key short-term rate in a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, the highest in 15 years.
The increase will further raise loan rates for consumers and businesses. Economists have warned that in continuing to tighten credit to fight inflation, the Fed is likely to cause a recession next year.
“There’s growing evidence that the worst of the inflation scare may be in the rearview mirror,” said Jim Baird, an economist at Plante Moran Financial Advisers. "On the horizon is the potential for a recession — the next hazard in the road that policymakers will need to navigate the economy around or potentially through.”
Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said he is tracking price trends in three separate categories to best understand the likely path of inflation: Goods, excluding volatile food and energy costs; housing, which includes rents and the cost of homeownership; and services excluding housing, such as auto insurance, pet services and education.
In a speech two weeks ago in Washington, Powell noted that there had been some progress in easing inflation in goods and housing but not so in most services. Some of those trends extended into last month's data, with goods prices, excluding food and energy, falling 0.5% from October to November, the second straight monthly drop.
Housing costs, which make up nearly a third of the consumer price index, are still rising. But real-time measures of apartment rents and home prices are starting to drop after having posted sizzling price acceleration at the height of the pandemic. Powell said those declines will likely emerge in government data next year and should help reduce overall inflation.
As a result, Powell's biggest focus has been on services, which he said are likely to stay persistently high. In part, that’s because sharp increases in wages are becoming a key contributor to inflation. Services companies, like hotels and restaurants, are particularly labor-intensive. And with average wages growing at a brisk 5%-6% a year, price pressures keep building in that sector of the economy.
Services businesses tend to pass on some of their higher labor costs to their customers by charging more, thereby perpetuating inflation. Higher pay also fuels more consumer spending, which allows companies to raise prices.
Prices for many services kept rising in November. Dental care jumped 1.1% just from October and is 6.4% costlier than it was a year ago. Restaurant prices rose 0.5%. They're 8.5% higher than a year earlier.
Auto insurance prices jumped 0.9% in November and are 13.4% more expensive than a year earlier. The average cost of an auto repair rose 1.3% last month and 11.7% over the past year.
Yet even in services, excluding housing, there were some signs of cooling prices. The cost of car rentals, airline fares and hotel prices, for example, all dropped in November.
Overall, a measure that approximates services excluding rent was unchanged in November, after having dipped 0.1% in October. That measure had soared 1.1% in both April and June this year.
___
AP White House reporter Josh Boak contributed to this report.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Logan Mohtashami is a good follow on twitter for this stuff.
Also, I don't think the market realistically expected yesterday to be the last increase. Likely have just a couple, maybe a few left.
Houses, rightly so, are losing 33% of their gains. I thought the housing market was an inflated bubble anyways. Bungalows that couldn't sell for 200K are now offered for 800k where I live . GFY!
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer banking giant Wells Fargo agreed to pay $3.7 billion to settle charges that it harmed customers by charging illegal fees and interest on auto loans and mortgages, as well as incorrectly applying overdraft fees against savings and checking accounts.
Wells was ordered to repay $2 billion to consumers by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which also enacted a $1.7 billion penalty against the San Francisco bank Tuesday. It's the largest fine ever leveled against a bank by the CFPB and the largest yet against Wells, which has spent years trying to rehabilitate its image after a series of scandals tied to its sales practices.
Regulators made it clear, however, that they believe Wells Fargo has further to go on that front.
“Put simply: Wells Fargo is a corporate recidivist that puts one out of three Americans at risk for potential harm,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, in a call with reporters.
The bank's pattern of behavior has made it necessary for regulators to take additional actions against Wells Fargo that go beyond the $3.7 billion in fines and penalties, Chopra said.
The violations impacted more than 16 million customers, the bureau said. In addition to improperly charging auto loan customers with fees and interest, the bank wrongfully repossessed vehicles in some cases. The bank also improperly denied thousands of mortgage loan modifications for homeowners.
BUSINESS
Congress moves to ban TikTok from US government devices
Trump's tax returns to be discussed by congressional panel
Amazon to make big business changes in EU settlement
In a surprise move, Bank of Japan loosens bond yield cap
Wells Fargo has been sanctioned repeatedly by U.S. regulators for violations of consumer protection laws going back to 2016, when employees were found to have opened millions of accounts illegally in order to meet unrealistic sales goals. Since then, executives have repeatedly said Wells is cleaning up its act, only for the bank to be found in violation of other parts of consumer protection law, including in its auto and mortgage lending businesses.
Wells paid a $1 billion penalty in 2018 for widespread consumer law violations, the largest against a bank for such violations at the time.
The bank had signaled to its investors that it anticipated additional fines and penalties from regulators and aside $2 billion in the third quarter for that reason.
Wells remains under a Federal Reserve order forbidding the bank from growing any larger until the Fed deems that its problems are resolved. That order, originally enacted in 2018, was expected to last only a year or two.
CEO Charles Scharf said in a prepared statement Tuesday that the agreement with the CFPB is part of an effort to "transform operating practices at Wells Fargo and to put these issues behind us.”
While Wells Fargo tried to frame the agreement with the CFPB as a resolution of established bad behavior, CFPB officials said some of the violations cited in Tuesday's order took place this year.
“This should not been seen as Wells Fargo has moved past its problems,” Chopra said.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14