Wolf Richter

Why the US-Japan Joint Intervention to Prop Up the Yen? Fear of Treasury Yields Blowing Out if Japan Becomes a Forced Seller. Prior interventions failed to turn around the downward spiral of the yen. What’s needed: much tighter BOJ monetary policies wolfstreet.com/2026/08/03/why…

Six Years into Bond Bear Market, 30-Year Treasury Yield Hits 5.28%, Yield Curve Steepens, but Spreads Are still too Narrow. Warsh wants the bond market to do its job and look at inflation and the economy — and not at the Fed — and it’s finally doing it wolfstreet.com/2026/08/01/six…

Red-Hot Inflation & (Inflation-Adjusted) Strong Domestic Private-Sector Demand Marks Q2 GDP. Debt-to-GDP Ratio Dips to 121.5%. But soaring imports (data-center components), a drop in federal gov spending, and changes in private inventories ate into GDP wolfstreet.com/2026/07/30/red…

Growth of the Vacant Housing Stock in the US. The US added 1.51 million housing units (new construction minus demolitions) in 12 months, homes for 3.5 million people. The population grew by 757,000. And vacant housing units continued to surge wolfstreet.com/2026/07/28/gro…

Korean KOSPI Crashes 10.8% Today, -34% in 25 Days, after 300% Spike, as Consensual Hallucination Fades. Amid general chipmaker bloodbath, SK Hynix and Samsung, which make up half of the index, crashed even more wolfstreet.com/2026/07/28/kor…

How Massive AI Data Center Investment Pushes the Economy & Prices: See Durable Goods Orders. Orders for computer & electronic products; electrical equipment & components; machinery incl. for power generation; core capital goods, all surged wolfstreet.com/2026/07/27/mas…

Long-Term Treasury Yields Jump as Bloodied Bond Market Gets Edgy about Inflation, Massive New Debt. During last debt scare, 10-yr yield hit 5%, and the floodgates of demand opened. Now the debt is $6 Tn bigger; no guarantee 5% will open floodgates again wolfstreet.com/2026/07/25/lon…

New Single-Family Home Prices Drop Further amid Declining Sales and once again Growing Inventory Glut. In the South, inventory for sale was up 71% from 2019, while sales were down 8%. Homebuilders are very motivated to make deals wolfstreet.com/2026/07/24/new…

AI May Not Cause Jobs Armageddon Afterall: Google Reports on How AI Is Being Used at Work. AI is used in 68% of occupations (88% of employment) from software developers to farmers and foresters. Not automating away jobs, but helping workers do their jobs wolfstreet.com/2026/07/23/ai-…

Mortgage Rates Rise to 6.77%, Highest in a Year, on Bond Market Fears of Inflation & Debt. But with 3.5% to 4% inflation now, the “real” 30-yr mortgage rate is only at ~3%, relatively low compared to the periods before 2009 before Fed QE wolfstreet.com/2026/07/22/mor…

Single-Family & Multifamily Rents in Face of an Onslaught of New Supply & Fading Population Growth. The gap between single-family rents and multifamily rents has widened massively. A look at 14 big markets wolfstreet.com/2026/07/21/sin… Here's Austin:

Oh Dear, Condo Prices Fell by 15% to 33% in 30 Bigger Cities Already. Some Dropped Back to 2006 Levels. In another 39 bigger cities, condo prices fell by 8% to 14%. A massive hangover after a historic Condo Bubble wolfstreet.com/2026/07/20/oh-…

30-Year Treasury Yield still 5.06%, 30-Year TIPS Yield Highest since 2010 Reintroduction, Yield Curve Prepped for Rate Hike, amid unabated fears of inflation and worries about the onslaught of new debt #comment-685589" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">wolfstreet.com/2026/07/19/30-…

Home Prices in 33 Big Expensive Cities in America: 25 Fell Year-over-Year in June, 2 Rose to New Highs. And 28 were down from their peaks in prior years, led by Austin -27% & Oakland -25% wolfstreet.com/2026/07/17/hom…

Fuel for 2nd Wave of Inflation: Import Prices of Manufactured Goods, Driven by Computers & Electronic Products Frst shock was due to the supply-chain chaos in 2021 through 2022. Second shock is now, it’s huge, and it’s due to the AI investment boom wolfstreet.com/2026/07/17/fue…

Americans Splurge Online and at Vehicle Dealers instead of Buying Homes? YOLO? Retail Sales without Gas Stations Jump for 5th Month Massive price movements of gasoline pushed sales at gas stations; we look at retailer categories separately to sort it out wolfstreet.com/2026/07/16/ame…

Pending Home Sales Plunge to Near-Record Low in the Data, Hit Low in the West. Since then, Mortgage Rates Rose Further. Sales sag in all regions, plunge the most in the Midwest, drop to lowest for June in the South. Demand stuck in the deep-freeze wolfstreet.com/2026/07/16/pen…

Producer Price Inflation beyond Energy: “Core” PPI Accelerates to 4.7%, Services PPI to 4.6%. Lots of Inflation Going on in Here. The plunge in energy prices pushed down overall PPI inflation, to a still very high 5.5%. It has been zigzagging higher since mid-2023 wolfstreet.com/2026/07/15/pro…

Largest “Foreign” Holders of US Treasuries, incl. US Hedge Funds in the “Basis Trade” & US Companies with Overseas Entities. How much of that foreign demand for US Treasuries is actually “foreign?” Less than it seems. Here are some clues wolfstreet.com/2026/07/14/lar…