Weekly News (December 14, 2022)

Mortgage Interest Rates Review

(Fairway Asset Corp. 12/14/2022)

Federal Fund Rate: 3.75 -4.00%        Prime Rate: 6.75-7.00%

U.S. Transportation hub moves to East from West: 미국 물류 중심,서부에서 동부로 이동

(Korea Daily  12/13/2022)

• According to WSJ on 10th, U.S. transportation hub is moving toward eastern ports from California due to supply-chain disruptions and trade decline from China.
• According to PMSA(Pacific Merchant Shipping Ass.), traffic load in LA port declined 16.9% in August from a year ago, 26.6% in September, 28.0% in October.
• In contrast, the ports such as in New York, New Jersey, Savannah, GA, and Charleston, SC gained traffic loads. Savannah port will invest $1.3B and build 300K sf warehouse for easy loading from containers to trailers.      

Falling Building Values Spur Tax Appeals: 오피스 빌딩 가격 하락에 세금 감면 신청       

(WSJ  12/14/2022)

• The sharp decline in office building values is likely to become a growing problem for the budgets of cities, schools, and other jurisdictions that depend heavily on property taxes from these building owners.
• Many building owners hope to reduce taxes to help offset lost revenue from the sluggish return of employees to their desks and the cascading damage it is causing to local businesses catering to there workers. More recently, job cuts in the tech sector are reducing demand for workers.
• Higher interest rates, meanwhile, have reduced the prices investors are willing to pay for office property partly because they have increased the cost of financing deals.

   Markets show more Confidence in Soft Landing: 주식 시장도 경기 연착륙에 자신감

(WSJ  12/13/22)

• A few month ago, WSJ rebuffed the idea that the Fed would be able to pull off a soft landing. Now, a growing crowd is betting on exactly that happening.
• Mutual funds and hedge funds managing roughly $4.8T in assets have been putting money into stocks that stand to benefit from inflation cooling, interest rates going down and the U.S. economy avoiding a recession, according to Goldman Sachs report.
• It is looking increasingly likely that the U.S. will be spared the typical scar tissue of a steep economic downturn, Katie Nixon CIO of Northern Trust Wealth Management.

Inflation Rises at Slowest Pace in Nearly a Year: 인플레이션 상승률 연내 최저

(WSJ   12/14/22)

• The Labor department reported on Tuesday that its consumer price index, a measure of what consumers pay for goods and services, climbed 7.1% in Nov from a year ago, down sharply from 7.7% in Oct.
• The pace built on a trend of moderating price increases since June’s 9.1% peak, though it remained well above 2% average rate in the three years before the pandemic.
• The Labor market is sort of the last stand where strength there is leading to higher wage growth, and that could continue to pressure inflation.

CPI, change from a year ago

Fusion Breakthrough Offers Peek at Clean Energy Future: 미국,핵 융합 기술로 순에너지 생산에 주요 성과 

(WSJ/Korea Daily  12/13/22)

• “Nuclear Fusion” is known as the energy source of the sun. The scientists at a federal research facility achieved a breakthrough in research on nuclear fusion, long seen as a potential source of clean virtually limitless energy.
• U.S. Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm announced on the 13th that U.S. had succeeded in so-called “net energy production”, producing more energy than the energy input for igniting through nuclear fusion.
• With recent advances in technology, commercialization could be achieved in “decade” faster than previously predicted in the 50 or 60 years, which will help curb climate change.

Cheaper Gasoline Buoys Consumers: 내린 가솔린 값으로 소비자들 마음도

(WSJ  12/9/22)

• The U.S. average for regular unleaded gasoline has declined to $3.29 a gallon, falling below its average of $3.36 from last year, according to GasBuddy data, which is down about 35% from its peak of about $5 earlier in the year.
• Higher gas prices have been the biggest contributor to multidecade highs in inflation, which have propelled the Fed to aggressively raise interest rates, battering stocks and bonds alike.
• Now, some analysts expect them to fall below $3 by the end of the year.

FTX Founder is Charged with Fraud: FTX 창립자 사기죄로 고소

(WSJ  12/14/22)

• An indictment by the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, unsealed Tuesday, charges Mr. Bankman-Fried with eight counts of conspiracy and fraud – “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history”.
• Prosecutors allege he took FTX.com(cryptocurrency exchanges) customers’ money to pay the expenses and debts of Alameda Research, an affiliated trading firm.
• Mr. Bankman-Fried is charged as well as with conspiring to defraud the U.S. and violate campaign finance rules by making illegal political contributions.