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Here is another monthly update on framing lumber prices. This graph shows CME random length framing futures through December 6th. Lumber was at $413 per 1000 board feet this morning. This is down from the peak of $1,733, and down 54% from $907 a year ago. Prices are close to the pre-pandemic levels of around $400. Click on graph for larger image. There is somewhat of a seasonal demand for lumber, and lumber prices usually peak in April or May, although prices peaked much earlier this year.
Each Christmas season I do a webinar with my friends at YCharts where we take a look back at the most important charts of the year and discuss which of these trends will remain important going forward. It’s always a lot of fun and registration is free. This takes place tomorrow (Friday) December 9th at 12 noon ET (11am CT). This is a presentation for wealth management and asset management professionals, you can reg.
I was working on a longer piece about which economic strata the Fed has the greatest impact on (its more complicated than you might think) when Invictus DM’d me this amazing FRED chart. We looked at this idea earlier this year , but it’s worth revisiting. Using data from the Federal Reserve, FRED analyzed 5 categories: Top 0.1%, the rest of the top 1%, the rest of the top 10%, the rest of the top 50%, and the bottom half.
Where are top advisors focusing in 2025? AcquireUp’s 2025 Industry Index reveals it all. Based on insights from 200+ financial professionals nationwide, discover why 74% say seminars and referrals deliver the best ROI, how automation is helping advisors scale faster, and why only 8% are tapping into niche marketing (a major growth opportunity!). Whether you're refining your client acquisition strategy or scaling your practice, this report gives you the real-world data, benchmarks, and action ste
The recession callers were back in the first half of 2022, and some like ARK's Cathie Wood and Home Depot's Ken Langone claimed the US was already in a recession. I disagreed and noted I wasn't even on recession watch! Now it seems like most forecasts are for a recession in 2023. My answer is: Maybe. Way back in 2013, I wrote a post " Predicting the Next Recession.
We’re having a live podcast taping to benefit one of our favorite charities, No Kid Hungry. It’s The Compound’s first ever Fan Appreciation Night and we’re joining forces with our friends at the On The Tape podcast to make it a great experience. Taping is December 16th at the Nasdaq Marketsite in Times Square. We’re reviewing the year that was and looking ahead to 2023.
Inflation data from St. Louis Fed amended with October data from other sources, chart by Mish. Yesterday, I commented on Inflation Around the World: How Does the US Compare to Canada and the EU? but have new sources for October data. Year-Over-Year EU Inflation Soars in October EU inflation is getting out of hand. For example, yesterday I said inflation in France peaked at 6.08 percent and fell to 5.55 percent ion September.
The Federal Reserve released the Q3 2022 Flow of Funds report today: Financial Accounts of the United States. The net worth of households and nonprofits fell to $143.3 trillion during the third quarter of 2022. The value of directly and indirectly held corporate equities decreased $1.9 trillion and the value of real estate increased $0.8 trillion. Household debt increased 6.3 percent at an annual rate in the third quarter of 2022.
I’m traveling this week (Houston here I come!) so I dug this one out of the archives because it’s one of the things I believe in even more now than when I wrote it a year ago. This post came out in October of 2021 at the height of NFT mania. I never really understood it. Collecting I get. Collecting things that can be infinitely copied and that you can’t hold in your hand?
Speaker: Claire Grosjean, Global Finance & Operations Executive
Finance teams are drowning in data—but is it actually helping them spend smarter? Without the right approach, excess spending, inefficiencies, and missed opportunities continue to drain profitability. While analytics offers powerful insights, financial intelligence requires more than just numbers—it takes the right blend of automation, strategy, and human expertise.
Reserve balances, reverse repos, and interest rate paid to banks from St. Louis Fed, chart by Mish. Chart Notes Data reflects end of month numbers. The latest reserve balance is from the New York Fed. The rest of the numbers are via a St. Louis Fed download. Note the stairstep pattern on interest paid on reserves. The interest rate rises every time the Fed hike rates.
From Dodge Data Analytics: Dodge Momentum Index Advances In November The Dodge Momentum Index (DMI), issued by Dodge Construction Network, increased 3.8% (2000=100) in November to 207.2 from the revised October reading of 199.6. During the month, the DMI continued its steady ascent, with the commercial component rising 4.3%, and the institutional component ticking up 2.7%.
One of the reasons people in the investment community respect Howard Marks so much is he says what he believes and lets the chips fall where they may. His observations are always insightful, and over the years have becomeopular, but what really set him apart were his big contrarian observations, such as the Amazon dot Bomb in 1999. I did not get to his recent What Really Matters?
Your financial statements hold powerful insights—but are you truly paying attention? Many finance professionals focus on the income statement while overlooking key signals hidden in the balance sheet and cash flow statement. Understanding these numbers can unlock smarter decision-making, uncover risks, and drive long-term success. Join David Worrell, accomplished CFO, finance expert, and author, for an engaging, nontraditional take on reading financial statements.
Thanks to president Biden, The Pentagon Marches Off to Climate War. A little-noticed rule-making proposed by the Department of Defense, NASA and the General Services Administration last month would require federal contractors to disclose and reduce their CO2 emissions as well as climate financial risks. The rule would cover 5,766 contractors that have received at least $7.5 million from the feds in the prior year.
From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey Mortgage applications decreased 1.9 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending December 2, 2022. Last week’s results include an adjustment for the observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.
My back-to-work morning train WFH reads: • Wall Street’s 2023 Outlook for Stocks : There’s hundreds of pages of research and analysis that come with these strategists’ forecast. The general themes: Most Wall Street firms expect the U.S. economy to go into recession some time in 2023. Many believe forecasts for 2023 earnings have more room to get cut, and some believe those downward revisions mean lots of volatility for stocks in the early part of 2023. ( TKer ). • Burden of proof is on the
Automation is transforming finance but without strong financial oversight it can introduce more risk than reward. From missed discrepancies to strained vendor relationships, accounts payable automation needs a human touch to deliver lasting value. This session is your playbook to get automation right. We’ll explore how to balance speed with control, boost decision-making through human-machine collaboration, and unlock ROI with fewer errors, stronger fraud prevention, and smoother operations.
Top clicks this week What is a reasonable return expectation for the next few decades? (ofdollarsanddata.com) Which fund companies have captured the most dollar gains for investors. (morningstar.com) Why indexing works. (evidenceinvestor.com) Rising interest rates reset a whole host of financial questions. (humbledollar.com) How to remove single points of failure in your life.
The DOL reported : In the week ending December 3, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 230,000 , an increase of 4,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 225,000 to 226,000. The 4-week moving average was 230,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's revised average.
My morning train WFH reads: • The Cult of the Retail Trader Has Fizzled : The GameStop and AMC manias are long gone, with individual investor returns falling 40% this year and digital currency prices tumbling. ( Businessweek ). • FTX’s Bahamas Headquarters Was the First Clue : Bankman-Fried is just the latest in a long string of notorious characters who moved their business to the island nation, from the pirate Blackbeard to organized crime figures and assorted “financial wizards.” ( Bloomberg )
Based off SkyStem's popular e-Book, the book of secrets to the month-end close will be revealed in this one-hour webinar. Learn leading practices when it comes to building a strong and sustainable month-end close that has room to grow and evolve. Learn about the power of precise estimates, why reconciliations are critical to closing the books, how and when to automate, and how the chart of accounts play into your close process.
I’m in Texas this week speaking at the Dynasty Investing Forum and seeing clients. The below was one of my best posts of the year, in my own humble opinion I wrote it at pretty much the worst moment for stocks in 2022, during the peak of the September sell-off that drove the S&P 500 to its lowest low – down about 25% on the year. Since this post, JPMorgan shares are up 26%.
Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Q3 Update: Delinquencies, Foreclosures and REO A brief excerpt: Last year, I pointed out that with the end of the foreclosure moratoriums, combined with the expiration of a large number of forbearance plans, we would see an increase in REOs in late 2022 and into 2023. However, this would NOT lead to a surge in foreclosures and significantly impact house prices (as happened following the housing bubble) since lending has been solid and most ho
Like being inches from the end zone, many advisors are frustratingly close to their next level of success. You work hard. You put in the hours. But if your closing rate is stuck or your pipeline feels like a revolving door… something has to change. Most advisors are just one small shift away from dramatically increasing their revenue. The difference?
For investment advisers looking to attract prospective clients, advertising the performance of their investment strategies would be a logical way to market their services (at least if they had strong historical returns!). But for many years, advisers looking for guidance from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding what kind of performance advertising was permissible had to rely on fairly general guidelines and SEC staff statements in the form of “no-action” letters.
Active inventory decreased last week. Here are the same week inventory changes for the last four years ( usually inventory declines seasonally through the Winter ): 2022: -14.4K (somewhat smaller than the usual seasonal decrease in inventory) 2021: -24.5K 2020: -18.3K 2019: -24.9K Altos reports inventory is down 2.6% week-over-week and down 4.8% from the peak on October 28th.
The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of Volcanica coffee, grab a seat by the fire, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads: • Cutting-edge tech made this tiny country a major exporter of food : The Netherlands has used advances in vertical farming, seed technology and robotics to become a global model. ( Washington Post ). • The dirty road to clean energy : how China’s electric vehicle boom is ravaging the environment ( Rest Of World ) see also Green Factories Are Changing Minds in M
Those who embrace the tech landscape now will have a greater claim to success as the financial industry slowly realizes the opportunities digital marketing provides.
Managing spend is more than a cost cutting exercise – it's a pathway to smarter decisions that unlock efficiency and drive growth. By understanding and refining the spending process, financial leaders can empower their organizations to achieve more with less. Explore the art of balancing financial control with operational growth. From uncovering hidden inefficiencies to designing workflows that scale your business, we’ll share strategies to align your organization’s spending with its strategic g
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