Know The Difference Minute

2 out of 3 shoppers will return at least one gift this season. In all $128 billion in goods will be returned.

36% of shoppers owe an average of $1249.

Despite the supply chain crisis, holiday retail sales increased 8.5% this year. Credit goes to early shopping driven by concerns about potential shortages.

Consumers are confident. That’s good, because 70% of GDP is driven by the consumer.

The median price of an existing home sold in November was $353,900, up almost 14%.

Lumber prices still aren’t as bad as the dark days of May when futures hit $1700 per thousand board feet.

Projections released today indicate Fed officials see as many as 3 rate hikes coming in 2022.

With a nearly 10% bump in PPI, many companies have no choice except to raise prices to offset costs.

The largest one-year bump since 2008?

Available jobs in the US now stands at 11 million—up 400,000.

Stellantis has announced a plan that could generate over $22 billion in revenue by 2030 through software services and subscriptions

Dollar General is preparing for reduced sales and clients with less disposable income by opening a new set of stores.

The IRS reports estate tax revenues less than half of where they were in 2018. As the ultra-rich take advantage of tax opportunities, you might want to, as well.

Speaking before a Senate panel, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell suggested we "retire" use of the word "transitory" in describing inflation.

50 million sounds like a big number until you realize the US consumed over 18 million barrels a day LAST year—when demand for oil was low.

West Coast conditions are now described as a slow crawl instead of bumper-to-bumper.

Only 32% of Americans are planning to drive, a 35% decline from last year during the height of the pandemic.

A survey of 150 C-suite executives shows 68% plan on wage and salary increases.

Wild time for home sales. Pandemic full stop. Quick sales. Bidding wars. Rising prices. And some just giving up in frustration.

CPI was worse than expected in October and its highest point in more than 30 years.

The plan is to split into three separate companies; aviation, healthcare, and energy.

The Labor Department reported the number of workers filing unemployment claims fell to 269,000. That’s still above the pre-pandemic average of 218,000 but far off the peak of 424,000 we saw in the middle-of-July.

Measured from June, Ford sales are up nearly 11% despite the chip shortage.

Scammers created a fake cryptocurrency, pulled in buyers, and raised the price to over $2800 per coin.

The number of out-of-stock messages online is up 172% from January of last year.

Burger King sales were down almost 2% last quarter while McD's was up nearly 10.

For Tesla, it came courtesy of car rental company Hertz and an order of 100,000 vehicles.

Hourly workers are now demanding tailored schedules with no weekends, late nights, or holidays

In the first 4 weeks, the Korean drama was streamed across 142 million Netflix accounts.

Realtors estimate that single-family starts and completions need to be above 1.5 million units per month to close the gap.

Grand plan, but isn’t there an existing worker shortage?

At the top is America’s most popular truck, the Ford F150 which was boosted over 44,000 times—a 13% increase.

The good news is the 3rd quarter index is 67—and anything over 50 signals optimism.

We’re seeing the highest prices in 7 years—up more than a dollar since a year ago.

The German term Schadenfreude means ‘pleasure at someone else’s misfortune’. Plenty of it this week for Facebook.

You've heard the old Vaudeville routine. The comedian says, "It's cold outside." Someone asks, "How cold is it?" We're seeing that in our economy today.

While Congress debates its massive tax bill, another regressive fee is being charged to people and businesses all across America: inflation.

One of the many supply chain issues we're facing is the plight of the trucking industry. While turnover has always been a problem, new forces threaten how goods are transported in America.

The latest forecast has auto companies building 7.7 million fewer vehicles this year.

The central bank could lift interest rates as early as next year, according to updated projections.

This is less about logistics and more about pricing pressure as all carriers have seen demand skyrocket.

The Long Beach port hit an all-time high yesterday with 92 ships waiting

According to Redfin, the frenzy might be easing, competing offers have fallen to just over 58% of listings.

Inflation softened slightly in August at 5.3% for the year—just below the 5.4% from the previous report.

Even with last year’s 7% dip in audience, NFL games averaged 15.4 million viewers and made up 69 of the top 100 most watched programs

July’s 10.9 million job openings was the 5th consecutive increase and a record high.

Sign-on bonuses have increased by 454% across all sectors in the last year.

All car tech is powered by semiconductors, and as you know, there is a global shortage.

Logistics workers are in demand.

The JD Power Initial Quality Survey is out. Sitting on top is the Dodge Ram truck.