Every Friday I recap “news you can use” from the week: a handful of quotes from major (and often expensive) news sources, so you can stay up to date on the news that affects your money without spending a dime and in less than a minute.
Here’s an overview of what happened this week.
U.S. Car Makers’ EV Plans Hinge on Made-in-America Batteries (Feb. 6, Wall Street Journal) The recently passed Inflation Reduction Act, which provides incentives for North American-built batteries and penalizes car companies that source batteries abroad, is spurring a wave of new projects in the U.S.—from cell-making factories to new ventures to mine the raw materials.
Plans call for more than a dozen battery factories to be built in the next five years, with most located in the Midwest and South near existing assembly plants.
Households Burn Through What’s Left of Their Pandemic Savings (Feb. 6, Wall Street Journal) Americans have spent down about 35% of the extra savings they accumulated during the pandemic as of mid-January, according to an estimate from Goldman Sachs. By the end of the year, the company forecasts that they will have exhausted roughly 65% of that money.
Housing Market Shows Signs of Thawing (Feb. 6, Wall Street Journal) Mortgage applications are up by about a quarter since the end of last year. A measure of signed real-estate contracts rose in December after six months of declines.
Surprise Used-Car Price Jump Adds to Fed’s Inflation Worries (Feb. 8, Bloomberg) A surprise jump in used-vehicle prices last month is adding to US car buyers’ frustration and has the potential to dent hopes inflation is headed lower even as the Federal Reserve hikes interest rates.
The 2.5% rise in average used-vehicle prices in January from December retraced some of last year’s 15% decline…
The Baby Boomer Retirement Crisis Is Here. Why the Richest Generation Is Struggling. (Feb. 8, MarketWatch) The median nest egg for a family headed by someone age 60 to 65, with household income of $71,000 to $126,000, was about $150,000, according to 2019 data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute, or EBRI. For those with incomes in the top quartile—making more than about $126,000—the median retirement-savings balance grows to $535,000. An improvement, but certainly not a guarantee for funding a retirement that could span 20 years or more.
US Jobless Claims Pick Up for the First Time in Six Weeks (Feb. 9, Bloomberg) Applications for US unemployment benefits rose for the first time in six weeks but remained historically low, underscoring the resilience of the job market despite mounting economic uncertainty.
Initial unemployment claims rose by 13,000 to 196,000 in the week ended Feb. 4, Labor Department data showed Thursday.
Russia Retaliates for Sanctions By Announcing Oil Output Cut (Feb. 10, Bloomberg) Russia said it will cut oil output by 500,000 barrels a day next month, following through on a threat to retaliate against western sanctions and sending oil prices sharply higher.
Crude prices jumped on the news, with Brent erasing earlier losses to rise as much as 2% to $86.50 a barrel as of 8:50 a.m. in London.
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I founded Money Talks News in 1991. I’m a CPA, and I have also earned licenses in stocks, commodities, options principal, mutual funds, life insurance, securities supervisor and real estate.