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Federal Reserve Beige Book
January 18, 2023--National Summary
Overall Economic Activity
Overall economic activity was relatively unchanged since the previous report. Five Districts reported slight or modest increases in overall activity, six noted no change or slight declines, and one cited a significant decline. On balance, contacts generally expected little growth in the months ahead. Consumer spending increased slightly, with some retailers reporting more robust sales over the holidays.
Other retailers noted that high inflation continued to reduce consumers' purchasing power, particularly among low- and moderate-income households.
Auto sales were flat on average, but some dealers noted that increased vehicle availability had boosted sales. Tourism contacts reported moderate to robust activity augmented by strong holiday travel. Manufacturers indicated that activity declined modestly on average, and, in many Districts, reported that supply chain disruptions had eased. Housing markets continued to weaken, with sales and construction declining across Districts. Commercial real estate activity slowed slightly, on average, with more notable weakening in the office market. Nonfinancial services firms experienced stable demand on balance. Most bankers reported that residential mortgage demand remained weak, and some said higher borrowing costs had begun to dampen commercial lending. Energy activity continued to increase moderately, and agriculture conditions were generally unchanged or improving.
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Source: federalreserve.gov
KraneShares Launches China Internet Covered Call ETF (Ticker: KLIP) on the New York Stock Exchange
January 12, 2022--Krane Funds Advisors, LLC ("KraneShares"), an asset management firm known for its China-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and innovative investment strategies, announced the launch of the KraneShares China Internet & Covered Call Strategy ETF (ticker: KLIP) on the New York Stock Exchange.
KLIP seeks to provide current income by following a "covered call" or "buy-write" strategy. KLIP buys shares of the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (ticker: KWEB) and "writes" or "sells" corresponding call options on KWEB. KWEB is one of the world's leading China region ETFs with more than nine years of track record and over $7.5 billion in assets under management.1 KWEB offers exposure to companies within China’s rapidly growing internet sector. Top holdings include, Alibaba, Tencent, Meituan, and JD.com.2
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Source: kraneshares.com
SEC Charges Genesis and Gemini for the Unregistered Offer and Sale of Crypto Asset Securities through the Gemini Earn Lending Program
January 12, 2023--January 12, 2023--The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Genesis Global Capital, LLC and Gemini Trust Company, LLC for the unregistered offer and sale of securities to retail investors through the Gemini Earn crypto asset lending program.
Through this unregistered offering, Genesis and Gemini raised billions of dollars' worth of crypto assets from hundreds of thousands of investors. Investigations into other securities law violations and into other entities and persons relating to the alleged misconduct are ongoing.
According to the complaint, in December 2020, Genesis, part of a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, entered into an agreement with Gemini to offer Gemini customers, including retail investors in the United States, an opportunity to loan their crypto assets to Genesis in exchange for Genesis' promise to pay interest.
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Source: SEC.gov
USCF Announces Launch of the USCF Sustainable Battery Metals Strategy Fund (Ticker: ZSB)
January 11, 2023--USCF today announced it has launched the USCF Sustainable Battery Metals Strategy Fund (ZSB). ZSB seeks total return by investing primarily in metals derivative instruments and, to a lesser extent in the equity securities of companies that are economically tied to
the metals that are necessary for "Electrification".
ZSB is an actively managed exchange traded fund (ETF).
"The energy transition is here and we believe that demand for certain metals should increase as the global economy undergoes a
process known as "Electrification" said John Love, President and CEO of USCF.
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Source: uscfinvestments.com
Tidal plans to convert separately managed account into an ETF
January 11, 2023--White-label ETF issuer executive expects huge growth in SMA conversions
Tidal Financial Group, the white-label ETF issuer, plans to guide a separately managed account through the complex process of converting to an actively managed transparent ETF, a regulatory filing shows.
Tidal on Wednesday registered the Days Absolute Return ETF, which will be launched by converting an SMA that has been offered since November 2018, the filing states.
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Source: FT.com
Record drought gripped much of the U.S. in 2022
January 10, 2023--Nation struck with 18 billion-dollar disasters
The large coverage and long duration of drought conditions across the U.S. set several records in 2022.
The year was also marked by numerous severe weather events, devastating hurricanes and deadly flooding across parts of the country.
Here is a summary of the climate and extreme weather events across the U.S. in 2022:
Climate by the numbers-2022
The average annual temperature across the contiguous U.S. was 53.4 degrees F -1.4 degrees above the 20th-century average- ranking in the warmest third of the 128-year record.
Florida and Rhode Island both saw their fifth-warmest calendar year on record while Massachusetts ranked sixth warmest. Four additional states experienced a top-10 warmest year on record - California, Connecticut, Maine and New Hampshire. Alaska saw its 16th-warmest year in the 98-year record for the state.
Annual precipitation across the contiguous U.S. totaled 28.35 inches (1.59 inches below average), which placed 2022 in the driest third of the climate record. Nebraska saw its fourth-driest year on record while California had its ninth driest. Meanwhile, above-average precipitation caused Alaska to have its fourth-wettest year on record.
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Source: NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
Extreme weather, fueled by climate change, cost the U.S. $165 billion in 2022.
January 10, 2022--A town-flattening hurricane in Florida. Catastrophic flooding in eastern Kentucky. Crippling heatwaves in the Northeast and West. A historic megadrought. The United States endured 18 separate disasters in 2022 whose damages exceeded $1 billion, with the total coming to $165 billion, according to a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The annual report from the nation's premier meteorological institution highlights a troubling trend: Extreme weather events, fueled by human-caused climate change, are occurring at a higher frequency with an increased cost-in dollars and lives.
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Source: npr.org
CBO-Monthly Budget Review: December 2022
January 10, 2022--Summary
The federal budget deficit was $418 billion in the first quarter of fiscal year 2023, the Congressional Budget Office estimates-$41 billion more than the shortfall recorded during the same period last year. Revenues were $26 billion (or 2 percent) lower and outlays were $15 billion (or 1 percent) higher from October through December 2022 than they were in the first quarter of the prior fiscal year.
Outlays in fiscal year 2023 were reduced by the shifting of certain payments-totaling $63 billion-from October 1, 2022 (the first day of fiscal year 2023), into fiscal year 2022 because October 1 fell on a weekend.
In addition, as was the case in fiscal year 2022, outlays increased in the first quarter of this fiscal year (through December 2022) because certain payments that otherwise would have been due on January 1, a holiday, were instead made in December. If those various shifts had not occurred, the first-quarter deficit in fiscal year 2023 would have been $455 billion, or $102 billion more than the first-quarter deficit of $353 billion in fiscal year 2022, an increase of 29 percent.
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Source: CBO.gov
Kathleen Moriarty, aka 'Spider Woman,' Helped Launch Exchange-Traded Funds
January 6, 2023--Securities lawyer, who has died at age 69, worked on pioneering SPDR S&P 500 fund
As a securities lawyer, Kathleen H. Moriarty was known for her ability to persuade staff members at the Securities and Exchange Commission that they could live with strange new types of investments.
Her greatest triumph was exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, a type of asset that regulators pondered for years before approving. In 1993, she helped launch the hugely successful SPDR S&P 500 ETF.
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Source: wsj.com
IMF Working Paper-The Pricing-Out Phenomenon in the U.S. Housing Market
January 6, 2023--Summary:
The COVID-19 pandemic further extended the multi-year housing boom in advanced economies and emerging markets alike against massive monetary easing during the pandemic. In this paper, we analyze the pricing-out phenomenon in the U.S. residential housing market due to higher house prices associated with monetary easing.
We first set up a stylized general equilibrium model and show that although monetary easing decreases the mortgage payment burden, it would raise house prices, lower housing affordability for first-time homebuyers, and increase housing wealth inequality between first-time and repeat homebuyers.
We then use the U.S. household-level data to quantify the effect of the house price change on housing affordability relative to that of the interest rate change. We find evidence of the pricing-out effect for all homebuyers; moreover, we find that the pricing-out effect is stronger for first-time homebuyers than for repeat homebuyers. The paper highlights the importance of accounting for general equilibrium effects and distributional implications of monetary policy while assessing housing affordability. It also calls for complementing monetary easing with well-targeted policy measures that can boost housing affordability, particularly for first-time and lower-income households. Such measures are also needed during aggressive monetary tightening, given that the fall in house prices may be insufficient or too slow to fully offset the immediate adverse impact of higher rates on housing affordability.
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Source: imf.org
