Money in a Minute for the Week Ending Oct. 1

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.

Rents Drop for First Time in Two Years After Climbing to Records (Sept. 26, Wall Street Journal):

August apartment asking rents nationally fell 0.1% from July, according to a report from property data company CoStar Group. It was the first monthly decline in rent since December 2020, the company said.

Last month’s rent declines are modest compared with the 23% overall increase in rent since August 2020…

Factory Jobs Are Booming Like It’s the 1970s (Sept. 26, New York Times):

American manufacturers cut roughly 1.36 million jobs from February to April of 2020, as Covid-19 shut down much of the economy. As of August this year, manufacturers had added back about 1.43 million jobs, a net gain of 67,000 workers above prepandemic levels.

Home prices cooled in July at the fastest rate in the history of S&P Case-Shiller Index (Sept. 27, CNBC):

U.S. home prices cooled in July at the fastest rate in the history of the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index, according to a report released Tuesday.

Home prices in July were still higher than they were a year ago, but cooled significantly from June gains. Prices nationally rose 15.8% over July 2021, well below the 18.1% increase in the previous month, according to the report.

Bank of England to Buy Bonds in Bid to Stop Spread of Crisis (Sept. 28, Wall Street Journal):

The Bank of England on Wednesday said it would buy U.K. government bonds with long maturities “on whatever scale is necessary” in an effort to restore order to the market after a large set of government tax cuts sent borrowing costs soaring.

The sudden change by the central bank highlights the challenges facing the U.K.’s financial markets after the government’s tax-cut plans unveiled last week spooked investors, sparking a steep selloff in the pound and roiling debt markets.

Stocks Soar as Bond Prices Rally (Sept. 28, Wall Street Journal):

U.S. stocks swung higher on Wednesday, delivering an emphatic end to a week of punishing losses.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.707% from 3.963% on Tuesday, a massive move in bond-market terms.

Mortgage Rates Rise to 6.7%, Highest Since 2007 (Sept. 29, Wall Street Journal):

Existing-home sales have dropped for seven months in a row through August. Home prices are still rising on a year-over-year basis, but the pace of growth has slowed, and prices are starting to decline month over month.

Stocks End Month With Worst Losing Streak in 20 Years (Sept. 30, Barron’s):

It has been a painful month for investors. The Dow was set to close out September with the worst one-month performance since the Covid-19 selloff of March 2020, with all three major indexes seeing the largest declines across three quarters since 2009.

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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.