It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
This "Bankrate" page shows current mortgage data. Scroll down the page about 1/3 for current data, which also includes a rate change chart from the beginning of this year. Select "mortgage" ; although "refinance" is very similar, and the time period you choose for review.You noted "home sales are falling off".
The new era of higher inflation and interest rates is already proving to be a challenging one for investors. The first quarter of 2022 was the worst one in two years for the stock market. Inflation reached 40 year highs, and in response, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time since 2018 and is signaling an aggressive policy of multiple rate hikes in the months ahead.
Then there are all the other disturbing and disruptive developments to consider: the extended impact of Covid on global growth, supply chain problems, Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine, and aggressive actions from China, North Korea, and Iran.
How to navigate these challenges as investors is the job of this week’s guest. She is an influential strategist, Savita Subramanian who has two leading roles at BofA Global Research. She is Head of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Research, the first in that position, and the Head of U.S. Equity and Quantitative Strategy.
It will not, however, be the same outfit. The board of directors will be different.The proposed reorganization of the Target [old] Funds will not result in a change in the current investment adviser, Mairs & Power, Inc., to the Target Funds, or any change to the Target Funds’ investment objectives, strategies or investment policies. ... the expenses of the Reorganization were not expected to result in an increase in each Target Fund’s total annual fund operating expense ratio
@BenWP FWIW, MAFIX is available with $0 min, but a $20 TF over at E*TRADE.....have you found a way around the $1M minimum investment in MAFIX?
Here's a tiny bit of anecdotal information from someone within the industry that provides some perspective on recent inflation affecting groceries. The source of rising prices identified here is not necessarily what I would have expected:
“I would say logistics is the number-one reason we are having inflation. It’s very difficult to find drivers, and wages are going up. Fuel surcharges are through the roof. The freight to get goods to the consolidation points has doubled since pre-pandemic. The cost of packaging goes up because it’s shipped to the producers. Even ocean freight has doubled compared to pre-pandemic. We mostly use our own trucks and drivers, but because of the driver shortage, if someone calls out sick, a route doesn’t go out. We’ve had new trucks on order for almost a year. This shortage of drivers, trucks and truck parts for repairs makes freight more expensive and service much worse. It seems crazy that we would be paying double the freight for far worse service, but there it is.”
A United Nations agency says the war in Ukraine sent food commodity prices soaring in March to the highest levels it has ever recorded.
The Food and Agriculture Organization announced on Friday that its FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of a "basket of commonly-traded food commodities," averaged 159.3 points in March. That's up 12.6% from February, which already saw the highest level since the organization began tracking in 1990. It's also 33.6% higher than it was last March.
Russia and Ukraine collectively accounted for about 30% of global wheat exports and 20% of maize exports over the last three years, the organization said, with conflict-related export disruptions in both countries prompting a surge in global prices of wheat and coarse grain. The FAO Cereal Price Index was 17.1% higher in March than it was in February.
"The expected loss of exports from the Black Sea region exacerbated the already tight global availability of wheat," the organization added. "With concerns over crop conditions in the United States of America also adding support, world wheat prices rose sharply in March, soaring by 19.7 percent."
It also notes that Ukraine is the world's leading exporter of sunflower seed oil, and says the rising prices of sunflower seed oil and crude oil raised the prices of other vegetable oils, like palm, soy and rapeseed. Altogether, the FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index rose 23.2% in a month.
NEW YORK — Walmart workers who once unloaded trucks now have a chance to drive them.
The nation's largest retailer has launched a training program that gives employees who work in its distribution or fulfillment centers a chance to become certified Walmart truck drivers through a 12-week program taught by the company's established drivers.
Walmart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, also said it is raising pay for its 12,000 truck drivers. The starting range for new drivers will now between $95,000 and $110,000, according to Walmart spokeswoman Anne Hatfield. The retailer said that $87,500 had been the average that new truck drivers could make in their first year.
The moves announced Thursday come as the pandemic has made trucker shortages more severe as demand to move freight reaches historic highs. The American Trucking Associations, a large industry trade group, estimates that the nation is short about 80,000 drivers.
Walmart said about 20 workers in Dallas and Dover, Delaware, have earned their commercial driver's licenses. About 400 to 800 workers in the company's supply-chain network are expected to complete the truck-driving program this year, Hatfield said.
© 2015 Mutual Fund Observer. All rights reserved.
© 2015 Mutual Fund Observer. All rights reserved. Powered by Vanilla
