Homeowners are axing insurance amid rising premiums
More Americans are declining to buy home insurance due to increasingly expensive premiums — leaving them at considerable risk of losing their homeandpersonalbelongingsincaseofadisaster.
The national average for home insurance based on anannualpolicythatoffersdwellingcoverageofup to $250,000 soared 20% this year to $1,428, accordingtoBankrate.
The higher premiums — which have been blamed onfactors ranging from inflationspikingthecostof materials and labor to climate change — are at the root of whysome12% of UShomeowners declineto buyinsurance,accordingtotheWallStreetJournal.
Of those who don’t buy policies, around half have annualhouseholdincomesoflessthan$40,000per year,accordingtodatacitedbytheJournal.
A standard homeowners insurance policy usually covers damage caused by fire, smoke, theft, vandalism,wind,hailandlightning.Floodinsurance istypicallynotincludedinastandardpolicy.
Those who are unable to find an insurer that would agree to cover their property could turn to a FAIR Plan, a state-run program jointly subsidized by taxpayersaswellasprivateinsurancecompanies.
Souce:
https://nypost.com/2023/08/29/why-americans-are-declining-to-buy-homeownersinsurance/
US economic growth for last quarter is revised down to a 2.1% annual rate
TheU.S.economyexpandedata2.1%annualpace from April through June, showing continued resilienceinthefaceofhigherborrowingcostsfor consumers and businesses, the government said Wednesday in a downgrade from its initial estimate.
Wednesday’s report on the nation’s gross domesticproduct—thetotaloutputofgoodsand services — showed that growth last quarter was drivenbyupticksinconsumerspending,business investment and outlays by state and local governments. A measure of consumer prices in the report also showed inflation cooling, which couldeasethepressureontheFedtofurtherraise interestrates.
Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70% of the U.S. economy, rose at a 1.7% annual pace in the April-June quarter — a decent gain, though down from 4.2% in the first three months of 2023. Excluding housing, business investment rose at a strong 6.1% annual rate last quarter. Investment in housing, hurt by higher mortgage rates,fellinthesecondquarter.
U.S. Consumer Oil Demand Has Exceeded Expectations
Earlier in the year, Wall Street was mostly bearish about the U.S. economic outlook with many warning of a looming recession. Not surprisingly, many oil punters expected oil demand to crash as unemployment rose and companies cut output thankstoaggregatedemandfalling.
Luckily, these predictions have turned out to be dead wrong. So far, the economy has proven to be remarkablyresilient. Oildemandhasgenerallyheld upmuchbetterthanpredicted.
According to commodity analysts at Standard Chartered, gasoline and jet fuel demand--both closely associated with household behavior-- have outperformed strongly relative to the start-of-year expectations by the Energy Information Administration with gasoline demand having risen 98kb/dy/y.
In contrast, the industrial side of things has been below par, with demand for distillate (including diesel) failing to meet expectations with distillate demand down 169 kb/d y/y; gasoline demand has riseny/yby98kb/d.
Souce:
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/US-Consumer-Oil-Demand-Has-ExceededExpectations.html
US offers $12 bln for automakers, suppliers for advanced vehicles
he Biden administration is offering $12 billion in grants and loans for automakers and suppliers to retrofit their plants to produce electric and other advanced vehicles, Energy Secretary Jennifer GranholmsaidonThursday.
Speeding grants and other subsidies to fund conversion ofexistingautoplants tobuild electric vehicles could help the White House blunt criticism from automakers and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union over proposed environmentalrulesaimedtohelpusherintheEV era.
The UAW has warned that a rapid change could put thousands of jobs at risk in states such as Michigan,Ohio,IllinoisandIndiana.
There will be no specific labor requirements for companiestoobtainthefunding,butprojectsthat have better labor conditions will have a greater chance of receiving the funding, an Energy Departmentofficialsaidonthecall.
The administration will also offer $3.5 billion in fundingtodomesticbatterymanufacturers.
Jobs report: 187,000 jobs added in August as unemployment rises to 3.8%
Hiringunexpectedly pickedupinAugust asemployersadded187,000jobsdespite highinterestrates and inflationbuttotalsforthepriortwomonthswerereviseddownsharply.
Theunemploymentrate, whichiscalculatedfromaseparatesurvey of households, rosefrom3.5%to 3.8%, theLaborDepartmentsaidFriday.That'smostlybecauseofasurgeofAmericansintothelaborforce,which includespeopleworkingandlookingforjobs.
EconomistssurveyedbyBloomberghadestimatedthat168,000jobswereadded.
Yet payroll growth for June and July was revised down by a whopping total of 110,000, portraying a much weakerpictureofemploymentgrowthoverthesummerthanpreviouslythought.AndjobgainsinAugust were expected to be affected by several unusual crosscurrents, making it tough to discern if the latest numbersreflectoverallhiringtrendsorone-offs.
Averagehourlyearnings rose8centsto$33.82,pushingdowntheyearlytoincrease4.3%from4.4%.That’s good news from the perspective of the Federal Reserve, which has been aggressively hiking interest rates to slow the labor market and tamp down annualpay increases to 3.5% to align with its 2% overall inflation target.Wagegrowthtopped5%lastyearamidseverelaborshortages.
Souce:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/09/01/jobs-report-august/70733227007/