by Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse Blog:
If stock prices are going to start plunging just because inflation is running a little bit hotter than expected, what is going to happen once the market finally realizes that the entire economy is literally starting to come apart at the seams? Consumer delinquency rates are spiking, the commercial real estate crisis is rapidly picking up steam, banks from coast to coast are in deep financial trouble, large corporations all over America are conducting mass layoffs, and homelessness has been rising at the fastest pace ever recorded. But if you ignore all of those little details, you can be just like Joe Biden and pretend that everything is just fine.
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On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 524 points. It was the largest one day loss since March 2023…
U.S. stocks tumbled in a broad sell-off after a hotter-than-expected inflation report may jeopardize the Federal Reserve’s plan to cut interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 524 points or 1.3%, trimming a deficit of over 700 points reached during the session. It is the worst trading day in 11 months.
The benchmark has erased almost half its gains for 2024 with the 10-year Treasury yield hitting 4.3%.
So why did this happen?
Well, we are being told that stock prices fell because the inflation numbers that were just released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics were a bit disappointing…
The latest Consumer Price Index revealed that prices rose by 3.1% for the 12 months ended in January, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Tuesday. On a monthly basis, CPI rose by 0.3% last month.
Both measures came in hotter than expected: Economists expected inflation to ease to 0.2% from December and slow to 2.9% annually, according to FactSet.
Honestly, I don’t know why anyone gives those numbers any credibility anyway.
Over the decades, the formula that is used to calculate the consumer price index has literally been changed dozens of times.
If inflation was still calculated the way that it was back in 1980, we would still be in double digit territory right now.
Meanwhile, we continue to get more signs that economic activity has reached a major turning point.
During the final three months of last year, Hasbro managed to lose more than a billion dollars…
For the last three months of 2023, Hasbro lost $1.06 billion, or $7.64 per share, drastically wider than losses of $128.9 million, or 93 cents, a year earlier. After major adjustments related to goodwill and intangible assets, the company reported adjusted earnings per share of 38 cents, still well below analysts’ estimates.
For the full year 2023, revenue declined 15% to $1.29 billion, including double-digit sales drops in its consumer products and entertainment segments.
I know that times are tough, but I have no idea how a company like Hasbro can possibly lose more than a billion dollars in just three months.
We are talking about a level of incompetence that is absolutely staggering.
Do they have Joe Biden running the company?
Because I don’t know how else to explain it.
Hasbro says that it plans to reduce costs by 750 million dollars by the end of next year, and that means that more mass layoffs are coming…
The company now expects to cut $750 million in costs by the end of 2025, up from a previous target of $350 million to $400 million.
In December, the toymaker laid off 1,100 employees after it had already cut 15% of its workforce earlier in the year.
Of course lots of other big names are laying off large numbers of workers as well.
In fact, I was quite surprised to learn that Paramount has decided that it is time for hundreds of their employees to hit the bricks…
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