월스트리트저널 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 구독 추천(2023.9.13)

WEDESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2023

 

◈ More Baby Boomers Become Homeless(더 많은 베이비붐 세대가 노숙자가 된다)

NAPLES, Fla.—Judy Schroeder was living a stable retirement in this affluent Florida enclave. Then her apartment building was sold to a new owner during the pandemic and she lost her part-time job working at a family-owned liquor store.

What followed was a swift descent into homelessness.

Faced with a rent increase of more than $500 a month, Schroeder, who had little savings and was living month-to-month on Social Security, moved out and started couch surfing with friends and acquaintances. She called hundreds of other landlords in Naples and southwest Florida but failed to find anything more affordable. She applied for a low-income housing voucher. She began eyeing her 2004 Pontiac Grand Am as a last resort shelter.

“I never thought, at 71 years old, that I would be in this position,” she said.

Baby boomers, who transformed society in so many ways, are now having a dramatic effect on homelessness. Higher numbers of elderly living on the street or in shelters add complications and expenses for hospitals and other crisis services. The humanitarian problem is becoming a public-policy crisis, paid for by taxpayers.

 

◈ Inflation Took Toll On Incomes in 2022(2022년 인플레이션이 소득에 타격을 입혔다)

Surging inflation gobbled up household income gains last year, making 2022 the third straight year in which Americans saw their living standards eroded by rising prices and pandemic disruptions.

Americans’ inflation-adjusted median household income fell to $74,580 in 2022, declining 2.3% from the 2021 estimate of $76,330, the Census Bureau said Tuesday. The amount has dropped 4.7% since its peak in 2019.

The figures add to the picture of the economic challenges facing households since Covid-19 hit in early 2020. Inflation hit a four-decade high last summer as the pandemic upended supply chains and the Ukraine war drove up energy prices.

This year could be different. Earnings and inflation trends have improved as a strong labor market and cooling price increases boosted household purchasing power, said Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank.

 

◈ Wall Street Pressed to Curb China Investment (월스트리트, 중국 위험자산 투자 억제 압박)

Washington politicians are urging Wall Street executives to accept new curbs on American investments in China in the name of U.S. security.

Leaders of the bipartisan House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party traveled to New York City this week to argue that financial entanglements with China have helped America’s primary adversary advance its technological and military capabilities, and that the pursuit of profits has made U.S. financial executives largely blind to those risks.

“They put on their golden blindfolds and chase a yield that never comes,” committee chairman Mike Gallagher (R., Wis.) said at a hearing Tuesday.

 

◈ Banks Load Up On $1.2 Trillion In Risky Deposits(은행들은 위험한 투자에 1조 2천억 달러를 투자한다)

At midyear, Zions Bancorp reported holding $8.5 billion in brokered deposits, an obscure but costly banking industry product that is drawing attention from regulators. At this time last year, the Salt Lake City-based bank had practically none.

Many industry players view brokered deposits as a double-edged sword. They can be a quick and easy way for a bank to shore up its balance sheet. The deposits are typically much more expensive because banks have to pay higher interest rates to lure in those customers, along with other fees. Regulators and bankers say they are also a type of “hot” money that is prone to disappear when a bank hits a rough patch, since these yield-seeking customers don’t tend to be loyal.

U.S. banks collectively held more than $1.2 trillion in brokered deposits in the second quarter, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The total marked an 86% increase from a year earlier.

 

◈ Technology Sector Pulls Stocks Lower(기술 부문, 주가 하락)

Technology stocks pulled the S& P 500 lower after a disappointing forecast from Oracle damped enthusiasm for the sector.

The retreat by the S& P 500’s largest segment helped send the broad index down 0.6% for the day, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is less influenced by tech stocks, slipped 0.1%, or about 18 points.

Investors were looking ahead to Wednesday’s report on the consumer-price index, the highest-profile inflation data remaining before the Federal Reserve’s rate-setting committee meets next week. Producer- price numbers on Thursday and a consumer-sentiment reading Friday will also play into expectations of the central bank’s thinking.

 

오늘도 경제신문으로 세상을 봅니다.