The U.S. economy grew 3.1% over the last year, defying projections of a recession as a resilient labor market supported strong consumer spending. The 2023 figure stands in contrast to what economists expected a year ago, when they saw a recession as very likely and expected anemic 0.2% growth for the year. Last year’s gain was a sharp pickup from a comparable 0.7% advance in 2022.
Rising interest rates drew trillions of dollars into money-market funds and other cash-like investments in the past two years, with more than $8.8 trillion parked in money funds and CDs as of the third quarter of 2023.
In 2023, ETFs gathered nearly $600 billion in net flows. While that’s less than some previous years, including 2021’s nearly $1 trillion record haul, it still shows the massive, sustained momentum behind ETFs.
BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, announced it is buying Global Infrastructure Partners for about $12 billion in cash and stock. The acquisition is part of the firm’s increased focus on infrastructure.
Private-equity investment has dramatically changed the life insurance and annuity business over the past decade. By 2022, buyout firms owned 137 U.S. insurance companies with $534 billion in assets, about 6.5% of the entire U.S. market, up from 90 insurers and $314 billion in 2018, around 4.8% of the market.
U.S. retail sales rose 3.1% from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24, reflecting a year marked by rising prices. After a busy Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend, many consumers waited for the last minute to shop, with Saturday, Dec. 23, the biggest sales day of the year—topping Black Friday.
The 30-year mortgage rate has fallen by more than a percentage point recently to 6.62%. The shrinking spread between that and the 10-year Treasury yield amounts to roughly one-sixth of the decline.
The December index of consumer sentiment jumped to 69.7 from November’s 61.3. This was still below its April 2020 level of 71.8. In February 2020, it was at 101.
