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3 weeks ago | 
kansascityfed.org | Nicholas Sly
Subscribe Share by: Nicholas Sly and Juan David Munoz Henao Purchases of certain essential items are necessary for households to provide for their livelihood. Spending on food, clothing, shelter, utilities, personal care and transportation all represent expenditures so critical to the wellbeing of households that falling short of a minimum threshold can lead them to being categorized as impoverished, as determined by the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM).
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1 month ago | 
kansascityfed.org | Ty Kreitman
The U.S. agricultural sector is especially vulnerable to fluctuations in trade with Mexico, Canada, and China. Several major commodities and staple consumer food products rely heavily on exports to and imports from these countries. Major changes to these key trade relationships could lead to reduced farm sector revenues and higher food prices for consumers.
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2 months ago | 
kansascityfed.org | Nicholas Sly
Subscribe Share by: Nicholas Sly Contacts from several communities and industries noted recently that heightened uncertainty is weighing on their decision making in various ways. The recent rise in uncertainty has several drivers, including trade policy uncertainty, monetary policy uncertainty, other fiscal policy changes, as well as uncertainties about potential changes in economic fundamentals.
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Mar 9, 2025 | 
kansascityfed.org | Nate Kauffman |Ty Kreitman
Agricultural real estate values in the Midwest and plains states were flat through the end of 2024.
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Jan 31, 2025 | 
kansascityfed.org | Karlye Dilts Stedman |Emily Pollard
Subscribe Share by: Karlye Dilts Stedman and Emily Pollard Download Article Over the past two years, the U.S. labor market has cooled from very tight levels but remains healthy. However, aggregate figures may mask important differences across industries.
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Dec 6, 2024 | 
kansascityfed.org | Jordan Pandolfo
Subscribe Share by: Jordan Pandolfo Download Article The Federal Reserve began tightening monetary policy in March 2022 to combat higher inflation. This tightening, in turn, increased borrowing costs for a wide range of consumer financial products such as auto loans, mortgages, and credit cards. Higher borrowing costs can dampen demand as households use more disposable income to service interest expenses, which, in turn, can cool inflation.
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Dec 2, 2024 | 
kansascityfed.org | Padma Sharma |Brendan Laliberte
Subscribe Share by: Padma Sharma and Brendan Laliberte Download Article The commercial real estate (CRE) sector shifted significantly after the COVID-19 pandemic, as more remote work led to increased office vacancies. If higher office vacancy rates persist, losses could accrue not only to owners of those properties, but also to the banks and other financial intermediaries that finance them.
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Nov 15, 2024 | 
kansascityfed.org | Ying Lei Toh
Fast payments can help consumers improve their cash flow, but the speed and irrevocability of these payments also make them a target for fraudsters seeking to commit authorized push payment (APP) scams. Combating APP scams is critical to ensuring the safety of fast payments and building and maintaining consumer confidence in fast payment systems.
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Sep 4, 2024 | 
kansascityfed.org | Matt Hanauer |W. Blake Marsh |Nicholas Sly
Subscribe Share Download Article Changes in the price of multifamily properties are important to monitor for both economic and financial stability reasons. The multifamily real estate market is one of the largest investor asset classes in the United States: as of mid-2024, multifamily properties have an estimated market capitalization of $4.6 trillion.
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Aug 15, 2024 | 
kansascityfed.org | Nicholas Sly |Bethany Greene
Subscribe Share Commercial Real Estate Activity in the Tenth District Continued to Stabilize PDFDownload Article The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City released its KC Fed CRE Index for the third quarter of 2024 today. The value of the index increased slightly from -0.85 to -0.6, indicating commercial real estate activity in the region continued to stabilize, but remained below historical norms.