{"id":84922,"date":"2024-10-12T01:00:34","date_gmt":"2024-10-12T08:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=84922"},"modified":"2024-10-15T13:41:39","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T20:41:39","slug":"black-coffee-12-oct-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id84922-black-coffee-12-oct-2024.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Running the Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe …<\/em><\/p>\n

Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what’s been going on in the world of money and personal finance.<\/p>\n

I hope everybody had an enjoyable week. Without further ado, let’s get right to this week’s commentary …<\/p>\n

Numbers don’t always tell the whole story.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

– Phillip Rivers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Credits and Debits<\/strong><\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Did you see this? The largest producer of french fries in North America and a major supplier to fast-food chains, restaurants and grocery stores – Lamb Weston – was already having a bad year with shares of the company down 35% this year. And now the company says it is closing one of its production plants in Washington state and laying off nearly 400 employees in response to slowing customer demand<\/a>. What?<\/strong><\/em> How is this even possible? After all, who doesn’t like french fries? Regardless … despite waning demand, we’re positive that french fries will never become rarer than these<\/strong><\/em> …<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> On a related note, Zero Hedge<\/em> is reporting that, “The world could be on the cusp of another food inflation shock<\/a> as the benchmark for world food commodity prices recorded the fastest monthly increase in 18 months in September.\u201d So it looks like the Fed\u2019s recent 50 basis point rate cut is already taking effect. Meanwhile, back on Main Street …<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> In other news, in yet more bad news<\/a> for the commercial real estate bubble market, Home Depot has put up nearly 4 million square feet of warehouse space for sublease in the past year. Now \u2026 who still thinks we\u2019re in for a soft landing?<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Speaking of commercial real estate, a Freddie Mac commercial mortgage-backed securities loan for the rental portion of the once-iconic Detroit property Riverfront Towers has gone 30 days delinquent<\/a>. For those not keeping score at home, the delinquent 10-year loan was for $85.5 million at an interest rate of 4.4% and was originated in June 2018. Now for the punchline: the towers have an 89% occupancy rate. And if you think that<\/strong><\/em> makes sense, perhaps you can also explain this:<\/p>\n