The local Star-Advertiser today carried an article that headlined: Gold hits record $5,311 as dollar falls ahead of Fed decision First of all, the Federal Reserve today held interest rates steady for the first time since July . Fed Chair Jerome Powell ( will stay on as governor until the end of 2028 ) said that economic activity and business fixed investment have been expanding at a solid pace, while consumer spending has been resilient. However, even though the housing market continues to show weakness, it has begun to show signs of recent life. Mortgage rates have been at a three-year low. Yet, 6% for 30-year fixed is not exactly low. 15-year fixed is around 5%, also not so good. On the other hand, it was 7% last year. A good low interest rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage is anything below 4%. In January 2021, a record low of 2.65% was reached. This rate hovered between 3% and 4% in the 2010s. However, and this surprising to me, the hist...
When we were in Seoul, one of my postings was on the most popular Korean songs from the 1950's to the present . In Tokyo, I also did not quite finish something similar for Japan. So today will be one of the fallouts from our recent 2-month adventure throughout the Orient. Similar to South Korea, Japan had a relatively recent big hit on Billboard: Yoasobi's Idol reached #1 on the Billboard Global...Excluding the U.S., on 10June2023. Well, not quite the same, for BTS hit #1 in 2020 on the Billboard Hot 100 with Dynamite , and followed at #1 with Savage Love ( complicated re-mix of Savage Love with Jason Derulo and Jawsh 685 ), Life Goes On, Butter, Permission to Dance and My Universe (with Coldplay). Yoasobi is a Japanese musical duo formed in 2019 of producer Ayase ( on the left ) and vocalist Lilas Ikuta. I asked Google AI about other recent Japanese hits. Other Japanese songs to hit the top 10 of the Global Excl. U...