2022 a Year Defined by Inflation Pressure, Aggressive Fed Policy & Geopolitical Tension

Existing home sales fell in November for the sixth time, falling to their second lowest level on record. The index fell 4% last month to 73.9, its lowest level without considering the pandemic since 2001. Unlike other parts of the economy the housing market has seen a sharp decrease in demand caused by the jump in borrowing costs.

A MasterCard report regarding retail sales showed a year-over-year increase of 7.6% excluding autos between November 1 and December 24. The increase is higher than the estimate by the company in September, where they expected an increase of 7.1%.

The latest IMF projection regarding world GDP shows growth of 3.2% in 2022 and 2.7% in 2023 and said that these are the weakest projections since the 2001 crisis, except for the pandemic and the global financial crisis.