News of the Day

Homebuying activity faded in February.

Existing home sales declined 7.2% to a seasonally adjusted 6.02 million units in February from a month earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The number of sales was down 2.4% from the same month a year ago. January home sales figures were revised slightly down to 6.49 million from 6.5 million.

“The latest decline is of larger magnitude than normal,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR, noting that anything above 5% is considered a big swing.

Sales in all four regions of the U.S. fell, with the Northeast and Midwest leading the declines by recording a 11.5% and 11.3% drop, respectively. Sales fell 5.1% in the South and 4.7% in the West.

The median existing-home price for all housing types in February rose 15% to $357,300, up 15.0% from February 2021, as prices grew in each region. This marks 120 consecutive months of year-over-year increases, the longest-running streak on record.

“After 10 consecutive years of home price increases, the current U.S. median home sales price is more than double the $155,600 median in February 2012 when home prices began their current streak,” said Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale in a press statement.

“Housing affordability continues to be a major challenge, as buyers are getting a double whammy: rising mortgage rates and sustained price increases,” said Yun. “Some who had previously qualified at a 3% mortgage rate are no longer able to buy at the 4% rate.”

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday stayed a district judge’s injunction against President Joe Biden’s social cost of carbon, reinstating the metric used to measure the climate impacts of rulemakings and projects.

The social cost of carbon, which is used by the federal government when issuing regulations, approving infrastructure projects or taking other actions, is an estimate of the present and future damages resulting from emitting one ton of the greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. Climate activists hope a higher estimate will significantly increase the value assigned to pollution reductions, which in turn will help justify stronger climate regulations.

The stay allows EPA, the Departments of the Interior, Energy and Transportation and other federal agencies to resume using the interim SCC figures in rulemakings and other decisions. At least one major rule, regarding emissions from heavy-duty trucks was published without quantifying its climate benefits because of the injunction.

The stay is pending a fuller appeal of the injunction, but the order issued on Wednesday indicates the appellate court is not amenable to Louisiana’s arguments.

The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that it would raise interest rates for the first time in three years as policymakers look to cool red-hot inflation.

The widely anticipated move – that the Fed would raise rates by 25-basis points – brings to an end the ultra-easy monetary policy put in place two years ago to prop up the economy through the COVID-19 pandemic.

The rate liftoff, which puts the benchmark federal funds rate at a range between 0.25% and 0.5%, is likely just the start of a series of increases intended to curb runaway inflation.

New economic projections released after the meeting show that policymakers expected six more, similarly sized increases over the course of 2022 after consumer prices hit a 40-year-high. It marks a considerable shift from just six months ago, when half of the central bankers believed interest rate increases were not warranted until at least 2023. Fed officials also expect inflation to remain elevated, ending 2022 at 4.3% – far above the Fed’s annual target of 2.3%.

President Joe Biden marked Equal Pay Day on Tuesday by spotlighting new steps aimed at closing the gender pay gap for federal workers and contractors. And he urged private companies to do likewise.

President Biden signed an Equal Pay Day executive order that encourages — but does not order — the government to consider banning federal contractors from seeking information about job applicants’ prior salary history. The Labor Department also issued a directive aimed at strengthening federal contractors’ obligations to audit payrolls to help guard against pay disparities based on gender, race or ethnicity.

“It’s my hope that it sets an example for all private companies to follow as well,” Biden said after signing the executive order. “Gender equality is not a women’s issue alone. It benefits everybody.”

The Office of Personnel Management was directed to consider a regulation to address the use of prior salary history in hiring and setting compensation for federal workers.

The Labor Department said Tuesday that its producer price index, which measures inflation at the wholesale level before it reaches consumers, surged 10% in February from the year-ago period. On a monthly basis, prices grew by 0.8% – a slight slowdown from January, when the gauge spiked by 1.2%.

Core inflation at the wholesale level, which excludes the more volatile measurements of food and energy, increased 0.2% for the month, following a 0.8% increase in January. Over the past 12 months, core prices were up 6.6%.

Gasoline prices, which soared 14.8% in the month, accounted for nearly 40% of the February increase. Overall, prices for goods jumped 2.4% last month, while prices for services remained the same.

The eye-popping reading – which marked the ninth consecutive month the gauge has been above 5% – has ramped up pressure on the Federal Reserve to chart a more aggressive course in normalizing monetary policy. The central bank is almost certain to raise interest rates at the conclusion of its two-day, policy-setting meeting on Wednesday, with most economists penciling in a 25-basis-point hike as the start of a series of increases that could last for most of the year.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has left open the possibility of a rate hike at every meeting this year and has refused to rule out a more aggressive, half-percentage-point rate hike, but he said it’s important to be “humble and nimble.”

The Transportation Security Administration is extending the current mandate for mask use on public transportation and in transportation hubs through April 18.

The mandate had been set to expire on March 18.

The extension is based on a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a statement Thursday, TSA said the CDC will work on a “revised policy framework for when, and under what circumstances, masks should be required in the public transportation corridor.”

Like recent guidance regarding masks in other settings, the CDC says any revision will be based on the levels of COVID-19 at the community level, as well as on the risk of new variants, national data and the latest science.

The agency left the door open to an earlier termination of the policy, should the science support that.

The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) has released the 2022 Joint Taskforce on Worker Misclassification and Payroll Fraud report, which summarizes the task force’s activities throughout 2021 and includes multiple recommendations to strengthen Wisconsin’s ability to combat these forms of fraud.

The task force was created by Governor Evers on April 15, 2019, to evaluate current law and potential options, whether through change to statute or administrative rule, that will help prevent worker misclassification and protect thousands of workers while also leveling the playing field for businesses that follow the law.

The report included the following recommendations:

1. Direct agencies to continue to investigate and work with the Department of Justice to prosecute violations of misclassification laws, such as Wis. Stat. § 108.24(2) and (2m). Require the Department of Justice to make the names of the businesses prosecuted public.
2. Amend Wis. Stat. ch. 183 to require the disclosure of all members and managers of domestic and foreign Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) at organization or registration and in annual reports.
3. Amend Wis. Stat. ch. 183 to include a false filings provision and penalty.
4. Amend Wis. Stat. ch. 183 to provide for limited enforcement authority by DFI to investigate and refer violations to the Attorney General to enjoin LLC.
5. Direct the Department of Revenue and Department of Workforce Development to create and adopt a unified worker classification questionnaire.

DWD Secretary-designee Amy Pechacek also announced that the work of the task force has concluded with the issuance of the report.

For more information on the work of the Joint Enforcement Task Force on Worker Misclassification and Payroll Fraud please visit the Joint Enforcement Task Force on Payroll Fraud and Worker Misclassification website.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order on government oversight of cryptocurrency that urges the Federal Reserve to explore whether the central bank should jump in and create its own digital currency. Under the executive order, Biden also directed the Treasury Department and other federal agencies to study the impact of cryptocurrency on financial stability and national security.

The executive order had been widely anticipated by the finance industry, crypto traders, speculators and lawmakers who have compared the cryptocurrency market to the Wild West.

Despite the risks, the government said, surveys show that roughly 16% of adult Americans — or 40 million people — have invested in cryptocurrencies. And 43% of men age 18-29 have put their money into cryptocurrency.

As for the Federal Reserve getting involved with digital assets, the central bank issued a paper in January that said a digital currency “would best serve the needs” of the country through a model in which banks or payment firms create accounts or digital wallet.

Adam Zarazinski, CEO of Inca Digital, a crypto data company that does work for several federal agencies, said the order presents the opportunity to provide “new approaches to finance.”

“The U.S. has an interest in growing financial innovation,” Zarazinksi said. He added that China and Russia were looking at crypto and building their own currency. More than 100 countries have begun or are piloting their own digital sovereign currency, according to the White House.

Katherine Dowling, general counsel for Bitwise Asset Management, a cryptocurrency asset management firm, said an executive order that provides more legal clarity on government oversight would be “a long term positive for crypto.”

But Hilary Allen, a financial regulation professor at American University, cautioned against moving too fast to embrace cryptocurrencies.

“I think crypto is a place where we should be putting the brakes on this innovation until it’s better understood,” she said. “As crypto becomes more integrated into our financial system it creates vulnerabilities not just to those who are investing in crypto but for everybody who participates in our economy.”

On Tuesday, the Treasury Department said its financial literacy arm would work to develop consumer-friendly materials to help people “make informed choices about digital assets.”

In a joint letter to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Governor Evers joined several governors in urging quick passage of The Gas Prices Relief Act of 2022, which would lower gas prices through the end of 2022.

According to the American Automobile Association, the average price of gas in Wisconsin is currently $3.942 per gallon compared to $3.377 just one week ago on March 1 and $2.646 per gallon at this time one year ago.

The Gas Prices Relief Act would: suspend the 18.4 cents per gallon federal gas tax until Jan. 1, 2023; require the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury to monitor the program in order to ensure oil and gas companies pass along the savings at the pump to consumers; encourage the secretary to take appropriate enforcement actions to ensure consumers see these savings; and maintain the integrity of the Highway Trust Fund by requiring the U.S. Department of Treasury to make general fund transfers to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent.

“From rising costs in grocery store aisles and at gas pumps to affording the costs of childcare and caregiving, I know folks and families are feeling the pressure of everyday costs going up,” said Gov. Evers. “Wisconsinites can’t wait for relief—they need help today. I’m urging Congress to find common ground and take action now to help lower gas prices so we can make sure families, farmers, and small businesses can make ends meet.”

President Biden is expected to announce Tuesday that the U.S. will ban Russian oil, natural gas and coal imports as part of his administration’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A source familiar with the plans confirmed to The Hill that Biden intends to announce the ban, which was first reported by Bloomberg.

The White House said in updated guidance Tuesday morning that Biden will speak at 10:45 a.m. and will “announce actions to continue to hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine.”

The White House in recent days has been reticent to ban the imports as gas prices have soared, but there have been growing calls from members of both parties to ban Russian oil as punishment for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.