Activity on Ethereum amounted to more than $1.2 trillion this year, compared with $960 billion during the same time frame last year. Most of the transactions involve tether and USD Coin, the two largest dollar-pegged stablecoins, as well as deposits and withdrawals to major exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase.
Mortgage Rates
The 30-year mortgage rate hit a low for the year last week at 6.58%.
Restaurant Traffic
Traffic to U.S. restaurants has fallen 1.7% so far this year, and is down 2.7% for fast-food eateries.
Debt Consolidation
Personal-loan originations jumped 18% in the first quarter from a year earlier, bringing total balances to a record $257 billion, but relief can be temporary. A separate study found that while borrowers who consolidate card debt into personal loans initially reduce their card balances by an average of 57%, many refill those cards within 18 months.
Residential Moves
In the 1950s and ’60s, some 20% of Americans would typically move each year. By 2019, the year before the Covid pandemic, 9.8% of Americans moved. During Covid, there was a well-publicized brief surge. In 2023, only 7.8% of Americans moved, the lowest rate logged since U.S. Census records began in 1948. That figure held relatively steady in 2024, the most recent data available.
Hotel Industry Growth
The U.S. hotel industry started the year with a growth projection of +1.8 percent but is now revised to +1 percent for the year due to underperformance and elevated macroeconomic concerns.
401(k) Allocations
Workers in their late 30s had 88% of their 401(k)s in stocks last year, versus 82% a decade earlier. Investors in their early 60s had 401(k) allocations to stocks of 60%, up from 57% a decade ago.
Renters Demo
While homeownership climbs with age, the fastest-growing group of renters is those 55 and older. The share of renters 65 and older rose 30% in the last decade.
Small Business Optimism
The small business optimism index, a gauge of sentiment among small firms, improved to 100.3 in July from 98.6 in June, taking it further above the 98 point that marks the index’s long-term average.
Stock Buybacks
U.S. companies are projected to buyback more than $1.1 trillion worth of stock in 2025, which would mark an all-time high. Buybacks have been particularly concentrated at the top, with the 20 largest companies accounting for almost half of repurchases.