Economist Tom Lawler noted that based on publicly available local realtor/MLS reports, he projects existing home sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.06 million in March, down 4.7 percent from February’s preliminary pace and down 1.5 percent from last March’s seasonally adjusted pace. 

Notably, in the 40 key housing markets tracked by analyst Bill McBride at Calculated Risk the inventory of active listings in March increased 32.0 percent year-over-year. Here’s how supply and active inventory looked in March for those regions: 

As of March 2025 

As of March 2025 

Cuts 

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court opted to allow the removal of 16,000 federal government workers who were on probation, and last week more than 20,000 IRS employees said they would accept government buyouts — about 20 percent of the agency’s workforce.  

Approximately 12,000 IRS staffers and probationary employees have already resigned or been laid off since January. The following GZERO graph breaks down the reductions: 

As of 4/17/2025 

Tariff Lawsuits 

Last week California Governor Gavin Newsom filed a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose, increase, and pause tariffs at will. California accounts for about 14 percent of the nation’s GDP and has one of the largest economies in the world. 

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) grants the president broad authority to regulate financial transactions or place sanctions on countries or foreign entities when declaring a national emergency in response to “unusual and extraordinary” threats. Trump cited that language in reference to the economic impact of undocumented immigrants entering the U.S. when he announced his intent to increase tariffs. 

As of January 15, 2024, presidents had declared 69 national emergencies invoking IEEPA, 39 of which are ongoing, according to Congressional Research Service records. (There are more than 120 statutory powers the president can invoke when declaring a national emergency.) 

Canadian Crude 

Chinese refiners are importing record amounts of Canadian crude oil after reducing purchases of U.S.-produced oil by roughly 90 percent. China purchased an all-time high of 7.3 million barrels in March and is on pace to exceed that in April. Imports of U.S. oil have dropped to 3 million barrels a month from a peak of 29 million in June 2024. 

Pay per Day 

Comparing average income in different countries can be complicated. Methodologies tend to include measuring per capita earnings and adjusting for taxes, benefits, cost of living and relative-to-currency buying power. The following Visual Capitalist graph compares the daily personal income of each nation’s wealthiest and poorest residents based on numbers assembled by the team at Our World in Data: 

As of 2024 

Tesla 

Last March, Tesla was producing many more vehicles than it was selling such that it was storing and stashing them in ports, parking lots, and outside its factories. Sales saw a record drop in Q1 of this year: 

As of April 2025 Sherwood News has more on the not-good news for Tesla. 

AI Scheming Study 

AI safety organization Apollo Research tested a variety of AI large language models (LLMs) for an ability to engage in strategic deception in pursuit of a goal, and found most had the capability to scheme — especially when nudged toward a goal, given conflicting goals, or given access to information that was an incentive to engage in scheming behavior. Visual Capitalist helpfully summed up Apollo’s findings in an infographic (click here for a larger view): 

Global Investment in AI 

As of 2024 

Data Center Boom 

U.S. data center construction spending grew at a 40 percent compound annual rate from 2021 to February 2025, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $34.8 billion in February 2025. 

As of February 2025 

On the Horizon

Mike PeQueen: Wednesday’s PCE deflator inflation report and Friday’s employment report will both be important but, again, will also be overshadowed by any news related to tariffs. 

Data & Dialogue About the Economy



The Fact Pack is a monthly business e-report co-authored by Mike PeQueen of Hightower Las Vegas and John Restrepo of RCG Economics, which combines important metrics relevant to business decision makers and financial commentary on the current issues facing the economy.

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