Archive | Chart of the Day

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Nov 12, 2026

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2 min read

$942 Billion in Buybacks, $630 Billion in Dividends: Who Got the Better Deal

You can't deposit a number on a screen. And selling shares to raise cash means eating your own seed corn.

Ray Calloway

Nov 11, 2026

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2 min read

7% Rates, $417,500 Median Price: the Monthly Payment Now Tops $2,200.

The median home is $417,500. Median household income is $87,000. That is 4.8 years of every dollar your household earns, before taxes or groceries.

Ray Calloway

Nov 10, 2026

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2 min read

Pull up the Bond Side of Your Statement This Week

From 1981 to 2020, bond investors made money almost every year. An entire generation of advisors built careers on that one-way trade. It has reversed.

Ray Calloway

Nov 9, 2026

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2 min read

If Your Retirement Portfolio Is Counting on a Manufacturing Rebound, Look at This Chart

At $106 billion a month, roughly $1.2 trillion a year flows overseas and comes back as foreign purchases of U.S. assets. The pace is picking up.

Ray Calloway

Nov 6, 2026

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2 min read

By 2035, the Government's Own Actuaries Expect 2.3 Workers per Retiree

More than 11,200 boomers cross from the paying side to the collecting side every day. No bill on the Speaker's desk fixes demographics overnight.

Ray Calloway

Nov 5, 2026

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2 min read

The U.S. Government Just Hit Its Smallest Size Since Lyndon Johnson Was President

2 million federal civilian employees for 343 million Americans. The last time headcount was this low, the country had 196 million people. That one fact tends to stop a dinner table cold.

Ray Calloway

Nov 4, 2026

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2 min read

Oil Was $67 in January. This Morning It Is $105.

The Arab embargo, the Iranian Revolution, the Gulf War, 2008, Russia-Ukraine — each followed the same script. The question worth asking at dinner is whether this time is different, and why you would bet on it.

Ray Calloway

Nov 3, 2026

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3 min read

A New Car Cost $17,900 in 1994. It Costs $50,000 Today.

In 1994 it took 25 weeks of median family income. The car didn’t get 10 weeks better. The dollars just buy less.

Ray Calloway

Nov 2, 2026

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2 min read

19 for 19: the S&P 500 Has Never Fallen in the Year After a Midterm

The average gain across all 19 midterms since 1950 is 16.6%. The worst of the bunch — 2014 — still finished up 3%.

Ray Calloway

Oct 30, 2026

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2 min read

Every Candidate This Week Is Talking About Affordability. Almost None Say Why It Got This Bad.

One person paying $2,200 in rent alone is a financial emergency. Two people splitting it is a tight month. Today's chart connects those two sentences.

Ray Calloway

Oct 29, 2026

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2 min read

In 2001, 84% of Americans Approved of Congress. Today: 14%

The country rallied after 9/11 and never found its way back. Twenty-five years of collapse in one chart.

Ray Calloway

Oct 28, 2026

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2 min read

Everyone's Worried About China Buying Farmland. China Owns Less Than 1% of It.

From 4.1 million acres to 13.7 million. That's not wind leases or timber tracts. That's wheat and corn fields.

Ray Calloway