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DID YOU KNOW?
The headline blasted across the Wall Street Journal "Home Prices Post Largest Annual Drop in Over 11 Years" should read: "Home Prices Post Largest Annual Drop in Over 11 Years after largest recent accelerated price increases ever, with vast differences from location to location."
"I’ve always told people there is nobody who can really pick the market on a short-term or an intermediate-term basis. Maybe I made the mistake of not adhering to my own advice in recent years."
–Carl Icahn, who lost $9 billion betting against markets and spent lots of time broadcasting his negative gloom-and-doom views in the hopes of his betting materializing.....?
DID YOU KNOW?
More evidence of hyper-luxe-flation? The average price of a Bentley sold has jumped 40% over the past 4 years. Bentley is not seeing any signs of a demand slowdown from rising rates, falling stocks and recession fears. And the biggest driver of profits amongst the wealthy? Customization. (CNBC)
DID YOU KNOW?
Walmarts Earnings call last week revealed a trend we are seeing everywhere including housing......trading down in spending to offset higher interest rates. Consumers who may have traditionally bought things at more expensive stores are turning to the mega-discounter......not unlike many home buyers who have had to lower their budgets to buy more affordable home options.....delivering even more demand in an under-supplied sector.....which could drive these prices even higher.
DID YOU KNOW?
Target highlighted how organized retail crime will fuel $500 million more in stolen and lost merchandise in 2023 compared to 2022. Target’s shrink totaled about $763 million last fiscal year, based on calculations from the company’s financial filings. Those who steal result in everyone else paying more to cover this cost, impacting the poor most. Most of the theft is organized. Left unabated, this will result in more store closures nationally and impact the quality of neighborhoods negatively.
DID YOU KNOW?
Montana is the first US State to ban TikTok.....although it’s expected this will be contested in the courts. (CNBC) GOOOOO Montana!
DID YOU KNOW?
California is building an electric train that will connect Los Angeles with the Central Valley and then San Francisco in 2 hours and 40 minutes. 15 years later, there is not a single mile of the 382-mile of track laid, and executives involved say there isn’t enough money to finish the project. Estimates suggest it will cost between $88 billion and $128 billion to complete the entire system from LA to San Francisco. Meanwhile, construction of the 506-mile, $13.5 billion Zhengzhou East-Wangzhou line in China was completed in less than 5 years..... (CNN/CNBC)
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