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☆ As the market enters correction territory, don't blame the American consumer
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-29 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

Amazon.com Inc | ReutersThe initial third-quarter report on gross domestic product showed consumer spending zooming higher by 4% percent a year, after inflation, the best in almost two years. How is this possible with interest rates on everything from credit cards to cars and homes soaring? But they were below expectations at electric-vehicle leader Tesla , which blamed high interest rates, and at Ford . "And as interest rates rise, the proportion of that monthly payment that is interest increases." At American Express , which saw U.S. consumer spending rise 9%, the mild surprise was the company's disclosure that young consumers are adding Amex cards faster than any other group.

Persons: Bill Ackman, CFRA, Sam Stovall, Ryan Marshall, Wells, Jackie Benson, Tesla, Elon Musk, GM, Mary Barra, Paul Jacobson, John Lawler, Musk, Brian Moynihan, Jeremy Barnum, Sachin Mehra, Zers, Guess they're, Stovall, chargeoffs, John Greene, Morgan Stanley, Ravi Shanker, Spirit, Sundaram, Ethan Allen, they've, Marc Bitzer, Arun Sundaram, Amanda Agati, there's Organizations: Amazon.com Inc, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Coldwell, Ford, General Motors, GM, United Auto Workers, UAW, Cox Automotive, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, MasterCard, American Express, Discover Financial Services, JetBlue, Whirlpool, Amazon, PNC, Federal, Asset Management Locations: Shakopee , Minnesota, U.S, Covid, PulteGroup, Vermont

☆ What it will take to make homes affordable again for millions of Americans
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

"At the current 8% mortgage rate, mortgage payment[s] are 38% of median income," Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi said. The National Association of Realtors measures affordability through its 34-year old Housing Affordability Index, or HAI. And even if home prices do the decline, that trend won't be sustainable unless America builds millions of more homes. And spreads will likely remain extra-wide until short-term interest rates drop below the rates on longer-term treasuries, Duncan said. "Mortgage rates will not go back to 3% – we'll be lucky if we get back to 5," Yun said.

Persons: —, John Burns, maven Mohamed El, Lawrence Yun, Yun, Mark Zandi, That's, Doug Duncan, Fannie, Duncan, Daryl Fairweather, They've, Fairweather, they've, Freddie Mac, –, Zandi, it's Organizations: Nurphoto, Getty, National Association of Realtors, John Burns Real Estate Consulting, NAR, Redfin, Allianz, America, Federal Reserve, realtors, Builders, Fed Locations: Florida, Austin , Texas, Boise , Idaho, Fannie Mae, America, New York, California, Phoenix, Tampa, Louisville, Indianapolis, Chicago

☆ US oil is back, and ExxonMobil's $60 billion deal isn't even the biggest signal
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-15 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

The news came a day after a $60 billion deal between Exxon Mobil and independent oil producer Pioneer Natural Resources . Monthly production topped out at 13 million barrels per day in November 2019 and hit 9.9 million by February 2021. And offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico recovered to 2 million barrels a day, but hasn't grown. Where oil companies have been spending their money U.S. oil companies cut capital spending to $106.6 billion last year from $199.7 billion in 2014, according to Statista, contributing to the decline in oil production and arguably delaying the recovery. According to Energy Department data, oil and gas companies paid out about $75 billion per quarter in the last year.

Persons: Brittany Sowacke, Rob Thummel, hasn't, what's, Thummel, Alexandre Ramos, Jay Hatfield, doesn't, Baker, Hughes, Darren Woods, Woods, Hatfield, Ramos, Peon, aren't Organizations: Bloomberg, Getty, Energy, U.S . Department of Energy, Exxon Mobil, Natural Resources, Wall, Exxon, Big Oil, America, Rystad Energy, Oil, Infrastructure Capital Advisors, Energy Department, Pioneer, CNBC, Chevron, PDC Energy, Noble Energy, Independent, Global, ExxonMobil, OPEC, Iran Locations: Midland , Texas, Brittany, Kansas City, Mo, U.S, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Alaska, Gulf, Mexico, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, New York, American, Hatfield, Israel, Iran

☆ As Tesla price cuts concede billions in sales, investors push Elon Musk to finally spend on ads
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-14 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

In this article TSLA Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTA Tesla Model 3 with opened doors stands in the showroom. But there's one thing Black has had on his mind lately: That Tesla is wasting money on price cuts to keep growth rates high. At the same time, the major price cuts continue as Musk's primary strategy to drum up more interest in Teslas. Overall, the price cuts over the past year have shaved revenue by much more, Ives estimated. In effect, Black argues that Tesla price cuts are a de facto marketing expense, saying Tesla's share losses among EVs by Tesla this year suggest price cuts alone aren't working.

Persons: Gary Black, Tesla, Elon, Musk, didn't, Kevin Paffrath, we'll, they'd, Dan Ives, Black, EVs, Ives, Allen Weiss Organizations: Tesla, Getty, CNBC, @TroyTeslike, Netflix, Cox Automotive, Teslas, Tesla's, Newsday Locations: Chicago, California, U.S, Tesla's U.S, Smithtown , New York

☆ From Tuesday's Dow drop to Friday's rally, here's why it was a whipsaw week for the market
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-08 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

When the government released September's job report Friday morning, the market's first take was that it was too good to be … good. And odds of another rate hike, which had edged up early in the day, had retreated again. "I don't think the week's data indicates the labor market needs higher interest rates," said Daniel Zhao, lead economist at career platform Glassdoor.com. But average hourly income rose just 0.2%, doing a lot to mute fears that a tight labor market would keep propelling inflation. The gap between economists and bond investorsEconomists and bond investors have been seeing two different pictures in the labor data all week, Crofoot said.

Persons: Daniel Zhao, Elizabeth Crofoot, Zhao, Crofoot, Goldman Sachs, Jan Hatzius, Hatzius Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, Treasury, Dow, Federal Reserve, Labor Department, CNBC Locations: New York City, Washington

☆ The big AI and robotics concept that has attracted both Walmart and Softbank
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-07 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +13 min

Softbank also owns 65% of the GreenBox venture, which launched with $100 million in investment by the two companies. They say it's a $500 billion market, and an example of the kind of change AI can bring to the economy at large. But not as many investors know about Softbank's "other" big AI investment, Wilmington, Mass.-based software and robotics maker Symbotic , which Walmart has taken a big stake in itself. Symbotic teamed up with Softbank to build GreenBox in order to preserve its own capital, Cohen told analysts. The GreenBox market for smaller companies shapes up as another $500 billion of possible demand, Gartner's Klappich said.

Persons: Rick Cohen, Softbank, Robert W, Baird, Vikas, Schwarz, Kristin Schwarz, Vikas Parekh, Parekh, Giordano, I've, TD Cowen, Joseph Giordano, GreenBox, Dwight Klappich, Symbotic, Klappich, Mason, Cohen, —, Bill Boyd, Gartner's Klappich, Doug McMillon Organizations: Walmart, CNBC, Gartner, Target, Venture, Arm Holdings, Wholesale, Forbes, Revenue Locations: GreenBox, Wilmington, Mass, Fla

☆ The era of America's subminimum wage for tipped restaurant workers may be ending
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-23 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

After a months-long public campaign that began shortly after Mayor Brandon Johnson (right) took office in May, advocates reached a deal with restaurant industry lobbyists to phase out the tipped-minimum wage over five years. "The closest pending victory is in Chicago," said Saru Jayaraman, founder and president of the advocacy group One Fair Wage. Three-fourths said they would reduce the number of tipped workers on their payroll, and nearly half said the cuts would be significant. The $9.48 an hour wage most workers got cost the restaurant $5,449.61, he said, a fraction of the $17,198 in tips workers earned. That's one reason why the restaurant industry engaged in a kind of bidding war against itself, to find a compromise solution that politicians like Alderman Carlos Ramirez Rosa, Johnson's floor manager in the City Council, would buy.

Persons: Brandon Johnson, Scott Weiner, Covid, Hornick, Danny Meyer, Meyer, Chicago –, Saru Jayaraman, Michael Hornick hasn't, Callahan, That's, Weiner, Rick Rick Bayless, Topolobampo, Bayless, He's, –, We've, We're, Johnson —, Democratic Socialist Alliance —, Alderman Carlos Ramirez Rosa, Sam Toia, Rosa Organizations: U.S . Department of Labor, Chicago, Illinois Restaurant Association, City Council, Chicago's, Wrigley, Farm, Frontera Grill, Michelin, Covid, Bar, Frontera, Frontera Group, Democratic Socialist Alliance, Chicago Sun, Times, Times , Illinois Restaurant, CNBC, Sun Locations: downtown, Chicago, York, Covid, Lakeview, Evanston, Frontera, Johnson's, City, Times ,

☆ Instacart's biggest IPO twist: Tech trying to go public as a value stock
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

At the top of the latest IPO price range, the enterprise value would be 16x EBITDA. The right valuation for Instacart depends on where the ultimate rate of sales growth falls, Einhorn said. Including the cash on the company's balance sheet, that values Instacart at about three times EBITDA – way below DoorDash's valuation. Even that would value the company at only seven times 2025 EBITDA, and about 14 times EBITDA from the last four quarters, still a sharp discount to DoorDash. So in a twist few would have predicted in 2020 or 2021, Instacart is trying to go public as a value stock, carefully managed to wring the best results from potentially modest growth.

Persons: Instacart, –, Einhorn, Matt Einhorn, Mark Mahaney, DoorDash, Nicholas Cauley, Cauley, Covid, Nick Giovanni, Giovanni, EBITDA Organizations: Renaissance Capital, San Francisco, ISI, Walmart, Kroger, Aldi, Omicron, Gross Locations: DoorDash, EBITDA, York

☆ With the economy holding up, why is the market still so down on America's banks?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-10 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Regional bank stocks, in particular, gained as much as 35% before the bond warnings and downgrades began. The higher interest rates bond analysts cited hurt profits some, but most banks' net interest income and margins were higher than a year before. The ratings actions pushed the regional bank stock index 10% lower for the month-long period ending Sept. 8, according to Morningstar (the Moody's bank warning was issued August 7). By any reckoning, the argument about banks is about two things: Interest rates and real estate, specifically office buildings. The average regional bank stock rose 8% after earnings, Morgan Stanley said, with banks beating profit forecasts by an average of 5%.

Persons: Morningstar —, downgrades, Morgan Stanley, Jill Cetina, Cetina, Banks, Goldman Sachs, Jan Hatzius, Scott Rechler, Jeff Greene, Alexander Yokum, Dick Bove, Bove, Yokum Organizations: First, JPMorgan, Bloomberg, Getty, Moody's Investors Service, Poor's, Fitch, Morningstar, Federal Reserve, Fedwatch, RXR, Research, Odeon Capital Locations: First Republic, Regional, Moody's, U.S

☆ Where Uber's climate and autonomous driving goals will meet in the future
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

"For most of our history, profitable wasn't the first thing that came up when you asked someone about Uber," Khosrowshahi said on Uber's second-quarter conference call Aug. 1. The $1 a ride alone can add up to $4,000 to a driver's annual revenue, the company says. All of them will compete for customers on Uber's platform much as hotels search for business on Expedia.com – a business once run by Khosrowshahi. Indeed, one threat to Uber's current status as a market darling is if AV makers, especially Tesla, decide to compete with Uber directly for riders, Zino said. Khosrowshahi told Sellers that 10-20% of Uber drivers may soon be robots, but said he still thinks more people will be driving for Uber than there are today.

Persons: Angelo Zino, Uber, Savannah, Khosrowshahi, Dara Khosrowshahi, Zino, Scott Devitt, Morgan Stanley's Brian Nowak, undercharging, They've, Devitt, –, Hertz, That's, Tracy Lynn Young, Tesla, they've, Cruise, AVs, Sellers Organizations: GM, General Motors, Ideas, Uber Technologies, Aurora, Wedbush Securities, Hyundai, Tesla, EVgo, EVs, TrueCar.com, Uber, CNBC, Hertz, Waymo, Cruise, Khosrowshahi Locations: California, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Hyundai Kona, London, U.S, North America, Atlanta

☆ The earnings and economic data shows the consumer is still in control of the economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Moody's says that consumer savings rates are rising after bottoming out in June 2022. "We still see it as a normalization, not a deterioration story when we talk about consumer credit.'' But consumer loan delinquency rates are at 2019 levels, and below any level ever seen before 2014, according to Federal Reserve data. At JPMorgan, mortgage credit quality is so solid that the bank reported no net chargeoffs in the second quarter. Overall, the Bureau of Economic Analysis says consumer spending on new vehicles rose $40 billion to $642.4 billion in the first half of the year, with most gains coming in the second quarter.

Persons: Brandon Bell, Arun Sundaram, haven't, Alastair Borthwick, Moody's, Scott Hoyt, Jeremy Barnum, it's, Barnum, David Fieldhouse, Hoyt, Sundaram, Horton, Goldman Sachs, Goldman Organizations: Chevrolet, Knapp, Getty, Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, Bank of America, CFRA, Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Federal Reserve, JPMorgan, Federal, Wall, General Motors, GM, Ford, U.S, Toll, Pride Locations: Houston , Texas

☆ A key test for EV sales and the adoption curve is coming
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-30 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

The company says it will reach 400,000 cumulative units of EV production by early 2024 and that its EV business will reach profitability by 2025. "They have dozens of EV models over the next two to three years. watch nowAmong analysts who believe the stock is due for a bigger drop, expected EV sales disappointment is among the factors. But GM's EV plans come as Ford announced it is slowing down its plans to expand EV production to a 600,000 annual rate. "This will be the first year U.S. EV sales reach 1 million," Downey said.

Persons: Scott Mlyn, Brian Downey, Autotrader, Ford, Dan Ives, It's, they'll, Morgan Stanley, Adam Jonas, Mary Barra, Adam Jones, Colin Langan, Garrett Nelson, Chad Lyons, Lyons, Katie Minter, Rebecca Cook, Reuters Paul Jacobson, Jacobson, Ives, Downey, Tesla, Barra, they're, they've, Cox, Goodcarbadcar.net . Ford Organizations: Silverado, New York Auto Show, CNBC, General Motors, Cox Automotive, Kia, Porsche, Hyundai, Chevrolet Silverado, Wedbush Securities, Investors, GM, United Auto Workers union, Wall Street, Deutsche Bank, GMC Hummer EV, Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra EV, Chevy Blazer, GMC, Blazers, Jaguar, Audi, North American, Reuters, EV, Cox, Ford's, Ford, Goodcarbadcar.net, Volkswagen, BMW – Locations: Detroit, Detroit , Michigan, U.S

☆ How Netflix can end the Hollywood strike in a way Disney, Paramount can't afford
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

"The strike is not something we wanted," said Sarandos, whose company is negotiating jointly with competing movie studios like Disney and Paramount whose parent companies also own streaming services. Some big-media companies that own streaming services, like Paramount and Disney, have seen their shares drop even in the renewed bull market of the past year. LightShed Partners analyst Rich Greenfield says Netflix made $6.5 billion last year excluding interest, taxes, and non-cash charges, while rival streaming services at Paramount, Disney and NBC lost more than $8 billion. That's a relatively small number for an industry with revenues topping $70 billion, $31.6 billion of it last year at Netflix. Paramount Global's Paramount+ service lost $1.8 billion last year, but saw losses shrink in the first quarter.

Persons: Mike Blake, Mark Mahaney, Ted Sarandos, Greg Peters, Michael Pachter, Robert Iger, Iger, CNBC's David Faber, Max, Rich Greenfield, Mahaney, hasn't, Jake Urbanski, Jamie Lumley, Peters, Spencer Neumann Organizations: Guild of America, Netflix, Alliance, Producers, Wednesday, Writers Guild of America, Screen, American Federation of Television, Radio Artists, Disney, Paramount Global, Amazon, Wedbush Securities, Television Producers, CNBC, Walt Disney Co, Sun, Paramount, Warner Bros, LightShed, NBC, Hollywood, Moody's Investors Service, Writers ' Guild of America, WGA, Twitter, Hulu, Comcast, Apple Locations: Los Angeles , California, U.S

☆ The mortgage market isn't sending the signal homebuyers need on affordability
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Usually around 1.75 percentage points, and as low as 1.3 in 2021, the so-called mortgage spread is hovering at more than 3 percentage points now. And that is propping up mortgage rates, keeping home owners from selling their homes and buying nicer ones, and hurting first-time buyers, Yun said. Why mortgage spreads should move lowerLogically, mortgage spreads should move down sharply from here, thanks to the recent spate of good economic news, and bring relief to home buyers who have seen affordability deteriorate sharply since 2020. But as the Fed began raising interest rates in March 2022, mortgage rates rose even faster than bond yields. Mortgage rates also dropped, to 6.89% last Friday from a recent peak of 7.22%, according to Mortgage News Daily.

Persons: Lawrence Yun, Yun, Logan Mohtashami, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Rob Haworth, Banks, refinance, Haworth, Neel Kashkari Organizations: National Association of Realtors, Federal Reserve, Fed, Bank, Atlanta Federal Reserve, Mortgage News, HousingWire, Treasury, U.S . Bank, Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank Locations: Stockton , California, treasuries, Silicon, U.S, Irvine , Calif, Seattle

☆ Post-Covid, post-bankruptcy Hertz is all-in on electric, with big implications for the EV, auto and rideshare market
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

In this article HTZ Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTTesla Model 3 electric vehicles at a Hertz neighborhood location. These deals began to roll out last year, after Hertz's first Teslas hit the road in 2021 and experiments with rental EVs extended back over the past decade. "At the end of [March], we had about 50,000 electric vehicles in our fleet, comprising approximately 10% of total cars," Scherr said. Hertz has also told analysts that the growing EV rideshare market can be a buffer against traditional quarterly peak to trough experienced in the leisure business. The benefits of using an EV begin with a $1 per ride credit to the driver for using an EV, Uber spokeswoman Alix Anfang said.

☆ The bad loan term that's back for banks trying to spot a recession
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

If there wasn't enough banking jargon to blind you, it's time to learn a new piece of it: Welcome to the industry's era of the "criticized loan." "Criticized loans could be paying or performing but a loan could be singled out because of its collateral." At Bank of America, criticized loans to office building projects rose to $3.7 billion out of $19 billion in office loans. But office buildings represent only a quarter of the bank's commercial real estate loans, and all CRE is just 7% of the bank's total loans and leases. "It's almost impossible for us to see office [losses] more than 4 or 5 percent of office loans.

☆ Berkshire Hathaway’s energy company is about to hit a major renewable energy milestone
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

With annual meeting season coming soon, Warren Buffett's climate record is back in the news – and activists are still not happy. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate faces three different shareholder resolutions heading into its annual "Woodstock for capitalism" on May 6. Buffett's climate metrics getting betterBerkshire is a climate paradox: Many of its climate metrics are improving rapidly, if not as fast as some competitors. Berkshire Energy spokesman Brandon Zero said the company would have no comment. But it still uses more coal, the dirtiest major electricity fuel – coal represents 23% of Berkshire's power mix – more than the national average of 20%.

☆ Berkshire Hathaway’s utility company is about to hit a major renewable energy milestone
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

With annual meeting season coming soon, Warren Buffett's climate record is back in the news – and activists are still not happy. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate faces three different shareholder resolutions heading into its annual "Woodstock for capitalism" on May 6. Buffett's climate metrics getting betterBerkshire is a climate paradox: Many of its climate metrics are improving rapidly, if not as fast as some competitors. Any discussion of Berkshire and climate necessarily begin with its utility business, since electricity production accounts for a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Berkshire Energy spokesman Brandon Zero said the company would have no comment.

☆ The $25,000 electric vehicle is coming, with big implications for the auto market and car buyers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

And as the Biden administration pushes changes that seek to aggressively remake the car market in favor of EVs more quickly than previously anticipated. Tesla's lowest-priced model today is the Model 3 base MSRP of $41,990. There are also more financing options available in the auto loan market designed specifically for environmentally friendly cars. "There's nothing wrong with having a basic car as a first car. Tesla said its overall efforts have driven the cost of drive units, which include the car's electric motor, as low as $1,000.

☆ The coming commercial real estate crash that may never happen
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

"There's a lot of headaches about calamity in commercial real estate," said Kevin Fagan, director of commercial real estate analysis at Moody's Analytics. But credit in commercial real estate has performed well until now, and it's far from clear that U.S. credit issues spreading outward from real estate is likely. Analysts raised concerns that developers might default on a big chunk of $3.1 trillion of U.S. commercial real estate loans Goldman Sachs says are outstanding. "We're well aware of the concentrations people have in commercial real estate," Powell said at a March22 press conference. But there are reasons to believe lending issues in commercial real estate will be contained, Fagan said.

☆ How the market’s biggest companies manage their cash and investments
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The cash balances of big companies will, though, be in focus again as another earnings season begins. U.S. companies are sitting on at least $2 trillion of cash, with a quarter of it concentrated in a few top technology companies, according to Moody's Investor Service. Other big holders of cash are carmakers like Ford and Tesla , and health-care companies like Pfizer . Taking the bank example, depositors may run if they think an institution is in trouble, as we just saw. Look for the line on the income statement that discloses "other income," usually between operating profit or loss and disclosure of the company's tax bill.

☆ How manufacturing chips in the US could make smartphones more expensive
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

So far, the law has spurred $200 billion of announced investment in U.S. chip manufacturing, the Semiconductor Industry Association said in December. How much of phone cost is in the chips On its face, a significant hike in chip prices has implications for consumers because chips are such a big component in overall phone manufacturing cost. For Samsung , the combined 5G modem and core apps processor add up to $193 of the $618 manufacturing cost of an S-22 Plus phone. Bringing chip manufacturing to the U.S. is expensive in many respects. "The high costs of construction includes labor costs, costs of permits, cost of occupational safety and health regulations, inflationary costs in recent years, and people and learning curve costs."

☆ Can't figure out this economy? Walmart, Home Depot are having trouble, too
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Joe Raedle | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesIf you think the economy is confusing right now, consider how baffling it must look to Home Depot and Walmart. Home Depot said consumer spending is holding up, but that it expects a flat sales-growth year overall, with declining profits. Friday's PCE showed consumer spending rose more than expected as prices increased, jumping 1.8% for the month compared to the estimate of 1.4%. It wasn't a good week for the retail sector or consumer stocks, either. "The outlook for sustained consumer spending growth remains," wrote consumer analyst Jason English.

☆ In this volatile housing market, here's how to know when the bottom is in
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +13 min

"People for the most part have come to terms with interest rates." No return of 2008, or 3% mortgage rate The biggest reason why housing prices aren't plunging like they did after 2008? At current levels, the Housing Affordability Index says the median buyer can afford the median U.S. home — but barely. Having seen 6 percent interest rates when she bought her first place in 2007, she's not daunted by today's rates, she said. "People have wrapped their heads around where interest rates are, and they have adapted," Fisher said.

☆ How the end of Netflix password sharing will change the way families watch, especially the ones with college-age children
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Back in 2014, allowing people to share passwords was a "terrific marketing vehicle for the next generation of viewers," Plepler once told BuzzFeed. And yes, it looks like the crackdown may include families who share passwords with kids who are away at college. Even two analysts who follow Netflix acknowledged that their college-aged children are piggybacking on the family Netflix account for now. The company's terms of use require people to live at the same location to share a password. The company's terms of use already require customers to agree to Netflix tracking this information in order to deliver the service.

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