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☆ California storm forces thousands to flee their homes and leaves 1 dead in 'endless onslaught'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Chantal Da Silva | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

As of early Tuesday, more than 63,000 utility customers were without power across California, according to PowerOutage.us . The heavy rains are expected to worsen ongoing flooding and prolong the risk of flash flooding and mudslides across the state. The flooding came five years to the day after heavy rains hammered a Montecito "burn scar," killing nearly two dozen people. The severe weather also forced the Santa Barbara Airport to close due to flooding, the airport announced in a tweet Monday. The recent severe weather prompted Gov.

☆ China’s TikTok wins while U.S. dillydallies
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Ben Winck | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The United States has a new kind of Trojan horse. The White House tasked the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States with deciding whether TikTok can cut a deal to mitigate risks. While the Biden administration mulled an executive order, the measure was shelved, too, as CFIUS talks continued, Politico reported in December. Follow @BenWinck on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSThe United States banned the use of TikTok on government devices on Dec. 30. TikTok recently paused plans to hire consultants that would help enact a security deal with the United States, according to a Reuters article.

☆ U.S. home searches spike on 'the Zillow of Asia'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailU.S. home searches spike on 'the Zillow of Asia'CNBC's Diana Olick joins 'The Exchange' to report on Chinese real estate investors' rising interest in U.S. homes as travel opens up in China.

☆ Canada has banned non-Canadians from buying houses to try to fix the country's wildly expensive housing crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

There are some exceptions to the rule, including for refugees and temporary work permit holders. It's intended to ease the housing crisis, as Canadian homes are some of the most expensive in the world. "The desirability of Canadian homes is attracting profiteers, wealthy corporations, and foreign investors," Trudeau's campaign website said last year, according to CNN Business. But some critics are skeptical that the ban will have any real effect on easing the housing crisis. "The potential benefits of the ban are likely to be modest," The Canadian Real Estate Association said in a statement, according to CNN Business.

☆ Canada is banning some foreigners from buying property after home prices surged
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Canada in 2023 is closing its doors to foreign investors who want to purchase homes. A new Canadian law took effect January 1 that essentially bans foreign buyers from buying residential properties as investments for two years. “The desirability of Canadian homes is attracting profiteers, wealthy corporations, and foreign investors,” said the campaign website of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s party this past year. “Canadians purchase vacation and residential properties in many countries, but particularly in the United States,” said the group. “If Canada places a ban on Americans owning property in Canada, we should expect them to respond in kind.”

☆ Running water scarce in Jackson, Mississippi, after frigid weather
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Jonathan Allen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Other Southern cities unaccustomed to freezing weather were grappling with similar water issues, including Atlanta; Shreveport, Louisiana; and Selma, Alabama. Homes in some parts of the city had no water at all, and officials have set up distribution points for bottled drinking water each day. The U.S. Justice Department in November reached an agreement with Mississippi and the city of Jackson to appoint an interim third-party manager to stabilize the city's drinking water supply. The mayor says fixing the water system will take billions of dollars. The U.S. Congress included $600 million to repair Jackson's water system in a spending bill signed into law last week.

☆ These are the 10 most expensive ZIP codes in the Northeast
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Mike Winters | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

The Hamptons dominate the rankings for the most expensive neighborhood in the Northeast, with Sagaponack, New York, taking the top spot. A beachside village that's home to Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon, Sagaponack is second only to Atherton, California for most expensive U.S. ZIP code in 2022, in terms of median value for homes, according to data provided by realty service RealtyHop. The second most expensive Northeast ZIP code is in Boston's Back Bay area. It's a small area for a ZIP code, consisting of only a few blocks of luxury condos next to the Prudential Center. Homes in these ZIP codes are close to $6 million.

☆ The 'world's coolest dictator' rounded up 60,000 people in a crackdown on MS-13. A shrimp farming community is fighting back.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Danielle Mackey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

SISIGUAYO, EL SALVADOR — On the morning that Walber Rodriguez was arrested last May, he was just two minutes from his home in Sisiguayo, El Salvador. Outside El Salvador, Bukele is best known for adopting Bitcoin as a national currency. All around them in Sisiguayo and the surrounding Bajo Lempa valley, people were arrested with no satisfactory explanation. Residents of the Bajo Lempa who'd been touched by the arrests had begun meeting weekly at a nearby retreat center. A meeting of the Bajo Lempa families on June 17, 2022.

☆ The 'world's coolest dictator' rounded up 60,000 people in a supposed crackdown on MS-13. A shrimp farming community is fighting back.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Danielle Mackey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said the storm's confirmed death toll climbed to 13 on Sunday, up from three reported overnight in the Buffalo region. The latest victims included some found in cars and some in snow banks, Poloncarz said, adding that the death tally would likely rise further. New York Governor Kathy Hochul called it an "epic, once-in-a-lifetime" weather disaster that ranked as the fiercest winter storm to hit the greater Buffalo area since a crippling 1977 blizzard that killed nearly 30 people. RESCUING THE RESCUERSThe latest blizzard came nearly six weeks after a record-setting but shorter-lived lake-effect storm struck western New York. [1/9] A snow plow is left stranded on the road following a winter storm that hit the Buffalo region on Main St. in Amherst, New York, U.S., December 25, 2022.

☆ U.S. deep freeze forecast to break Christmas Eve records
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Rich Mckay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Dec 24 (Reuters) - An arctic blast that has gripped much of the United States this week, disrupting daily life and holiday travel for millions of Americans, was expected to produce the coldest Christmas Eve on record in several cities from Pennsylvania to Florida. Temperatures are forecast to top out on Friday at just 8 degrees Fahrenheit (-13 Celsius) in Pittsburgh, the largest city in western Pennsylvania, surpassing its previous all-time coldest Christmas Eve high of 13 F, set in 1983, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. The capital cities of Florida and Georgia - Tallahassee and Atlanta - were likewise expected to record their coldest daytime Christmas Eve high temperatures, while Washington, D.C., was forecast to experience its chilliest Dec. 24 since 1906. Extreme winter weather was blamed for at least five deaths on Friday. The NWS said its map of existing or impending meteorological hazards "depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever."

With the deep freeze stretching from Montana to Texas as it crept eastward, some 240 million people - more than two-thirds of the U.S. population - were under winter weather warnings and advisories on Friday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. The map of existing or impending wintry hazards "depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever," the NWS said. [1/5] A driver makes their way through a flooded street at high tide during a winter storm in Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S., December 23, 2022. Their plight has added to local agencies scrambling to get people off the streets as the arctic blast arrived. While some areas downwind from the Great Lakes received a foot or more of snow on Friday, "the big story wasn't so much the falling snow but the blowing snow," weather service meteorologist Brian Hurley said.

More than 1.5 million homes and businesses lost power, oil refineries in Texas cut gasoline and diesel production on equipment failures, and heating and power prices surged on the losses. Oil and gas output from North Dakota to Texas suffered freeze-ins, cutting supplies. Freeze-ins - in which ice crystals halt oil and gas production - this week trimmed production in North Dakota's oilfields by 300,000 to 350,000 barrels per day, or a third of normal. Power prices on Texas's grid also spiked to $3,700 per megawatt hour, prompting generators to add more power to the grid before prices fell back as thermal and solar supplies came online. That is the biggest drop in output since the February 2021 freeze knocked out power for millions in Texas.

☆ Massive winter storm threatens holiday travel for millions of Americans
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Tyler Clifford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

In its wake, the cyclone could spawn snowfalls of a half inch an hour and winds of more than 50 mph (80 kph) in the Upper Midwest and interior Northeast, the weather service said. "This will lead to dangerous, to at times impossible, land and air travel leading up to the holiday weekend," the agency said on its website. Temperatures in parts of the Southern Plains and Southeast could stay below freezing -- 30-plus degrees less than normal -- for multiple days, the weather service predicted. The weather service also warned of freezing rain in parts of Oregon and Washington in the Northwest, where the storm originated, late Thursday. That would be the biggest daily drop in output since the freeze of February 2021 when a winter storm cut gas supplies from Texas and forced the Texas electric grid operator to impose rolling power outages.

☆ The Year in Pictures 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( The New York Times | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +57 min

Every year, starting in early fall, photo editors at The New York Times begin sifting through the year’s work in an effort to pick out the most startling, most moving, most memorable pictures. But 2022 undoubtedly belongs to the war in Ukraine, a conflict now settling into a worryingly predictable rhythm. Erin Schaff/The New York Times “When you’re standing on the ground, you can’t visualize the scope of the destruction. Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 25. We see the same images over and over, and it’s really hard to make anything different.” Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb 26.

☆ Home flipper profits are slumping at their fastest pace since the 2009 recession and the prognosis isn't any better for 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Kelsey Neubauer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Last quarter saw the fastest drop in home flipping profits since the Great Recession. down for the Warm and sunny places like Honolulu saw the lowest returns and cities like Buffalo saw the highest. "The high end market has basically vaporized, there's nothing there, " Sharga said, repeating the words of a flipper he knows. Those flippers have healthy profit margins even if the overall dollar amounts aren't as high as with luxury homes, he said. Meanwhile, flippers in cities with harsh winters like Pittsburgh — where the typical flipper made a 116.9% profit — and Buffalo, New York, had the largest returns.

☆ At least 5 tornadoes confirmed in Texas as storms roll through southwestern US and blizzard conditions mount in the northern Plains
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Amir Vera Jason Hanna Monica Garrett | Amir Vera | Jason Hanna | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

More than 18 million people from Texas to Mississippi are under threat of severe storms Tuesday, including tornadoes. In Mississippi, the Meridian Public School District – which serves over 4,900 students – announced they will be closed Wednesday due to the threat of severe weather. The Lawrence County and McComb School Districts also announced they were closing Wednesday due to the threat of severe weather. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency also noted the severe weather expected in the state and asked residents to prepare. “With severe weather expected throughout Mississippi tonight and tomorrow, please review your severe weather preparedness checklist to make sure you are ready for the storms,” the agency said in a message on Twitter.

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☆ U.S. housing faces longer descent to basement
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Ben Winck | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Nov 22 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The U.S. housing market is destined to keep sliding. The highest mortgage rates in 15 years have stifled demand, leading the pace of existing home sales to slow 31% since January. An influx of new supply should depress prices from pandemic-era highs, but affordability will be squeezed well into 2023. With existing owners locked into lower mortgage rates, they’re unlikely to put their homes up for sale, curbing supply. Housing starts for single-family homes decelerated to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 855,000 units in October, the Census Bureau said on Nov. 18.

☆ China property stocks surged amid warnings of weak reality, high expectations
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

China's housing prices fell in October due primarily to falling prices in less developed, so-called Tier-3 cities, according to Goldman Sachs analysis of official data. Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty ImagesBEIJING — China's real estate sector isn't yet poised for a quick recovery, despite a rally this month in stocks of major property developers. Last week, property developer stocks surged after news the central bank and banking regulator issued measures that encouraged banks to help the real estate industry. A drawn-out recoveryAnalysts differ on when China's property market can recover. "I think the real estate sector will become lesser of a drag to the economy in 2023," Tommy Wu, senior China economist at Commerzbank AG, said Wednesday.

☆ Here's why the Fed may have won already but is still acting like nothing has improved
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

We can bet that they will be one-upping each other about how high they want to take fed funds, the overnight bank lending rate. They seem to want to ignore anything that's succeeded since the Fed's rate increase cycle began back in March. I think that, again, if the Fed were to wait through Christmas they would see the layoffs and the corporate failures. One thing that's for certain, the buyers of the 2-year may be more sensitive to the data than the Fed. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

☆ Holmes appears in court for sentencing today
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailHolmes appears in court for sentencing todayCNBC's Scott Cohn joins 'Squawk on the Street' with the latest news on the Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who was convicted of lying to investors and investigators. Homes is scheduled to be sentenced today.

☆ One of the richest self-made women in US real estate says it's still a good time to buy and shares the top 5 things that could give a buyer a competitive edge.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

She doesn't believe mortgage rates will return to 3% because that is very low. Mortgage rates have just about doubled from where they were this time last year. If you zoom out and look at where interest rates have been, you'd realize that historically, 7% is just about average, she noted. If you're a first-time buyer, you could qualify for a Federal Housing Administration loan (FHA), which requires a lower down payment but could still provide competitive interest rates. This will allow you to readjust when interest rates come back down.

During long, cold winters, the U.S. Northeast consumes more oil and gas for heat than most of the country, especially the six-state New England region. Exacerbating those high energy costs, New England lacks enough gas pipeline capacity to meet all its heating and power generation needs on the coldest winter days. "The worse conditions get for Europe, the more exposed New England will be to elevated gas prices and LNG cargo shortages this winter." U.S. pipeline gas costs about $6 per million British thermal units, far cheaper than in Europe where gas is trading around $39 to attract LNG cargoes. But LNG accounts for about 5% of New England's gas supply, so power generators there are competing with global markets for the fuel.

☆ S&P, Nasdaq pulled lower as tech earnings misses fuel slowdown fears
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Stephen Culp | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Reuters GraphicsThe S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were last in negative territory, dragged lower by market-leading tech and tech-adjacent companies following results from Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Alphabet (GOOGL.O). Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, communications services (.SPLRCL) and tech (.SPLRCT) were suffering the largest percentage losses. Third quarter earnings season has shifted into high gear, with 170 of the companies in the S&P 500 having reported. Analysts now see aggregate S&P 500 earnings growth of 2.3%, down from 4.5% at the beginning of the month, per Refinitiv. The S&P 500 posted 25 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 87 new highs and 54 new lows.

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