Investment in artificial intelligence (AI) programs and infrastructure accounted for as much as half the U.S.’s economic expansion during this year’s first half, according to The Wall Street Journal. At the same time, investments in AI-related stocks have soared in value, vastly multiplying the household wealth of many Americans.
A few iconic business districts such as Manhattan’s Park Avenue and the South of Market district in San Francisco are leading the recovery in office real estate, with rents and new leases on the rise.
In October, sales of U.S. homes increased 1.2 percent from September, “signaling how even a small decline in mortgage [interest] rates will attract some buyers back to the market,” The Wall Street Journal noted. Sales were up 1.7 percent year on year.
The U.S. economy created 119,000 nonfarm jobs in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ September jobs report, delayed seven weeks by the government shutdown.
Today, when the U.S. equity markets opened, the Dow was down more than 100 points, the tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 1 percent and S&P 500 was down 0.7 percent.
“Life felt more doable a year and a half ago,” college communications officer Holly Frew said in a Wall Street Journal interview last week.
During the week ending 7 November, mortgage demand increased the most since September, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said, ending the year’s home-selling season on a high note.
Older Americans, finding their savings and Social Security incomes are not keeping up with expenses, are increasingly taking out reverse mortgages on their homes, the Financial Times reported.
Heating season has arrived and foreign buyers are willing to pay top dollar for liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the U.S. Both factors have driven gas prices to their highest since the price spiked after Russia attacked Ukraine in February 2022.
In October, properties in some stage of foreclosure rose 3 percent from September to reach 36,766, a 19-percent gain year on year and the eighth consecutive month in which the number increased, according to property data service ATTOM.