What we’re reading (11/14)
“Home Prices Are Rising Everywhere In The U.S.” (Wall Street Journal). “Home prices rose in every corner of the U.S. during the third quarter, as the pandemic boosted activity in a way not seen in recent history….[t]his broad-based rally for single-family homes marked the first time since 1980 that every metro area tracked by NAR posted an annual price increase in the same quarter, NAR said. Back then, the association tracked 19 metro areas. ‘Americans are viewing their home as something more than what it was before,’ as they spend more time at home due to the pandemic, said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. ‘Right now there is a greater interest for larger-size homes, and naturally they are more expensive.’”
“Morgan Stanley Says Housing Discrimination Has Taken A Huge Toll On The Economy” (CNBC). “In addition to its human toll, racial housing inequality is exacting an economic price that has cost nearly 800,000 jobs, $400 billion in tax revenue and prevented about five million from owning homes, according to a Morgan Stanley analysis. Disparities in home ownership are a root cause of wealth disparities across society, the Wall Street firm said in research that also looked at the rising unaffordability of rental housing and how that fits into the broader issue.”
“Disney+ Passes 73 Million Subscribers As Streaming Takes Center Stage” (New York Times). “Disney on Thursday reported an 82 percent decline in quarterly operating income, the result of steep losses at its coronavirus-devastated theme park division and the postponement of major movie releases. But Wall Street had already decided that Disney’s overall results for the quarter, the fourth in the company’s fiscal year, would be “apropos of nothing,” as Todd Juenger, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, wrote in a Nov. 2 research report. Investors are confident that Disney’s theme park empire will come roaring back when a vaccine is deployed — and all they really care about, at least for the moment, is streaming, streaming, streaming.”
“This Company Conquered The Ice Cream Market. Home Delivery Is The Final Frontier” (CNN Business). “The Anglo-Dutch firm has gone on to acquire some two dozen other major ice cream brands, including Klondike and Ben & Jerry's, while pioneering its own Magnum line. It sells ice cream in 63 countries around the world and commands almost a fifth of global ice cream sales, a bigger share than its next four competitors combined, according to market research firm Euromonitor. Unilever is now the undisputed king of ice cream. But as the coronavirus pandemic rages on, and lockdowns persist, the company is taking inspiration from the delivery tricycles of its early years to conquer one final frontier: ice cream delivered to your home, on demand.”
“Many Boomers Still Own Too Much Stock: Fidelity” (Yahoo!Finance). “Fidelity released an update on its retirement trends for the third quarter, a snapshot of the activity in the company’s 30 million retirement accounts. Due to the market’s upswing over the spring and summer since the initial coronavirus crash in March, the company reported a record-number of 401(k) millionaires. But the company found a worrisome trend continuing: there are many baby boomers who own too much stock. The company said that 38% of its boomer cohort, now age 56 to 74, had more stock than recommended for their age group…[s]even percent of boomers with retirement accounts at Fidelity actually have 100% stock in their retirement account. Around a third of boomers have moved savings into “more conservative investments,” the company said.”
