Barron’s (December 19)
“Tencent Holdings has secured access to high-end Nvidia artificial-intelligence chips that remain restricted to Chinese buyers even after President Donald Trump’s recent semiconductor agreement with the country.” The arrangement exploits a loophole. Tencent will not own the chips outright, but instead access them “through a cloud service operated by Tokyo-based Datasection, which recently announced a deal to buy Nvidia’s flagship Blackwell chips” for use in its data centers. The loophole “undermines a recent assurance by Trump that Nvidia’s top technology would remain off limits to China.”
Tags: Access, AI chips, Assurance, Blackwell chips, Buyers, China, Cloud service, Data centers, Datasection, Loophole, Nvidia, Off limits, Restricted, Semiconductor, Tencent, Tokyo, Trump, Undermine
Fortune (June 1)
“Home-sale prices in 11 of the 50 biggest U.S. metro areas are already falling, according to data from Redfin, which sees the nationwide median sale price declining 1% on an annual basis in the fourth quarter of this year. That’s as listings grow and mortgage rates remain high, while sellers outnumber buyers by record amounts.”
Tags: Buyers, Declining. Q4, Falling, High, Home, Listings, Metro areas, Mortgage rates, Nationwide, Redfin, Sale price, Sellers, U.S.
MarketWatch (February 26)
“The brightest spot in the housing market is fading fast.” Sales of new homes in the U.S. “fell to the lowest level in 3 months, as buyers have grown frustrated with high mortgage rates and high home prices.” The 10.5% drop in new-home sales has caused inventory to spike. “Builders are now sitting on high levels of inventory. The number of finished homes on the market in January was at the highest level since August 2009, in the aftermath of the Great Recession.”
Tags: August 2009, Builders, Buyers, Fading, Finished homes, Frustrated, Great Recession, Housing market, Inventory, Mortgage rates, New homes, Prices, Sales, U.S.
MarketWatch (February 18)
In the U.S., “home-builder confidence plunged to the lowest level in five months as concerns over tariffs and how they could raise the cost of housing weighed on the industry.” According to the National Association of Home Builders, its “monthly confidence index fell five points to 42 in February…. a significant change in sentiment among home builders” who are increasingly being spooked by Trump’s tariffs and rising material costs. “For buyers, the sentiment shift only adds to the likelihood that home prices could go up in an already expensive housing market.”
Tags: Buyers, Confidence, Confidence index, Home builders, Housing market, Material costs, Plunged, Sentiment, Spooked, Tariffs, Trump, U.S.
Hartford Courant (August 12)
“Why aren’t we taking climate change more seriously” even though the consequences are all around. “The good folks living in the small town of Fairbourne, Wales have a problem. Those who want to sell their homes to buyers looking for 30-year mortgages can’t” because local banks “have determined that the town of Fairbourne will not exist in 30 years. It will be underwater.” Before it is too late, “we need to take climate change more seriously.”
Tags: 30-year mortgages, Banks, Buyers, Climate change, Consequences, Fairbourne, Homes, Sell, Underwater, Wales
Reuters (August 7)
“Tackling China’s $470 billion bad debt pile is getting harder.” China Bohai Bank is “selling non-performing assets worth $4 billion,” underscoring “the pressure lenders are under as the country’s property bubble bursts. Yet buyers are feeling the strain too,” which will likely make the terms for subsequent disposals more onerous.
Tags: $470 billion, Bad debt, Buyers, China, China Bohai Bank, Disposals, Lenders, Non-performing assets, Pressure, Property bubble, Strain, Tackling
Financial Times (May 16)
“Japan’s Topix rose to its highest level in almost 33 years on Tuesday, boosted by a rally led by foreign investors. Buyers have been drawn to Tokyo stocks by potential improvements to corporate governance, a return to wage inflation and the perceived stability of the market compared with geopolitics-riven Chinese stocks.”
Tags: 33 years, Buyers, Corporate governance, Foreign investors, Japan, Market, Rally, Stability, Stocks, Tokyo, Topix, Wage inflation
Wall Street Journal (September 19)
“A few years ago, auto executives weren’t sure there would be enough buyers for plug-in electric models. Now, they worry they can’t build them fast enough, while they intensify a multibillion-dollar rush to accelerate timelines and bring factories online.” In July, EVs and PHEVs accounted for “five of the six fastest-selling vehicles in the U.S,” where EVs have tripled in vehicle share over the past two years as “sales of other types of vehicles have declined.” Waiting lists now exceed a year for new electric models at GM and Ford.
Tags: Accelerate, Auto executives, Buyers, EVs, Factories, Fast enough, Fastest-selling, GM, PHEVs, Rush, Share, Timelines, U.S., Vehicles, Waiting lists
Mansion Global (July 11)
“The market has cooled since June, when the Federal Reserve raised interest rates 0.75% to help curb inflation.” Housing inventory is rising, “finally giving buyers some options and negotiability with sellers.” As a result, “nearly 15% of home contracts in the U.S. were canceled in June,” which had approximately 60,000 cancellations. That’s up 12.7% over May and 11.2% year on year.
Tags: Buyers, Contracts, Cooled, Fed, Housing inventory, Inflation, Interest rates, June, Market, Negotiability, Options, Sellers, U.S.
Bloomberg (June 30)
“The Federal Reserve is cooling off the red-hot housing market as it fights to curb inflation by driving up interest rates.” The ensuing “housing slowdown is helping to solve the US real estate market’s most intractable problem: tight inventory.” New sellers are entering the market at a faster pace while there are “fewer buyers competing.” As a result, “the number of active US listings jumped 18.7% in June from a year earlier, the largest annual increase in data going back to 2017.”
Tags: Buyers, Cooling off, Fed, Housing market, Inflation, Interest rates, Intractable, Inventory, Listings, Real estate, Red-hot, Sellers, Slowdown, U.S.
