From the Real Deal:
Existing home sales rise for first time since May
It was by no means a blizzard of activity, but existing home sales increased from October to November, ending a cold spell for the moribund U.S. market.
Sales of existing homes increased by 0.8 percent from October to November, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.82 million, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors. Year-over-year, existing home sales dropped 7.3 percent from 4.12 million a year ago.
The metric excludes new construction, which is gaining market share as for-sale inventory remains historically low.
While the jump in activity was modest, and occurred only in the Midwest and South, a monthly gain is unusual for this time of year and another positive sign for a housing market hampered by reluctant sellers and elevated mortgage rates. The nationwide increase in existing home sales came despite a 7.2 percent monthly decrease in the West and a 2.1 percent drop in the Northeast.
…
Home prices continued to edge up. The median sale price of existing homes rose 4 percent year-over-year in November to $387,600. All four regions tracked in the report posted annual sale price increases, led by a 5.3 percent gain in the West.
For-sale inventory at the end of last month was 1.13 million homes, falling 1.7 percent from October to return to September’s level. Inventory was up 0.9 percent from a year before.
Unsold inventory amounted to a 3.5-month supply at last month’s sales pace, also down from October but up from a year ago.
Frist
Interesting, got a notification yesterday that the Apple Card savings account raised the interest rate by a tenth. Trying to stem the cash outflow?
“oof, those are some nasty red candles…Run couldn’t go on forever. Pullbacks are good.”
Light volume holiday market tomfuckery. Nothing more.
Two huge 0DTE index option orders rolled in yesterday afternoon triggering hedging by market makers driving the SPX down through an important technical (VWAP) where the machines kicked in. LOL.
Small wealth transfer tax for the holidays for someone.
Leftwing,
You are probably right. And I imagine it was exacerbated by HFT.
I imagine you saw the market futures today? Who am I kidding? Of course you did. We’re getting it all back (most likely), before lunch.
Honestly, it’s not the weed that makes people crazy, it’s themselves. Weed is seriously not that strong of a drug. Stereotypes in movies are total bs. It does not mess you up like that, if anything, it’s just a stress reliever that calms people down. Acting like you see chit, get lazy, or become dumb from weed is total bs. I have plenty of friends I know that have smoked for a long time, and you would never know it. Run successful businesses, and others have successful careers.
In the end, it’s just a waste of money. You shouldn’t need weed to take the stress off, but hey, I don’t judge anyone. Whatever works for you in life….But the dumb boomer stereotypes about weed need to end. It’s really not that serious.
BRT says:
December 20, 2023 at 10:43 pm
Between the smoked weed, the edibles, the miscellaneous other drugs, and of course alcohol, people are destroying their minds and distorting their consciousness.
Society also did themselves a disservice with changing the definition of sober. Matthew Perry was supposedly sober while getting his regular injections of ketamine. My daughters health class covered drugs last week. They covered everything, coke, her0in, cigarettes, alcohol. What didn’t they mention at all? Weed. I told my coworker about it and his response was “that’s not really a drug anymore”…and this is from a guy who’s never done any drugs. There’s an expression out there “California Sober” meaning your clean, except for weed. Although now they are extending it to psychadelics. My sister smoked a little too much and then experimented with mushrooms since they opened a mushroom store in Oregon. She’s completely fried now and pretty much lost grip with reality. It’s sad.
Your sister is out of her mind most likely for other reasons than weed. Mushrooms maybe, but I would think it is due to other life trauma from when she was young combined with genetics as the reasons for why she is the way she is today. Just my two cents without knowing much about her.
And yes, I agree, heavy smoking is no good, because then it is an addiction where someone revolves their life around it….but someone that smokes in moderation is nothing to worry about.
A small percentage of population has a psychotic reaction to weed. The medical negatives of regular use are well documented and generally ignored by most. Obviously some people benefit greatly from it. Normalizing the use doesn’t lead to good outcomes.
Dating women today is expensive. Hey these guys wanna give their ladies something nice for the holidays.
I’m sure they are gonna love these beautiful gifts. Haha.
This is the moment five hooded thieves stole $250,000 worth of bags from a Chanel store in crime-stricken Washington DC.
Video shows how the suspects exited a white vehicle before charging into the store at City Center in Northwest early Sunday evening, taking merchandise and fleeing.
One suspect was seen grabbing multiple handbags while another discharged a fire extinguisher throughout the shop.
Weed today isn’t like the Mexican ditch weed you got in college.
Strains and potency are synthesized and controlled. Now that has become a legal business the serious money is taking over, rather than the dude down the street in the tie dye.
I no longer partake, but I’ve probably done more drugs than most people have seen. From the friends and family I know and have seen using, todays weed and products are a lot stronger. It also wouldn’t surprise me if it’s been engineered to become more addictive in some sense than is historically the norm. I know people who can’t get through the day without getting high, just like the drunks hiding the nips, it’s the stoners taking a gummy.
It’s not like a company would do that on purpose right?
Probably a lot of long term money to be made in treating weed and gambling issues down the road.
It’s not like a company would do that on purpose right?
Hehe.
What is it with these religious fanatics and the desire to kill people. Crazy Christians and Catholics, sometimes spreading religion, other times spreading destruction and bullets.
Is this what Jesus, God, and all these other invisible beings preach, or do effed up humans just use them as an excuse to do evil things?
A 21-year-old US Marine veteran from California was killed while his unit attempted to rescue one of their wounded during a ‘ferocious battle’ in the eastern Donetsk region in Ukraine.
The family are known to be active in their family’s ministry that aims to spread Christianity in the Philippines. Both John and Leslie Hertweck are graduates of the private Christian college Vanguard University.
I’ve made this casual observation but since legalization, a number of friends I have in their 40s/50s who never really did it before have developed a gummy habit. They manage to bring up the gummies during random conversations every time you see them. This is textbook addictive behavior, as it’s on their mind. Our baseball scorekeeper gets all irate whenever the games take long and the umps wait to call it. I know for a fact he’s going through withdrawal and he has no idea.
Guess he should have stayed at home and visited his local dispensary. They have red and green gummies for Christmas.
Get high with Santa.
Hehe.
The proletariat geezers can enjoy a seven and seven, the wealthy old geezers can suck down a bottle or two of Pappy 23.
This is the closest I get to a JJ story.
Back in the 90s at my first job I knew a guy who was a major pothead. Every night he and his girlfriend and some friends would smoke pot, play cards, and listen to the Beatles. He was in his 20s like me. He was also an avowed fan of Ayn Rand, like me. He was always talking about how great her philosophy was, about capitalism, about liberty, etc. But the problem was that he ignored the fact that her philosophy was explicitly anti-drug, and that his habitual pot use had drained his ambition. He was a retail broker, and he constantly showed up late, and left early, explaining to everyone that he had to get home to watch Star Trek reruns. Since he and I were about the same age and both were supposed to be Ayn Rand fans, some people would say that we were alike, but I vociferously protested. These kind of libertarian hippies do definitely exist in the Ayn Rand community, and give it a bad name. Anyway, he left the firm within a year after getting scammed by a brokerage prospect. He broke the company rules by placing a $20k trade for a new account that hadn’t yet deposited the money, into a penny stock. Simple scam to take advantage of dumb eager brokers – make a large trade on a penny stock. If it doubles and you can get out of it before needing to send in the money, then they keep the account long enough to pocket the profit. If it drops, they say, “what trade? I’m an old man and this broker was trying to pitch me an unsuitable penny stock, I don’t owe you anything.” So this dumb young broker lost more money on that scam than he ever made as a broker, and ended up following his girlfriend to Wharton where she got her MBA. I assume she got in as a partial “native American” because she didn’t have a particularly outstanding academic or professional record. But she was kind of smart and nice and not bad looking, making people wonder why she had a loser like this broker as her boyfriend (who was short and pudgy, and unsuccessful). Well she also kind of liked Ayn Rand, and pot, and the Beatles, but mostly she had a big kink about three ways and polyamory, which they called “the lifestyle” and he was willing to go along with that. Eventually the guy told me about how she loved being the meat in a bedroom sandwich. I don’t know if that was putting out feelers for my interest, but I didn’t pursue that line of discussion. She eventually worked for Janus funds for a while as an analyst just after their big decline but last time I checked she had gotten out of the buy side and became some kind of Fidelity or Schwab account manager. The loser former broker I assume still lives off her, doing some small town AM radio midnight talk show, or doing a podcast with not many subscribers. I assume they’re still smoking pot and listening to the Beatles. They never had a kid as far as I could tell, despite all the various sources of semen getting pumped into her through the years, and not sure they ever even got married officially. Not the poster-children of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, but he is seemingly willing to talk that talk without walking the walk, and I see him still associating with some people I know through that community.
The big financial winners in marijuana and gambling have been on the illegal side. Legal outlets cannot compete. People want value and the legal markets are not providing it.
BRT – I bet I fall in that small percentage. Weed has some incredibly powerful effects on me. Paranoia, really strong effects like hallucinations, etc. I stay far, far away from that ish.
I agree, it sucks, but making it illegal is pointless. Does more harm than good. These people are addicts, and addicts find a way. The war on drugs costs the taxpayer too much money with zero results. It’s pointless. Let these idiots destroy their life, not our job to save them.
I keep things simple. You shouldn’t need to do this stuff to survive. If you are, you have issues and need to address them before they destroy your life. I understand if you do it because you are bored sometimes, but that in itself is a problem. Instead of turning to a substance to numb your boredom, do something with your life. Go start a business. Go help people. Go learn how to invest. Start a hobby. So many things out there to do with your time.
And again…nothing wrong with someone that applies moderation. It’s only a problem when you can’t go without the substance and it starts controlling your life. You shouldn’t be angry if you didn’t smoke or drink. You should be able to do it on your terms, not because you are an addict.
Opinion | Yes, it’s okay to compare Trump to Hitler. Don’t let me stop you.
Opinion by Mike Godwin
December 20, 2023 at 2:57 p.m. ET Mike Godwin is an attorney and author in Washington.
My very minor status as an authority on Adolf Hitler comparisons stems from having coined “Godwin’s Law” about three decades ago. I originally framed this “law” as a pseudoscientific postulate: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.” (That is, its likelihood approaches 100 percent.)
What’s arguably worse than Trump’s frank authoritarianism is his embrace of dehumanizing tropes that seem to echo Hitler’s rhetoric deliberately. For many weeks now, Trump has been road-testing his use of the word “vermin” to describe those who oppose him and to characterize undocumented immigrants as “poisoning the blood of our country.” Even for an amateur historian like me, the parallels to Hitler’s rhetoric seem inescapable.
The steady increase in Hitler comparisons during the Trump era is not a sign that my law has been repealed. Quite the opposite. Godwin’s Law is more like a law of thermodynamics than an act of Congress — so, not really repealable. And Trump’s express, self-conscious commitment to a franker form of hate-driven rhetoric probably counts as a special instance of the law: The longer a constitutional republic endures — with strong legal and constitutional limits on governmental power — the probability of a Hitler-like political actor pushing to diminish or erase those limits approaches 100 percent. Will Trump succeed in being crowned “dictator for a day”? I hope not. But I choose to take Trump’s increasingly heedless transgressiveness — and, yes, I really do think he knows what he’s doing — as a positive development in one sense: More and more of us can see in his cynical rhetoric precisely the kind of dictator he aims to be.
Pumps, is this what you are teaching.
Please give it a gummy. Please.
https://youtu.be/UJUwly7IpTs?t=1589
Cities are fvcked. DC is a third world he’ll hole. People and businesses can’t flee fast enough. They just lost two of their pro sports teams to VA. Ny is hemorrhaging population.
Open borders are one response. Keep the population level and preserve the same representation. Treason in order to win elections. That’s washer the democrats have done.
Crying.
“I’m so unhappy I can’t breathe.”
More crying.
“I’m gonna sue you”
More crying.
It’s amazing what breeds in this country.
The whole “can’t compare this to that” is bull shite.
I can compare the moon to an orange.
I can compare a building to a car.
I can compare a virus to an elephant.
There is nothing that cannot be compared and contrasted. That’s the whole idea behind doing it.
As long as it keeps triggering leftists and getting him publicity he’s going to keep saying outrageous things. Slow learner you are.
It’s not about legalization, it’s about normalization and reclassification. It’s not a coincidence that the 4th grade health teacher decided to teach my daughter about nicotine, alcohol, coke, but conveniently leaves out weed, which she’s guaranteed to be offered at some point in her life.
Look at the bright side. She didn’t give her a lesson on sex.
Hehe
BRT says:
December 21, 2023 at 10:59 am
It’s not about legalization, it’s about normalization and reclassification. It’s not a coincidence that the 4th grade health teacher decided to teach my daughter about nicotine, alcohol, coke, but conveniently leaves out weed, which she’s guaranteed to be offered at some point in her life.
On the weed tip. I am one of those who has absolutely no tolerance to pot. My friends used to call me Blessed. One decent inhale and I was toast. I mean, seeing trails, hearing my heart beat, checking to make sure I’m breathing, unable to answer a simple question, blitzed.
I remember, once, after broadcasting a Montclair State at Trenton State football game, going to a dorm party and after having one hit from a bong, begging for trouble. My play-by-play partner was a real animal and he stupidly pulled the fire alarm in the dorm for shits and giggles. The campus popo checked a camera, found out it was him, but couldn’t find him. When I checked out at the dorm desk later that night, the police were waiting for me to question what his name was. The only answer I came up with was Sam Smith. Then, I couldn’t stop laughing, because I realized Sam Smth was also the name of the Nut Brown Ale I loved at the time. The police realized I was so stoned that I wouldn’t be any help to them and they let me leave. My buddy (who also happened to be the best man at my wedding to Gator) was waiting for me in the bushes right outside the dorm. He drove us home. But not before devouring a case of White Castle ratburgers.
Yeah, I smoke weed. I see trails. Yet my tolerance to alcohol was legendary. Not so much anymore.
Yup, it’s going to be a challenge as a parent. I pray my daughter never tries anything, but I know that is wishful thinking. I will try to be real and guide her the best I can. Constantly giving examples of what happen to family members that succumbed to addiction. Do you want to end up like that? Don’t think for a second that can’t happen to you.
And I see tons of people driving while stoned. I can barely walk straight. I certainly can’t monitor my pace.
Stephen Miller knows that high percentage of the base is kkk and neo-Nazi. He’s addressing his constituents
TraitorJoe says:
December 21, 2023 at 10:59 am
As long as it keeps triggering leftists and getting him publicity he’s going to keep saying outrageous things. Slow learner you are.
We took the D out for his 11th birthday breakfast (school had delayed opening due to Passaic River flooding) and I reiterated with the boys, never take a pill from a friend. My older son has befriended a kid with lots of dependency issues. I warned him to be careful as he is going to get hurt. I explained to him how his friend is not going to intentionally hurt him, but the addiction will. It kind of sucks too as the kid’s parents know about their kid’s problem, but are relatively helpless. The kid isn’t too bright either. But my older son is so fucking empathetic. Again, I reiterated the pill thing. Oh, in other news, kid pulled a 3.86 first semester and has broken the family curse of all males completely screwing up their first semester of college.
Congrats on your son’s first semester Lib.
On the weed, me too. Absolute paranoid toast on smoking it. Funny enough, not edibles now. On the infrequent occasion I pop some just a really smooth mellow (or good night’s sleep lol).
Congrats, Lib! Crazy that your kid is in college now. We are getting old.
Old boomers doing drugs.
Best hope your ticker is in good shape.
One of the most consistent effects of cannabis smoking on heart is 20% to 100% increase in HR which can last up to 2–3 hours, often accompanied by a slight increase in supine blood pressure. This effect of cannabis on HR is thought to be due to cannabis induced vasodilation causing reflex tachycardia (15,16).Jun 13, 2017
Role of cannabis in cardiovascular disorders – PMC – NCBI
Cannabis induced heart attack.
Hehe.
Looking like Gen Z need to be teaching the Boomers instead of the other way around.
Better yet, let mom and dad have access to your gummy supply.
Well, after you have confirmed they wrote you in the will, and have a valid life insurance policy that is.
About the only way Junior will ever be able to call themselves a homeowner.
Right, Steven miller is a Jewish neo nazi.
The nazi angle is so tired. These leftists rallies are full of hatred and vitriol. There is a Democratic block dedicated to genocide. Democrats espouse racial replacement as an ideal
So take your sanctimony and shove it.
5 minutes of wisdom
https://twitter.com/geiger_capital/status/1729610100178837806/mediaviewer
Lets try that again. And no. It is not k pop related.
https://twitter.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1591502421129416706
11:55 i love watching you assholes lose. It’s what you do best.
BREAKING NEWS!
Rudy Giuliani filed for bankruptcy, days after he was ordered to pay $148 million in damages to two former election workers.
Thursday, December 21, 2023 1:27 PM ET
In the filing, Mr. Giuliani listed debts including big legal fees, unpaid taxes and the $148 million a jury ordered him to pay to two former Georgia election workers he defamed.
VSG
Well that’s a surprise.
Hehe
More apartments coming to Paramus. Mayor and Council approve 520 new apartments to be built on land next to Paramus Park Mall and includes taking part of the Macys parking lot.
Talked to a student of mine who’s now at Cornell. She couldn’t believe what I told her was true until she saw it with her own eyes. Her classes littered with kids that are intellectual inferior to her. She says their linked in bios are already stacked beyond belief, Bloomberg internships, hedge funds, science research summer positions etc… Meanwhile, they can’t even do entry level Physics problems she was doing as a HS Sophomore in AP Physics.
You’ve been broken. The third world laughs at you. The left is willing to end western civilization as we know it to stop Donald trump. You are deranged.
Interest will pay my biz class tix to Tokyo
grim says:
December 21, 2023 at 7:49 am
Interesting, got a notification yesterday that the Apple Card savings account raised the interest rate by a tenth. Trying to stem the cash outflow?
https://x.com/carolmswain/status/1737824719275962497?s=20
I went to high school with such people, they ended up at Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, Cornell, and UPenn. I keep up with them on Facebook. They are the benefactors of decades of this stuff, and (not all) many are the most vitriolic, nasty, close-minded owners of an entitled and vulgar lack of self-awareness.
BRT says:
December 21, 2023 at 3:55 pm
Talked to a student of mine who’s now at Cornell. She couldn’t believe what I told her was true until she saw it with her own eyes. Her classes littered with kids that are intellectual inferior to her. She says their linked in bios are already stacked beyond belief, Bloomberg internships, hedge funds, science research summer positions etc… Meanwhile, they can’t even do entry level Physics problems she was doing as a HS Sophomore in AP Physics.
NKE might be a late entry on your doggie list…… just shit the bed…. was coming back to the 50% retrace level, but will be solidly down in 2023 and from all-time high….. do you have a range?
leftwing says:
December 21, 2023 at 11:34 am
Chgo: Nike has been quietly laying off people in December; it’s part of a major restructuring.
Harvard calls the President s plagiarism “duplicative language”.
Mrs Streeble is in trouble.
Sounds like the typical Boomer Trump supporters.
They receive socialist universal healthcare and still bitter with racial grievances
chicagofinance says:
December 21, 2023 at 4:49 pm
They are the benefactors of decades of this stuff, and (not all) many are the most vitriolic, nasty, close-minded owners of an entitled and vulgar lack of self-awareness.
BRT – re: “intellectual inferior”
Not all that long ago feeblemindedness, incorrigible acts and uncontrollable promiscuity meant possible sterilization as we actually had State run programs here in the USA to prevent those deemed inferior from procreating. The Supreme Court has never overturned it’s own ruling from 100 years ago that those State run programs were factually legal according to whatever laws and the constitution said at the time. Not to say it’s coming back but you never know.
On LinkedIn today there was an old coworker complaining about the Myers Briggs type tests they are being asked to take when applying for jobs. Some are an hour, and some are time boxed. 40 questions in 20 minutes etc.
I had to take one as well in my travels around software companies looking for my newest gig. I don’t want to toot my horn as I don’t consider myself anywhere near the level of brain power some of y’all have here but I did better than most of people that took that test. The reason being? I cheated. I have a memory like an elephant, it’s genetics for sure. I may not be able to sum up the three cubes math challenge but I sure as heck know how to get around it by guessing.
Oh by the way sum of three cubes challenge was solved a few years ago, but it actually took a super computer to do it.
x³ + y³ + z³ = 33 <— Imagine seeing this on a test?
3b – Surprised by the plagiarism double speak? My son confessed this week all the kids share answers now on social media. If you go into my son’s school and look at the list on the wall about 1/3 of all students per class are honor roll students now. Statistically that should not be possible, another parent and I both looked at each other and laughed about it. It was always less than 10%….
No worries the AI will do all the work in the future. We can all spend our days touching glass.
Wow – Giuliani’s Chapter 11 filing lists debts totaling up to 1/2 Billion. Perhaps the bankruptcy judge should send him to one of those NYC run senior public housing in Queens or the Bronx and get him a job running the Canasta games.
Lib – re: “never take a pill” – Someone I knew once had a lunch bag full of X. She was hooked beyond redemption, somehow she is still alive and living a quiet life.
Solid advice on pills but the dealers have forever been selling marijuana laced with LSD, Coke & Heroin etc. Luckily fentanyl is burned off by heat, otherwise would see much higher overdose rates. I was never one to partake. I learned early on by picking up my cousin up from a hospital in the Bronx. He had gunshot wounds from a bad drug deal. He now lives a comfortable life in New Zealand. In his case it is the white privilege, he could sing and well fell for one from there who could sing as well.
Perhaps get inline at the local dispensary for sure. Not telling anyone how to live their lives just make sure they know the street stuff regardless of drug there are better choices.
Juice: I am not surprised, this is progressive madness out of control. If the duplicate language explanation was used by someone not in the progressive camp, the media would be screaming for resignation.
Black, woman, heading one of the most prestigious universities, in the job for less than six months?
She could have dropped her panties and taken a dump on the House lectern and the Harvard Board would not have said a word….
No way that demographic was being moved out of that position.
David H. Petraeus
Chimp face. On Fox, yeah, we need to take on the Chinese. Spend more money, build more weapons. Oh, and don’t raise taxes on the rich. Let the middle class pay for it.
As he sucks down his government pension and free lifetime government healthcare.
Hey buddy, go suck a u know whatttttt.