We’ve Seen This Scenario Before

1. For at least two years now the distressed RE funds have been working, continuing to raise money. The auction process has been speeding up since last year. Plenty of people knew going into this. The whole time the REIC has been lying. You can’t trust anything they say nor the numbers they spit out.

   1. Realtors are liars

   2. The O.C. Register reports that Zillow reports that L.A. – O.C. asking / list prices are down 7% in one month.

      Happy to see this; thanks for reporting it.

      Still, this is ‘asking’ prices and those can be highly off-base / wack / nowhere near reality to begin with. It is a start, though, and hopefully *sales* prices will fall that much and more as well…

      1. Most likely, prices will fall differently in different price ranges.

         $5M and above: The shacks are already falling since 2015. If you read this blog for the last several years, there are many examples or articles where celebrity or ball player selling for huge losses. The same is true for Miami and NYC as well. Massive losses as the bubble peak for the uber luxury markets in 2015 and 2016. I think it will drop big as Ben said, no one needs a $10M or $20M shack.

         2M – 5M: These prices have peaked in late 2017/early 2018. Probably down 10% – 15% prior to the CCPVirus crisis.

         1M – 2M: For other areas outside CA, these houses would be in the range above. However, in CA, crap shack built in the 50s or 60s can be in the price range. This bubble pops. I see new luxury townhouses dropping around $100k but they are trying to throw in more incentives.

         500K – 1M: The prices here (as least in the Bay Area) will be sticky on the way down. You have forbearance and CARE acts with FED printing trillions to kick the can down the roads. I expect prices will go down slightly in 6 months. For areas outside Bay Area, i.e., rest of US, see the above range description.

         500K and below: NA for Bay area but applicable for rest of US and inland empire. See previous range description. The key here is how quickly we can recover when the nation reopens again.

         1. Anecdotal cases of celebrities and athletes losing $1 or $2 million on their mansions are worthless. This group is notorious for overpaying way above market value in the first place. But when lawyers and CFO’s start losing…take notice.

            1. If CEO of Tesla take a bath, would that be of interest to you?

            2. You’re assuming that this group overpay but not others. In a mania, everyone overpay. That’s why it’s called a mania. Not just Hollywood turds or social warrior morons, we are talking about Chinese speculators, CEOs, companies, wall st investors, etx.

         2. What? nobody around here cares about shacks that over 1M.
            so, yeah real estate will be sticky in high earning areas like SF BayArea, Silicon Valey, LA and OC, Settle Metro… etc…
            But housing should go down.

   3. Remember when they deliberately doubled the actual housing demand numbers for 3 years straight during the last minor correction then lied about it?

      They can’t be trusted now any more than they could be trusted then.

      Los Angeles, CA Housing Prices Crater 14% YOY As Housing Markets Tank In Largest West Coast Cities

      https://www.zillow.com/los-angeles-ca-90015/home-values/

      As a noted economist stated so eloquently, “A house is a rapidly depreciating asset that empties your wallet it every day you own it.”

   4. https://twitter.com/windgineering/status/1258091274143518720
      Joshua Fausset
      @windgineering
      Replying to
      @tomrollinger

      @ocregister
      and 4 others

      The housing shills say it’s a sellers’ market. WRONG. There are not enough buyers. Credit was tight and getting tighter. #BuyStrike Wake up from the #ConsumerStupor. Agents, NAR, MBA, MSM will all tell you to FOMO into buying a home. Bad idea. Don’t drink the koolaid.

      [See chart of Mortgage Credit Availability]

      11:48 AM · May 6, 2020·Twitter Web App

2. Seattle, WA Housing Prices Crater 13% YOY As Vancouver, BC And Portland, OR Markets Turn Toxic On Rampant Mortgage Fraud

   https://www.zillow.com/seattle-wa-98102/home-values/

   *select price from dropdown menu on first chart

   As a leading economist advises, “Mortgage debt is the most toxic and damaging debt of all. Avoid it at all costs.”

3. ‘Some hosts borrowed large sums to build small property empires that are largely dependent on the business Airbnb brings them’

   If the guberment wasn’t backing these loans it’s likely these FB’s wouldn’t have even gone into this crazy “business”. This has been a confluence of stupidity from lending, to cities and towns allowing it. Airbnb is still hemorrhaging cash. I read uber took a employee dump last night too.

   1. Airbnb panic selling in SoUtah. Many of these former-STRs are now showing up for sell here locally.

      Check out the asking price for this nightmare inducing POS:
      https://stgeorge.craigslist.org/reo/d/kanab-for-sale-by-owner/7118983032.html

      1. What is this clown house? Who the F was renting this short term? Child predator? Serial killer with humor?

         1. Is that stove sink and DW even legal in that corner space?

            1. Abominable.

      2. Let me guess: the realtor calls that seizure-inducing shack “whimsical.” $260,000? At a tenth of that it would still be overpriced.

         1. House built by a bipolar hippie stoner out of scrap materials.

      3. That Dump is so ready to use the caterpillar and don’t live nothings standing… makes want to puke

4. “…Sam Zell, the billionaire known for buying up troubled real estate…”

   I really admire Sam Zell.

   He is one of the sharpest minds in the business world, but doesn’t seem to be that well known. (outside of R/E circles)

   “…For years, Zell has been warning that the U.S. construction boom would result in oversupply and lower prices…”

   Of course, ‘oversupply and lower prices’ is the diametrically opposite to the REIConplex and their ‘shortage’ and ‘R/E always goes up’ nonsense.

   What is really interesting is that Sam Zell’s business philosophy has often paralleled that of the HBB and its readers.

   1. Billionaire Sam Zell on Market Valuations, Real Estate, Post-Virus Economy
      May 5, 2020

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR9qd65EBnc

      It’s 39 minutes.

   2. In early 2007, Sam Zell sold a good chunk of his office holdings, especially his Equity Office REIT.

      In retrospect, he unloaded a lot of trophy office buildings at the top of the market.

      By 2008 I made a mental note to myself – if Sam Zell is selling his real estate holdings, then it’s probably time to lighten up on your real estate exposure.

      1. Kinda like when Buffett sez he’s selling airlines. Crash landing is a likely prospect.

5. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-06/uber-is-reducing-workforce-by-14-and-signals-more-cuts-to-come

   These jobs are gone for good. Again wtf they have 27k employees. These are high paid jobs too

   1. Note how short a time from complete insanity to the brick wall. Wework blew up not that long ago. Airbnb was supposedly worth more than the major hotel chains – combined! Where’s all that talk of self-driving, flying taxis?

      1. 🤔, It’$ a terrible thing when thee “Everything$.Everywhere’$🌍🌎🌏.Bubble$.Bur$t!!!!”: 💣💥🎈📌🎈📍🎈📌🎈📍🎈📌🎈📍🎈📌 … in way$ 👾 that are knot eCONomically ideal, or to yer own per$onal preference$. $ad.

6. ‘Dee Sanders, general manager of Trinity River Lumber Co. in Weaverville, which sells timber products including Douglas fir for the home construction market, said the market was doing well in the early spring—but after stay-at-home measures were put in place, he had to reduce capacity at the company’s three sawmills.’

   “We’re normally running two shifts, a swing shift and a day shift, and obviously when COVID came along, we were doing OK until (some counties) started shutting construction down,” Sanders said. “For several weeks now, we’ve cut our production in half at all three of our mills. Our sales have probably dropped 60% at least.”

   ‘George Hollister, a farmer of redwood timber in Mendocino County, said, “Before the COVID virus happened, everybody was pretty optimistic.” Hollister, who said he primarily sells logs, said prices were doing well until about the time the orders to remain at home came about, when “the lumber market just collapsed.”

   https://www.agalert.com/story/?id=13966

   1. Don’t know what prices they’re fetching but I’m still seeing logging trucks fully loaded with redwood on the road.

   2. Didn’t Mr Banker just post on rapidly rising lumber futures?

      Dead Cat Bounce?

   3. Weaverville is a trippy little town made up of old hippies growing weed and loggers cutting down trees. I stopped for a coffee on my way to the coast many years ago. That highway 299 is a brutal drive.

      1. “That highway 299 is a brutal drive”

         Knot on a motorcycle, 1st trail.blazing on that ocean bound route, 1972, saddled to a Honda 350 four. Fun!

         1. Did you ever cross paths with a Honda motorcycle dealer on the West Coast named Pete Dupuy?

7. ‘The coronavirus effect has hit Arizona ranchers. The virus has upset the balance of supply and demand from the pasture, to the packing plant to higher prices for your pocket. In Cochise County John Ladd is seeing the pandemic disrupt the demand for his cattle and drive prices so low he’s seeing six hundred pound steers which would have sold for a dollar sixty a pound going for a dollar a pound.’

   ‘He says it hurt when demand from restaurants fell—then more trouble piled on. “And you know the schools and everything that there was a snowball effect which, when you’re losing 25 cents a pound. You know that’s a pretty big deal but yeah you could probably survive on that but then when you’re going down 60 cents a pound. You’re not even breaking even.”

   https://www.kgun9.com/news/coronavirus/virus-ties-up-cattle-markets

   1. a dollar a pound

      That’s not really very much more than I paid for feeder cattle 30 years ago. It just might be that your grass is too expensive, because you paid too much for the land.

      1. He should $ub$cribe to “thee.Bundy.cattle.grazing.method!” … use Federal lands for years, then neglect$ to pay for the .02 cents an acre charge$.

         “Don’t tread on me or … my well fed cow$!”

8. Every day I type in ASAP in Miami Craigslist, this usually give me an indication of desperate owners who are willing to sell/rent out their property. Every days for the past several weeks, the return has been 3000 listing, the maximum return possible.

9. Every day I type in ASAP in Miami Craigslist, this usually give me an indication of desperate owners who are willing to sell/rent out their property. Every days for the past several weeks, the return has been 3000 listing, the maximum return possible.

10. Airbnb to Cut 25% of Workforce…
    https://imgur.com/a/BroDRjI

    1. Dear laid-off Airbnb employees,

       #LearnToCode

       1. I think that many of them are coders.

11. As Ike & Billy Clanton said:
    “…this ain’t overs yet!”

    Market$:

    No Junk Debt Is Too Ri$ky: How Fed’$ Bailout$ Changed Everything

    By Davide Scigliuzzo, Craig Torres, and Lisa Lee / Bloomberg / April 28, 2020

    U.$. central bank hasn’t even $tarted buying corporate bond$

    Yet perception of Fed’$ backing help$ ri$ky firm$ borrow anew!

    Long before the coronavirus pandemic would bring business to a standstill all across America, Surgery Partners Inc., a sprawling network of outpatient clinics, already had its share of financial problems.

    This was no secret on Wall Street. Surgery Partners’s majority owner, the buyout firm Bain Capital, had loaded so much debt onto the company’s books that when it went to the market last year to refinance maturing bonds, investors demanded a 10% interest rate to compensate them for the risk. The debt was rated CCC — eight levels below investment grade

    Even a moderate downturn, it was understood, was going to raise existential questions about the company. So by late March, with the economic effects of the outbreak in full force, frantic investors braced for default, pushing the price of those bonds below 55 cents on the dollar

    But then the Federal Reserve did something it had never done before. It pledged to buy risky corporate debt as part of its emergency financing package for the economy. The move was so aggressive and sparked a rally that was so powerful and broad-based that today those bonds are all the way back up near par value, and Surgery Partners was able to raise another $120 million from loan investors earlier this month.

    It all has worked out so fortuitou$ly for the creditor$ and equity holder$ of $urgery Partner$ — and those of $cores of other companie$ with $imilarly $haky balance sheet$ — that the Fed’s actions carry a grave risk: that investors, rather than being chastened, will be emboldened to take greater chances and seek fatter returns in the future, believing that policy makers will be there to bail them out if they get in trouble.

    The central bank had spent more than a decade telling the public that it was unwavering in its resolve to force Wall Street to rebuild its capital buffers so it could lend both in good times and bad. Yet even after banks beefed up their reserves and cut back on risk-taking with their own funds, the financial system is yet again in need of extraordinary support.

    “It’s as if they believe the banking system no longer works,” said Paul Tucker, former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England and chair of the Systemic Risk Council, a think tank of former regulators.

    What’s worse, according to Tucker, is that the Fed might have altered investor incentives for years to come, creating even more instability in the next downturn.

    (A spokesperson for the central bank declined to comment.)

    [me.laughing]

12. Watched a webinar presented by Dr. William Shang, a pathologist from New York. He presented data which indicates that people with hypertension, obesity, chronic lung disease diabetes and cardiovascular disease were by and large the patients who needed hospitalization. People with these underlying conditions have an abundance of ACE2 receptors on their cells which COVID-19 uses to enter cells. The more underlying conditions, the more ACE2 receptors.

    His pitch was if people could exercise and eat better, thereby reducing the underlying conditions, the second wave of COVID-19 would be less severe.

    1. Maybe the Fed should be offering zero interest loans to gyms and fitness centers.

       1. They be$t hurry, Goldilock$ gym$ i$ in the throat$ of bankruptcy.

       2. All my fitness options are shut down indefinitely. It’s been a good incentive to explore our neighborhood on foot.

       3. Maybe the Fed should be offering zero interest loans to gyms and fitness centers.

          And that benefits oligarchs how?

    2. Here is a link …

       https://vimeo.com/415286673

    3. It’s also a know fact that people low on vitamin D get a more extreme response to C-19. Darker skin people need twice the amount of sun to get the vitamin D levels for proper immune function.
       People in nursing homes don’t get any sun usually. They have a higher count of darker skin people getting more extreme cases also.

       We just live in a society that that thinks a magic pill is the answer to everything. Most jobs are indoor and people are just not getting enough D. You just can’t fool mother nature. This virus goes after compromised people and some people don’t even know they are compromised or that their immune system is out of whack.

       It doesn’t mean your suppose to lay out in the sun for 5 hours and get a sunburn. and get skin cancer. For lighter skin people 15 to 40 minutes should do it. Darker skinned people need more.

       It’s like anything , the proper dose is the key and one size doesn’t fit all. Common sense balance is also key with maintaining health for most people.

       1. For lighter skin people 15 to 40 minutes should do it.

          As it’s only 45 degrees here, I’d like to know if this is 15 minutes on just my face or if I have to be all naked.

          1. Naked, but wearing a mask so you don’t spread the beer flu 😉

          2. Ok, they say that your arms and legs should be exposed.

             1. Ok, also if you live in cold country you might need to take vitamin D supplements. You could eat foods high in vitamin D like fatty fish or mushrooms. The problem is that there isn’t that many foods high in D unless your a big fish lover. They use to spike milk with A and D when I was a kid. I don’t know if they do that anymore .

             2. I think they still put D in milk but people don’t drink as much as they used to and it turns out the sun is way better than any supplement. I try to tell my wife that…Chinese/Asian non-poor women avoid the sun like vampires. It’s hell on their bones later in life. But it signals to everyone that they aren’t working class so it seems to be non-negotiable. She has bent a little and gets some on her arms and legs but the face is still a no-go.

             3. For chinese is all about appearances…out goes all morals, ethics, compassion, or doing the right thing, as long as they keep the appearances

       2. “Darker skin people need…”

          Personal Responsibility and the Coronavirus
          https://imgur.com/a/MIpALsP

       3. My sister was big on taking VitD supplements, as much as 50,000 IU per day at one time. She had a stroke last year & that stopped. 3 months ago her Vit D blood level was measured and found to be at the upper limit of the normal range. She was advised to take no more supplements.

          1. Too much Vit A is lethal too. Don’t eat seal livers!

             1. I’m assuming that people are going to have enough common sense not to stay in the sun to long, and not take to high a dosage of A if you take a supplement.
                I try walking in the sun for about 5 times a week for half hour to 45 minutes because I like getting exercise also.

             2. Common sense dictates taking your sun walks outside the peak intensity period between 10am and 3pm or so. We tend to walk towards around 6pm, when we still get plenty of sun but not at midday intensity.

          2. Ok, taking supplements is tricky business. That why I try to get things the naturall way. If I do take a supplement I go on the lower side dosage.
             From what I have been reading you shouldn’t take more than 30 to 50 mg of zinc. Taking to much can unbalance other minerals.

13. Manassas Park, VA Housing Prices Crater 13% YOY As Fairfax County Housing Market Swirls The Bowl

    https://www.movoto.com/manassas-park-va/market-trends/

    As a leading economist advises, “Mortgage debt is the most toxic and damaging debt of all. Avoid it at all costs.”

    1. Problem is, using your same reference link, Manassas Park, VA is *up* 25% since Jan 2017, even after the ‘crater’ amount that you reported. Not much to see here.

       I’m just showing that data can be interpreted differently, and you are reporting a “crater”, and I’m still (easily) able to show that it is *up* significantly over the past 3.5 years.

       Real ‘cratering’ is 30-40% off previous selling prices. I’ve been through it twice here in O.C. just since 1994.

       1. Prices fell 13% and cratering fast.

          It is what it is my good friend…. it is what it is.

          Centreville, VA Housing Prices Crater 30% As Northern Virgina/Washington DC Rental Rates Tank

          https://www.movoto.com/centreville-va/market-trends/

          As a noted economist said, “If you have to borrow for 15 or 30 years, you can’t afford it nor is it affordable.”

       2. I’ve been through it twice here in O.C.

          Did, in either of those times, house prices reach new lows, or simply give back a portion of the gains of previous bubble years? If not, your arguments are quite illogical.

          Everything that helped prop up ridiculous house prices is broken. A 30% semi correction (again) is nothing compared to the amount of air under house prices.

14. This is gonna be a mutha.

    “Here are a few of the many consequential differences between all previous recessions and the current situation:

    1. Households have never been so dependent on debt as a substitute for stagnating wages.

    2. Real earnings (adjusted for inflation) have never been so stagnant for the bottom 90% for so long.

    3. Corporations have never been so dependent on debt (selling bonds or taking on loans) to fund money-losing operations (see Netflix) or stock buybacks designed to saddle the company with debt service expenses to enrich insiders.

    4. The stock market has never been so dependent on what amounts to fraud — stock buybacks — to push valuations higher.

    5. The economy has never been so dependent on absurdly overvalued stock valuations to prop up pension funds and the spending of the top 10% who own 85% of all stocks, i.e. “the wealth effect.”

    6. The economy and the stock market have never been so dependent on central bank free money for financiers and corporations, money creation for the few at the expense of the many, what amounts to an embezzlement scheme.

    7. Federal statistics have never been so gamed, rigged or distorted to support a neo-feudal agenda of claiming a level of wide-spread prosperity that is entirely fictitious.

    8. Major sectors of the economy have never been such rackets, i.e. cartels and quasi-monopolies that use obscure pricing and manipulation of government mandates to maximize profits while the quality and quantity of the goods and services they produce declines.

    9. The economy has never been in such thrall to sociopaths who have mastered the exploitation of the letter of the law while completely overturning the spirit of the law.

    10. Households and companies have never been so dependent on “free money” gained from asset appreciation based on speculation, not an actual increase in productivity or value.

    11. The ascendancy of self-interest as the one organizing directive in politics and finance has never been so complete, and the resulting moral rot never more pervasive.

    12. The dependence on fictitious capital masquerading as “wealth” has never been greater.

    13. The dependence on simulacra, simulations and false fronts to hide the decay of trust, credibility, transparency and accountability has never been so pervasive and complete.

    14. The corrupt linkage of political power, media ownership, “national security” agencies and corporate power has never been so widely accepted as “normal” and “unavoidable.”

    15. Primary institutions such as higher education, healthcare and national defense have never been so dysfunctional, ineffective, sclerotic, resistant to reform or costly.
    16. The economy has never been so dependent on constant central bank manipulation of the stock and housing markets.

    17. The economy has never been so fragile or brittle, and so dependent on convenient fictions to stave off a crash in asset valuations.

    18. Never before in U.S. history have the most valuable corporations all been engaged in selling goods and services that actively reduce productivity and human happiness.

    This is only a selection of a much longer list, but you get the idea. Basing one’s decisions on analogs from the past is entering a fool’s paradise of folly.”
    https://dailyreckoning.com/this-isnt-just-another-crash/

    1. Wild & scenic rivers ll fer Hwy50 this year. Canoeing & fishin’ & sailing & wandering ’bouts the remotest wild.ness lands.

       Went a huntin’, eh, a 🎣fer some golden.trout💲🐟 … fer x4 days, (figurin’ thee xaoh.killa.deeth.👾would bee a vanqui$hed bye the time eye returned), but no, just like Mr.Ben’s HB.B ll $helter.$hack.$hortage$, it’s just a got$ woeser & woeser.

       Well, eye saw a few fisher.folks, (mostly PCT packers)… x1 blk bear & mtn lion footprints, x1 👑 snake 🐍, x1 coyote & x2 river otters… knot x1 red.M.A.G.A hatter shouting ’bout “eye.need$.to.bee.free”! …

       The fish were a welcome addition to my freezer & pantry diet & supplemented bye both red & black licorice vitamin sticks. +🍺&🍷& chocolate.toffee edibles. 1/2.a moon doesn’t last long above steep sided river canyon walls.

       Side.note:
       Sir King Dave (15 years, r.i.p.), has been reincarnated as x2 pint sized kitten rescues, “Tink” girl, (whom eye call troubles#1) “Rufus” boy, with a ⚾️catcher’s mitt front paws, (whom eye calls: “Trouble#2!”) brother & sister… gonna bee a lotta “angry.birds” once they is set free to roam from the human fort. The mice & mole community won’t bee much celebrating either eye reckon. The hawks, owls, coyotes & rattlers, they have a different POV.

       1. Did you catch a Golden?

          I caught one once, in a place my friend called The Land Before Time. A valley at 10,000 ft in Colorado. My friend was upset that I let it go.

          1. Yeppers, they is quite plentiful on the upper Kern. Only keep x2 take 14″ w/ barbless snaggle. (River is high due to Mt.Whitney melt just.now)

             1. Sounds lovely. My grandad was a fly fisherman. In my next life…

    2. No “pent-up demand” for $500,000 starter homes happening here.

15. Las Vegas, NV Housing Prices Crater 15% YOY As Toxic Lending Tanks US Housing Market

    https://www.zillow.com/las-vegas-nv-89119/home-values/

    *Select price from dropdown menu on first chart

    As a noted economist stated, “Get what you can get for your house today because it’s going to be less tomorrow for decades to come.”

16. Is it safe to assume the recession is going to be over shortly?

    Howard Gold’s No-Nonsense Investing
    Opinion: Economic expert with perfect record calling recessions is betting this one will be over by the end of 2020
    Published: May 6, 2020 at 12:18 p.m. ET
    By Howard Gold
    Duke professor Harvey says coronavirus vaccine will end U.S. downturn and the positive yield curve is an upbeat sign
    …

17. “The pandemic has slowed down Los Angeles’ housing market, but there are still buyers and sellers looking to transact. 25175 Jim Bridger Road | $8.1M | Hidden Hills. The home was listed for just under $9 million as recently as a year ago, and the price dropped to $8.6 million in late April. 7847 Torreyson Drive | $8.3M | Laurel Canyon. It last sold for $11.4 million in 2015 and was listed in July of last year asking $9.5 million.”

    $eems like that seller may have to drop the price considerably more to find a buyer looking to transact.

18. https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/kylie-jenner-buys-15-million-052200581.html

19. Great gig while it lasted. The got an average of $2K/month to pay the mortgage —- so super low rates by the Fed and renting out a floor in their house. i hope that they were saving so that they had a emergency fund of 3-6 months – otherwise they were on the edge gamblin

    I keep thinking to poker – unless you are Chris Moneymaker (the amateur that won the world series of poker) you are going to play a good hand and the next guy gets a straight with the last card – and you are dead.

    —
    “They rent out the second floor of their home on Airbnb and other short-term rental platforms. The Rockaways couple estimates they made $26,000 in bookings last year, enough to help pay their mortgage.

20. “Some hosts borrowed large sums to build small property empires that are largely dependent on the business Airbnb brings them.”

    And in so doing, disrupted established neighborhoods, broke local zone laws with impunity thanks to paying off the right politicians, and deprived people of affordable housing. So die, speculator scum. Just die already.

    1. Yup. These Airbnb parasites ruined every mountain town in Colorado for the locals who actually live and work there.

       1. STR, VRBO ruined Palm Springs, CA
          Pitted neighbors against neighbors .

          1. Eye was spontaneously “invited” to a VRBO party hou$e in “thee.$prings” … bee.ute.tea.full dig$, pool & all.

             (10 guys from a 1980’s Michigan college reunion, interesting stories from each, especially about their $ignificant.others” & their current $it.u.a.$hun$.)

             Actually, amazingly fa$cinating!

21. Did someone pull the rug out from under Mr Market at the end of the trading day today?

    1. Mr Market has a grim progression of predictably bad employment data releases to digest this week. Heartburn is in store.

       Market Snapshot
       Dow steady in afternoon trade, following loss of 20 million private sector jobs
       Published: May 6, 2020 at 3:04 p.m. ET
       By Joy Wiltermuth and
       Sunny Oh
       Investors now await U.S. weekly jobless claims data Thursday and monthly nonfarm payrolls and unemployment report Friday
       …

    2. “Did someone pull the rug out from under Mr Market at the end of the trading day today?”

       – Wait a minute! You previously posted this:

       “Duke professor Harvey says coronavirus vaccine will end U.S. downturn and the positive yield curve is an upbeat sign”

       “If we have data, let’s look at data. If all we have are opinions, let’s go with mine.” – Jim Barksdale

       – One day doesn’t make a trend, but:
       – The Fed is QE’ing less now.
       – Stock buybacks are falling precipitously.
       – Corp. earnings are the inverse of stock market gains.
       – The Fed has intervened to to the tune of a few $T’s (so far), but total market cap. is 10x that (say ~$30-40T), or about 1 order of magnitude larger. If everyone sells, it’s going down.
       – Employment is usually highly correlated with stock prices.
       – Hopium springs eternal.

       – Opinion, not investment advice. We’re in a bear market really. This could continue until end of Summer, or not. “Normal” bear markets typically last 1-2 years. This is not a “normal” market, and in fact, there’s nothing at all normal about any of this.

       – Finally, this article. I’m with Sam here.

       [Referenced in this blog post]
       Billionaire Sam Zell Sees Economy Permanently Scarred by Pandemic
       Erik Schatzker | BloombergMay 5, 2020

       (Bloomberg) — Sam Zell, the billionaire known for buying up troubled real estate, said the coronavirus pandemic will leave the same kind of impact on the economy and society as the Great Depression 80 years ago, with long-lasting changes in human behavior that imperil many business models.

       “Too many people are anticipating a kind of V-like recovery,” Zell said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “We’re all going to be permanently scarred by having lived through this.”

    3. Just remember: The stock market always goes up, eventually.

       FA Center
       Here’s the good news — and the bad — about skyrocketing market risk
       Published: May 6, 2020 at 4:49 p.m. ET
       By Mark Hulbert
       Market yardstick with strong track record sees U.S. stocks substantially higher a year from now
       …

22. ‘We’ve been hit hard,’ Headrick said, declining to disclose financial details. ‘We always stay busy and consistent, and going into our third year, we’re at a standstill right now.’”

    Sounds like what’s needed here is a stable, long-term, creditworthy tenant, Melinda. Better price your rental properties accordingly.

23. The Rockaways couple estimates they made $26,000 in bookings last year, enough to help pay their mortgage.

    So what I’m hearing is, these FBs never should’ve qualified to buy this overpriced shack in the first place. Oh well. Their lender is going to be out some serious money when they walk away.

24. Deflation: the nightmare scenario for governments, central bankers, and debt donkeys. Of course the Keynesian fraudsters at the Fed tells us inflation is a good thing, and will try to print their way out of the deflation wrought by a collapsing economy. Weimar 2.0, here we come.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/05/inflation-collapses-world-coronavirus-pandemic-global-economy-business-great-depression-recession

    1. The Financial Times
       US Treasury bonds
       US Treasury plumps for longer-term debt to fund $3tn stimulus
       Details of historic borrowing plans send government bond yields higher
       The US Treasury, led by secretary Steven Mnuchin, above, is reviving a 20-year bond last issued three decades ago
       © Bloomberg
       Colby Smith in New York
       3 hours ago

       The US Treasury says it plans to significantly increase the proportion of borrowing through longer-term debt, as it set out details of how it will fund the government’s $3tn-plus stimulus of the coronavirus-ravaged economy.

       On Wednesday the department, which has already indicated it will revive a 20-year bond it last issued three decades ago, said that it would boost the size of three, 10 and 30-year bond auctions to record amounts.

       The outline comes just days after the Treasury said that it would need to borrow $3tn before the end of June, a historic sum that is more than triple the previous record seen in 2008 and far beyond the $1.28tn the department borrowed for the entirety of the 2019 fiscal year.

       Congress has passed four large spending packages since the virus outbreak including bailout funding for corporations and cheques for American taxpayers to see them through the lockdowns.

       “In light of the substantial increase in borrowing needs, Treasury plans to increase its long-term issuance as a prudent means of managing its maturity profile and limiting potential future issuance volatility,” the agency said in a statement.

       Market participants have long braced for the borrowing surge, given the enormous support provided by Congress to ease the economic burden brought on by Covid-19, but some were surprised by the magnitude by which the Treasury is ramping up issuance of long-dated debt.

       “There is a lot more duration coming to market than the market was anticipating,” said Gennadiy Goldberg, senior US rates strategist at TD Securities, noting that long-dated Treasury yields rose following the department’s announcement, indicating a fall in price.
       …
       Investors said they do not expect yields to rise much higher from here, however, given that the Federal Reserve has committed to purchase an unlimited quantity of Treasuries. The US central bank is now buying government debt at a pace of $8bn a day, down from a peak of $75bn at the height of a financial market liquidity crunch in March but still a dramatic expansion of its balance sheet.

       Subadra Rajappa, head of US rates strategy at Société Générale, said she expected the Fed would adjust the pace of its buying should there be a “meaningful sell-off” in US government debt.

       “Given that the Treasury has a captive buyer, it makes sense to issue as much as [it] can,” she said.

       1. $25 trillion and growing:

          https://usdebtclock.org/

25. Peer-to-peer lending – an absurd idea possible only in a world awash in Yellen Bux and greed-fueled speculation – is collapsing in on itself. No one, but no one, could’ve seen it coming.

    https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/may/05/ratesetter-uk-biggest-peer-to-peer-lender-cuts-rates-to-prepare-for-loan-defaults-coronavirus

26. ‘I truly believe if it weren’t for the coronavirus I would have sold this house by now,’ said Lyden.

    You could sell that shack tomorrow, Thelma, but it’s gonna require some serious sawin’ and slashin’.

27. Some Southern Californians can’t pay their rent. In turn, local landlords are lowering rents to keep units full. This could dull the investment appeal of local homes.”

    Yeah, that’s a tragedy. Houses were meant to be shelter, not speculative investments.

    1. “Hou$es were meant to be $helter, not $peculative investment$”

       What i$ it about Amerikan “Free.”Bidne$$ .Enterpri$e$” that you fail$ to $ee?

       Bonu$.point$ iffin’ you mention how mal.inve$tment$ u$ed to produce financial.failure$, … but$ knot $o much anymore$.

       Extra.credit$:
       Will (0%) … a$ in Zero percent % help you achieve “long.term$” $ucce$$? No? … doe$ the word “UNLIMITED” have any province in yer investment realm$?

    2. Houses were meant to be shelter, not speculative investments.

       Tell that to Lucy Van Pelt

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUd83tF6qHc

       1. Poor, poor Lucy, reckon she never spent the time watching lil’ Woodstock, build his own home, kinda fer “FREE” really.

          (It sorta did require “REAL” effort)

          But, eye digre$$, even Mr. Ben most likely does knot have a auction li$ting for a foreclo$ed “bird.hou$e” …

28. However, you have to understand that there’s a lot of new construction, so there’s a lot of landlords that aren’t technically in a position to absorb any losses.”

    There’s a two-part solution to this:

    1) Stamp your little feet
    2) Divest yourself of your money-bleeding alligator

29. The Stranglers – Strange Little Girl

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyYAwyNo0BM

    1. A Tribe Called Quest — Check The Rhime:

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QWEPdgS3As

       1. Nas — The World Is Yours:

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_srvHOu75vM

          1. James Brown — Love Power Peace — Paris 1971:

             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2OOmrs8aYo

30. Remember those few months when Jerome “Janet” Powell was trying to pretend to be a responsible central banker? The Fed has long since dropped all pretense of being anything other than what it is: the oligarchy’s chief instrument of plunder against the 99%.

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-propping-companies-had-warned-170540856.html

    1. Thee.🍊.jesus is now demanding (-) … a$ in negative Fed.Rate$.

       Looks like he’$ out to over.$ucceed Kenyan.O’bammy, in every.way, $hape & form!)

       Up next 2020 year.end$ Federal Deficit$! … $ad.

31. A salon owner who stayed open despite shutdown orders because she had to “feed my kids” refuses to grovel before a judge enforcing these capricious laws, and gets jailed, while violent criminals are set free. I’m going to sleep sounder tonight knowing this menace to society is locked up.

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/texas-hair-salon-owner-jailed-defying-coronavirus-shutdown-200506181113020.html

    1. Not long ago there were stories about how Texas might go blue in elections soon. Stories like this tell me probably not…riles up too many people in the middle.

       1. ” …how Texas might go blue in elections”

          What political affiliation was Mr. Lyndon Baines Johnson?

          Worm$ turn … they is slow, decade$ slow, but they turn.

       2. One would think that anarcho-tyranny would wake people up, but millions will dutifully pull the D lever this November, including many who lost everything this year and had to wait well over a month for an unemployment check while their elected leaders were tripping over each other to release violent convicts.

          1. Its almost as if their low IQs (<85) prevent them from understanding complex concepts and motivations. :shrug:

             I've said it before, once a society has too many stupid people, there's no saving it. Doesn't matter that there are a smattering of geniuses, I'm sure theres a few in African countries but the vast majority who cannot read, write or grasp complex concepts drag society down like a pot of crabs.

             We could eliminate much of this by limiting voting to those that can pass both an IQ and American Civics test. Then race, color, creed, gender, wealth would not matter one bit.

             1. We could eliminate much of this by limiting voting to those that can pass both an IQ and American Civics test.

                Good luck with that. The “loyal opposition” wants to give the right to vote to non citizens.

             2. We could eliminate much of this by limiting voting

                You could eliminate even more by raising the voting and office holding age to at least 35. Much of the childishness would be gone quickly. More wisdom would return.

             3. raising the voting and office holding age

                If you care about the future, care about education.

             4. Doesn’t matter that there are a smattering of geniuses, I’m sure there’s a few in African countries
                Chinese guy, who apparently didn’t run into any, putting down a Congolese for an hour and 17 minutes in full doc available on youtube.

                2 minute clip

                “Empire of Dust” 2011 trailer

          2. Ye $ound$ nervou$.

32. No $500K shack purchasers here.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/06/adp-private-payrolls-april-2020-drop-by-record-20point2-million.html

33. “The hope of the world lies in what one demands, not of others, but of oneself.” James Baldwin

34. Push out the homeless from one neighborhood in Denver and they just move outside the radius of the cleanup area:

    https://denverite.com/2020/05/04/recent-homeless-sweeps-push-campers-to-surrounding-blocks-sparking-a-conflict-between-residents-and-neighbors/

    Imagine paying $700,000 for a used house here? I never will.

    Related article:

    “Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure crews are returning a week after collecting almost five tons of trash in a swath of Five Points. This time they are requiring — not just requesting — that people experiencing homelessness move to allow for cleaning.

    Advocates for people experiencing homelessness protested the original cleanup last Thursday and Friday, arguing it could lead to vulnerable people moving away from services they needed amid the coronavirus outbreak. Makeshift campsites are scattered in the targeted area between 20th to 23rd streets and from Welton to Curtis streets. It’s a part of town where people in need can find, along with day shelters and other services, portable toilets and hand-washing stations.”

    https://denverite.com/2020/05/05/cleanup-crews-are-returning-to-the-site-of-last-weeks-homeless-encampment-sweep-in-five-points/

35. If you look back in time, right when the Big Recession hit in about 2009, this is when people would of started dropping out in droves to the price fixing high price monopoly called health care.

    IMHO, this would of forced health care and Big Pharma to lower the price . Instead of a lowering to even the price other industrial Nations were charging at about 50 percent cheaper ,we got the Commie Obamacare. So now your charged based on your income and your charged a tax penalty if you don’t pay into a overpriced HC system.

    They bailed out the fraudulent banks and didn’t change anything that’ would prevent faulty lending or curb casino mania markets.

    So the Government propped up the fake prices of health care, real estate, higher education, stock market, by backing the loans ,or tax penalty if you rebel against overpriced health care.
    And people going into to much debt was suppose to be the cure for a rigged system.

    The cure was to go back to capitalism, charge tax penalty to Companies that don’t manufacture in USA, or give jobs to USA Citizens .

    So instead your called a racist if you don’t like open borders or gutting of your Nations jobs to Globalism.

    Obama’s idea was increasing food stamps and having one set of people overcharged so another set could get free health care. And the constant fake cry was that jobs were never coming back. . They could of come back if these sleazeball Politicians did what was necessary to make them come back.

    You have a very loud power group that has no loyalty to the United States that has profited by Globalism . They even defend China.

    It’s all about having the cheapest wage costs, while being able to sell at the highest price verses prices tracking with local wages based on jobs being protected by not being moved to foreign countries.

    I don’t remember the USA citizens voting for Globalism. This was kinda done in a sneaky way if you ask me. Bit by bit Politicians voting for paving the wave for the gutting of the job and manufacturing base of America.

    Apparently we have not gotten enough Politicians in that will vote for a reversal of these policies that have creamed your average Joe in the USA. What a joke that Communist ideas and bigger Government is peddled instead of a return to what we had before Globalism. That would also mean a return of a Glass Steagal type bill that would prevent faulty lending and put the casino markets back in their place, instead of the Ponzi scheme they are.

    Also, there is something wrong with allowing World wide money to go anywhere it wants. Example is the Chinese raising the price of local real estate as speculators.

    I’m just saying that American laws and policies should be designed to protect the USA citizen, not a One World Order.

    1. “It’s all about having the cheape$t wage cost$, while being able to $ell at the highe$t price ver$es price$ tracking with local wage$ based on job$ being protected by not being moved to foreign countrie$.

       I don’t remember the U$A citizen$ voting for Globali$m.”

       Take the word: “Capitali$t”

       Now make, (u$ing any combination of letter$), the word “Fair!”

36. New$ from thee. “Oh, $ee!”, CA:

    Montage, Ritz-Carlton Sale Nixed

    OC Business Journal / By Katie Murar /Tuesday, May 5, 2020

    The long-delayed sale of Montage Laguna Beach and Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel has been nixed.

    Korea’s Mirae Asset Financial Group said Monday it is terminating its deal to buy a collection of 15 upscale hotels in the U.S., including the two OC resorts, from China-based Anbang Insurance Group, claiming the seller breached contract obligations.

    (They had an awesome bar.pub.food buffet, but, alas, Hwy50 was just a vi$itor, never a gue$t.)

37. Hello Old Friend Eric Clapton

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3PM0mOtLSY

38. The Zrentstimate sez $3495 a month. I am trying to imagine how the place can command several hundred more a month than comparable rentals in the same neighborhood. And we locked in our lease before COVID-19 was on the horizon.

    I don’t know what the owners are asking for rent, but the “For Rent” sign has been up for weeks with no evidence of new occupants. They may need to ignore the Zrentstimate and start a sawin’ and a slashin’ if they hope to ever attract a tenant during the COVID-19 quarantine.

39. Ok, now I’m getting really alarmed. I just found out that China bought Smithfield Foods, Nathans Hot Dogs, and 147 thousand acres of prime farm land in the USA.
    I mean I knew that China bought some Movie Studios but this is getting weird.

    I had a tendency to look at all the outsourcing to China, and not so much at China buying up essential food business in the USA.

    We are getting overtaken from within, while our jobs and manufacturing were taken to China and other foreign places.

    Why would our lawmakers allow this kind of purchasing from a Foreign Communist Country?
    It’s already unacceptable that China produces most of the Pharma we use.
    You know it no wonder that Communist ideas are gaining in this Country.

    In the 50’s Russia use to talk about how they were going to take us over from within.

    Why are these purchases allowed? This has to be reversed by Washington DC.

    These kind of purchases should not be allowed. I didn’t even like the fact that foreign purchase of residential real estate was driving up prices.

    The point is why was outsourcing of USA jobs and manufacturing allowed, and why is the buying out of essential food business from within the USA allowed by foreign Communist Country.

    And all this crazy talk about open borders and we have to pay for ilegals needs.

    I have always said. that the Communist would use the greed of the Globalist ,who bought off the Politicians in the USA, and than the Communist would take over.

    Even letting them purchase movie studios creates a control over the brainwashing. In movies.

    Now they are going for the food supply.
    I’m not going to buy Smithfield or Nathan anymore, but my understanding is China is shipping the meat back to China.

    It’s just like that factory in Italy where they make clothes for China, but all the workers were Chinese. I have heard this before that when China operates in a foreign Country they hire Chinese workers rather than the locals for the area.

    This has to be reversed. It’s a method of takeover without firing a shot.

    1. Cheer up By. This is a distortion of credit expansion. You could say the same about Japan 35 years ago. It didn’t work out so well for them taking over the USA by buying overpriced assets with borrowed money.

       1. But it’s the food supply.

          1. If push comes to shove, those businesses can be seized.

    2. Saudis sucking our water dry after they destroyed their aquifers. They are now in Arizona sucking the aquifers dry for their dairy herds. Makes no sense.

       Saudi Arabia grows alfalfa hay in both states for shipment back to its domestic dairy herds. In another real-life example of the world’s interconnected economy, the Saudis increasingly look to produce animal feed overseas in order to save water in their own territory, most of which is desert.

       https://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/15/saudi-arabia-buying-up-farmland-in-us-southwest.html

       1. It getting crazy. We have the Dems Joe Biden who has a Son who got a billion dollar deal from China, and that other deal from the Ukraine.
          And when Trump even asked for some investigation from the new President of Ukraine he gets impeached.

          All the corrupt forces that gained so much power in the last 15 years just can’t take Trump trying to rain on their parade.

          You get the Politicians caring more about the rights of ilegals than the USA Citizens. What’s this BS that the main stream news went to defend China who gave us this C-19. And enough of this BS that your racist if you are protective in any way against what a Foreign Country might be doing. And it’s pretty clear that the FBI was trying to take out people like Flynn and Trump.

          What’s this BS that Communist type welfare is more important than having a strong job and manufacturing base and being a productive Country.

          You can’t live on going into debt, having Government workers and the health care industry be the biggest industry, and people selling over priced homes to each other.

          IMHO, if you don’t have a strong private sector work force, than health care and government jobs aren’t sustainable.
          In other words, where are you going to get the tax money to support health care and government jobs if you have to many unemployed people or low paying jobs.

    3. the buying out of essential food business from within the USA allowed by foreign Communist Country. That buyout happened a long long time ago. Peeps of the USA made no peeps about it.

       1. U.S. Forces China Out of Port of Long Beach Terminal Ownership – Universal Cargo
          https://www.universalcargo.com/u-s-forces-china-out-of-port-of-long-beach-terminal-ownership/

          (snip)

          “It all started with a 40-year container terminal lease between the Port of Long Beach in southern California and Hong Kong. The Obama administration proudly signed the agreement in 2012 giving China control of America’s second-largest container port behind the nearby Port of Los Angeles.”

          That was then, this is now …

          “One of the Trump administration’s first big moves was to get the Communists out of the Port of Long Beach.”

          I suggest you pukes give this rather short afticle a read.

40. Has China turned the corner?

    The Financial Times
    Markets Briefing Equities
    Stocks slip as data show uncertainty of China recovery
    Global share markets head mostly lower despite surprise increase in Chinese exports
    Shares in Hong Kong fell as data hinted at an uncertain outlook for China’s economy© AP
    Hudson Lockett in Hong Kong 2 hours ago

    Global stocks fell as new data painted an uncertain picture for China’s economic recovery following its coronavirus outbreak.

    On Thursday, Chinese stocks erased losses earlier in the morning to trade flat after April trade data showed a surprise rise in exports of 3.5 per cent compared with the same month a year ago.

    Economists had expected a fall of nearly 16 per cent.

    Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index and Japan’s benchmark Topix slipped 0.5 per cent in Thursday’s trading. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.3 per cent.

    A private survey of Chinese business activity released earlier in the day underscored weakness in the country’s economy as its services sector contracted for a third consecutive month in April due to the pandemic.

    The Caixin-Markit services purchasing managers’ index also showed the second-sharpest fall in export orders and the fastest rate of job shedding on record for China’s services industry.

    Some analysts pointed out that the extent of the Chinese economy’s recovery from the coronavirus crisis was still unclear.

    Zhong Zhengsheng, chief economist at CEBM Group, said the “second shockwave for China’s economy brought about by shrinking overseas demand should not be underestimated in the second quarter”.

    Meanwhile, oil prices were little changed with West Texas Intermediate, the US marker, up 0.3 per cent at $24.05 a barrel, while international benchmark Brent crude flat $29.72 a barrel.

    “The short trade is dead for oil, but the rebound will eventually run out of steam,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, who expects WTI prices will hit a ceiling at $30 and Brent at $35.
    …

    1. Paid $1.68 for gas today.

41. As of now stock futures are up and so are oil futures.

    Oil futures are up bigly …

    https://finviz.com/futures.ashx

    1. The WTI Crude Oil futures chart …

       https://finviz.com/futures_charts.ashx?p=d1&t=CL

       1. With major economies like China and Germany reopening, I guess the rising crude prices aren’t that astonishing, even if the oil market has a supply glut like the world has never seen before.

42. 5G coronavirus conspiracy theory results in 77 mobile towers burned, report says – CNET
    https://www.cnet.com/health/5g-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory-sees-77-mobile-towers-burned-report-says/

    This is a fun read. It illustrates just how stupid some people are and how mass hysteria can seize one’s brain and subvert common sense.

    (But is indeed true that drinking Corona beer can infect one with the corona virus. And people living in Corona, CA should automatically be quarantined.)

    1. What about those living in Corona Queens?

    2. Rampant stupidity is a societal threat.

43. Kensington, MD Housing Prices Crater 22% YOY As The Mortgage Fraud Epidemic Envelops Washington DC Area

    https://www.movoto.com/kensington-md/market-trends/

    As a noted economist questioned, “Why buy a house when you can rent one for half the monthly cost. Buy it later after prices crater for 70% less.

44. Rental property investment isn’t looking like such a sure thing any more.

    The Financial Times
    Property sector
    Crunch time for US tenants and landlords
    Investors who saw rental housing as a safe bet before the pandemic are bracing for delinquencies
    Last year, the multifamily housing sector attracted $184bn in investment
    © Bloomberg
    Joshua Chaffin in New York yesterday

    In the late stages of the recently concluded US economic expansion, cautious investors prepared for the possibility of a downturn by pouring money into an unsexy sector of the real estate industry: rental apartments.

    In the real estate world, multifamily housing, as the sector is known, is renowned for its safety because, the thinking goes, people will always need a place to live. While they may cut back on luxuries, preserving a roof over their head is a priority.

    That thesis is now being put to the test as unemployment surges during coronavirus lockdowns. Thousands of Americans are expected to take to the streets on Friday in support of a rent strike prompted by the pandemic, and landlords like Norman Radow of Atlanta, Georgia, can only guess about how much rent they can expect from their properties.

    “Twenty-eight per cent of the families in this state are living hand to mouth and in fear,” said Mr Radow, citing recent jobless claims in Georgia. The residents of his mostly “class-B” properties — spread out across his home state and seven others — tend to earn about $45,000 per year, he noted. “They don’t have a month saved up to cover.”

    In April, landlords fared better than many expected. As of April 26, 91.5 per cent of households had paid rent, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council, a developers group. That was down 4.1 percentage points from the same period a year earlier.

    But most expect May to be worse. The economy was only just shutting down in many places by the time April rent was due. In the interim, millions of workers have been laid off. Compounding problems, many states have been slow to process the enormous volume of unemployment claims.

    “There are still a lot of families living pay cheque to pay cheque and they’re evaluating their situation week to week,” said Priscilla Almodovar, the chief executive of Enterprise Community Partners, a non-profit that focuses on affordable housing.

    Ms Almodovar is particularly worried about what will happen in August — by which time the $600-per-week unemployment insurance supplement included in the federal stimulus bill will expire. “Unless new relief comes out of Washington, what happens on August 1?” she asked.
    …

45. Does it seem like Wall Street routinely cheers the news of millions on Main Street losing their jobs?

    Why is this good news for risk asset HODLers?

    1. All news sounds like good news to a liquidity drunk bull.

       The Wall Street Journal
       U.S. Markets
       U.S. Stocks Climb as Jobless Claims Trend Lower
       Jobless claims rose by about 3.2 million in the week ended May 2
       Updated May 7, 2020 2:45 pm ET

       U.S. stocks rose Thursday as the number of new applicants for unemployment benefits continued to decline.

       The S&P 500 rose 1.4%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.5%.

       Initial jobless claims for the week ended May 2 came in at 3.2 million, with total applications since mid-March surpassing 33 million. Some fund managers have taken heart as the number of new claims each week has steadily fallen since surpassing 6 million in the last week of March.

       “Although the U.S. jobless claims number is a very large number, I think people, investors, were relieved to see it wasn’t even larger,” said John Conlon, director of equity strategies at People’s United Advisors.
       …

       1. The good news: The hole in the boat is smaller than we thought.

          The bad news: The boat is still sinking.

46. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/07/uber-leads-170-million-investment-in-scooter-company-lime.html

    Right after dumping 14% of their employees.

    1. It reads like an investment, but maybe they’re just dumping their scooter business and another 500 employees with it.

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