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Their Real Estate Profits May Be Gone Baby Gone

A report from the Jacksonville Progress. “For those of us who live in East Texas, some of the information and data that follow will blow your mind. In May of this year, it was reported half of the homes that sold in our country over the past year sold for more than $419,300. In Cherokee County, half of the homes sold for more than $239,950. It’s all about supply and demand and local economics. In San Francisco the average selling price is $1,400,000. When I moved to San Francisco, in 1980, I paid $155,000 for a nice four bedroom, three bath home. When we sold it in 1982, the real estate market had cratered and we sold it for $137,000. In 2016 the home sold for $1,250,000. In April of 2023, it sold for $1,460,000.”

“In the Southridge Addition, on the southside of Jacksonville, homes sold in the upper $80s to the mid $90s, back in the teens. Now they are selling for close to $200,000. When Southridge began building about 20 years ago, it was their plan to build around 254 homes. Well, there are about 80 there now. All of the planned streets have yet to be built. In Jacksonville, half of the households have an income of $49,750 or higher. In San Francisco, half of the households have an income greater than $119,136. Today the real estate market has gotten poky. The reason the market has gotten poky is because the hot market blew up prices significantly and fewer people were able to buy. Building spec homes in Jacksonville is risky. There are several new brick homes on Zimmerman St. that are new and that were built a couple of years ago. Only recently it appears that a couple of them have sold.”

KTVU on California. “Good luck buying a starter home in the Bay Area: You’ll need to earn $285,000 a year. Broken down, your monthly payments would be $7,000 or more, according to Redfin, as San Francisco starter homes went for a median of $950,000 in July. ‘Homes in the Bay Area are so expensive that even many high-earning tech employees have been priced out of the area, so they’re looking at neighboring cities,’ said Craig Pellegrini, a Redfin Premier agent in the San Jose area. In half of the 50 most populous U.S. metros, a family earning the local median income can’t afford a starter home, Redfin concluded. The gap is biggest in Anaheim and Los Angeles, where families would need to earn twice the local income to afford a starter home.”

“Anaheim’s median income is $122,192; a family needs to earn $251,302 to afford the typical starter home, according to Redfin data. In Los Angeles, the median income is $93,197 and a household needs to earn $184,477 for a starter home. The gap is only slightly smaller in San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose.”

The New York Post on California. “Their real estate profits may be ‘Gone Baby Gone.’ Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez could lose $25 million on the sale of their Beverly Hills mansion, which is on the market for $68 million, because it’s overpriced, in a bad location and too big, said at least one real estate expert. ‘That house is actually worth between $40 and $50 million,’ a West Coast real estate investor told Paula Froelich of NewsNation. ‘It’s in a terrible location. Wallingford Estates is a gated community with no guard. Most homes in the area are from the 1970s and are worth between $5 to $10 million. This is just a huge white elephant. It’s garish, too big and dated with amenities that are just silly and not necessary (like an indoor sports complex).'”

“The couple bought the sprawling 12-bedroom, 24-bathroom, 5-acre abode in 2023 for just over $60.8 million and put it on the market in July, before Lopez even filed for divorce. The insider told Froelich that the house, which has been on the market for close to two months, according to its Zillow listing, isn’t aesthetically pleasing — and took a while to sell when it was new. ‘The house is ugly. It was built in 2001 by a mediocre developer with just bad taste in architecture … it’s a mish-mosh of styles with a faux French roof,’ the source said.”

“When it was built, it sat on the market for years and was listed at $100 million, so maybe [Affleck and Lopez] thought they got a deal for buying it at $61 million. But remember, they also put millions into renovating it to their tastes. ‘The property taxes alone on that house are $762,000 a year — and another $750,000 to insure it and maintain it. So, whoever buys it, they’re out at least $1.5 million per year just to keep the lights on,’ the insider continued. The former spouses will also lose at least 10% on the proceeds from the sale of the house — which they will have to split — due to a California mansion tax and realtor fees.”

Public News Service. “Michigan has seen a 10% rise in foreclosures this year. The Middle Class Borrower Protection Act, intended to assist middle-class homebuyers, is under fire for potentially increasing housing costs and making homeownership harder. Critics warned the bill might benefit landlords and large corporations more than average families by reversing recent Federal Housing Finance Agency fee changes for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages. Caroline Nagy, senior policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform, explained the concern. ‘This bill would order the FHFA to undo that change, raise prices for lower-income folks, first-time home buyers and order the FHFA to lower prices for investors and vacation-home buyers,’ Nagy outlined.”

“In Metro Detroit, the median sale price for a home in 2023 was at an all-time high of $250,000. Detroit saw around 100 foreclosures in July alone, underscoring the city’s ongoing foreclosure problem. Nagy expressed surprise Rep. John James, R-Mich., a Detroit native, actually supports the bill. ‘I think that is a very interesting vote, given his location, and the Detroit metro area,’ Nagy observed. ‘This is an area that has seen a lot of struggles.’ James did not respond to requests for comment. In Michigan, more than 12,000 properties were affected by foreclosures.”

From KTAR News. “Another self-storage development designed for housing your valuable and collectible ‘toys’ is coming online this fall. Those toys come in the shape of luxury and classic cars, boats and RVs and can be stored at Toy Barn, which already has six existing Arizona locations. Beyond being a home to stash away their luxury vehicle, Toy Barn looks to bring its car-crazed members together through its clubhouses and monthly events. Members often entertain and socialize within their units, which can be personalized to their taste. ‘We are a luxury garage condominium community, kind of like a country club for car guys, in a way,’ said Jason Phillips, co-owner and founder of Toy Barn. ‘So it’s a real estate ownership concept. It allows people to buy and invest in real estate to serve a need versus renting a locker in a traditional storage facility.'”

From Bisnow. “The former home of the New York Stock Exchange, which became home to more than 500 housing units for New Yorkers, is facing default. The Financial District office tower at 20 Broad St. was converted into housing by Nathan Berman’s Metro Loft Management several years before the pandemic. But the $250M mortgage tied to the property comes due in September, and the firm ‘has indicated it was unable to repay the loan at its maturity,’ according to bond rating firm KBRA, as first reported by Crain’s New York Business. The loan, set to mature Sept. 9, was transferred to a special servicer earlier this month, according to commentary on Morningstar Credit’s dashboard.”

“The apartment building has 533 units and ground-floor retail. The apartment portion of the building is more than 95% occupied but has suffered from offering concessions, according to July commentary on Morningstar. In this case, tenants were offered one month free for 12-month leases or two months free for 14-month leases. ‘Existing rent concessions are biggest driver of depressed cash flow but is expected to improve over the next six months,’ the servicer commentary says.”

“20 Broad St.’s financial troubles could be a lesson for landlords looking to residential conversions as a solution to vacated office stock. ‘The building was really big, and it did feel almost office-like, not super-communal or homey,’ a 63 Wall St. resident told Bloomberg. ‘They tried their best to turn it into a beautiful, grand luxury building, but I lived in a studio, and it was a very awkward space. It wasn’t square, it wasn’t a rectangle, it had all kinds of bizarre edges and weird corners.'”

From Politico. “Four and a half years after the pandemic sent workers home, the office property bill is finally coming due. The market for office buildings — already reeling from higher vacancy rates amid the rise in remote-work policies — has been crushed by high borrowing costs. Investors, banks and property owners are now beginning to accept that some commercial buildings will never recover their pre-pandemic value, and that’s leading to a steady drumbeat of distressed sales. Over the last four months, seven office properties were sold at a staggering loss of more than $100 million each, up from just one such sale in the first three months of the year. Banks and investors will have to take significant haircuts — one midtown Manhattan office building sold at a 97.5 percent discount in July.”

“‘Three out of four office properties ‘don’t end up being refinanced without an additional equity infusion from the owner,’ said Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, a professor of real estate and finance at Columbia University’s business school. ‘So the question is what does the owner do; is it throwing good money after bad?’ Scott Rechler, CEO of New York landlord RXR, which defaulted on a $240 million loan tied to a Manhattan building last year, said the delayed onset of the storm — via loan extensions and adjustments — has allowed banks to build up reserves. Now, he said, more banks are moving from the ‘denial’ stage of grief to ‘acceptance’ and marking down their holdings. ‘There is a clear acknowledgment that if you’re kicking the can — this is different than 2008 — that this is not going to resolve itself in just, you know, prices and values re-inflating because of an injection of capital into the system,’ Rechler said.”

Canadian Dimension. “The word mortgage has its origins in medieval French jurisprudence. Roughly translated it means ‘deal unto death.’ In the context of Canada’s housing market this etymological root has special resonance. Our homes have been mortgaged by an aging generation hell-bent on carrying them into the grave. Many of these propertied elders are not treating housing as a human right, but as an asset class to be accumulated for the purpose of wealth extraction.”

“Despite being a quarter of the population, baby boomers own 41 percent of the homes in Canada. These senior speculators are the majority of small investors in much of the country—up to 67 percent in some provinces—and they are accruing property at an accelerating rate. In 2021, 20 percent of single family home purchases were made by investors. By 2023 that number was over 25 percent. The use of homes as investments rather than places to live is part an economic process called financialization which has pushed housing prices far higher than comparable nations around the world.”

“But governments are not interested in combating investor-driven price inflation. ‘Housing needs to retain its value,’ Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared earlier this year. ‘It’s a huge part of people’s potential for retirement and future nest egg.’ Unfortunately, policies that move towards decommodification are not politically viable because real estate speculation has come to replace pensions as the retirement plan of choice for aging Canadians. We need to address these issues together as part of a broader turn away from neoliberalism. It is imperative that Canada once again become a country that invests in services, social housing, and livable pensions. Our elders should never have been compelled to involve themselves in real estate ponzi schemes to attain a dignified retirement.”

Global News in Canada. “A Montreal engineer and part-time professor is voicing his frustration at Quebec’s slow housing tribunal after he alleges a new tenant in an apartment he owns sparked chaos on the streets and rattled the neighbours. Francois Tardy rents out an apartment on a Hochelaga Maisonneuve street, which he said rented to a new tenant on a one-year lease in March. That lease, the engineer and Concordia University professor said, led almost immediately to complaints. The issues reported by those around included ‘people going up and down all the time, smoking crack all over the place, sitting down in that location, defecating and urinating over there’ and ‘howling at people’ and ‘screaming at each other.'”

“Tardy told Global News someone else who rents from him described the problem in stark terms. ‘One of my tenants called me and he said, ‘You realize that you just invited a crack house up there?’ he recalled. The engineer shared videos with Global News that appeared to show people consuming drugs in the street. Tardy noted that an elementary school is just steps away from the address. ‘I thought it would be a quick resolution, but it was not,’ Tardy said of his attempt to evict the tenant. ‘It was much more complicated than I could ever imagine.'”

From The NL Times. “Criminals from the drug trade are setting up large-scale mortgage fraud networks throughout the Netherlands. Several regional police forces shared signals about this after the Amsterdam police discovered that drug criminals had purchased hundreds of homes in the capital through mortgage fraud in recent years. Nationwide, at least 8,000 homes are in criminal hands, the Financieele Dagblad reported.”

“According to the police, the ease with which criminals can get a mortgage using fake documents is alarming and has a huge attraction effect. ‘We are currently seeing criminals grow from drug trafficking to this form of fraud. Particularly because it is an easier revenue model and also offers the opportunity to launder drug money,’ Amsterdam police chief Pim Jansonius told FD. ‘At the same time, they run less risk since, in the drug trade, you never know who is going to chase you: the police or fellow criminals. The chance of being caught in fraud is also significantly smaller.'”

“In July, the Amsterdam police reported uncovering a criminal network consisting of a realtor with a history in drug trafficking, administrative offices, and mortgage advisors. The network arranged mortgages with fraudulent payslips and employer statements against cash payments of around 10,000 euros per home. He called the extent of these networks ‘alarming.’ Thousands of homes are being removed from the regular housing market nationwide, he said. ‘It disrupts society and undermines the integrity of the financial sector. Criminals involved earn tens of millions from it, and banks provide billions in mortgages,’ said Jansonius.”

The Herald Sun. “Melbourne’s median house value has fallen for the fifth straight month, and is now $16,000 below where it was a year ago in a blow to homeowners across the city. The latest PropTrack Home Price Index released today has revealed the drop, which has in part been caused by government taxes driving investors to sell and thinning buyer demand. Australian Bureau of Statistics data also shows that investor purchasing is growing weaker. While this has been great news for buyers, PropTrack senior economist Eleanor Creagh noted it showed it was an early sign that ‘buyer demand isn’t meeting the stream of listings.'”

From CNBC. “China’s property struggles and U.S. sanctions have significantly affected some of its cities, even as others benefit from Beijing’s tech push, Milken Institute’s best performing cities China index showed Tuesday. Cities such as Zhuhai, once a ‘rising star,’ dropped in the rankings due to the slump in real estate. The city, in the southern province of Guangdong near Hong Kong, fell 32 places from the previous index published in 2022 to 157th place. Suddenly no one bought houses. ‘Builders didn’t have much money to complete their projects,’ Perry Wong, managing director of research at the institute, told reporters in Mandarin, translated by CNBC.”

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This Post Has 112 Comments

  1. ‘Three out of four office properties ‘don’t end up being refinanced without an additional equity infusion from the owner…So the question is what does the owner do; is it throwing good money after bad?’

    If they had more skin in the game they would be less likely to walk away Stijn. Sound lending!

    ‘Now, he said, more banks are moving from the ‘denial’ stage of grief to ‘acceptance’ and marking down their holdings. ‘There is a clear acknowledgment that if you’re kicking the can — this is different than 2008 — that this is not going to resolve itself in just, you know, prices and values re-inflating because of an injection of capital into the system’

    It is different this time.

  2. “Good luck buying a starter home in the Bay Area: You’ll need to earn $285,000 a year. Broken down, your monthly payments would be $7,000 or more, according to Redfin, as San Francisco starter homes went for a median of $950,000 in July. ‘Homes in the Bay Area are so expensive that even many high-earning tech employees have been priced out of the area, so they’re looking at neighboring cities,’”

    All that to own a place in a city where the sidewalks are lined in filth?

    At least the corporate investors can still afford to buy and profit, because California real estate always goes up.

  3. “Criminals from the drug trade are setting up large-scale mortgage fraud networks throughout the Netherlands. Several regional police forces shared signals about this after the Amsterdam police discovered that drug criminals had purchased hundreds of homes in the capital through mortgage fraud in recent years. Nationwide, at least 8,000 homes are in criminal hands, the Financieele Dagblad reported.”

    Is it safe to assume none of the money flowing into US residential real estate is of similar origin?

  4. “Our elders should never have been compelled to involve themselves in real estate ponzi schemes to attain a dignified retirement.”

    Seems like the US is in the same boat, given how private defined benefit pensions went the way of the dinosaur post-ERISA and following the 401(k) revolution.

    1. “By 2023 that number was over 25 percent. The use of homes as investments rather than places to live is part an economic process called financialization which has pushed housing prices far higher than comparable nations around the world.”

      It’s weird to read an article about Canada that sounds like a description of California.

    2. Both of my greatest generation grandmothers paid off the house and lived in the house mortgage free almost until they died. Grandpa’s pension and SS was enough to cover property taxes and living expenses. Since they lived in the house whether it was worth $100K or $600K, appreciation was irrelevant. But if the value of the house had appreciated to where property taxes are unaffordable, then grandmas would have had enough equity to downsize out of the house and move to a tiny CBS or trailer in Florida.

      At least that’s the old school dignified retirement. Presumably anybody who bought a house more than 6-7 years ago could do the same thing, with 401K instead of pensions.

  5. “Four and a half years after the pandemic sent workers home, the office property bill is finally coming due”

    Two weeks to flatten the curve, remember that one, LOLZ?

    “We’re all in this together”

    Yes, you will be, when it’s time to pay for taxpayer funded bailouts.

    1. The office property disaster isn’t really due to COVID. We were alredy very close to videoconferencing and networking, which made w@h viable even without lockdowns. Offices would have had to face the piper sooner or later.

      1. Unfortunately, the diversity hires haven’t demonstrated the necessary personal responsibility to work from home.

        1. In my nabe, it’s been the lily white supermoms who objected the most to the office. They either don’t want to commute from their manse in the exurbs, or they want to move out of the area.

  6. “The couple bought the sprawling 12-bedroom, 24-bathroom, 5-acre abode in 2023 for just over $60.8 million and put it on the market in July, before Lopez even filed for divorce.”

    Seems like their timing was awful. It’s a great reminder to not go through life envying the Hollywood set, who seem particularly susceptible to making bad real estate investments.

    On the other hand, I have two examples of couples in my own family who engaged in a spree of bubble-era investment home purchases before divorcing. Maybe deranged real estate investing is an early warning sign of divorce, regardless of fame and fortune?

    1. “It’s a great reminder to not go through life envying the Hollywood set, who seem particularly susceptible to making bad real estate investments.”

      Poor spousal choices too.

      1. I never liked either of them. Ben isn’t all that bright and JLo… I guess she’s an average performer who collects husbands.

        I always wondered about the husbands who fall for this. Who wants to be some girls fourth husband? Isn’t that a red flag?

        2. “Ben isn’t all that bright…”

          Apparently. WTF?

          Jennifer has short legs, no gap and she’s thicc. On the flip side, he doesn’t need to support her in the manner she’s become accustomed.

  7. Migrants flooding NYC’s justice system — making up ‘75% of arrests in Midtown’ — as ‘pathetic’ sanctuary city laws handcuff cops (9/2/2024):

    “Police sources shared with The Post a staggering estimate that as many as 75% of the people they’ve been arresting in Midtown Manhattan in recent months for crimes like assault, robbery and domestic violence are migrants. In parts of Queens, the figure is more than 60%, sources there estimate.

    On any given day, Big Apple criminal court dockets are packed with asylum seekers who have run afoul of the law.

    The problem is made much worse by sanctuary city laws that mean New York cops aren’t allowed to work with ICE on cases in which they believe suspects are in the country illegally. Additionally, the NYPD says it is barred from tracking the immigration status of offenders.

    “Most of the people we arrest are professionals — these aren’t their first crimes,” one law enforcement source said.

    The cop added that the Biden-Harris administration’s lax border policies, combined with sanctuary city laws, have allowed the problem to fester.

    “Crime would be down significantly if there was a wall and we could account for everyone who comes into the country,” the source grumbled. “And more importantly, throw them out if they commit a crime.”

    https://nypost.com/2024/09/02/us-news/migrants-flooding-nycs-justice-system-making-up-75-of-arrests-in-midtown-as-pathetic-sanctuary-city-laws-handcuff-cops/

    75 percent is that a lot?

    “They’re not sending their best”

    1. Evidently ground-level border crossings are down. Instead, now these migrants are being flown directly to ports-of-entry airports, thus spreading the invasion among asylum agents in the interior. No need for Abbot to bus them around. And I guess that explains why all these migrants are living in the airports.

      Ugh, late January can’t get here soon enough.

      1. Expect this to get amped up after they drag Harris across the finish line. You think 20,000,000 invaders is a lot? How about 100M? Charter airlines are going to be very busy.

        And they won’t be living in airports. They will be living in tent cities in every public space available in your town.

        1. I’m not so sure. The forces that were arrayed against DJT in 2020 are blunted this time.

          Never DJT-ers and moles: pretty much driven out in ridicule by now.
          $400M Zuckbucks: Zuck is too afraid to put his neck on the line again. And anyway he’s too busy mopping himself up after the fight-fight-fight episode.
          Pizza boxes and pipes: DJT is drafting a volunteer army to counter that.
          Monopoly on social media: Enter Elon the Black Swan
          Social Justice Warriors: They want to put illegal boys in the girls bathroom and then cut your son’s dingy off. They’re losing traction.
          COVID: Yeah, we’re pretty done.
          Young vote: fight-fight-fight appears to have awoken some testosterone in this group. And don’t look now, but Theo and Adin got at least 15 million views together — viewer that old-school Dems know nothing about.
          Black /Hispanic vote: They know whose bread was buttered by Biden, and it wasn’t theirs.

          I don’t think Special K can win on Joy and abortion trucks alone.

          1. I don’t think Special K can win on Joy and abortion trucks alone.

            Of course not. As I said, she will be dragged across the finish line (fraud).

          2. But from what I can tell, the fraud last time was mostly ballot harvesting and trucked in ballots, and it took a pretty big money infusion. The RNC knows how to look out for that now. This time, I guess they’ll mess with the voting machines and the illegal immigrants.

          3. I hope you are right, as I don’t think there is enough ruin left in this country to endure four more years of the nightmare.

  9. A reader sent these in:

    Someone check in on middle class Canadians.

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1830694808794374558

    VOLKSWAGEN CONSIDERING CLOSING FACTORIES IN GERMANY

    https://x.com/zerohedge/status/1830593806514729054

    In Las Vegas, publicly traded homebuilders control a staggering 87% of the new home market

    Nationally, publicly traded homebuilders have 51% market share—up from 25% in 2005

    https://x.com/ResidentialClub/status/1830601198690549805

    Is this actually a thing?

    https://x.com/GayBearRes/status/1830663082965901468

    t’s definitely a thing. To see a house this past weekend unrepresented I was made to sign a form committing to pay the listing agent double commission (ofc, we didn’t move forward with the house). Flat-out refused to show it otherwise–despite literally living four doors down 😡

    https://x.com/artimidore/status/1830664190400569413

    “Low-income consumers are still struggling. Now the cracks are starting to show for higher-income ones,” per MW.

    “Consumers cut back on restaurant visits in August and many plan to do so in the coming months.”

    https://x.com/unusual_whales/status/1830644605286559983

    Three-month update:

    1,203 properties in LA right now in the foreclosure process (preforeclosure/foreclosure, going to auction, foreclosed)

    7,225 non-distressed properties

    11% increase in non-distressed inventory

    Percentage distressed has risen from 15.7% in May to 16.7% now

    https://x.com/artimidore/status/1830582427544355230

    “The Federal Reserve found that 43% of Baby Boomers have $0 saved for retirement”

    FinTwit influencers who god knows how got a platform:

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1830789574940860494

    The Instagram generations don’t even know how to operate a toilet plunger.

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1830789871004156274

    Core 2024 difference from 1995 – there was no early innings real estate bust from builds coming off of an all-time high.

    There is no home shortage – there’s an affordability problem.

    https://x.com/DonMiami3/status/1830731597642907841

    “CRA Cracks Down” Expect more audits, property sales blocked, and increased scrutiny on HST and principal residence exemptions

    https://x.com/ShaziGoalie/status/1830687493622243632

    Youth unemployment at 15% has a direct affect on the care givers of the youth.

    It’s a vicious cycle that ends in tears.

    And guess what? Rate cuts ain’t gonna help this.

    https://x.com/ManyBeenRinsed/status/1830594173675704345

    In Ontario, number of home sales in August were down 24% YoY.

    Since June 2021 sales are down 51% on a 12 month rolling basis and 27% lower than Jan 2011.

    This has been the slowest year in Ontario real estate in over a decade and it’s not even close.

    https://x.com/igetredpilled/status/1830369554960204240

    Canadian incomes look nearly flat compared to home prices over the last 20 years.

    In 2005 the benchmark home price was 6.4x the average income.

    As of July 2024 homes cost 11x annual income.

    https://x.com/igetredpilled/status/1830757783374819358

    Maricopa County Housing & Neighborhood Crisis Map – Short-Term Rentals Map

    https://x.com/JohnWake/status/1830779451569021403

    Spent weekend with my Halton realtor @RishiKBakshi
    in NYC.

    There’s a new building across street known as one of the most prestigious new condos in Brooklyn that isn’t selling even after being featured on Owning Manhattan.

    And ppl think Toronto gonna sell.

    https://x.com/ManyBeenRinsed/status/1830742110015746531

    The vast majority of Office cannot be economically converted to Multifamily. The sector doesn’t need legislation, it needs to trade for the value of the dirt underneath it.

    I’m bullish on demolition services firms.

    https://x.com/DiMartinoBooth/status/1830706797608390702

    A thread of horror stories

    https://x.com/GayBearRes/status/1830594114120749432

    Just started the Kamala interview. Only a couple questions in and she is dangling a $25k homebuyer credit and a $6k child credit. They keep talking about falling inflation but the cost to buy voters keeps going up every year.

    https://x.com/HayekAndKeynes/status/1829672375253942565

    1. ‘FinTwit influencers who god knows how got a platform’

      Same way you did, you just sign up, it’s free.

      ‘The Instagram generations don’t even know how to operate a toilet plunger’

      Unlike puddle watchers, where anybody can be an expert/specialist/analyst. Just tell people you are.

      1. puddle watchers

        What does that mean? I couldn’t find a definition, not even in the urban dictionary.

        1. But what Twitter is focusing on, specifically, is the concept of the here and now, the so-called real time, the “live.” Almost exactly a year ago, Twitter launched its live-video app Periscope, a tool that lets anyone broadcast their life events to the world as they happen. Perhaps one of the best, funniest, and most-engaging use-cases for Periscope (beyond pirating live sporting events) was the famous puddle in England, which became a global talking point when someone set up their phone to film people circumventing a gargantuan body of water in a Newcastle street. At one point the puddle garnered 650,000 viewers around the world, and though the event itself was inherently mundane, it is something that Dorsey reckons helps to highlight the power of Twitter and Periscope as “live” social tools.

          “It wasn’t that we were watching a puddle. It was that we were watching a puddle together. Like, ‘Isn’t this crazy? We’re actually watching this puddle.’

          ‘ I was watching the puddle. It wasn’t even the people in the puddle or what they were doing. It was the fact that I was watching with other people, and I was connected to the audience, and I could actually talk with them, and I could say, ‘Isn’t this ridiculous? We’re watching a puddle.’ And then: ‘Oh, is that woman going to walk around it? Is she going to get wet? Like, what’s going to happen?’ And it was just so cool to see how this little tiny thing became an event. But that’s been our history for 10 years. It’s a lot of the same idea.’

          Can an “insignificant” incident such as a puddle serve as an example not only of what made Twitter popular to begin with, but also of what could help it thrive 10 years from now? Dorsey thinks so.

          https://venturebeat.com/social/jack-dorsey-on-how-live-streaming-a-puddle-reveals-twitters-past-and-future/

          Live broadcast of a puddle becomes global Internet hit
          By Trevor Mogg Updated January 7, 2016

          A puddle in the north of England became an Internet star on Wednesday after around half a million people, including Twitter boss Jack Dorsey, hit live-streaming app Periscope to watch it.

          No, it wasn’t doing anything. It was just being puddle-like. Sort of wet. In a small pool. Like a puddle.

          The broadcast lasted six hours, in which time the body of water, apparently oblivious to the global interest it was gathering, remained exactly the same. But the lack of action didn’t stop hordes of people visiting the live feed, which at its peak attracted some 20,000 viewers.

          Keen to become a part of this momentous event, some jokers made their way to the puddle with various props in hand. One person crossed it on an air mattress, while another used a surfboard. Someone else turned up with a “Wet Floor” sign, plopping it slap in the middle of the water. And the madness didn’t end there. Before the day was out, bottles of the now-famous puddle water started turning up on eBay, with more than 12 listings posted by folks hoping to make a fast buck out of the muddy liquid. One reads, “Own your piece of the world’s most famous puddle. Extremely rare. You cannot drink this water, it’s for decorative purposes only. It would look beautiful displayed on your mantelpiece.”

          https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/live-broadcast-of-a-uk-puddle-goes-viral/

    2. Someone check in on middle class Canadians.

      Who are also being replaced. In another generation Canada will be unrecognizable. It is currently 69% white. it might not even be 40% in 20 years if mass immigration is left unchecked.

    3. A thread of horror stories

      The “entry level” coding jobs are in low wage countries. Every quarter we have an “all hands meeting with a VP. He runs through a series of slides to show us how well we are doing. One of the slides show new hires. 90% of the new hires are either in India or Romania.

      1. If you can do your job from your computer in your home, then Anatolie can do your job from his computer in his home.

        1. They mostly do the “entry level” stuff, like support. When I say “support” I don’t mean the Indian who tells you to reboot your PC. This is support for corporate customers who write huge checks. The first line guys in Bangalore and Bucharest try to use the knowledge base to find a work around for the customer’s problem. If they can’t find a solution then it gets escalated to the US. Sometimes the only solution is a software patch, which are created quickly for the customer.

          Anyway, these guys have CS degrees, and we can pick the cream of the crop from their schools. Some of them might someday get to work on code, but most won’t.

          1. The former labor secretary, Robert Reich, said that 70% of the population has no idea what is going on although some of them might be trainable for rote tasks. The remaining 30% make our modern world function, day in and out. A 3% subset of this group are super achievers.

      2. and what’s gonna happen in 10 years? When there aren’t any US coders because they all went to 3rd world $hitholes? And so the really great coders (the real ones. the 10%) won’t even get a start because 3 pajeets got hired for the price of one stateside guy. The whole industry is gonna collapse. It’s already started. Code is MUCH worse than it was 10/15 years ago and there have been literally no advances (oh except in government surveillance).

        1. Smaller firms that can’t afford to setup shop overseas do still hire in the US. But with the rough economy and a lack of venture capital they aren’t hiring right now.

          To be hired by the big firms in the US you need to be exceptional.

    4. To see a house this past weekend unrepresented I was made to sign a form committing to pay the listing agent double commission (ofc, we didn’t move forward with the house). Flat-out refused to show it otherwise

      NAR Settlement FAQs

      65. If an MLS Participant hosts an open house or provides access to a property, on behalf of the seller only, to an unrepresented buyer, will they be required to enter into a written agreement with those buyers touring the home?

      No. In this case, since the MLS Participant is only working for the seller, and not the buyer, the MLS Participant does not need to enter into a written agreement with the buyer.

      1. I’ve been reading r/Realtors and r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer. A lot of realtors don’t know what the f@ck they’re doing.

        1. Example

          Poster: I went to look at a house with an agent and now this is what he just sent me. I never signed anything yet. Is this true?

          Message: Since I showed you the listing and we met for the appointment as per the buyer representation, I would represent you on this transaction if you choose to put in an offer. It is binding until December 2024.

      2. Realtors, making the people with the money (buyers) mad isn’t going to lead to more sales and probably a lot of lawsuits when sellers start finding out they aren’t showing the properties.

        1. The vast majority of people still think sellers were the ones paying commissions. You can’t fix stupid.

  10. Lithium prices have crashed this year, squeezing margins at Australian miners

    It is an essential element of the green energy transition and just a few years ago Australia was in the front seat of a lithium boom, but a new wave of supplies has put their competitive edge under pressure.

    Last week, the financial pain inflicted by a year of declining lithium prices was revealed as Australia’s major producers opened their balance sheets up for investors.

    Profits were down across the board as companies grappled with prices that had dropped by more than 50 per cent in just 12 months.

    Mineral Resources managing director Chris Ellison told investors he had seen many downturns in the past, but this one stood out.

    “This is the shittiest time to be the [managing director] of a company,” he said.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-03/lithium-price-crashes-and-australian-miners-in-damage-control/104262228

    1. Take away mining and real estate, and what is Oz left with? They don’t make anything. They once made cars, but that’s long gone. Heck, I think Mexico is far more industrialized.

  11. Germany’s Populist Surge Puts Nation’s Climate Momentum at Risk

    The Greens, the main driver of Germany’s environmental push in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s ruling coalition, suffered losses in Saxony and an even bigger blow in Thuringia. In the state that was won by the climate-skeptic Alternative for Germany, the Green Party was dumped from the legislature and 86% of voters in a poll by Infratest dimap for public broadcaster ARD said they were dissatisfied with it.

    More bad news could come in three weeks, when Brandenburg — the state surrounding Berlin — votes for a new regional government. The latest poll shows support for the Greens at 5%, the threshold generally needed to secure seats in the legislature.

    “The results make me worry,” Ingert Liebing, head of the Association of Public Local Utilities (VKU), said at a press conference for the group’s annual congress this week. “Our communities can now expect little support to move ahead their transformation.”

    The government’s willingness to act “will not increase, but will instead become paralyzed by shock,” said Belit Onay, the mayor of Hanover and a member of the Greens. “That is dramatic.”

    With Germany facing vast changes, voters have little interest in more climate rules. The campaigns in both former communist states were mainly dominated by migration, social issues and weapons exports to Ukraine — just 4% to 7% of voters said climate protection was their primary concern, according to Infratest dimap.

    The newly founded far-left BSW party — which came in third in both state ballots — said it wants to leave the decision to set up wind farms to local communities. That would overturn much of the central government’s recent efforts to accelerate the rollout of renewables.

    The Greens acknowledged the defeat and indicated that the party didn’t do enough to account for the impact of their policies on people’s pocket books.

    “It’s clear that climate protection must be achieved while at the same time taking the impact on society into account,” co-leader Ricarda Lang said on Monday in an interview with public broadcaster Phoenix. “We must recognize that not everyone has the same possibilities.”

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/germany-populist-surge-puts-nation-122839040.html

    1. The government’s willingness to act “will not increase, but will instead become paralyzed by shock,” said Belit Onay, the mayor of Hanover and a member of the Greens.

      The mayor of Hanover isn’t just a Green, he’s a Turkish Green. I saw in a thread on X where a German commented that their elections are also being stolen by the left.

      Also, from what I read, while the AfD made significant gains this Sunday, they are still the minority party in Thuringia and Saxony, and will have no role in the provincial governments, which remain controlled by the Left. But at least the left is worried and might dial back on the insanity.

      1. I read a couple articles on the german elections and because it’s all a multi party parliament government, the other parties are basically not making coalitions with AfD (same thing in France). What’s going to happen (IMO) is that pretty soon AfD is going to have an outright majority (51% to one party) and then the real stomping can begin. When they can literally ignore “the other side of the aisle”

        1. That is what it’s going to take: a clear majority. Of course when that happens all those other center and “right of center” mainstream parties will be eager to form a coalition.

  12. ‘Free housing to illegal aliens!’ Ex-Trump assistant erupts over ‘state sponsored discrimination’ in controversial Oregon scheme

    Theo Wold, a former assistant to Donald Trump, has lashed out at a controversial policy in Oregon that sees asylum seekers offered $30,000 as support to buy houses.

    The grant, which is offered by the Hacienda Community Development Corporation through its Casimo A Case program, is only available to people “who are not American citizens”.

    “And then you have a proposal from Gavin Newsom in California that would do the same – but through state power.”

    “Here’s the main takeaway. All of this is designed, as is the case in the United Kingdom, as is the case in a lot of the Nordic countries, to eliminate the distinction between citizens and foreign nations who arrive by boat, by plane, by car.”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/free-housing-to-illegal-aliens-ex-trump-assistant-erupts-over-state-sponsored-discrimination-in-controversial-oregon-scheme/ar-AA1pRLeM

    1. Why does it matter if he’s an ex-Trump assistant? Would it be any different if he were a social justice warrior?

      So tired of these biased reporters. I was listening to WTOP radio, and this is the crap I heard [paraphrase]:

      —–
      “And now to Election 2024, let’ssee where the candidates are going today. Kamala Harris is traveling to … (two-second clip of Kamala rally with enthusiastic cheers) … where she joined her VP mate Tim Walz… and President Biden is speaking in Pennsylvania (two-second clip of Biden mumble with enthusiastic cheers). And… Donald T will be giving a Town Hall on September 3rd. And he’s already planting doubt about the results of the election, saying that … [something or other…”
      —–

      Yes, they actually treated Special K like the second coming, while Trump was planting doubt about the cheat. I suppose it doesn’t matter. Anyone within the listening area isn’t really going to be affected by this, the area is so blue.

      1. “Why does it matter if he’s an ex-Trump assistant?”

        It’s a negative connotation. I remember a photo of a pump-action shotgun recovered from a robbery suspect, and the newspaper captioned it as a “semi-automatic” weapon. I e-mailed the article’s reporter; his editor inserted it.

  13. Migrant gangs are turning Aurora, Colo., apartment complexes into hellholes, and the Democratic governor is turning a blind eye.

    It’s an unhappy consequence of being a suburb of sanctuary-city Denver: Venezuelan migrants have spread from the Mile High City, with allegedly gang-affiliated ones claiming apartment buildings as their turf, terrorizing residents.

    One chilling video shows suspected Tren de Aragua members stalking through the complex with guns.

    Another, from the same complex, shows two men breaking into a unit with a tire iron.

    City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky has warned: “I worry about everything that I know regarding this gang. And I worry about everything that I don’t know.”

    But despite the mountains of evidence, Gov. Jared Polis (D.) is flat-out denying that it’s happening.

    On Wednesday, his office called the invasion “a feature of Danielle Jurinsky’s imagination” and sneered that Polis “really hopes that the city council members in charge stop trashing their own city when they are supposed to keep it safe.”

    This is gaslighting at its worst.

    Was it Jurinsky’s “imagination” when local ringleader Jhonardy Jose Pacheco-Chirino and some of his thugs reportedly beat a man at one of these complexes? Or when he was involved in a shooting that wounded two men at the same complex?

    The gang’s power-grab in Aurora is inconvenient for Polis, hence his “don’t believe your lying eyes” approach.

    By late Friday, it seemed he’d leaned on Mayor Coffman to shush, or at least to combat the “taken control” narrative — even as the city requested an emergency court order “to clear the apartment buildings where Venezuelan gang activity has been occurring.”

    Later in the weekend, Polis tweeted that “taking over buildings has no place in Colorado,” and he’s “been in touch” with Aurora officials over the past month and “offered any and all state assistance” to “back up any operation by the Aurora Police Department.”

    That is: Don’t blame me!

    The national migrant crisis has become so undeniable that even Kamala Harris has dropped the pretense that all is well.

    https://nypost.com/2024/09/02/opinion/gov-jared-polis-gaslights-on-tren-de-aragua-takeover-of-aurora-colo-apartment-buildings/

    1. Polis is worried about his political future, which he has worked hard to build. He is in the middle of his final term as governor and has nowhere to go. Neither Senate seat is likely to be vacated and he has already served in the House, so that would be a step down. His best hope right now is a cabinet position in a future Dem administration. And to get one of those he has to toe the party line, which is that the invaders are wonderful people and we are lucky to have them.

      So now, despite the indisputable video evidence that the claim is true he has to say, with a straight face, that it is not.

      What is interesting about Polis is that unlike most Dem politicians he was an entrepreneur and made millions. He is a homosexual, which is probably a big reason why he is a Dem.

      1. “toe the party line”

        And his reward for which is that he will only fail uphill. Bonus points for tossing salads 🤮

  14. Colorado Gun Store Owners Fight Back After Migrant Gangs Rob Them Using Children, Stolen Cars (9/2/2024):

    “In the latest robberies in Colorado Springs the young thieves stole cars and rammed them into the gun store buildings in hopes of entering the stores to steal guns off the store’s shelves.

    Between July and August, four gun stores in and around the extended Denver area suffered similar smash-and-grab incidents and in every case where police ended up with suspects, the perpetrators were minors.

    A troubling aspect of these smash-and-grabs is the ages of the crooks. Police are often finding them to be minors.

    “From what the police have told us so far, they’ve apprehended several of the individuals and the majority of them are under age 13 or 14 years old. One who was 18 years old was the one that basically ran from them, it looks to be gang-related at this point in time,” said Spartan owner Ted Collins.

    The migrant gangs are recruiting these kids because they know the legal system is geared to give them only a few months in juvenile detention if caught and then, when they become 18, that juvenile record is expunged.

    “They know that they can’t get the book thrown at them as hard as an adult can after 18 if it’s not that bad of a crime, they’re scot-free and able to basically re-up on their resume to do whatever they want for the gang,” added DCF associate Devin Perkins.

    https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2024/09/02/colorado-gun-stores-block-robberies-by-minors-pushed-by-migrant-gangs/

    Build the wall, deport them ALL.

    1. This is spiraling out of control. How long until roving gangs of immigrant kids assault shoppers in parking lots?

    1. Oil plummeted — erasing its gains for the year — after a prospective deal to restore supplies from Libya turned traders’ attention back to concerns about tepid global demand for crude.

      Global benchmark Brent dropped 4.9% to settle below $74 a barrel after earlier touching the lowest intraday price since mid-December 2023. The plunge came after a Libyan central banker said a deal that would revive the OPEC nation’s output appears imminent.

      With more than half a million barrels of Libyan crude possibly coming back into the market, the focus is once again on tepid global oil consumption. Economic concerns in key consumer countries — including China and the US — have weighed on sentiment in recent months, with only occasional geopolitical concerns and minor supply disruptions masking the angst. Looking ahead, the market is bracing for OPEC+ to gradually restore production, starting with 180,000 barrels of daily supplies within weeks.

      “A toxic mix of excess supply, sliding demand, bearish technicals, and bad product fundamentals are conspiring to destroy crude oil today,” said Robert Yawger, director of the energy futures division at Mizuho Securities USA.

      The concerns about China have only grown louder in recent days after a drumbeat of economic data over the weekend raised doubts that the world’s top crude importer may struggle to meet this year’s economic growth target.

      https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-falls-china-economic-concerns-001706592.html

  16. WASHINGTON (TND) — Vice President Kamala Harris will help create citizenship opportunities for illegal immigrants, including creating a pathway to citizenship, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Sunday.

    by RAY LEWIS | The National DeskMon, July 29th 2024 at 8:57 AM

    Illegal Alien Crimes
    @ImmigrantCrimes

    Baseball coach describes incident where illegal alien Dimas Gabriel Yanez is accused of stabbing a 14-year-old girl.

    Illegal Alien Crimes
    @ImmigrantCrimes

    🚨 Lake County, IN: This afternoon, Dimas Gabriel Yanz was arrested after a manhunt.

    He is accused of stabbing a 14-year-old girl who was watching her brother play baseball.

    The Sheriff’s office has confirmed he is a previously deported illegal alien.

    10:30 AM · Sep 2, 2024
    ·
    https://x.com/ImmigrantCrimes/status/1830614156229345487

  17. Biden-Harris Admin Negotiates Bus Passage Through Mexico for Migrants Using CBP-One ‘Asylum’ App

    Randy Clark
    3 Sep 2024

    The latest development between the Biden/Harris administration and the government of Mexico on the immigration front will see migrants provided bussing from two southern Mexico cities to the United States border. The plan will provide the migrants headed to the United States with meals and security during travel from the two cities to the U.S. destination where the migrant’s asylum appointments are scheduled under the CBP-One application.

    The government of Mexico’s National Institute of Migration (INM) announced the new program in a Spanish-language notice issued on Saturday, referring to the initiative as the “Secure Emerging Mobility Corridor.” The two departure cities in southern Mexico will be Villahermosa, Tabasco, and Tapachula, Chiapas.

    The program will offer participating migrants an immigration permit that allows them to legally travel through the country for 20 days. According to the announcement, INM will coordinate security for the buses to the United States border with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.

    https://www.breitbart.com/border/2024/09/03/biden-harris-admin-negotiates-bus-passage-through-mexico-for-migrants-using-cbp-one-asylum-app/

  18. Real Estate Agents Are Dropping Like FLIES!

    Jon Flynn Real Estate Stats

    54 minutes ago

    Recent NEWS shows real estate agents leaving the industry at the highest levels since 2016 due to record low sales and overall economic slowdown. This has been a major contributor to the shift in real estate boards which can be best described as turf wars where local boards are fighting for territory and members. In this video I also provide data and statistics proving just how bad our current Canadian government has failed us when it comes to housing and immigration/population growth.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71IKdhHGM0o

    14 minutes.

  19. ‘When I moved to San Francisco, in 1980, I paid $155,000 for a nice four bedroom, three bath home. When we sold it in 1982, the real estate market had cratered and we sold it for $137,000’

    This is right after/when things were changing. Shacks everywhere cost about the same until sometime in the 1970’s.

    1. “Shacks everywhere cost about the same until sometime in the 1970’s.”

      “Until American Jooz stop supporting socialism, asset inflation and weak dollar policies, I’ll view their impact on American culture with ultimate disdain.” —Old, Sad, Blogger Harasser

  20. ‘When it was built, it sat on the market for years and was listed at $100 million, so maybe [Affleck and Lopez] thought they got a deal for buying it at $61 million…The couple bought the sprawling 12-bedroom, 24-bathroom, 5-acre abode in 2023 for just over $60.8 million and put it on the market in July, before Lopez even filed for divorce’

    The market needs knife catchers. It greases the wheels of crater.

  21. Kamala Harris Caves: ABC News Debate Rules Set with No Notes, No Open Mics

    Wendell Husebø
    3 Sep 2024

    Vice President Kamala Harris’s attempt last week to suddenly change the ABC News debate rules miserably failed.

    The Harris campaign caved on Tuesday and decided to go along with its previously agreed debate rules with no notes, no sitting, no audience, and no open mics, a senior Trump campaign aide told Breitbart News.

    ABC News will virtually hold a coin toss to determine the order of closing arguments and podium positioning at 12:30 pm, the aide added.

    The debate dispute goes back to when President Joe Biden was still in the race. Both candidates agreed on two debates (CNN on June 27 and ABC on September 10), with Biden insisting that microphones “be muted throughout the debate except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak,” CNN reported on June 15.

    Harris then joined the race. Two weeks ago, both the Trump and Harris campaigns had ABC News’s debate rules in writing and both sides confirmed to the network the debate was a “go,” the Trump ally told Breitbart News.

    To apparently avoid too much media attention on the anniversary of the deadly Afghan withdrawal in the coming week, the Harris campaign suddenly requested that ABC News and other networks unmute candidates’ microphones, an idea Trump continued to oppose.

    https://www.breitbart.com/2024-election/2024/09/03/kamala-harris-caves-abc-news-debate-rules-set-with-no-notes-no-open-mics/

    1. Everyone knew that Special K wanted an open mike so she could pull her “I’m speaking” stunt.

      I’ve always wondered why DJT simply couldn’t turn the tables. During the answer to his first question, he could just call her stupid or say something ridiculous and bait her into responding and then hit her with the “I’m speaking” bit himself, effectively disarming her from using it. A bit risky, but it’s in his wheelhouse.

  22. ‘This bill would order the FHFA to undo that change, raise prices for lower-income folks, first-time home buyers and order the FHFA to lower prices for investors and vacation-home buyers’

    Federal guberment is a big cog in the REIC Caroline. They say one thing, do another. But they are always encouraging speculation for single family shacks.

  23. ‘Members often entertain and socialize within their units, which can be personalized to their taste. ‘We are a luxury garage condominium community, kind of like a country club for car guys, in a way,’ said Jason Phillips, co-owner and founder of Toy Barn. ‘So it’s a real estate ownership concept. It allows people to buy and invest in real estate to serve a need versus renting a locker in a traditional storage facility’

    Have a look:

    https://toybarnstorage.com/

    https://toybarnstorage.com/toy-barn-gallery/

  24. ’20 Broad St.’s financial troubles could be a lesson for landlords looking to residential conversions as a solution to vacated office stock. ‘The building was really big, and it did feel almost office-like, not super-communal or homey,’ a 63 Wall St. resident told Bloomberg. ‘They tried their best to turn it into a beautiful, grand luxury building, but I lived in a studio, and it was a very awkward space. It wasn’t square, it wasn’t a rectangle, it had all kinds of bizarre edges and weird corners’

    harebrained
    adjective
    hare·​brained ˈher-ˈbrānd
    Synonyms of harebrained
    1: foolish sense 1
    2 : absurd, ridiculous

  25. ‘people going up and down all the time, smoking crack all over the place, sitting down in that location, defecating and urinating over there’ and ‘howling at people’ and ‘screaming at each other…One of my tenants called me and he said, ‘You realize that you just invited a crack house up there?’

    I hate it when that happens Francois.

  26. ‘It disrupts society and undermines the integrity of the financial sector. Criminals involved earn tens of millions from it, and banks provide billions in mortgages’

    Let’s be clear here Pim. The lending is rock solid.

  27. ‘Cities such as Zhuhai, once a ‘rising star,’ dropped in the rankings due to the slump in real estate. The city, in the southern province of Guangdong near Hong Kong, fell 32 places from the previous index published in 2022 to 157th place. Suddenly no one bought houses. ‘Builders didn’t have much money to complete their projects’

    I know in yer country Perry, finishing and living in airboxes is unusual. But it would seem you have run out of greater fools.

  28. Be Careful About Dragging Others Into Your Mess (Toronto Real Estate Market Update)

    Team Sessa Real Estate

    23 minutes ago

    In this episode we take a look at the current Toronto Real Estate Market specifically the detached home prices and market trends for week ending Aug 28, 2024. We also discuss why you have to be super careful when deciding to bring other people into your purchase or why you should be very wary “helping” others purchase a property.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAwF3jqkdn8

    15 minutes.

        1. Nvidia Keeps Falling Late As DOJ Reportedly Issues Subpoenas In AI Antitrust Probe
          ED CARSON 08:05 PM ET 09/03/2024

          The Justice Department reportedly has issued subpoenas to Nvidia (NVDA) and other companies as it probes concerns that the AI chip giant is is exploiting its dominance in artificial intelligence. Nvidia stock fell slightly overnight after plunging in Tuesday’s regular session.
          …
          https://www.investors.com/news/technology/nvidia-stock-doj-issues-subpoenas-in-ai-antitrust-probe/

          1. Asia Markets
            Nvidia $279 billion wipeout — the biggest in U.S. history — drags down global chip stocks
            Published Tue, Sep 3 20249:39 PM EDT
            Updated 31 Min Ago
            Lee Ying Shan
            Arjun Kharpal

            Key Points

            – Global semiconductor and associated stocks fell on Wednesday, following a steep plunge in Nvidia’s share price in the U.S. overnight.

            – On Tuesday, around $279 billion of value was wiped off of Nvidia. That was the biggest one-day market capitalization drop for a U.S. stock in history.

            – Nvidia shares continued sliding in post-market trading Tuesday, falling 2%, after Bloomberg reported that the company received a subpoena from the Department of Justice as part of an antitrust investigation.
            …
            https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/04/asian-chip-stocks-fall-after-nvidia-sell-off-on-wall-street-overnight.html

          2. So the dump was before the news was public. Financial shenanigans, DOJ antitrust probe. Insider trading wouldn’t be far-fetched.

    2. Stock market today: Wall Street tumbles on worries about the economy, and Dow drops more than 600
      By STAN CHOE
      Updated 3:20 PM CDT, September 3, 2024

      NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks tumbled Tuesday to their worst day since an early August sell-off, as a week full of updates on the economy got off to a discouragingly weak start.

      The S&P 500 sank 2.1% to give back a chunk of the gains from a three-week winning streak that had carried it to the cusp of its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 626 points, or 1.5%, from its own record set on Friday before Monday’s Labor Day holiday. The Nasdaq composite fell 3.3% as Nvidia and other Big Tech stocks led the way lower.

      Treasury yields also stumbled in the bond market after a report showed U.S. manufacturing shrank again in August, sputtering under the weight of high interest rates. Manufacturing has been contracting for most of the past two years, and its performance for August was worse than economists expected.

      “Demand remains subdued, as companies show an unwillingness to invest in capital and inventory due to current federal monetary policy and election uncertainty,” said Timothy Fiore, chair of the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing business survey committee.
      …
      https://apnews.com/article/stock-markets-employment-fed-inflation-growth-aa764f4e90e3a90e892ba3fe5f649031

  31. Is $300 billion alot?

    For an order of magnitude comparison, it seems like the Evergrande debt implosion that kicked off China’s housing crisis was of similar scale.

    1. Tech
      Nvidia down 2% in premarket trading after plunge that wiped out nearly $300 billion in market cap
      Published Tue, Sep 3 2024 5:30 PM EDT
      Updated 27 Min Ago
      Kif Leswing

      Key Points

      – Nvidia shares fell in premarket trading after Bloomberg reported that the company received a subpoena from the Department of Justice as part of an antitrust investigation.

      – The stock dropped nearly 10% during regular trading, wiping $279 billion off the chipmaker’s market cap.
      …

    2. Financial Times
      Equities
      Global stocks sell-off hits Europe and Asia after sharp drop in Nvidia shares
      US futures point to further falls on Wall Street following Tuesday’s losses
      Nvidia chief Jensen Huang reacts to throwing a ceremonial first pitch on Taiwanese Heritage Night before a baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and the Arizona Diamondbacks in San Francisco on Tuesday
      Nvidia chief Jensen Huang. The US chipmaking giant shed 9.5%, or more than $250bn, on Tuesday
      Philip Stafford in London and Arjun Neil Alim in Hong Kong 5 minutes ago

      European and Asian stock markets slid on Wednesday as investors worried about a potential US economic slowdown and sold highly valued technology stocks following a sharp drop in chipmaker Nvidia’s share price.

      The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 1 per cent in early trading while the FTSE 100 lost 0.8 per cent. The falls came after US markets on Tuesday suffered their worst day since the sharp market sell-off at the start of August, driven by weak data on the state of the manufacturing sector.

      Technology stocks led European declines, with Dutch chipmaking equipment group ASML falling 5.1 per cent.
      …

    3. Footnotes:

      1) Though my pandemic era memories are vague, it seems like the Evergrande debt crisis took more than a day to play out. Some might even say the Chinese housing crisis is still underway.

      2) The Nvidia selloff represents the tip of the iceberg. It’s the part under the water and out of sight which has the potential to sink the ship.

      3) Cockroach theory suggests there is more AI sector implosion ahead.

      1. China Economy
        JPMorgan economist says China’s housing market crash is still not over
        Published Mon, Sep 2 2024 8:43 PM EDT
        Updated Mon, Sep 2 2024 9:53 PM EDT
        Anniek Bao

        Key Points

        – China’s troubled housing market will continue to see softness as a slew of government stimulus and support measures have not been “satisfactory” in propping up the sector, according to a JPMorgan economist.

        – The “housing market crash is still not over yet,” Haibin Zhu, chief China economist at JPMorgan told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia,” adding home prices would not stabilize until 2025 at the earliest.

        China’s troubled housing market will continue to see softness as a slew of government stimulus and support measures have not been “satisfactory” in propping up the sector, according to a JPMorgan
        …
        https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/03/jpmorgan-economist-says-chinas-housing-market-crash-is-still-not-over-yet.html

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