The numbers: Sales of newly built homes in the U.S....
The numbers: Sales of newly built homes in the U.S. plunged in May, as the number of home buyers scaled back in the face of high mortgage rates.
New-home sales were at the lowest level since November 2023.
Sales of newly built homes fell 11.3% to an annual rate of 619,000 in May, from a revised 698,000 in the prior month, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
The number is seasonally adjusted, and refers to how many homes would be built over an entire year if builders continue at the same pace every month.
The pace fell short of expectations on Wall Street. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal expected new-home sales to increase to 640,000.
The IRS apologized to billionaire Ken Griffin for a tax records...
The IRS apologized to billionaire Ken Griffin for a tax records leak. Usually, nobody wants to hear from the IRS, especially not a hedge fund founder, but this time, Griffin got an unusual message: a public apology from the agency. The IRS said it was working on the data security problems that allowed a contractor (now in prison) to leak private information about him and other wealthy taxpayers to the media. The “we’re so sorry” is part of the settlement of the Citadel founder’s lawsuit against the IRS over the leak, which he has now dropped. Other targets of the leak included Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Donald Trump.
Volkswagen has agreed to invest up to $5 billion in EV-maker Rivian, sending Rivian’s stock soaring after-hours.
Julian Assange pleaded guilty to one felony charge in a US courtroom on a remote Pacific island as part of a deal with prosecutors that will allow the WikiLeaks founder, who published confidential military documents, to go free. A judge is expected to sign off on the deal today.
Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the army must start drafting ultra-Orthodox men, something the nation has never done. The decision may tear apart Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, forcing new elections amid the war in Gaza.
A New York judge partially lifted his gag order on Donald Trump, allowing the former president to talk about witnesses. But he’s still barred from identifying jurors or discussing court staff and their families.
Abe Lincoln may be known for keeping his head in tough situations, but DC’s recent heat wave melted the head off a wax statue of the 16th president.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil for August delivery fell 80 cents to $80.83 per barrel Tuesday. Brent crude for August delivery fell $1to $85.01 per barrel.
Wholesale gasoline for July delivery was unchanged at $2.51 a gallon. July heating oil fell 1 cent to $2.51 a gallon. July natural gasfell 5 cents to $2.76 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Dow suffers worst day in nearly a month; S&P 500, Nasdaq snap 3-day losing skids
U.S. stocks finished mixed on Tuesday after a rebound in Nvidia Corp....
U.S. stocks finished mixed on Tuesday after a rebound in Nvidia Corp. shares helped the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite break their three-day losing streak while driving a sharp divergence in indexes, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its worst day in nearly a month.
The S&P 500 was up 21.43 points, or 0.4%, to end at 5,469.30.
The Nasdaq Composite advanced 220.84 points, or 1.3%, to finish at 17,717.65. In nearly two weeks, it was the largest one-day point and percentage gain for the tech-heavy index.
Dow industrials were off 299.05 points, or 0.8%, ending at 39,112.16, to book the index's worst day since May 30. The blue-chip index also snapped a five-day winning streak.
The Nasdaq outperformed the Dow by 2.02 percentage points on Tuesday, its largest one-day outperformance since Feb. 2, 2023. According to Dow Jones Market Data, the two indexes moved in opposite directions in eight out of the last ten trading days.
The Supreme Court has agreed to take up a case involving the Surface...
The Supreme Court has agreed to take up a case involving the Surface Transportation Board's environmental approval of the proposed 88-mile Uinta Basin Railway, which would connect Utah oilfields to the national railway network. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia last year reversed the STB's decision, citing inadequate consideration of environmental impacts as mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act.
