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- Tuesday's Scoop: Slow🌤️
Hey friend - welcome back to your daily scoops on the economy and companies impacting your life.
Here’s what you need to know today to inform your work, spending, and investments…
🌎 Big picture
Record-high home prices have stalled the market, but supply is changing.
Hydrogen clean energy investments are growing.
Ethereum joined the stock market.
How are you feeling about the economy? |
🌊Climate trends
Global Energy Emissions: 37.4 billion tonnes of CO2
An all-time high, up 1.1% from 2022. (IEA)
Government-funded clean energy projects are starting to take shape. California will be the first state to receive federal funds to create a hydrogen energy hub as part of a $7B initiative to transition energy sources from high-pollution fossil fuels to the world’s most abundant, clean-burning element. Hydrogen, which emits only water vapor when used in fuel cells, is key to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The US Department of Energy announced that the California Hydrogen Hub will get an initial $30 million for planning and design, with a total of up to $1.2 billion to follow. The project aims to develop regional networks that produce hydrogen for vehicles, manufacturing, and electricity generation. The hubs, spread across 16 states, are expected to drive more than $40 billion in private investment and create tens of thousands of high-paying jobs, many of them union positions.
🏠Housing trends
30yr Mortgage Rate: 6.9%
That’s down from 7.1% a year ago. (MBA)
Median Home Price: $426,900
That’s up from $410K a year ago. (NAR)
Record-high home prices have stalled the market, but more houses are coming for sale. The National Association of Realtors reported the number of existing homes sold in June fell by 5.4% to the lowest level since December. The median home sale price rose to an all-time high of $426,900 after breaking records in May. Peak home prices and high mortgage costs have made homes unaffordable to most Americans, slowing sales. However, more homes are coming onto the market as insurance costs climb. The available housing inventory rose by 3.1% in June to 1.32 million units, the highest level since 2020, and it has increased by 23.4% from a year ago. This supply rise and declining mortgage rates offer hope for a potential rebound in home sales later this year.
📈Investment trends
The Market: ⬇️ -0.2%
S&P 500: 5,555.74
1Mo: +2%| 1Yr: +22%| 5Yr: +84%
The market drifted lower on Tuesday as investors digested mixed financial reports from America's biggest companies. Signs that the economy is slowing continue to increase, but companies are boosting profits by streamlining expenses.
Investors can now trade Ethereum on the stock market following regulatory approval for an Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF). The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the long-awaited approval of several spot Ethereum ETFs from financial institutions, including VanEck and Bitwise. ETFs are funds that trade on the stock market like stocks, opening up the cryptocurrency to mainstream investors and potentially billions in inflows.
🤓 Inside Scoop: What are the differences between stocks and crypto?
Stocks and crypto are both tokens that represent different things. Both are volatile assets influenced by investor sentiment and supply and demand dynamics.
Stocks represent partial ownership in a company, and their value is tied to the perceived value of a company's financial performance and potential growth. Cryptocurrencies are digital tokens representing an abstract value that is not necessarily tied to a business or physical asset. While some cryptocurrencies represent perceived value in technologies or projects, sometimes offering functionality or governance rights, the value of most cryptocurrencies is primarily driven by supply and demand in the market. This lack of explicit underlying value makes cryptocurrencies much more volatile and subject to momentum and shifts in investor sentiment.
🏭 Companies worth watching
👍👎 APPROVAL RATINGS
How are these companies doing? Judge their decisions. Investing starts with an opinion. (+2 pts)
 Disney | Looming Strike Over 14,000 Disneyland workers have authorized what could be the theme park's first strike in 40 years after contract negotiations broke down due to unlawful intimidation complaints. Disney workers report being unable to cover basic food and rent costs at an alarming rate.
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💭Broader perspectives… (+2pts)
Do companies have a responsibility to pay their workers a living wage? |
 Comcast | Peacock Flies Comcast's sales slumped in the second quarter due to a slowdown in broadband, fewer box office hits, and lower theme park traffic. Peacock saw a 38% subscriber growth, reaching 33 million users, and moved closer to profitability while acquiring valuable NBA streaming rights.
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 General Motors | Record Sales General Motors reported surging profits and increased its expected profit for the rest of the year, thanks to record quarterly sales driven by its high-priced, profitable gas-powered trucks. The Detroit automaker decided to halt production of its autonomous vehicles and restructure its China business amid mounting losses.
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 Tesla | Losing Interest America's top-selling electric vehicle maker reported a second straight quarter of weaker car sales and plunging profits, as Tesla slashed prices to reinvigorate waning demand. Tesla CEO Elon Musk suggested that its first autonomous taxis would start driving passengers next year.
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 Alphabet | Money Machine Google's cloud and digital advertising machine isn't slowing down, reporting surging profits and a 14% year-over-year revenue increase, driven by ad sales in search and more cloud services users. The tech giant is investing another $5B to expand its autonomous vehicle unit, Waymo, which already provides 50,000 weekly paid rides in San Francisco and Phoenix.
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🛠️ Recommended resources (+2pts)
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