Week of Sept 25, 2020 Weekly Recap & The Week Ahead
“Being too far ahead of your time is indistinguishable from being wrong.” So”
― Howard Marks
1. Details of TikTok Deal as Chinese Might Reject Deals — a state-run Chinese news outlet said Monday that the Chinese government would not approve the deal between Oracle, Walmart, and ByteDance, the parent company of popular video-sharing app TikTok. The deal under consideration would result in American investors owning 53% of TikTok Global, The Wall Street Journal reported. ByteDance, however, insists that it would retain about 80% ownership of the newly created company.
2. A ‘Super V-Shaped’ Recovery in Housing — existing home sales hit their highest level in nearly 14 years in August, with the seasonally-adjusted annual rate reaching 6 million for the first time since December 2006, data released Tuesday by the National Association of Realtors showed. Those buyers are mostly looking for bigger houses—a dynamic driven by increased work-from-home arrangements as well as children doing remote classwork.
3. Trump Signs Executive Orders on Health Care — President Trump signed two executive orders late on Thursday, which he said would provide better protection for people with pre-existing health problems, at a lower cost than provided for under the Affordable Care Act. Trump also said that 33 million Medicare recipients would be sent cards in the mail to cover up to $200 in prescription drug costs. Details of the plan were light.
4. U.S. New-Home Sales Climb to 1 Million Rate, Fastest Since 2006 — Sales of new homes in the U.S. unexpectedly advanced for a fourth month in August to the highest level in almost 14 years as record-low mortgage rates continued to entice buyers into a market with ever-shrinking supply. Purchases of new single-family houses increased 4.8% to a 1 million annualized pace, led by a flurry of demand in the South, after an upwardly revised 14.7% surge in July, government data showed. The median selling price decreased from a year earlier to $312,800 and the number of homes for sale dropped to an almost three-year low.
The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:
