Day: October 22, 2024

In 2012, Warren Buffett made headlines with his bold commentary on the housing market during an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box with Becky Quick.

At the time, the U.S. economy was still recovering from the devastating effects of the 2008 financial crisis and the housing market was one of the sectors with the most impact. Yet, Buffett’s perspective was unusually optimistic. He famously stated, “If I had a way of buying a couple hundred thousand single-family homes and had a way of managing them … I would load up on them. I would take mortgages out at very, very low rates.” For Buffett, homes were not just shelter but a prime investment opportunity, especially with borrowing costs at rock-bottom lows.

Don’t Miss:

This insight came when confidence in real estate was shaky at best and many people hesitated to dive back into the market. However, for Buffett, the crisis created a window of opportunity that savvy investors could capitalize on if they had the foresight and patience.

His well-known quote, “Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful,” perfectly captured the mindset needed to navigate that turbulent time. Investors who followed this advice likely saw significant rewards as the market rebounded.

For example, in 2012, the median price for a single-family home in the U.S. was around $180,000. By 2024, that number reached about $418,000. That’s a jump of roughly 132% over 12 years. No one has a crystal ball to predict what the market will do, but real estate has proven to be a steady and stable way of building wealth.

Trending: Warren Buffett once said, “If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.” These high-yield real estate notes that pay 7.5% – 9% make earning passive income easier than ever.

But what made Buffett’s advice stand out wasn’t just his bullish outlook on real estate but its simplicity. He recommended buying homes with a 30-year mortgage, arguing that homes would outperform even stocks if purchased at the right price over the long term.

Over the years, the billionaire investor has consistently praised the 30-year mortgage. In a 2017 CNBC interview, he said, “It’s a one-way renegotiation. It is an incredibly attractive instrument for the homeowner and you’ve got a one-way bet.” If the rates go down, refinance and pay off the home early. If they go up, you’re locked in.

Story Continues

Trump Media & Technology Group stock (DJT) hit its highest level since July on Tuesday, rising as much as 10% as investors bet on former President Donald Trump’s improved odds of winning the November election in exactly two weeks.

Shares in the company, the home of the Republican nominee’s social media platform Truth Social, have seen a recent surge as both domestic and overseas betting markets shift in favor of a Trump victory, with prediction sites like Polymarket, PredictIt, and Kalshi all showing Trump’s presidential chances ahead of those of Democratic nominee and current Vice President Kamala Harris.

National polls, however, show both candidates in an incredibly tight race, especially in key battleground states like Pennsylvania and Michigan, which are likely to decide the fate of the election.

The recovery in shares comes after the stock traded at its lowest level since the company’s debut following the expiration of its highly publicized lockup period last month. Shares had also been under pressure, as previous polling around early September saw Harris edging slightly ahead of the former president.

Trump’s recent campaign momentum, which just included a stop at a local Pennsylvania McDonald’s, follows an appearance by Elon Musk at his rally in Butler, Pa., earlier this month. It was the same location where the former president survived an assassination attempt in July.

Tech billionaire Musk, who serves as the CEO of Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX and also owns social media platform X (formerly Twitter), has been outspoken about his support of Trump ahead of next month’s election. Trump has even said he would consider a Cabinet position for Musk but that the businessman likely would not be able to serve “with all the things he’s got going on.”

At the rally, Musk told the crowd that Trump is the only candidate who can “preserve democracy in America,” adding this will be “the last election” if Trump does not win.

Meanwhile, Harris has recently embarked on a flurry of media appearances in which she was pressed on how she would fund some of her proposals surrounding the economy and immigration.

Trump founded Truth Social after he was kicked off major social media apps like Facebook (META) and Twitter, now X, following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots. Trump has since been reinstated on those platforms. He officially returned to X in mid-August after about a year’s hiatus.

But as Truth Social attempts to take on the social media incumbents, the fundamentals of the company have long been in question.

Story Continues

In August, DJT reported second quarter results that revealed a net loss of $16.4 million, about half of which was tied to expenses related to the company’s SPAC deal. The company also reported revenue of just under $837,000 for the quarter ending June 30, a 30% year-over-year drop.

Earlier this month, the company revealed that its COO had stepped down in September.

Trump maintains a roughly 60% interest in DJT. At current levels of above $33 a share, Trump Media boasts a market cap of about $6.7 billion, giving the former president a stake worth around $4 billion. Right after the company’s public debut, Trump’s stake was worth just over $4.5 billion.

Trump Media went public on the Nasdaq in late March after merging with special purpose acquisition company Digital World Acquisition Corp. But the stock has been on a bumpy ride since, with shares oscillating between highs and lows as the moves have typically been tied to a volatile news cycle.

Over the past six months, the stock has been off around 8% — a massive improvement on the heels of the rally after shares hit their lowest point last month.

Stakeholders, including the former president, were subject to a six-month lockup period before being able to sell or transfer shares. That lockup period expired on Sept. 19, although Trump said at the time that he would not sell his stake.

“I have absolutely no intention of selling,” the former president told reporters at a press conference prior to the lockup period expiration. “I love it. I use it as a method of getting out my word.”

Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.

Click here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance.

Amazon (AMZN) Web Services CEO Matt Garman has a message for the scores of workers unhappy about the return-to-work mandate: find another job.

Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s (NWS) Tech Live event, Garman said Monday evening that requiring workers to be in the office five days a week starting in January is necessary for the company.

“Particularly as we really think about how do we want to disrupt and we want to invent on behalf of our customers, we find that there is no substitution for doing that in person,” Garman said, according to Business Insider.

The CEO believes innovation is best executed with speed in person. “Just the creative energy and how fast you’re able to iterate when you’re sitting there writing on a whiteboard or you’re talking to people in the cubicle next to you or you’re running into people that are in a different department, but you see them at the coffee line or whatever it is,” he said.

That’s why he happily told his employees: “If it’s not for you, then that’s okay — you can go and find another company if you want to.”

Garman said the three-day-a-week policy didn’t work because people came on different days. He also claimed that most employees were excited to be working in person.

He made a similar statement in a company-wide meeting last week, telling workers if they “just don’t work well in that environment and don’t want to, that’s okay, there are other companies around.”

“At Amazon, we want to be in an environment where we are working together, and we feel that collaborative environment is incredibly important for our innovation and for our culture,” he said.

When the new policy was announced, many employees took to internal forums to post their dissatisfaction. Some even publicly said they were quitting over the change.

For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

(Bloomberg) — The last time US government bonds sold off this much as the Federal Reserve started cutting interest rates, Alan Greenspan was orchestrating a rare soft landing.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Two-year yields have climbed 34 basis points since the Fed reduced rates on Sept. 18 for the first time since 2020. Yields rose similarly in 1995, when the Fed — led by Greenspan — managed to cool the economy without causing a recession. In prior rate cutting cycles going back to 1989, two-year yields on average fell 15 basis points one month after the Fed started slashing rates.

Rising yields “reflect the reduced probability of recession risks,” said Steven Zeng, an interest rate strategist at Deutsche Bank AG. “Data has come in pretty strong. The Fed may slow the pace of rate cuts.”

The latest backup in yields shows how a resilient US economy and buoyant financial markets limit the options for Fed Chair Jerome Powell to aggressively lower rates. Interest swaps show traders are expecting the Fed to lower rates by 128 basis points through September 2025, compared with 195 basis points priced in about a month ago.

Global bonds have been sliding this week as investors weigh the potential of slower rate reductions, leaving a gauge of total return in Treasuries up just 1.7% this year through Monday. That trails the 4.3% gain in T-bills over that period.

The selloff extended slightly on Tuesday, pushing the 10-year yield up about one basis point after an increase of 11 basis points on Monday. The recent rise has brought the yield on the benchmark to around 4.2%, up from a 15-month low of 3.6% on Sept. 17 — one day before the Fed lowered borrowing costs by half a point.

On Tuesday, trading activities suggested that sentiment remains bearish, with a series of sales of block trades in 10-year note futures. In the options market, one trade targets the 10-year yields rising to about 4.75% by the option expiry on Nov. 22.

In 1995, the Fed slashed interest rates just three times — from 6% to 5.25% — in six months, after lifting them sharply. Yields on 10-year notes jumped more than 100 basis points 12 months later after the first cut that year, while two-year yields rose 90 basis points.

This time, rising yields also reflect growing concern that the Republican Party could take control of both the White House and Congress in the Nov. 5 election, potentially boosting the federal deficit and inflation.

Story Continues