Gentrification Impact on Housing Market

The Zillow Research article discusses the impact of proximity to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's on housing values in the United States. According to the article, homes located within a one-mile radius of a Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods had significantly higher median values compared to the national average. In 2014, homes near a Trader Joe's had a median value of $406,600, while those near a Whole Foods were valued at $376,200, in contrast to the national median home value of less than $180,000. Between 1997 and 2014, homes near these high-end natural food stores appreciated by an average of 148 percent and 140 percent, respectively, outpacing the 71 percent appreciation of the typical U.S. home during the same period.

The study also looks into the timing of the appreciation, suggesting that the effect is because these stores are located in already affluent neighborhoods. Analyzing the opening dates of 40 Trader Joe’s and 40 Whole Foods stores, the researchers found that homes near these locations appreciated at the same pace or slower than the typical home in the city before the stores opened. However, after the opening of either store, houses in the neighborhood began to appreciate faster than the average home in the city. This indicates a potential positive impact on home values associated with the presence of Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s in the neighborhood. 

https://www.zillow.com/research/whole-foods-trader-joes-home-value-11696/

Job report January 2024 - U.S. economy added 353,000 jobs in January, much better than expected

    The article I covered compared the Dow Jones projection for number of jobs created rate to the actual report. Dow Jones had projected that January would only have 185,000 jobs created. This amount would be similar to the bad months during last year such as March, July, and October. Fortunately for the United States economy, the amount of jobs created during January was 353,000. This is more than the last 11 months, which could indicate the economy is entering 2024 on solid ground. Around half of these jobs were created from the business industry (74,000), and health care industry (70,000). When this news came out, stocks were mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped at the open, however, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ were both positive. 

    One thing I found interesting was that this news has made people assume that the Fed won't drop interest rates until at least March. This could cause the housing sector to struggle again at the start of 2024. Right now people aren't buying houses because of the high interest rates and if the Fed doesn't drop interest rates, it is likely the amount of houses bought will be even lower.

World Cup 2026 Impact on U.S Cities

 The World Cup is set to come to North America in 2026, and many U.S cities are preparing for a great impact on their economies. In a study done by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), hosting the 2026 World Cup could add more than 40,000 jobs and more than $1 billion in incremental worker earnings across North America. The study further estimates that host cities will see $160 - $620 million in incremental economic activity. Host cities such as Seattle ($100 million), Philadelphia ($500 million), and Houston ($1 billion) are expecting huge economic impact.

    This is important for the economy for many different reasons. First, the World Cup will bring many new jobs in these cities.  There are also going to be people coming to the U.S from all around the world. This will increase consumption and spending. These people will also need to pay for places to eat and stay, which help the restaurant and hotel industry. With everything going on in the U.S during this time, expect the real GDP to increase and the country to see many economic benefits.

MEDIA Wall Street loves Disney’s kitchen-sink quarter, but Nelson Peltz says he isn’t backing down

 This article was very interesting, and we get a reaction from a CEO that we do not normally see. This article explains that after Disney acquired a large stake in Epic Games and their stock rose about 10% Iger (the CEO of Disney) called out one of his critics, Nelson Peltz, saying, “The last thing we need right now is to be distracted by an activist or activists that have a different agenda and don’t understand our company.” This is in response to Peltz being public about how he wanted Iger removed, and how he was mismanaging the company. It will be interesting to see how the stock price responds in the future, and if Iger will hold power or Peltz will get his way.

Microsoft Supersedes Apple as MVP of Public Companies

Apple has been the world's most valuable public company since 2011, but their reign came to an end as of Friday, January 5th when Microsoft took the top spot. Microsoft's market value has skyrocketed in the past year due to their increasing participation in the world of artificial intelligence. 

Apple dominated the technology sector with its iPhones and their products' connection to social media and the internet. Microsoft had not had a breakthrough development since Windows systems so cheif executive, Satya Nadella took a chance on A.I. and it proved to be the right choice. Generative artificial intellignece has very high potential economic value and could be a trillion dollar industry. While it causes controversy in the business world as to whether or not it wil disrupt jobs, Microsoft has taken generative A.I. and implemented it into their systems such as Excel and Outlook. 

Microsoft has contninued to push forward in developments of artificial intelligence and the results are just starting to show. While they move upward, Apple seems to be slwoing down. The iPhone has become less of a craze and Apple has lost traction in application sales. According to the article Mac and iPad sales have declined and Wall Street analysts believe that Apple's iPhone sales will be less than ideal this year. While Apple has made steps towards entering the A.I. industry, like the new Vision Pro headset, they are still failing to make any major moves to catapult themselves back up to the top spot. While the Vision Pro headset will be a new product for Apple, Wall Street analysts again have low hopes for a huge spike in sales for Apple. 

Link to Article