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Today's Summary

Mortgage balances rose by $98 billion (+0.7%) in Q4 from Q3, according to the Household Debt and Credit Report from the New York Fed. Big money is quietly sneaking into energy and oil stocks, which is something they do before allowing the underlying commodity to rise. Since January 2020, food prices have surged by 30%. Since 2018 it osc above and below the 1929 peak. Bloomberg reported that the company is weighing bankruptcy after years of declining viewership and big debts. Global South governments are under pressure to build – and fast. Infrastructure is seen as the leading engine of growth across the Global. Real estate markets are still playing out amid weakening dollar and low FFRFR rates, Wolf Richter says. The greater Boston area needs at least a quarter million housing units over the next decade to keep up with demand. The biggest mortgage lenders are now shadow banks, they have little regulation, and theyre huge, and can blow up and do a lot of damage. Doug Boneparth: 15% of marriages today involve a prenuptial agreement. Barry Ritholtz: America and China at the Edge of Ruin. He says high agency comes from Guess-Test-Correct loops: theorize solutions, validate with experiments, iterate on findings. Barry hosted Robin Lambleousing workforce replicaitherinks. Chicago leads all cities for a second consecutive month with a 5.7% year-over-year price increase, followed by New York at 5.0%. Detroit real estate has made a major comeback, putting aside the price collapse of the Great Recession in 2008. In this post, we discuss which volatility measure should be used in the delta hedging process. In general, the shrinking world will be a world of toil. Working people will have to bear the burdens of higher taxes, more eldercare, and longer working lives. Democrats look increasingly likely to win at least the House of Representatives in the midterms. Enforcing laws against hiring undocumented labor on the corporate side, would send illegal immigration into reverse. CME Group will begin offering 24/7 trading for its regulated cryptocurrency futures. Bitcoin CME gap will now close forever in May leaving a return to $84k hanging. CME is moving closer to 24/7 crypto derivatives trading, framing it as a response to demand. Sui etfs just launched — and the volume is collapsing because nobodys showing up. Bitcoin has traded between roughly $60,000 and $70,000 in recent sessions. Large-scale miners with access to inexpensive power have continued to expand. Several publicly listed mining firms are reallocating energy and computing. CME Group will launch 24/7 crypto futures and options trading in late May. Euro-pegged stablecoins could provide low-cost payments and counter the threat of dollarization. UNESCO has projected that generative AI output could drive revenue losses of 24% for music. Bitcoin bounce occurred on declining trading volume, which suggests conviction from buyers is still limited AMC Theatres has blocked an AI-generated short film from its cinemas. Oil Demand Slumped by 614,000 Bpd in December on U.S. oil and coal. Iran Leans on Russia to develop oilfields. The era of sweeping emergency tariffs as a standing energy-trade cudgel just ended. LNG volumes and crude flows to Asia were already strong; tariff pressure added urgency. Nuclear energy remains a politically sensitive and potentially contentious issue within the country.