tyb
82-8000 USAF 747 departed JBA to the nw on a cert/maintenance flight
Still no 92-9000.....
NAR: Existing-Home Sales Decreased to 5.85 million in April
Existing-home sales waned in April, marking three straight months of declines, according to the National Association of Realtors®. All but one of the four major U.S. regions witnessed month-over-month drops in home sales, but each registered double-digit year-over-year gains for April.
Total existing-home sales, completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, slipped 2.7% from March to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.85 million in April. Sales overall jumped year-over-year, up 33.9% from a year ago (4.37 million in April 2020).
...
Total housing inventory at the end of April amounted to 1.16 million units, up 10.5% from March's inventory and down 20.5% from one year ago (1.46 million). Unsold inventory sits at a 2.4-month supply at the current sales pace, slightly up from March's 2.1-month supply and down from the 4.0-month supply recorded in April 2020. These numbers continue to represent near-record lows. NAR first began tracking the single-family home supply in 1982.
https://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2021/05/nar-existing-home-sales-decreased-to.html
Cryptos Crash After China Again Vows Crackdown On Mining And Trading
Another day, another attempt by China - where the reception of the digital yuan has been a total disaster so far much to Beijing's complete humiliation - to crash Crypto, with Reuters and Bloomberg reporting moments ago that just two days after the PBOC barred financial institutions from accepting bitcoin as payment, China's vice premier Liu He said (at 11pm on Friday local time) that China will crack down on bitcoin mining and trading activities, which of course is what we already knew.
From Reuters: CHINA'S VICE PREMIER LIU HE SAYS TO CRACK DOWN ON BITCOIN MINING AND TRADING ACTIVITIES
And From Bloomberg: CHINA REITERATES CALL FOR CRACKDOWN ON BITCOIN MINING, TRADING
o China will reiterate, i.e., repeat what it has said, the same news every day until bitcoin hits 0? Or at least it hopes to, and somehow this is supposed to inspire confident in the digital Yuan?
What is funny is that a month ago it was Peter Thiel who grabbed headlines with his laughable conclusion that bitcoin was helping China to end the reserve status of the dollar. How about now, Peter, is China's crushing bitcoin to boost the dollar? Inquiring minds want to know.
Incidentally, a cynical take of this report is that it is great news as it means no more dirty coal bitcoin mining in Xinjiang. How will the ESG cult bash bitcoin now?
As a reminder, China is the bitcoin bears biggest friend: as long as bitcoin can be mined in China it is "dirty." Once China bans bitcoin mining there, the anti-ESG case collapse.
In any case, the news was enough to spark another algo-driven liquidation as the robots apparently have a 15 nanosecond memory and have forgotten that China has said all this and more both a few days ago as well as years ago when it first cracked down on crypto and banned bitcoin and its peers on the mainland.
And stocks follow cryptos lower, as China now appears to also be attacking the US stock market - which has become joined at the hip with crypto.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/cryptos-tumble-after-china-again-vows-crackdown-mining-and-trading
https://coinmarketcap.com/
U.S. Congress to hold hearing on SPACs, ramping up scrutiny
U.S. lawmakers are ramping up scrutiny of special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, with a hearing set for Monday as they consider legislation aimed at curbing liability protections for the industry.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has heightened its focus on SPACs in recent months through a series of public statements, new guidance and a Wall Street bank inquiry led by the agency’s enforcement team. Republican Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana last month introduced a bill aimed at boosting transparency for investors in SPACs. SPACs are shell companies that raise money via a listing to acquire a private company with the purpose of taking it public, sidestepping a traditional initial public offering (IPO) process. Critics say banks and SPAC sponsors have reaped big payoffs at a cost to later-stage investors.
Monday’s hearing in a House Financial Services subcommittee is aimed at SPACs, direct listings and IPOs, according to a hearing notice published on May 19. The House is considering legislation that would redefine “blank check company” from a key 1995 law to include special purpose acquisition companies, according to the notice. The law created a safe harbor that protects listed companies from shareholder litigation provided forward-looking statements are made in good faith, identified as such and couched in cautionary language. The safe harbor does not protect IPOs or certain blank check companies, but sponsors have generally operated on the basis that it does apply to SPAC deals, and have leaned on it heavily to issue growth projections. The SEC has been mulling guidance that would curb these projections, Reuters reported earlier this month.
The prospects for the bill to become law are unclear, but it signals growing Congressional attention on the industry.
https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-congress-spacs/u-s-congress-to-hold-hearing-on-spacs-ramping-up-scrutiny-idUSL2N2N81EX