
Key measure of housing market health plunges to lowest level in years
A gauge of US homebuilder sentiment fell unexpectedly in August, slipping back to its lowest level in more than two-and-a-half years.
More than a third of residential construction firms said they're cutting prices and roughly two-thirds of them reported offering incentives to lure buyers.
On Monday, the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo Housing Market Index fell to 32, matching the lowest reading since December 2022.
Homebuilding sentiment dipped to 32 in June before gaining a point in July.
Today's reading is worse than expected - economists polled by Reuters had expected the sentiment score to improve to 34.
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The Independent
10 minutes ago
- The Independent
Elon Musk is already giving up on plans to start his own party - and instead looks to back Vance in 2028
Elon Musk is already giving up on plans to launch his own political party to challenge the Republicans and Democrats and is instead considering backing Vice President JD Vance in 2028, according to a report. After the billionaire was ousted from the Trump administration at the end of May and a subsequent online feud blew up with President Donald Trump, Musk threatened to launch the new 'America Party.' Now the plans have been shelved and the tech mogul has backed off because of his relationship with Vance, who is considered the frontrunner for the Republican Party in 2028, The Wall Street Journal reports. 'Musk has stayed in touch with Vance in recent weeks, and he has acknowledged to associates that if he goes ahead with forming a political party, he would damage his relationship with the vice president,' the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with Musk's plans. In late July, Musk's associates canceled a call with a group that specializes in organizing third-party campaigns because the Tesla CEO wanted to focus on running his businesses, according to the Journal. Musk is now considering backing Vance financially if he runs for president in 2028, though his allies told the newspaper that he could change his mind as the midterm elections approach. It is unclear how recently the pair have been in touch. During an August 11 interview, Vance joked that he wasn't sure if Musk would even 'take his calls.' A third party would only pull votes away from the two main political parties in next year's elections - though how much from each side remains unknown. Vance said that he hoped Musk would 'come back into the fold' and rejoin the MAGA movement by next year. 'He's obviously got a complicated relationship right now with the Trump White House,' Vance told right-wing publication The Gateway Pundit in a recent interview. 'My argument to Elon is like, you're not going to be on the left, right? Even if you wanted to be. And he doesn't,' he said. 'They're not going to have you back. That ship has sailed. And so I really think it's a mistake for him to try to break from the president.' Vance added: 'So my hope is that by the time of the midterms, he's kind of come back into the fold.' The Independent has contacted Musk's representatives for comment. The billionaire, who bankrolled a large portion of Trump's 2024 presidential campaign through his America PAC, announced in July that he was launching the 'America Party' in response to the president's sweeping tax and spending legislation, the 'Big, Beautiful Bill.' 'By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it,' Musk wrote at the time. 'When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy.' The bill was at the center of Musk's fallout with Trump, which escalated after the SpaceX CEO said that the president was 'in the Epstein files.' He later deleted the post on X and admitted he had taken things too far. Despite Musk's plummeting popularity after he took a chainsaw to the federal government at the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency, a poll last month found that 40 percent of Americans said they would back Musk if he created a third political party. Musk was ridiculed after the outcome of the Wisconsin Supreme Court race in April, where he put millions behind the conservative Brad Schimel, who suffered a catastrophic defeat against the liberal candidate Judge Susan Crawford.


Reuters
11 minutes ago
- Reuters
Wall St subdued at open on mixed retail earnings ahead of Fed meet
Aug 20 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were subdued at the open on Wednesday as investors assessed uneven earnings from retailers such as Target and Lowe's for clues on consumer spending ahead of a Federal Reserve symposium later this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), opens new tab fell 0.4 points, or flat, at the open to 44,922.7. The S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab fell 4.7 points, or 0.07%, at the open to 6,406.62, while the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab dropped 45.3 points, or 0.21%, to 21,269.667 at the opening bell.


Reuters
11 minutes ago
- Reuters
Hertz partners with Amazon Autos to sell used vehicles online
Aug 20 (Reuters) - Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ.O), opens new tab said on Wednesday its car sales unit was partnering with (AMZN.O), opens new tab automotive retail platform, Amazon Autos, to sell pre-owned vehicles, sending the car rental company's shares up 7% in early trading. Shares of used-car retailers fell, with Avis Budget Group (CAR.O), opens new tab down 6%, Carvana (CVNA.N), opens new tab losing 4.2% and CarMax (KMX.N), opens new tab shedding 1.4%. The collaboration builds on Amazon Autos' recent expansion into used-vehicle sales, Hertz said. Amazon launched Amazon Autos last year to expand the online retail platform's services to include used and certified pre-owned vehicles, with participating dealers in more than 130 U.S. cities. Hertz and Amazon will start offering their service within 75 miles of Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Seattle, with plans to expand to Hertz Car Sales' 45 locations across the United States. Estero, Florida-based Hertz Global operates its car rental business through its Dollar, Thrifty and Firefly vehicle-rental brands across 160 countries, and also operates a car-sharing business in Europe. Its Hertz Car Sales brand offers used cars for sale online and at locations across the U.S. Hertz has been pressured by bumpy rental demand, forcing it to shed much of its electric-vehicle fleet in favor of gas-powered cars over the past few years. It has also drawn scrutiny over its AI-powered sensors - used to check returned vehicles for damage - which some customers say have frequently misfired. Hedge-fund billionaire Bill Ackman boosted his stake in Hertz earlier this year to nearly 20% through his investment management company Pershing Square, expressing confidence in the management's efforts to reduce costs to improve profit margins over the next several years despite ongoing tariff pressures.