Business

Luxury real estate broker Olshan Realty, Inc. has some bad news for New York's hedge fund managers looking to dump their luxury $5 million, 1,500 square foot palaces as the market for luxury New York City real estate just might be on the verge of collapse.  Accroding to a year end report published by Olshan, contracts for luxury co-ops (defined as those with an asking price above $4mm) collapsed 25% in 2016 while the average number of days that apartments sat on the market surged 31% and discounts to original listing price also jumped a point to 6%.

Having thanked himself for record high stocks, soaring spending, and spiking confidence, President-elect Donald Trump will be making a "positive" announcement on economic development Wednesday afternoon, according to transition aides.

Aides did not provide further details, but spokesman and future White House press secretary Sean Spicer intimated to reporters that the news will be about American jobs.

 

Ten years after one of the largest asset corrections in history nearly brought down the entire global financial system, house flippers are making a comeback in a big way.  Just ask Eduardo Axtle, a 35-year-old former telecom entrepreneur (which we assume means Verizon store clerk) in Oakland, California, who say that "the floodgates have opened" and allowed him to take out 50 home loans over the past couple of years.  But we're sure Yellen & Co. were right, 0% interest rates for nearly a decade were a fantastic idea.

Having risen for the 8th straight day - the longest stretch in 7 years - oil prices kneejerked lower after API reported a surprisingly large 4.8mm inventory build (1.5mm draw expected) - the largest in 6 weeks. Gasoline and Distillates saw draws but Cushing built for the 4th week of the last 5.

API

Submitted by Nick Cunningham via OilPrice.com,

Natural gas prices are surging as cold weather eats into U.S. inventories, tightening the market much more quickly than many analysts had expected.