In 2005, the typical home seller in the U.S. was only 47 years old. Today, the typical home seller is 63, the oldest ever recorded. – MarketWatch, November 5, 2024
In 2023, consumers in the United States returned $743 billion worth of merchandise, which was 14.5% of all purchases. That’s up from 10.6% in 2020. –PBS, November 4, 2024
From January to September of 2024, there were 38.1 million televisions sold with a width of at least 97 inches, or just over 8 feet. The first 98-inch television from Samsung was introduced in 2019, priced at $99,000, and this year, it has four similar models starting at $4,000. –Numlock News, November 4, 2024
In 1963, in one of his last acts before his assassination, President John F. Kennedy, when face-to-face with his live Thanksgiving Day turkey, disregarded the sign hung around the bird’s neck that read “Good eating, Mr. President” and said: “Let’s keep him going.” Kennedy said nothing about pardoning the turkey, but the media referred to his act as a “pardon” and “reprieve,” and the annual tradition was born. –New York Times, November 22, 2024
Including dividends, the S&P 500 is currently up over 25% in 2024, well above the historical average of 9.8%. 25% sounds abnormally high, but it is actually more common than you might think. The S&P 500 has finished with a total return above 25% in 26 out of 96 years since 1928. That’s 27% of the time. But how many times did the S&P 500 end the year down 25% or more? Only 5. –The Week in Charts, November 21, 2024
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University just achieved a breakthrough in surgical robotics: They trained a robot to perform complex medical procedures solely by having it watch videos of human surgeons at work. – Johns Hopkins Univ, November 11, 2024
More than a decade ago, private equity giant Blackstone began spending hundreds of millions of dollars on family homes that went into foreclosure after the 2008-2009 global financial crises, creating a completely new asset class for institutional investors. Since then, corporate landlords have bought more than 600,000 houses across the United States. –The Wall Street Journal, October 30, 2024
Amazon’s Web Services revenue over the last 12 months ($103 billion) was higher than the revenue of 468 companies in the S&P 500, meaning AWS alone outpaces nearly 94% of the index’s firms. –Investor Observer, November 5, 2024
