Stock Market Winners Losers: S&P 500 Heads Lower for Third Straight Month | Home Prices More Than Expected in August | Halloween Candy Prices Soar This Year

Loser: S&P 500 heads lower for third-straight month
• The S&P 500 is little changed with traders set to close out a dismal month that saw Treasury yields surge to multiyear highs.
• Earnings season continued, with Caterpillar reporting earnings that exceeded estimates. However, Caterpillar said its fourth-quarter revenue would only be “slightly” higher.
• The new Series I bond (Inflation bonds) rate of 5.27% for the next six months
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1. 62% of Americans are still living paycheck to paycheck, which now makes it ‘the main financial lifestyle’
2. X is now worth less than half of what Elon Musk paid to buy Twitter last year. A memo to employees said the company was valued at $19 billion—55% less than the $44 billion that Musk shelled out.
3. Skelly, Home Depot’s 12-foot-tall skeleton $300 piece of ghoulish decor has dominated suburban yards, social media, and local news since 2020. The “12 Foot Skeleton Owners Group” on Facebook has 268,000 members.
Loser: Home Prices Rose More Than Expected in August
• Continued demand for a low supply of homes helped send housing prices higher in August.
• Home prices are 2.6% higher than a year prior.
• There is currently an unusual dynamic in the housing market—with both buyers and sellers pulling back as rates have risen.
• The year’s increase in mortgage rates has surely suppressed housing demand and supply as owners don’t want to let go of their low cost mortgage.
• The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is 7 7.79%,
• Prices may be steady as rates have risen—but the data are based on relatively few transactions,
• It will take mortgage rates falling, hopefully by mid-year 2024, for some semblance of normalcy to return, and that should spur more inventory and lower prices.
Loser: Halloween Candy Prices Are Otherworldly This Year
• It’s the spookiest day of the year.
• Costumed children might expect to get fewer pieces of candy.
• Spookflation Candy prices . . . The price of candy and gum has increased 7.5% from a year ago and is up by 21.6% from 2021’s Halloween season.
• Raw sugar has gained 50% from last year.
• Cocoa prices are up 67% more than a year ago and the most expensive since the 1970s.
• Heavy rains and a rot-causing disease in West Africa destroyed crops which accounts for two-thirds of the world’s cocoa bean harvest
• Spending on candy is expected to take nearly 30% of the pie, reaching $3.6 billion. That’s a 16% uptick from last year.
• Across all categories including candies, costumes, and decorations, people plan to spend an average of $108.24.
• The total Halloween spending is expected to reach $12.2 billion this year,
• In its latest earnings chocolate giant Hershey reported 10% growth in North America’s confectionery sales, but volume slipped by 1% from the previous year, suggesting people are dialing back on their sweet tooth.

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