Mortgage Rates Spike

US mortgage rates jumped to a 16-year high of 6.75%, marking the seventh-straight weekly increase and spurring the worst slump in home loan applications since the depths of the pandemic.

The contract rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage rose nearly a quarter percentage point in the last week of September, according to Mortgage Bankers Association data released Wednesday. 

The steady string of increases in mortgage rates resulted in a more than 14% slump last week in applications to purchase or refinance a home.  READ MORE..

Movement

Most CEOs Planning for Recession

Most CEOs are already preparing for a recession, which they think will slash earnings and stunt growth, according to a new survey by KPMG.

Measures companies plan to take to weather the recession include cutting ESG spending and laying off staff, the survey, which canvassed the opinions of the CEOs of 400 American companies with annual revenues of at least $500 million, showed.

The vast majority of CEOs – 91% – said they thought there would be a recession within the next year, and only a third said it would be mild and short. 80% said they thought it would affect their organization's anticipated growth over the next three years.

Goldman Sachs analysts said in August that there was a 30% probability that the US would enter a recession over the next 12 months, but that a recession in the Euro area was twice as likely.  READ MORE...

Dog in Snow

 

Firefighting

 

Zero Extinction Plan

Australia's environment authorities on Tuesday presented a plan to bolster protection and restoration of the country's threatened species and natural places.

"The need for action to protect our plants, animals and ecosystems from extinction has never been greater," Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said in a statement.

Australia's questionable conservation record

Australia, while ranked among the world's wealthiest countries, gets a poor score when it comes to the protection of its animal species.

"Australia is the mammal extinction capital of the world," Plibersek said.

Wildlife advocacy groups say that animal habitats are in decline due to human activity, and events like the devastating 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires are estimated to have killed, injured or displaced around 3 billion animals.

"The Black Summer bushfires in particular have seen devastating results for many species. We are determined to give wildlife a better chance," said Plibersek.  READ MORE...

Dog Sits With Cat

Robots Making French Fries

PASADENA, Calif., Oct 4 (Reuters) - Fast-food French fries and onion rings are going high-tech, thanks to a company in Southern California.

Miso Robotics Inc in Pasadena has started rolling out its Flippy 2 robot, which automates the process of deep frying potatoes, onions and other foods.

A big robotic arm like those in auto plants - directed by cameras and artificial intelligence - takes frozen French fries and other foods out of a freezer, dips them into hot oil, then deposits the ready-to-serve product into a tray.  READ MORE...

Open Window

The Nation's Highest Court

WASHINGTON – Even as the fallout continues over its controversial abortion ruling in June, the Supreme Court is gearing up for a new term in which its conservative majority will wade into questions about race, LGBTQ rights and federal elections.

The nation's highest court has agreed to hear 27 arguments so far – roughly half its expected caseload for the term that will likely end in June 2023.

This guide will be updated throughout the nine-month term.

Affirmative action
Background: Perhaps the most closely watched cases at the Supreme Court this term involve race-conscious admissions policies at Harvard College and the University of North Carolina. Those schools consider race as one of many factors in deciding whether to accept prospective students, a policy that is consistent with current Supreme Court precedent. But an anti-affirmative action group has argued the policies discriminate against Asian American and white candidates in violation of federal law and the Constitution.  READ MORE...

Balloon Chase

 

Bagging Groceries

 

Slave Traders Cheated

Copper manilla bracelets from a late 17th-century Royal African Company trader in the Western Approaches. Photograph: Seascape Artifact Exhibits Inc.

Early English enslavers sourced copper from Cornwall to create manilla bracelets, the grim currency of the transatlantic slavery trade, and used an impure mix to maximise their profits, according to a study.

Dr Tobias Skowronek, a German scientist, has conducted a scientific analysis of horseshoe-shaped bracelets that were exchanged over hundreds of years for enslaved people from Africa who were transported to Europe, the Americas, and the Caribbean.

His study revealed that copper had been sourced from Cornwall decades earlier than previously thought, overturning assumptions that it had come primarily from Sweden and Flanders until the 1720s.  READ MORE...

Relelasing

14 Year Old Denied Lifesaving Drug

A 14-year-old girl in Tucson, Arizona, was denied refill of a lifesaving drug—methotrexate (MTX)—she had been taking for years over fears that she would use the medication for abortion purposes.

For years, Emma Thompson has been relying on low, weekly doses of MTX to treat her juvenile idiopathic arthritis, a form of the condition in children that can cause serious complications, including growth problems and joint damage, which MTX slows down.

But at higher doses, MTX can be used to end ectopic pregnancies, where a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus.

This is why the girl's doctor, Deborah Jane Power, thinks Thompson was denied her prescribed medication, only three days after Arizona's new abortion law had taken into effect.  READ MORE...

Morning Coffee

Kardashian Breaks the Law

Kim Kardashian Charged by SEC for “Unlawfully Touting Crypto Security,” Agrees to $1.26M Settlement

She agreed to pay penalties, disgorgement and interest, while also cooperating with the SEC's ongoing investigation into EthereumMax: "Ms. Kardashian’s case also serves as a reminder to celebrities and others that the law requires them to disclose to the public when and how much they are paid to promote investing in securities."  READ MORE...

Quick Painter

 

Muscle Girl

 

Global Signs of Recession

New York - CNN Business — Around the world, markets are flashing warning signs that the global economy is teetering on a cliff’s edge.

The question of a recession is no longer if, but when.

Over the past week, the pulse of those flashing red lights quickened as markets grappled with the reality — once speculative, now certain — that the Federal Reserve will press on with its most aggressive monetary tightening campaign in decades to wring inflation from the US economy. 

Even if that means triggering a recession. And even if it comes at the expense of consumers and businesses far beyond US borders.

There’s now a 98% chance of a global recession, according to research firm Ned Davis, which brings some sobering historical credibility to the table. 

The firm’s recession probability reading has only been this high twice before — in 2008 and 2020.  READ MORE...