LendingTree CEO Douglas Lebda buys $516,360 in common stockWhile the Federal Reserve has cut its short-term interest rate target by three-quarters of a percentage point since mid-September, 30-year fixed-rate home mortgage rates rose by almost as much during that period and have lately averaged around 6.8 percent, higher than they were when the Fed began cutting, according to Freddie Mac, the home-loan finance giant. Small-business loan rates are also up: Small Business Administration-backed average interest for new real estate and capital improvement loans rose more than half a percent since September, according to data collected by CDC Small Business Finance, one of that program’s largest lenders. To be sure, the central bank’s target rates and its much-publicized recent rate cuts don’t directly set long-term mortgage and business loan rates. It’s not unheard of for rates on multiyear loans, such as 30-year mortgages, to move modestly against the direction of the Fed’s short-term targets, analysts say. But the recent gap, with Fed and bank rates moving in opposite directions, “is actually quite different” from the usual result after a Fed hike, said Lara Rhame, chief economist at FS Investments in South Philadelphia. It’s “abnormal” for rates to fall when the economy is doing well, she said — a sign money market players are worried about inflation under one-party government when politicians “can spend with fewer guardrails,” likely leading to faster growth and more price inflation. Rhame said her research on past Fed performance suggests long-term mortgage rates could stay at or above 5 percent into next year. “It’s a huge frustration for all the folks that were excited to jump in and buy homes, once the Feds started cutting interest rates,” she added. Eric Merlis, cohead of global markets for Citizens Financial Group, which runs the largest bank-branch network in the Philadelphia area, said long-term rates reflect the economy’s growth prospects. When mortgage and business-loan rates rise despite Fed cuts, it suggests lenders are concerned inflation, economic growth, and property, stock and other asset prices will get worse. Mortgage inquiries rose post-election Mortgage inquiries slowed during the recent presidential campaign, as if buyers were waiting to see who won, but calls from would-be buyers have surged since Donald Trump’s election, said Michael A. Kent, veteran mortgage banker at First National Bank of Pennsylvania’s Berwyn office. “I received more calls since Thursday than in the last three weeks,” he said in an interview last week. But there still aren’t many houses for sale, locally or nationally, compared to the demand, Kent added. Nationally, “house-hunting activity was much slower than expected” during the presidential campaign, the national real estate brokerage Redfin reported last week. “Buyers are returning” since Trump’s election, yet “we don’t expect rates to fall significantly anytime soon,” said Redfin economic researcher Chen Zhao. Rhame, the FS analyst, said that even if the Trump administration wanted to increase U.S. housing construction, it would need to push local governments to speed project approvals — a challenge for national leaders. Kent, the mortgage banker, noted that Fed rate cuts have more impact on credit cards, car loans, and other short-term borrowing than on business and mortgage loans. If mortgage rates stay high, he expects more buyers will ask for adjustable-rate loans, as if betting that rates will fall over the next few years. Analysts say high mortgage rates reflect, in part, expectations that inflation would increase next year — for example, if the Trump administration makes good on promises to cut taxes without corresponding cuts to the major categories of U.S. government spending: medical, Social Security, military, and debt service. Kent added that any Trump administration moves that speed the economy more than expected — for example, by expanding fossil-fuel development and cutting gasoline prices — would come as a welcome deflationary surprise and maybe lead to lower interest rates. When might mortgage rates drop? Standard 30-year mortgages won’t likely drop until the long-term lending benchmark U.S. Treasury bond yields fall from their current levels, said Mike Reynolds, vice president for investment strategy at Glenmede Trust Co. in Philadelphia. At a little under 7 percent, average 30-year home-loan rates “aren’t so egregiously high” that they would slow the economy, he said. “We do expect, as the Fed continues to go down this path of rate cuts, interest rates are likely to trend lower. It’s just not likely to be a straight-line process.” He’s sanguine that Trump won’t force too-rapid change to the Fed, whose chairman, Jerome Powell, was appointed by Trump in his first term. “But the COVID period of just printing more money” without raising revenues “seems to be behind us.” Reynolds is hopeful that less deficit spending will boost economic growth, and ease pressure on interest rates, and the borrowers who pay them.

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What Does Airbus Do In Wales?DENVER — Colorado U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert broke new ground over the weekend when she became the first sitting member of Congress to offer personalized messages for sale — starting at $250 — through the video platform Cameo . The Windsor Republican, who won election to a new congressional seat this month after moving across the state, started the account Saturday. The website allows customers to buy personalized video messages from celebrities. On Monday morning, Boebert advertised her messages starting at $250, though she stopped taking requests by 10:45 a.m. mountain time. “Whether you or someone you know needs an America-first pep talk, if you want to surprise friends or family with a message for a special day, or if you just want to know my thoughts on whatever’s on your mind, Cameo is the place to connect with me,” Boebert says in an introductory video. Brandon Kazimer, a Cameo spokesperson, confirmed that the account belonged to Boebert. Boebert’s office declined to comment Monday. Kazimer said she’s the first sitting member of Congress to sign up for the service as talent. At least two other former members of Congress, George Santos of New York and Matt Gaetz of Florida, have sold videos on the platform. Santos joined Cameo soon after he was expelled from Congress last year over allegations he exploited office for personal financial gain. Gaetz, who is a friend of Boebert’s, joined the service Friday, days after he withdrew his nomination by President-elect Donald Trump to be the U.S. attorney general following allegations that he paid a teenage girl for sex. Boebert does not appear to have advertised the service on her other social media accounts on X or Facebook. Congressional rules will limit how much Boebert can earn from the videos. In 2023, members were limited to making $31,815 in outside income beyond their annual $174,000 salaries. She will have to report any earnings from Cameo on her annual disclosures. The law also prohibits people from using their public office to make outside money, said Kedric Payne, a vice president and senior director of ethics for the Campaign Legal Center. Ultimately, the restriction is meant to give voters confidence that elected officials aren’t using public office for personal gain — or putting that gain ahead of their public service. Boebert describes herself on Cameo as “Not your typical Colorado Republican politician. Jesus loving, Constitutionalist, America first, freedom fighter.” An earlier version of her Cameo page listed Boebert as a politician and categorized her as a political commentator, but it was updated to list her under the influencers category. Because she doesn’t use her title or appear to use other facets of her public job for the videos, such as filming in her congressional office, “that should take away any concern she’s trying to use her public job for personal gain,” Payne said. He added that the limit on outside income also anticipates these kinds of problems by limiting the incentive for members to spend more effort on outside business ventures than their public service. But, he noted, people can cross that line quickly if it’s not clear if they’re acting in their public or private capacity. The earned income that’s subject to the annual cap is considered separate from passive income made through things like stock market investments, Payne said, because it is actively made by selling goods and services. “We’ll be watching to see if this becomes a trend,” Payne said of the Cameo side work. “If this is just a one-off where someone does this for a month or so, that’s one thing — but if it becomes a trend, where members of Congress are trying to act as influencers and get paid, that could point to a bigger problem.” ©2024 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at denverpost.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Investor Warren Buffett renewed his Thanksgiving tradition of giving by handing out more than $1.1 billion of Berkshire Hathaway stock to four of his family's foundations Monday, and he offered new details about who will be handing out the rest of his fortune after his death. Buffett has said previously that his three kids will distribute his remaining $147.4 billion fortune in the 10 years after his death, but now he has also designated successors for them because it's possible that Buffett's children could die before giving it all away. He didn't identify the successors, but said his kids all know them and agree they would be good choices. “Father time always wins. But he can be fickle – indeed unfair and even cruel – sometimes ending life at birth or soon thereafter while, at other times, waiting a century or so before paying a visit,” the 94-year-old Buffett said in a letter to his fellow shareholders Monday. “To date, I’ve been very lucky, but, before long, he will get around to me. There is, however, a downside to my good fortune in avoiding his notice. The expected life span of my children has materially diminished since the 2006 pledge. They are now 71, 69 and 66.” Buffett said he still has no interest in creating dynastic wealth in his family — a view shared by his first and current wives. He acknowledged giving Howard, Peter and Susie millions over the years, but he has long said he believes “hugely wealthy parents should leave their children enough so they can do anything but not enough that they can do nothing.” The secret to building up such massive wealth over time has been the power of compounding interest and the steady growth of the Berkshire conglomerate Buffett leads through acquisitions and smart investments like buying billions of dollars of Apple shares as iPhone sales continued to drive growth in that company. Buffett never sold any of his Berkshire stock over the years and also resisted the trappings of wealth and never indulged in much — preferring instead to continue living in the same Omaha home he'd bought decades earlier and drive sensible luxury sedans about 20 blocks to work each day. “As a family, we have had everything we needed or simply liked, but we have not sought enjoyment from the fact that others craved what we had,” he said. If Buffett and his first wife had never given away any of their Berkshire shares, the family's fortune would be worth nearly $364 billion — easily making him the world's richest man — but Buffett said he had no regrets about his giving over the years. The family's giving began in earnest with the distribution of Susan Buffett's $3 billion estate after her death in 2004, but really took off when Warren Buffett announced plans in 2006 to make annual gifts to the foundations run by his kids along with the one he and his wife started, as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Warren Buffett's giving to date has favored the Gates Foundation with $55 billion in stock because his friend Bill Gates already had his foundation set up and could handle huge gifts when Buffett started giving away his fortune. But Buffett has said his kids now have enough experience in philanthropy to handle the task and he plans to cut off his Gates Foundation donations after his death. Buffett always makes his main annual gifts to all five foundations every summer, but for several years now he has been giving additional Berkshire shares to his family's foundations at Thanksgiving. Buffett reiterated Monday his advice to every parent to allow their families to read their will while they are still alive — like he has done — to make sure they have a chance to explain their decisions about how to distribute their belongings and answer their children's questions. Buffett said he and his longtime investing partner Charlie Munger, who died a year ago, “saw many families driven apart after the posthumous dictates of the will left beneficiaries confused and sometimes angry.” Today, Buffett continues to lead Berkshire Hathaway as chairman and CEO and has no plans to retire although he has handed over most of the day-to-day managing duties for the conglomerates dozens of companies to others. That allows him to focus on his favorite activity of deciding where to invest Berkshire's billions . One of Buffett's deputies who oversees all the noninsurance companies now, Greg Abel, is set to take over as CEO after Buffett's death. Even after converting 1,600 Class A shares into 2.4 million Class B Berkshire shares and giving them away, Buffett still owns 206,363 Class A shares and controls more than 30% of the vote.

Shares of electric vehicle (EV) and related stocks Lucid Motors (NASDAQ: LCID) , QuantumScape (NYSE: QS) , and Navitas Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: NVTS) rallied today, up 3.3%, 3.7%, and 14.9%, respectively, in Monday's trading. The commonality among all three stocks is their leverage to the EV and clean energy markets. Such stocks have taken a pounding this year, at first because of the big slowdown in EV sales amid higher interest rates. And these stocks took another severe downturn recently after the election of Donald Trump. Start Your Mornings Smarter! Wake up with Breakfast news in your inbox every market day. Sign Up For Free » But with these stocks now trading at severely depressed levels, any positive news was likely to spark a relief rally. And the EV sector got some of that very relief today. California to make up for a lost federal EV tax credit It had been feared by many investors in the EV and renewable energy space that incentives for clean energy under the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act would be repealed by the incoming Trump administration. Notably, a repeal of the federal tax credit for EV purchases could lead to a 30% decline in EV sales, according to a recent paper led by researchers at UC Berkeley. But today, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the state would make up the federal EV tax credit, which goes up to $7,500 per purchase, if that federal tax credit is repealed. According to Newsom, the money could come from California's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. That's paid for by polluters under the state's cap-and-trade program. Interestingly, Newsom is proposing market-share restrictions on the potential new state tax credit, which would likely cut Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) out of qualifying. Although Tesla's market share has been declining in California, it still accounted for 54.5% of all new EV registrations in the state this year, down from 63% in 2023. The proposal smells of a potential reprisal toward Elon Musk, who has been involved in several public fights with Newsom over the past few years and who was a big donor to President Trump. For its part, the governor's office merely said the restriction was about "creating the market conditions for more of these car makers to take root." A Tesla exclusion has the potential to disproportionately benefit Lucid, which makes high-end EVs that compete with Tesla's Model S and X vehicles. Lucid has been making some progress with its high-end Air sedans and recently launched its Gravity SUV. However, Lucid's sales are still far below its expenses, with massive losses accumulating. In October, Lucid diluted its shareholders again , selling over 600 million shares to Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) even with the stock at multiyear lows. So, it could certainly use California's help. Additionally, QuantumScape is a pre-revenue company aiming to commercialize its solid-state battery technology. That technology would also compete with the lithium-ion batteries used by basically all EV automakers today, including Tesla, which has invested in its own lithium-ion battery technology and production. Finally, Navitas is a small-cap chipmaker that produces silicon carbide and gallium nitride chips for the EV, solar, and data center markets. Perhaps due to its small size and the fact it's down a whopping 65% on the year, its stock rallied the hardest on the prospect of better EV sales. A turnaround or dead-cat bounce? So, is today's EV-related rally the beginning of a turnaround or a dead-cat bounce? As of now, it's pretty hard to say. The EV market has been in a severe slowdown this year, even with the EV tax credit in place, due to higher interest rates and a post-pandemic hangover. Furthermore, it's difficult to know even if the tax credit will be repealed and what exactly California's remedy will look like. While it's tempting to call a bottom in EV stocks, these three stocks still seem pretty risky due to their loss-making nature. For those willing to gamble on a bottom in the EV market, you might want to look at more profitable stocks in the sector . Should you invest $1,000 in Lucid Group right now? Before you buy stock in Lucid Group, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now... and Lucid Group wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $869,885 !* Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of November 25, 2024 Billy Duberstein and/or his clients have no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . Why EV Stocks Lucid Motors, QuantumScape, and Navitas Semiconductor Rocketed Higher Today was originally published by The Motley Fool