Fri, 15 Sep 2023 15:22:40 GMT (1694791360270)
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'Making Money' host Charles Payne joins 'The Big Money Show' to discuss how the state of the economy will impact 2024 election results and stock market winners and losers.
Monthly home prices have hit an all-time high in recent weeks, driving down pending home sales by as much as 28%.
According to recent data from Redfin, the median monthly mortgage payment hit $2,632 during the four weeks ending Sept. 10, when borrowing rates sat at 7.12%,
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported that the 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate declined slightly from August’s two-decade high, but it’s still hovering above 7% for the fourth consecutive week.
"Though while inflation has decelerated, firmer economic data have put upward pressure on mortgage rates which, in the face of affordability challenges, are straining potential homebuyers," Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater said.
WHY ARE HOME PRICES SO EXPENSIVE? BLAME THE BOOMERS, BARCLAYS SAYS
Homes under construction in Sacramento, Calif., July 3, 2023. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
On top of high borrowing rates, home prices increased 4% year over year during that same period, according to Redfin.
These higher prices are keeping would-be buyers out of the market and forcing potential sellers to stay put, which is only exacerbating the inventory shortage.
HOUSING AFFORDABILITY PLUMMETS TO LOWEST LEVEL SINCE 2007 AS PRICES JUMP
Active listings declined 17% during that four-week period, which marked the largest decline since February 2022 aside from the two prior four-week periods.
A "for sale" sign outside a home in Atlanta Feb. 17, 2023. (Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Pending home sales are down 12% year over year nationwide. But Newark, New Jersey, is feeling a particular pinch with pending sales down 28% during the four-week period. Seattle and San Antonio aren't far behind either with pending sales down 27.4% and 27.1%, respectively, according to Redfin.
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Pending sales in San Jose fell 25.7%, and in Atlanta they dropped 25.6%.
Mortgage purchase applications are also hovering near a three-decade low, according to Redfin data.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday lauded Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud after he announced that the Supreme Court will soon be linked to the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), saying such harnessing of technology will further transparency and enhance the justice delivery system in the country.
Chandrachud announced that the apex court will soon be linked to the NJDG, a repository of data relating to pendency of cases and disposal rate of courts right from the taluka level to the national level. At present, the portal shows data only up to the high court level.
As the CJI started the day's proceedings in the court, he said the top court's data will be uploaded on the NJDG on a real-time basis.
Hailing the development, Modi said on X: "Laudatory step by the Supreme Court and CJI DY Chandrachud Ji. Such harnessing of technology will further transparency and enhance the justice delivery system in our country."
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A pending decision from the Food and Drug Administration regarding popular common nasal decongestants could disrupt the over-the-counter medication market, pharmacists warn.
An FDA advisory panel voted unanimously Tuesday against the effectiveness of the key drug found in popular versions of Sudafed, Dayquil, and other medications stocked on store shelves. The 16-person panel concluded oral medicines containing phenylephrine don’t work to get rid of nasal congestion.
The advisers came to the decision after looking at research that shows when taken orally, only a small amount of the drug reaches the nose. It does not include nasal sprays and prescription medication.
Ira Katz, owner of Atlanta’s Little Five Points, said he wasn’t surprised by the panel’s decision. However, he warned the removal of the ingredient could “wreak havoc” on over-the-counter products this cold and flu season.
“If they take it off, all of these products are going to have to be revamped, totally revamped and the cost to the manufacturers will be exuberant which will be trickled down to the consumer,” Katz said.
Phenylephrine became the main drug in over-the-counter decongestants 15 years ago when regulators learned an older ingredient was being used to make methamphetamine.
The FDA has not indicated when it will make a final decision on the matter but the agency typically sides with its advisory committees.
Copyright 2023 WANF. All rights reserved.
A conceptual drawing of the Aurora micoreactor planned for Eielson Air Force, Alaska, by Oklo Inc. (Oklo Inc.)
The Air Force announced its intent recently to award a contract for a small nuclear reactor at a base in Alaska pending approval of the plan by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The contract went to Oklo Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., for a small reactor at Eielson Air Force Base, a fighter base 110 miles from the Arctic Circle, according to the company and an Air Force news release Aug. 31.
The Air Force micro-reactor pilot program is looking to deploy a small reactor that is capable of producing up to 20 MW.
By comparison, the R. E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant in New York, the smallest of its kind in the United States, has a generating capacity of 582 MW, according to the Energy Information Administration.
The reactor pilot project is part of a mandate in the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act that at least one licensed microreactor is operating on a Defense Department installation by 2027. The Air Force said the Eielson project may determine the viability of microreactor use at its installations.
Oklo Inc. will design, build, own and operate its Aurora model microreactor at Eielson, according to the Air Force.
The company estimated the cost to build the microreactor at about $60 million and another $3 million per year to operate and maintain.
Construction of the power plant will cost the Air Force nothing upfront, Mark Correll, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for environment, safety and infrastructure, said in October 2021 report by Juneau, Alaska, broadcaster KTOO.
The Air Force will buy the plant’s electricity at “a rate that’s competitive with what the base pays now,” Correll said. The Air Force expects to pay for 39,420 MW annually, according to the request for proposals.
But first, Oklo must obtain a license to operate the reactor, which the regulatory commission denied the company last year, according to a Jan. 6, 2022, NRC letter to company CEO Jacob DeWitte.
The regulatory commission had no concerns about the reactor design’s safety or security, or the application’s merits, according to the letter on the NRC website.
But Oklo failed to provide “substantive information” on the “maximum credible accident for the Aurora design, the safety classification of structures, systems, and components” in response to requests from commission staff, the letter states.
The maximum credible accident refers to the worst-case accident scenario, a useful tool for identifying potential hazards in a reactor design, according to the U.S. Department of Energy website.
An Oklo spokeswoman said the company is addressing the NRC concerns.
“Oklo proposed a licensing pathway in its response to the requests for proposals and is already beginning discussions with the Air Force regarding the optimal licensing steps for this particular location and use case,” spokeswoman Bonita Chester told Stars and Stripes by email on Sept. 7.
The Aurora microreactor is equipped with built-in safety features that self-adjust to changing conditions and demands to prevent overheating, according to the Air Force.
“This pilot is imperative to the future implementation scalability of micro-reactors and the DoD will be working with other military departments to identify additional installations for the deployment of US-developed advanced nuclear tech,” Chester said.
The Pentagon is also considering a microreactor on Guam, a linchpin of U.S. military defense in the Pacific where personnel of every service are stationed. The reactor would supplement existing power sources on the island, where a typhoon in June left many residents without power for days.
Hours after it called an all-party meeting on the eve of Parliament’s special session starting September 18, the government Wednesday gave some indication of what was on the table.
As per a bulletin issued Wednesday evening by the Lok Sabha Secretariat for MPs, the two Houses will discuss the “Parliamentary Journey of 75 years starting from Samvidhan Sabha — Achievements, Experiences, Memories and Learnings”, and take up for consideration four Bills.
The Bills include the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, introduced during the Monsoon Session in the Lok Sabha; the Advocates (Amendment) Bill and the Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, passed by the Rajya Sabha in the Monsoon Session; and the Post Office Bill, introduced in the Rajya Sabha during the Monsoon Session.
The Rajya Sabha agenda also lists the Repealing and Amending Bill, 2023, which was passed by the Lok Sabha in July.
Since the government sprang a surprise by announcing the special session, just over a month after the Monsoon Session had ended, speculation has been rife over what could be on its pre-poll agenda. The Opposition had also been questioning the government’s silence on the issue.
While the agenda outlined by the government on Wednesday was unexceptional, and included legislation in various stages of discussion already in Parliament, sources said there could still be some surprises, and “something more substantive”, over the five days of the session.
Opposition leaders also expressed their apprehension that the government may have something up its sleeve, with one of them pointing out that “the agenda that has been circulated does not seem worthy of a special session”.
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Jairam Ramesh, the Congress general secretary in-charge of communications, posted on X that the Modi government had been “compelled” to announce the agenda under “pressure”, after Sonia Gandhi wrote to the PM. He added: “The agenda as published at the moment, is much ado about nothing – all this could have waited till Winter session in November. I am sure the legislative grenades are being kept up their sleeves to be unleashed at the last moment as usual.”
Senior Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien said the agenda has a caveat, “not to be taken as exhaustive”, and wondered whether the government was up to some “dirty tricks”.
However, a section of BJP leaders said one reason the government wanted to hold the special session was that the Winter Session of Parliament, otherwise held in November-December, could be delayed due to the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram. The government wanted to highlight its recent “successes” such as hosting of the G20 Summit and the Chandrayaan 3 mission, in the House before the polls, they said.
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As for more ambitious moves, there is still speculation that issues over which there is a larger consensus – putting the Opposition in a dilemma, and exposing the divides within – might still be on the table. The biggest buzz is over a women’s reservation Bill to provide quota for women in Parliament and Assemblies, apart from a proposal to reinstate statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
The Opposition would have little ground to attack the government on either issue.
The J&K move will also help the government ward off the heat from the Supreme Court, which recently asked the Centre if it had a time frame to restore statehood to the region, while hearing pleas challenging the abrogation of Article 370.
While most parties in the INDIA bloc are in favour of women’s reservation, it could run into some hiccups when it comes to the Samajwadi Party and RJD. The two parties, with their strong caste bases, want “quota within the quota”, or caste- and community- based quotas within the reservation block for women. “Parties like the Congress would have difficulties with that,” an Opposition leader admitted.
The women’s Bill is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s repeated emphasis on Naari Shakti, while talking about his government’s schemes for women, such as Ujjwala Yojana, toilet-building mission and Jal Jeevan programme. The BJP sees women electors – turning out in ever larger numbers to vote – as a game changer.
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On Wednesday, in another pro-women move, the Union Cabinet cleared a grant of Rs 1,650 crore to oil marketing companies for the rollout of ‘Ujjawala 2.0’, under which 75 lakh new LPG connections will be provided over three years.
Last week, Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said the day was not far when women would get their “due representation” in the country’s legislatures, and on Wednesday, President Droupadi Murmu called for more representation of women in politics at a speech in the Gujarat Assembly.
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Earlier on Wednesday, a meeting of Union ministers was held to discuss the agenda for the session. Sources said that the meeting, held at Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s residence and attended by almost a dozen ministers, was on the pending Bills in Parliament, and was “routine”, to explain logistics.
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Some ministers mentioned that the Opposition might raise some issues to attack the government, such as the apparent push to change the name of the country to Bharat from India, plans for a Uniform Civil Code and for one nation-one polls. Sources said it was suggested that BJP MPs counter this by questioning the Opposition over its stand on the Sanatan Dharma row.
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The CEC Bill which is to come up for discussion in the special session seeks to establish a committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Cabinet minister nominated by the PM for selecting members of the Election Commission (EC). In March this year, a five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court had set up a high-power committee consisting of the PM, LoP and Chief Justice of India to pick the CEC and ECs, “until a law was enacted by Parliament on their appointments”.
The Opposition had questioned the Bill’s provision for a minister instead of the CJI in the panel. On Wednesday, Jairam Ramesh said INDIA parties “will steadfastly oppose the insidious CEC Bill”.
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