Monday Morning Cup of Coffee takes a look at news coming across HousingWire’s weekend desk, with more coverage to come on bigger issues.
While December tied the year off with a pretty bow when it comes to jobs, an article in MarketWatch said it’s a reminder that the economy and stock market are not the same thing.
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the latest report, with December job creation growing by 292,000, cementing the growing strength of the labor market.
From the article:
The U.S. economy is, by the most important indicator, employment, doing really well. Jobs growth trumped expectations in December, and 5.77 million jobs have been added in the past two years, the best such stretch since the late 1990s.
You may have noticed — the stock market wasn’t so lucky last year.
Last week’s Monday Morning Cup of Coffee took a look back at 2015, via the stock market, citing that the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 both finished 2015 with a “whimper.”
The article added:
There may be a time in the future when the stock market really will be the scorecard for the economy. At the moment, though, it’s not looking like the case.
Last year was a landmark year for Blackstone, and it’s only projected to get better for the company.
Bloomberg said in an article that Blackstone Group jumped to the top spot in real estate acquisitions in New York last year.
From the article:
Blackstone expects to maintain an active investment pace in the city this year, said Ken Caplan, chief investment officer of the company’s real estate unit.
“Market volatility will certainly have an impact, but disruptions often present opportunities for those who have capital available to invest,” he said in an email.
This is in addition to the company announcing last November that it was nearly four times the size of when it originally filed its IPO in 2007.
And it’s also looking to be a major player in the mortgage world. Back in August, HousingWire wrote that Finance of America Holdings, a Blackstone portfolio company, revealed it snatched up several major lenders, a move likely destined to make it one of the nation’s largest nonbank originators, if all goes as planned.
The Big Short came up short in the 73rd Golden Globe Awards, which were announced Sunday night.
The Big Short was one of three motion pictures to lead the nominations.
Golden Globe nominations for The Big Short included:
- Best motion picture – musical or comedy
- Best performance by an actor in a motion picture – musical or comedy – Christian Bale
- Best performance by an actor in a motion picture – musical or comedy – Steve Carell
- Best screenplay – motion picture – Charles Randolph, Adam Mckay
According to the official Golden Globes' website, the winners of those categories were:
- Matt Damon won best performance by an actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy, for his role in The Martian.
- Aaron Sorkin’s motion picture Steve Jobs won best screenplay, motion picture.
- The Martian won best motion picture, musical or comedy.
But don’t let this dissuade you from seeing the movie. If you play any role in the housing economy, lived through the housing crisis or simply appreciate stellar movies, you need to add this to your must-see movie list.
On the quirky side of housing, realtor.com did a wrap of wacky housing news that has already happened this year.
Here’s a sneak peak of one from the article:
The mecca of tech called CES got rolling this week, bringing with it a bunch of cool and sometimes weird cutting-edge gadgets for your home. Like: a robotic dog that plays fetch, a high-tech fridge that snaps photos of what’s inside and sends them to your phone so you know if you’re out of milk while grocery shopping, and last but not least, a robot that folds clothes.
And as the cherry on top of odd housing news, The Playboy Mansion is for sale, according to an article in TMZ.
There is one peculiar string attached though. Whoever buys the mansion will be required to give Hugh Hefner a life estate, meaning he can continue to live in the mansion until he dies.
That's on top of a whopping $200 million price tag that TMZ said Playboy Enterprises is looking to get for the property.
And finally, no banks were reported closed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for the week ending Jan. 8.
