1.The Market Can’t Keep Rising Because of National Debt.
Charlie B–Stock market ignores debt
2.Second Most All-Time Highs in S&P Ever.
From Cal THomas The Weekly Chart Storm
All-Time Highs: Not quite a new ATH in ATH’s but pretty close to it — the year 2021 is in second place at an updated 68 new All-Time-Highs.
Source: @drtimedwards
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/weekly-sp500-chartstorm-26-december-2021-callum-thomas/?trk=eml-email_series_follow_newsletter_01-hero-1-title_link&midToken=AQFjhnSMpoKQvw&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=2kcMsQJEVseG41
3.Strongest Increase in 17 Years for Retail Sales.
US retail sales up 8.5 percent this holiday season
US consumers were in the mood to spend this holiday season, with retail sales soaring 8.5 percent over last year, a study released Sunday showed.
Online sales were up 11 percent and in-store sales up 8.1 percent between November 1 and Christmas Eve, according to the Mastercard SpendingPulse study.
The increase, which was the strongest in 17 years, does not reflect automobile sales.
“Consumers splurged throughout the season,” said Steve Sadove, senior advisor for Mastercard and former CEO of Saks Incorporated.
The boom saw “apparel and department stores experiencing strong growth as shoppers sought to put their best dressed foot forward,” he said.
Americans flocked to clothing, which experienced a 47.3 percent increase in sales year-to-year as well as jewelry, with a 32 percent increase.
The period included several weeks before the Omicron Covid-19 variant spread widely in the United States.
Department store sales were up 21.2 percent, while electronic products experienced 16.2 percent growth.
“It’s been a resurgent season for retailers as consumers stocked their carts with gifts and gadgets,” Mastercard said.
The study also indicated that US households made their purchases earlier than in years past, including to lock in “guaranteed by Christmas” delivery.
vmt/bfm/leg
https://news.yahoo.com/us-retail-sales-8-5-013714626.html
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RSXFS
4.China Update
China Large Cap-Nowhere for 5 Years
China small cap -27% correction
China Internet Stocks break all support now below Covid lows -62% from highs
www.stockcharts.com
5. Real Yields Went from +1% to -1%….Growth Stock PE’s went from 17x to 33x
Cameron Dawson Fieldpoint–As real yields have gone from +`1% in late 2018 to -1% today, Growth PE valuations have gone from 17x to 33x today. Value has been left out of this re-rating, only increasing from 14x in 2018 to 17x today. The last time real rates rose meaningfully was 1Q21, increasing 50 bps. That quarter Growth underperformed Value by 10%. The underperformance was brief, though, as real rates resumed their decline and Growth valuations started to expand again through the summer of 2021 https://twitter.com/CameronDawson
https://twitter.com/CameronDawson/status/1475589446481465353/photo/1
6.77% of Investors Have Never Experienced Inflation
https://twitter.com/MacroAlf
7.Personal Savings Rate Dips from Covid Highs but Household Excess Savings are Massive.
The Daily Shot Blog United States: Savings as a share of disposable income are now at the low end of the pre-COVID range.
But cumulative excess savings remain massive.
Source: Patrick Zweifel, Pictet Wealth Management
But cumulative excess savings remain massive.
8.Boosted by Private Sales and NFTs, Christie’s Brought in a Total of $7.1 Billion in 2021—Its Best Results in Five Years
Christie’s came in second behind Sotheby’s in overall results, but private sales surged.
Eileen Kinsella, December 20, 2021
Christie’s New York on November 9. Photo: Katya Kazakina.
As end-of-year results roll in for more and more art businesses, it’s clear that the surge in global wealth is having a major impact on the demand for blue-chip art and luxury goods. And of course, no recap of 2021 would be complete without discussion of digital art and NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, the latter of which has taken off with considerable force this year.
This morning, Christie’s reported its 2021 sales at $7.1 billion, calling it the highest total in the last five years. This included projected private sales of $1.7 billion, which the house also said was a record high. Private sales saw an increase of 12 percent over 2020, and 108 percent over 2019, with four individual sales bring in more than $50 million each. The auction house, which sold the first major and arguably market-verifying NFT—Beeple’s $69 million Everydays: The First 5000 Days this past March—also said it took in $150 million from sales of the digital art form this year.
Calling the results “exceptional,” Christie’s CEO Guillaume Cerutti said the house “made a breakthrough in new sales formats and categories, NFTs in particular.” Cerutti, along with numerous other Christie’s executives, hosted an in-depth Zoom call with media this morning to discuss the results and field questions. In a statement, Cerutti said the new sale formats “have allowed us to showcase works by new, emerging and under-represented artists, and to reach out to a new audience of younger clients.”
Further, he noted serious progress in other recent initiatives including investments in Asia, and commitments to becoming carbon net zero by 2030.
Meanwhile, auction sales totaled $5.4 billion, up significantly from last year’s reported total of $4.4 billion. (That result was a 25 percent drop from 2019, attributed chiefly to the decrease in live auctions and a shutdown-induced shock of supply). Christie’s also cited an historic sell-through rate at auction of 87 percent, which it said “demonstrates depth of demand and performance.”
Christie’s is still a notch behind its main competitor Sotheby’s, however, which reported its totals for 2021 to date at $7.3 billion last week, also a record for the house. This marked the second consecutive year in which Sotheby’s overall total edged it out. But Christie’s private sales results outpaced the $1.3 billion that Sotheby’s reported in this category last week.
After a rocky year in 2020, all of the major auction houses skillfully pivoted in 2021 to embrace hybrid models for their sales that are heavy on technology and online bidding. They have disrupted the traditional seasonal schedule but also allowed for flexibility by holding major sales that are not tied to strict calendar dates. That trend is expected to continue moving forward.
Among its biggest bragging rights, Christie’s could claim the two most expensive works of art sold at auction this year: Picasso’s Femme assise près d’une fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse) (1932), for $103.4 million, and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s In This Case (1983), for $93.1 million, both in May.
Another highlight of the year was the auction house’s November sale of Impressionist works amassed by the late Texas oil magnate Edwin Cox. The sale pulled in a total of $332 million with premium, surpassing the $267.6 million high estimate. According to Christie’s, just over half the works went to collectors based in the Americas, 35 percent went to Europe, and 13 percent went to Asia.
At that event, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles acquired one of one of the star lots, Gustave Caillebotte’s Jeune homme à sa fenêtre (1876), a rare and imposing painting of the artist’s brother gazing out a window from the family’s residence in Paris. Expected to bring in more than $50 million, it sold for $53 million including buyer’s premium, shattering the artist’s existing auction record of $22 million.
Beeple, HUMAN ONE(2021). Courtesy of Christie’s.
And as for those omnipresent NFTs, Christie’s said sales of the digital art form made up eight percent of its contemporary art total for the year and attracted younger buyers, 74 percent of whom were new to Christie’s. Beeple’s Everydays – The First 5000 Days accounted for a major portion of that $150 million total, and the artist’s HUMAN ONE hybrid NFT sculpture achieved just under $30 million in November ($28,985,000). Other NFT sale highlights included Larva Labs’ Cryptopunks, which brought in $17 million, and a digital artwork by FEWOCiOUS, which made $2.16 million.
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https://news.artnet.com/market/christies-reports-2021-results-best-five-years-2052122
9.Multifamily Apartments–The ‘5 Ps’ Shaping Function and Livability in Today’s Home Design
By: Quinn Purcell, Utopia Associate Editor, Nov. 11, 2021
National design firm Mary Cook Associates published its third white paper in a series on the fundamentals of interior design. Here’s how the increase in working from home and other lifestyle changes have affected the multifamily and single-family development process, and what designers can do to adapt.
Multifamily and single-family housing developments benefit from various recreational spaces, according to Mary Cook Associates. Photo by Pixabay from Pexels
Design firm Mary Cook Associates (MCA) recently released its third white paper dedicated to interior design methodology and fundamentals. This eight-part series from MCA highlights the ways developers and builders of multifamily and single-family units can respond to recent shifts in home life.
The paper, ‘Living It Up’, develops ‘Five Ps’ recharacterizing livability in single-family and multifamily interiors since the COVID-19 pandemic. These are factors that were not only relevant a year ago, but remain as mainstays for many design projects.
THE ‘5 PS’ IMPACTING HOME DESIGN IN THE AGE OF ‘WORK FROM HOME’
Packages
The increase in delivery-based consumerism—a pre-COVID-19 trend that went into overdrive, with 77% of people saying they changed the way they shop during the pandemic—is directly impacting design. Making spaces that accommodate packages of all shapes and sizes has become a major new priority.
‘Twenty-five years ago, nobody dreamed that one of the largest logistical challenges for multi-family developments would be how to handle all those Amazon deliveries. Now, delivery processing is as vital as plumbing!’ — Mary Cook, Founder and President of MCA
Pets
With the increase in pet adoption and ownership during the pandemic—an all-time high of 70% of U.S. households, according to the American Pet Products Association—functionality is vital for the wellbeing of pet and owner alike.
Communities and homes with interior and exterior pet-friendly spaces and functional amenities, from dog wash areas to feeding and sleeping stations, is a significant draw for pet lovers.
Plug-ins
As highlighted in Utopia’s ‘Top 10 Business and Technology Systems’ report on multifamily housing in 2021, the work-from-home societal shift comes with necessary changes to our tech and internet usage.
The evolving work-from-home (WFH) lifestyle has set new technology standards. Multifamily residents seek collaborative workspaces, strong WiFi, and well-thought-out places to plug in devices, while adaptable spaces are key for supporting WFH in single-family homes.
Play
Data shows that most U.S. adults (66%) are concerned with the pandemic interfering with their healthy habits. Coping with the challenges of the pandemic amplified almost everyone’s need for play, driving demand for recreational spaces and those that promote fitness and healthy habits, including curated space that fosters activity transitions.
‘We’re seeing burgeoning demand for varied uses of recreational space.’ — Mary Cook
Personal Space/Privacy
With the increase in remote work and learning during the pandemic, so arose the need for personal space and privacy. Separate areas of the home should be designed with this desire in mind, especially when an increasing lack of privacy has been linked to mental health issues in recent years.
Remote work, virtual school, more family members at home and changing quarantining restrictions have created the need for more personal space and privacy within the home, with “pocket spaces” that create mini-territories for specific activities emerging as a design solution.
KEY TAKEAWAY
The ‘5 Ps’—Packages, Pets, Plug-ins, Play, and Personal space/Privacy—are mainstays shaping function and livability in today’s residential interiors, according to MCA. Designs that take into account these factors impact residents’ well-being, inspiring positive moods and motivation.
“Long before we start thinking of color, pattern, and ornament, we have to start with something more basic,” Mary Cook says. “What should the space be? How should it work? What are the needs of the people using it?”
When we live in the era of ‘work from home’—including online teaching and learning as well—it’s important that home design match our increasingly complex necessities. A well-designed interior space may just turn someone’s simple home into an oasis.
To download the report or read more about how Mary Cook Associates uses psychographics, an understanding of target markets, and insights into shifting lifestyle needs, check out the full white paper on Mary Cook’s website.
https://www.constructutopia.com/5-ps
10. Rohn: A Good Life Contains These 6 Essentials
Success.com By Jim Rohn | September 9, 2014 | 0
The ultimate expression of life is not a paycheck. The ultimate expression of life is not a Mercedes. The ultimate expression of life is not a million dollars or a bank account or a home. The ultimate expression of life is living a good life.
Here’s what we must ask constantly, What, for me, would be a good life? And you have to keep going over and over the list—a list including areas such as spirituality, economics, health, relationships and recreation.
So, what would constitute a good life? Here is a short list:
1. Productivity
You won’t be happy if you don’t produce. The game of life is not rest. Yes, we must rest, but only long enough to gather strength to get back to productivity.
What’s the reason for the seasons and the seeds, the soil and the sunshine, the rain and the miracle of life? It’s to see what you can do with it—to try your hand to see what you can do.
2. Good Friends
Friendship is probably the greatest support system in the world, so don’t deny yourself the time to develop it. Nothing can match it. It’s extraordinary in its benefit.
Friends are those wonderful people who know all about you and still like you. I lost one of my dearest friends when he was 53—heart attack. As one of my very special friends, I used to say that if I was stuck in a foreign jail somewhere accused unduly, and, if they would allow me one phone call, I would call David. Why? He would come and get me. That’s a real friend—somebody who would come and get you.
And we’ve all got casual friends, friends who, if you called them, they would say, “Hey, if you get back, call me and we’ll have a party.”
You’ve got to have both real friends and casual friends.
3. Your Culture
Language, music, ceremonies, traditions, dress. All of that is so vitally important that you must keep it alive. The uniqueness of all of us, when blended together, brings vitality, energy, power, influence, and rightness to the world.
4. Spirituality
It helps to form the foundation of the family that builds the nation. And make sure you study, practice and teach—don’t be careless about the spiritual part of your nature because it’s what makes us who we are, different from dogs, cats, birds and mice.
5. Don’t Miss Anything
My parents taught me not to miss anything, not the game, the performance, the movie, the dance. Just before my father died at 93, if you were to call him at 10:30 or 11 at night, he wouldn’t be home. He was at the rodeo, he was watching the kids play softball, he was listening to the concert, he was at church—he was somewhere every night.
Go to everything you possibly can. Buy a ticket to everything you possibly can. Go see everything and experience all you possibly can.
Live a vital life. If you live well, you will earn well. If you live well, it will show in your face; it will show in the texture of your voice. There will be something unique and magical about you if you live well. It will infuse not only your personal life but also your business life. And it will give you a vitality nothing else can give.
6. Your Family and the Inner Circle
Invest in them, and they’ll invest in you. Inspire them, and they’ll inspire you. Take care of the details with your inner circle.
When my father was still alive, I used to call him when I traveled. He’d have breakfast most every morning with the farmers at a little place called The Decoy Inn out in the country where we lived in Southwest Idaho.
When I was in Israel, I’d have to get up in the middle of the night, but I’d call Papa. I’d say, “Papa, I’m in Israel.” He’d say, “Israel! Son, how are things in Israel?” He’d talk real loud so everybody could hear. I’d say, “Papa, last night they gave me a reception on the rooftop underneath the stars overlooking the Mediterranean.” He’d say, “Son, a reception on the rooftop underneath the stars overlooking the Mediterranean?” Now everybody knew the story. And giving my father that special day only took five or 10 minutes.
If a father walks out of the house and he can still feel his daughter’s kiss on his face all day, he’s a powerful man. If a husband walks out of the house and he can still feel the imprint of his wife’s arms around his body, he’s invincible all day. It’s the special stuff with your inner circle that makes you strong and powerful and influential. So don’t miss that opportunity.
The prophet said, “There are many virtues and values, but here’s the greatest: one person caring for another.” There is no greater value than love.
So make sure in your busy day to remember the true purpose and the reasons you do what you do. May you truly live the kind of life that will bring the fruit and rewards that you desire.
Related: Rohn: 13 Ways to Improve Your Life
https://www.success.com/rohn-a-good-life-contains-these-6-essentials/
