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A lady has shared the conversation she had with her furniture maker who had the n£rve to declare his feelings for her.
The guy after finishing the wardrobe for the lady has messaged her professing his love for her. So she asked him to send a picture of himself so she can use for POV.
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Contracts for buying houses were expected to tick up in July amid lower mortgage rates—instead, they fell to their lowest in decades.An index of pending home sales volume, an indicator of future homebuying activity, fell 5.5% in July to its lowest level at least since the National Association of Realtors began keeping track in 2001, the association said Thursday. Forecasters had expected it to rise 0.1% instead, according to a survey of economists by Dow Jones Newswires and .The sudden plunge in pending home sales deepened the freeze of the housing market, which has been plagued by high mortgage rates, high prices, and low numbers of homes for sale.
Forecasters have expected things to improve following a dip in mortgage rates this summer. The average rate offered for a 30-year fixed mortgage this week was 6.46%, down from 7.22% in early May, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac.
Mortgage rates have fallen as financial markets anticipate the Federal Reserve is set to cut its influential fed funds rate in September, rolling back its campaign of anti-inflation interest rate hikes. The economy has also continued to add jobs, keeping more potential buyers in the market. But that didn’t translate into more people signing on the dotted line. "A sales recovery did not occur in midsummer," association chief economist Lawrence Yun wrote in a press release. "The positive impact of job growth and higher inventory could not overcome affordability challenges and some degree of wait-and-see related to the upcoming U.S. presidential election."
Another possible factor is buyers may be waiting for home prices to fall as well. By some measures, home prices have continued to hit record highs.
“Many buyers, though eager, still cannot afford to participate in today’s market, and home sales, including pending home sales, still lag year-ago levels,” Hannah Jones, senior real estate analyst at Realtor.com, wrote in a commentary.
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In a bid to address what it described as growing trend of unreasonable pricing of consumer goods and services and the unwholesome practice of market associations resulting in exploitative procing, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) on Thursday gave traders and other market stakeholders one month moratorium to crash the prices of goods, Nairametrics is reporting.
The Executive Vice Chairman of the FCCPC, Mr Tunji Bello gave the moratorium at a one-day stakeholders engagement on exploitative pricing on Thursday in Abuja. Bello, who recently took over as the boss of FCCPC said the Commission will begin enforcement after the moratorium.
According to the FCCPC boss, the meeting was called in response to the growing trend of unreasonable pricing of consumer goods and services and the unwholesome practice of market associations.
Citing an example of such exploitative pricing, the FCCPC boss said the Commission’s finding that a fruit blender known as Ninja was being sold at a popular supermarket in Texas for 89 dollars (N140,000.00) but the same product was displayed for N944,999.00 in a supermarket in Victoria Island, Lagos. Bello wondered the basis for the arbitrary hike in the price of the blender compared to the Texas, United States of America.
He said the unwholesome practices including price fixing was threa ening the stability of the economy. “Under Section 155, violators whether individuals or corporate entities face severe penalties including substantial fines and imprisonment if found guilty by the court. This is intended to deter all parties involved in such illicit activities. However, our approach today is not punitive. I, therefore, call on all stakeholders to embrace the spirit of patriotism and cooperation. It is in this spirit that we are giving a moratorium of one month (September) before the Commission will start firm enforcement,” he said.
Bello said the government was aware of most of the problems raised by the market stakeholders. “We have heard and you have genuine issues and government has the responsibility to address the problems but generally, let us talk to ourselves too. There are also gang ups to exploit consumers by traders,” he said.
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Investors have found Nvidia's (NVDA) latest results to be underwhelming, Wall Street is calling on them to buy the dip.
Several Nvidia (NVDA) analysts came out in support of the artificial intelligence (AI) darling's "strong" quarterly results in notes after its slowing growth, reported last night, underwhelmed the market, sending its shares about 3% lower in early trading.
Nvidia on Wednesday reported blockbuster quarterly earnings. The chipmaker's second-quarter revenue and net income more than doubled from last year, surpassing analysts' estimates. Its shares fell, however, as investors focused on signs of slowing growth at the chipmaker at the heart of the AI boom.
JPMorgan analysts raised their price target to $155 from $115 and reiterated their overweight call on the stock, noting strong demand for Nvidia's existing Hopper chips while the highly anticipated next-generation Blackwell GPU is now on track for production.
"While Blackwell shipments are pushed out as we expected by about 2 months, we do not believe this has any impact to the overall CY24/CY25 revenue profile as that void has been back-filled with Hopper shipment upside given the strong AI demand environment," JPMorgan wrote Thursday.
Wedbush called the results "masterful." For every $1 spent on the company's GPU chip, the broker said, there would be "a $8-$10 multiplier across the tech sector."
"AI GPU demand is way outstripping supply for Nvidia at this juncture and the Street should come away from these results as a very bullish indicator for the broader tech sector with more shock and awe rather than a shrug of the shoulders in our view," wrote Wedbush, which maintained an outperform rating.
Jefferies said that while the earnings beat fell short of expectations, what was important was that the Blackwell delay "is in the rearview mirror, while Hopper demand remained strong." Jefferies has a buy rating on Nvidia.
HSBC maintained its buy call and $145 target price on the stock. Bank of America raised its target to $165 from $150.
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NIDCOM boss, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has replied critics asking her to focus on those in Nigeria who are guilty of the same crime as Patience Amaka Sunnberger.
She said as long as she is the Chair @nidcom_gov and diaspora issues are reported to them, they will deal with it. As of now Nigerians in Canada have taken the matter up with the relevant authorities.
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Discount retailer Big Lots (BIG) is reportedly seeking investors to avoid filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections after an extended decline in sales and several quarters of losses.
The company has received at least one loan of up to $200 million so far this year, with reporting Big Lots has been in talks with potential investors over the last month.
A regulatory filing earlier this month indicated four Big Lots executives recently received "retention bonuses" totaling over $5 million, which and reported may be an indication a bankruptcy filing could be coming, with bonuses paid to ensure key leadership doesn't leave during the process.
The retailer has reportedly been working with consulting firm AlixPartners over the last year to manage costs as sales declined
Big Lots did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Big Lots shares were down over 22% in early trading Thursday at about 72 cents per share. They've lost more than 90% of their value since the start of the year.
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