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Consumers appear to still have more spending left in them, despite market watchers anticipating a sales slowdown in the second half of 2024.

Many economists expected U.S. consumers to begin to take a breather and slow down on their purchases in June. But today's retail sales report showed spending was unchanged. The Census Bureau also updated its results for May, moving its sales data higher by 20 basis points to now reflect a 0.3% rise when compared with the prior month.

“Don’t count the U.S. consumer out just yet,” wrote Scott Anderson, BMO Capital Markets chief U.S. economist.

Strong retail sales helped the economy perform better than expected in 2023 helping dodge a recession. It has kept up a healthy pace so far in 2024, despite worries that a slowdown was in store for the second half of the year. 

However, some economists are now asking if consumers are set to keep spending. 

“There has been some concern about the economy and the consumer over the last few months, and while this is just one data point, it will help dispel the belief that consumers are feeling too much heat,” wrote Bret Kenwell,  U.S. investment analyst at eToro.

Sales have the potential to rise further as a fluke depressed motor vehicle sales, economists said. 

“Motor vehicle sales were likely held back artificially last month as a major cyber attack on auto dealer computer systems required sales to be recorded manually, introducing lags in recording that will be made up in July,” BMO’s Anderson wrote.

The parts of the retail sales report used in calculating gross domestic product (GDP), which economists call the control group, came in even stronger, up 0.9% in June. That measurement strips out components like motor vehicle sales, gasoline, restaurants and building materials.

That growth, paired with a downshift in inflation, could mean that GDP growth will be higher than expected, wrote Ben Ayers, senior economist for Nationwide.

Stronger spending is good for the economy, and it’s unlikely to create too many worries with the Federal Reserve, which is widely expected to cut interest rates at its Sept. 18 meeting. 

“Resilient economic growth allows the Fed to focus on controlling inflation as they set interest rate policy,” wrote Bill Adams, Comerica Bank chief economist.

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Mohbad’s wife, Wunm has revealed Liam’s greatest enemy.

She said her son’s greatest enemy is his grandfather and this is quite funny and unbelievable.

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Gold prices hit a record high Tuesday as investors looked ahead to the possibility of interest-rates cuts starting this fall. 

The spot price of gold reached $2,465.65 an ounce, a record high, by Tuesday afternoon, according to LSEG data going back to 1968, per Gold futures were recently up 1.7% to about $2,470 an ounce.

Attention to gold has ratcheted higher in recent weeks after cooler-than-expected inflation in June fueled expectations that the Federal Reserve would lower its benchmark interest rate in September. 

The prospect of lower interest rates is sometimes seen as bullish for gold since the precious metal, which doesn't pay a dividend, can appear more attractive relative to other assets, like Treasurys, in such an environment. Investors may also be turning to gold as a hedge against economic and geopolitical uncertainty.

The CME FedWatch Tool, which estimates the likelihood of interest rate changes based on 30-day fed funds futures, now shows that traders view a September cut as exceedingly likely, with additional reductions expected to follow.

Gold has been one of the best-performing global assets so far in 2024, with central banks playing a major role.  Global official gold reserves increased by 290 metric tons in the first quarter of this year, the largest first-quarter increase since at least 2000 and 69% higher than the five-year quarterly average, according to the World Gold Council.

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Fans wail as media personality Maya Jama and rapper Stormzy announces the end of their relationship.

They’ve been laughing whilst drafting this because they never, ever, in a million years thought they’d be the couple announcing a breakup, but for the sake of clarity and, more importantly, to allow them the space and grace that’s needed for them both to be able to navigate this next bit of their lives with peace, we thought it might be best to.

They fell madly in love in 2014, broke up in 2019, and then spent five years manoeuvring life apart. They decided to try for the final time in August 2023, and they’ve spent this past year trying our best to make it work; however, they recently decided to call it quits. They were 21 and 20 when we first met-both at the beginning of our careers-and spent five years growing together and then five years growing separately, so this final attempt required a whole lot of figuring out, relearning, and unlearning. They tried, and it didn’t work, and that’s okay.

They still think the absolute world of each other, they still care and respect each other, they are still grateful for the time they’ve had together, and they are still friends and will always be friends (so if you see us having a lil catch-up at The Brits or something, don’t cause a fuss, they are dawgs!).

Announcing this feels so dramatic, but they’re doing it so that it kind of takes away the drama and avoids speculation and rumours. They’re kindly asking for the grace to let both of them keep it moving and not be bothered about it (they highly doubt this’ll work, but they’re still kindly asking anyway). Love you guys and thank you for all the love you’ve showered them with, it’s been beautiful!

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Using biblical examples, Comedian Basketmouth has made a case for polygamy.

He said people who have more than one wife found favor with God such has Abraham with three wives, David with four wives, Jacob with four wives, Solomon with seven hundred wives and three hundred concubine etc. But people with one wife such as Nebuchadnezzar, Pontius Pilate, Jeroboam and likes lost their way and betrayed God.

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Outrag£ as a lady narrated how her partner she met in NYSC camp d¥mped his girlfriend of 7 years to marry her.

She said the lady that was d¥mped called her to be sure not was between them. Anyways, they go married last week.

This incidence angered some people as they felt was the lady did was wrong a karma will definitely visit her, sooner or later.

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