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The cost of renting a home grew last year the most since at least 2011, nearly four times as much as the year before.

Census Bureau data released late last week showed the cost of gross median rent plus utilities grew 3.8% in 2023. In the prior year, that same measure grew just 1%. The median monthly rent rose to $1,406 in 2023, the Census Bureau said.

Despite the high costs, the share of the population that rents remained consistent at 34.8%. Rent costs grew faster than home values for the first time in a decade: Real median home values grew 1.8% in 2023, the Census Bureau said.

The portion of household income put toward rent remained the same as the year prior at 31%. Census Bureau economist Jacob Fabina wrote that the steady number meant that either income had kept up with rent increases or more high earners were moving toward renting.

"From 2022 to 2023, the number of renters grew, while median household income was not significantly different," he wrote. "However, this measure includes the income growth of nonrenters, and the income growth of renters and nonrenters may have differed."

When broken down by state, the portion of income allocated to rent actually fell in some places. Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York and West Virginia all saw the portion of household income that goes to rent decline.

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American rapper Sean Love Combs, better known as Diddy, was on Monday evening, September 16, arrested at a hotel following a sealed indictment in New York City.

The U.S. Attorney in a statement said the business mogul was arrested based on a sealed indictment filed by the Southern District of New York.

“We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time,” the statement reads.

It would be recalled that Combs was facing a federal investigation into allegations that include s+x tr@fficking, all of which he has denied.

📷: AFP/ ANGELA WEISS

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Stouffer’s is coming after Kraft Heinz’s (KHC) dominance in the boxed mac and cheese category. 

Known for its frozen food offerings, the Nestle-owned brand unveiled Stouffer’s Supreme Shells & Cheese on Monday. The shelf-stable product will be available this month in two flavors, cheddar and three-cheese, on Amazon.com (AMZN) and at select national retailers for a price of $3.99 for a 12-ounce box, Nestle said. It will continue to roll out nationwide in 2025.

The shelf-stable mac-and-cheese category is a $2.9 billion market, according to with the average American consuming the dish 22 times a year, behind only pizza in frequency, per Tom Moe, president of Nestle Meals Division, reported.

Mac and cheese has long been dominated by Kraft Heinz, and is a $1.7 billion business for the company, its chief financial officer (CEO), Andre Maciel, said at the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference earlier this month.

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Micron Technology (MU) stock was one of the biggest decliners in the S&P 500 Monday after Morgan Stanley slashed its price target to $100 from $140 and gave a downbeat assessment of the memory chip sector.

The bank warned that although it's difficult to predict cyclical peaks, "both NAND and DRAM are losing steam, and our inflection signposts suggest chillier conditions from here."

The analysts wrote in a report to clients that while memory chip demand is still moving up, "the rate of change is approaching a peak as supply catches up to demand."

They added that they see the sector's earnings growth reaching the top and then reversing in the coming quarters, with a nearly 30% price-to-book (P/B) ratio contraction, "and a higher chance of investors resetting positions."

The analysts argued that even if valuations look good as stock prices fall, it doesn't make sense to buy the dips because they anticipate "better entry points in the future."

Shares of Micron Technology fell 4.5% Monday afternoon to $87.10. They are up about 2% in 2024.

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Sonia, the ex-wife of the popular ex-Nigerian footballer, Jude Ighalo, has reacted to rumors that the footballer is expecting a child with his lover.

Social media users had claimed that the footballer is expecting a child with a woman described as his “fiancé.’’

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