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1. Consumers Starting To Feel Interest Rate Pinch
Consumers forced to borrow are feeling the strain of the Federal Reserve's promise to keep interest rates elevated for an extended period, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Borrowers shopping for mortgages or auto loans are experiencing sticker shock. New 30-year fixed-rate mortgages today carry rates around 7%, up from 3% two years ago. That increase can mean a home buyer has to pay hundreds of dollars more per month compared with two years ago. Rates on car loans have also risen.
2. Government Shutdown Could Complicate US Economic Trajectory
With Republicans in Congress threatening a government shutdown, MarketWatch reports the strength of the U.S. dollar is likely to take a hit and the Federal Reserve's path forward becomes more complicated.
The news outlet cited a lack of key economic data used in the Fed's decision-making, and reports that complications of a government shutdown include a federal workforce going unpaid for some time, potentially delivering a hit to consumer spending.
3. Hoteliers Search for Balance Between Rates, Service
Hoteliers are still struggling to find equilibrium between higher rates and guests' service expectations, HNN's Trevor Simpson reports.
At The Lodging Conference, IHG Hotels & Resorts Chief Operating Officer of the Americas Jay Caiafa said guests are no longer willing to make allowances while paying high rates.
“You look at cleanliness, safety, great service, positivity, strong loyalty program — they’re still looking for all of that. That is non-negotiable,” he said. “The traveler is becoming more unforgiving. You notice in those situations, I hear them complaining about rate combined with bad service or disappointing experience.”
4. San Francisco Hotel Was Once Cult Headquarters
In California's Bay Area, the Lodge at Marconi, known for its views of state park land and history related to the Marconi Wireless Company, once served as the headquarters of a cult, online news outlet SFGate reports in an overview of Bay Area hotels.
"By the 1960s, the property became the headquarters for the Synanon Foundation, then a Santa Monica-based drug rehabilitation organization," the news outlet reports. "The Point Reyes Light exposed Synanon to be a dangerous cult, with members reportedly forced to shave their heads and sleep with each other. In the late 1970s, members of Synanon attempted to assassinate a lawyer campaigning against the group by placing a rattlesnake in his mailbox. Synanon sold the property in 1980 to a Bay Area philanthropic organization that later gifted it to the California State Parks Foundation."
5. Demographics Present Rebound Challenge in China
A rebound of China's economy could be hindered by debt and an aging population in its industrial centers, the New York Times reports.
Liaoning Province's "birth rate is plummeting: A quarter of the population is 65 or older, and that share is growing about two percentage points a year, while the share of working-age adults is declining by about the same amount," the newspaper reports. "Fewer people are buying new homes, apartment prices are falling and construction cranes are less active."