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Market Overview
Read time 1.4 minutes

Year To Date Performances:

1. High-end retailers targeting the upper-middle-class market, including prominent brands like Apple, Coach, and Nordstrom, have reported their steepest sales decline in two years during the crucial pre-holiday shopping period. Retail giants such as Best Buy and Lowe’s have revised their financial projections downward, reflecting a reluctance among consumers to splurge on big-ticket items like home appliances. Similarly, despite its successful collaboration with Sephora, Kohl's has not seen an uptick in overall spending, marking its seventh consecutive quarter of faltering comparable sales. Even positive reports from certain retailers have not met investor expectations, leading to a decline in the stock prices of popular brands like Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle.

2. Money might not buy happiness, but a recent Empower survey suggests Americans think it can certainly help, with the average person believing a net worth of about $1.2 million is needed for financial bliss. Millennials dream even bigger, aiming for around $1.7 million, while Gen Z feels $487,000 would suffice. I really wanted to draw attention here to the difference in expectations between generations. Baby boomers, Gen X and Gen Z all felt that between $124k-$131k per year would make them happy. For Millennials, that figure was $525,947! I'm not sure what to make of that, but it was definitely interesting, especially considering Gen Z didn’t follow the trend.

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4. Headlines

   1. Miami has the highest inflation of any US metropolitan area at 7.8% annualized inflation.

   2. NFL viewership has increased ~6% as Amazon and ESPN replace or supplement cable TV offerings with streaming alternatives.

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