January 5, 2026 • 38 mins
Chuck Zodda and Mike Armstrong discuss some major questions that need to be answered in 2026. Is the US losing its battle to break up Big Tech? US auto sales are poised to slip as middle-class buyers retreat. Seven numbers shaping retirement in 2026. Zillow's CEO is ready for another slow year in the US housing market. How has NYC's surge toll pricing fixed traffic?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Financial Exchange is produced by Money Matters Radio and
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(00:20):
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Exchange with Chuck Zada and Mike Armstrong, Your exclusive look
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(00:42):
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(01:06):
and Mike Armstrong, Chuck.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Mike Tucker with you here on the financial exchange. And
as we kick things off on the first full trading day,
first full trading week rather of the new year, the
Standard and Poors five hundred, or the S and P
as it's more commonly referred to, that is up forty nine.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Point nine to nine points.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
The Dow Jones Industrial Average or the Jones as it's
commonly called, is up six hundred and twenty four points,
and the NASDAK Composite or the NASDAK composite is up
two hundred and nine points about one percent. So equity
staging a broad based rally to kick things off for
the week here and when we take a look at
(01:55):
other markets that are moving. US tenure Treasury down one
point eight basis points to four point one one see percent.
Dollar Index up point zero four percent to ninety eight
point one ninety five. Gold is up almost three percent
one hundred and twenty nine dollars and forty cents to
forty four point fifty nine even at the moment, and
(02:15):
we've got crude oil West Texas Intermediate up a dollar
eleven a barrel now to fifty eight forty three. This
follows the move over the weekend where the United States
government UH captured uh Nicholas Madua, the president of Venezuela,
and we now have a situation where there are some
(02:35):
questions about the future leadership in Venezuela as to who
will be in power and who will be supporting them,
and it's raised questions about the eventual hopeful production increase
of oil and the potential impact on the world economy
as a result of that. I think where we generally
(02:56):
land MIC is because of a number of factors, most
notably uncertainty about the political situation in Venezuela, uncertainly about
the security situation in Venezuela, the poor state of Venezuelan
oil infrastructure, and the difficulty in actually getting the kind
of oil out of Venezuela that is produced by it.
(03:18):
I think you and I are kind of of the opinion, Hey,
we're probably not going to see any major impact worldwide
from this for at least one to three years. But
we'll have to see how the situation evolves, because things
are obviously very fluid pun intended.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
I was gonna say with the caveat that we're talking
specifically about the ability and willingness for someone to get
oil out of Venezuela. When it comes to follow on
effects such as how does China or Russia or something
tomorrow all this like any of the follow on action
(03:56):
here when it comes to China's relationship with Taiwan, the
US relationship with China, the trade of rare earth materials,
like all of those things are I would say, to
some degree a heightened risk of re escalating as a
result of this. But when it comes specifically to the
effect on oil markets and the ability for anyone to
(04:17):
get oil out of the ground in Venezuela, yeah, I'm
on the same timeframe with you.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
New York Times has a piece eight Big Questions for
twenty twenty six.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
I don't think I have eight, but let's see what
they came up with here.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
What do you think your big questions are? Before we
do the New York Times? Why don't we do our
big questions?
Speaker 3 (04:33):
I have several.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
My number one big question is can corporate earnings? Can
you see an earnings payoff from artificial intelligence in twenty
twenty six? I don't know precisely how I measure that yet,
but that's probably my number one. Question number two is
likely does the labor market deteriorate further?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Materially related to that, Does cons and we're spending continue
to hold up in the face of a weakening labor market?
I think is an interesting one. Another one, does housing
show a measurable improvement in transaction volume as prices continue
to fall throughout larger portions.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Of the country.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
I think those are, you know, kind of my interesting ones.
Here's what New York Times has. What happens when more
artificial intelligence initiatives leave the pilot stage.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Hey, I mean, it's in line with what we're looking at.
But I think a better proof for that is show
me the productivity.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Yeah, if something leaves the pilot stage and people buy it,
then I'm impressed. If something leaves the pilot stage and
the New York Times says it's cool, I don't care.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Meta has had they've They've been selling their there are
virtual reality goggles for years. They spent fifty billion dollars
on them. Now hasn't done anything other ones? Howill President's
Trump's policies affect the economy? Quite honestly, that's kind of
table stage to the whole thing. I don't think that's
a worthwhile like, how does any president's policies impact the
(06:05):
economy in any given year. I don't think that's like
a question where you're like, this is something I'm interested
in this year. No, that's kind of every year with
every president. So I don't think that's a worthwhile question.
Here's a good one. And when one I can't believe
I forgot is private credit a ticking time bomb?
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Why does that? Why do they have to tick? Is
the question?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Like, you know, why do they always have the big
digital readout in the movies that tell you.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
How much time has left?
Speaker 2 (06:33):
It would seem to be more advantageous for the bad
guy did not put a big timer on it.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
But I digress. This is a big one.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
We saw a few blow ups in September of last year,
in particular, are there more coming and is it big
enough to impact the US economy?
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Right?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Will prediction markets maintain their momentum? Specifically, are people going
to keep trying to gamble on whether or not I'm
going to be able to grow hair this year? I
don't think there's one for that, and I hope there isn't,
But if there is, take the under because I'm probably
(07:13):
not going to be able to grow any you know,
real hair this year? Is crypto too big to fail?
I don't know what that means, Like, do we really
think that we're going to get crypto bailouts? If like that,
that's that doesn't seem likely.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
That's it.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
That is the implication is that some institution is going
to fail because of crypto markets and then the US
government is going to bail it out. That seems extraordinarily
unlikely to me.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
It seems kind of wild to me. Well, the space
industry blasts off SpaceX I p O. Yeah, this is
interesting to me, not to me.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Okay, it's fine. Yeah, to each their own. I like space,
you know, I'm kind of cool with space. Yep, got it.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Will Democrats regain their leverage in Washington? So this is
talking about midterms? I'm guessing and I have no idea.
It's ten months away, but arguably important for twenty twenty
sex important question. Yes, what's in store for oil prices?
Not a twenty twenty six question, that's a question you
ask every year. Then they go through also on our minds,
(08:24):
and this is some just fun stuff that's not big.
What's next for Warner Brothers Discovery. As listeners know, I
hope this story goes on for decades. I hope this
like carries me like for like. It's such a good
story that I just want to continue. Hang on staples
in the way here.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
How will Mandani work with the business community.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
I don't think it matters unless you live in New
York City.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Agreed? Remove it? Well, I guess the New York Times,
so oh yeah, Okay, I get why they care. Okay, fair, Yeah?
Will Wall Street raise its bid on college football Utah?
The University of Utah recently took half a billion dollars
from private equity to basically my understanding is, get a
payday loan for their football program.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Do more schools follow suit?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
And how quickly do they realize it's a bad idea
because the private equity guys are really good at making
money and keeping it for themselves.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Agreed?
Speaker 4 (09:19):
And I don't think that's something they realize in twenty
twenty six. Some my answers, yes they will.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yes, I agree, Well, K culture grow even more.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
I thought we were talking about K shaped economy culture here,
and that's how nerdy I am. In fact, we're talking
about K pop demon Hunters and all things Korean.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Yes, BTS, who is the biggest boy band in the
world now, they're also a Korean you know, k pop band.
They've got their first new CD in years coming out
this year, so get ready to hear about that. It
would really be an interesting question actually if they did
a North American tour at some point, Compare what are
(10:00):
the sales proceeds to the Taylor Swift tour from two
years ago. I think that would be a really interesting
comp And will this Summer's World Cup tournament be a
winning moment for soccer in the US?
Speaker 3 (10:12):
I tell you phrase that.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
I don't know, but I will say that even from
a group of people that cares nothing for soccer, which
I was having dinner with over the weekend, and I
held my hand up there. We were all talking about
and wondering precisely how much we could rent our homes
out for the week when it is being played at
Gillette Stadium, and I am very seriously considering doing so.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Here's the thing, the slate of games. They expanded the
World Cup field this year to forty eight teams from
thirty two, which is a huge mistake because now you
have natural rivals Haiti and Scotland going out in the
first game at Jillette Stadium. And in case you don't
detect the undertone, Haiti and Scotland are not natural rivals
in anything, like you're gonna get a bunch of bad
(10:57):
games and people paying a lot for them and feeling.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Like they got ripped off.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
That's fine. How much can I rent my house out
for lots? Right?
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Probably lost?
Speaker 4 (11:06):
We'll get to Gillette Stadium from my home in less
fewer than thirty minutes. Less than thirty minutes, I know
with game day traffic. Yeah, not with game day traffic,
but without it that I think that I might be
able to get a pretty penny for it. And I
think anybody south of I ninety is in the same boat.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
It's an interesting question.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Not if you're in listen to us in like Washington State,
but otherwise do they I am now, I am now
interested in soccer because it is completely self serving.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Good. I'm glad we got that out of the way.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Let's take a quick break and when we return, we'll
do a little bit of trivia, and then we'll talk
about big tech and whether we want to break them up.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Here the financial Exchange every day from eleven to noon.
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Hit that subscribe button. Time for trivia here on the
Financial Exchange, and on this day in eighteen fifty five,
(12:47):
King camp Gillette was born. In nineteen oh one, King
Jilette founded the Gillette Safety Raiser Company to sell his
newly developed disposable safety raiser, and in two thousand and
five Gillette was sold for fifty seven billion dollars. So
trivia question today which company now owns and operates Gillette
(13:09):
once again? Which company now owns and operates Gillette. Be
the seventh person today to text us at six one
seven three six two thirteen eighty five with the correct
answer along with the keyword trivia, and you win a
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response to text us to the number six one seven
three six two thirteen eighty five with the correct answer
(13:31):
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complete contest rules at Financial Exchange Show dot com.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Piece in the Financial Times the US is losing its.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Battle to break up big Tech.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
I'm not gonna start with that false premise. I'm not
really sure we ever had one. Yeah, you know, like
I just I don't know that there was ever really
a convincing effort to break up big tech.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Every administration were the last. Trying to think of an
administration that didn't have pre significant ties to big tech.
And I mean maybe if I look back at the
last five administrations to take the White House, I think
the one that probably had the least friendly relationship with
big tech was either Trump or Biden, and neither of
(14:20):
which have you seen significant push towards anti monopoly cases.
The biggest one that we saw.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Was padical one from each of them, you know, like
the Trump administration had a couple, the Biden administration had
a couple. But it's kind of a situation where, again,
pay attention to what people do, not what people say.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
Yeah, it's a popular talking point on the campaign trail.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
And like, the thing is, I just.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
I just don't know that anyone actually cares enough to
do anything about this, And I find it kind of
problematic because again, it's especially now that all these companies
are trying to come out with their AI machines to
do whatever, Like, yes, the technology can be used for good,
(15:12):
but I can't tell you how many things I read
they're just really quite awful about this stuff.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
And I'm just not.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Sure that these are the people that you want to
be wielding that kind of power.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
I tend to agree, but I'm with you that public
opinion doesn't seem to care much. I think one positive
that I have detected as a parent of young children
is that I am seeing more pushback against technology and
social media in the hands of young kids than I've
(15:53):
seen since the technology existed.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And by the way, I'll add on that that if
you look at some of the surveys that are being
done now on those demos and what they are showing,
they're showing exactly what you'd want to see. Lower incidence
of depression room compared to you know, four or five
years ago, lower incidents of you know, cyber bowling, like
all the stuff that you want to get rid of
(16:16):
is being gotten rid of. And quite honestly, it gets
to the point where I don't know how any school
district in America can allow phones to be present on campus.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
Yeah, and so you're seeing some of that push.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
They're starting to see it.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
You're starting to see it here and there where schools
through high school have full on cell phone bands from
whatever it is nine am to three pm. Yeah, so
that they cannot be used or viewed in the classroom,
which I from all the expertise that I've seen, has
been seen as a big positive. And so again that's
not going to break up monopolies in this space. But
(16:56):
the effect that it has on big social media platforms
a decade from now, I'm not really sure what it
looks like. I think societally it's probably for the better,
But does it mean that Facebook has a very different
business model a decade from now possibly, I'll acknowledge that
it's a distinct possibility based on the changes we're seeing
(17:16):
among young Americans, or rather rop by parents of young Americans.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Let's talk a little bit about the auto industry. A
piece from Bloomberg indicating that US auto sales likely to
slip a little bit this year as middle class buyers
pull back in the face of rising costs.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Pretty much, whether.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
You're talking about within the auto industry or outside the
auto industry, middle class families saying yeah, we don't know
if we can afford these stickers only.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Counterpoint, interest rates are probably coming down again this year
on auto loans, so, you know, not substantially, because a
lot of buyers are below are subprime borrowers, and those
rates are still going to be inordinately high.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
But yeah, those aren't the drivers of new car sales.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
The dealers are pretty good at ofscating the interest rate
that you're actually paying, and so.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
It would be surprising to.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
Me if Americans had the just the financial ability, the
literal dollars to be able to keep the sales going
at these prices.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yeah, it seems to be a challenge, and the data
reflects this. By the way, new car sales have gone
up forty five percent among households with annual incomes of
one hundred and fifty thousand or more since twenty nineteen,
but they've plunged by thirty percent during the same period
for those earning seventy five thousand or less and dropped
seven percent among families with incomes between seventy five thousand
(18:40):
and one hundred and fifty thousand, Which is why I
also like this is the story that I tell quite often.
The people that are buying new cars buy and large
are wealthy. Like I know that we always poo poo
the person who's like, oh, like, don't take out you know,
like a car loan that's you know, one thousand dollars
a month for eight years. That person often is making
(19:00):
like two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year. It
still doesn't make it a good idea to like to
do that in everything. But it's not someone with thirty
thousand dollars in income who's doing that because they can't
get that loan right. It still is something that is
you know, problematic and can lead to some trouble, but hey,
look it's it's your choice on what you want to
(19:21):
spend your money on and if you want to do
the eight year car loan for you know, one hundred
grand total, like fine, like have at it. It's not
my thing, but it could be yours. Take a quick break.
When we come back, we get the trivia answer in
Wall Street.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Watch, bringing the latest financial news straight.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
To your radio.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Every day. It's the Financial Exchange on the Financial Exchange
Radio Network. Time now for Wall Street Watch. A complete
look at what's moving markets so far today right here
on the Financial Exchange Radio Network.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
Market se a little bit of a rally to begin
the week, despite the weekend attack on Venezuela and the
capture of its leader. However, there really is no major
movement in terms of oil prices. Wall Street's also readying
for a on time jobs report coming up on Friday morning.
Right now, the Dow is up one point four percent,
or six hundred and sixty nine points, SMB five hundred
(20:20):
up about eight tenths of a percent or fifty four
points higher, NASDAC up about one percent or two hundred
and twenty seven points, RUSTLED two thousand up one point
two percent. Tenure treasure yield down two basis points at
four point one six seven percent. Crude oil up over
one and a half percent higher, trading at fifty eight
dollars and twenty eight cents a barrel. Chevron is among
(20:43):
the biggest energy winners on the day, as the company
is the sole remaining US major oil player in Venezuela.
That stock is up five percent. Other energy stocks, including Kneco, Phillips,
x On Mobile, and Haliburton are also seeing gains on
the day. Outside of energy, investors are awaiting the Consumer
Electronics Show to kick off later today in Las Vegas,
(21:05):
where chief executives of both in Vidia in AMD are
slated to speak. Both in Vidia and AMD are now
up over half a percent, and Comcast shares are up
nearly four percent higher now as regular trading of the
TV network owners Versust spinoff began today. Version shares, by
the way, are down fourteen percent. I'm Tucker Silvan. That
(21:29):
is Wall Street Watch, and in the previous segment we
asked you the trivia question which company now owns and
operates Chillette. That would be Procter and Gamble. Brian from Erie,
Pennsylvania is our winner today, taking home a Financial Exchange
Show T shirt. Congrats to Brian and we play trivia
every day here in the Financial Exchange. See complete contest
rules at Financial Exchange Show dot com.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Do you guys remember when CS used to be cool?
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (21:57):
If all that it is this time is updates from
video on their latest semiconductor, then nobody's gonna care and
nobody's gonna watch.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Those aren't consumer products anyways. But the big thing is,
like the buzz this year is gonna be all like
AI smart home products and TVs and this and that, and.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
Give me a robot that can fold my laundry. For
the love of God, Well, like, why aren't we here there?
Speaker 2 (22:18):
I was exactly give me something like that as opposed
to well, LG is gonna be you know, Samsung is
gonna be debuting it's one hundred and fifteen inch TV.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Yeah, I don't need a car that Okay, what driving
style I needed?
Speaker 2 (22:31):
You know, great, I don't need. Oh, you're gonna have
VR glasses there, No one cares.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
Yeah, it's gotta be a a robot, humanoid robot that
can actually do something. That's what I'm looking for.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Something useful, not just something.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
Are some really cool car technology? I'm I'm always into
what cars can you know, show off that's a new
cool technology. Hopefully RAM will be showing off their their
weird electric hybrid engine, Like is something that is actually
new in that space, because we keep getting promise self
driving cars, and I can tell you they're not here.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
They seem to be pretty close, like way most seems
to be pretty darn close.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
To give me a consumer product.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Yeah, well, I mean, if if you could have the
self driving car, then you don't need them, right, but
I'll buy it for pretty They they'd rather have you
pay them for, you know, having to use it. Seven
numbers shaping retirement in twenty twenty six one, two, three, four, five,
sixty seven. Uh, these are actually fairly interesting. So I
(23:34):
did not realize. Sixty four is now the average age
when men retire. That's up to about three years since
the mid nineties. That's a pretty substantial increase.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
The age at which people filed for SAR security has
also moved up a couple of years. Unsurprisingly given the
changes that we've seen over the last few decades, the
total amount invested in retirement accounts has doubled over a decade.
Not shocking either, given what markets have done over the
course of less decade, but forty five point eight trillion.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
The can we talk about that?
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Actually, because that one surprised me sure in that it
surprised me that it's not.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Higher, that hasn't more than doubled.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Yes, because you have people making contributions and pension plans
making contributions, and over the last ten years, just as
an example, Uh, the S and P five hundred's total
return during that time is three hundred and five percent. Now,
I know that you're not invested one hundred percent there,
But if we looked at like the Bloomberg US aggregate index,
(24:31):
just as an example, let me get the total return.
Hang on, sorry, here we go. Nope, that's not gonna
be it. In any case, Bloomberg US aggregate index is
up twenty one percent over that time, which, yeah, that
checks out. And so I think ultimately you look at
this and even if you assumed like a fifty to
fifty split, you'd still say, okay, you may call it
(24:53):
one hundred and fifty percent.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
Here's my answer. The youngest baby boomer is now like
sixty one years old.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
You're starting to see more outflows that are kicking in there.
That makes sense.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Plus digraph plus the new rules on after death, really
after you die, the pace at which that money has
to come out. It is pretty darn.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Quick that clicks. Uh.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
Eighty five percent of workers are participating in a four
to one K if they're offered one. It's pretty that's
a good number. That's a fairly solid number.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Twenty four thousand, five hundred is the new maximum four
to one K contribution for this year. Plus you've got
an eight thousand dollars ketchup for workers age fifty and older,
and then the super ketchup that is eleven two hundred
and fifty for age sixty two sixty.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Three this year. There's a lot of other ones. I think.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
One that we talk about frequently on this program. The
average monthly cost of a nursing home in twenty twenty
four was ten thousand, six hundred and fifty dollars. Boost
that up by about forty percent.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Here in the New England area.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
And that's where you're going to land from what I understand.
But look, all of these numbers are important for understanding
the greater context of American retirees. And if you are
entering twenty twenty six without your New Year's resolutions, happy
New Year. By the way, Tucker, This, by the way,
is the last day you can say Happy New Year.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
No Friday.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
That Friday was, And I'm going to continue to do
it until mid February, just to make Tucker.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
I think after today, every show I'm going to do
it's Tucker. After today. It becomes a question as opposed
to a statement Happy New Year.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
If you are entering the new year and you have
not put getting your financial house in order on your
resolution list, I really think now is the time to
do it. If you are over the age of fifty,
then you are staring down retirement within the next decade
and a half almost certainly, and take the time to
remove the anxiety that many feel about that next stage.
(26:52):
Do I have enough saved? Am I in the right position?
This is a conversation that I know firsthand. Couples asked
themselves very regularly. Do not ignore it. Get your time
spent on getting this financial house in order so that
you can remove that from the list of anxiety that
you might be feeling as we head into the new year.
(27:12):
Call the folks at Armstrong Advisory Group. We will set
up a free consultation for you and your family to
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(27:36):
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Speaker 1 (27:37):
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Speaker 2 (27:53):
Zilo CEO is ready for another slow year in the
US housing market. Boy, if that doesn't make me want
to go out and buy a forty two unit multifamily
after their failures predicting the housing market the last few years,
I don't know what does, but look, quite honestly, it's
going to be slow relative to what we saw in
(28:17):
twenty seventeen through twenty nineteen pre pandemic. Basically, everything that
I've seen out there is that you are going to
see more transactions taking place this year than last year
because there's more inventory and prices are starting to come down,
which will help to clear set inventory.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
Yeah, so relatively, I mean comparatively good news for Zilo
after a pretty frozen housing market. They don't seem to
be jumping back into the we're going to buy houses
and try and flip them game again.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
I just I remain.
Speaker 4 (28:49):
A bit confused as to why Zilo doesn't better leverage
the eyeballs that they clearly have. This app is bigger
than many social media platforms these days in terms of
people that log in regularly, and you can't do some
very basic things that social media apps have, like share
it with share the listing with a friend, or have
(29:11):
AI analyze the picture and pick out the furniture for you. Like,
there are many monetizable factors here that Zillo isn't taking
advantage of that. I'm not saying I would like any
of these things in the app, but take a page
out of Facebook. Guys like you guys have a lot
of eyeballs, and I think you can be doing more
than selling leads to realtors who want to try and
(29:34):
get your listing.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
There's actually a really good question that you can ask
just based off that, how is Zillo not a social
media app. Yeah, I mean, I'm not saying i'd want
it to be one, because I think that the user
experience for me would get worse. But is there anything
that people like to do more than like show off
(30:02):
this house they found or oh, here's this crazy one
I found on Zilla or well.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
That's exactly my point is.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
You know, even the Wall Street Journal allows users to
comment on what's going on in the on this on
the thing that they write. If you do a podcast,
you can have a chat in there. Like that does
not functionally exist.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
It actually just clicked for me.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Why is trying to police that in an era where
people want to, like like on without consent, share information
about where someone lives is a huge problem. So I
now understand exactly why they don't allow that. Yeah, that's fair.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
I'd be pretty quick to say, oh, look, this is
actually the listing for this is Suta, the host of
the financial Like this.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Is so and So's house, you know, like this is
where you know William Shatner lives, and you know, like
I could see how things could get out of hand
very very quickly there, And now it makes perfect sense
why they're not a social.
Speaker 4 (31:04):
Network I doubt that that's the reason why.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
I bet there's a lot of liability quite honestly, because
like you have every address in the I don't know
if it's the world, but at least in the country,
sure that's there, and trying to police that would be
a nightmare. Agreed to take a quick break when we
return stack Roulette.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
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Speaker 5 (32:02):
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Speaker 3 (32:35):
Mike, what do you got for stock Roulette?
Speaker 4 (32:36):
I'm gonna go down to New York City because about
a year ago they implemented their congestion congestion pricing on
the Island of Manhattan, Lower Manhattan, and it was a
big fiasco. It made national political headlines. The governor stepped
in to delay it. But the program has been in
effect since January fifth of twenty twenty five, and so
(33:00):
taking a look at how it works. So how it
does work is anytime between five am and nine pm,
if you enter the Island of Manhattan, you're paying an
extra nine buck toll to do so. I don't know
the exact streets where it's an effect, but so far,
what they found about seventy three thousand fewer vehicles are
entering the Central Business District each day. That's totally about
(33:20):
twenty seven million fewer entries. They do see spikes in traffic,
by the way, right before that five am time period
and right after that nine pm time period, Generally speaking,
traffic is faster in the congestion zone, about four and
a half percent faster moving traffic during that period of time, and.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Fewer pedestrian accidents.
Speaker 4 (33:42):
Yeah, I mean, generally speaking, you're seeing the time to
transit the Lincoln Tunnel, the Holland Tunnel, Williamsburg Bridge all
up generally speaking double digit percentages compared to this time
last year. So I don't really know how you define
it as anything other than a success. I think the
answer how you would define it as less than a
(34:03):
success is it is certainly more costly to travel into
Manhattan via car.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
Sure, and you might.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
Personally find that reprehensible and unfair and unreasonable. Also, I'm
guessing there are plenty of people who said the impact
would have been far greater, and you would have been
able to see it greater. But I don't know. I
have always liked this type of economic solution to a problem.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Right, if your problem is too much traffic, you can't
build your way out of it with lanes Basically all
of the research out there is if you add more
space for cars, they.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
Will occupy it, and the best economic answer is always
charge those who are willing to pay. There's been other cities,
for example, South Polo and Brazil basically made it so
that if your license plate ended in an odd number,
you could only drive on certain days in an even
number certain days, and it just didn't work terribly well.
And this is a perfect way to capture those who
(35:01):
are willing to pay that extra money.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Lawsuit accuses Chicago based McDonald's of deception on grounds that
McRib has no rib meat.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
We see these lawsuits, I feel like every single year,
and almost never do they get anywhere.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
No, and the lawsuit accused McDonald's of fraudulent omission or concealment,
fraudulent misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, and a whole bunch of other accounts.
And basically it says that the actual pork rib meat
cuts are not the cuts that are in there, to
which quite honestly, I say, even if they're not, which
(35:40):
I have no idea what's actually in a McRib, I'm
not gonna be the army truth, Like I don't know
what's in there. If you order it and you like it,
then what's the problem, right.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
And what are the gonna be the damage?
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (35:56):
I ordered this thing one hundred times. I loved it.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
I was under the impression it is ribs, and now
I turn out it turns out it's not. I'm seeking damages.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
If you ordered it once and didn't like it, then
go get another lunch.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
Also, if you worded it once and are going to
participate in this lawsuit, then anticipate receiving something like seven cents.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Like I again, I find these humorous just because it's
kind of like, okay, like we'll sue over anything these days.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
But honestly, the only people who.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Win when you do this are the lawyers. They're the
only people who win when this happens. Yeah, and so
both sides, and so for once, billible hours, baby, for once,
don't let the lawyers wine.
Speaker 4 (36:47):
No, not gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
They're all listening to this saying they're just noting along,
saying yes we're winning, like they're not to go along, and
there's nothing you and I can do to stop it
because they're lawyers. They they write the law, they understand
the law. You and I I don't. Indeed, but if
you're upset about the McRib, just don't eat it. You
don't have to sue over.
Speaker 4 (37:07):
It, agreed. Last story here at Wall Street Journal, Americans
are looking to the Midwest to find affordability. Was just there.
Myself and I shared a real estate listing with Chuck
actually during the program last week, Yes, where we looked
at the property and I think it was a nice
property on a lot of land, well below a million dollars.
(37:29):
And we both looked at it and said, pretty much
anywhere in Massachusetts that's going for two million, plush. So
I get why people are doing so. And if you
can stomach not being a drive to the ocean, then
there's a lot to offer for you.
Speaker 3 (37:44):
Lake Michigan's affordable basically the ocean.
Speaker 4 (37:46):
Sure, I can't see the other side.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
No, it's all that matters, you know, as long as
the lake's big enough that you can't see the other side,
it's the ocean. Take a bring you a little bit
of moret and salt there sprinkled in.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
You're good to go.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Taking a look at markets we had towards the top
of the hour, the Dow is up seven hundred and
thirty two points. The s and p is up fifty eight,
the Nasdaq up two hundred and fourteen, so a bunch
of green on the board as we continue to kick
off twenty twenty six. We are back at it tomorrow
as we continue with a busy week of trading.
The Financial Exchange is produced by Money Matters Radio and
is hosted by employees of the Armstrong Advisory Group, a
registered investment advisor. All opinions expressed are solely those of
the hosts. Do not reflect the opinions of Armstrong Advisory
or anyone else. Investments can lose money. This program does
not offer any specific financial or investment advice. Please consult
your own financial, tax, and estate planning advisors before making
(00:20):
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Armstrong and Money Matters Radio do not compensate each other
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Exchange with Chuck Zada and Mike Armstrong, Your exclusive look
at business and financial news affecting your day, your city,
(00:42):
your world. Stay informed and up to date about economic
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heroes by visiting dav five K Boston and making a
donation today. This is the Financial Exchange with Chuck Zada,
(01:06):
and Mike Armstrong, Chuck.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Mike Tucker with you here on the financial exchange. And
as we kick things off on the first full trading day,
first full trading week rather of the new year, the
Standard and Poors five hundred, or the S and P
as it's more commonly referred to, that is up forty nine.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Point nine to nine points.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
The Dow Jones Industrial Average or the Jones as it's
commonly called, is up six hundred and twenty four points,
and the NASDAK Composite or the NASDAK composite is up
two hundred and nine points about one percent. So equity
staging a broad based rally to kick things off for
the week here and when we take a look at
(01:55):
other markets that are moving. US tenure Treasury down one
point eight basis points to four point one one see percent.
Dollar Index up point zero four percent to ninety eight
point one ninety five. Gold is up almost three percent
one hundred and twenty nine dollars and forty cents to
forty four point fifty nine even at the moment, and
(02:15):
we've got crude oil West Texas Intermediate up a dollar
eleven a barrel now to fifty eight forty three. This
follows the move over the weekend where the United States
government UH captured uh Nicholas Madua, the president of Venezuela,
and we now have a situation where there are some
(02:35):
questions about the future leadership in Venezuela as to who
will be in power and who will be supporting them,
and it's raised questions about the eventual hopeful production increase
of oil and the potential impact on the world economy
as a result of that. I think where we generally
(02:56):
land MIC is because of a number of factors, most
notably uncertainty about the political situation in Venezuela, uncertainly about
the security situation in Venezuela, the poor state of Venezuelan
oil infrastructure, and the difficulty in actually getting the kind
of oil out of Venezuela that is produced by it.
(03:18):
I think you and I are kind of of the opinion, Hey,
we're probably not going to see any major impact worldwide
from this for at least one to three years. But
we'll have to see how the situation evolves, because things
are obviously very fluid pun intended.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
I was gonna say with the caveat that we're talking
specifically about the ability and willingness for someone to get
oil out of Venezuela. When it comes to follow on
effects such as how does China or Russia or something
tomorrow all this like any of the follow on action
(03:56):
here when it comes to China's relationship with Taiwan, the
US relationship with China, the trade of rare earth materials,
like all of those things are I would say, to
some degree a heightened risk of re escalating as a
result of this. But when it comes specifically to the
effect on oil markets and the ability for anyone to
(04:17):
get oil out of the ground in Venezuela, yeah, I'm
on the same timeframe with you.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
New York Times has a piece eight Big Questions for
twenty twenty six.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
I don't think I have eight, but let's see what
they came up with here.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
What do you think your big questions are? Before we
do the New York Times? Why don't we do our
big questions?
Speaker 3 (04:33):
I have several.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
My number one big question is can corporate earnings? Can
you see an earnings payoff from artificial intelligence in twenty
twenty six? I don't know precisely how I measure that yet,
but that's probably my number one. Question number two is
likely does the labor market deteriorate further?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Materially related to that, Does cons and we're spending continue
to hold up in the face of a weakening labor market?
I think is an interesting one. Another one, does housing
show a measurable improvement in transaction volume as prices continue
to fall throughout larger portions.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Of the country.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
I think those are, you know, kind of my interesting ones.
Here's what New York Times has. What happens when more
artificial intelligence initiatives leave the pilot stage.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Hey, I mean, it's in line with what we're looking at.
But I think a better proof for that is show
me the productivity.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Yeah, if something leaves the pilot stage and people buy it,
then I'm impressed. If something leaves the pilot stage and
the New York Times says it's cool, I don't care.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Meta has had they've They've been selling their there are
virtual reality goggles for years. They spent fifty billion dollars
on them. Now hasn't done anything other ones? Howill President's
Trump's policies affect the economy? Quite honestly, that's kind of
table stage to the whole thing. I don't think that's
a worthwhile like, how does any president's policies impact the
(06:05):
economy in any given year. I don't think that's like
a question where you're like, this is something I'm interested
in this year. No, that's kind of every year with
every president. So I don't think that's a worthwhile question.
Here's a good one. And when one I can't believe
I forgot is private credit a ticking time bomb?
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Why does that? Why do they have to tick? Is
the question?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Like, you know, why do they always have the big
digital readout in the movies that tell you.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
How much time has left?
Speaker 2 (06:33):
It would seem to be more advantageous for the bad
guy did not put a big timer on it.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
But I digress. This is a big one.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
We saw a few blow ups in September of last year,
in particular, are there more coming and is it big
enough to impact the US economy?
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Right?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Will prediction markets maintain their momentum? Specifically, are people going
to keep trying to gamble on whether or not I'm
going to be able to grow hair this year? I
don't think there's one for that, and I hope there isn't,
But if there is, take the under because I'm probably
(07:13):
not going to be able to grow any you know,
real hair this year? Is crypto too big to fail?
I don't know what that means, Like, do we really
think that we're going to get crypto bailouts? If like that,
that's that doesn't seem likely.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
That's it.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
That is the implication is that some institution is going
to fail because of crypto markets and then the US
government is going to bail it out. That seems extraordinarily
unlikely to me.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
It seems kind of wild to me. Well, the space
industry blasts off SpaceX I p O. Yeah, this is
interesting to me, not to me.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Okay, it's fine. Yeah, to each their own. I like space,
you know, I'm kind of cool with space. Yep, got it.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Will Democrats regain their leverage in Washington? So this is
talking about midterms? I'm guessing and I have no idea.
It's ten months away, but arguably important for twenty twenty
sex important question. Yes, what's in store for oil prices?
Not a twenty twenty six question, that's a question you
ask every year. Then they go through also on our minds,
(08:24):
and this is some just fun stuff that's not big.
What's next for Warner Brothers Discovery. As listeners know, I
hope this story goes on for decades. I hope this
like carries me like for like. It's such a good
story that I just want to continue. Hang on staples
in the way here.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
How will Mandani work with the business community.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
I don't think it matters unless you live in New
York City.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Agreed? Remove it? Well, I guess the New York Times,
so oh yeah, Okay, I get why they care. Okay, fair, Yeah?
Will Wall Street raise its bid on college football Utah?
The University of Utah recently took half a billion dollars
from private equity to basically my understanding is, get a
payday loan for their football program.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Do more schools follow suit?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
And how quickly do they realize it's a bad idea
because the private equity guys are really good at making
money and keeping it for themselves.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Agreed?
Speaker 4 (09:19):
And I don't think that's something they realize in twenty
twenty six. Some my answers, yes they will.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yes, I agree, Well, K culture grow even more.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
I thought we were talking about K shaped economy culture here,
and that's how nerdy I am. In fact, we're talking
about K pop demon Hunters and all things Korean.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Yes, BTS, who is the biggest boy band in the
world now, they're also a Korean you know, k pop band.
They've got their first new CD in years coming out
this year, so get ready to hear about that. It
would really be an interesting question actually if they did
a North American tour at some point, Compare what are
(10:00):
the sales proceeds to the Taylor Swift tour from two
years ago. I think that would be a really interesting
comp And will this Summer's World Cup tournament be a
winning moment for soccer in the US?
Speaker 3 (10:12):
I tell you phrase that.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
I don't know, but I will say that even from
a group of people that cares nothing for soccer, which
I was having dinner with over the weekend, and I
held my hand up there. We were all talking about
and wondering precisely how much we could rent our homes
out for the week when it is being played at
Gillette Stadium, and I am very seriously considering doing so.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Here's the thing, the slate of games. They expanded the
World Cup field this year to forty eight teams from
thirty two, which is a huge mistake because now you
have natural rivals Haiti and Scotland going out in the
first game at Jillette Stadium. And in case you don't
detect the undertone, Haiti and Scotland are not natural rivals
in anything, like you're gonna get a bunch of bad
(10:57):
games and people paying a lot for them and feeling.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Like they got ripped off.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
That's fine. How much can I rent my house out
for lots? Right?
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Probably lost?
Speaker 4 (11:06):
We'll get to Gillette Stadium from my home in less
fewer than thirty minutes. Less than thirty minutes, I know
with game day traffic. Yeah, not with game day traffic,
but without it that I think that I might be
able to get a pretty penny for it. And I
think anybody south of I ninety is in the same boat.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
It's an interesting question.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Not if you're in listen to us in like Washington State,
but otherwise do they I am now, I am now
interested in soccer because it is completely self serving.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Good. I'm glad we got that out of the way.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Let's take a quick break and when we return, we'll
do a little bit of trivia, and then we'll talk
about big tech and whether we want to break them up.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Here the financial Exchange every day from eleven to noon.
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Speaker 5 (12:23):
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Hit that subscribe button. Time for trivia here on the
Financial Exchange, and on this day in eighteen fifty five,
(12:47):
King camp Gillette was born. In nineteen oh one, King
Jilette founded the Gillette Safety Raiser Company to sell his
newly developed disposable safety raiser, and in two thousand and
five Gillette was sold for fifty seven billion dollars. So
trivia question today which company now owns and operates Gillette
(13:09):
once again? Which company now owns and operates Gillette. Be
the seventh person today to text us at six one
seven three six two thirteen eighty five with the correct
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(13:31):
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complete contest rules at Financial Exchange Show dot com.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Piece in the Financial Times the US is losing its.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Battle to break up big Tech.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
I'm not gonna start with that false premise. I'm not
really sure we ever had one. Yeah, you know, like
I just I don't know that there was ever really
a convincing effort to break up big tech.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Every administration were the last. Trying to think of an
administration that didn't have pre significant ties to big tech.
And I mean maybe if I look back at the
last five administrations to take the White House, I think
the one that probably had the least friendly relationship with
big tech was either Trump or Biden, and neither of
(14:20):
which have you seen significant push towards anti monopoly cases.
The biggest one that we saw.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Was padical one from each of them, you know, like
the Trump administration had a couple, the Biden administration had
a couple. But it's kind of a situation where, again,
pay attention to what people do, not what people say.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
Yeah, it's a popular talking point on the campaign trail.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
And like, the thing is, I just.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
I just don't know that anyone actually cares enough to
do anything about this, And I find it kind of
problematic because again, it's especially now that all these companies
are trying to come out with their AI machines to
do whatever, Like, yes, the technology can be used for good,
(15:12):
but I can't tell you how many things I read
they're just really quite awful about this stuff.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
And I'm just not.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Sure that these are the people that you want to
be wielding that kind of power.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
I tend to agree, but I'm with you that public
opinion doesn't seem to care much. I think one positive
that I have detected as a parent of young children
is that I am seeing more pushback against technology and
social media in the hands of young kids than I've
(15:53):
seen since the technology existed.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And by the way, I'll add on that that if
you look at some of the surveys that are being
done now on those demos and what they are showing,
they're showing exactly what you'd want to see. Lower incidence
of depression room compared to you know, four or five
years ago, lower incidents of you know, cyber bowling, like
all the stuff that you want to get rid of
(16:16):
is being gotten rid of. And quite honestly, it gets
to the point where I don't know how any school
district in America can allow phones to be present on campus.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
Yeah, and so you're seeing some of that push.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
They're starting to see it.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
You're starting to see it here and there where schools
through high school have full on cell phone bands from
whatever it is nine am to three pm. Yeah, so
that they cannot be used or viewed in the classroom,
which I from all the expertise that I've seen, has
been seen as a big positive. And so again that's
not going to break up monopolies in this space. But
(16:56):
the effect that it has on big social media platforms
a decade from now, I'm not really sure what it
looks like. I think societally it's probably for the better,
But does it mean that Facebook has a very different
business model a decade from now possibly, I'll acknowledge that
it's a distinct possibility based on the changes we're seeing
(17:16):
among young Americans, or rather rop by parents of young Americans.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Let's talk a little bit about the auto industry. A
piece from Bloomberg indicating that US auto sales likely to
slip a little bit this year as middle class buyers
pull back in the face of rising costs.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Pretty much, whether.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
You're talking about within the auto industry or outside the
auto industry, middle class families saying yeah, we don't know
if we can afford these stickers only.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Counterpoint, interest rates are probably coming down again this year
on auto loans, so, you know, not substantially, because a
lot of buyers are below are subprime borrowers, and those
rates are still going to be inordinately high.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
But yeah, those aren't the drivers of new car sales.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
The dealers are pretty good at ofscating the interest rate
that you're actually paying, and so.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
It would be surprising to.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
Me if Americans had the just the financial ability, the
literal dollars to be able to keep the sales going
at these prices.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yeah, it seems to be a challenge, and the data
reflects this. By the way, new car sales have gone
up forty five percent among households with annual incomes of
one hundred and fifty thousand or more since twenty nineteen,
but they've plunged by thirty percent during the same period
for those earning seventy five thousand or less and dropped
seven percent among families with incomes between seventy five thousand
(18:40):
and one hundred and fifty thousand, Which is why I
also like this is the story that I tell quite often.
The people that are buying new cars buy and large
are wealthy. Like I know that we always poo poo
the person who's like, oh, like, don't take out you know,
like a car loan that's you know, one thousand dollars
a month for eight years. That person often is making
(19:00):
like two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year. It
still doesn't make it a good idea to like to
do that in everything. But it's not someone with thirty
thousand dollars in income who's doing that because they can't
get that loan right. It still is something that is
you know, problematic and can lead to some trouble, but hey,
look it's it's your choice on what you want to
(19:21):
spend your money on and if you want to do
the eight year car loan for you know, one hundred
grand total, like fine, like have at it. It's not
my thing, but it could be yours. Take a quick break.
When we come back, we get the trivia answer in
Wall Street.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Watch, bringing the latest financial news straight.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
To your radio.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Every day. It's the Financial Exchange on the Financial Exchange
Radio Network. Time now for Wall Street Watch. A complete
look at what's moving markets so far today right here
on the Financial Exchange Radio Network.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
Market se a little bit of a rally to begin
the week, despite the weekend attack on Venezuela and the
capture of its leader. However, there really is no major
movement in terms of oil prices. Wall Street's also readying
for a on time jobs report coming up on Friday morning.
Right now, the Dow is up one point four percent,
or six hundred and sixty nine points, SMB five hundred
(20:20):
up about eight tenths of a percent or fifty four
points higher, NASDAC up about one percent or two hundred
and twenty seven points, RUSTLED two thousand up one point
two percent. Tenure treasure yield down two basis points at
four point one six seven percent. Crude oil up over
one and a half percent higher, trading at fifty eight
dollars and twenty eight cents a barrel. Chevron is among
(20:43):
the biggest energy winners on the day, as the company
is the sole remaining US major oil player in Venezuela.
That stock is up five percent. Other energy stocks, including Kneco, Phillips,
x On Mobile, and Haliburton are also seeing gains on
the day. Outside of energy, investors are awaiting the Consumer
Electronics Show to kick off later today in Las Vegas,
(21:05):
where chief executives of both in Vidia in AMD are
slated to speak. Both in Vidia and AMD are now
up over half a percent, and Comcast shares are up
nearly four percent higher now as regular trading of the
TV network owners Versust spinoff began today. Version shares, by
the way, are down fourteen percent. I'm Tucker Silvan. That
(21:29):
is Wall Street Watch, and in the previous segment we
asked you the trivia question which company now owns and
operates Chillette. That would be Procter and Gamble. Brian from Erie,
Pennsylvania is our winner today, taking home a Financial Exchange
Show T shirt. Congrats to Brian and we play trivia
every day here in the Financial Exchange. See complete contest
rules at Financial Exchange Show dot com.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Do you guys remember when CS used to be cool?
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (21:57):
If all that it is this time is updates from
video on their latest semiconductor, then nobody's gonna care and
nobody's gonna watch.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Those aren't consumer products anyways. But the big thing is,
like the buzz this year is gonna be all like
AI smart home products and TVs and this and that, and.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
Give me a robot that can fold my laundry. For
the love of God, Well, like, why aren't we here there?
Speaker 2 (22:18):
I was exactly give me something like that as opposed
to well, LG is gonna be you know, Samsung is
gonna be debuting it's one hundred and fifteen inch TV.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Yeah, I don't need a car that Okay, what driving
style I needed?
Speaker 2 (22:31):
You know, great, I don't need. Oh, you're gonna have
VR glasses there, No one cares.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
Yeah, it's gotta be a a robot, humanoid robot that
can actually do something. That's what I'm looking for.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Something useful, not just something.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
Are some really cool car technology? I'm I'm always into
what cars can you know, show off that's a new
cool technology. Hopefully RAM will be showing off their their
weird electric hybrid engine, Like is something that is actually
new in that space, because we keep getting promise self
driving cars, and I can tell you they're not here.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
They seem to be pretty close, like way most seems
to be pretty darn close.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
To give me a consumer product.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Yeah, well, I mean, if if you could have the
self driving car, then you don't need them, right, but
I'll buy it for pretty They they'd rather have you
pay them for, you know, having to use it. Seven
numbers shaping retirement in twenty twenty six one, two, three, four, five,
sixty seven. Uh, these are actually fairly interesting. So I
(23:34):
did not realize. Sixty four is now the average age
when men retire. That's up to about three years since
the mid nineties. That's a pretty substantial increase.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
The age at which people filed for SAR security has
also moved up a couple of years. Unsurprisingly given the
changes that we've seen over the last few decades, the
total amount invested in retirement accounts has doubled over a decade.
Not shocking either, given what markets have done over the
course of less decade, but forty five point eight trillion.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
The can we talk about that?
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Actually, because that one surprised me sure in that it
surprised me that it's not.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Higher, that hasn't more than doubled.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Yes, because you have people making contributions and pension plans
making contributions, and over the last ten years, just as
an example, Uh, the S and P five hundred's total
return during that time is three hundred and five percent. Now,
I know that you're not invested one hundred percent there,
But if we looked at like the Bloomberg US aggregate index,
(24:31):
just as an example, let me get the total return.
Hang on, sorry, here we go. Nope, that's not gonna
be it. In any case, Bloomberg US aggregate index is
up twenty one percent over that time, which, yeah, that
checks out. And so I think ultimately you look at
this and even if you assumed like a fifty to
fifty split, you'd still say, okay, you may call it
(24:53):
one hundred and fifty percent.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
Here's my answer. The youngest baby boomer is now like
sixty one years old.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
You're starting to see more outflows that are kicking in there.
That makes sense.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Plus digraph plus the new rules on after death, really
after you die, the pace at which that money has
to come out. It is pretty darn.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Quick that clicks. Uh.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
Eighty five percent of workers are participating in a four
to one K if they're offered one. It's pretty that's
a good number. That's a fairly solid number.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Twenty four thousand, five hundred is the new maximum four
to one K contribution for this year. Plus you've got
an eight thousand dollars ketchup for workers age fifty and older,
and then the super ketchup that is eleven two hundred
and fifty for age sixty two sixty.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Three this year. There's a lot of other ones. I think.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
One that we talk about frequently on this program. The
average monthly cost of a nursing home in twenty twenty
four was ten thousand, six hundred and fifty dollars. Boost
that up by about forty percent.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Here in the New England area.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
And that's where you're going to land from what I understand.
But look, all of these numbers are important for understanding
the greater context of American retirees. And if you are
entering twenty twenty six without your New Year's resolutions, happy
New Year. By the way, Tucker, This, by the way,
is the last day you can say Happy New Year.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
No Friday.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
That Friday was, And I'm going to continue to do
it until mid February, just to make Tucker.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
I think after today, every show I'm going to do
it's Tucker. After today. It becomes a question as opposed
to a statement Happy New Year.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
If you are entering the new year and you have
not put getting your financial house in order on your
resolution list, I really think now is the time to
do it. If you are over the age of fifty,
then you are staring down retirement within the next decade
and a half almost certainly, and take the time to
remove the anxiety that many feel about that next stage.
(26:52):
Do I have enough saved? Am I in the right position?
This is a conversation that I know firsthand. Couples asked
themselves very regularly. Do not ignore it. Get your time
spent on getting this financial house in order so that
you can remove that from the list of anxiety that
you might be feeling as we head into the new year.
(27:12):
Call the folks at Armstrong Advisory Group. We will set
up a free consultation for you and your family to
get an understanding of where you stand in terms of
your retirement future. The numbers eight hundred three nine three
for zero zero one make it your resolution. You can
check us out at Armstrong Advisory dot com and book
a time for us to call you back. But that
number once again, eight hundred three nine three for zero
(27:36):
zero one.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
The proceeding was paid for by Armstrong Advisory Group, a
registered investment advisor. Nothing in the ad or in any
Armstrong guide a specific financial, legal or tax advice. Consult
your own financial tax into state planning advisors before making
any investment decisions. Armstrong make contact you to offer investment
advisory services.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Zilo CEO is ready for another slow year in the
US housing market. Boy, if that doesn't make me want
to go out and buy a forty two unit multifamily
after their failures predicting the housing market the last few years,
I don't know what does, but look, quite honestly, it's
going to be slow relative to what we saw in
(28:17):
twenty seventeen through twenty nineteen pre pandemic. Basically, everything that
I've seen out there is that you are going to
see more transactions taking place this year than last year
because there's more inventory and prices are starting to come down,
which will help to clear set inventory.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
Yeah, so relatively, I mean comparatively good news for Zilo
after a pretty frozen housing market. They don't seem to
be jumping back into the we're going to buy houses
and try and flip them game again.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
I just I remain.
Speaker 4 (28:49):
A bit confused as to why Zilo doesn't better leverage
the eyeballs that they clearly have. This app is bigger
than many social media platforms these days in terms of
people that log in regularly, and you can't do some
very basic things that social media apps have, like share
it with share the listing with a friend, or have
(29:11):
AI analyze the picture and pick out the furniture for you. Like,
there are many monetizable factors here that Zillo isn't taking
advantage of that. I'm not saying I would like any
of these things in the app, but take a page
out of Facebook. Guys like you guys have a lot
of eyeballs, and I think you can be doing more
than selling leads to realtors who want to try and
(29:34):
get your listing.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
There's actually a really good question that you can ask
just based off that, how is Zillo not a social
media app. Yeah, I mean, I'm not saying i'd want
it to be one, because I think that the user
experience for me would get worse. But is there anything
that people like to do more than like show off
(30:02):
this house they found or oh, here's this crazy one
I found on Zilla or well.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
That's exactly my point is.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
You know, even the Wall Street Journal allows users to
comment on what's going on in the on this on
the thing that they write. If you do a podcast,
you can have a chat in there. Like that does
not functionally exist.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
It actually just clicked for me.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Why is trying to police that in an era where
people want to, like like on without consent, share information
about where someone lives is a huge problem. So I
now understand exactly why they don't allow that. Yeah, that's fair.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
I'd be pretty quick to say, oh, look, this is
actually the listing for this is Suta, the host of
the financial Like this.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Is so and So's house, you know, like this is
where you know William Shatner lives, and you know, like
I could see how things could get out of hand
very very quickly there, And now it makes perfect sense
why they're not a social.
Speaker 4 (31:04):
Network I doubt that that's the reason why.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
I bet there's a lot of liability quite honestly, because
like you have every address in the I don't know
if it's the world, but at least in the country,
sure that's there, and trying to police that would be
a nightmare. Agreed to take a quick break when we
return stack Roulette.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
The Financial Exchange Show podcast drops every day on Apple, Spotify,
and iHeartRadio. Hit that subscribe button and leave us a
five star review. You're listening to the Financial Exchange Radio Network.
The Financial Exchange is Life on Series XM's Business Radio
Channel one thirty two weekdays from eleven to noon. Get
the latest business and financial news from across the country
(31:46):
and around the world, and keep up to date on
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weekdays from eleven to noon on Series XM's Business Radio
Channel one thirty two. Face He's the Financial Exchange Radio
at work.
Speaker 5 (32:02):
The Financial Exchange is a proud partner of the Disabled
American Veterans Department of Massachusetts. The DAV five K raised
over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars last.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Year, but we still need your help.
Speaker 5 (32:14):
You can support our great American heroes by visiting DAV
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today a DAV fivek dot Boston. That's dav fivek dot Boston.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Mike, what do you got for stock Roulette?
Speaker 4 (32:36):
I'm gonna go down to New York City because about
a year ago they implemented their congestion congestion pricing on
the Island of Manhattan, Lower Manhattan, and it was a
big fiasco. It made national political headlines. The governor stepped
in to delay it. But the program has been in
effect since January fifth of twenty twenty five, and so
(33:00):
taking a look at how it works. So how it
does work is anytime between five am and nine pm,
if you enter the Island of Manhattan, you're paying an
extra nine buck toll to do so. I don't know
the exact streets where it's an effect, but so far,
what they found about seventy three thousand fewer vehicles are
entering the Central Business District each day. That's totally about
(33:20):
twenty seven million fewer entries. They do see spikes in traffic,
by the way, right before that five am time period
and right after that nine pm time period, Generally speaking,
traffic is faster in the congestion zone, about four and
a half percent faster moving traffic during that period of time, and.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Fewer pedestrian accidents.
Speaker 4 (33:42):
Yeah, I mean, generally speaking, you're seeing the time to
transit the Lincoln Tunnel, the Holland Tunnel, Williamsburg Bridge all
up generally speaking double digit percentages compared to this time
last year. So I don't really know how you define
it as anything other than a success. I think the
answer how you would define it as less than a
(34:03):
success is it is certainly more costly to travel into
Manhattan via car.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
Sure, and you might.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
Personally find that reprehensible and unfair and unreasonable. Also, I'm
guessing there are plenty of people who said the impact
would have been far greater, and you would have been
able to see it greater. But I don't know. I
have always liked this type of economic solution to a problem.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Right, if your problem is too much traffic, you can't
build your way out of it with lanes Basically all
of the research out there is if you add more
space for cars, they.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
Will occupy it, and the best economic answer is always
charge those who are willing to pay. There's been other cities,
for example, South Polo and Brazil basically made it so
that if your license plate ended in an odd number,
you could only drive on certain days in an even
number certain days, and it just didn't work terribly well.
And this is a perfect way to capture those who
(35:01):
are willing to pay that extra money.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Lawsuit accuses Chicago based McDonald's of deception on grounds that
McRib has no rib meat.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
We see these lawsuits, I feel like every single year,
and almost never do they get anywhere.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
No, and the lawsuit accused McDonald's of fraudulent omission or concealment,
fraudulent misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, and a whole bunch of other accounts.
And basically it says that the actual pork rib meat
cuts are not the cuts that are in there, to
which quite honestly, I say, even if they're not, which
(35:40):
I have no idea what's actually in a McRib, I'm
not gonna be the army truth, Like I don't know
what's in there. If you order it and you like it,
then what's the problem, right.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
And what are the gonna be the damage?
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (35:56):
I ordered this thing one hundred times. I loved it.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
I was under the impression it is ribs, and now
I turn out it turns out it's not. I'm seeking damages.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
If you ordered it once and didn't like it, then
go get another lunch.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
Also, if you worded it once and are going to
participate in this lawsuit, then anticipate receiving something like seven cents.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Like I again, I find these humorous just because it's
kind of like, okay, like we'll sue over anything these days.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
But honestly, the only people who.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Win when you do this are the lawyers. They're the
only people who win when this happens. Yeah, and so
both sides, and so for once, billible hours, baby, for once,
don't let the lawyers wine.
Speaker 4 (36:47):
No, not gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
They're all listening to this saying they're just noting along,
saying yes we're winning, like they're not to go along, and
there's nothing you and I can do to stop it
because they're lawyers. They they write the law, they understand
the law. You and I I don't. Indeed, but if
you're upset about the McRib, just don't eat it. You
don't have to sue over.
Speaker 4 (37:07):
It, agreed. Last story here at Wall Street Journal, Americans
are looking to the Midwest to find affordability. Was just there.
Myself and I shared a real estate listing with Chuck
actually during the program last week, Yes, where we looked
at the property and I think it was a nice
property on a lot of land, well below a million dollars.
(37:29):
And we both looked at it and said, pretty much
anywhere in Massachusetts that's going for two million, plush. So
I get why people are doing so. And if you
can stomach not being a drive to the ocean, then
there's a lot to offer for you.
Speaker 3 (37:44):
Lake Michigan's affordable basically the ocean.
Speaker 4 (37:46):
Sure, I can't see the other side.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
No, it's all that matters, you know, as long as
the lake's big enough that you can't see the other side,
it's the ocean. Take a bring you a little bit
of moret and salt there sprinkled in.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
You're good to go.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Taking a look at markets we had towards the top
of the hour, the Dow is up seven hundred and
thirty two points. The s and p is up fifty eight,
the Nasdaq up two hundred and fourteen, so a bunch
of green on the board as we continue to kick
off twenty twenty six. We are back at it tomorrow
as we continue with a busy week of trading.
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