Disrupted: The nearly yearlong hot streak in the Baton Rouge area’s residential market has cooled a tad, with year-over-year home sales declining 7.4% in September, the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors reports. Multiple reasons are attributed for the decline, including the typical annual downturn this time of year as families look to stay put as school starts, a prolonged inventory shortage, and, of course, the declining impact on real estate from 2016’s flood. See the GBRAR’ s full market report.
Party time: Walmart will host holiday parties this year in an effort to get shoppers off their couches and into stores, CNBC reports. The big-box retailer plans to hold more than 20,000 parties at its stores over the next two months, with the first event, called “Toys That Rock,” taking place nationwide this Saturday. Other events include “Parties That Rock” and “Gifts That Rock,” where attendees can receive curated gift guides and toy catalogs. Its overarching holiday marketing campaign this year is dubbed “Rock This Christmas,” the company says. Read more.
At work: U.S. businesses added a solid 235,000 jobs in October, according to a private survey, partly reflecting a rebound from the previous month when hiring was held back by several hurricanes. Last month’s gain was the largest in seven months, says payroll processor ADP. Hiring fell to just 110,000 in September, the lowest in nearly a year. October’s rebound was driven by construction firms, which reported a huge gain of 62,000 jobs, the most in 11 years. Read more.
