Free fall: The nation’s housing slump deepened in January as home sales fell for the 12th consecutive month to the slowest pace in more than a dozen years. The National Association of Realtors said this morning that existing U.S. home sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4 million properties last month. That’s the slowest annual pace since October 2010, when the housing market was still reeling from the 2008 foreclosure crisis. Read more.
Fewer snags: Supply-chain snarls are fading from among the top challenges facing U.S. companies as freight congestion eases, shipping costs fall and factories in Asia are freed from COVID-19 lockdowns. The benefits are being felt most among importers of finished goods, such as game company Hasbro, Sharpie pen maker Newell Brands and sportswear manufacturer Under Armour. The Wall Street Journal has the full story.
Top court: The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments today in a case that could alter the power of a key law that the tech industry says has been critical to keeping the internet an open and free-flowing place. In Gonzalez v. Google, the family of an American killed in a 2015 terrorist attack in Paris argue Google and its subsidiary YouTube did not do enough to remove or stop promoting ISIS terrorist videos seeking to recruit members, allegedly violating the Anti-Terrorism Act. Read more about the case from CNBC.
