Hey Snackers,
While your Insta Stories are filled with Spotify Wrapped “music personalities,” here’s the global story: Bad Bunny was the platform’s most-streamed artist for the third year in a row, and Joe Rogan defended his #1 podcast title.
Stocks soared yesterday after Jerome Powell suggested that the Fed is on track to hike rates by half a percentage point in December — a cooldown from the last four “jumbo” hikes of 75 bps.
Cleaning fee not included… Airbnb has teamed up with building owners across the US to boost the number of rentable rooms on its platform. Airbnb did the legwork in 25 markets and found property owners who’ll allow their tenants to list on Airbnb, sublease-style.
There's no place like home… if you can afford one. Homeownership has become even more inaccessible, especially after mortgage rates soared. Last year, over a third of US households were renters. But renting is no bargain, either: while rent prices have been cooling this year, they’re still up 7.5% from last year. The prospect of earning extra income through Airbnb rentals could be welcomed by tenants — and help ease the financial anxiety of committing to one place for a year (especially when the economy’s so up in the air).
Demand can follow supply… and Airbnb has an apartment-supply problem. As of October, apartments accounted for only 14% of Airbnb's listings — down 5% from 2019. According to Airbnb, that’s partly because of landlords' opposition to short-term rentals (think: anti-Airbnb rules). Now Airbnb’s looking to get landlords on board. The hope: more Airbnb-friendly apartments = more listings = more bookings. But there's a catch: research shows that the presence of short-term rentals in a neighborhood contributes to rising rents.
It’s the 11th hour for EV taxes… and everyone’s bickering about President Biden’s rules. In August, his Inflation Reduction Act introduced rules that require EVs to be mostly US-made to get $7.5K in green tax credits (all EVs were formerly eligible). But US trade partners like the EU, UK, South Korea, and Japan say “Made in America” rules discriminate against foreign companies — and they’re urging Biden to ease or delay them.
“Made in America” mayhem… is escalating. Initially, Biden’s EV enthusiasm boosted investment in electric manufacturing: Kia, Ford, Honda, Tesla, Toyota, and GM all announced additional US EV investments after the IRA’s passage. But now critics say strict rules could discourage future investment — or even start a trade war.
Biden faces a tough balancing act… The president wants to boost domestic EV manufacturing and reduce America’s reliance on China, which manufactures most of the world’s EVs (and EV batteries). But Biden also doesn’t want to alienate global carmakers, which recently announced plans to invest $82B in US EV manufacturing — and create 115K US jobs.
Authors of this Snacks own: shares of Netflix, Ford, GM, Tesla, Spotify, and Delta
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