Real Estate Market Trends - Investor purchases accounted for 30% of single-family home purchases (existing and newly built) this year [4] - High interest rates (hovering under 7%) are making it difficult for individual home buyers to qualify for mortgages [8] - Investors are buying new houses and making them available for rent, offering an alternative to buying for those who cannot afford it [9][16] - Smaller investors can be more nimble than larger private equity players due to fewer restrictions and no investment committee mandates [12][13] - Kinloch Partners rents out houses at roughly $1 per square foot, offering a 2500 square foot house for $2500 [18][19] Toy Industry & Tariffs - The toy industry is navigating tariffs, with a focus on trade deals between the US and China [21] - A toy manufacturer anticipates passing on about 20% of the 30% tariff, with the importer and retailer each absorbing 10% this year [25][26] - Tariffs will become a built-in cost in the product by 2026, leading to increased prices for consumers and lower profits for manufacturers [23] - Some toy manufacturers are deconstructing toys (e g, shipping without batteries or simplified packaging) to mitigate tariff costs [32][33][34] Market Performance & Analysis - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed up, with semiconductors, particularly Nvidia (market cap of $431 trillion), outperforming [2][39] - The US dollar surged due to an EU and US deal, causing a decline in the euro and negatively impacting metals [43][47][48] - Crude oil was one of the biggest gainers of the day [48]