Despite President Biden’s promise to send 31 Abrams M1 tanks to Ukraine on Wednesday, it could take months for the artillery to arrive, according to reports.
The New York Post reported that Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh confirmed that the U.S. does not have enough of M1 Abrams tanks in its stockpile to send over to Ukraine at this time.
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Army M1A1 Abrams tank fires during NATO enhanced Forward Presence battle group military exercise Crystal Arrow 2021 in Adazi, Latvia March 26, 2021, REUTERS/Ints Kalnins/File Photo
“We just don’t have these tanks available in excess in our US stocks, which is why it is going to take months to transfer these M1A2 Abrams to Ukraine,” Singh told the Post.
BIDEN APPROVES SENDING 31 M1 ABRAMS TANKS TO UKRAINE, IN REVERSAL
If the tanks were in the Pentagon’s possession, it would take less than a week to get the tanks boxed and shipped. But when using the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, or USAI, program, it could take months or years because the government goes through procurement to identify and hire contractors to build the weapons.
Biden announced the weapons approval on Wednesday, just hours after German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz said Ukraine would also get Leopard 2 tanks from Berlin as Russia plans for a major offensive.
President Biden speaks about inflation and supply chain issues in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Defense Secretary joined the president Antony Blinkin, who described the tanks as the “most capable tanks in the world” which will enhance Ukraine’s ability on the battlefield.
RUSSIA REACTS TO US, GERMANY TANK DELIVERIES TO UKRAINE: ‘DIRECT INVOLVEMENT IN THE CONFLICT’
“This is about freedom, freedom for Ukraine, freedom everywhere,” Biden said.
The decision to send tanks came after weeks of stalled and frustrated negotiations with Germany, which senior defense officials described as the “product of good diplomatic conversations.”
Earlier this month, Germany suggested it would not agree to send its tanks to Ukraine unless the U.S. did as well, citing concerns over escalating the war.
Located in Arlington, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., the Pentagon has served as the epicenter of the U.S. military, housing the Department of Defense, the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, since the 1940s. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
While senior defense officials would not confirm if the decision was a stipulation of Berlin’s or motivation from Washington to get Germany to roll out the Leopard tanks, the move was championed as a show of long-term support for Ukraine.
The U.S. has already supplied thousands of combat vehicles, including 1,700 Humvees and pledged earlier this month to send another 500 armored vehicles of several types.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The Abrams tanks will be procured through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and will not come directly from U.S. stockpiles.
It remains unclear how long it will take to get the Abrams tanks up and running in Ukraine and defense officials did not say where the trainings will take place, though it was confirmed that the trainings would be held outside of Ukraine.
Caitlin McFall of Fox News contributed to this report.
Greg Wehner is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital.
Earlier this year Tesla stopped taking orders for the Model 3 Long Range citing high demand for the electric sedan. While it is still not available on the Design Studio, you can get your hands on a brand new one through the existing inventory section of Tesla’s website.
As an added bonus, it will be a brand new 2023 model year car.
Tesla Model Year 2023 Production
If you follow us on Twitter, you would have known that earlier this week Tesla began model year 2023 production for the Model 3, as well as the Model X.
According to an internal communication sent to Tesla employees on Wednesday, a copy of which was obtained by Drive Tesla, Model 3 built on or after October 4 will be a 2023 model year, while the same applies to Model X built on or after October 3.
For now the Model Y and Model S are still on 2022 production, with the email stating more information will be coming soon on these two vehicles.
If you receive a VIN for your new car, you will know it is a 2023 model year by looking at the 10th digit, which will now be P (2023) instead of N (2022).
Based on our information there have been no substantive changes with the model year switch, other than the removal of the ultrasonic sensors which we reported on earlier this week.
2023 Model 3 Existing Inventory
With the start of 2023 Model 3 production, Tesla has been quick to add them to their existing inventory website, adding over 100 them on Friday night as noted by inventory tracker WaitingForTesla.com.
Unfortunately none are available in Canada at the time of publication (h/t: @BLKMDL3)
Credit: WaitingForTesla
The Model 3s are available from coast to coast in all possible paint, interior colour, and wheel selection combinations, all at the same pricing as it was in August when it was removed from the website.
According to the individual listings, they are estimated to arrive and be ready for delivery in November or December.
If you are interesting in buying one, head over to WaitingForTesla.com or check out Tesla’s Model 3 existing inventory website and enter your zip code.
further than it expected, sparking investor concerns about the company’s response to an oversupply problem haunting retailers from
Walmart Inc.
to the parent of T.J. Maxx.
Like many other retailers, Target didn’t foresee the sharp reversal in buying behavior that has taken place in recent months as shoppers, squeezed by inflation, shifted more spending to travel and cut back on patio furniture, small electronics and other items that were in high demand for much of the Covid-19 pandemic. Target took a more aggressive approach than some of its competitors, slashing prices and canceling orders to clear out the glut as quickly as possible.
The decision to quickly move through excess inventory “had a meaningful short-term impact on our financial results,” Target Chief Executive
Brian Cornell
said on a call with reporters. He said the company didn’t want to deal with excess inventory for years, potentially degrading the customer and worker experience.
“Today the vast majority of the financial impact of these inventory actions is now behind us,” he said. In the current quarter the company expects a roughly $200 million impact from its effort to reduce inventory, Chief Financial Officer
Michael Fiddelke
said on a conference call Wednesday. The company expects operating margin to rise to 6% in the second half of the year.
About 75% of the U.S. population can find a Target store within a 10-mile radius. WSJ’s Sarah Nassauer explains how the retailer leverages its physical stores to expand services such as in-store pickup and same-day shipping. Photo Illustration: Ryan Trefes
Target shares were off 2.6% at $175.46 at midday Wednesday.
T.J. Maxx parent
TJX
TJX 4.43%
Cos. said Wednesday that inventory rose 39% in the most recent quarter, while sales fell 1.9%. The company said it is comfortable with its inventory levels and that lower gasoline prices could boost consumer spending for its goods.
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Large retail chains including Walmart and
Home Depot Inc.
have reported higher sales for the most recent quarter driven by consumers’ willingness to absorb price increases. The results so far indicate Americans continue to spend even as they shift purchases away from nonfood items to offset the effects of inflation.
Overall retail sales—a measure of spending at stores, online and in restaurants—were flat in July as gasoline prices fell, compared with an increase of 0.8% in June, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Stripping out gasoline and auto sales, retail sales rose 0.7% in July.
Walmart, like Target, has discounted goods to pare excess inventory. Those efforts ate into last quarter’s profit and will continue in the current quarter, executives said Tuesday.
Target executives said traffic gains and the overall spending strength among its core shoppers are evidence that the retailer can put the inventory issues behind it. The retailer believes it is gaining market share by unit sales in all major categories, executives said. Target shoppers are buying fewer discretionary items as prices rise, but “we’ve got a guest that is still out shopping,” Mr. Cornell said.
Target’s inventory challenge rippled through its business over the past quarter, company executives said on a call with analysts Wednesday. In June inventory in Target’s warehouse network peaked at more than 90% of capacity, before dropping to below 80% by the end of the period, Chief Operating Officer
John Mulligan
said. The company aims to keep capacity at or below 85% to reduce cost and operational difficulties, he said.
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To dispose of the excess inventory Target offered discounts, canceled orders and adjusted how it ordered products for the second half of the year, favoring items such as food that shoppers are now buying more of, executives said on the call. Target used store space typically reserved for seasonal goods to highlight deals, stopped selling outdoor products earlier than usual and brought in back-to-school items ahead of schedule. The company canceled $1.5 billion in fall discretionary product orders, executives said.
The company continues to import goods earlier than it did before the pandemic to make sure seasonal merchandise arrives on time, but believes supply-chain snarls have peaked, Mr. Mulligan said. Target’s inventory rose nearly 10% in the second quarter to $15.3 billion as the retailer prepares for fall and holiday shopping, he said.
Target’s net earnings were $183 million, compared with $1.8 billion during the same period last year.
The company’s revenue rose, boosted by strong sales of food-and-beverage, beauty and household items as well as more shopper visits. Comparable sales, those from stores and digital channels operating at least 12 months, rose 2.6% in the quarter compared with the same period last year. Shopper traffic increased 2.7% in the quarter. Shoppers spent slightly more for fewer items per transaction during the quarter.
Home Depot said Tuesday that its sales rose, in part because of higher prices, while traffic fell in the most recent quarter. Walmart said its sales rose, also helped by higher prices, and traffic increased 1% in the quarter.
Target revenue rose 3.5% during the quarter to $26 billion. It maintained previous estimates for the full year of revenue growth in the low- to mid-single-digit percentage range.
According to a report by the Chinese tech outlet, ZOL, who are quoting their sources within the supply chain, it looks like AMD & NVIDIA GPUs may see further price cuts by the end of August.
NVIDIA & AMD GPUs To Get Even More Cheaper To Buy Later This Year, Green Team Readies Aggressive Price Cut Strategy
It’s been just a few months and we have seen the GPU market crash in a spectacular fashion. Several factors have led to this such as the crypto crash, a declining PC market, and overall poor demand due to the anticipation of the next-gen GPUs.
According to the news from the supply chain, at the end of August, NV and AMD will take more aggressive actions to reduce the price of graphics cards, among which NV’s price reduction is larger than that of AMD.
via MyDrivers (Machine Translated)
Currently, most AMD & NVIDIA graphics cards sit well below the MSRPs that were hard to obtain for almost two years, and now the same GPU makers are having a hard time selling them. This has taken a toll on both AMD and NVIDIA as witnessed within their Q2 financials where the gaming dGPU segment isn’t doing really well & the overall shipments have taken a major blow. Now, AMD & NVIDIA are deciding to further cut down the prices of their consumer GPUs significantly, with the green team reportedly taking some aggressive steps to clear away its inventory. It is reported that a new series of price cuts may hit the retail segment by the end of August so we can expect graphics cards to get cheaper.
Currently, NVIDIA’s high-end graphics cards such as the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti are available for up to -47.5% lower than MSRP prices. If this report is anywhere close to the truth, then we can see over a -50% drop in prices versus the MSRP. Furthermore, NVIDIA is said to have resumed the production of its 12 GB RTX 3080 graphics card to tackle the excess inventory of GA102 GPUs, a chip used for a total of 5 different graphics cards.
So it looks like those in search of a new NVIDIA & AMD graphics card can expect even lower prices in the coming months but how this affects the launch and pricing of the next-generation GeForce 40 series GPUs remains to be seen.
Mar-a-Lago home Monday removed 11 sets of classified documents, including some marked as top secret and meant to be only available in special government facilities, according to a search warrant released by a Florida court Friday.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation agents took around 20 boxes of items, binders of photos, a handwritten note and the executive grant of clemency for Mr. Trump’s ally
Roger Stone,
a list of items removed from the property shows. Also included in the list was information about the “President of France,” according to the three-page list. The list is contained in a seven-page document that also includes the warrant to search the premises which was granted by a federal magistrate judge in Florida.
The list includes references to one set of documents marked as “Various classified/TS/SCI documents,” an abbreviation that refers to top-secret/sensitive compartmented information. It also says agents collected four sets of top secret documents, three sets of secret documents, and three sets of confidential documents. The list didn’t provide any more details about the substance of the documents.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers argue that the former president used his authority to declassify the material before he left office. While a president has the power to declassify documents, there are federal regulations that lay out a process for doing so.
Former President Donald Trump said FBI agents “raided” his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida on Monday and broke into a safe. The search was part of an investigation into his handling of classified information, said people familiar with the matter. Photo: Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich/Shutterstock
“They could have had it anytime they wanted—and that includes long ago. All they had to do was ask,” Mr. Trump said in a statement issued Friday.
On Friday afternoon, U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart issued an order making the warrant and inventory list public, after the Justice Department said in a court filing that Mr. Trump’s lawyers told federal prosecutors they didn’t object to the government’s request to unseal the information.
The search and seizure warrant, signed by Judge Reinhart, shows that FBI agents sought to search “the 45 Office,” as well as “all storage rooms and all other rooms or areas within the premises used or available to be used by [the former president] and his staff and in which boxes or documents could be stored, including all structures or buildings on the estate.”
They didn’t seek access to search private guest rooms, such as those of Mar-a-Lago members, according to the document.
The former president and his team don’t have the affidavit, which would provide more detail about the FBI’s investigation, according to people familiar with the process. An affidavit would explain what evidence, including witnesses, the government had collected and describe why investigators believe that a crime may have been committed. Mr. Trump’s lawyers have asked for a more specific account of what was removed from Mar-a-Lago.
The disclosure of the warrant and the inventory marks the culmination of an extraordinary week, which began last Friday at 12:12 p.m., when the judge signed off on the unprecedented warrant to search a former president’s home. Three days later, at 6:19 p.m., a lawyer for Mr. Trump, Christina Bobb, signed a receipt for the items the FBI took that day.
Former President Donald Trump, departing Trump Tower in New York Wednesday, has said he wouldn’t oppose releasing the search warrant.
Photo:
Julia Nikhinson/Associated Press
To the Justice Department, the search was the result of a monthslong effort to get the classified documents remaining in Mr. Trump’s possession after at least two prior attempts. They were at first primarily interested in securing the documents, but pursued a criminal investigation as they began to doubt that Mr. Trump’s team was being forthright about the documents still in their possession, people familiar with the matter said.
To Mr. Trump’s allies, the search was a heavy-handed approach to obtaining documents they say Mr. Trump was willing to return and was in the process of negotiating the return.
It is unclear how the investigation may progress and whether prosecutors are considering bringing any charges against Mr. Trump or others in connection with the investigation now that the documents have been recovered.
Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R., Okla.)—who sits on the House Intelligence Committee and has questioned the need for the search by federal agents—said Attorney General
Merrick Garland
should brief the Intelligence Committee. “It’s a high threshold to say it was an immediate national security threat, if it wasn’t an immediate national security threat then I think there’s a lot of questions that need to be answered,” he said.
The warrant said investigators were seeking all records that could be evidence of violations of laws governing the gathering, transmitting or losing of classified information; the removal of official government records; and the destruction of records in a federal investigation.
Attorney General Merrick Garland in a briefing said the Department of Justice is asking a Florida judge to unseal the warrant FBI agents used to search former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
The U.S. government has three main levels of classification. In ascending order, the levels are confidential, secret and top secret. They are designed to reflect how sensitive a document’s underlying contents are considered, meaning that a breach of a higher classification level could potentially cause more damage to national security.
SCI documents are typically reserved for military, civilians with special clearance, and contractor personnel who work in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF, including those who are responsible for the security of a SCIF.
As the investigation progressed, someone familiar with the stored papers told investigators there may still be more sensitive documents on the premises beyond what they had already received in January and June, people familiar with the matter have said.
It is not known when the documents stored at Mar-a-Lago arrived there, during Mr. Trump’s presidency or as he left office.
Mr. Stone didn’t immediately respond for comment.
Mr. Trump, while in office, would regularly feud publicly with French President
Emmanuel Macron
over
Twitter
about various policy disagreements, particularly trade and Mr. Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement. Privately, Mr. Trump used to tell aides that he believed Mr. Macron to be a “leaker” and untrustworthy, according to several former officials. The French embassy didn’t immediately respond for comment.
The search, while Mr. Trump was in New York, stoked a political firestorm with Republican lawmakers demanding an explanation for the unprecedented search of a former president’s home. The showdown began after the National Archives in January retrieved more than a dozen boxes of White House documents from the resort earlier this year, some of which officials deemed classified national-security information.
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Mr. Garland and FBI officials deliberated for days about whether to respond to the criticism of the search and how much to say, people familiar with discussions said. The attorney general ultimately decided to let the Justice Department’s work speak for itself and directed the agency to request the warrant be unsealed.
Millions of people in the U.S. hold some level of clearance that grants them access to classified documents, though far fewer have access to the highest levels. While intelligence agencies can declassify information and release it to the public, the process for doing so is often slow and may require multiple intelligence agencies to sign off.
A list of documents recovered from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., cites 20 boxes of items, binders of photos and a handwritten note.
Photo:
giorgio viera/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
A sitting president generally has the authority to unilaterally declassify any material of his or her choosing, but such a privilege is rarely used. Mr. Trump at times did disclose classified information during his time in office, including when he tweeted a surveillance satellite image showing damage at an Iranian space facility.
While a president has the power to declassify documents, federal regulations lay out a process for doing so. Those rules must be followed for a declassification to become legally effective, said Dan Meyer, a national-security lawyer at Tully Rinckey in Washington.
Once Mr. Trump left office on Jan. 20, 2021, he became bound by the same rules as other private citizens, Mr. Meyer said.
—Vivian Salama and Dustin Volz contributed to this article.
Write to Alex Leary at alex.leary@wsj.com, Aruna Viswanatha at Aruna.Viswanatha@wsj.com and Sadie Gurman at sadie.gurman@wsj.com
Update: GameStop is now sold out of consoles. Make sure to follow our PS5 restock guide for news on the next drop.
An in-store GameStop PS5 restock is happening today. The retailer announced (opens in new tab) it will have PS5 restock in select stores on Saturday (July 23).
As we’ve seen with previous GameStop restocks, you’ll need to be a PowerUp Rewards Pro member to purchase a console. (Alternatively, Amazon is accepting registrations for its PS5 bundles). Details of this GameStop PS5 stock drop come via Matt Swider (opens in new tab) of The Shortcut (opens in new tab). Matt is one of the most well-respected stock trackers around with highly dependable sources at practically every major retailer.
This in-store restock event will begin from the opening time of each individual store (which could be as early as 8 a.m. local time). As a reminder, this PS5 restock will require you to be a PowerUp Reward Pro member. GameStop has gated all of its next-gen console restocks behind its premium membership program since early 2021, and we expect the retailer to continue this practice for the foreseeable future.
GameStop is also notorious for selling its allocation of PS5 consoles in pre-built bundles and this restock will likely continue that trend. While bundles aren’t the cheapest way to score a PS5, at least GameStop always charges the combined retail price of the items, so you’re not getting price gouged. Make sure you check our GameStop promo codes page for coupons and discounts.
If you’d rather purchase your console online or don’t want to stretch your budget to cover a pricey GameStop bundle, be sure to check our PS5 restock hub. This comprehensive guide is updated daily with the latest updates across all major retailers.
The inventory shortages at new vehicle dealers continue unabated, and inventories remain desperately low, but the shortages are shifting, as demand has shifted, and there is now supply piling up, for example at Ram dealers, while fuel-efficient vehicles are essentially sold out, and EV models have long waiting lists – as people are tired of getting hammered by high fuel prices.
The number of new vehicles in “in stock” on dealer lots and “in transit” to dealers dipped to 1.12 million vehicles at the end of June, down by 70%, or by 2.61 million vehicles, from the same period in 2019, according to estimates by Cox Automotive, based on its Dealertrack data. On this basis, new vehicle inventories haven’t improved since December. By comparison, in 2019, new vehicle inventory averaged 3.66 million vehicles.
The term “inventory” accounts for what is “in stock” and what is “in transit.” And it may include units that have been pre-sold. A dealer’s website typically shows three labels next to the vehicles in their inventory: “in stock,” “in transit,” and “sold.”
The relentless new-vehicle price spike.
The average asking price (listing price) shows that dealers are in no mood to offer deals yet. The average listing price in June rose 11.5% from a year ago, to a record $45,976, according to Cox Automotive.
Cox also said that during the last week of June, asking prices “began to retreat slightly.” So maybe possibly perhaps, dealers are running into just a tad of price resistance in certain corners of the market.
Asking prices fell in January, February, and March, only to do a U-Turn in April – and part of this was seasonal as January and February are the worst months for dealers, when volume tends to plunge from the December binge. By June, they hit a new record, up by 11.5% year-over-year. This still speaks of a hot under-supplied market:
The average transaction price – the price at which vehicles were sold and delivered – jumped by 14% year-over-year, to a record $45,844 in June, according to J.D. Power data. Compared to June 2019, this was up by 36% or by over $10,000.
At these prices, dealers made record gross profits per vehicle delivered. Including finance and insurance sales (F&I), dealers made on average $5,123 in gross profit per vehicle, up by $1,174 from the already high levels of June 2021, according to J.D. Power estimates.
The chart shows ATPs for December and June of each year. Before the pandemic, there was an established seasonality, where the ATP hit a high in December but dropped from there to June every year. But in June 2020, the ATP in June was level with December for the first time. And in 2021 and 2022, the ATP just jumped from December to June without regard to seasonality. The green line connects the Decembers:
Shortages of fuel-efficient vehicles. No shortages at Dodge & Ram dealers.
Plenty of supply at Dodge and Ram dealers: Including in stock and in transit, Dodge dealers ended June with 90 days’ supply, and Ram dealers with 81 days’ supply. The industry considers 60 days about ideal between tight and sufficient.
Fuel efficient vehicles essentially out of stock. At the low end of supply in the non-luxury segments were the Asian brands with fuel-efficient models that were essentially out of stock: Toyota Corolla, Kia Telluride, Toyota Camry, Hyundai Palisade, and Kia Sportage.
At the low end of supply by segment:
Hybrids, 17 days’ supply
Mid-size cars, 22 days’ supply
Compact cars: 24 days’ supply.
Supply of full-size pickups is growing: At the high end of the 30 top-selling models were three pickup trucks and two SUVs: Ram 1500 (79 days), Ford Escape (69 days), followed by Jeep Compass, Ford F-150, and Chevrolet Silverado.
This is now a new inventory problem: the wrong inventory. Through 2020 and 2021, pickup trucks were particularly hard to get, and everyone wanted them. But then gas prices spiked, and suddenly the cost of filling up become one of the purchase considerations, and pickup trucks lost their edge. Demand swiveled to more fuel-efficient vehicles.
But due to the long and complex supply chains, automakers cannot instantly swivel with shifts in demand. And the supply issues, triggered by the semiconductor shortage, have taken on a new dimension through this shift in demand to more fuel-efficient models that automakers were not prepared for.
Used Vehicles: Plenty of supply.
The inventory at used-vehicle dealers, at 2.46 million vehicles at the end of June, was up by 5.5% from a year ago. Compared to 2019, it was down only 10%.
But sales have been lower for months, compared to 2021 and to 2019, as buyers have started to resist the sky-high prices. And days’ supply at the end of June, given the lower rate of sales, edged up to 49 days, just a tad above the average in 2019 (48 days).
Used vehicles: Crazy price spike runs out of fuel.
Between December 2019 and December 2021, over those two years, the average asking price for used vehicles spiked by 42%, or by $8,300 per vehicle, from $19,871 in December 2019 to $28,205 in December 2021, which was totally nuts, and that’s where resistance finally started kicking in.
By June, the average asking price dipped to $28,012, just a little below December. Declines in January, February, and March are seasonally normal, but declines in May and June are not. And by the looks of it, the completely crazy price spike may finally have run out of fuel.
But there is still no over-supply. The inflow into the used vehicle market from rental fleets has been tempered by production shortfalls of new vehicles for rental fleets, and they’re slower in turning over their fleets. And wholesale prices, though they’ve dipped from the spike through December, are still sky-high. In this environment, dealers are not motivated yet to cut prices by a whole bunch in order to move the iron. But at least the price spike has run out of fuel.
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Pent-up supply suddenly shows up – those vacant homes that no one was counting as vacant.
By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.
For the last two years, the story was that there’s no inventory for sale, that there was a housing shortage, and that’s why prices were skyrocketing. Then there were other folks like me that pointed out over and over again that people weren’t putting their old homes on the market after they’d bought a new home, and that these people now owned two or three homes and that they were going to ride up the hottest real estate market ever where prices soared 20% or 30% or more per year, and then they’d sell those vacant homes which no one had ever counted as vacant.
And because they already lived in a home, they could sell their vacant homes without having to buy another home. This is the “shadow inventory” that is now coming on the market, just when mortgage rates have spiked, and sales are plunging. And to get things moving, price reductions are spiking.
Pent-up supply, plunging sales: it’s just the beginning, but it is happening.
Active listings jumped in June by 20% from May, and by 19% from a year ago, the second year-over-year increase in a row, after an 8% jump in May, and both were the first year-over-year increases since June 2019. There were about 98,000 more homes listed for sale in June than a year ago, according to data from the National Association of Realtors today (data at realtor.com):
Active listings jumped for two reasons:
ONE, pending sales in June plunged by 16% year-over-year, after the 12% drop in May, and the 9% drop in April, as potential buyers lost interest in sky-high home prices and holy-moly mortgage rates. These are listings in various stages of the sales process, but before the deal closes. June was the 10th month in a row of year-over-year declines. Back in June, the NAR had reported that “closed” sales in May also dropped for the 10th month in a row. And this doesn’t bode well for closed sales in June:
TWO, new listings rose in June to 562,000 homes, the second highest June in recent years, behind only June 2019. And interestingly, new listings rose in June, when in normal years they peaked in May and dropped in June. I circled the prior Junes (data via realtor.com).
Price reductions spiked by 50% in June from May and about doubled year-over-year, as sellers are trying to get buyers to show up and take a look as foot traffic has dropped and bidding wars have receded into fond memories. This is a sudden reset. But more sellers are coming to grips with a new reality: Prices have to go where the buyers are, and buyers are around somewhere, but they’re a lot lower (data via realtor.com):
Holy-moly mortgage rates – so called because that’s what people utter between their teeth when they first see the mortgage payment for a home they want to buy – are hovering around 6% for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, roughly double of where they’d been in 2020 (data via realtor.com).
This type of mortgage rate, having doubled from not too long ago, and home prices that have spiked by 40% or more over the same two-year period make for a toxic mix. Something has to give, and it’s not going to be the buyers – because they can’t, they’re boxed in – but the sellers. Or there is no deal.
And buyers who could buy, the infamous cash buyers, they don’t want to buy at those prices either, now that the craziness is hissing out of the market. No one wants to overpay at the insane peak of what was a totally crazy market.
Huge difference in listings among the 50 largest metros.
Among the largest 50 metros, the number of active listings in June spiked the most in Austin (+144% year-over-year), Phoenix (+113%), and Raleigh (112%). In 31 other metros, active listings surged by the double-digits. And active listings fell in only a handful of metros, led by Chicago (-13%), Virginia Beach (-14%), and Miami (-16%).
The table is sorted by the year-over-year percent change of active listings (data via realtor.com):
Largest Metros, Active Listings, June 2022
% Change YoY
Austin-Round Rock, TX
144%
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ
113%
Raleigh, NC
112%
Salt Lake City, UT
98%
Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN
86%
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA
72%
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
66%
Sacramento–Roseville–Arden-Arcade, CA
65%
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
62%
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO
58%
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
56%
Tucson, AZ
55%
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX
54%
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA
46%
Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV
45%
Jacksonville, FL
38%
Oklahoma City, OK
37%
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC
37%
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
34%
Memphis, Tenn.-MS-AR
33%
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL
31%
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA
31%
Kansas City, MO
28%
Birmingham-Hoover, AL
26%
San Diego-Carlsbad, CA
25%
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA
23%
Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN
22%
Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN
22%
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
20%
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI
18%
New Orleans-Metairie, LA
16%
Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY
13%
Columbus, OH
12%
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX
10%
Providence-Warwick, RI-MA
6%
St. Louis, MO-IL
5%
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN
5%
Pittsburgh, PA
4%
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
2%
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD
1%
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
0%
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA
0%
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
0%
Cleveland-Elyria, OH
-2%
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
-2%
Rochester, NY
-4%
Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI
-4%
Richmond, VA
-6%
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI
-13%
Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC
-14%
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL
-16%
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June 7 (Reuters) – Target Corp (TGT.N) on Tuesday cut its quarterly profit margin forecast issued just weeks earlier, and said it would have to offer deeper discounts to clear inventory as decades-high inflation takes a toll on demand.
The surprise outlook revision sent shares of Target down nearly 7% in early trading and weighed on the retail sector and broader markets.
The retailer said it would mark down prices in the second quarter, cancel orders with suppliers, strengthen parts of its supply chain and prioritize categories such as food and household essentials.
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Soaring inflation is forcing consumers to change their shopping habits, catching many retailers off guard and forcing them to offer more discounts.
Target, along with Walmart (WMT.N), had reported a much steeper-than-expected drop in quarterly profit in May, sending shockwaves through the retail industry. read more
At the time, Target said its inventory rose 43%, compared with a year earlier, as demand for high-margin discretionary items such as kitchen appliances and televisions waned.
A shopping cart is seen in a Target store in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S., November 14, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
“Target was a retailer that had done exceptionally well at managing inventory challenges, but now when consumers … are pausing to see where they’re spending, what was once an advantage may come back to bite,” Jane Hali & Associates analyst Jessica Ramirez said.
Target’s strategy to keep most of its products affordable compared with its rivals is proving to be costly, with the company now saying it would raise prices on some items to offset the unusually high transportation and fuel costs.
Reuters Graphics
The company now expects second-quarter operating margin to be about 2%, compared with its prior estimate of 5.3%. It also expects margins to be around 6% for the second half of the year.
Still, Target maintained its sales goals for the year, prompting some Wall Street analysts to say the company’s aggressive measures could help it come out on top later in the year.
“While this is a painful period for Target, taking their medicine (again) in Q1 and Q2 does set up for a better second half with cleaner inventories … (and) set up for a better second half for the stock as well,” D.A. Davidson analyst Michael Baker said.
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Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal, Susan Mathew and Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Update: GameStop is now sold out of consoles. Make sure to follow our PS5 restock guide for news of the next drop.
Last month GameStop started experimenting with weekend PS5 restocks. And it would appear the retailer was pleased with the results, as it will be holding another one today (May 28) right in the midst of its Memorial Day sales.
Details of this GameStop PS5 stock drop come via Matt Swider (opens in new tab) of The Shortcut (opens in new tab). Matt is one of the most well-respected stock trackers around with highly dependable sources at practically every major retailer. He’s been able to confirm via his GameStop contacts that the retailer will be holding an in-store PS5 restock this weekend.
This in-store restock event will begin from the opening time of each individual store (which could be as early as 8 a.m. local time). Matt has been able to confirm that only the PS5 Disc console will be available during this drop and on average each location will have around eight consoles available for sale — although, some larger stores are expected to have more.
Additionally, this PS5 restock will require you to be a PowerUp Reward Pro member. GameStop has gated all of its next-gen console restocks behind its premium membership program since early 2021, and we expect the retailer to continue this practice for the foreseeable future. You can get signed up below ahead of its next PS5 restock this weekend.
GameStop is also notorious for selling its allocation of PS5 consoles in pre-built bundles and this restock will continue that trend. There will be three bundles available during this in-store event. The cheapest will cost $718 while the other two will cost $812. All three come with a PS5 Disc console, an additional DualSense controller, and a copy of Gran Turismo 7, as well as additional items that differ depending on the bundle.
The $718 package includes a physical copy of Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart and a $25 PlayStation Network gift card. Whereas the $812 bundles both come with an official Sony Pulse 3D Wireless Headset and then either a copy of MLB The Show 22 or Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut. While none of these bundles are the cheapest way to score a PS5, at least GameStop always charges the combined retail price of the items, so you’re not getting price gouged.
If you’d rather purchase your console online or don’t want to stretch your budget to cover a pricey GameStop bundle, be sure to check our PS5 restock hub. This comprehensive guide is updated daily with the latest updates across all major retailers.
