Debt Crises | Housing Market Cools | Ray-Ban Stories

U.S. Debt Ceiling: Congress is quickly running out of time to reach a deal to raise the federal borrowing limit. If a deal is not reached, the government runs out of money to pay its bills. The ceiling was suspended in 2019 and was reinstated automatically at the beginning of August. If there is no Congressional agreement, it would disrupt/suspend certain pension payments, delay interest payments and affect federal employees’ salaries. This obviously would affect the government’s ability to remain open.

Everyone is Talking about Evergrande: A giant Chinese real estate developer is $300 billion in debt and widely expected to default on bond payments soon. Beijing is expected to step in and engineer a resolution. If they don’t, an unraveling could prove catastrophic for China’s economy, one of the major engines of global growth. Debt seems to be a thing this week!

Housing Market Cools: The turbocharged housing market cooled a bit in August as near record asking prices are giving buyers some pause. August existing-home sales posted a 2% decline from July, the biggest monthly decline since April. While the frenzy is abating with school starting and workers returning to the office, the housing market remains active with low mortgage rates.

Quick Hits:

• Through August, companies have announced mergers and acquisitions worth more than $1.8 trillion in the U.S. and more than $3.6 trillion globally. Deals are on track to surpass the records set in 2015.
• The median credit score rose 10 points in the second quarter to 707, the highest level in 13 years, according to Experian. Average card balances fell for every generation except Gen Z, which saw balances jump by $115 year over year.
• Relief payments provided by the government lifted 11.7 million people out of poverty last year, while expanded unemployment benefits kept another 5.5 million from falling below the poverty line despite the economic devastation.

Facebook Fills in for Google: The latest wearable “smart” glasses were recently developed and released by Facebook, partnering with Ray-Ban sunglasses. Called the Ray-Ban Stories, the $299 glasses house two cameras, two speakers, three microphones, and a Snapdragon processing chip. Facebook’s audio assistant is there, too, which allows you to shoot photos while still walking the dog. While privacy concerns will undoubtedly be a topic of conversation, many argue that the prime feature of these is the audio functionality because you can listen to a podcast on a run without worrying about earbuds.