The Yale endowment plans to offload about $2.5 billion of private equity stakes. Secondhand buyers had considered valuing pieces of the portfolio at a 15% haircut, though the overall discount is expected to be less than 10%.
Trade Deficit
US trade deficit fell to $61.6B in April, the lowest since Sept. 2023. Imports fell 16%, with consumer goods down 32%, driven by a $26B drop in pharmaceutical products. Exports rose 3% to a record $289.4B, possibly due to countries buying before retaliatory measures.
Luxury Airport Hotels
Luxury hotels inside airports are having a moment. Affluent vacationers and business travelers are splurging before or after a flight in the same way they are paying up for cushier plane seats with more perks.
PE Portfolio
Private-equity firms are sitting on a record 29,000 companies worth $3.6 trillion, half of which they have owned for five years or more
Luxury Homes
Pending sales in the luxury segment of the housing market have fallen to their lowest level nationally in more than a decade. Luxury housing prices were up 6.5% year over year as of April, and pending sales were down about 10%, that's about three times the decline of pending sales observed within the non-luxury housing market.
Return To Office
Mandated return-to-office levels are at their highest point in the last three years, with 56% of human-resources leaders saying their companies had such policies now in place. The percentage of organizations without a mandated policy dropped from 12% in 2023 to just 5% this year.
United JetBlue
United and JetBlue are partnering, expanding JetBlue’s reach and allowing United to resume JFK flights.
HON Split
Honeywell International HON 2.00%increase; green up pointing triangle is adding an executive from activist investor Elliott Investment Management to its board ahead of the industrial conglomerate’s split into three companies.
RealPage AI
RealPage is facing dozens of price-fixing lawsuits and class actions from state regulators and private plaintiffs. The Justice Department is also suing the company and several major landlords that use its software alleging its pricing software enables illegal landlord collusion, causing rent spikes.
Home Sales
Sales of previously owned homes in April fell 0.5% from March to a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 4 million units- the slowest April pace since 2009. There were 1.45 million homes for sale at the end of April, which at the current sales pace represents a 4.4-month supply- the highest level in five years.
