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Chief justice lets Trump remove member of Federal Trade Commission for now

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday let Donald Trump remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by Supreme Court.

Trump first moved to fire Rebecca Slaughter in the spring, but she sued and lower courts ordered her reinstated because the law allows commissioners to be removed only for problems like misconduct or neglect of duty.

Roberts halted those decisions in a brief order, responding to an appeal from the Trump administration on the court’s emergency docket.

The Justice Department has argued that the FTC and other executive branch agencies are under Trump’s control and the Republican president is free to remove commissioners without cause.

Slaughter’s lawsuit over her firing will keep playing out, as Roberts asked her lawyers to respond to the Trump administration’s arguments by next week.

The court has previously allowed the firings of several other board members of independent agencies. It has suggested, however, that his power to fire has limitations at the , a prospect that could soon be tested with the case of Fed Gov. Lisa Cook.

Monday’s order is the latest sign that the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has effectively abandoned a 90-year-old high court precedent that protected some federal agencies from arbitrary presidential action.

In the 1935 decision known as Humphrey’s Executor, the court unanimously held that presidents cannot fire independent board members without cause.

The decision ushered in an era of powerful independent federal agencies charged with regulating labor relations, employment discrimination, the airwaves and much else. But it has long rankled conservative legal theorists who argue the modern administrative state gets the Constitution all wrong because such agencies should answer to the president.

The agency at the center of the case was also the FTC, a point cited by lower-court judges in the lawsuit filed by Slaughter. She has ping-ponged in and out of the job as the case worked its way through the courts.

The FTC is a regulator created by Congress that enforces consumer protection measures and antitrust legislation. Its seats are typically comprised of three members of the president’s party and two from the opposing party.

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South Koreans feel betrayed by workforce detentions at Georgia Hyundai plant

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s foreign minister departed for the U.S. on Monday to finalize steps for the return of several hundred South Korean workers detained in a massive immigration raid in Georgia, a spectacle that has caused confusion, shock and a sense of betrayal among many in the U.S.-allied nation.

The Sept. 4 raid on a battery factory under construction at a sprawling Hyundai auto plant resulted in the detainment of 475 workers, more than 300 them South Koreans. Some were shown being shackled with chains around their hands, ankles and waists in video released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

South Korea announced Sunday that the U.S. has agreed to release them and that it would bring them home on a charter flight once final administrative steps are completed.

Donald Trump said the workers “were here illegally,” and that instead, the U.S. needs to work out arrangements with countries like South Korea to bring their experts in to train U.S. citizens to do work such as battery and computer .

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters in London that Trump sent a “powerful” message to investors and their employees.

“His message today that he sent to the world was, ‘Listen, our laws will be enforced, and we’re encouraging all companies who want to come to the United States and help our and employ people, that we encourage them to employ U.S. citizens and to bring people to our country that want to follow our laws and work here the right way,’” she said.

South Korean politicians roiled

Appearing at a legislative hearing before his departure, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun called the raid “a very serious matter” that he hadn’t anticipated at all, as many lawmakers lamented the American operation.

“If U.S. authorities detain hundreds of Koreans in this manner, almost like a military operation, how can South Korean companies investing in the U.S. continue to invest properly in the future?” said Cho Jeongsik, a lawmaker from the liberal governing Democratic Party.

Another lawmaker, Kim Gi-hyeon from the conservative opposition People Power Party, said the “unacceptable” raid dealt South Korea a “severe blow that will be difficult to heal.”

Some lawmakers even called for the government to retaliate by investigating Americans who are alleged to work illegally in South Korea.

Seoul has expressed regret over the raid, but experts say it won’t likely take any major tit-for-tat measures given the country’s security dependence on the U.S. in deterring potential North Korean aggressions and other spheres of cooperation between the two countries, including business ties.

Many South Koreans are stunned

The Trump administration has made a series of workplace raids to fulfill its mass deportation agenda, but this was the Homeland Security agency’s largest yet at a single site, and targeted Georgia, a symbol of bilateral cooperation where many large South Korean businesses operate and plan future investments.

Particularly stunning is that this raid came only weeks after South Korea promised to pour hundreds of billions of dollars into U.S. investments as part of a tariff deal, and days after Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung held their first summit meeting in Washington on Aug. 25.

“The way that Trump is pressuring the Korean government and inflicting damages on its people is very rough and unilateral,” said Kim Taewoo, former head of Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification. “Can this be forgotten easily in South Korea? In a long-term perspective, it won’t be good for U.S. national interests as well.”

In an editorial Monday, South Korea’s biggest newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, wrote that “Fundamental doubts emerge: What does the U.S. mean by ‘alliance,’ and are investment benefits guaranteed across administrations?”

Paik Wooyeal, a professor at Seoul’s Yonsei University said the U.S. goal of restoring manufacturing through foreign investments is colliding with its lack of visa and immigration systems that could support such an effort.

South Korean companies operating in the U.S. will likely suffer “a great confusion” as they will now be forced to bring workers back home to resolve visa issues, he said. Such developments would undermine U.S. interests, but Trump won’t likely make any concessions anytime soon, Paik predicted.

South Koreans question US visa system

Steven Schrank, the lead Georgia agent of Homeland Security Investigations, said Friday that some of the detained workers had illegally crossed the U.S. border, while others had entered legally but had expired visas or had entered on a visa waiver that prohibited them from working.

But South Korean officials and experts have expressed frustration over what they call strict U.S. limits on visas for highly skilled foreign workers to protect its domestic workforce, and inaction on Seoul’s calls to expand work visas for skilled South Korean nationals. As a result, South Korean companies have been relying on short-term visitor visas or the Electronic System for Travel Authorization to send the workers they need to launch manufacturing facilities or handle other setup tasks.

“The incident will inevitably exacerbate shortages of skilled workers with legal work authorization and create pressure for increases in labor costs, potentially disrupting operations and rising costs across major business projects in the United States,” South Korea’s Eugene Investment & Securities said in a report Monday.

Daishin Securities, meanwhile, predicted in a report that the raid could delay operations at the targeted battery plant, which was slated to begin production early next year, potentially affecting Hyundai’s EV business in America.

During Monday’s legislative hearing, Cho, the foreign minister, told lawmakers that the U.S. had “not responded adequately” to South Korea’s requests to expand visas for its workers, and that Seoul plans to use this raid as an opportunity to move related negotiations forward.

Cho said some of the people detained in Georgia may need to return to the site to complete their work at the factory, and that South Korean officials are negotiating to ensure they can reenter the United States.

“I will clearly point out to them that a delay in (the factory’s) completion would also cause significant losses for the United States,” Cho said.

PNC to buy FirstBank for $4.1B, expanding to Arizona, Colorado

NEW YORK (AP) — PNC Financial said Monday that it plans to buy Colorado-based FirstBank for $4.1 billion, giving PNC a substantial presence in the Colorado banking market as well as Arizona.

Based in Lakewood, Colorado., FirstBank, which is also branded as 1stBank, is a midsized bank that operates 120 retail branches with $26.7 billion in assets. The bank is privately held, but the banks disclosed that the stockholders of FirstBank who collectively own 45.7% of the shares have already voted in favor of the merger.

“Its deep retail deposit base, unrivaled branch network in Colorado, growing presence in Arizona, and trusted community relationships make it an ideal partner for PNC,” said Bill Demchak, chairman and chief executive officer of PNC, in a statement.

PNC has been on an streak in the last few years that has made the Pennsylvania bank one of the biggest players in retail banking in the country, as PNC executives like to say “a coast-to-coast banking franchise.” PNC bought the U.S. operations of Spanish bank BBVA shortly after the pandemic for $11.6 billion. The bank has also been opening new branches in multiple markets, but particularly in the Southwest.

The FirstBank acquisition will make PNC the largest bank in the Denver market, and will give PNC more than 70 branches in Arizona. PNC will also grow to roughly $575 billion in assets.

The FirstBank purchase will put PNC closer in size to Capital One and U.S. Bank, who are PNC’s closest rivals. U.S. Bank, in particular, operates heavily in the Colorado and Arizona market.

Alex Overstrom, head of retail for the bank, said PNC may consider additional acquisitions to build out its franchise.

“We are not slowing down our organic growth but may consider opportunities as they arise,” Overstrom said, in an interview.

PNC is typically referred to as a super regional bank, a group of large national banks that are significant in size, often hundreds of billions in assets and hundreds of branches, but are dwarfed in size by the banking giants Wells Fargo, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, who have size and scale that the super regionals cannot replicate.

The super regionals have been growing considerably in recent years in order to better compete with the Wall Street titans in various businesses. For example, Capital One bought Discover Financial, which jointly created the nation’s largest credit card company. Huntington Bancshares bought Detroit’s TCF back in 2021.

Stocks tick higher after Wall Street flirts with another record

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks drifted higher on Monday ahead of a week with several data reports that could dictate by how much or even whether the  will cut interest rates at its next meeting in a week.

The S&P 500 added 0.2% and finished just below its record set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 114 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.5% to its own all-time high.

AppLovin and Robinhood Markets helped lead the market after learning they will join the S&P 500 index later this month, along with Emcor Group. Many investment funds directly mimic the index or at least compare their performance against it, so a stock’s joining the list of the 500 largest companies can draw investors’ dollars immediately.

AppLovin climbed 11.6%, and Robinhood jumped 15.8% while Emcor slipped 0.6%. They will replace three companies that have shrunk enough in size to get demoted to S&P’s index of small stocks, the SmallCap 600. Those stocks, MarketAxess Holdings, Caesars Entertainment and Enphase Energy, ranged from a loss of 2.1% to a gain of 0.2%.

jumped 19.9% after saying it agreed to sell to ‘s for $17 billion in cash and stock. SpaceX also agreed to pay for roughly $2 billion of interest payments on EchoStar debt through November 2027.

The deal will help SpaceX’s business develop direct-to-cell service, and it knocked down stocks of several telecoms. Verizon sank 2.4%, and dropped 2.3%.

PNC Financial Services Group slipped 0.3% after it said it would pay $4.1 billion to buy FirstBank, a bank owner based in Lakewood, Colorado.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 13.65 points to 6,495.15. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 114.09 to 45,514.95, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 98.31 to 21,798.70 and topped its prior all-time high set in August.

Trading across most of the market was relatively quiet ahead of updates coming later this week on the economy and inflation. They could alter expectations among traders, who at the moment are unanimously forecasting the Fed will cut its main interest rate for the first time this year at its meeting two Wednesdays from now.

Investors tend to love such cuts because they can give a boost to the economy and to prices for investments. The downside of them is that they can also push inflation higher.

So far this year, the Fed has been more worried about the potential of inflation worsening because of President Donald Trump’s than about the job market. But a slew of recent reports showing the U.S. job market is slowing may be changing minds.

On Tuesday, the U.S. government will release preliminary revisions for job growth numbers reported through March, and it could show that was weaker than earlier thought.

Reports on inflation will follow on Wednesday and Thursday, showing how much prices rose last month at the wholesale and at the consumer levels. If inflation proves to be worse than expected, it could tie the Fed’s hands.

Fed officials would need to decide which problem is more pressing, either the job market or inflation, because they have only one tool to fix them. And raising or lowering interest rates to help one tends to hurt the other in the short term.

U.S. companies have been trying several ways to preserve their profits in the face of tariffs, which push up prices for all kinds of things imported to the country. Many industrial companies are talking about their ability to raise prices, according to strategists at Morgan Stanley led by Michelle Weaver. Companies that sell nonessentials directly to consumers, meanwhile, are talking more about stockpiled inventories, which could be delaying the hit that U.S. households will feel.

In the bond market, Treasury yields continued to ease as expectations remain high for the Fed to cut interest rates. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.04% from 4.10% late Friday and from 4.28% last Tuesday.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.5% for one of the larger gains after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced that he plans to resign.

Analysts said Ishiba’s announcement was expected for some time and welcomed it as moving things forward, although uncertainty remains as the ruling Liberal Democratic Party will need to hold an election to choose a new leader. Ishiba will remain prime minister until his successor is chosen and approved by parliament.

Also Monday, Japan’s Cabinet Office said the economy expanded at a stronger rate in the fiscal first quarter than previously estimated, at a seasonally adjusted 2.2% annualized rate, better than the earlier 1.0% rate as solid and inventories lifted growth more than previously thought.

Fed’s Fifth District sees modest growth


SUMMARY:

  • Jobs in the Fed’s Fifth District were mostly flat, with some layoffs and freezes due to uncertainty
  • Year-over-year prices ticked up slightly, with services more affected than manufacturing
  • Maritime port volumes dipped slightly, particularly for agriculture exports hit by Chinese retaliatory

The ‘s Fifth District — a region encompassing Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, D.C., and most of West Virginia — saw its grow modestly in recent weeks despite numerous sources raising concerns about , according to the latest edition of the Fed’s , released last week.

Published eight times per year, the Beige Book is based on anecdotal information about gathered from the nation’s 12 Federal Reserve Banks. It is compiled from reports by Fed executives, as well as information collected from business contacts, community organizations, economists, market experts and other sources. The September edition is an update from the Fed’s July 13 report.

The most recent Beige Book edition revealed that employment flatlined, with most firms making minor adjustments to ensure the correct headcount for the current level of demand. For instance, a dental implant manufacturer laid off several employees in anticipation of weaker demand for new orders, while policy changes created uncertainty for many firms and impacted their ability to make future hiring plans.

Construction companies faced increased difficulties finding workers due to a limited immigrant labor pool and expressed skepticism about future labor availability. Due to increased economic uncertainty, a building materials supplier scaled back its hiring plans.

Fed sources reported a noticeable increase in wages, with one Maryland car lubrication system installer saying the increases were to accommodate the cost of living.

Year-over-year price growth increased slightly in recent months, with manufacturers reporting low price growth (low 3% range) and nonmanufacturers reporting a somewhat higher annual price growth. Firms in the services sector that reported the largest increases in year-over-year prices received tended to have higher exposure to tariffs, particularly wholesale and retail sellers of metals, wood products, appliances, and other imported equipment and machinery.

The Fifth District’s manufacturing activity continued to decline amid rising costs and supply chain disruptions caused by tariffs. Multiple businesses described uncertainty in tariff policy as “a significant administrative burden,” requiring them to allocate resources to understand and track its impacts. Even manufacturers not directly impacted by tariffs felt secondary effects. For example, a printer manufacturer that doesn’t import products reported supplier cost increases of five to 15% due to tariffs.

A glass manufacturer noted that tariffs have forced their main supplier out of business while other suppliers consolidated into fewer plants.

Overall cargo volumes at maritime ports — excluding automobiles and heavy machinery — were slightly down this cycle, the Fed reports. Fed sources attributed the decline to frontloading and high warehousing levels. They also attributed a decrease in agricultural exports to retaliatory tariffs from China. The contacts reported that ocean freight carriers have been adjusting their vessels and services in response to the Chinese vessel tax and don’t expect it to have much of an impact on volumes.

Meanwhile, trucking demand remained flat, with sources reporting continued low volumes and low revenue. For example, one trucking firm acquired a company that chose to sell, despite still being profitable, because of slim profit margins and a sluggish market.

continued to modestly increase during the most recent reporting period, with most retailers reporting steady sales and foot traffic and hotel contacts reporting growth driven by leisure travel. The Fed reports that auto, motorcycle, and boat sales all increased in recent weeks and that travel and tourism activity picked up modestly. However, business travel was down, especially in the Washington, D.C., area, due to fewer conferences and training events being held in recent months.

Fifth District residential transactions slightly decreased during the summer, as expected. A North Carolina agent was quoted as saying, “It feels like we are living in two markets: those listing at the right price or those listing like it is 2021.” A Virginia broker said many potential homebuyers struggle with monthly payments, which “aren’t realistic with today’s rates.” Some agents fear that renting will continue to be more affordable than buying a house.

The Fed reported that remained unchanged on balance. On the development side, several builders raised concerns about tariffs, zoning regulations, an aging workforce and immigration policies driving up construction costs. Agents contacted said they were uncertain about the effects of “The Big Beautiful Bill” on the market. And brokers in Virginia, Maryland and D.C. said that office space was in “modern turmoil,” with outdated office buildings being torn down and sold for land value while companies impose return-to-office mandates.

Financial institutions continued to report steady demand for all loan types, with some reporting a slight increase for residential mortgages and auto loans. Both deposit levels and loan delinquencies remained stable, and there was no meaningful change reported in the creditworthiness of borrowers.

Nonfinancial service providers saw continued stable demand for their services, but many expressed uncertainty. Firms noted clients being more fiscally conservative and delaying investment and growth plans until the economic picture becomes clearer.

Kettler names president of development

McLean-based development and property management company announced on Monday that James Nozar has joined the firm as its of development.

Nozar, who has about 20 years of experience as an industry executive, was most recently chief development officer at Method Co. Before that, he was of East+Main, a Massachusetts-based real estate advisory services company, and founding CEO of Tampa, Florida-based Strategic Property Partners, where he spearheaded the initial development phase for Water Street Tampa, a $4 billion, 56-acre waterfront neighborhood.

At Kettler, Nozar will lead development efforts of the Gasworx project in Tampa. Kettler broke ground on the multiphase project in 2023. Axios reports that Kettler and Ybor City developer Darryl Shaw have invested more than $500 million in the project, which will add 5,000 residences, 500,000 square feet of office space and 140,000 square feet of retail to Tampa.

Situated at the edge of Ybor City, Kettler describes the project as “one of [the] most ambitious urban redevelopments in America.” Nozar will also oversee planned future projects in Orlando and St. Petersburg.

“Kettler’s vision and commitment to building communities that blend history, culture and innovation deeply resonate with me,” said Nozar in a statement. “Gasworx represents an opportunity to once again shape Tampa’s urban fabric in meaningful ways. I look forward to working with the team and local stakeholders to execute this vision as well as future Kettler developments nationwide.”’

Kettler founder and CEO Bob Kettler said in a statement that Nozar’s background and “deep industry connections” will aid Kettler in developing communities.

Kettler is focused on expanding its presence in high-growth markets like Florida, said company President Cindy Fisher, and Nozar “brings a proven track record of executing transformative projects. His knowledge of the real estate landscape, combined with his ability to deliver results, will help drive growth and revenue across our portfolio while ensuring Gasworx becomes a landmark destination.”

Founded in 1977 and headquartered in , Kettler is a vertically integrated, mixed-use and multifamily-focused investment firm, real estate and land developer and property management company. Kettler has developed over 25,000 multifamily units, 8 million square feet of commercial space, more than 78,000 homes and many of the D.C. region’s mixed-use communities. The company also manages approximately 30,000 apartments in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions.

US housing market shifts toward buyers as prices cool

Summary

  • becomes more favorable for buyers
  • falling or rising slowly, mainly in South & West
  • More listings, with homes staying unsold longer
  • Sellers cutting prices, offering concessions on deals
  • remains low—only 28% of homes in reach

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Skyrocketing housing values and a shortage of homes on the market gave homeowners the upper hand for years when it came time to sell. That’s no longer a given.

Across the country, it’s getting tougher for sellers to drive a hard bargain. A dearth of home shoppers who can afford to buy and uncertainty about the outlook for the , jobs and is putting pressure on sellers to give ground at the negotiating table.

In some markets, mainly in the South and West, homeowners who are eager to sell are more likely to give buyers a better deal. This could include a lower price, up-front money to nudge down the buyer’s mortgage rate, and funds for closing costs and any repairs or improvements that may pop up after the home inspection.

The reasons: Would-be buyers balk at what they view as unreasonable asking prices, while at the same time new construction is giving buyers more options and putting pressure on sellers to make their homes more appealing.

As a result, while the national median home listing price rose slightly in July, some metro areas saw a decline, signaling a reversal in the power dynamic between buyers and sellers. It’s rare to see the type of eye-popping bidding wars that exploded home values by roughly 50% nationally earlier this decade. Low-ball offers are more common.

Despite this hopeful trend, the housing market remains mired in a slump. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes are running about 1.3% below where they were through the first seven months of last year, when they sank to their lowest level in nearly 30 years.

The national median home listing price rose slightly in July from a year earlier to $439,450, according to Realtor.com. The listing company found the most a homebuyer who earns the median U.S. household income can afford to spend on a home is $298,000. The analysis assumes a 20% down payment and a 30-year mortgage at a fixed rate of 6.74%. By those criteria, 7 out of 10 home shoppers are priced out of the market.

Homes linger on the market as sales slow

The housing market has been in a rut since 2022, when mortgage rates began climbing from historic lows. The number of homes available for sale sank while prices kept rising.

Nationally, more homes are going on sale and remaining unsold longer because buyers have been unwilling or unable to make a deal. Active listings — a tally that encompasses all homes on the market except those pending a finalized sale — increased in July for the 21st month in a row, climbing nearly 25% from a year earlier, according to Realtor.com.

The tide turns slowly

The inventory of homes for sale across the U.S. has increased gradually as the market has slowed and is now at a level where supply and demand are more balanced. But in states like Texas and Florida, the number of homes on the market has climbed sharply, partly because those states are hotbeds of new home construction.

Home shoppers may now have more leverage relative to sellers in the South and West, where home inventory has risen in the single digits, compared to pre-pandemic levels. Conditions are tougher in markets in the Midwest and Northeast, where the supply of homes remains 40% and 50% below pre-pandemic levels, respectively, according to Realtor.com.

Sellers feel the pinch and budge on price

After roughly two months on the market and three open houses, Doug McCormick’s home has yet to receive a single offer.

The retired business owner and his wife initially listed the 4-bedroom, 4.5-bath house located in Evergreen, a mountain community about 30 miles west of Denver, for $1.3 million. They lowered their asking price to about $1.28 million. That, too, failed to bring in a buyer.

McCormick, 80, says he’s hoping mortgage rates ease a bit and bring out more buyers. But he’s also considering just renting the property.

“That’s something that’s kind of in the back of my mind,” he said. “I keep reminding myself you only need one buyer.”

McCormick’s situation is not unique. As demand has slowed, more sellers have resorted to lowering their initial asking price — often multiple times — to no avail.

“Even though we are seeing a substantial amount of price reductions, sometimes it’s not enough to move the home, it’s still sitting,” said Annie Foushee, an agent with Redfin in Denver.

The median home listing price in Austin fell 4.9% in July from a year earlier, while in Miami it dropped 4.7%. Among other metro areas that had sharp drops in their listing price were: Chicago (4.4%), Los Angeles (4.2%) and Denver (4%).

When buyers are also sellers

Lindsay Olesberg and her husband, John, know what it’s like to navigate both sides of the housing slump.

The couple listed their 4-bedroom, 3.5-bath home outside Albuquerque for $835,000 in June 2024 after John, a research scientist, got a new job in Texas. The plan: Sell their house, move to Austin and buy a home there. It took more than a year, during which the couple lowered their asking price several times, temporarily took the home off the market and had some offers fall through.

In the end, they agreed to sell for $40,000 below their original listing price.

Buying a home was much easier. The Olesbergs had little trouble finding homes they liked and could afford in Austin, where home inventory was up nearly 60% in July compared to pre-pandemic levels.

They bought a five-bedroom, three-bath house in Austin for $735,000, or $30,000 below its initial listing price. The seller also agreed to cover $1,000 in fees.

“We got less for our house in New Mexico than we would have wanted,” said Lindsay Olesberg, 59, a Bible teacher. “But at the same time, you also knew it was a buyer’s market in Austin, so the prices were coming down.”

Taking homes off the market

In markets where buyers now have the upper hand, sellers who can afford to wait are often opting to pull their listing rather than be pressured into coming way down on price.

Tammy Tullis put her home in the Miami suburb of South Miami on the market in June. But the four-bedroom, 3.5-bath house didn’t receive many offers initially, so she dropped her $2.8 million asking price by $100,000. That helped drive turnout during an open house, but she only received low-ball offers.

“They were like $400,000-$500,000 off the mark,” said Tullis, 51.

Last month, the finance consultant took the listing down. She may relist it sooner, rather than later.

“I want to sell, but I’m not in a rush-rush,” Tullis said.

Lower rates ahead?

The Trump administration has pushed the to lower interest rates, saying doing so will help the housing market. But homebuyers – and politicians – should keep in mind that the central bank only directly influences short-term rates, while most mortgages are based on the yield of the 10-year Treasury. So, lower mortgage rates wouldn’t be a given, even if the Fed cuts rates next week, as the market expects.

And while lower mortgage rates would boost home shoppers’ purchasing power, they also could bring in more buyers, giving sellers less incentive to keep lowering prices.

Economists generally expect the average rate on a 30-year mortgage to remain near the mid-6% range this year.

SpaceX, EchoStar strike $17B spectrum deal for Starlink

Elon Musk’s has reached a deal worth about $17 billion with for that it will use to beef up its satellite network.

The deal for EchoStar’s AWS-4 and H-block spectrum licenses includes up to $8.5 billion in cash and up to $8.5 billion in SpaceX stock. SpaceX will make approximately $2 billion in cash interest payments on EchoStar debt through November 2027.

SpaceX and EchoStar will enter into a long-term commercial agreement which will allow EchoStar’s Boost Mobile subscribers to access SpaceX’s next generation Starlink Direct to Cell service.

Shares of EchoStar surged 19% before the market opened Monday.

Last month  said that it will spend $23 billion to acquire wireless spectrum licenses from EchoStar, a significant expansion of its low- and mid-band coverage networks.

EchoStar said that it anticipates that the AT&T deal and the SpaceX transaction will resolve recent inquiries from the Federal Communications Commission about the rollout of 5G technology in the U.S. The had been calling for hearings on whether Echostar was properly using the spectrum that it is now selling, and its efforts to make 5G more available to communities.

EchoStar said Monday that it will use the proceeds from the sale partly to pay down debt. Current operations of Dish TV, Sling and Hughes will not be impacted, the company said.

Arlington pays Amazon HQ2 incentives for first time


SUMMARY:

  • will pay first local over East Coast headquarters
  • Economist notes HQ2 growth slower than expected, but still a positive for the region
  • Construction of HQ2’s second phase, PenPlace, remains on pause

For the first time since approving Amazon’s incentive package for its HQ2 East Coast headquarters in 2019, Arlington County will finally cut Amazon a check — triggered by the county’s hotel tax revenue finally meeting a required threshold.

Amazon opened the first phase of HQ2, the $2.5 billion Metropolitan Park, in Arlington in May 2023. About 8,500 employees currently work out of HQ2 five days a week. The county recently announced that it will award Amazon a grant payment of $81,745, based on the performance of revenue from the county’s Transit Occupancy Tax (TOT), a lodging tax.

In March 2019, the Arlington Board of Supervisors approved a performance agreement making Amazon eligible for incentive payments from the grant when the county’s TOT revenue exceeds a baseline of $24,972,737. This was done with the assumption that Amazon’s new offices would attract more people to the county on business trips, staying at hotels and spending money in the area.

The county’s performance agreement also required Amazon to gradually occupy more and more office space in the county over a 15-year period. While Amazon never had issues meeting the occupancy performance targets, the TOT revenue threshold was not reached until this year, a likely function of the pandemic impairments to the travel and lodging industries. The most recent fiscal year, which ended on June 30, was the first time since the county entered into the agreement with Amazon that its local lodging tax revenue exceeded the baseline amount. (The county’s TOT revenue for FY25 totaled $25.5 million, $544,968 above the baseline.)

“This milestone reflects the positive impact of Amazon’s investments in the county and its position as a significant and valued member of Arlington’s business community,” the county said in a statement.

Destiny Esper, a spokesperson with Arlington County , said the first half of the fiscal year saw continued post-pandemic recovery in business and leisure travel, and that there was “steady activity across Arlington.” She noted Amazon’s presence contributes to weekday demand in National Landing, but added Arlington does not attribute countywide lodging growth to any single employer.

Economist Terry Clower, Chair and professor of public policy at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government, says the payment illustrates how well-structured Arlington’s performance agreement was with Amazon.

Unlike many economic development incentive efforts, which often become “corporate giveaways,” he noted, the county was smart to require Amazon to meet certain performance metrics before awarding incentive funding. Too often, Clower added, jurisdictions “write a blank check” to lure companies and then are left waiting a long time for jobs to materialize and revenue targets to be met.

Clower said it’s “good news” that Amazon has reached a point where it has helped generate enough revenue for the county to pay the incentives as obligated.

The first phase of HQ2 includes a 2.5-acre public park and 2.1 million square feet of office space spread across two 22-story office towers. It also features more than 50,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, which is home to 13 local small businesses — the majority of which are women- and minority-owned.

Recent challenges

Despite the touted benefits of Amazon’s second headquarters to the county, HQ2 has hit some roadblocks. When Amazon picked Arlington as the site for HQ2 in 2018 amid a heated national competition among states, Amazon said it expected to create 25,000 jobs by 2030. But in an April 1 application requesting payment of taxpayer-funded incentives from the state, Amazon checked the “moderate” box as a reflection of its confidence that it would meet that job target by 2038. In every previous application filed with the state, Amazon had checked the “high” confidence box.

In its April application to the state, Amazon requested more than $6.4 million from Virginia’s Major Headquarters Workforce Grant Payment, a grant that pays out $22,000 per qualifying job. The average annual wage paid for these positions is above the wage target specified in the agreement of $161,593. The application said that last year, Amazon hired 293 incentive-qualifying employees.

Between 2018 and the end of 2024, Amazon hired 7,232 employees at HQ2 who qualified for incentives, falling short of its goal of 10,000 qualifying workers by 2024.

“While we experienced incremental new job growth in 2024, we exceeded hiring goals in previous years,” Holly Sullivan, Amazon’s vice of worldwide economic development, stated in the document.

In 2023, the company paused construction on HQ2’s second phase, PenPlace, which was set to include 3.3 million square feet of office and retail space spread across three 22-story buildings.

Amazon’s progress with HQ2 has been “slower than I think most people anticipated,” Clower said, noting that HQ2 was likely impacted by economic challenges stemming from the COVID pandemic, as well as Amazon initially overhiring workers during the e-commerce boom that kicked off just before the pandemic. He said the company has still contributed to economic growth in the region, just at a slower pace than some initially anticipated.

“From a local job creation [standpoint], particularly in light of what’s going on with the federal government, I’d love to see Amazon’s hiring pick up in pace to create more opportunities for folks that may be in other sectors so that they can maybe, with a little bit of retraining, be eligible for jobs” with Amazon, Clower said. “However, I would much rather [Amazon] slow the pace of the development of the second building, so that you don’t wind up with a huge piece of inventory being added to the market that’s underutilized.”

Esper, the Arlington Economic Development spokesperson, said that Amazon and the county’s vision “remains intact even as timing evolves.” In a statement, she added, “Amazon’s agreements for HQ2 represent a long-term commitment spanning 20 years. As with any major project or investment of this scale, economic fluctuations are natural and anticipated. Amazon has reiterated its long-term commitment to Arlington and Virginia, continues to meet or exceed its occupancy targets each year, and remains active in the community.”

An Amazon spokesperson said the company had indefinitely paused construction on PenPlace, but stressed that the second phase isn’t dead. The company says it currently has “ample space” to grow at Met Park.

“HQ2 has always been a long-term commitment and we are proud of the progress we have made,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. “In addition to creating thousands of direct and indirect jobs to-date, we’ve invested more than $2.5 billion in capital investments, $1.2 billion to preserve and create over 9,500 affordable housing units and provided $239 million to more than 100 local nonprofits and schools.”

The spokesperson noted the company has so far reached 30% of its hiring goal, and that Amazon has brought “thousands of new direct and indirect jobs to HQ2.”

In June, Arlington’s county board granted a three-year extension to Amazon for plans to develop PenPlace, with a deadline of June 30, 2028, to act on the plan.

Zephyr AI taps new CEO

McLean-based tech announced last week that it has appointed Allen Chao as its new and acquired cancer data company Aster Insights.

Chao — who has over 40 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry — succeeds Jeff Sherman, Zephyr’s co-founder and chief technology officer, who served as CEO in an interim capacity for more than a year. Chao founded Watson Pharmaceuticals in 1984 and served as its CEO and chairman until 2008.

During his time with Watson, Chao grew it from a small drug development company in Corona, California, to a global enterprise with $2.8 billion in annual revenue.

He has spent much of his career supporting cancer research and established the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at UC Irvine in 1994.

“As a longtime champion of the team at Zephyr, I’m excited to be joining the company at a time when our technology puts our products squarely at the forefront of precision medicine,” said Chao in a statement.

The company also stated that Aster Insights, a Tampa, Florida-based company that provides oncology data, is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Zephyr. The financial terms of the were not disclosed. Aster supports Total Cancer Care, the world’s largest and longest-running observational cancer study with more than 400,000 lifetime-consented patients.

Zephyr says its AI-driven platform, combined with Aster’s data, will expand its oncology data capabilities and help lead to expedited drug development, smarter clinical trial design and improved care delivery.

“This acquisition deepens Zephyr’s data advantage and reinforces our commitment to using AI and real-world evidence to unlock more effective, personalized therapies,” said Chao in a statement. “We believe the combination of Zephyr’s platform and Aster Insights’ unparalleled data access positions us to deliver differentiated insights to our life science partners and, ultimately, better patient outcomes.”

The companies have already begun integration efforts. Zephyr did not provide information on the number of its employees.

Founded in 2020, Zephyr AI develops -powered algorithms that can glean insights from health care data. Last year, the company raised $111 million in a Series A funding round from about 30 investors, including Revolution Growth, Eli Lilly & Co., Jeff Skoll, and Epiq Capital Group. In March 2022, Zephyr AI raised $18.5 million in a seed round.