Brexit, Finding Dory, Distressed Home Sales
June 20, 2016
Monday – June 20
Polling over the weekend showed greater support for Britain to stay in the European Union. And investors took notice. Leading up to the June 23 “Brexit” vote, The Stoxx Europe 600 Index headed for its biggest gain in nearly a year. Oil and sterling also jumped. Leaders around the world have been quite vocal expressing concern that a U.K. exit from the EU would devastate global markets. Campaigning on both sides of the divisive vote was temporarily suspended late last week following the senseless death of a British lawmaker.
Will animated flicks help rack up ticket sales at the box office this summer? “Finding Dory” certainly set the bar high this past weekend with a record-breaking opening weekend of $136.2. The Disney-Pixar sequel beat the previous record holder, “Shrek the Third,” which grossed $121.6 million in 2007. Competition in the kids’ market will be from Disney’s “The BFG,” which comes out on July 1 and “The Secret Life of Pets” on July 8.
In housing news, distressed sales accounted for 10 percent of homes sold nationally in March 2016, according to data analytics firm CoreLogic. Distressed Sales are expected to return to pre-crisis levels in 2018, the firm reported. Distressed sales, which include Real Estate Owned and short sales, accounted for 9.9 percent of total home sales, down 2.7 percent from March 2015. At its peak in January 2009, distressed sales totaled 32.4 percent of all sales. When the share of distressed sales is high, it can pull down the prices of non-distressed sales. The pre-crisis share of distressed sales was traditionally about 2 percent. If the current year-over-year decrease in the distressed sales share continues, it will reach that “normal” 2-percent mark in mid-2018, the firm reported.
