The world is a much different place under QE and the asset owners win
Heads, asset owners win; tails, asset owners win
Hi…
I’ve gained a lot from your blog — when you told people to buy houses before Biden got in when there was much uncertainty, I took your advice and added 10 properties (mainly SFRs) to my portfolio in 12 months. I credit you to a large degree in getting me to take action in the face of the smoke and mirrors.
[I] would sure appreciate to be put on any email list you put out in the future. I’ve been following you since you were on short wave in the Makow days.
Many thanks
N
So, you were that one listener who downloaded those podcasts back then and listened to my shortwave show. 🙂
This is great news. I am glad you continued to build your rental portfolio in the face of the Zerohedge and Alex Jones pro-Russian collapse propaganda from the last decade and during the last presidential “election”. Those who understood what this blog articulated spotted the boundless opportunities all last decade and during the earliest months of the COVID scam to begin investing or adding to their income-generating assets.
It sounds like your holdings may be larger than mine. For the average person I cannot think of a more effective means to stay ahead of the unwashed masses than by procuring SFRs. This blog has always maintained that by owning rentals we don’t have to be concerned with how the economy transforms (or collapses for the many). We let our tenants figure our how to make the money to pay us. These people have to live somewhere and we provide a valuable service. Landlords have owned rentals since before the flood and will still be here when Jesus comes back again.
Of course, our adversary knows how much money landlords have been making off the mechanisms of its monetary and financial system, so they are making it increasingly difficult for many in the profession. Regardless, being a seasoned landlord is probably the best way for people like we are to make a living. It’s been over 20 years since I had a job, and I am forever grateful for the paths I have chosen You should be, too.
I admire those who can comprehend what we know, since it can appear depressing, yet still clear a path to financial self-sufficiency.
Here’s the “good” news; based on the persistent escalation of the government debt outstanding from the rising federal fiscal deficit spending, the pressure in house and stock prices will continue to be to the upside. For those who already owned a portfolio of SFRs or other income generating assets prior to 2020, the COVID scam resulted in a bonafide step up in our standards of living. Of course, this was accomplished at the expense of the lower 80-90% of the population.
Unless fiscal deficit spending circumstances change and the federal government gets religion, the asset owners will continue to power ahead.
So, I say, congratulations!
What will Joel Skousen say? Even if AAPL controls at least half what people see on their phones, it’s still a bubble? Ha! AAPL is on target to generate over $100 bil in net income next year.
_____
Barron’s
Why Apple Could Hit $4 Trillion Market Cap in 2024
The stock would need to close at $257.19 a share or higher.
Apple this year was the first stock to hit a $3 trillion market capitalization, and Wedbush says the iPhone maker could hit the $4 trillion in 2024.
Apple, the most highly valued U.S. company, first closed with a market value above $2 trillion on Aug. 20, 2020. Then, 719 trading days later on June 30, 2023, the stock hit a market cap of $3 trillion.
The tech giant, however, struggled to maintain that milestone as for iPhone demand as inflation remained high and with less expensive Chinese smartphones continued. But the stock on Dec. 5, as the shares enjoyed an extended rally after the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives expects the stock to hit a $4 trillion market cap by the end of 2024, “given the pace of growth and monetization we estimate for Cupertino over the next year.”
This reflects his belief that about 220 million to 230 million iPhones are available for upgrade in 2024.
Ives rates the stock at Outperform with a $250 price target. Shares of Apple were up 0.5% Wednesday to $197.09. The stock has jumped 52% this year.
Apple currently has a market cap of about $3.1 trillion. The stock would need to close at $257.19 a share or higher to reach the $4 trillion market cap milestone. That’s a 30.6% gain from Tuesday’s close.
Concerns about China won’t deter Apple from reaching the $4 trillion milestone, either, he says.
“While there are lingering worries around iPhone for now this issue is very containable and has not dented demand for Cupertino in this key region based on our recent checks,” Ives said.
30-year mortgage rates fell to 6.80%. Look for home prices to rise like the stock market. Consumer slaves will pay more either way.
I am in a Panera Bread right now waiting for a car repair and I see how the other multicultural half lives and what it looks like. I can’t help but overhear their banal topics of conversation. Orwell’s portraying of the proles was right on target. Holy moly! We’re done, stick a fork in it.
All three major equity index futures put in new ATHs today. Looking good đź‘Ťđź‘Ťđź‘Ť
$ALT is the 3rd best performer in the Russell 2000 month to date. Up 151%. I’m up about 120% on it. Still holding half my original position. Fatties need help, especially those who are addicted to fast and processed foods.
Since the whole covid injection campaign went down, I find myself going out with people less. I am driving less and I stay home more. I am finding it increasingly difficult having to work with people. knowing they mostly all took the injections. Family and friends get sick a lot more, they have recurring health matters, including cancer and organ problems, and it’s very arduous dealing with them, especially given that they smirk when the injections topic comes up.
I find myself withdrawing from people more and more. It’s instinctual. I find it a real choir respecting those who fall for all this stuff.
Customer service across the board, whether at the business down the street, in the stores, or even in the government, is really crumbling. This is all subsequent to covid.
There goes #112 again..
Pope says Roman Catholic priests can bless same-sex couples
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67751600.amp?xtor=AL-%5B72%5D-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Bsmart.news%5D-%5Bheadline%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D
Merry Christmas! Be the landlord. Own the corporate assets of the firms that promote multiculturalism. A reader forwarded a lovely picture.
Isn’t it wonderful? A lot has changed in 60 years. Enjoy the poverty. Exploiting the masses has never been easier.
Joel Skousen’s disciples are running around like chickens without heads arguing from incredulity as to why the monetary system is holding up.
Skousen doesn’t see how the largest 100-500 firms now control virtually the entire economy. They work with the government to ensure this monolithic entity runs everything. Based on earnings and the wealth consolidation process, stock prices are not all that expensive vs. the past. The social deficit fiscal spending trickles up to these asset owners and the power consolidation continues… FOREVER.
The synagogue of Satan controls all the S&P 500 constituents and the central banks (Bank of Russia, Central Bank of Iran, and PBOC included) and has determined that we will all interbreed until there are no races left. That’s the cure for racism. It’s the final solution. Of course, they brainwashed the people to accept racism as the overriding problem for everything.
The supposedly overpriced corporations will be big daddy as our real households will have been demolished, and we will then be perfected consumer slaves, which will pose absolutely no threat to the established New order. Within two more generations, the world will be filled with homogeneous soulless consumer degenerates. They will all be a light shade of brown.
That boot stamping on a human face forever, as portrayed by Orwell, was purchased at WMT, TGT, or on AMZN. Prime has free overnight shipping and its streaming service is highly effective at refining the demoralization process as outlined by Yuri Bezmenov.
Come back often to be offended with truth.
No one else says it like this. It’s a punch to the gut. Based on what you say asset prices do make sense.
To all those who never listen to me, because you were offended, these people will rot in poverty while they blame others for their problems. Victimhood is very profitable for the nwo engineers and the number one form of victimhood is feeling like a victim of racism. That completely immobilizes the supposed victim and renders them completely useless and ineffectual at being able to overcome their circumstances. Instead of looking in the mirror they look to whitey or someone else like me.
Skousen is nonplussed right now as asset prices continue to move higher, because he doesn’t understand the wealth consolidation process and how it operates. The people have been perfectly conditioned to accept their fate as they are nothing but lab rats in an experiment and are reacting to their circumstances like caged animals receiving electric shocks.
The funny thing is this, you might get offended by reading these words, but these elite think about us like Lab rats or livestock to be herded. They have the average person down very well.
My last recommendation, $ALT is rocking so far. People can’t control themselves and their habits, so the SoS needs to develop drugs to control the livestock.
The SoS-controlled food companies and QSR chains put chemicals in their foods to keep people eating long after they should stop, so now the SoS-controlled drug companies will provide a solution. The solution costs about $1,500 a month and the livestock are lining up.
There is no stock market bubble. There is only a human bubble.
Goldman Sachs’ latest research suggests a bright future for Eli Lilly, as reported by Business Insider on Tuesday. The bank predicts that by 2028, GLP-1 drugs, including Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound, will be consumed by nearly 68 million Americans.
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/goldman-sachs-eli-lilly-s-shares-may-surge-by-140-with-glp-1-drug-boom-1032910837
Wow, interesting. Talk about controlling both ends of the equation. Fast food addicts become overweight and develop other problems. And here is the solution? One thing investors like is low risk investments.
It’s a slam dunk investment proposition. that’s why I am kicking the tires on other entrants like $ALT.
ALTs having a good day today!
Indeed, Ben. ALT has been a wonderful Christmas present for its shareholders and there’s more to come.
Joel Skousen is at it again; talking about bubbles and collapses. He may be an expert in military strategies and such, but his economic “theories” and research is poor.
Why? ALL of his advice (and I have followed him for at least 15 years) worked against the advice recipient. He only understands the PC version of the conspiracy.
We can rely on the money stock measures. It’s the debt level trajectories that better determine asset prices. The central banks stuff all the extra debt on their balance sheets or through reverse repos, etc.
I just watched a YouTube interview from the past week and Skousen relies on Joseph Smith and Mormon Church prophecies for guidance. I let Skousen stick to military analysis and reject his Mormon victimhood and economic commentary.
Alex Jones really pushing Elon Musk as an ally. Isn’t Musk the same guy who’s a front man for electric mobility and given untold amounts of cheap money from the SoS to build his AMZN of automobiles? Isn’t he the same guy that represents our shift away from gas powered vehicles, which are not as controllable and less expensive to own as electric?
Isn’t Musk the same guy hired by NASA and the feds to launch track and trace technology into space?
Isn’t Musk the same guy who’s developing brain and subdermal chip technology to track and trace our thoughts and movements?
Isn’t Musk the same guy who surrounded his X management with WEF members?
Sounds like another false dichotomy given to the retarded truthers.
Yes, I believe that’s the same gov’t contractor who is posing as a private business.
Well funded MLB teams are even taking out effective mortgages to procure top talent.
To wit, I observe how the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to pay Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million contract. I find the article an interesting read with its circumstances something to contemplate as a glimpse into the future for big earners.
Why Shohei Ohtani’s unique $700M Dodgers contract should not push MLB closer to a salary cap
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/why-shohei-ohtanis-unique-700m-dodgers-contract-should-not-push-mlb-closer-to-a-salary-cap/amp/
Here’s a Seeking Alpha morning commentary regarding China’s economic goals… I can’t help but observe the same terms and methods with that of the US. China is different as the SoS, which owns its government via the PBOC, decided to keep Chinese demographics relatively homogeneous. The same cannot be said of the West and US, which has been earmarked for destruction via multiculturalism.
_______
As China’s economy continues to falter, Beijing is expected to run a budget deficit of 3% of its gross domestic product next year, lower than the revised 3.8% target for 2023, with the aim of maintaining fiscal discipline. Its economic growth target is around 5% in 2024. The targets were drafted by President Xi Jinping and other officials during the Central Economic Work Conference, and will be announced publicly during China’s annual parliament meeting in March.
Off-budget debt: Other fiscal support and expenditures may be covered by off-budget sovereign debt, including a potential special sovereign bond issuance amounting to 1T yuan ($140.72B). Special bonds, which are not included in China’s annual budget, are used to raise funds for projects or policy goals when needed. The bond quota for local governments could be around 4T yuan ($562.88B) next year, compared to this year’s 3.8T yuan.
The leaders agreed to implement a proactive fiscal policy, and step up efforts to maintain sufficient liquidity in line with economic growth targets. They agreed that financial institutions should be guided to scale up support for scientific and technological innovation. In addition, overall financing costs must steadily drop while the RMB exchange rate is maintained at a reasonable level.
Bigger picture: China’s Politburo recently said “fiscal policy must be moderately strengthened” in the wake of the post-pandemic economic slowdown. The country’s fiscal position has been under threat, with Moody’s downgrading its government credit ratings as its government will likely have to bail out financially stressed local governments and state-owned enterprises, as well as tame its property crisis. Even so, FTSE Russell sees opportunity in investing in China, as it is “undergoing a transformational period to maintain sustainable growth after years of rapid expansion.”
A thud and a dud
NY Empire State Manufacturing Index (Dec)
Act: -14.50 Cons: 2.00 Prev: 9.10
Once over $2 trillion… Helping absorb UST supply
Overnight Reverse Repurchase Agreements: Treasury Securities Sold by the Federal Reserve in the Temporary Open Market Operations (RRPONTSYD)
2023-12-14: $769.346 billion
https://www.terminaleconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Fedtemprev.png
It’s good to see that Ontario’s government is allowing the citizens more alcohol choices, since they’ve been raped financially for the past 4 years. The government knows the residents need to be able to drown their sorrows while their lives are transformed.
______
Ontario Is Loosening Alcohol Sales Rules, Letting Thousands More Stores Sell Booze
Mathieu Dion
(Bloomberg) — Ontario is opening up alcohol sales to thousands of new locations, a major change for a region that has always tightly controlled the distribution of booze.
The changes will allow beer, wine and ready-to-drink cocktails in as many as 8,500 new stores, including convenience outlets — a win for companies such as Circle K parent Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. It’s the “largest expansion of consumer choice and convenience since the end of prohibition almost 100 years ago,” the provincial government said in a statement.
The vast majority of alcohol sales in Canada’s largest province take place through three channels: government-run stores by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario; Beer Store, a chain with a quasi-monopoly controlled by beer makers; and a limited number of grocery stores. The system will change by Jan. 1, 2026.
“We’ve got to start treating people like adults here in the province,” Premier Doug Ford said at a press conference at a Circle K store in Toronto. “It’s across the world. We are the only jurisdiction that still has an area where you can only buy beer in a beer store.”
Questions remain about the margins retailers will be able to earn following a government review of taxes and fees on alcoholic beverages and how distribution will work.
“The market will dictate, and let’s see what happens,” Ford said about bringing competition to the sector.
Couche-Tard has 729 stores in Ontario, but the financial impact is likely to be modest. Merchandise and service sales in Canada represented about 3.5% of its C$72 billion ($54 billion) of revenue generated in its fiscal 2023.
“We welcome this news,” said Amine Ndamama, a spokesperson for Couche-Tard. “We are waiting for the details. We’re very happy for our Ontario customers.”
Huge uptick in GDP estimates. It looks like a soft landing for the asset owners.
Atlanta Fed GDP latest estimate: 2.6 percent — December 14, 2023
The GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the fourth quarter of 2023 is 2.6 percent on December 14, up from 1.2 percent on December 7. After recent releases from the US Census Bureau, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the US Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service, the nowcasts of fourth-quarter real personal consumption expenditures growth, fourth-quarter real gross private domestic investment growth, and fourth-quarter real government spending growth increased from 1.9 percent, -3.0 percent, and 3.1 percent, respectively, to 3.0 percent, 0.5 percent, and 3.6 percent, while the nowcast of the contribution of the change in real net exports to fourth-quarter real GDP growth decreased from -0.06 percentage points to -0.12 percentage points.
These are slightly more bullish than consensus and could put pressure on the equity markets
Continuing Jobless Claims
Act: 1,876K Cons: 1,887K Prev: 1,856K
Core Retail Sales (MoM) (Nov)
Act: 0.2% Cons: -0.1% Prev: 0.1%
Export Price Index (MoM) (Nov)
Act: -0.9% Cons: -1.0% Prev: -0.9%
Import Price Index (MoM) (Nov)
Act: -0.4% Cons: -0.8% Prev: -0.6%
Initial Jobless Claims
Act: 202K Cons: 220K Prev: 221K
Jobless Claims 4-Week Avg.
Act: 213.25K Cons: Prev: 221.00K
Retail Control (MoM) (Nov)
Act: 0.4% Cons: 0.2% Prev: 0.2%
Retail Sales (YoY) (Nov)
Act: 4.09% Cons: Prev: 2.24%
Retail Sales (MoM) (Nov)
Act: 0.3% Cons: -0.1% Prev: -0.2%
Retail Sales Ex Gas/Autos (MoM) (Nov)
Act: 0.6% Cons: Prev: 0.1%
People of color want the country that the white people built, but without the white people in it. It seems only the white people don’t realize this… A fiscal Potemkin village can be established with QE. I recommend owning the assets while the heathen rage.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu plans no WHITES holiday party for councilors: Aide accidentally sent group email invite meant only for ‘electeds of color’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12859903/Boston-Democrat-Mayor-Michelle-Wu-christmas-party.html
No spouses allowed I guess. Her husband appears to be a white dude who is expert in finance and real estate.
Interesting. So I guess the husband hates his own kind, while his wife hates her husband’s kind. This is all normal in the QE engineered multicultural Kingdom. Al least her husband controls the assets.
It is amazing how a lot of white young liberals are self loathing due to there being white. When my niece was in high school she encountered several white girls from wealthy families who pretended to be black and acted accordingly. This critical race theory is also pushing this self loathing. So amazing how people are self destructive. Ultimately, people who do not have a relationship with God, destroy themselves unknowingly because they do not seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit to wake themselves up from this sleepwalking into destruction.
Satan does not destroy humanity himself but provides the tools and guidance to do so. Satan makes the destruction look like a benefit.Humanity ultimately undertakes the actions for self destruction. In the end, those who do not follow the guidance of the most high God are their own worst enemy. People who engage in self destructive behavior get the ugly fate they deserve.
It’s close to Christmas time and there are two Sundays left in the 2023 Advent calendar.
Mario Lanza – O Holy Night
https://youtu.be/_Yyy2ujhCbU?si=IxQZhnAi_lag-5Gu
Mario singing this reminds me of the first time I went to midnight mass. We had an Italian gentleman who could sing like that, It made an impression on me and my Dad confirmed that it was as good as I remember it. He was demoted, left the choir (and subsequently the parish) for what I found out much later in life to be parish politics, the pettiness of the small town. I still love the Christmas hymns though, mostly the ones in the key of C. We also like the simple things, like getting a case of Sunkist navel oranges – that was something special when I was a kid and I still look forward to them.
I have come to dislike the behavior of the average person this time of year, there is a mad frenzy of people looking for a bargain and driving like maniacs. Where are they going?
The front month mni Dow Jones Industrial futures contract is currently trading at a new ATH. Just above 37k. NASDAQ futures are close to their ATH. Imagine buying XOM when it yielded 9%? That was hard to beat.
While Redfin claims year over year rent rates have been dropping, it says it’s predominantly from apartments. Large single family rentals on the other hand continue to remain in demand. It admits that while there is a large supply of apartments coming online, larger single-family rentals are much more difficult to come by. As younger folk get priced out of the market, the stigma of renting an SFR has been fading. I know first hand that renting an apartment sucks.
Redfin News
The Tide Turns for Renters as Asking Rents Post Biggest Decline in Over 3 Years
December 13, 2023
https://www.redfin.com/news/redfin-rental-report-november-2023/
Yes, living in a rental apartment really sucks.
You hear the neighbors around you as if there are no walls nor floors. If the neighbors above you do something stupid such as leave the water overflowing or causing a fire then your apartment will get the flood or fire damage. How about neighbors with a lot of kids making a racket above you. Small wonder why apartment rents are dropping. However, single family residences are still in demand.
In today’s beast system economy, it is good to own passive income such as rentals and or dividend paying stocks. Those won’t be subject to extra social security tax at 15.3% above and beyond the income tax. In addition you won’t have to work for a slave driving boss that requires you to take the Covid jab.
PFE trading at a fresh 10-year low. To all those Pfizer contrarians out there, you can’t say I didn’t warn you.
I could never recommend a stock that banked on killing and maiming billions of people for the the globalists while hiding behind an exemption. There are more and more investors out there who are catching on and voting with their investment dollars.
I must be racist for thinking this.💩💩💩 🪠🪠🪠🚽🚽🚽🧻🧻🧻
Homeless woman cycles between streets and hotels after husband dies…
https://youtu.be/WTiStD42PXQ?si=7qaNZm475csjufX-
This is The New normal in the United States. The two observations I make after watching this video is the fact she never once mentions God nor Jesus and she has at least two sons who have no interest in helping her. She claims that she doesn’t want to impose, but how can her children not know of her circumstances?
This never would have happened to my parents as I would have given them my master bedroom and I’d be sleeping on the couch in the basement. I would have rolled out the red carpet for them as they put me on this planet.
I still do not recommend Treasuries as their yields are too paltry. There still may be room for capital appreciation, but assets priced off the yield curve provide better overall returns than with longer-term Treasuries. Just look at the stock market for a glimpse…
Blistering Treasuries Rally Silences Deficit-Obsessed Vigilantes
(Bloomberg) — For most of the summer, the chatter in the bond market about swelling US deficits — and the depressing effect it was having on the price of Treasuries — was incessant.
Few, if any, were more vocal on the topic than Ed Yardeni, the godfather of the bond vigilantes. Investors, Yardeni said back in August, “are quite concerned.” The price action seemed to underscore the angst. By October, the yield on the benchmark 10-year bond had soared above 5% for the first time in 16 years.
Then, almost just as quickly as they rose, yields plunged — all the way back down to near 4%. So what happened to all the hand-wringing about reckless government spending and the ballooning national debt? Sure, the bond rally was sparked by a different development — speculation the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates next year — but still, the tough vigilante talk disappeared rather abruptly.
Yardeni is unfazed. Deficit concerns, he argues, don’t manifest themselves in the market consistently, day after day. When something pulls investors’ attention elsewhere — like the mounting evidence that the economy is slowing — they will backburner those worries. The jitters remain, though, Yardeni says.
The “vigilantes will be back,” Yardeni, the founder of Yardeni Research Inc., said in an interview. The surge in government spending in recent years and the jump in interest rates is creating a dangerous fiscal mix, he said. “This is not an issue that will go away unless it’s fixed. If anything, the deficit outlook is probably worse than is being anticipated.”
There are plenty of skeptics out there who saw the summer rout in Treasuries as something of a one-off event. Prominent in this camp is Steven Major, a perennial bond bull at HSBC Holdings. While he acknowledges that he didn’t anticipate the market impact this year of the bond-supply increase, he’s adamant that over time the deficit is a sideshow.
“Supply can have a short-term impact, when there is an imbalance with demand,” Major said, “but over the longer-run it is not the main driver of bond yields.”
The selling intensified in August after Fitch Ratings stripped the US of its AAA credit rating. There was nothing novel about the rationale — primarily, the swelling deficits — and yet the move re-sharpened investors’ focus, at least briefly, on the magnitude of the spending imbalance.
Fitch estimates the government will post a deficit equal to more than 6% of gross domestic product this year, a number larger than any posted in the six decades before the global financial crisis. That it comes amid a year of strong economic growth — which tends to lift revenue and hold down expenses — makes it all the more jarring.
At least to Yardeni and like-minded types. He says he can tell the supply concerns haven’t truly gone away because his clients now closely monitor bond auctions for signs of strong or weak demand.
“In the past, you could leave supply out of the pricing model,” he said. “But now, you have to be aware of how the auctions are going; you have to be aware of the political developments; you have to have a sense of where the deficit is actually going.”
Yardeni heaped praise on Janet Yellen, the treasury secretary, for her handling of the auctions. He called her decision to scale back the size of longer-maturity bond sales while ramping up issuance of short-term T-bills “clever.” The move, while not without risk, further juiced the bounce-back rally over the past two months.
There’s been a “realization that the Treasury can fine tune, it can manipulate the bond market by simply reducing the supply of long bonds for a while,” he said. “The market seems to have settled down pretty well here.”
Excellent data points that immediately precede the FOMC announcements this afternoon. Last month’s data was revised downward as well. These are very good numbers and the markets like them. Asset owners win once again…
Core PPI (YoY) (Nov)
Act: 2.0% Cons: 2.2% Prev: 2.3%
Core PPI (MoM) (Nov)
Act: 0.0% Cons: 0.2% Prev: 0.0%
PPI ex. Food/Energy/Transport (MoM) (Nov)
Act: 0.1% Cons: Prev: 0.1%
PPI (MoM) (Nov)
Act: 0.0% Cons: 0.1% Prev: -0.4%
PPI ex. Food/Energy/Transport (YoY) (Nov)
Act: 2.5% Cons: Prev: 2.8%
PPI (YoY) (Nov)
Act: 0.9% Cons: 1.0% Prev: 1.2%