Hi Daily subscribers,
It’s Thanksgiving week, and the Daily team is going to take some time off to be with our loved ones, and eat too much food. We hope you do the same.
Catch us back here again on Tuesday, November 28, 2023.
Thanks, The SoFi Daily team
Top Story
Financial struggles define parenthood in America
The rules of parenting are changing as Millennials and Gen Z parents struggle with isolation and skyrocketing childcare costs.
US stocks fell on Tuesday after retail earnings added to an increasingly cautious outlook on consumer spending
• Retail pain: Shares of Kohls, Best Buy and Lowe’s dropped following their earnings and muted outlooks. Kohl’s stock dropped the most at 8.6%
• American Eagle shares plummeted 15.8% on a lackluster holiday shopping forecast even though its earnings beat expectations.
• The odd one out in retail was Dick's Sporting Goods, whose shares jumped 2.2% after beating estimates and raising its full-year outlook.
• The FOMC minutes acknowledged a slowdown in the labor market, while noting that economic activity was still expanding at a strong pace. Even though tighter financial conditions will likely weigh on the economy, inflation remains too high, Fed officials said.
• Existing home sales fell to their lowest level since August 2010. Meanwhile, the median price of existing homes rose 3.4% to about $392,000.
What to be on the lookout for today
• Durable goods orders for October, plus the weekly update on the 30-year mortgage rate, and jobless claims.
• Earnings from the world's largest farm equipment maker Deere
How to find help if you defaulted on your loans
Nobody wants to feel like they’re drowning in debt. But for millions of Americans it’s reality.
Credit card debt can be particularly costly due to high interest rates. Read on to learn how you get back above water.
Who can help?
You can negotiate with your lender. Find out how much you owe exactly, and reach out to your credit card company, or other lender, to discuss changing the terms of your debt.
You can also use a credit counselor to get on top of your debts and help improve your financial health. Credit counselors can help lower your overall monthly payments, for instance by getting lower interest rates or longer terms. Credit counselors also work to advance your budgeting and personal finance skills to avoid future problems.
Today's top stories
Lower interest rates sounds great. Or are they a red flag? Borrowers could get some relief if the Fed cut rates. But a policy change like that could also mean the economy is entering a downturn. Read more >> One more thing to be thankful for: falling gas prices Just in time for Thanksgiving, gas prices are tanking, providing relief for millions of Americans hitting the road this week. Read more >> How carrying a balance may affect your credit score You’ve heard it too, the myth that you need to carry a balance to build credit. We’re debunking it once and for all. Read more >>Not-so-breaking news
- More than half of people tip 15% or less for a sit-down meal at a restaurant, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll.
- Amazon Prime Video will air the first-ever "Black Friday" football game, accompanied by a major digital shopping campaign featuring "shoppable ads.”
- Consumer spending is expected to slow down this holiday season partly due to inflation, and rising interest rates.
- Microsoft pledged to match the salaries of staff moving from OpenAI, days after Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and others joined the company to lead a new advanced AI research team.
- X, formerly Twitter, filed a lawsuit against Media Matters for America over the media watchdog group’s report that ads appeared near antisemitic content.
Financial planner tip of the day
"If you would prefer to attack your high-interest debt, the avalanche method is where you focus your extra money toward your more expensive debt first, again while still paying down your other debts. Whichever tactic you choose, either way, you will be focusing on eliminating debt—one loan or one credit card at a time."
Brian Walsh, CFP® at SoFi