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| New to the newsletter? Subscribe to The Daily Money to get the best consumer and financial news from USA TODAY delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. And give our news-inspired Spotify playlist a listen. It features every song quoted here. |
| Good morning and happy Friday. Jayme Deerwester back with you as we enter another weekend of Third Winter here in the Midwest. Now I'm glad I didn't plant my herb garden the other day when it was 80 degrees. |
🗞 2008 called. It wants its housing bubble back. 🗞 |
| America's real estate market may be showing signs of another housing bubble as prices become "unhinged from fundamentals," according to the authors of a blog post published by the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank. |
| First things first: What is a housing bubble? It's a period marked by an unusual spike in housing prices fueled by high demand and low supply, speculation by investors and exuberant spending. These bubbles are caused by a variety of factors, including rising prosperity, low interest rates, more mortgage product offerings and easy to access credit. And in this case, historically low housing inventory. |
| "If many buyers share this belief, purchases arising from a 'fear of missing out' can drive up prices and heighten expectations of strong house-price gains," according to the researchers. It could also have consequences such as bankruptcies and adverse effects on growth, employment and investment patterns. |
🚨 More headlines you shouldn't miss 🚨 |
| JOBS REPORT: Unemployment rate fell to 3.6% in March as jobs report showed big gain. |
| HOT HATCH: Toyota GR Corolla hatchback sports car gets early unveiling online, sets internet abuzz. |
| SKIPPY PEANUT BUTTER RECALL: Select products recalled because they may contain steel fragments. |
| HERTZ ARRESTS: Senators call for investigation into rental car company filing false police reports against customers. |
| THE KEYWORD IS GUEST, PEOPLE: Why it's the "epitome of bad manners" to bill friends for your dinner party. |
⛽️ A remedy for pain at the pump? ⛽️ |
| President Joe Biden's move to release up to 180 million barrels of oil over six months – the largest release to date – from the nation's emergency reserves is a step in the right direction to help lower record-high gas prices, petroleum experts said Thursday, but it's likely not enough for consumers to see relief at the pump. |
| "I don't want to say it's insignificant, but it's not the amount we need," says Tom Seng, an assistant professor of energy business at the University of Tulsa Collins College of Business. And while 180 million may sound like a lot, Seng says the U.S. currently is importing about 6 million barrels of oil a day, and U.S. demand has not significantly declined in the past month despite skyrocketing gas prices since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. |
| The Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which currently holds about 600 million barrels, is the country's emergency stockpile of oil, created after the oil crisis of 1973. It is managed by the Department of Energy and maintained for use during emergencies such as natural disasters and wars. It's held in giant underground salt caverns at four sites lining the Louisiana and Texas Gulf coasts. |
🤪 Corporate April Fools' jokes gone awry 🤪 |
| Remember last year, when Volkswagen said it was changing its name to Voltswagen? But lo and behold, the company eventually confessed on March 30, 2021, that the announcement was an April Fools' joke. That confession came after many news outlets, including USA TODAY, had asked before running stories about the name change whether the deal was a prank, but were told the announcement was legit. |
| Getting that April Fools' Day bump in attention without harming your brand requires walking a fine line, says Columbia Business School professor and corporate strategy expert Rita McGrath. But Volkswagen's ploy from 2021 went too far. "(It) was a mistake," |
| "April Fools' Day is definitely useful as a way of breaking through the clutter of messaging most of us are exposed to," McGrath said in an email exchange. "The benefit of the day-before-and-then-we-were-just-kidding strategy is that it could be JUST plausible enough that people start talking about but not a big serious commitment that would provoke a backlash when the company pulls back." |
💵 Tax tips 💵 |
| Filing taxes is never fun, especially if it's your first time. We provide some tips for rookie taxpayers in Sunday's tax season edition of The Daily Money. |
🎧 Mood music 🎧 |
| I think I speak for most media folks reading tweets or PR releases on April Fools' Day when I quote Great White: "Once bitten, twice shy." |
| LISTEN WHILE YOU WORK: Remember, you can listen to this song and every track I've quoted in the newsletter in the Daily Money Mood Music playlist on Spotify. |
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