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The median rent for a Manhattan apartment in November hit $4,033, up from $3,964 in October, according to a report from Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel.
The average rent, which is often skewed by luxury sales, fell slightly for the month but is still up 19% over last year, hitting $5,249 in November.
The rise in New York rents also adds pressure to overall inflation, since rents are a large component of inflation indexes and New York is the nation’s largest rental market.

An “Apartments For Rent” sign outside a building in the East Village neighborhood of New York, U.S.
Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Manhattan rents rose 2% in November, dashing hopes that prices would cool and forcing many renters to give up their leases or downsize, according to brokers.
The median rent for a Manhattan apartment in November hit $4,033, up from $3,964 in October, according to a report from Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel. The average rent, which is often skewed by luxury sales, fell slightly for the month but is still up 19% over last year, hitting $5,249 in November.

The increases continue to defy predictions that New York’s sky high rents would fall after the summer and give renters some relief after rents hit all-time records. While rents are easing in many parts of the country, New York’s rents remain stubbornly high and the number of unrented or empty apartments remains low.
“Rents are not coming down as quickly as many would hope,” said Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel.
The rise in New York rents also adds pressure to overall inflation, since rents are a large component of inflation indexes and New York is the nation’s largest rental market.
Manhattan rents are so high that many tenants have started to balk at the prices — either moving out of the city or finding smaller, less expensive rentals. The number of new leases signed in November plunged 39% over October, marking the biggest decline since the start of the pandemic in 2020, according to Miller.
Brokers and real-estate experts say landlords over-reached when they started renewing the leases signed in 2020 and 2021, often demanding rent increases of 20% or more. With landlords typically requiring renters to have annual income of 40 times the monthly rent, the rising median rents have stretched many tenants to the breaking point.

“There is some gridlock,” said Bess Freedman, CEO of Brown Harris Stevens. “In 2021, rents took off like a rocket and now tenants are stuck. People aren’t going to sign new leases at these prices, they’re just too expensive. Landlords need to start getting more reasonable.”
Freedman said one of her friends faced a rent increase of 30% with a recent lease renewal. “She felt like she was being gouged,” Freedman said.
Vacancy rates remain low, putting little pressure on landlords to lower rents anytime soon. The vacancy rate in November was 2.4% — still below the historical norm in Manhattan of about 3%, according to Miller Samuel.
There are some early signs that landlords may start capitulating in 2023. The number of landlord concessions — which may include a month of free rent and other deals — rose to 16% in November from 13% in October. Real-estate experts say the big drop in new leases, if it continues, will eventually force landlords to meet renters at a lower price point.
Joshua Young, executive vice president and managing director of sales and leasing at Brown Harris Stevens, said landlords were overly bullish expecting rent increases of 20% or more, and many are now starting to lower prices or adding more concessions to keep their apartments filled.
“A lot of landlords are getting stuck with inventory so and they’re not getting their increases, so they’re reducing price,” he said.

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Monday – Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET

It’s that time again! “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer rings the lightning round bell, which means he’s giving his answers to callers’ stock questions at rapid speed.

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Paramount Global: “Too cheap to believe. … I don’t know where it bottoms, but it sure isn’t close to the top.”

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Hasbro Inc: “I don’t like the earnings, and I think that Mattel’s actually cheaper.”

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Citigroup Inc: “The book value is so different from where the common stock is, the price. Something is very wrong there.”

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CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday told investors that they should take gloomy economic commentary from bank executives with a grain of salt.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said on Tuesday that inflation is eating away at consumers’ pocketbooks and could create a recession. 

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday told investors that they should take gloomy economic commentary from bank executives with a grain of salt. 
“Don’t panic the next time you hear one of these bank CEOs say something terrifying — they don’t know the impact of their words,” he said, adding, “Sure, we’ve got plenty of problems, but they’re not financial apocalypse problems.”

The S&P 500 slipped for a fifth trading session on Wednesday as investors mulled the possibility of a recession.
Adding to investors’ worries, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said on Tuesday that inflation is eating away at consumers’ pocketbooks and could create a recession. 
The chief executives of Bank of America and Wells Fargo also warned that the economy is slowing down as Americans cut back on spending.
“Memo to America’s bankers: Don’t try to frighten us. Don’t try to get us to sell everything,” Cramer said. “Don’t be Grinches telling us a hurricane could be coming.”
He urged the chief executives to remind investors of what’s going right in the Fed’s fight against inflation, and gave an example of what he believes one of the CEOs should have said: 

“There will come a day when the Fed will be done tightening, although that may be when the S&P 500 is a good bit lower. But I don’t know if I want to take the chance of possibly missing the [next] big rally. Hey, maybe buy small,” he said.
Disclaimer: Cramer’s Charitable Trust owns shares of Wells Fargo.

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Wholesale prices of used vehicles reached their lowest level in more than a year last month, as retail sales decline amid interest rate hikes, rising new vehicle availability and recessionary fears.
The Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index, which tracks prices of used vehicles sold at its U.S. wholesale auctions, has declined about 16% from record levels in January.
The decline is good news for potential car buyers, however not great for companies such as Carvana that purchased vehicles at record highs and are now trying to sell them at a profit.

A pedestrian walks past a certified pre-owned car sales lot in Alhambra, California on January 12, 2022.
Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images

DETROIT – Wholesale prices of used vehicles reached their lowest level in more than a year last month, as retail sales decline amid interest rate hikes, rising new vehicle availability and recessionary fears.
Cox Automotive said Wednesday that its Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index, which tracks prices of used vehicles sold at its U.S. wholesale auctions, has declined 15.6% from record levels in January through November. The index dropped to 199.4 last month, below 200 for the first time since August 2021, and is down 14.2% from the same month a year ago. It marks the sixth-consecutive month of declines.

The falling prices come as the availability of new vehicles steadily rises from historic lows, providing additional options for consumers and potentially better loan options from automaker’s financing arms.
“New inventory is finally starting to build, and that’s producing momentum in new retail sales, but that momentum appears to be at the expense of used retail. Especially it’s the traditional used car buyer that’s most impacted by payment affordability,” Cox chief economist Jonathan Smoke said Tuesday during an industry update.

Retail prices for consumers traditionally follow changes in wholesale prices. That’s good news for potential car buyers, however not great for companies such as embattled retailer Carvana that purchased vehicles at record highs and are now trying to sell them at a profit.
Retail pricing thus far has not declined as quickly as wholesale prices, as dealers attempt to hold steady on record-high pricing. According to the most recent data, Cox reports the average listing price of a used vehicle was $27,564 in October, down less than a half percent from the beginning of the year.

“They’re not wanting to sell at trough prices,” said Chris Frey, senior industry insights manager at Cox Automotive, told CNBC last month. “That’s why we’re not seeing the prices decline so much at retail.”

Cox estimates that used retail sales declined 1% in November from October and were down 10% from a year earlier.
Automakers for several years now have been battling through a semiconductor chip shortage that has sporadically halted production of new vehicles, causing record-low inventories of vehicles and higher prices. The circumstances pushed many new-vehicle buyers into the used-car market.
Cox last month estimated the total used market was on pace to finish the year down more than 12% from 40.6 million in 2021.

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GameStop reported Wednesday a decline in fiscal third quarter sales.
The company said inventory was slightly down from the same period last year.
The brick-and-mortar retailer has been working to strengthen its place in the digital world.

A screen displays the logo and trading information for GameStop on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) March 29, 2022.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters

GameStop said Wednesday its fiscal third quarter sales declined and its cash pile sharply dwindled, as the brick-and-mortar retailer has been working to expand its digital presence.
In the third fiscal quarter, which ended Oct. 29, GameStop’s total sales were roughly $1.2 billion, down from $1.3 billion in the same period last year. The company’s cash and cash equivalents fell to nearly $804 million from approximately $1.4 billion a year earlier.

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Shares of the company rose nearly 3% in off-hours trading Wednesday, after declining 4.8% during the regular session.
GameStop has been working to become profitable and revamp its brick-and-mortar retail business, after what executives have said were years of underinvestment. In recent months the retailer has changed up leadership and focus on initiatives to further entrench it in the digital world. 
GameStop’s CEO Matthew Furlong said on a call with investors Wednesday the company “is attempting to accomplish something unprecedented in retail … seeking to transform a legacy business once on the brink of bankruptcy.”
The company reported a net loss of nearly $95 million, a slight improvement from about a loss of about $105 million in the same period last year.
Furlong added the company has been working to make its balance sheet stronger, and cushion its cash position, in hopes of putting it in a position to explore acquisitions of complimentary businesses. The CEO added the company would continue to cut costs, with layoffs occurring in the second half of 2022.

GameStop’s results cannot be compared with estimates because too few analysts cover the company. As in earlier past quarters since the beginning of the pandemic, GameStop didn’t provide a financial outlook.
The retailer continued to hold a lot of inventory on its balance sheet: $1.13 billion at the end of the quarter, although slightly down from $1.14 billion at the same time last year. Like other retailers, GameStop has been dealing with a backlog of inventory after intentionally bulking up on merchandise to contend with higher customer demand and supply chain issues. 
GameStop strengthened its inventory position earlier this year by divesting a small portion of its merchandise in categories with soft demand, Furlong said Wednesday.
The company, which has become known as a meme stock, has been adjusting its business to a digital world. It tapped new leadership, including CEO Matt Furlong, an Amazon veteran, and Chewy founder and activist investor Ryan Cohen as board chair. 
Still, the brick-and-mortar retailer has struggled to drive profits in recent years, leading to cost cuts and a shake-up in leadership. Earlier this year, it fired chief financial officer Mike Recupero and laid off employees. 
The company also launched an NFT marketplace in July, which has been open to the public for beta testing. The marketplace allows users to connect their own digital asset wallets, including the recently launched GameStop Wallet, so they can buy, sell and trade NFTs for virtual goods. 
GameStop said in a news release Wednesday its sales attributable to new and expanded brand relationships “were strong in the quarter, while sales in the collectibles category remained strong in a year-to-date basis.”
GameStop said last month that it had ended its partnership with FTX, after the crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy. Just months earlier, GameStop had announced the partnership with the aim of introducing its customers to the crypto world and marketplace, and had also started carrying FTX gift cards in some of its stores.
In a tweet, the company said it would be providing full refunds to impacted customers.
Furlong said Wednesday the company “was fortunate its exposure to digital assets has been very modest.” FTX’s bankruptcy filing has sent ripples through the crypto market. The CEO didn’t provide any updates regarding its recently ended partnership with FTX.

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Rent the Runway beat quarterly revenue expectations, as customers opted to borrow designer clothes instead of buying them.
The fashion rental and subscription service raised its financial outlook for the year.
During the quarter, 28% of its subscribers paid more to add at least one additional rental item each month.

Jennifer Hyman, Rent the Runway 
Scott Mlyn | CNBC

As some shoppers think twice about purchases, Rent the Runway is getting a bump.
The fashion rental and subscription company on Wednesday reported stronger quarterly revenue that beat expectations and raised its financial outlook for the year as customers opted to borrow designer clothes instead of buying them.

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Shares were up about 23% in after-market trading after closing Wednesday at $1.36.
In a CNBC interview, CEO Jennifer Hyman said inflation is making Rent the Runway more appealing to a broader swath of customers who cut across incomes and geographies.
During the quarter, 28% of its subscribers also paid more to add at least one additional rental item each month. Subscribers are charged a fee based on how many items they borrow each month.
“There’s no other place that the consumer can go to get as much financial value as she receives from our offering,” Hyman said.
Here’s how the company did for the third-quarter ended Oct. 31 compared to what analysts expected, according to Refinitiv:

Loss per share: 56 cents vs. 56 cents expected
Revenue: $77.4 million vs. $72.9 million expected

For the quarter, revenue rose 31% from a year ago to $77.4 million. Its loss for the period narrowed to $36.1 million, down from the loss of $87.8 a year ago.
Its active subscribers at the end of the quarter were up 15% from a year ago to 134,240. Total subscribers rose 17% from a year ago 176,167.
Rent the Runway now anticipates $72 million to $74 million in the fourth quarter. That range is higher than the $72 million anticipated by analysts, according to Refinitiv.
For the year, it expects revenue in the range of $293 million to $295 million, up from its previous forecast of $285 million to $290 million.
Rent the Runway is the latest apparel business to report earnings, as investors and economists scour for clues about consumers’ willingness to keep spending. Some retailers, such as Walmart and Target, have warned that shoppers are buying fewer big-ticket and discretionary items — including less apparel — as inflation drives up the prices of food, housing and other necessities. Others, such as Macy’s and Best Buy, stood by their guidance, but said shoppers have become more choosy and interested in sales.
Rent the Runway’s business and its stock has been on a turbulent ride, especially during the pandemic. The rental platform lets customers to sign up for a subscription to borrow clothing and accessories or borrow them a la carte. Its business was hurt over the past two years, as consumers suddenly had fewer reasons to get out of their sweatpants and put on work attire or party outfits.
Since debuting on the stock market last year, shares of Rent the Runway have plummeted. They began trading at $23 a piece.
Rent the Runway is also still chasing profitability. It announced layoffs in September as part of a cost-cutting plan. It said it would reduce its corporate headcount by about 24% by the end of the fourth quarter. The plan will amount to $25 million to $27 million in annual savings, the company said.
The company has tested new approaches to manage its inventory, stand out with its merchandise and work with designer brands. In November, it launched its first celebrity collection with Ashley Park, the co-star of Netflix’s “Emily in Paris.” It launched four new exclusive design brands and is on track to offer 18 exclusive design partners this year.
Hyman said Rent the Runway customers are not just looking to save money. They also need more variety in their wardrobes, as they dress up for work, parties and everyday outings again.
“We’re in an environment where people don’t know how many days of the week they’re going to be going into the office, how many occasions they’re going to be going to, how they’re going to be dressing in those occasions,” she said.
Life changes such as pregnancy tend to prompt customers to subscribe as well, she said, and many women are juggling new routines as they emerge from the pandemic.

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A federal judge dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit by investors against the founders of a cryptocurrency, as well as celebrity endorsers Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
The dismissal comes after Kardashian paid over $1 million in October to settle with the SEC over her promotion of EthereumMax.
The judge noted that the suit highlights legitimate concerns about “celebrities’ ability to readily persuade millions of undiscerning followers to buy snake oil.”

Kim Kardashian attends the CFDA Fashion Awards in Manhattan, New York City, November 7, 2022.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters

A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit by investors against the founders of the cryptocurrency EthereumMax, as well as celebrity endorsers including Kim Kardashian and boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. over their promotion of the cryptocurrency on social media.
Investors who bought EMAX tokens alleged they had suffered losses after taking the word of the celebrity influencers about the value of the crypto. The suit claims the defendants engaged in a conspiracy to artificially inflate the value of the EMAX tokens.

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Judge Michael Fitzgerald wrote that he recognized that the lawsuit’s claims raised legitimate worries about “celebrities’ ability to readily persuade millions of undiscerning followers to buy snake oil with unprecedented ease and reach.”
“But, while the law certainly places limits on those advertisers, it also expects investors to act reasonably before basing their bets on the zeitgeist of the moment,” wrote Fitzgerald, of the Central District of California.
The judge found that the plaintiffs’ allegations were insufficiently backed, especially “given the heightened pleading standards” for fraud claims, according to his ruling in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
In addition to Kardashian, Mayweather and former Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce, the defendants in the case included Steve Gentile and Giovanni Perone, the co-founders of EthereumMax, and Justin French, a consultant and developer for the cryptocurrency, court documents state.
Fitzgerald in his ruling said he would allow lawyers for the plaintiffs to refile their suit after amending some of their claims under a number of the statutes cited in the original complaint, which included the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, also known as RICO.

“We’re pleased with the court’s well-reasoned decision on the case,” Michael Rhodes, a lawyer for Kardashian, told CNBC.
The dismissal came weeks after investors in fallen crypto exchange FTX filed a class-action lawsuit against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and celebrity advertisers for the company, among them NFL superstar Tom Brady, for allegedly overstating the value of the crypto tokens in promotional messaging.
And the ruling came two months after Kardashian agreed to pay $1.26 million, and not to promote cryptocurrency for three years, to settle claims by the SEC for her failure to disclose a $250,000 payment touting EthereumMax on her Instagram account.
Fitzgerald in his ruling Wednesday said the EthereumMax lawsuit reflects a broader conflict surrounding celebrity and influencer promotional schemes.
“This action demonstrates that just about anyone with the technical skills and/or connections can mint a new currency and create their own digital market overnight,” Fitzgerald wrote in his dismissal.
Investors sued EthereumMax and its celebrity advertisers in January after a slew of influencers started snagging sponsorships to promote cryptocurrencies to their millions of social media followers.
Kardashian’s Instagram post in June 2021 had written, “Are you guys into crypto??? This is not financial advice but sharing what my friends told me about the Ethereum Max token.”
Her post included “#ad” at the bottom, indicating she had been sponsored. But it did not disclose her $250,000 payment from EthereumMax.
Mayweather promoted EMAX at a boxing match and a large Miami bitcoin conference in June 2021.
But by January, the cryptocurrency had lost 97% of its value.
Fitzgerald at a hearing last month indicated he was inclined to dismiss the case.
Bloomberg News, in an article about that hearing, said that an attorney for the plaintiffs in the suit asked the judge to allow him to revise the suit’s racketeering claims to show how the statements by the celebrity defendants harmed the investors.
“If plaintiffs had known the true facts related to the promoters’ financial interest in the tokens, and that they were being paid to shill these tokens, they wouldn’t have paid as much for the tokens as they did,” the attorney, John Jasnoch, told Fitzgerald, according to a transcript cited by Bloomberg.

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The Biden administration on Wednesday announced more than $757 million in winning bids for its auction of offshore wind development rights in California.
The auction is a major milestone in the administration’s goal of building offshore wind turbines across the nation’s coastlines to help power communities and transition to clean energy.
The sale will also allow for investments in floating turbines, an emerging technology necessary to provide power when coastal waters are too deep for standard turbines to be fixed into the ocean floor.

Offshore wind farm.
davee hughes uk | Moment | Getty Images

The Biden administration on Wednesday announced more than $757 million in winning bids for its auction of offshore wind development rights in California, marking the third offshore wind lease sale this year and the first ever for the Pacific region.
The sale is a major milestone in the administration’s goal of building offshore wind turbines across the nation’s coastlines to help power communities and transition to clean energy. The White House, as part of its broader agenda to address climate change, has committed to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030, enough to power 10 million homes. 

This week’s auction will also allow for investments in floating turbines, an emerging technology necessary to provide power when coastal waters are too deep for standard turbines to be fixed into the ocean floor. Such technology has so far been implemented in small-scale pilot projects in Europe.
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) auctioned five lease areas that span about 373,268 acres off California’s coastlines. The leases are located off the Central Coast in the Morro Bay area as well as off the Northern California coast in the Humboldt county area. The projects on those leases could produce power to supply more than 1.5 million homes, the agency said.
“The California lease sale gives the U.S. a chance to lead the emerging floating wind sector,” said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, an oil industry trade group. “Floating wind technology in its early stages but it is an advanced technology that will lead to strong growth in the deployment of offshore wind.”
Winning bidders include California North Floating, RWE Offshore Wind Holdings, Central California Offshore Wind and Invenergy California Offshore.

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“The Biden-Harris administration believes that to address the climate crisis head on, we must unleash a new era of clean, reliable energy that serves every household in America,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement.

“Today’s lease sale is further proof that industry momentum – including for floating offshore wind development – is undeniable,” Haaland said.
The country’s offshore wind sector presents a  $109 billion revenue opportunity over the next 10 years, according to a report by the Special Initiative on Offshore Wind, an independent project at the University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean and Environment.
“Offshore wind is a critical component to achieving our world-leading clean energy goals and this sale is an historic step on California’s march toward a future free of fossil fuels,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.
Earlier this year, the federal government announced a $4.37 billion sale of six offshore wind leases off the coasts of New York and New Jersey. Those leases are anticipated to produce up to 7 gigawatts of clean energy, enough to power nearly 2 million homes.

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