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By Staff Reporters

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Ark Investment Management’s Cathie Wood says “exploding” inventories at major retailers like Walmart Inc. and Target Corp. paired with declining US consumer sentiment portend slower inflation on the horizon. The money manager was responding on Thursday to a tweet quoting world’s richest man Elon Musk saying the recent inflation surge was due to government pandemic stimulus, even as money velocity held constant.

Home sales slowed for the third consecutive month in April as mortgage rates surged, driving up borrowing costs for would-be buyers as home prices soared to new highs. Existing home sales fell 2.4% last month from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.61 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.

And, in April, the median U.S. rent hit a record high for the 14^th month in a row of $1,827, according to Realtor.com, a residential real estate information service. “If recent trends continue, we expect the typical U.S. asking rent to eclipse $2,000 by August,” it said. April rent increased 16.7% from a year earlier. That’s the third straight month in which year-over-year rent growth has dipped, down from 17.1% in January. Higher rents are taking money away from renters’ budgets for regular expenses and savings, Realtor.com said. Rent represents the biggest strain on renters’ overall finances, according to a Realtor.com survey.

Incidentally, a number of American corporate giants, including Walmart, Target, Bank of America, Charles Schwab, and Intel, hit 52-week lows yesterday.

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Filed under: Alerts Sign-Up, iMBA, Inc., Investing | Tagged: Ark Investment Management, Cathie Wood, home sales, rent, rent inflation |