Almost one in five of home sellers have lowered their price during the four-week period ended May 22, the highest rate since October 2019, suggesting homebuyers are starting to reject historically high prices, according to a report from real estate brokerage Redfin.  The median home sale price jumped 16% Y/Y to a record $400K, as the supply-side of the housing market remains tight, Redfin noted, citing data from more than 400 U.S. metro cities. Furthermore, pending home sales fell 5.4% Y/Y.

The core personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, rose 4.9% from a year ago in April, in line with estimates and a deceleration from March.  Personal income rose slightly less than expected, but spending beat estimates as consumers tapped savings. The number excludes volatile food and energy prices that have been a major contributor to inflation running at forty-year highs.

Chinese technology shares leapt this morning after the country’s largest internet groups beat first-quarter earnings estimates despite the damage caused by Beijing’s zero-Covid policy and widespread lockdowns in the world’s second-biggest economy. Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba surged more than 12 per cent after the ecommerce group reported revenues had risen 9 per cent year on year in the first three months of 2022 $30bn.