The pace of home price appreciation across much of the U.S. continued to peter out last month.  The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city price index remained the same in August on a monthly basis after seasonal adjustments.  On an annual basis, the index only increased 2% from August 2018. This represents the slowest rate of home price appreciation since 2012.  Seattle continued to be the only city where home prices have fallen over the past year, but the rate of home price declines has slowed.

Escalating trade tensions with China undermined consumer confidence in September, underscoring the dangers of a conflict that has harmed key business sectors such as manufacturing and farming and poses a threat to a record U.S. economic expansion.  The consumer confidence index fell to a three-month low of 125.1 this month from 134.2 in August.

Shares of Netflix have tumbled over 15% in the last 5 trading sessions as the company continues to get downgraded by Wall St. analysts.   In their annual report out in January, Netflix reported 2018 free cash flow of negative $3.02 billion, compared with negative $2.02 billion in 2017, and said it expected negative free cash flow “for many years” as it continues to “significantly increase” investment in streaming content.
 
WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann has agreed to resign as chief executive of the U.S. office-sharing company but will remain as non-executive chairman, bowing to pressure from some of his investors.  The decision, taken at a board meeting yesterday, follows a challenge to Neumann's authority by his biggest investors, including Japan's SoftBank Group.

With Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management, I'm Tyler Simones