• October 8, 2024

Looking to buy a home? Here's how you can assess climate risks.

As Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida, First Street and Zillow (Z) are teaming up to create a first-of-its-kind rating system to assess climate risks on for-sale properties. The monitored risks include heat, wind, and most importantly, flooding. First Street head of climate implications Jeremy Porter joins Asking for a Trend to discuss how this tool can help homeowners as severe weather events become more frequent. While hurricanes are becoming more frequent, Porter says the trend is negative, telling Yahoo Finance, "We're seeing potentially more storms, and if not more storms, stronger storms when they do occur." "Our mission has always been to quantify and communicate climate risk, and when we first started about eight years ago, there were really very few resources that people had for understanding what their climate risk looked like and the resources that did exist for things like FEMA zones. And FEMA zones are just not that user-friendly, they don't capture all of the sources of flood risk. So what we ended up doing was creating our own hazard models at the property level so people could understand not only what the risk is today, but what the risk is into the future, what the risk is to their specific property, and how that might impact their pocketbooks," he says of the Zillow partnership. He explains that this information is crucial for homebuyers to make "smart decisions" about their future. Porter notes that weather is becoming a key issue for Americans, explaining that many in Miami are avoiding low-ground residences. However, a significant move to areas away from major hurricane threats has yet to be seen. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Asking for a Trend here. This post was written by Melanie Riehl

  • October 8, 2024

Why investors should hold energy plays amid Mideast tensions

Amid escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East — notably between Israel and Iran — oil prices (CL=F, BZ=F) have been experiencing fluctuations with an overall upward trend. To explore the implications for the broader energy sector, Truist Securities Managing Director of Energy Neal Dingmann shares his insights on Market Domination. Dingmann observes a "bit more risk-off" sentiment within the energy sector, noting an increasing bearish attitude among investors towards oil. However, he cautions that if Middle Eastern tensions were to intensify, the impact on oil prices could be "very quick and quite severe," potentially triggering an immediate 10 to 15% surge in prices. Despite this uncertainty, Dingmann advises investors to maintain their positions in energy stocks. "To me, the reason to hold the group is it's hard to find a sector where you see better shareholder return in the form of bulk dividends and buybacks than you do in the energy stocks these days," adding that he is "cautiously optimistic" on the sector. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination here. This post was written by Angel Smith

  • October 8, 2024

U.S. Stock Futures Rebounding From Selloff as China Rally Falters

U.S. stock futures were rising Tuesday after the previous day’s selloff, which was prompted by rising bond yields. Meanwhile, China’s stock rally lost some momentum after a highly anticipated briefing by the country's top economic planner disappointed investors. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 68 points, or 0.2%.