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Good morning.
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, which claimed nearly 3,000 lives in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. Thousands more were left injured, including first responders. Countless family and friends of victims have lived with the absence of loved ones ever since. Here are a few ways you can lend them your support.
The Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund provides postsecondary education assistance to financially needy children, spouses and domestic partners of 9/11 victims. The Tunnel to Towers Foundation arranges mortgage-free homes for families of fallen first responders and builds custom smart homes for disabled first responders and veterans. Tuesday’s Promise runs support programs for families impacted by loss or illness related to 9/11 or post-9/11 military service. If you’re able to donate, all are worthy causes with 4/4 star ratings from non-profit evaluation platform Charity Navigator.
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MARKETS
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Stock data as of market close on September 10, 2026.
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Paying off your mortgage used to be something people aspired to. Now, many Americans fantasize about simply getting one.
The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that US home sales fell 2% month-over-month in August to a 14-month low. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.98 million residences, the lowest since June 2025, was weighed down by stubbornly high mortgage rates and home prices.
Gen Z’s Morbid Wish
Two major factors are driving up borrowing costs. First, the resumption of US and Iranian strikes in the Persian Gulf means oil prices are surging again. International benchmark Brent crude closed above $107 Thursday, up 22.5% from a month ago. Higher energy prices mean the market prices in higher inflation, which pushes up long-term Treasury yields. Second, concerns about the US public debt, which at $40 trillion has surpassed even the price of one beer at MetLife Stadium, are also driving up bond yields.
Bond yields heavily influence how lenders price home loans, meaning they’re helping to drive up mortgage rates. According to Mortgage News Daily data, the popular 30-year fixed mortgage rate surpassed 7% for the first time since May 2025 on Thursday. “Mortgage rates and home sales move in opposite directions, so it’s not surprising to see a mild dip in home-buying activity due to high mortgage rates,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.
Home prices, meanwhile, aren’t yielding to anyone. The median existing home sold for $429,100 in August, up 1.6% year-over-year. Compare that to research by Apollo Global Management, which suggests 56% of US households can only afford a home under $300,000. No wonder 58% of Gen Z respondents said in a survey by Clever last month that they’re rooting for a housing market crash. The market is proving resilient, even if macro conditions prevent it from breaking out of the current downcycle:
- “Home prices are rising, and existing home sales are actually up 1.6% year-to-date through the first eight months of the year,” Yun said.
- The high cost of mortgages is likely disincentivizing potential sellers who locked up a better rate or refinanced years ago when borrowing costs were lower. Apollo Global’s research shows only a quarter of mortgages have a rate above 6%, suggesting there’s plenty of supply that could come on the market if and when borrowing costs fall.
  Plenty Inventory: In unabashedly good news for those looking for a place to call their own, existing housing inventory rose 3.2% to 1.62 million homes last month. That’s the highest level since November 2019 and a 5.9% increase from a year ago. “The ample supply of homes for sale on the market is giving homebuyers better opportunities to negotiate,” Yun noted. So buy away, if you can afford it.
Written by Sean Craig
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Photo via Sage Intacct
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Photo via The Boring Company/X
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Elon Musk doesn’t appear to have a large threshold for boredom, but he may have to start setting aside more time for Boring.
On Thursday, the Boring Co., a.k.a. Musk’s other other venture, centered on underground tunneling, scored a $3 billion funding round led by the United Arab Emirates at a $23 billion valuation. That’s a massive jump from the $5.7 billion valuation Boring held at its most recent funding round in 2022, even though the company has made scant progress on any project since. After raising $86 billion for the SpaceX IPO earlier this summer, Musk still has no trouble finding more capital.
Tunnel Vision
To date, the tunnel-transit company, which spun off from SpaceX in 2018, has brought just one project to fruition: a Tesla taxi tunnel network known as the Vegas Loop, which runs fewer than 4 miles and services 14 stations. That’s technically just the start of a planned nearly 68-mile network. Otherwise, the company’s recent history is mostly defined by connecting Musk’s vast corporate campus in rural Bastrop, Texas, as well as projects that never came to be, including abandoned plans to tunnel in Chicago, Los Angeles and Ontario.
Still, the arrival of the new funding comes as at least two projects are showing forward motion:
- The first is the 10-mile Music City Loop in Nashville, Tennessee, that’s privately funded. The company broke ground on the project this year after receiving fast-track approval from local officials, and stretches of it are reported to be on track to become operational by the fourth quarter of this year.
- The second is a planned 14-mile network in Dubai, hence the UAE’s lead involvement in the funding round. The company said the latest cash infusion will support the development of the Dubai project, which it says will cost $545 million and take about three years to complete.
Dig Deep: The latest funding round brings cash, with strings attached. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal last week, Boring told some of the funding round participants that they must take an active role in supporting the company, such as by helping it recruit employees or connect with local officials in cities it may have projects in. Boring retains the right to buy back some of the investors’ shares if they fail to live up to such obligations. In an X post, Musk himself confirmed the WSJ report as “True.”
Written by Brian Boyle
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Photo via Tello
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Your phone plan called. It wants to explain that “legacy pricing” thing. Or you could just switch to Tello. Choose your data, skip the contract and enjoy nationwide 5G without the usual phone-plan gymnastics, all without sacrificing service quality. New customers get the Unlimited Everything Plan for only $19/mo for the first 6 months of service. $25/mo thereafter. See the offer.
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Starbucks thinks 25,000 chairs will make customers want to hang out at its stores — not just pick up their mobile orders and run. That’s among the more visible changes under CEO Brian Niccol, who told investors yesterday that “Starbucks is back” in a letter reflecting on progress on a turnaround effort he has led for the past two years.
Niccol, known for helping Chipotle recover sales after its E. coli crises, was brought in to recaffeinate the tired coffee chain, whose same-store sales were sliding globally. His “Back to Starbucks” plan focuses on cost savings that it partially reinvests into creating a community coffee-house vibe in stores, hence the chairs.
Channeling Its Inner Siren
During the pandemic, coffee chains put their cozy couches on Craigslist. And after finding success selling to-go mobile orders, some chains didn’t bother bringing them back. Rivals including Dutch Bros and Luckin Coffee leaned into the “no loitering” aesthetic and focused on fast orders, often with zero chairs or barista chitchat.
Starbucks, which has struggled in the past to churn out complicated mobile orders quickly, instead decided to go the opposite route for a “Central Perk” vibe:
- Niccol said Starbucks is targeting 1,500 uplifts by the end of this month, eventually extending to as many as 9,000 of the chain’s 11,000 corporate-owned stores. It’s spending about $150,000 per store, focusing on small renos (picture: framed paintings of sirens) rather than major changes.
- So far the plan seems to be working. Same-store sales spiked nearly 8% globally in the latest quarter, boosted by both the number of transactions and the average cost per order rising. US same-store sales have climbed for four quarters in a row.
Perking Up: Mobile orders aren’t going to stop being a major part of what makes Starbucks money. But a reputation as a fast-food drive-thru could make it hard for Starbucks to keep charging ~$6 for a Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew. And while its drink prices look palatable next to options like Blue Bottle Coffee or La Colombe, they could seem expensive compared with options at McDonald’s. So making Starbucks stores a trendy place to hang out again, like in the Frappuccino’s heyday, could act as marketing in addition to directly driving sales.
Written by Jamie Wilde
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- Will FOMC Follow? With the Federal Reserve set for a monetary policy meeting next week, the European Central Bank hiked interest rates Thursday, citing inflation pressures from the US war with Iran.
- Watchdog Days: After a Supreme Court decision gave the White House more power over the Federal Trade Commission, congressional Republicans are exploring an overhaul of the agency.
- Chemical Cost: Chemours, DuPont de Nemours and Corteva have agreed to pay $455 million to settle legal claims with the state of North Carolina and some communities over drinking water toxins.
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