VOL. 42 | NO. 45 | Friday, November 9, 2018
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
Various trends develop as markets transition, and a new one in the Nashville market is the failure of homes to appraise for the contract sales price.
REAL ESTATE
The number of home sales recorded in Nashville and Davidson County were virtually unchanged last month while average home sales prices soared.
U.S. mortgage rates jumped this week to the highest level in seven years, a trend that is pulling down home sales and slowing home price growth.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Homebuilders took a beating Thursday as rising interest rates and home prices discourage potential buyers.
TENNESSEE TITANS
Fowler just glad to be back home
Jalston Fowler knows he is an endangered species, a dinosaur, an eight-track tape, a Pontiac.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans have signed running back Dalyn Dawkins off their practice squad with David Fluellen out at least against Indianapolis with an injured knee.
1. Tom Brady’s heroics. Brady has only lost to the Titans one time in his career, 16 years ago. New England took the Titans apart in the AFC Divisional Playoffs last year and have shown no signs of slowing. The Titans should be plenty familiar with Brady, more so than most teams, considering they have four former Pats on their roster in Malcolm Butler, Logan Ryan, Josh Kline and Dion Lewis. Will that knowledge of Brady and Bill Belichick be enough to slow them down?
UT SPORTS
Todd Kelly Jr. could have just moved on from the University of Tennessee instead of returning for a fifth year. He was rehabbing from an injury, the Vols were in rebuilding mode under a new coaching staff and he had his degree.
NEWSMAKERS
WSW CPAs founder Bob Whisenant, a veteran of 46 years in the industry, is stepping aside as managing partner on Jan. 1. Taking over those duties will be WSW partner Geoffrey Stewart.
BRIEFS
Vanderbilt University Medical Center has again been named one of the nation’s “most-wired” hospitals and health systems for its innovation and leadership in medical technology and health care information management.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
One of the most common complaints of car buyers is the amount of time it takes to wrap up a vehicle purchase. Depending on whom you ask, the time spent completing a deal at the average dealership is between 3.6 hours (J.D. Power 2017 U.S. Sales Satisfaction Index) and an eternity (the average shopper).
PERSONAL FINANCE
NEW YORK (AP) — At some point, you’ll buy your last car and refinance your last mortgage. Surely then you can stop worrying about your credit scores.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
The weekend whizzed by quickly. What little part of weekend you had, that is, because it seems like you’re always working.
CAREER CORNER
I recently had the opportunity to attend Talent Connect, LinkedIn’s annual human resources event, which showcased everything LinkedIn’s been working on in 2018 and its plans for the future.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
If “one size fits all” is the phrase that best describes your email marketing strategy, you have most likely experienced declining opens and clicks and increasing unsubscribes.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
Chris Stapleton won the most awards at the 2018 Country Music Association Awards and had the show's best performance, almost capping a perfect night.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Complete list of winners from the 2018 Country Music Association Awards, held Wednesday at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
HEALTH CARE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Department of Health is warning that an outbreak of hepatitis A has killed one person and sickened more than 400 others.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — State officials say a fresh pet food company will invest $1.7 million in a new Tennessee production facility that's expected to create 181 new jobs.
AUTO INDUSTRY
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese automaker Zotye Auto said it plans to start selling vehicles in the United States in 2020.
DETROIT (AP) — Testing by AAA shows that electronic driver assist systems on the road today may not keep vehicles in their lanes or spot stationary objects in time to avoid a crash.
REAL ESTATE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. long-term mortgage rates were steady to slightly up this week, at their highest levels in nearly eight years and dampening home sales.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are opening mostly lower on Wall Street, extending the market's losing streak into a sixth day.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Economists at the University of Michigan say in an annual forecast that effects of federal spending and tax cuts on U.S. economic growth will start to diminish in 2019 before fading out in 2020.
OAKFIELD, N.Y. (AP) — Cows that can withstand hotter temperatures. Cows born without pesky horns. Pigs that never reach puberty.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. retail sales rose at a solid pace in October, though the gains were boosted by one-time factors such as hurricane recovery spending and higher gas prices.
MILAN (AP) — Chinese consumers will remain the driving force for the luxury goods market, according to a new study by Bain consultancy released Thursday that shows they will fuel nearly half of global high-end sales by 2025.
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart, armed with grocery and other online services, is proving it can do battle with Amazon.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Investor Warren Buffett's company picked up nearly 36 million shares of JP Morgan Chase stock in the third quarter and eliminated its stake in Walmart as part of a number of changes in its portfolio.
NATIONAL POLITICS
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May was battling Thursday to save both her Brexit deal and her job, as ministers quit her government and a growing list of lawmakers demanded her ouster over the divorce agreement struck between Britain and the European Union.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration is trying to fend off a legal challenge from CNN and other outlets over the revocation of journalist Jim Acosta's White House "hard pass."
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida's bumpy election recount reaches a pivotal point Thursday as most counties across the state complete reviews that could determine the next senator and governor in one of America's top political battlegrounds.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge is giving thousands of Florida voters until this weekend to fix their ballots if they haven't been counted due to mismatched signatures.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis defended the use of active duty troops on the U.S.-Mexican border, saying that in some ways it provides good training for war. He argued that it's analogous to a 1916 deployment to counter the Mexican revolutionary Gen. Francisco "Pancho" Villa.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy easily won an internal party election to take over the shrunken House GOP caucus, handing the seven-term Californian a familiar role of building the party back to a majority as well as protecting President Donald Trump's agenda.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14
EDUCATION
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Board of Regents says it has appointed presidents at Northeast State Community College and the Tennessee College of Applied Technology in Knoxville
COURTS
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — A former Pilot Flying J president convicted of fraud will get to spend Christmas at home.
PREDATORS
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — On a night when he reached an impressive personal milestone, Joe Thornton wasn't taking stock of his career accomplishments.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Pekka Rinne is off to an even better start than last season when he finally won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's best goalie, and backup Juuse Saros ranks among the league's top 10 for victories.
SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Southeastern Conference has decided Music City is the place to keep its basketball tournament for years to come, extending its deal with an option that could keep the event in Nashville through 2035.
AUTO INDUSTRY
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German automaker Volkswagen says it will convert three factories in Germany to manufacture electric cars, getting ready to ramp up production of zero-local emission cars ahead of tougher European emissions standards.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
A turbulent day of trading on Wall Street ended Wednesday with a fifth consecutive loss for the benchmark S&P 500 index.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service on Wednesday reported a financial loss for the 12th straight year, citing declines in mail volume and the costs of its pension and health care obligations, as the agency braces for an upcoming report ordered by President Donald Trump to address its "unsustainable financial path."
WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional advisory panel says the purchase of internet-linked devices manufactured in China leaves the United States vulnerable to security breaches that could put critical infrastructure at risk.
NEW YORK (AP) — Macy's is heading into the crucial holiday season firing on all cylinders, logging its fourth consecutive quarter of sales growth at existing locations and getting strong reactions from customers both online and in its stores.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer prices climbed 0.3 percent in October, with higher prices for gasoline, used autos and housing contributing to the increase.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The International Energy Agency said Wednesday that global oil supplies are growing rapidly as Saudi Arabia, the United States and Russia pump more oil in response to fears of higher prices as a result of renewed U.S. sanctions on Iran.
LONDON (AP) — In a hard-won victory, British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday persuaded her Cabinet to back a draft divorce agreement with the European Union, a decision that triggers the final steps on the long and rocky road to Brexit.
NEW YORK (AP) — Much of the New York City neighborhood selected by Amazon for one of its new headquarters is in a federal "opportunity zone," a designation created by President Donald Trump's tax overhaul that offers developers potentially millions of dollars in capital gains tax breaks to invest in high-poverty, low-income areas.
NATIONAL POLITICS
BOSTON (AP) — Lawyers suing President Donald Trump over his decision to end special protections shielding certain immigrants from deportation are seeking unaired footage from his reality TV show "The Apprentice" to try to bolster their case alleging the move was racially motivated, the attorneys said Wednesday.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Rick Scott will step down from the state panel responsible for certifying the results in the state's highly contested elections.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida's ongoing recount battle heads back to a courtroom Wednesday. Lawyers for Democrats will ask a federal judge to set aside the state law mandating that mailed-in votes be thrown out if the signature on the envelope doesn't match the signature on file with election authorities.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators chose Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for another term leading Republicans and Chuck Schumer for Democrats in closed-door party elections Wednesday lacking the high drama underway on the House side in the midterm election fallout.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida's election started badly when Hurricane Michael disrupted early voting in some Panhandle counties. That was followed by long lines, ballot shortages and other problems statewide, both during early voting and on Election Day. Now it is having recounts in its Senate and governor races.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is weighing an administration-wide shakeup as he looks to prepare his White House for divided government, but it is unclear who is going and who is staying.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13
NASHVILLE AREA
1 million-square-foot headquarters north of Gulch; hiring begins in 2019
Amazon today announced that it has selected Nashville for a new Center of Excellence for its Operations business, which is responsible for the company’s customer fulfillment, transportation, supply chain and other similar activities. The Operations Center of Excellence in Nashville will create more than 5,000 jobs. It will be located in downtown Nashville as part of a new development site just north of The Gulch. Hiring will begin in 2019.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam said Tuesday that an Amazon operations hub expected to create 5,000 jobs in Tennessee will be "the single largest jobs commitment made by a company in Tennessee's history."
SEATTLE (AP) — As Amazon turns its attention to setting up new homes in Long Island City, New York and Arlington, Virginia, experts and historians in Seattle say both places can expect a delicate relationship with the world's hottest online retailer.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is hard to escape. Whether you've bought shoes at Zappos, picked up milk at Whole Foods or listened to an audiobook on Audible, you've been caught up in Amazon's growing web of businesses.
Gov. Bill Haslam, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe and Ernst & Young LLP officials announced today that the global professional services firm will invest more than $20 million to establish a facility to deliver tax managed services for clients and tax technology operations in Nashville. EY expects to create more than 600 jobs over the next five years.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Ford Motor Company Fund is giving a Nashville hospital $100,000 for its work teaching teens about distracted driving.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Former Republican Tennessee Rep. Charles Sargent has died. He was 73.
PREDATORS
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The Anaheim Ducks had all weekend to stew over their worst game of the season. They responded Monday night with a win against the NHL's top team.
ELECTION 2018
MEMPHIS (AP) — A Tennessee Democrat newly elected to the House of Representatives has said the state is racist and most residents who voted Republican are uneducated.
EDUCATION
The number of foreign students heading to U.S. colleges and universities fell again last year, the second straight decline after more than a decade of growth, a new report finds.
ENVIRONMENT
DETROIT (AP) — The Trump administration's Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to rewrite rules that limit pollution from heavy trucks but that the EPA says slow the economy.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
The steepest drop in oil prices in more than three years put investors in a selling mood Tuesday, extending a losing streak for the S&P 500 index to a fourth day.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government recorded a deficit of $100.5 billion in October, a big increase from a year ago that was primarily caused by quirks in the calendar.
GENEVA (AP) — Christie's has sold the "Pink Legacy" diamond at auction for more than $50 million including fees, saying it's a new world record price per carat for a pink diamond.
BOSTON (AP) — A Black Panther "slash claw" and a plastic Power Rangers sword are among the items topping a consumer safety group's annual list of worst toys for the holiday season.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon, which has grown too big for its Seattle hometown, said it will split its much-anticipated second headquarters between New York and northern Virginia.
LONDON (AP) — Brexit is already having an impact on Britain's labor market, with the number of people from the European Union working in the country falling by a record amount.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nursing grievances from a weekend visit to France, President Donald Trump lit into French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday over his suggestion for a European defense force, over French tariffs on U.S. wine and even Macron's approval ratings.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Maryland is challenging the appointment of Matthew Whitaker as the new U.S. acting attorney general, arguing that President Donald Trump sidestepped the Constitution and the Justice Department's own succession plan by elevating Whitaker to the top job.
NEW YORK (AP) — CNN took its access battle against the Trump administration to court on Tuesday, demanding the reinstatement of correspondent Jim Acosta's White House credentials because their revocation violates the right of freedom of the press.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump escalated his verbal assaults against France on Tuesday, suggesting that America's stalwart European ally would have been vanquished in both world wars if not for the military firepower provided by the United States.
NEW YORK (AP) — No, it wasn't a blue wave. But a week after the voting, Democrats are riding higher than they thought on election night.
ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge has ordered Georgia take steps to ensure provisional ballots aren't improperly rejected and to wait until Friday to certify the results of the midterm elections that include an unsettled race for governor.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida's election recount is chugging along as more irregularities are uncovered and a judge asked the warring sides to "ramp down the rhetoric," saying it erodes public confidence in the election for Senate and governor.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the days after the midterm election, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker worked the phones with Democratic luminaries in Iowa. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock courted high-dollar donors in New York. Other Democrats openly mused about their White House ambitions on live television.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tom Brady added another big chunk of NFL history to his resume. The Tennessee Titans made sure the Patriots quarterback didn't finish his 300th game by hitting him over and over again.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A fan reaching for a free T-shirt is in critical but stable condition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center after losing his balance and falling through the awning that covers the tunnel to the Tennessee Titans' locker room.
VANDERBILT SPORTS
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Vanderbilt's talented freshmen passed their first road test against a Power Five team on Sunday night.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — This Veterans Day, the Tennessee Agriculture Department wants residents to know the state has more than 400 farmer veterans who consumers can support.
TECHNOLOGY
PARIS (AP) — Fifty nations and over 150 tech companies pledged Monday to do more to fight criminal activity on the internet, including interference in elections and hate speech. But the United States, Russia and China are not among them.
HEALTH CARE
Athenahealth shares soared Monday after the struggling medical billing software maker received a $5.7 billion cash buyout offer.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
A broad sell-off in technology companies pulled U.S. stocks sharply lower Monday, knocking more than 600 points off the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — OPEC and allied oil-producing countries will likely need to cut crude supplies, perhaps as much as 1 million barrels of oil a day, to rebalance the market after proposed U.S. sanctions on Iran failed to cut Tehran's output, Saudi Arabia's energy minister said Monday.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Pabst Brewing Company and MillerCoors are going to trial, with hipster favorite Pabst contending that MillerCoors wants to put it out of business by ending a longstanding partnership through which it brews Pabst's beers.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fresh from a trip to France where his brand of "nationalism" drew rebuke from his hosts, President Donald Trump says "much was accomplished" in his meetings. But he's raising a familiar complaint about American allies' spending on defense.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Senate's top Democrat says the Federal Aviation Administration isn't moving fast enough to roll out a plan to stop airlines from shrinking passengers' seats.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The man accused of gunning down 17 people at a Florida high school registered to vote as a Republican while behind bars awaiting trial.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing closely contested election races in Florida and Arizona, President Donald Trump is spreading misleading rhetoric regarding voting fraud.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov.-elect Bill Lee has tapped Nashville businessman Butch Eley to run his transition team.
ELECTION 2018
NASHVILLE (AP) — Women voters were split on electing Republican Marsha Blackburn as Tennessee's first female U.S. senator, and their age often shaped their preference, according to a wide-ranging survey of voters in Tennessee.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is home after being released from the hospital. She had been admitted for treatment and observation after fracturing three ribs in a fall.
NEW YORK (AP) — Environmentalists cheered a federal court order that blocks a Trump administration permit for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, pending an environmental review.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Former Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris has been sworn in as a U.S. District Court judge.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A U.S. appeals court blocked President Donald Trump on Thursday from immediately ending an Obama-era program shielding young immigrants from deportation, saying the administration's decision was arbitrary because it was based on a flawed legal theory.
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — The former Pilot Flying J vice president federal prosecutors described as the architect of a scheme to defraud trucking companies has been sentenced by a federal judge in Tennessee.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Australian telecommunications executive Robyn Denholm brings much-needed financial and auto industry expertise to her new role as Tesla's board chairwoman, but her biggest challenge is whether she can rein in a CEO with a proclivity for misbehavior.
NEW YORK (AP) — Ford Motor Co. has bought an electric scooter sharing company, expanding its presence in alternative modes of transportation.
BERLIN (AP) — Germany's transport minister says automakers are prepared to offer up to 3,000 euros ($3,430) per car to help fix some older diesel vehicles with excessive emissions.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automaker Nissan reported Thursday an 8 percent fall in profit for the latest quarter as declining sales offset the benefits of cost cuts.
DETROIT (AP) — Tesla's board has named one of its own as chairman to replace Elon Musk, complying with terms of a fraud settlement with U.S. securities regulators.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicare is experimenting with a new direction in health care. Starting next year, seniors in many states will be able to get additional services such as help with chores and respite for caregivers through private Medicare Advantage insurance plans.
Health insurers are extending their postelection streak before the opening bell thanks to several ballot initiatives and the increased chance that a divided Congress that may not repeal the Affordable Care Act.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are falling Friday as technology and internet companies take steep losses.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale prices rose by the most in six years last month, led higher by more expensive gas, food, and chemicals.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's main gas company signed a long-term contract Thursday to receive deliveries of liquefied natural gas from the United States as part of a larger effort to reduce its energy dependence on Russia.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google is promising to be more forceful and open about its handling of sexual misconduct cases, a week after high-paid engineers and others walked out in protest over its male-dominated culture.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve has left its key policy rate unchanged but signaled that it plans to keep responding to the strong U.S. economy with more interest rate hikes. The next rate increase is expected in December.
NEW YORK (AP) — Google is planning a major expansion in New York City, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal .
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Getting President Donald Trump's tax returns is high on the list of Democratic priorities now that they have won the House.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Suddenly facing life under divided government, President Donald Trump and congressional leaders talked bipartisanship but then bluntly previewed the fault lines to come. Trump threatened to go after House Democrats who try to investigate him, while Rep. Nancy Pelosi said her party would be "a check and balance" against the White House.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Beyond trying to get their hands on the Holy Grail of President Donald Trump's business dealings — his tax returns — House Democrats are prepared to use their new majority and subpoena power to go after financial records that could back up their claims that he's using his presidency to enrich himself and his family.