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Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell sharply in January as higher home prices and possibly harsh winter weather kept many prospective homebuyers on the sidelines despite easing mortgage rates. Existing home sales sank 8.4% last month from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.91 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. Thats the biggest monthly decline in nearly four years and the slowest annualized sales pace in more than two years. Sales fell 4.4% compared with January last year. The latest sales figure fell short of the 4.105 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet. The decrease in sales is disappointing,” said Lawrence Yun, NARs chief economist. “The below-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation this January make it harder than usual to assess the underlying driver of the decrease and determine if this months numbers are an aberration. Home sales slowed sharply across the Northeast, Midwest, South and West. But sales had their biggest annual and monthly drop in the West, which wasn’t as affected by last month’s winter storm as the other regions of the country. Plus, theres usually a month or two lag between a contract signing and when the sale is finalized, so many of January’s sales reflect contracts signed late last year. Despite the sharp drop in sales, home prices continued to climb last month. The national median sales price increased 0.9% in January from a year earlier to $396,800. Home prices have risen on an annual basis for 31 months in a row. The U.S. housing market has been in a sales slump dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. The combination of higher mortgage rates, years of skyrocketing home prices and a chronic shortage of homes nationally following more than a decade of below-average home construction have left many aspiring homeowners priced out of the market. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes remained stuck last year at 30-year lows. Sales have been hovering close to a 4-million annual pace now going back to 2023. Thats well short of the 5.2-million annual pace thats historically been the norm. Still, mortgage rates have been trending lower for months, which helped give home sales a boost in December and brightened the outlook for the upcoming spring home-buying season at least for home shoppers who can afford to buy at current rates. Many of the homes purchased last month likely went under contract in November and December, when mortgage rates eased to their lowest levels of the year. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage briefly dropped last month to 6.06%, the lowest level since September 2022, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. It has since inched higher, remaining this week at just above 6%, but close to a percentage point lower than a year ago. Even so, affordability remains a challenge for many aspiring homeowners, especially first-time buyers who dont have equity from an existing home to put toward a new home purchase. They accounted for 31% of homes sales last month. Historically, they made up 40% of home sales. Today we have minimal foreclosures, housing wealth continues to build out, it’s just that renters who want to become homeowners are finding difficulty, Yun said. Uncertainty over the job market is also likely keeping many would-be buyers on the sidelines. While the economy has been registering solid growth, the labor market has been sluggish for months. U.S. job openings fell in December to the lowest level in more than five years. And while hiring by U.S. employers was surprisingly strong in January, government revisions reduced the number of jobs created last year to the weakest total since 2020, when the pandemic began. The sales slowdown means more homes are staying on the market longer. There were 1.22 million unsold homes at the end of January, down 0.8% from December and up 3.4% from January last year, NAR said. Thats still well short of the roughly 2 million homes for sale that was typical before the COVID-19 pandemic. Januarys month-end inventory translates to a 3.7-month supply at the current sales pace. Traditionally, a 5- to 6-month supply is considered a balanced market between buyers and sellers. More homes traditionally go on the market ahead of the spring home-buying season, which could give prospective buyers a wider selection. Buyers will find a more favorable market as we head into spring, said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS. More inventory, lower rates and slower price growth will give buyers more room for negotiation. Alex Veiga, AP business writer
Category:
E-Commerce
In late 2025, Interpol coordinated a global operation across 134 nations, seizing roughly 30,000 live animals, confiscating illegal plant and timber products, and identifying about 1,100 suspected wildlife traffickers for national police to investigate. Wildlife trafficking is one of the most lucrative illicit industries worldwide. It nets between US$7 billion and $23 billion per year, according to the Global Environment Facility, a group of nearly 200 nations as well as businesses and nonprofits that fund environmental improvement and protection projects. People buy and sell a wide range of items, including live animals, plant powders and oils, ivory carvings, and musical instruments. Historically, enforcement has been largely reactive. There is so much global trade that fewer than 1 in 10 international cargo shipments of any kind are physically inspected. Traffickers also avoid detection by using false or generic names instead of proper species identification, employing coded language in online listings, rerouting shipments, and shifting to different messaging platforms when enforcement pressure increases. Emerging digital tools are helping authorities link online monitoring, legal reference tools, and on-the-ground investigations. As a researcher at the University of Florida working at the intersection of conservation science and applied technology, I observed these advancements firsthand at an international meeting of governments and partner organizations under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, often known by its acronym, CITES. This treatythe cornerstone for international regulation of trade in endangered plants and animalsis enforced by national customs and wildlife agencies. AI and digital tools for inspection A huge challenge for officials seeking to prevent wildlife trafficking is knowing where to lookand then figuring out what theyve found. Cargo screening: Advanced X-ray screeners, similar to those used in airport security but designed for cargo, are being paired with software that helps spot unusual shapes or materials inside packages. Trials conducted at major ports and mail processing centers in Australia have detected animals concealed in various kinds of shipments. The software does not identify species but highlights anomalies, helping inspectors decide which packages deserve closer inspection. Assisted identification: A software program supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences uses artificial intelligence to help identify the species of animals or animal parts found in shipments. Inspectors can use chatbot-style interfaces to describe what they have found to a system trained on technical documents with detailed descriptions of a wide range of species. This type of work can help inspectors tell the difference between closely related species whose legal protections differ. For example, trade of African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) is strictly regulated. There are different, often less stringent protections for similar-looking species, such as the Timneh parrot (Psittacus timneh) and the brown-necked parrot (Poicephalus fuscicollis). Portable DNA testing: Enforcement efforts dont always happen in offices and labs. One company aims to provide small, handheld kits that can detect up to five species in about 20 or 30 minutes without needing traditional lab equipment. The kits show their results on a simple strip that changes color when the DNA of a particular species appears in a sample. Conceptually, its similar to a pregnancy test, which changes color when a hormone is detected. Timber identification: Handheld scanners use software to quickly identify timber species by examining the internal cellular structure of the wood. This can help to distinguish protected hardwoods from legal alternatives in regions where illegal logging is widespread, such as South America, Southeast Asia and Africa. Background research and risk profiling Even before wildlife-related items appear at national borders, there can be signs of illegal trafficking that technology can help identify. Monitoring online trade: Large volumes of wildlife trafficking now occur through online transactions. To avoid detection, sellers often use vague descriptions or coded language, such as listings that omit species names entirely or use emojis instead of words. Others hide key details in images or brief text that say little about what is being sold, even just showing a photo with no description. Anti-trafficking organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund collaborate with tech companies to scan online listings using AI and content moderation tools. Between 2018 and 2023, the tech companies blocked or removed more than 23 million listings and accounts related to protected species, including live reptiles, birds, and primates, and elephant products. Early warnings from paperwork: Shipping documents often provide early warning signs of illegal trade. Wildlife enforcement officers, transport sector personnel, government tax officers, and others are using new software tools to analyze millions of manifests and permits, looking for species names that arent usually traded on particular routes; shipments that are unusually heavy or underpriced; and complex routing through multiple transit countries. Instead of inspecting shipments at random, these systems help enforcement agencies identify the consignments most likely to contain illegal materials. Navigating wildlife trade laws: Enforcement officers have to navigate vast legal complexity. New tools seek to compile laws from multiple countries, helping inspectors understand regulations across export, transit, and destination nations. Using trade data to identify other species to monitor: Researchers at the University of Oxford have developed a method that uses wildlife trade records to identify thousands of highly vulnerable endangered species that could benefit from stricter international trade protections and stronger law enforcement to limit exploitation. Taken together, these devices and systems extendbut do not replacehuman expertise. They help officers decide which shipments or sites to focus on, identify what they find, and share information internationally. No single technology will end wildlife trafficking, but these digital tools can enable a shift from reactive enforcement toward proactive, coordinated action, helping authorities keep pace with adaptive criminal networks. Eve Bohnett is an assistant research scholar at the Center for Landscape Conservation Planning at the University of Florida. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Category:
E-Commerce
Estée Lauder has accused Walmart of selling counterfeit beauty goods on its website in a lawsuit filed in California federal court earlier this week that namechecks celebrities including Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. The New York-based beauty giant is taking the big-box retailer to court on grounds of trademark infringement after purchasing, inspecting, and testing products and determining they werent actually made by its eponymous brand, along with others that it owns: Le Labo, La Mer, Clinique, Aveda, and Tom Ford. The lawyers for Estée Lauder didnt hold back, either, shaming Walmart for its business practices. The conduct herein complained of was extreme, outrageous, fraudulent, and was inflicted on plaintiffs in reckless disregard of plaintiffs rights, the lawsuit reads, in part. Said conduct was despicable and harmful to plaintiffs and as such supports an award of exemplary and punitive damages in an amount sufficient to punish and make an example of defendants and to deter them from similar such conduct in the future. The lawsuit goes into detail about the specific products owned by brands under the Estée Lauder umbrella that it deemed counterfeit, including a fragrance from the Le Labo brand, La Mer moisturizer, Clinique eye cream, an Aveda hair brush, and several Tom Ford fragrances. Searches on Walmart.com still generate results for the products that the lawsuit claims are identical, substantially indistinguishable, or confusingly similar to the trademarks for the Estée Lauder-owned brands. A 1-ounce jar of Crme de la Mer moisturizer that retails on La Mers website for $200, for example, is still available for purchase on Walmarts website for as little as $146.35 though reviewers for similar products have raised the possibility that theyre counterfeits. ZERO TOLERANCE After the lawsuit dropped, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer initially issued a longer statement to some media outliers, including CNBC, that mentioned it doesnt tolerate bad actors on its platform. However, it later shortened the statement to the following, which it issued to Fast Company: “We are aware of the complaint and have zero tolerance for counterfeit products. We will respond appropriately with the court when we are served.” We are aware of the complaint and have zero tolerance for counterfeit products, the revised statement read. We will respond appropriately with the court when we are served. In September, CNBC published a lengthy investigation about how Walmarts embrace of third-party sellers on its online marketplace resulted in its seller and product vetting becoming more lax with time, resulting in products later confirmed to be counterfeit. ESTÉE LAUDER ALSO UNDER FIRE Estée Lauder hasnt exactly been immune to criticism lately. A grassroots effort emerged on social media last month urging people to boycott Estee Lauder products. That came after The Guardian reported in detail last month that President Donald Trump was keen for the U.S. to acquire Greenland on the urging of a longtime associate, Ronald Lauder, heir to the founder of the beauty brands namesake. One such post on the r/MakeupAddiction subreddit urging people to boycott the companys many brands has received 7,100 upvotes and more than 650 comments. Estée Lauder didnt immediately respond to a request from Fast Company for a comment regarding the lawsuit nor the calls for a boycott of its brands. ROSE PRICK VS PICKY ROSE In the case of the Tom Ford fragrances the lawsuit identified copycat versions of five, private blend products that it said are very likely to cause confusion for consumers given the similar-looking bottles and names to originals. Instead of Tom Fords Rose Prick fragrance, for example, shoppers on Walmart can snag a bottle of Picky Rose. Other fragrances cited include Intense Peach, whats alleged to be a knockoff of Tom Fords Bitter Peach fragrance. The knockoffs are still available for purchase on Walmarts websiteand for a fraction of the price. For example, Tom Ford sells a 50-millimeter bottle of its Rose Prick fragrance for $405. A larger, 80-milimeter bottle of Picky Rose is available on Walmart.com for $21.34. CELEBRITY FACTOR Blakely Law Group, which is representing Estée Lauder, specializes in intellectual property law and has previously represented a variety of plaintiffs, including Paris Hilton, who reached an undisclosed settlement with Hallmark in 2010 after the greeting card company used her thats hot catchphrase. In the lawsuit against Walmart, the lawyers mentioned the celebrity factor for only one of its brands. The lawsuit cites Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Joe Jonas, Sophie Turner, and Gracie Abrams as examples of a myriad of celebrities that wear La Labo fragrances, while noting that Beyoncé was shown burning two Le Labo candles in her 2016 visual album Lemonade. The lawsuit doesnt appear to be a factor for investors at this point. Shares of Walmart have risen more than 1% since last Fridays close as of mid-day Thursday, while shares of Estée Lauder have surged nearly 9% during that time.
Category:
E-Commerce
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