Juggling Dynamite

Financial markets are having another nervous breakdown and US first quarter GDP missed at 1.6% annualized (1st guess vs. 2.5% expected). We could all use some levity.  Let’s start with a little Carol Burnett.

Carol talks about Jimmy hosting the Oscars, turning 91 years old, collecting important items from her career, getting fired from her job at a movie theatre and the sweet revenge she got decades later, her new show “Palm Royale” on Apple TV+, working with Kristen Wiig, Allison Janney & Ricky Martin, and Jimmy surprises her with a special birthday message from Bradley Cooper.  Here’s a direct video link.

Understanding the truth about plastic is key to finding solutions.

Globally, only 9% of plastic is ever recycled, and even that tiny amount requires some virgin plastic to maintain quality. But scientists have discovered a new way to address this issue: “plastivores”, organisms that have evolved to eat plastic using enzymes in their bodies. Can we harness these enzymes and use them on the macro scale? Or will it not be enough to keep up with plastic production?

Here is a direct video link.

First quarter new condo sales in the Toronto region dropped to their lowest level since the 2009 financial crisis, with investors balking at lofty purchase prices and higher borrowing costs. See New condo sales in the Greater Toronto Area hit 15-year low:

“It is dead. I would never use words like this, but I am because it is true,” said Simeon Papailias, managing partner with real estate brokerage REC Canada, whose firm sells new condos, also known as preconstruction condos because they have not been built yet.

Mr. Papailias said the industry used to handle an average of 300 preconstruction sales a day. So far this year, there has been an average of 500 preconstruction sales per month.

As sales have plunged, new listings have leapt (chart below with YTD in blue versus other years since 2018). The 229 added last week was the third +200 week in a row—the most since August 2020.