Succinct Summation of the Week's Events

Succinct Summation of the Week’s Events:

Positives,

1)With a 11 bps drop in 30 yr average mortgage rate, purchase apps rose 1.8% w/o/w and refi’s were higher by 4.5%.

2)The April Dodge Momentum Index (measuring construction) rose to 173.9 from 164 in March and they said it "saw positive progress in April alongside a deluge of data center projects that entered the planning stage. Outsized demand to build Cloud and AI infrastructure is supporting above average activity in the sector." On the flip side though, "Most other categories, however, faced slower growth over the month. Across these industries, it's likely that owners and developers are grappling with uncertainty around interest rates and lending standards, thus delaying their decisions to push projects into the planning queue."

3)From ZipRecruiter: “there are also positive signs emerging as we begin the year. Q1 '24 is the first quarter with a sequential increase in quarterly paid employers since 2022 and is a potential indicator of stabilization in the hiring market. While not yet a return to normal seasonality, where revenue ramps from Q1 to Q2, we see this as an early sign that the labor market downturn is potentially reaching a trough." They saw particular "strength in government and education."

4)From MSG Entertainment: On what they are seeing with consumer spend in answer to an analyst question, "In regard to your 2nd question in terms of softening of consumer spending and demand and you referenced McDonald's and Starbucks, we're not really seeing that. We see that on a couple of different data points that would support that. Most of our shows continue to sell out. For our 4th quarter shows, we're pacing ahead of the prior year in terms of our sell through percentages vs where we were the same point last year. We still have a lot of acts that are selling, that are adding additional shows because of demand. So in terms of events and tickets, the demand is very healthy, which supports just what we're seeing in the live experience sector in general, both here and amongst our peers." Finally on this, "I would speculate that we enjoy certain tailwinds that I think maybe McDonald's and Starbucks don't in terms of, again, the kind of the burgeoning popularity of live experiences and the continued return of New York City tourism from the pandemic. So by virtue of that, we are not seeing that kind of softening of demand."

5)From Cheesecake Factory: "The Cheesecake Factory restaurants, comp sales and traffic once again meaningfully outperformed the industry, underscoring the strength of consumer demand for our brand and demonstrating our ability to capture market share." They said of note that "staffing success is a key contributor to the improvement in our guest satisfaction scores."