About 58 million options changed hands daily on average in January, a monthly record in data going back to 1973. That follows a record year for options trading volumes in 2024.
Shelter Costs
Shelter costs increased 4.4% in January from last year. That was the smallest annual uptick since January 2022, and well below the peak period of 2023.
BX ROIC
Blackstone Real Estate Partners X has completed its previously announced acquisition of all outstanding common shares of Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. for $17.50 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $4 billion, including outstanding debt.
Office Valuations
Values for less than premium grade A office buildings are about 35% to 60% lower than they were before the pandemic.
Hyatt Playa
Hyatt Hotels Corporation has entered into an agreement to acquire all outstanding shares of Playa Hotels & Resorts N.V. for $13.50 per share, or approximately $2.6 billion, including approximately $900 million of debt, net of cash. Playa is a leading owner and operator of all-inclusive resorts in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica and Hyatt is currently the beneficial owner of 9.4% of Playa’s outstanding shares.
Deal Making
Just under 900 deals were announced in the U.S. in January. That compares with more than 1,200 transactions in the previous January and over 1,500 two years ago.
AI Spend
Microsoft, Google and Meta Platforms have projected combined capital expenditures of at least $215 billion for their current fiscal years, an annual increase of more than 45%. Amazon.com didn’t provide a full-year estimate but indicated that total capex across its businesses is on course to grow to more than $100 billion, and said most of the increase will be for AI.
Private Equity Returns
Private equity returned a median annualized 15.2% over the 10-year period ended in 2023, versus 12% for the S&P 500 index.
Dry Powder
Opportunistic real-estate funds had $196.8 billion available at the end of last year, up from $179.9 billion at the end of 2020.
PCE Inflation
After peaking above 5.6% in 2022, core PCE inflation fell to 2.6% last June but then reaccelerated. The Fed wants to see PCE inflation fall back to its 2% target, but in December, officials projected that still might take until 2027.