A group led by billionaire Walmart heir Rob Walton has agreed to purchase the Denver Broncos for $4.65 billion in a record-breaking transaction. The sale, which is still pending league approval, is far and away the richest ever for a North American sports team and doubles the high price for sales of NFL teams, which was previously about $2.3 billion.
Tax Collections
Individual income tax collections are poised to reach $2.6 trillion, or 10.6% of the economy in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. That is up from 9.1% in 2021 and would mark a record in the 109-year history of the tax, topping the war-tax receipts of 1944 and the dot-com boom of 2000.
Spending and Savings
U.S. households boosted spending for a fourth straight month in April, but the rate at which they were setting aside savings fell to its lowest point in 14 years.
Travel Season Gas Prices
The national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas hit $4.62 as of Memorial Day, $1.58 higher than a year earlier and about 12% above the pre-2022 high of $4.11 set in 2008.
Commutes
Eight of the 10 major cities with the biggest drop in office occupancy during the pandemic had an average one-way commute of more than 30 minutes. Meanwhile, six of the 10 cities with the smallest drop in office occupancy have average commutes of less than 30 minutes.
Hotel NFTs
Some resort owners are converting room nights for sale into nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, that can be bought or sold by hotel guests, similar to the StubHub market for concert and sporting event tickets.
Apartment Buildings
The annual volume of rental-apartment purchases almost doubled between 2019 and 2021. In the first quarter of 2022, investors spent $63 billion on apartment buildings, the highest figure on record.
Residential Mortgages
Originations at the 50 largest lenders fell 41% in the first quarter from a year earlier, with total mortgage volume expected to fall 37% for all of 2022.
Dividend Stocks
The stocks in the Russell 1000 with the highest dividend yields on Nov. 19, 2021, rose an average of 4% over the following six months. Shares of Russell 1000 companies without dividends fell an average of 29% over that time.
U.S. Home Sales
Scarce inventory and mortgage rates topping 5% have combined with steep prices to yank sales activity back to where it was before the boom. April’s seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.61 million was the lowest rate since June 2020.