Good morning. The time-honored trope of “young people these days have no drive” could actually be right – but not in the way you think.

According to data from the US Federal Highway Administration, 43% of 16-year-olds and 62% of 17-year-olds held a license in 1997. By 2020, those numbers had fallen to 25% and 45%, respectively.

• Analysts point to a variety of reasons for the downward trend, including high car prices, upheaval in the automotive/mobility industries, and data that shows Gen Z is more environmentally conscious than previous generations.

Now we can’t speak to cars – but it’s time for news, and we’re sliding into the drivers’ seat. Let’s rock ‘n roll🤘.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.74-minute read.

P.S. First time reading? Subscribe here for free.

“Life is trying things to see if they work.”

–Ray Bradbury (1920-2012)

In 2023, sales of existing US homes fell to the lowest level in nearly three decades, as elevated interest rates and rising prices made homes less affordable, per a new report from the National Association of Realtors.

The NAR found sales of previously owned homes declined by 19% last year to reach 4.09 million. That figure, which represents the lowest total since 1995, is down sharply compared to the ~5.5 million average annual pace over the previous eight years.

• At the same time, median US home prices rose to a record $389,800 in 2023, driving overall home affordability to its lowest level since the NAR began tracking such data in 1989.

Driving the trend… Analysts say last year’s decline in home sales and increase in prices can be attributed to two main reasons:

1. The Fed’s recent historic streak of interest-rate hikes, which are reflected in mortgage rates (currently over 2x higher than the start of 2022).
2. A lower supply of available homes, which drives up prices.

But there are signs that home-buying activity is picking back up. US mortgage purchase applications rose this month to the highest seasonally adjusted level since July, per the Mortgage Bankers Association. The move is attributed to a recent decline in mortgage rates since October, with rates projected to fall even further and dip below 6% by the end of this year.

📊 Flash poll: Do you plan to buy or sell a home in the next year?

• Yes
• No
• Unsure/other

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🇯🇵 Japan became the fifth country to successfully land on the Moon. The Japanese Space Agency’s “Moon Sniper” robotic explorer touched down on Friday, though the mission may end prematurely since the probe arrived on the lunar surface like your phone on a night out (with only a few hours of battery life and no ability to generate electricity). The probe has successfully deployed two lunar rovers, but space officials have yet to confirm whether it successfully achieved a precision landing (within 100 meters of the target) – an unprecedented achievement in space exploration. For context, previous lunar landers landed within a few miles of their intended targets.

🇺🇸🇮🇱🇸🇦 The US is campaigning for a new Middle East peace plan to take effect following the Israel-Hamas war. Biden administration officials say the plan would involve Israel normalizing diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, in exchange for agreeing to an irreversible pathway to a Palestinian state and allowing the Palestinian Authority to have a role in post-Hamas Gaza. Separately, diplomats from the US, Egypt, and Qatar are reportedly pushing Israel and Hamas to agree to a peace process that would start with a release of hostages and, eventually, lead to an end to the war in Gaza.

🌍 NATO is kicking off its largest war-games exercises since the Cold War. Around 90,000 personnel will participate in months of drills that officials say are aimed at a) showing that the 31-nation military alliance can defend its entire territory and b) deterring Russia from attacking any NATO member nation. Sweden, which is expected to join NATO this year, will also take part in the military exercises.

Inattention can be costly – especially when it comes to subscriptions.

A group of economists recently published a working paper in which they studied ten major subscription services across entertainment, security, retail goods, and newspapers. They found every👏 single👏 service benefited from subscriber inattention – some saw a revenue uplift of ~14% when compared to a fully attentive customer, while others saw gains of 200%+.

Behind the data: To quantify how much inattention is costing consumers, the researchers honed in on one specific negative life event – losing a credit card. The idea being: this occurrence almost forces consumers to take a closer look at where their money is going – and actively update payment information for the subscriptions they want to keep.

• In the average month, the major subscription services studied by the researchers lost 2% of their customers.
• In the months of card replacement, they lost 8%.

Other data also indicates that consumers are spending more than they think. A 2021 study asked thousands of Americans to guess how much they spent each month on subscriptions. The average response was $62… but when given extra time to think, that response increased to $96. The real amount being spent on average? $273.

👀 Looking ahead… Requiring an active choice about a subscription every six months (ex: want to keep it or nah?) would cut excess payments from inertia in half, per the researchers.

And regulation is trending in that direction. The FTC recently proposed a new rule that would require most companies to provide annual subscription reminders.

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💬 Quoted… “It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance.”

• In a video posted to social media yesterday afternoon, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis officially ended his 2024 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination and endorsed former President Trump, the current frontrunner. The GOP presidential race is now down to two main candidates – Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley – ahead of the New Hampshire primaries scheduled for tomorrow.

+Dive deeper: From the Left | From the Center | From the Right

🏈 Stat of the Day: Before Saturday’s come-from-behind, 24-21 victory over the Green Bay Packers, the San Francisco 49ers were 0-30 under Head Coach Kyle Shanahan when trailing by five points or more in the fourth quarter. 49ers’ fans say it’s about time the streak was broken – but it’s also a good reminder that past results don’t necessarily dictate future outcomes.

🤔 Did You Know?... According to a limited study done by BonusFinder.com, the most stressful video game to play is Mario Kart – which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s gone from first to last place after running into a blue shell, banana peel, and upside-down question mark at the finish line. Players on average experienced a ~33% increase in heart-rate over a 30-minute period, narrowly beating out the #2-most-stressful game, FIFA (a ~31% increase). Rounding out the top-three was Call of Duty, where players experienced an average heart-rate increase of ~30%.

📰 Worth a Read: Bad Hotels and Not Enough Wine: A Week With Billionaires → (WSJ)

• ☝️ The winners of the Nikon-sponsored 2023 Canadian Photographer of the Year competition were announced last week.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with The HOTH

• 💰 US markets closed up across the board on Friday (S&P: +1.2%; Dow: +1.1%; Nasdaq: +1.7%); the S&P posted a record high close for the first time in two years.
• 📈 US consumer sentiment is at its highest level since July 2021.
• ✈️ JetBlue and Spirit Airlines plan to appeal a federal judge’s ruling blocking their planned merger.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏈 NFL Playoffs: The San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions advanced to the NFC Championship, while the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs advanced to the AFC Championship; it's the Lions' first time in the NFC championship since 1991.
• 📰 Sports Illustrated laid off most of its journalists after the operators of the 70-year-old sports publication failed to make a licensing payment.
• ⚖️ Alec Baldwin was re-indicted for involuntary manslaughter by a New Mexico grand jury over the 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust. (Background)

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Binoid

• 🦗 Two different broods of cicadas – one that lives on a 13-year cycle, and another that lives on a 17-year cycle – will emerge at the same time this spring, marking a rare synchronized event that last occurred in 1803.
• 🤖🗳️ OpenAI banned the developer of a bot that mimicked Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN); it’s the first known example of the ChatGPT-maker restricting the use of AI in political campaigns, which isn’t allowed under OpenAI policy.
• 🚀 The Peregrine lunar lander, which failed in its attempt to become the first private space mission to successfully land on the Moon, likely crashed into the Pacific Ocean last week. | 🧑‍🚀🇹🇷 The first astronaut from Turkey arrived at the ISS on Saturday as part of a four-person mission financed by Texas-based Axiom Space.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🌨️ At least 91 Americans died over the past week due to ongoing severe winter weather, per CBS News.
• 📬📈 Postage stamp prices officially increased by 2 cents yesterday, pushing a first-class stamp to 68 cents; it marks the USPS’ third stamp price increase over the past year. | 🥩 The CDC widened its recall of charcuterie meats linked to salmonella.
• ⚖️ A Georgia judge overseeing the election interference case against former President Trump set a hearing next month over accusations that Fulton County DA Fani Willis – who’s leading the prosecution against Trump – had an improper relationship with a top deputy and mishandled public money. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 🤔🛒 Is Costco’s $120 Executive membership a good deal?

On Friday, we covered how the US labor market has shown surprising resilience in recent months, but some indicators have analysts warning that the future outlook isn’t quite as rosy.

❓ Our question to you: To all our readers in the workforce: How would you rate the current job market in your respective industry?

• 🥳 Excellent: 17%
• 👍 Pretty good: 24%
• ↔️ Average: 23%
• 👎 Pretty bad: 21%
• 😡 Terrible: 15%

❓ Follow-up question: Which industry do you work in? (Most common answers below)

• 🥳 Excellent: Federal government, aerospace, construction
• 👍 Pretty good: Education, finance, construction
• ↔️ Average: Tech, health care, education
• 👎 Pretty bad: Advertising, tech, real estate
• 😡 Terrible: Education, TV/film production, recruiting

Click here to read some of the best longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 6,913 votes and 448 longform responses.

After heavy snowfall hit Iowa City last week, local artist Carlos Maldonado took his two sons out to build in the snow. His sons wanted to build a snowman (understandably), but he had something a bit grander in mind.

🎶🦈 Snowy shark *doo doo doo doo doo doo*… Carlos went on to construct a massive great white shark out of snow. The fish measures 20 feet long from head to tail, while the mouth is 5.5 feet tall.

• While the shark began as just a fun project between him and his kids, the snow sculpture has started attracting tourists from across the city. 

🐙👀 Looking ahead... Carlos is planning to make an octopus sculpture with the next major snowfall.

Guess the definitions of the following Greek/Latin root words:

1. Ann
2. Carn
3. Dur
4. Fant
5. Juxta

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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1. Ann = Yearly (e.g., annual, anniversary)
2. Carn = Flesh (carnivore)
3. Dur = Hard (durable, duress)
4. Fant = To show (fantasy)
5. Juxta = Beside (juxtaposition)

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