did a year ago. that is a more than 15% drop from april 2022. prices in austin, texas also fell $85,000. some u.s. cities saw prices soar during the pandemic, right? now they are coming back down from those stats to fear rick levels. looking at markets around the world, asian markets are higher. inflation roadse 9%. wall street futures, nasdaq is doing quite well. show you how resilient they have been. it has been a big tech driven rally. and the dow basically flat. on inflation watch, gas prices held steady. more than a dollar cheaper today than a year ago. big week on the economic calendar.
financial system. most important thing we have to do in that regard is make sure the threat by the speaker of the house, the default on the national debt is off the table. for over 200 years, america has never, ever, ever failed to pay its debt. we pay our bills, and we should do so without reckless hostage taking from some of the maga republicans in congress. frank, if you could explain the consequences if we do default. looking at the wall street futures just now, fluctuating as we weigh the possible default, and also the fed raising rates. we don t want to understate how big of a deal this is. janet yellen s letter warning he could hit the limit june 1st, so much earlier than expected. last week, we saw a lot of estimates, the consensus estimates saying we ll reach it in july, giving lawmakers more breathing room. it is a big deal, the possibility of the u.s. to default. time is not on our side when it
Markets are gauging the health of corporate profits and the economy after several banks kicked off first-quarter reports with strong results last week.
The Dow closed in positive territory with economically sensitive sectors such as industrials, materials and transports providing a boost, while tech and tech-adjacent megacap stocks pulled the Nasdaq to a lower close.