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Americans are seriously worried about their finances. Between high costs of living, tariffs, and job instability, driven, in part, by AI, the added anxiety means that consumers’ spending habits are shifting. And while they’re aiming to spend less overall, the stress also seems to be driving purchases that make them feel safer in an economy (and world?) that feels uncertain. According to a newly released Life360 survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, heavy financial burdens are being felt by the majority of Americans. The survey found that a staggering 71% of Americans now feel economically vulnerable with 64% admitting their anxiety has increased since the start of 2025. Likewise, the top three words respondents chose to describe their emotions in 2025 were ones with negative connotations: stressful, nervous, and crazy. Americans are cutting backbut not when it comes to peace of mind Unsurprisingly, Americans are coping by spending less. 56% say they’ve cut back on dining or takeout, 47% have trimmed their online shopping habits, and 45% are vacationing less often. However, spending isn’t down across the board. In fact, in one category, it’s going up: safety and security (like emergency alert tools, home security, and digital protections). The category was the only one where respondents were investing more than they were cutting. 21% of respondents said they were investing more in these tools, with only 20% pulling back. “In moments of elevated economic uncertainty, the premium on security increases: Investors seek safe assets, businesses prioritize safe investments, and families double down on peace of mind,” Life360 economist Aaron Terrazas said in a blog post on the report. But, interestingly, it’s the younger generations who seem to be the most concerned with safety and security in modern times. While Gen X and Baby Boomers ranked health and wellness as their biggest priorities in terms of spending, Millennials and Gen Zers said safety and security were the most important. Fear, uncertainty, and financial strain Terrazas says those habits are likely shaped by the groups’ “formative economic experiences”, and pointed to “pandemic-era uncertainty” as hitting the younger generations especially hard. Terrazas told Fast Company, “Just like their grandparents and great-grandparents who came of age during the Great Depression and World War II, Gen Z and Millennials came of age in a fractious moment in world history. For young Americans who entered adulthood during the years from 9/11 to the Great Recession to the Covid-19 Pandemic, its natural that safety and security would rank high on their priorities, and those priorities are likely to remain top of mind as they move deeper into adulthood.” Therefore, it makes sense that while there are plenty of things Americans are scrapping, tools that make people feel safer are not one of them. In fact, 40% of parents said safety and emergency alert apps were non-negotiable,” which was the highest of all the categories. 55% of parents, and 43% of respondents overall, said they’d fight to keep safety and security subscriptions. Terrazas noted that the survey included “a mix of safety and security tools, including Life360, Citizen, Ring, ADT+ apps that offer everything from real-time location sharing to emergency alerts and home security” pressing that these kinds of tools “help people feel safer, more in control, and more connected in an unpredictable world.” That means that, for many, even as shopping, dining, vacations, and even streaming services take a backseat, the feeling of safety and security is of greater concern than ever. “As people are increasingly anxious, whether about their finances or physical safety, tools that provide ‘peace of mind’ are something people find indispensable,” Terrazas said.
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E-Commerce
Goldman Sachs‘ second-quarter profit exceeded Wall Street expectations, as turbulent markets raised revenue in its equities division to a record, and a pickup in dealmaking boosted investment banking. The results capture a growing trend of market turmoil boosting trading desks across Wall Street as investors rebalance their portfolios to manage tariff-related risks. The investment bank’s equities revenue rose 36% to $4.3 billion, higher than the $3.6 billion analysts were expecting, according to estimates compiled by LSEG. Fixed income, currencies, and commodities hauled in $3.47 billion, 9% higher than a year ago. Financing revenue in both equities and FICC hit records. While shifting tariff risks kept some companies on the sidelines, pent-up demand for dealmaking triggered a flurry of acquisitions. Still, trade policy uncertainty in recent weeks has revived concerns about how long the momentum would last. Goldman’s peers JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup reported strong growth in investment banking fees, while Morgan Stanley and Bank of America posted declines. “A narrowed range of outcomes on trade and the overall economy has helped CEO confidence and increased their willingness to transact,” Goldman CEO David Solomon said. “We’ve seen a pickup in momentum with both strategic and sponsor clients.” Goldman’s investment banking fees stood at $2.19 billion, rising 26% from a year ago. Analysts were expecting a nearly 10% jump. The bank remained the top adviser by deal value on mergers and acquisitions globally in the second quarter, according to Dealogic data. It advised Holcim on the spinoff of its North American business Amrize, now valued at $28 billion. It also worked with Informatica, which was bought by Salesforce for about $8 billion. “The well-above consensus rise in investment banking was (a surprise), with a lot of analysts snookered into thinking that macro uncertainty would hold back this line item more than it did,” said Stephen Biggar, director of financial services research at Argus Research. Advisory fees were significantly higher due to strength in the Americas and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, the bank said. Revenue from debt underwriting fell slightly, while equities underwriting was unchanged. “The higher investment banking backlog suggests potential for strong deal flow in coming quarters,” said Kenneth Leon, research director at CFRA Research. Overall profit rose 22% to $3.7 billion, or $10.91 per share, for the three months ended June 30, exceeding estimates of $9.53. Shares fell 0.6%, but have climbed 23% this year, making them the fifth-best performer in the S&P 500 financial index. Bar for acquisition is high Revenue from Goldman’s asset and wealth management arm, which caters to institutions and high-net-worth individuals, dipped 3% to $3.78 billion due to weakness in equity and debt investments. The business is important for Goldman as it can offer steadier revenue than trading and investment banking. Solomon said the bar for any acquisition is high, while stressing the importance of scale in the asset and wealth business. “There’s got to be a strategic fit in terms of things that we’re prioritizing in the growth of our asset and wealth management franchise,” he said. “Then, of course, there’s financial analysis around that which really gets to what do you pay for? This is why the bar is high for doing these things.” The bank set aside $384 million as provisions for credit losses, compared with $282 million last year, mainly related to its credit card portfolio. Headcount fell to 45,900, 2% lower than the first quarter. The bank had planned to trim staffing by 3% to 5% in an annual performance review process. The stock boost has partly been driven by shareholder confidence in recent weeks after the bank cleared the Federal Reserve’s annual stress test, paving the way for it to increase its dividend by $1 a share from the third quarter. Saeed Azhar and Niket Nishant, Reuters
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E-Commerce
A coordinated international operation has hit the infrastructure of a pro-Russian cybercrime network linked to a string of denial of service attacks targeting Ukraine and its allies, the European Union’s police agency Europol announced Wednesday. Codenamed Eastwood, the operation targeted the so-called NoName057(16) group, which was identified last month by Dutch authorities as being behind a series of denial-of-service attacks on several municipalities and organizations linked to a NATO summit in the Netherlands. Europol said that the cybercrime network was also involved in attacks in Sweden, Germany and Switzerland. The police agency said the international operation led to the disruption of an attack-infrastructure consisting of over one hundred computer systems worldwide, while a major part of the groups central server infrastructure was taken offline. Law enforcement and judicial authorities from France, Finland, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and the United States took simultaneous actions against offenders and infrastructure belonging to the pro-Russian cybercrime network, it said. Western officials have accused Russia and its proxies of staging dozens of attacks, sabotage attempts and other incidents across Europe since the invasion of Ukraine, including cyberattacks. The Associated Press is tracking them in a detailed map that shows the breadth of efforts to sow division in European societies and undermine support for Ukraine. As part of the latest operation, judicial authorities in Germany issued six arrest warrants for suspects in Russia, two of them accused of being the main leaders of the group, Europol said. Five of them were identified on Europol’s Europe’s Most Wanted website. One suspect was placed under preliminary arrest in France and another detained in Spain, Europol said. The Paris prosecutors office said one person is in custody in France and communications equipment has been seized. No charges have yet been filed. In the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was involved in the operation. The attorney generals office in Switzerland, which is not an EU member country, said in a statement Wednesday that joint investigations between Europol and Swiss federal police helped identify three leading members of the group, which is alleged to have targeted more than 200 Swiss websites. Swiss prosecutors opened a criminal case over the incidents in June 2023, and since then identified several other denial-of-service attacks attributed to the activist group. The attacks included a video address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the Swiss parliament and the popular Eurovision Song Contest, held in in Basel earlier this year. Europol said members of the cybercrime group initially targeted Ukrainian institutions, but have shifted their focus to attacking countries that support Ukraine in the ongoing defence against the Russian war of aggression, many of which are members of NATO. Law enforcement authorities in countries involved in the operation contacted hundreds of people believed to support the group to inform them of the crackdown and their alleged liability for its actions. Individuals acting for NoName057(16) are mainly Russian-speaking sympathisers who use automated tools to carry out distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. Operating without formal leadership or sophisticated technical skills, they are motivated by ideology and rewards, Europol said. It added that people recruited by the group were paid in cryptocurrency and motivated using online-gaming dynamics like leader boards and badges. This gamified manipulation, often targeted at younger offenders, was emotionally reinforced by a narrative of defending Russia or avenging political events, Europol said. Mike Cordor, Associated Press Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten, Geir Moulson, and Angela Charlton contributed.
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E-Commerce
Want more housing market stories from Lance Lamberts ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Back in June 2022, this home at 1137 Treasure Cay Ct in Punta Gorda, FL, was purchased for $985,000. Just one month later, home prices in the Punta Gorda metro area peaked, and the market slipped into what ResiClub calls correction mode. In April 2025, the homeowner listed the property for sale at $1,150,000, and the price has since been cut six times, with the most recent asking price at $899,000. The home just went “pending,” though itll be a few weeks before we know the final sale price. If the home ultimately sells for $899,0008.7% below its June 2022 purchase pricethe seller might consider themselves lucky. Bank of Americas AVM model (although I take those with a big grain of salt) estimates the homes value at $721,615, and ResiClubs analysis of the Zillow Home Value Index shows that home prices in the Punta Gorda metro area are down -18.6% since the markets July 2022 peak. As weve closely documented for ResiClub PRO members for quite some time (heres our feature on just Punta Gorda), Southwest Florida is the weakest regional chunk of the U.S. housing market. While the Austin, Texas metro area has seen a larger overall price drop this cycle (-23% since its 2022 peak), it isnt experiencing year-over-year price declines as steep as those currently seen in Southwest Florida markets like Cape Coral and Punta Gorda right now. We should point out that the weakness in Southwest Floridaand Florida more broadlyis currently more pronounced in the condo market than in the single-family market. Take Punta Gorda, for example: Single-family home prices are down -13.6% from their 2022 peak, while condo prices there have fallen -20.4%. Heading forward, one big question is: Have home prices fallen enough in markets like Punta Gorda and Cape Coral to get the attention of homebuyers, mom-and-pop single-family investors, and single-family acquisition capital? Thats something well do some reporting on in the coming weeks for ResiClub PRO members. Whats the story with Floridain particular SWFLright now? As ResiClub has previously discussed, Florida’s particularly intense overheating during the Pandemic Housing Boom is the key reason for its pricing vulnerability right now. While U.S. home prices rose +41% between March 2020 and June 2022, Florida home prices surged +51% over the same period. It just takes a big enough shift in the supply-demand equilibrium for that vulnerability to manifest into falling home prices. Why has the supply-demand equilibrium in Florida markets recently shifted further toward buyers than in the rest of the nation? As ResiClub has previously covered, its a combination of 5 factors: 1) The migration surge to Florida fizzled out The Pandemic Housing Booms domestic migration surge to Florida has fizzled out. Indeed, Florida saw net domestic migration of +64K in 2024, compared to +314K in 2022. Without that higher influx of deep-pocketed buyers and second homebuyers from up north, Florida home prices have had to rely more on local incomes. 2) Surfside condo fallout Following the Surfside condo collapse in June 2021, which killed 98 people, Florida passed new structural safety rules, requiring more inspections and additional funds for repairs to be set aside by the end of 2024. That has led to Florida HOAs issuing sky-high special assessments and monthly HOA fee increases to cover these costs. This has had a greater impact on older coastal Florida condo buildings. 3) Hurricane Ian spurred a softening Hurricane Ian spurred a greater SWFL softening. Markets like Cape Coral and Punta Goda, which were hard-hit by Hurricane Ian in September 2022, saw thousands of damaged homes, and the subsequent need for renovations. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Hurricane Ian caused an estimated $112.9 billion worth of total damage, making Ian the third-costliest U.S. hurricane on record. This combination of increased housing supply for sale (i.e., the damaged homes), coupled with strained demand (the result of spiked home prices), as well as spiked mortgage rates, higher insurance premiums, and higher HOAs has translated into market softening across much of Southwest Florida. 4) New construction supply elasticity Unlike many housing markets in the Northeast and Midwest, Florida has a higher level of homebuilding and multifamily construction. As new supply enters the market in this affordability-strained environment, builders are using bigger affordability adjustmentssuch as mortgage rate buydownswhere needed. This has helped cool the resale market by drawing in some buyers who might have otherwise purchased existing homes. As a result, inventory of existing homes is building up, making Florida one of the few housing markets where active listings now exceed pre-pandemic 2019 levels. 5) Home insurance shocks Over the past three years, the median annual U.S. home insurance premium has jumped 33%, but Florida homeowners have been hit even harder. The surge in Florida home insurance rates is partly driven by rising replacement costshome prices and construction costs soared during the boomand partly by increased hurricane risks and insurance payouts. Florida’s sharp rise in insurance costs, combined with one of the biggest home price increases during the Pandemic Housing Boom, has led to one of the biggest housing affordability deteriorations. (ResiClub PRO members can find our latest county-level home insurance report here.)
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E-Commerce
Ford is setting records in 2025, but not in a good way. The auto maker has already blown by the previous record for the most safety recalls in a calendar year, and now another major round of recalls is calling the brands reliability into question. On Wednesday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that Ford will recall 694,271 crossover SUVs over a fuel leak problem that could cause a fire under the hood. Fords 2021-2024 Bronco Sport and 2020-2022 Escape models running 1.5 liter engines were named over concerns that their fuel injectors could crack, leaking fuel into the engine compartment where it could then catch fire. Ongoing concerns The latest recall is the result of a year-long investigation, and the company told Reuters that it will cost an estimated $570 million for Ford to resolve, a loss that would be reflected in its second quarter earnings report. Recalls in 2022 and 2024 addressed the same concerns with software updates but didnt swap out the fuel injectors. Ford shares dipped on the news Wednesday. The NHTSA opened a query into the issue in 2024, prompting the company to reevaluate its recall plan and eventually leading to the broader recall to deal with the injectors themselves, which have been linked to fires even in vehicles with the updated software, Reuters reports. At the time of the prior recalls, Ford said that it was confident the lesser fixes would prevent the failure from occurring and protect the customer. To deal with a separate safety concern, Ford recalled more than 850,000 vehicles earlier in July over worries about the low-pressure fuel pumps in some models, including the Bronco, Explorer and Lincoln Aviator. The recall notice noted concerns that a loss of fuel pressure and flow could dangerously lead affected vehicles to stall out. Those worries were especially pronounced in warm weather and low fuel conditions, and reduced fuel pump internal clearances that result in an increase of internal friction and sensitivity to vapor lock. Why so many recalls? While going public with vehicle problems certainly makes for bad headlines, Ford Chief Operating Officer Kumar Galhotra defended the companys unprecedented flurry of recalls in comments to the Wall Street Journal. The increase in recalls reflects our intensive strategy to quickly find and fix any hardware and software issues and go the extra mile to protect customers, Galhotra said. Last year, Ford CEO Jim Farley said that the company hopes to trim its recall track record by keeping redesigned models for up to six weeks for additional extensive quality checks. That move was expected to dent its business in the short term, Farley warned, but the long-term benefits would balance out. What were going to see long term is fewer recalls and lower warranty costs because of this new process, Farley said in a 2024 earnings call. Since joining Ford in 2020 after two decades at Toyota a car brand synonymous with reliability Farley has reportedly crusaded to up the auto makers quality game. Ford test drove the new process with a redesigned version of its best-selling model, the F-150 pickup. After holding onto 60,000 fully built vehicles for weeks, the company rooted out issues that would have led to 12 recalls, including assembly problems and software bugs. The company followed suit with updated versions of the Explorer, Bronco and Maverick We are somewhere in the middle of the pack and obviously were not happy with being in the middle of the pack, Galhotra told Bloomberg last year. The goal is to move very rapidly to catch Toyota. If all goes as planned, Fords new process will reduce recalls for new models as they hit the streets. Ford vehicles already on the road wont benefit from the additional testing period and are still leading to costly recalls, as recent headlines make clear. Vehicle recalls are on the rise in recent years. Between 2013 and 2023, recalls shot up by 43%, according to data from the NHTSA. The increased technological complexity in modern cars means more that can go wrong, but auto makers are also being more proactive in recalling vehicles over potential problems before they can become serious down the road. Even with recalls rising across the board, Ford still stands out. Since 2020, the company has held the ignominious title for the most-recalled car manufacturer in the U.S.
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E-Commerce
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