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Lego just announced its first book nook: Sherlock Holmes Baker Street. I was guessing this was coming sooner than later, with Lego’s ever-increasing focus on the adult market and the growing popularity of book nooks. The design is fantastic, full of the fine details you expect of high-quality book nooks, which are miniature dioramas that are designed to fit between books on a shelf. But, unlike those, you can actually take this off the bookshelf, unfold it into a three-building Victorian London street, and play with it. [Photo: Lego] Conceived by Japanese artist Monde in 2018, book nooks often depict a street, a room, or some other structure inspired by a theme from a real book. Originally, people made their own but they quickly became popular on social media, so companies in Japan and China started to sell kits. These precious windows into literary realities are very intricate and complex to build, usually with LED lights to illuminate the scene at night. People who build them find them relaxing. [Photo: Lego] Since adult Lego fans mostly buy sets to chill, it makes sense that the Billund, Denmark-based toy company decided to make its own version. It has been doubling down on a trend that began in the late 2000s, when it released the huge 7,500-brick Millennium Falcon, a massive set that started the Ultimate Collector Star Wars line of sets that catered to grown-up Lego fans (like me) by appealing to their childhood fetishes. [Photo: Lego] The success of these earliest complex sets spurred the company to release other lines, like Lego Architecture, which allow people to build anything from Frank Lloyd Wrights Guggenheim Museum to Ludwig Mies van der Rohes Farnsworth House. Last year it launched a Botanical Collection line, which got deeper into the adult-oriented relaxing space, and iconic pop culture objects in a line aptly named Lego Icons. This is where you will find the Sherlock Holmes Book Nook, available for pre-order for $120 for shipping on June 1. [Photo: Lego] They are playable! When folded and placed in-between books, the book nook offers a view of a street flanked by precious buildings full with architectural details, and a cobblestone street. You will notice that the façades dont run parallel to each other, but converge towards the back in a faux one-point perspective, a design conceived to create an optical illusion that makes it look deeper than what it actually is. Theres Sherlock and Watson minifigs, plus Irene Adler, Paige and Professor Moriarty. I just wish Lego had included LED lighting, too. [Photo: Lego] Unlike assembled wooden or carton book nooks, you can take the Lego book nook out of the bookshelf and unfold it to form a perfectly straight lineup of three buildings. Not surprisingly, the designers found ways to make the set fully interactive. Theres even a secret hideout for Moriarty, which you can operate by turning a chimney in the buildings roof. You can peek intoHolmes’ study by pushing open the top floor wall of 221B Baker Street. Theres also a bookshelf in a book nook in a bookshelf inside the window display of the book store in one of the buildings, which you can access by rotating its cylindrical window display. The kind of clever infinite loop that can open real portals between our reality and Sir Arthur Conan Doyles universe.
Category:
E-Commerce
Want more housing market stories from Lance Lamberts ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac support the mortgage industry by buying mortgages from lenders and selling mortgage-backed securities to investors. They were placed into conservatorship by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in September 2008 after suffering massive losses during the housing crash, threatening the stability of the U.S. financial system. The U.S. Treasury provided a bailout to keep them afloat, and they have remained under government control ever sincedespite returning to profitability. While the U.S. Treasury owns the majority of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac profits through senior preferred stock agreements, the common and preferred shares that existed before conservatorship were never fully wiped out. Once Wall Street realized Donald Trump had won the 2024 election, the stocks of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac spiked as the market priced in higher odds that the second Trump administration would attempt to end that conservatorship. After all, one of Trumps biggest backers this cycle was Bill Ackman, a leading proponent of releasing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from conservatorship. The odds of conservatorship endingor at the very least, an attempt to unwind itincreased this week after Trump posted on social media: Im giving very serious consideration to bringing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public. Then, on Thursday evening, Bill Pulte, the director of FHFA, tweeted out a podcast he did with Donald Trump Jr. centered on the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Those arent the kind of public moves the administration would make unless it is seriously considering a push to end conservatorship or wants to further test financial market reaction to the idea. What would this do to mortgage rates? The reason housing stakeholders should pay attention is the long standing concern that ending conservatorship could put upward pressure on mortgage rates and more strain on housing affordability. Once released, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could need to hold more capital to absorb losses. To build and maintain that capital, they may need to increase guarantee fees charged to lenders. In addition, upon release, unless there’s an explicit guarantee or backstop from Congress, investors may demand higher returns to account for increased risk. Those concerns are real enough that back in February, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae wouldnt get released from conservatorship if doing so put upward pressure on mortgage rates/mortgage spreads. The priority for a Fannie and Freddie release, the most important metric that Im looking at is any study or hint that mortgage rates would go up. Anything that is done around a safe and sound release [of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] is going to hinge on the effect of long-term mortgage rates, Bessent said in February. On Friday, Bessent reaffirmed in an interview with Bloomberg that the privatization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hinges on mortgage rates, saying: It [privatization of Fannie and Freddie] is a goal for this administration. Again, we’re doing peace deals, tax deals, and trade deals. As we land some of those deals then we will focus on that [privatization of Fannie and Freddie]. But what I can tell you is that we are doing a great deal of studying at Treasury because the one requirement for this privatization is that they are privatized in such a way that mortgage spreads do not widen. To understand how mortgage rates could respond in different Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae release scenarios, read this housing research we published earlier this year.
Category:
E-Commerce
Americans views of the economy improved in May after five straight months of declines sent consumer confidence to its lowest level since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, largely driven by anxiety over the impact of President Donald Trumps tariffs. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose 12.3 points in May to 98, up from Aprils 85.7, its lowest reading since May 2020. A measure of Americans short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market jumped 17.4 points to 72.8, but remained below 80, which can signal a recession ahead. The proportion of consumers surveyed saying they think a U.S. recession is coming in the next 12 months also declined from April. Trumps aggressive and unpredictable policies including massive import taxes have clouded the outlook for the economy and the job market, raising fears that the American economy is headed toward a recession. However, Trump’s tariff pullbacks, pauses and negotiations with some trading partners may have calmed nerves for the time being. “The rebound was already visible before the May 12 US-China trade deal but gained momentum afterwards, said Stephanie Guichard, senior economist at The Conference Board. Trump had initially imposed a stunning 145% tariff on most goods from China, but agreed to a 90-day pause for negotiations. The U.S. also came to an agreement with the U.K. earlier in May. Over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, Trump and European Union leaders announced that the president’s 50% tariff on imports from the E.U., which he announced Friday, are on hold until July 9. That announcement would not have impacted the Board’s survey, which closed on May 19. The Conference Board said the rebound in confidence this month was broad-based across all ages and income groups. Consumers assessments of the present economic situation also improved, with the exception of their view on job availability, which weakened for the fifth straight month despite another strong U.S. jobs report. However, less than 25% of respondents said they were worried about losing their jobs, compared with the 50% of respondents who said they were concerned about not being able to buy the things they need or want. The Labor Department earlier this month reported that U.S. employers added a surprising 177,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate remained at a low 4.2%. Write-in responses to the survey showed that tariffs are still consumers biggest concern. Inflation is also still weighing on their minds, though some noted that inflation seemed to be easing, along with gas prices. Earlier in May, the Commerce Department reported that consumer prices rose just 2.3% in March from a year earlier, down from 2.7% in February. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.6% compared with a year ago, below Februarys 3%. Economists track core prices because they typically provide a better read on where inflation is headed. Gas prices have hovered around $3.17 per gallon this month, down from $3.59 a year ago, but up a few pennies from April. The slowdown in inflation could be a temporary respite until the widespread duties imposed by Trump begin to push up prices in many categories. Most economists expect inflation to start ticking up in the coming months. Robert Frick, an economist with Navy Federal Credit Union, said that while the tariff rollbacks may have boosted Americans’ confidence this month, that optimism may be fleeting. When prices start rising from existing tariffs in a month or two, it will be a sobering reminder that a new inflation fight has just begun, Frick said. The Board’s survey Tuesday also showed that Americans’ plans to spend on homes, cars and vacations also increased from April, with significant gains coming after the May 12 China tariff pause. Matt Ott, AP business writer
Category:
E-Commerce
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