8. Semiconductor Index Nine 5% Moves in 2026 First Half
Nasdaq Dorsey Wright
9. Lennar Builders Average Home Price Deduction
Wolf Street The average price per home delivered in Q2 fell by 4.6% year-over-year to $371,000, “primarily due to continued weakness in the market” and “reflecting approximately 12.9% in incentives, along with base price adjustments necessary to sustain volume in a market where affordability remains the defining constant,” the company said. That price is back where it had first been in 2017 and is down by 24.4% from Q3 2022.
1. Retail Investors Single Stock Buying is Falling Sharply
Retail activity. “Retail’s single-stock net buying has fallen to the lowest (on a 3-day rolling basis) since COVID”.
Kevin Gordon
2. Retail Investors are Not Bulled Up….Fear & Greed Index Showing Fear
CNN
3. US Companies Record Buybacks
4. Tech + Tech Related = 60% of Stock Market
Barchart
5. Semiconductor Sector Outperformance Hits Internet Bubble Levels
Here are the only times in history where the Semiconductor Index gained more than 230% in a 14-month span:
-December 1998 – February 2000 -April 2025 – Today
That’s the entire list.
@Charlie Bilello
6. China GIG Economy Trending to 320m People…..44% of Workforce is “Flexible Employment”
China’s gig economy nears half the workforce but worker protections lag behind
Over 44% of China’s workforce is now engaged in flexible employment. While closing the white-collar income gap, this massive shift exposes major gaps in workers’ rights and social security stability. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Li Kang analyses the data.
ThinkChina
7. The U.S. Had 20 Years of Flat Energy Demand Before AI Spike
The New York Times
8. Housing Starts Dropping
Bloomberg
9. U.S. Homes See Lowest Turnover Rate in 30 Years
3. Will Countries Increase Reserves Post Open of Strait?
A Rush to Stockpile Oil Will Keep Prices Higher for Longer
Countries will build larger emergency crude reserves to reduce their vulnerability to future energy shocks By Carol Ryan
But governments scarred by recent experience will want more than a return to normal. Many analysts think stockpiles will eventually settle higher than they were before the war, as countries will want a larger cushion against future energy shocks.
“Importing governments are asking one question, ‘What do we do to make sure this never happens again,’” says Kevin Book, co-founder of ClearView Energy Partners. By Carol Ryan
WSJ
4. Google -15% Correction
StockCharts
5. Historical Fact on Softbank …-99% in Internet Bubble
Perplexity
6. These Were the Key Sticking Points in Iran Talks …Some Still in Play Post Preliminary Deal
7. Copper New Highs…Data Center Demand
Apollo
8. Ryanair Diverts One Flight Per Day Due to Drunk/Disorderly
Perplexity
9. Some Philly teachers say they’re pressured to pass students who rarely come to class or do work-Phila Inquirer
Teachers said it’s an open secret that it’s nearly impossible to fail a student in Philly public schools, and administrators encourage teachers to pass students ahead to the next grade level.
Philadelphia School District teachers say they cannot fail students, even those who do little to no work and skip class.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Philadelphia School District students receive report cards on Thursday, the last day of the 2025-26 school year.
But it’s an open secret that in many schools, it is nearly impossible to fail a student, according to interviews with two dozen teachers from schools across the city who say the district is making them give passing grades.
Many teachers said they passed students who did little or no work, did not understand concepts being taught, or did not show up to class much. Most of the teachers interviewed requested anonymity for fear of reprisal.
“There’s a bunch of kids in my class that have F’s in reading, and I’m probably going to pass them — I’ll bump it up to a D and call it a day,” one middle-grades teacher at a K-8 school said. “I don’t know of anyone who’s been able to keep anyone back, and we’re just setting kids up for failure.”
On paper, Philadelphia students can fail courses, or be retained in a grade, so long as they are offered appropriate interventions and supports. Officially, the district, according to its policy, “is committed to excellence in student accomplishments and recognizes the contribution of a district wide promotion policy moving all schools to models of achievement.”
But many teachers said that they were discouraged or forbidden by their principals from flunking students, or that they have given out failing grades that were overridden. Others said failing students was permitted if justified, but the administrative burden to rationalize failure, even for students who did not show up to school, is onerous or impossible.
All of the teachers who spoke with The Inquirersaid they fear for the long-term implications for students who are passed along without the skills they needto advance — especially in a city where so many students cope with the effects of poverty and trauma and a majority of students do not meet grade-level standards on state testing.
Monique Braxton, district spokesperson, said the district’s policies “emphasize that student grades are meant to accurately reflect their academic performance and progress toward learning standards. Schools are required to provide and document appropriate interventions and progress monitoring when students encounter academic challenges. The district remains steadfast in its commitment to maintaining high expectations for students while ensuring they receive the necessary support to achieve success.”
When did it start?
The K-8 teacher, a veteran of district schools for three decades, said that at the beginning of her career, it was easier to give F’s or retain students who did not meet the learning standards. But, the teacher said, there has been a “subtle shift” since the early 2000s, the era of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
“When the pressure was on the schools to show promotions and graduation rates, and the district was so focused on showing data, it’s shifted grading, and now it’s a joke,” the teacher said.
Philadelphia changed its grading policy in 2017, setting a 50 out of 100 as teachers’ grading floor and making it easier to pass. The minimum score for a D, once a 64, was changed to a 60.
The rationale for the change, leaders said at the time, was standardizing grading procedures and preventing students from giving up if they perform poorly early in the year. Detractors of the policy shift said at the time they feared it would water down standards.
The K-8 teacher, and others interviewed, emphasized that most Philadelphia students are bright and capable. But those who do not try because of complicated home lives or other reasons can skate by, they said.
“We have a kid who’s done no work all year, and we’ve done everything, and they’re just going to push him forward,” the K-8 teacher said.
The teacher also works in the service industry, and said the effects of passing students who have not earned passing grades is evident in that workplace.
“We see people who don’t come to work on time, they can’t take orders, they can’t use a computer or figure things out, and this is why,” she said. “They’re not being held to standards for all their years in schools.”
Administrators sometimes change the grades themselves, the third teacher said.
In one instance, a student’s grade shot up with no explanation, the teacher said. “This student had a 50 yesterday. How did he have an 82 today? This was a student who didn’t turn in any additional work, and missed 63 of 84 classes,” the third teacher said.
The third teacher said another student who was moved on without doing the work admitted it.
“Even he was like, ‘Yeah, I didn’t deserve to pass, I don’t know how that happened. But I’m excited to graduate,’” the teacher said.
The third teacher underscored that while the practice could be making the district’s numbers look better, it is not serving students.
After graduation and not being held to standards, the teacher said, one former student “lost the first three jobs he had because he didn’t go to them. He had to learn that lesson in a much harder, more adult way, and he could have learned that in high school. I worry that when kids graduate and get into the workforce, it will impact the way they approach the goals they set for themselves and how they try to achieve those goals.”
Action Comes Before Emotion: Waiting to feel motivated is a great way to become old while maintaining noble intentions.
Self-Esteem Is A Fraction: Your misery might not be caused by failure. It might be caused by the ludicrous fantasy version of yourself you’re carrying around.
Practice Difficulty Before Life Requires It: If I obey comfort every time it speaks, I’ll become the kind of person who needs a nap after opening a difficult envelope.
Being Wise Is Knowing What To Overlook: Not everything deserves your attention; the trick is remembering that your life does.
Automate The Routine So Your Mind Is Free For What Matters: Pick three things you decide every day that don’t deserve the cognitive load. Choose defaults so they’re no longer decisions.
Measure Effort, Not Just Outcomes: James isn’t saying, “outcomes don’t matter.” If a dentist removes the wrong tooth, I don’t want to hear he experienced tremendous inner growth during the procedure. Reality is still reality, despite the best efforts of people who use “manifest” as a verb. James is saying outcomes aren’t the measure of moral worth. Effort is.
Here’s the part that’s meant to make you uncomfortable, and then the part that’s meant to set you free, and they are the same part.
We’d like to be told we can think our way into a better life. But if thinking were enough, every anxious intellectual would be a saint. James says the opposite: act, and the self follows. You’re what you repeatedly attend to, what you do when nobody’s watching and no applause is coming. Your life isn’t waiting for your insight. It’s being built, right now, out of your actions.
Act before your mood supports it. Lower the denominator before it crushes you. Attend to what really deserves your attention. Automate the unimportant. Do hard things so comfort doesn’t become your master. Measure effort. You’re not waiting for a better self to arrive. You’re practicing one into existence.
You don’t have to become magnificent. Magnificence is unstable and difficult to park. James doesn’t promise that we can become new people overnight. Thank God. New people are exhausting. But he can return you to the only place change ever happens:
