The generation of baby boomers holds more than $85 trillion in assets thanks to economic conditions Gen X, millennials and others would be hard-pressed to replicate. “It’s astonishing how their relative wealth has taken off in the last 30-plus years,” Edward Wolff, an economics professor at New York University, tells The Washington Post. “They started out as among the poorest groups in terms of wealth back in 1983.” In a working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research, he reviewed the data for 1983-2022, a period when older boomers saw their wealth climb and their younger peers recorded relative declines.

The number of Americans receiving jobless benefits rose sharply between mid-September and mid-October, according to newly released government data. The increase suggests an elevated unemployment rate in October.

Homebuilder sentiment ticked up in November, but remains low, according to survey data via the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. “While lower mortgage rates are a positive development for affordability conditions, many buyers remain hesitant because of the recent record-long government shutdown and concerns over job security and inflation,” said NAHB Chairman Buddy Hughes.

US factory orders grew in August, rebounding after two straight monthly declines. The increase was fueled by a surge in orders for durable goods, which jumped 2.9% after plunging 2.8% in July.

The US Department of Energy said it will loan $1 billion to help finance the restart of the nuclear power plant on Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island. The reactor had been out of operation for five years when Constellation Energy announced last year that it restart it under a 20-year agreement with Microsoft to buy the power for its data centers.

Despite valuation concerns for the US stock market, several trend indicators have yet to show a clear break to the downside, according to TMC Research, a unit of The Milwaukee Company, a wealth manager:

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