David Thomas

2 weeks ago | forbes.com | David Thomas

Global Pivot or Passing Storm? In our last report “The Oncoming AI Bubble” published January 8th, 2025, Equitas warned about high valuations in Large Cap Growth stocks. U.S. stocks, lead by high tech growth, began to drop in mid-February after a steady start to the year. While we predicted volatility ahead, the market showed us sooner rather than later. The drop was triggered by new tariffs, which are taxes on goods imported from other countries.

Jan 21, 2025 | talknwesttn.com | David Thomas

The former home of District 8 Headquarters for the Tennessee Highway Patrol has been sold. Jun Xiong purchased 20 Vann Drive from the State of Tennessee for $850,000. The facility – which the THP first called home in 1967 – consists of approximately 8,500-square-feet and sits on approximately 2.48 acres. The THP opened its new headquarters at 336 Smith Lane in April 2021.

Jan 16, 2025 | cbtnews.com | David Thomas |Harley S davidson

The automotive retail industry is returning to a pace and rhythm that once led to sales of over 17 million new car units a year. Today’s totals may not be that high, but inventories and incentives are catching up to historic norms. And most importantly, shoppers are coming back to the dealership in large numbers. Each month, CDK tracks where shoppers complete the purchase process and for much of 2024, over 70% of shoppers were doing each step at the dealership.

Oct 25, 2024 | greencarjournal.com | David Thomas

There’s a continued disconnect between what the broader automotive industry sees from growing, albeit slowly, EV sales and how U.S. dealers view this class of vehicles. At CDK, we wanted to uncover if anecdotes about a lack of enthusiasm on the retail level were real and to test our own hypothesis that it could be largely driven by where the dealers were located. Why is geography so important? One word, or place: California. More EVs are sold in California than anywhere else in the country.

Oct 16, 2024 | forbes.com | David Thomas

In September 2024, Jerome Powell announced the first Federal Funds Rate cut in over four years. The Federal Funds Rate is a short-term rate related to the cost of debt in the American economy. Some expected the Federal Reserve to cut only 25 basis points, but they delivered a 50 basis point cut. Powell explained this as a result of data that had grown unexpectedly worse since the Fed’s last meeting. We think they are also being a bit more proactive than they have in the past, which is a good sign.