Nissan joins EV price war, discounts 2024 Ariya 8-10%
The 2024 Nissan Ariya receives a $3,600 to $6,000 price cut depending on trim level.
Santander plans expansion of prequalified auto inventory search site Drive.US
Santander Consumer USA plans a national expansion this year for Drive.US, its digital auto retail site allowing consumers to shop cars at partner dealerships online and filter the inventory based on the car loan monthly payment the lender has prequalified the shopper to receive.
Without Tesla, U.S. is only 3% of the way to DC fast-charger targets
Excluding Tesla’s network of Superchargers, the nation is just 3.1 percent of the way to its 2030 targets for widely accessible DC fast chargers, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Halloween Horror Nights stage show wins IAAPA award
“Nightmare Fuel Wildfire,” a bombastic stage show at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights event, was awarded an IAAPA Brass Ring Award during a ceremony in Las Vegas on Sunday.
“Nightmare Fuel” was named the winner in the category of most creative Halloween production. The show, performed exclusively at the after-hours event at Universal Studios theme park, featured music, dance, fire acts, aerial stunts and illusions centered on the dark realm of sleep. It was the highest-rated show in the history of Halloween Horror Nights, IAAPA said.
The Brass Ring Awards traditionally have been announced during the IAAPA Expo at Orange County Convention Center in November. The ceremony shifted to an event dubbed IAAPA Honors 2024, held at the Venetian in Vegas this year. A handful of awards were shared last fall, including to Orlando-based Skyline Attractions, which won for new product with a cost of less than $3 million for its P’Sghetti Bowl roller coaster design.
IAAPA is the shorthand for International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, a trade group based in Orlando.
The Savings Game: Conservative investments looking good for 2024
Because the Federal Reserve increased interest rates many times in 2023, conservative investments offered good returns in comparison with prior years. Investors were able to buy money market funds, CDs and Treasury bills that offered returns exceeding 5%.
Many observers have expected the Fed to start reducing interest rates in 2024, which would reduce returns for the most conservative investments. However, because inflation is still a concern, it now seems as though the Fed may not be anxious to start reducing interest rates.
If the Fed does hold off reducing interest rates, it is likely returns associated with money market funds, CDs and short-term federal investments such as Treasury bills will remain pretty high. In 2023, the stock market recovered from its fall in 2022, and many investment analysts feel that many stocks are fully priced, and that the returns in the stock market in 2024, on average, will not match those in 2023.
What options are attractive to investors in 2024? One is highly rated corporate bonds. The returns of high-grade corporate bonds are approximately 5% now, and as I indicated in a recent column, many mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) hold long-term bonds with unrealized losses.