Compass Contemplations for Wednesday

DID YOU KNOW? Small business confidence ticked up and remains at a high level for the second quarter. The CNBC|Survey Monkey Small Business Confidence Index reading of 59 (up from 58 in the first quarter 2019) indicates that small business owners are optimistic about the direction of their business over the next 12 months. 77% of 50+ person small businesses described business conditions as good and only 1% said conditions are bad.

DID YOU KNOW? Japan’s bullet trains can reach nearly 200 mph and date to the 1960s. They have moved more than 9 billion people without a single passenger causality. America's ACELA is the fastest and averages 65 mph between NYC and Boston because its lines (created in the late 1900's) were never designed for high-speed systems. China built 19,000 miles of high-speed rail all in the past 10 years. The USA virtually abandoned rail-served infrastructure with highway-served infrastructure mostly dedicated to the automobile. (CNBC)

DID YOU KNOW? Sellers who sold their homes in June - meaning June was the sale date on the deed of the house, so they likely put the home on the market in spring -  got 9.2% more than what their home was valued at, according to data released this month from real estate analytics firm ATTOM Data Solutions. Sellers got a premium in other spring and summer months too: May (7.4%); July (7.3%); April (6.4 %); March (6.1%); August (5.8%); meanwhile December, January and October sellers got less than a 4% premium. Demand is much higher in spring and summer in part because school is out and winter is over so people are out and about. (Marketwatch)