#Breaking: Oil prices just passed $100 a barrel.

Watch: Elon Musk sends A DECOY TESLA AND GUARDS to try and fool the press as he enters the SF courtroom today for the Twitter buyout trial. (Keep going .. we found him).

#New: Bay Area rent (median 1BR): San Francisco: $3,630* Palo Alto: $3,450** Mtn View: $3,220 Sunnyvale: $3,030 Santa Clara: $2,870 Redwood City: $2,760 San Jose: $2,510 Berkeley: $2,200 Oakland: $1,980 *up 15.6% in one year **up 16.2% in one year Source: Zumper

#New: In Silicon Valley: Average tech wages reached $189,000 in 2025. Richest 10% hold 75% of liquid wealth; bottom half holds less than 1%. More than one-quarter of households cannot meet basic needs. Median home costs $2 million. -Joint Venture Silicon Valley

#Breaking: FedEx is suing the U.S. seeking full refund of the Trump tariffs. Is this the first domino to fall?

#New: 30-year fixed mortgage is now at 5.99%.

#Breaking: Dow futures down 260, Bitcoin down $4,000 on new Trump tariffs. #$BTC

#New: Rent burden: In the San Francisco Bay Area, half of renter households spend at least 30% of their income on rent, and one quarter spend more than half. That’s the highest number in the nation. Source: ApartmentList

The times we live in: The Judge in the social media addition trial just threatened to hold anyone recording the Mark Zuckerberg testimony with AI glasses in contempt of court.

The typical American homebuyer payed 4% less than the asking price last year. But .. In San Francisco, the average price payed was 4% ABOVE asking price. In San Jose, 2.3% above asking price. In Oakland, 1.3% above asking price. Source: Redfin

#New: A minimum annual income of $213,200 is needed in California to afford the $5,330 monthly payment. In San Mateo County, the minimum income is $507,600. (Avg monthly payment: $12,690) In Santa Clara County, $470,800. In San Francisco County, $441,200. Source: Cal Assn of Realtors

Billboards in San Francisco promoting ICE during Super Bowl week: “Defensive Player Of The Year.”

#New: Rent in the Bay Area (median 1BR): San Francisco: $3,670 Palo Alto: $3,250 Mtn View: $3,220 Redwood City: $2,940 Sunnyvale: $2,930 Santa Clara: $2,920 San Jose: $2,620 Fremont: $2,390 Berkeley: $2,170 Oakland: $1,980 Source: Zumper

#New: Neil Young says he'll give residents of Greenland free access to his music catalog. From Young: “I hope my music and music films will ease some of the unwarranted stress and threats you are experiencing from our unpopular and hopefully temporary government."

Gold and silver prices are both now at record highs. Gold just topped $5,000/oz for the first time.

#New: Least affordable cities (home affordability) in the world: 1. San Jose 2. Los Angeles 3. Long Beach 4. San Diego 5. Vancouver 6. Paris 7. Porto (Portugal) 8. New York 9. Miami 10. San Francisco -Remitly

#New: Elizabeth Holmes has formally asked President Trump to release her from prison early. Her release is currently set for December 2031.

Actually, Somalia is a country.

#New: California Attorney General Rob Bonta says he is opening an investigation into the proliferation of nonconsensual sexually explicit material produced using Grok, the AI model developed by xAI.

I interviewed Scott Adams several times; first about Dilbert and Silicon Valley, then about his books on life. By the time of his move to controversial views, he was mostly declining interviews, saying he’d get his views out via his podcast.

#New: What it costs to rent the median 1 BR apartment in: San Francisco: $3,500* Mountain View: $3,190 Redwood City: $3,090 Palo Alto: $3,070 Sunnyvale: $2,960 Santa Clara: $2,900 San Mateo: $2,810 San Jose: $2,690 Oakland: $1,950 *Up 15% in one year -Zumper

Annual income needed to buy a median priced home in: San Mateo County: $524,000 Santa Clara County: $482,400 San Francisco County: $409,600 Source: CA Assn of Realtors

#New: Zillow looked at 364 US cities, and found 350 of them where houses, on average, sell below the asking price. But .. Not so for Silicon Valley. -San Francisco: 16% above asking price, on average. -San Jose: 11.4% above asking price.

#New: How long it takes to save for a typical down payment on a home in: San Francisco: 36.5 years San Jose: 36.2 years Los Angeles: 34 years San Diego: 30 years New York: 23.4 years Seattle: 22.6 years Source: realtor.com

#New: Waymo again pauses its driverless taxi service in San Francisco, this time citing flash flood warnings.

#Update: Waymo: “We have temporarily suspended our ride-hailing services in the San Francisco Bay Area due to the widespread power outage.”

#New: 34% of renters say they do not believe the American Dream includes owning a home - a new high. Source: Zumper

#New: The White House says the Kennedy Center will be re-named the "Trump-Kennedy Center." The Center’s board of trustees, appointed by President Trump in April, voted to change the name.

#Breaking: California DMV rules Tesla misled consumers about Autopilot and Full Self-Driving capabilities. The DMV says it proposes a sales suspension; first giving Tesla 90 days to comply. $TSLA down after hours.

#New: The majority of US homes on the market are now selling below asking price. But .. Not in the Bay Area. San Francisco: Selling for 16% above average asking price. San Jose: Selling for 11.3% above average asking price. Source: zillow

#New: Bay Area rents (avg 1BR): San Francisco: $3,500* Mtn View: $3,210 Foster City: $3,140 Redwood City: $3,050 Palo Alto: $2,960 San Mateo: $2,900 Santa Clara: $2,840 San Jose: $2,680 Berkeley: $2,100 Oakland: $1,950 *Up 16% this year. Source: Zumper

Tomorrow marks 30 years (!) since Pixar released “Toy Story” to the public. The groundbreaking movie was a huge success, spawning sequels. Seven days later, Pixar went public, making Steve Jobs a billionaire.

#Update: US Metro areas with the highest median home sale price: San Francisco Bay Area: $1.19 million Los Angeles: $950,000 San Diego: $860,000 Honolulu: $768,000 Source: @remaxllc.bsky.social

Tough day for many here in the Bay Area. As an Oakland native and Skyline High School student when Coach John Beam was there; I remember Coach, and have been hearing from friends, classmates, and others who remember him too. Thoughts to his family, and those helped by Coach.

Amazon: Just hit a record high stock price. Stock up 14% over the last two days. Valued at $2.7 trillion. Announced $38 billion with OpenAI. ...Just cut 14,000 corporate jobs. $AMZN

Hey! BlueSky just topped 40 million users.

#Breaking: Netflix says it will split its stock 10-1. $NFLX

#New: Rent prices (median 1BR): New York: $4,400 San Francisco: $3,510* Boston: $2,900 Jersey City: $2,890 San Jose: $2,710 Miami: $2,550 Los Angeles: $2,250 San Diego: $2,250 Wash, DC: $2,200 *Up 17.6% since one year ago. Source: Zumper

We have tech companies (Amazon, Salesforce, Chegg, Meta....) cutting thousands of jobs because AI is getting more efficient. We also now have THREE AI-related tech companies ($NVDA, $MSFT, $AAPL) worth $4 trillion dollars each.

#New: California Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta say the state will file a lawsuit “immediately” if President Trump sends federalized members of the military to San Francisco.

Annual salary you need to live “comfortably” in: San Jose: $246,946 San Francisco: $251,398 San Diego: $206,353 Los Angeles: $194,920 New York: $184,420 Seattle: $178,520 Boston: $169,155 Oakland: $163,559 Source: @GOBankingRates

#New: Median home price, by county* San Mateo: $2.15 million Santa Clara: $2.0 m San Francisco: $1.75 m Alameda: $1.25 m Los Angeles: $983,000 Contra Costa: $870,000 *all higher than one year ago. Source: @CAREALTORS

#New: Airports in the Bay Area say they are not playing a video of Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem saying Democrats are to blame for the federal government shutdown.

#New: There are now no major metro areas in the US where buying a home is less expensive than renting a home. Gap between monthly mortgage payments and rent payments: San Francisco: 191% San Jose: 186% Seattle: 120% Source: @InvestorsObserv

End of an era: AOL has officially stopped its dial-up internet service. Do you remember that sound?

#Breaking: Apple has removed the “Ice Block” app from its App Store.

#New: What it costs to rent in the Bay Area (avg 1BR): San Francisco: $3,510 Mtn. View: $3,290 Redwood City: $3,130 Palo Alto: $3,090 Sunnyvale: $3,060 Santa Clara: $2,970 San Jose: $2,730 Walnut Creek: $2,560 Oakland: $1,990 Source: @Zumper

#New: Microsoft says it will no longer allow Israel’s military to have access to some of its Azure technology being used for surveillance in Gaza. This comes after pressure from Microsoft employees and some investors. $MSFT

#New: California has the highest unemployment rate among all states at 5.5%. Job growth in the state has slowed to 3,800 jobs total for the month. In 2024, the monthly average was 25,000 jobs gained. Source: @BLS_gov