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FRIDAY MARKET RECAP
Nasdaq took the heaviest hit as traders rotated out of AI names:
• Nasdaq −3.7% (worst day since June, ~9% off its high)
• S&P 500 −2.4%
• Dow −1.4% (−741 pts)
Baker Hughes rig count | Oct. 30
- US oil: 462 (+2 WoW; +48 YoY)
- US gas: 130 (−2 WoW)
- US total: 603 (flat WoW; +57 YoY)
- Canada total: 226 (+6 WoW)
Wellby Financial breaks ground on a new HQ near Baybrook Mall. The estimated $52M project spans 102,246 SF across five stories, with a member branch and room for 500+ employees. Completion targeted for October 2028.
$17B says the future of grocery runs through last-mile space.
DoorDash buying Instacart: $17B, $65/share, 26% premium, 75% cash. Board unanimous.
Restaurants plus groceries on one network = more demand for dark stores and curbside space near rooftops.
Houstonomics retweeted
JPMorgan’s new headquarters at 270 Park Avenue has an estimated all-in cost of $6 billion, twice the early $3 billion estimate. The $6 billion includes construction, furnishings and assets such as air rights. That works out to roughly $2,500 per square foot.
Mortgage rate update | Oct. 29, 2026
30-YR FRM: 7.24% | ↓8 bps WoW | ↑107 bps YoY
15-YR FRM: 6.60% | ↓8 bps WoW | ↑119 bps YoY
Both eased this week but remain above year-ago levels.
Source: Freddie Mac PMMS.
THURSDAY MARKET RECAP
Stocks closed lower Thursday, pressured by the latest corporate earnings:
🔻 Nasdaq: -1.38% to 26,184.72
🔻 S&P 500: -0.3% to 7,720.39
🔻 Dow: -132.54 pts (-0.25%) to 52,342.56
Weil had plans to expand in Houston at TC Energy Center. Now it’s winding down.
Weil, Gotshal & Manges plans to wind down, leaving more than 975,000 square feet of leased offices worldwide in limbo, according to CoStar. Its largest commitment is more than 400,000 square feet at Manhattan’s General Motors Building, with a lease running through August 2034.
In Houston, Weil occupies 22,814 square feet on the 37th floor of TC Energy Center at 700 Louisiana Street. It had also filed plans in April to renovate another 4,923 square feet on the 38th floor.
A $212 million settlement comes after $880 million in annual losses from Zillow Offers.
Zillow could estimate a home’s value without being able to profitably own it. Those are different businesses. The expensive mistake was treating pricing data as a substitute for buying discipline.
U.S. office market just posted its strongest vacancy reading in nearly three years. A market where the best buildings are tightening fast and everything else is being left behind.
Houston spine ASC hit by 5 break-ins over 5 days before opening
khou.com/article/news/crime/…
DFW office absorption fell 85% from a year ago, and vacancy still went down.
DFW office fundamentals kept improving in Q3, but more slowly. Vacancy fell slightly, rents rose again, and new supply nearly stopped. Absorption, however, was well below last year’s pace.
Vacancy: This is the second straight quarter below 20%. Before Q2 2026, the market hadn’t been under that level since Q2 2023.
Absorption: Class A accounted for about 337k SF of the 384k SF total. Year-to-date absorption is 1.65M SF, roughly half of the 3.2M SF at this point in 2025.
Rents: Asking rents have risen four quarters in a row, from $32.40 in Q4 2025, for a gain of about 6% year over year. Class A averages $39.31, Class B $25.45 and Class C $22.39.
Sublease and availability: Sublease availability fell to 2.0% (6.5M SF), down from 2.6% a year ago. Total availability is 21.1%.
The economy grew 3.4% in Q3
• Real GDP +3.4% annualized, up from 2.2%, beat 3.2% consensus
• Growth led by AI investment, inventories, consumer and government spending
U.S. growth beats expectations, but inflation stays hot
September 2026 BEA: Spending rose 0.5%, but inflation-adjusted spending barely budged.
Income grew 0.2%; real disposable income fell 0.3%. PCE inflation: 3.6% YoY; core: 3.1%.
US jobless claims, Oct. 29: 194K vs. 199K expected.
Down 1K; prior revised to 195K.
The 4-week moving average was 196,750, a decrease of 1,250 from the previous week.
Continuing claims: 1.701M, down 21K.
Layoffs remain low; initial claims below 200K for 7 straight weeks.
Houston rose to No. 1 for homebuilding prospects in PwC and the Urban Land Institute’s 2027 real estate outlook, up from No. 3, even as its overall real estate ranking slipped one spot to No. 6 out of 81 markets.
Houstonomics retweeted
SEG Solar is expanding its U.S. manufacturing base with two more buildings at Northwest 99 in Tomball, totaling 1.15 million square feet.
Combined with last year’s purchase, SEG Solar now controls 1.58 million square feet at the site.
Jon Lindenberger and Barkley Peschel of Colliers represented SEG Solar in all three transactions, working with Clay Development in the process.
realtynewsreport.com/solar-m…
