Screentime

Good morning! Donald Trump was declared winner of the presidential race early Wednesday, marking an end to a divisive election season, and the start of another wave of [“America First” trading](. Today we’re exploring: - Safe bets: Polymarket priced Trump as the victor early last night. - Screentime: Most teens spend ~25% of their waking hours using screens. - Homegroan: The median house-buying age in the US just keeps going up. Have feedback for us? Just hit reply - we'd love to hear from you!   Donald Trump is set to be the 47th president of the United States of America. At 5:34 a.m. ET this morning, the Associated Press [called Wisconsin]( for the Republican candidate, taking Trump over the critical 270-vote milestone in the electoral college, the decisive moment in a historic election night. As the nation — and the rest of the world — digests the news, analysis will follow as to what went wrong for the Democrats, and why so many polls, including one notable last-minute [Iowa poll](, failed to accurately capture the mood of the nation. Indeed, on top of the all-important electoral college win, Trump is also on track to win the popular vote — something that a Republican candidate hasn’t done since President George Bush’s 2004 win. The Republicans will also [flip the Senate](. Follow the money One instrument that’s been uniquely prevalent in this election has been betting markets, as a swath of prediction markets on sites such as Polymarket, Kalshi, and Robinhood (Sherwood Media is an independent subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc.) have burst onto the mainstream. Looking at the minute-by-minute data of those markets reveals that it took just a few short hours for traders to price Donald Trump as the heavy favorite to win. As midnight approached on the East Coast, Polymarket’s prediction market had Trump at ~97% likely to win. Early results in Florida, though not a swing state, may have offered some clues as to the final result. The win in that state appeared to start the wave of pro-Trump bets, before wins in Georgia, North Carolina, and elsewhere cemented the position. Polymarket, which is technically not available to US users, has seen more than $3.6 billion in trading-volume “event contracts,” according to its website. In premarket trading, Trump Media & Technology Group, which was [highly volatile yesterday](, was up more than 34%. Early indications for voter turnout in the presidential election are hovering around 64% to 65%, down slightly on 2020. [Read this on the web instead](   For much of today, tomorrow, and likely some weeks after that, Americans will be glued to their ([increasingly digital]() screens, as information continues to drip through and we build a clearer picture of the nation’s future. Still, it’ll probably be business as usual for the majority of US teens: a [new survey]( from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics found that around half of all Americans aged 12-17 — “teenagers,” by the organization’s definition, at least — reported four hours or more of screen time each weekday. That’s equivalent to more than a quarter of typical waking hours... and didn’t include any time spent doing schoolwork. Hold the phone The study also found that, among the teens surveyed, those with screen times of four or more hours were more likely to have displayed symptoms of depression (~26%) and anxiety (~27%) in the past two weeks. Indeed, the negative effects of excessive screen time, particularly for young people who are still developing cognitively, are well documented, having been linked to memory impairment, diminished academic performance, and [difficulty sleeping](. But, in the digital age, the influence of tech on the average American teenager’s lifestyle has become near impossible to avoid. One 2023 [Pew Research]( survey found that 95% of teens had access to a smartphone at home, 90% had a desktop or laptop computer, and 65% could access a tablet. [Read this on the web instead](   New data from the [National Association of Realtors](, cited by our colleagues at [Snacks](, found that the median age of first-time homebuyers in the US is now 38 — up from last year’s 35 and marking the highest recorded age from data going back to 1981. Rocketing house prices, still-high mortgage rates, and limited inventory all make owning a home an [increasingly expensive]( part of the American dream. The same NAR report also outlined that the median age of repeat buyers has soared to 61 years (nearly a third of whom paid with cash for their follow-up homes), while the median age of buyers overall has rocketed to 56 years, +44% from just two decades prior. These factors indicate the growing prevalence of a “renter generation,” with fewer than one in four of all homes bought by first-timers. Even so, rent prices are still far outpacing wages in most major US cities: according to [CNBC](, the average hourly wage required to afford a one-bedroom dwelling is almost 3x the minimum wage in New York, 2.3x Los Angeles’ min wage, and 2.1x Chicago’s. [Read this on the web instead](   More Data - Redeeming features: Bankrupt chain TGI Fridays has more outstanding gift cards, worth about $50 million, than it has in its [cash pile](. - Some US millionaires may now have to put their money where their mouths are… 53% said they’d be more likely to leave the country after the election, regardless of [the result](. - A former Six Flags in New Orleans is finally being torn down — nearly 20 years after the theme park was shuttered in the wake of [Hurricane Katrina](. - Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” has now been at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 16 weeks, tying with another country-pop hybrid for the [longest reign of the 2020s](.   Hi-Viz - Trump’s road to victory in maps and charts, outlined by [the FT](. - [Bloomberg Graphics]( has been building a jello map as states were called… they’re gonna need more cherry flavor. Off the charts: Which Nintendo console, now into its 7th year on the market, is a little less popular than the company had been banking on this year? [Answer below]. [Answer here.](   Thanks for stopping by! Have some [feedback](mailto:daily@chartr.co?subject=Feedback&body=Hi, I like the newsletters, but I had a thought for you...) or want to [sponsor this newsletter](mailto:advertising@sherwoodmedia.com?subject=I’m interested in advertising with Sherwood Media)?   Not a subscriber? Sign up for free below. [Subscribe](   [X]( [Instagram]( [Chartr Logo]( Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... 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