Used-Car Sales Boom As New Cars Get Too Pricey For Many (#GotBitcoin?) Price gap between new and preowned cars has widened to a near decade high. The gap between the price of a new and used vehicle is as wide as it has been in years, pushing an increasing number of consumers to the used-car lot and putting pressure on auto makers to deepen discounts on new cars to keep them competitive. Demand for used cars was unusually strong this summer and will remain at elevated levels through the year’s end as higher interest rates and rising prices on new cars continue to stretch buyers’ wallets, industry analysts said. Used-car buyers are finding a growing selection of low-mileage vehicles that are only a few years old. While used-car values have also increased in recent years, the gap between the price of a new and preowned car has also widened and is now at one of its largest points in more than a decade, according to car-shopping website Edmunds.com. New-car prices have steadily climbed in the years following the recession as companies packed vehicles with more expensive technology and buyers shifted away from lower-priced cars to bigger and more expensive sport-utility vehicles and trucks. The average price paid for a car hit an all-time high of $36,848 in December of 2017 and remains at near-record levels, according to Edmunds.com. “Customers forget a new car is now more than $30,000 and they expect it to be $20,000,” said Brian Allan, a senior director at Galpin Motors Inc., a Southern California dealership chain. Remainder of The Article: https://dpl-surveillance-equipment.com/economics-and-finance/used-car-sales-boom-as-new-cars-get-too-pricey-for-many-gotbitcoin/ Bitcoin Options Exchange Wins Approval From The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC): http://tinyurl.com/ybk328zy Proponents say an options exchange will spur trading and attract investors who are fearful of entering what has so far been an unregulated market, dominated by coders and entrepreneurs. A CFTC-regulated venue could assuage institutional concerns about the virtual currency landscape. Bitcoin has won over unlikely champions as it gains mainstream acceptance, including Fidelity Investments Chief Executive Abigail Johnson. An approval “recognizes the important and legitimate uses of digital currencies that are spreading throughout the world,” said Jeremy Liew, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, in an email before the CFTC’s decision Monday. The venture-capital firm has a stake in LedgerX. “We’re at an inflection point for digital currencies,” said Mr. Chou, noting the cryptocurrency market hit $100 billion this year. “There’s no action anywhere else. Bitcoin is the only thing moving quite a bit.” Sponsored By: DPL-Surveill ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvvY94C0nWE