Governments in the Arab world must invest in technology and make economic reforms that accelerate recovery from the global shutdown, an official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a public warning reported by the Financial Times. After the Great Recession, “it took the countries of the region much longer than the average emerging...
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CUBA GOING CAPITALIST?
In a major policy reversal, the Cuban government will permit small, private businesses to operate in most sectors of its economy, state-run news outlets announced on 6 February. The list of permitted activities is being expanded from 127 to more than 2,000, the announcement said. The island’s economy has suffered for decades under tight government...
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ITALY’S FABLED WEDDING INDUSTRY NEARS COLLAPSE
Italian landscapes from Tuscany’s countryside to Sicily’s dramatic hills have made the country a favorite site for luxury weddings and spawned a multi-billion-euro industry to host them. The pandemic and global shutdown have changed that. Over the past 12 months, an estimated 9,000 weddings for foreign couples have been canceled, according to Italy’s Confindustria business...
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GOING DOWN, GOING BUST, GOING OUT
BIG BANKS SLASHING BRANCHES. In late January, TD Bank announced the closure of 81 of its 1,223 U.S. branches by April, joining KeyCorp, Huntington Bancshares, the Bank of Hawaii, and National Bank Holdings in shutting branches as deposits, withdrawals, and other transactions increasingly take place online. From March through May 2019, Wells Fargo saw a...
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U.S. LABOR MARKET SINKS DEEPER
The U.S. economy created 49,000 net new jobs in January, about 43,000 of which were public-sector positions, the U.S. Labor Department reported. That means the U.S. economy netted only 6,000 private-sector jobs last month. Analysts had predicted 105,000 new jobs would appear in January. The leisure and hospitality industry shed 61,000 jobs last month, retailers...
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TRADE WAR? U.S. LOST IT
Go back to 2017. From the day Donald Trump took office until the COVID War began last February, a week did not go by where the “experts” used the ruse that the equity markets were moving up or down on the U.S. vs. China Trade War battle. The U.S. Lost the Trade War The annual...
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MOST CITIES LOST CONSTRUCTION JOBS IN 2020
Despite a boom in home remodeling, more than half of U.S. major metro areas lost construction jobs in 2020, the Associated General Contractors of America (AGCA) has reported. Jobs were lost in 191 of 358 areas or 53 percent. Houston, New York City, and Midland, TX lost the most; Indianapolis, northern Virginia, and Seattle added...
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LEISURE TRAVEL DEMAND REDRAWS AIRLINE MAPS
With business travelers still off the road and leisure travelers beginning to return to the skies, U.S. airlines are abandoning the traditional hub-and-spoke routing system that served road warriors so well and launching more nonstop flights to fun-seekers’ most popular destinations. “Given the lack of business demand, we’re focusing on leisure travel and providing more...
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LIFE INSURANCE SALES SOAR DURING PANDEMIC
Afraid the coronavirus will kill you? Many are. Applications for life insurance rose 4 percent year on year in 2020, insurance industry consulting firm MIB Group reported. It was the largest one-year jump since 2001 when MIB began tracking the number. Younger applicants led the increase, with 7.8 percent more people under age 45 seeking...
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MANHATTAN CONDO SALES BOUNCE BACK
In December and January, 21 percent more contracts for condo sales in Manhattan were signed than during the same months a year ago, reported UrbanDigs, an analysis firm. Flats in the upper east and west sides were most popular, figures show. The sales boost was propelled by pent-up demand colliding with fewer homes for sale...