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...
Tag: feb 9 2021
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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...
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HEDGE FUND MAKES “GENERATIONAL BET” ON HOUSING
Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund managing more than $7 billion in assets, has increased its ownership share in Howard Hughes Corp. to almost 25 percent over the past seven months, according to public filings reported by the Wall Street Journal. The Hughes company is beginning construction on 1,475 apartment units in Hawaii, Las...
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AMERICANS: GOING BROKE, MOVING OUT
When the COVID War broke out last year and the mainstream media pumped up a steady stream of fear and hysteria, we had forecast that people would flee big cities to escape the coronavirus and rising crime rates. They did. A June survey by Pew Research Centers found that 28 percent of the people who moved...
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TOXIC METALS FOUND IN BABY FOODS
An investigation conducted by a committee in the U.S. House of Representatives found that some top baby food brands were selling products that contained “dangerously high levels” of toxic metals and called on ways to ensure regulators enforce tougher standards. The discovery of toxic metals in baby food came after major companies including Gerber; Beech-Nut...