Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT

Again, no surprise to Trends Journal subscribers: about 15,000 apartments were standing empty in the heart of New York City in August, compared to 5,600 a year previous, according to a report by Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers. The number is the largest ever seen since the data began being collected in 2006. In response,...

In March, when the lockdowns began, we continually have warned Trends Journal subscribers of the sharp commercial and apartment rental decline that would follow shelter-in-place rules, which shut down cities and states across the nation and around the world. Shares of the FTSE Nareit Equity Apartments Index, which follows stocks of publicly-traded apartment owners, have...

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that marks the beginning of Christmas shopping when millions stampede big stores to get big savings on specials, will kick off earlier this year. Calvin Klein, Guess, Kohl’s, Macy’s, and Target are among the retailers planning to stuff their financial Christmas stockings by launching the holiday buying season earlier...

The euro’s value topped $1.20 on 1 September, its highest value since May 2018, and the British pound reached $1.345, its highest value against the dollar this year, as the dollar lost as much as 0.4 percent against six major currencies. Today, the dollar moved up and euro fetched just under $1.18. The stronger dollar...

Broke, busted, out of work, and out of luck, as of July, 52 percent of adults ages 18 to 29 years were living in a parent’s home, a Pew Research survey has found. The proportion is up from 47 percent in February and is the largest proportion of young adults bunking with mom and/or dad...

Only about a third as many passengers are booking airline seats compared to a year ago as airlines enter the Thanksgiving and December holiday period, traditionally one of their busiest seasons. Passenger volume will not reach 50 percent of capacity until a vaccine has been widely distributed, said Scott Kirby, United Airlines CEO. In October,...

As we have reported, Yelp estimates some 60 percent of restaurants that were forced by politicians to lock down will go out of business. Of Boston’s 16,000 restaurants that were open on 1 March, about 3,600, or 23 percent, have not reopened since the state’s shutdown was eased, according to the Boston Globe. There are...

Simon Property Group and Brookfield Property Group, two of the U.S.’s largest mall landlords, have agreed to a $1.75-billion purchase of the JCPenney retail chain, which filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 16 May. Authentic Brands, which owns 50 fashion labels including Barneys New York, Nautica, and Nine West, is in discussions to join the deal....

CHOPPY RECOVERY AHEAD, CANADA’S CENTRAL BANKS WARNS. Canada’s economy will show a surge of strength in this quarter, but the ensuing recovery will be slow and unsteady, the nation’s central bank has warned. Household spending was stronger than expected over the summer, presaging a more robust third quarter than analysts had forecast as consumers vent...

On the market front, the Dow, after being up 237 points, closed basically flat today, while the S&P 500 closed up 0.5 percent and the NASDAQ gained 1.2 percent on the news that big dealmakers are making more deals and hopes of a corona virus vaccine hitting the market soon. Today’s headline story from CNBC...