As unemployment benefits and federal support runs out, U.S. renters face a rising wave of evictions at a time when they have no savings to pay deposits on new places to live or rent if they move in. More than a third of Americans rent their homes. The majority of renters are low-wage workers with...
Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT
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U.S. MARKETS
America is a country in crisis. Riots, looting, protests, vandalism sweeping across the nation: Police vs. the People following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin who, as videos show, knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Already economically reeling from the government imposed lockdown, and with some 40 million...
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NOTES FROM THE FRONT LINES
Major Bankruptcies Accelerating. Through 22 May, 90 major U.S. corporations have gone bankrupt, Bloomberg reported, including Hertz, J.C. Penney, and Neiman Marcus. The current pace would yield 233 major corporate bankruptcies this year, a pace 68 percent above last year’s and 97 percent greater than in 2018. The trend is young and accelerating, Bloomberg noted,...
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WORLD
Oil Prices Rise with Returning Economic Activity. Oil prices are steadily, if slowly, rising again, due to fundamental market forces instead of speculation. China’s factories are back at work and its economy is gradually turning toward growth. Lockdowns in several nations are being cautiously lifted, putting more people back in their cars and more commercial...
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EMERGING MARKETS
The global economic shutdown is ravaging the developing world with a humanitarian disaster unlikely to begin to abate until advanced economies have reopened, said World Bank president David Malpass. The shutdown will cast 60 million more people into poverty, the bank says, defining poverty as living on $1.90 or less a day. Hundreds of millions...
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CHINA
In its bid to spread its economic tentacles around the globe, China has loaned at least $520 billion to developing countries to boost their economies. The countries put up mines, airports, and other property as collateral for the loans. The loans left China as the world’s biggest lender, passing the World Bank and the International...
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EUROPE
CEOs Say Economic Recovery Will Be Slow. Europe’s recovery from the economic shutdown will take at least a year and as many as three, according to a majority of the 56 CEOs and board chairs belonging to the European Round Table for Industry. About 53 percent expect recovery to take one to two years and...
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RENTERS VS. LANDLORD WAR
WeWork Wants Rent Break – and So Do Its Tenants WeWork, the multi-billion-dollar landlord that rents about 11 million square feet of workspace to gig workers and young companies, is finding almost a third of its tenants are unable to pay their rent. As a result, WeWork can’t either. WeWork does not own the space...
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TECH UPS AND DOWN
Tech Giants Plan for Shopping Spree As the economic shutdown and its aftermath persist, well-heeled tech companies are shopping for smaller, struggling enterprises. The giants will use the opportunity to expand into new markets, fill gaps in product lines, or quash competition, analysts say. On 19 May, Microsoft announced its purchase of Softmotive, a robotics...
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HERTZ GOES BUST
HERTZ GOES BUST It comes as no surprise to Trends Journal subscribers. We had warned this would happen in our 12 May issue. The car rental giant, in business since 1918 and owner of the Dollar and Thrifty rental lines, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after incurring $18.8 billion in debt and having only $1...