LA Times (May 20)
“Three months into California’s battle with the coronavirus, there are growing signs that the outbreak is ebbing even as the state death toll continues to climb past 3,400…. Even some of the most cautious local health officials have agreed to begin reopening the economy.” One must, however, worry about overly sunny optimism in California where new COVID-19 cases dropped from 13,041 cases last week to 12,229 cases, something the Times calls “a notable achievement, given the amount of increased testing.” Others might view it as a troubling high number.
Tags: Notable
Bloomberg (May 19)
“Australia’s success in curbing Covid-19 infections is allowing it to slowly ease some restrictions even as it remains largely closed off from the rest of the world, taking its economy back to the pre-globalization era.” Stimulating domestic consumption prove essential “to drive any rebound,” but complicated by consumer worries. “Even before Covid-19, Australian households were among the most indebted in the developed world, with debt almost double disposable income.”
Tags: Australia, Closed off, Consumption, COVID-19, Developed world, Economy, Households, Indebted, Pre-globalization, Restrictions, Success
Financial Times (May 19)
In Ireland, “the jobless rate for the under-25s surged to 52.8 per cent in April,” up drastically from 12 per cent in February, and “the hit to young workers was not unique to Ireland.” For example, McKinsey has found that “workers aged 15-24 throughout Europe are almost twice as likely as those aged 25-54 to have jobs at risk’ 41 percent for the young; and 25 percent otherwise.
WARC (May 19)
“India’s largest consumer-facing companies have begun pushing ‘vocal for local’ themes across all advertising and marketing campaigns and last-mile sales pitches.” This could give local brands a boost in the Indian market, which is currently dominated by global brands.
Tags: Advertising, Brands, Consumer-facing, Global brands, India, Marketing, Sales, Vocal for local
Investment Week (May 18)
“Credit fundamentals have worsened since the market sell-off began, although central banks could provide some companies with a soft landing and many firms have drawn on their credit lines in a bid to stay afloat.” Even though “the impact is highly correlated across geographies, industries and asset classes…the potential outcomes are too severe to only affect equities and credit-market fundamentals have undoubtedly been impacted.”
Tags: Asset classes, Central banks, Correlated, Credit, Equities, Fundamentals, Geographies, Industries, Market, Outcomes, Sell-off, Severe, Soft landing, Worsened
Wall Street Journal (May 15)
“It is always hard anticipating successful drugs, but those wagering on coronavirus treatments face unique challenges. Some of the most innovative and promising approaches are wholly unproven. Companies are competing with foreign nations and not-for-profit organizations determined to achieve their own breakthroughs. Successful drugs or vaccines may run into pricing, manufacturing and distribution difficulties.” Issues like these explain why “big investors aren’t betting it all on a coronavirus cure.”
Tags: Breakthroughs, Challenges, Coronavirus, Distribution, Drugs, Innovative, Manufacturing, NPOs, Pricing, Unproven, Vaccines
Chicago Tribune (May 15)
The Coronavirus presents major challenges—a “wrecked economy, less office space demand, scarce financing”—to Chicago’s megadevelopments, calling in question whether many “can continue, if they’ll be pushed into the next construction cycle, or worse, go the way of the never-built Chicago Spire and Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle.”
Tags: Challenges, Chicago, Chicago Spire, Construction cycle, Coronavirus, Demand, Economy, Financing, Megadevelopments, Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle, Office space, Wrecked
Reuters (May 14)
Banks mainly seem to be provisioning for consumer debt, but “bad-debt risks could easily spread beyond consumer finance. Commercial real estate could face a brutal reckoning if white-collar workers in major cities decide not to return to the office when lockdowns lift.” When stimulus measures wind down, it will leave “over-indebted small and medium-sized enterprises vulnerable. Mass unemployment would lead to increased mortgage defaults.”
Tags: Bad debt, Banks, Commercial real estate, Consumer finance, Lockdowns, Mortgage, Office, Over-indebted, Provisioning, Risks, SMEs, Stimulus, Unemployment, Vulnerable, White collar, Workers
Washington Post (May 13)
As countries around the world “explore ways to end stay-at-home orders, countries that had already opened up are closing down again after renewed spikes in infections. Lebanon on Tuesday became the latest country to reimpose restrictions after experiencing a surge of infections, almost exactly two weeks after it appeared to contain the spread of the virus and began easing up.”
Tags: Closing down, Infections, Lebanon, Open up, Restrictions, Spikes, Spread, Stay-at-home, Surge, Virus
South China Morning Post (May 12)
In Hong Kong, the “coronavirus crisis is shaping the future of office space…. Net absorption of office space has fallen to an 18-year low…. In the long run, the Covid-19-induced trend towards flexible working arrangements will drive office decentralization.”
Tags: Coronavirus, COVID-19, Crisis, Decentralization, Flexible working, Hong Kong, Net absorption, Office space, Trend
