The Economist (November 28)
“Investors are turning one eye away from the immediate struggle of coping with the pandemic and looking instead at the longer-term competitive picture. Who has won and who has lost? Like viruses, recessions usually come for the weakest first. Companies with sickly balance-sheets or frail margins quickly succumb. As promising startups become crushed closedowns, it is often the incumbents that have the resources to wait it out.”
Tags: Balance sheets, Companies, Crushed closedowns, Incumbents, Investors, Margins, Pandemic, Promising, Recessions, Resources, Startups, Succumb, Weakest
Los Angeles Times (November 27)
“A lack of data hides the pandemic’s true toll on American main Streets because many small businesses simply board up without going through Bankruptcy Court.” Vaccines promise hope, but more immediately these businesses face uncertainty and hardship. “As virus cases soar, small businesses at the heart of communities ponder their survival.”
Tags: Bankruptcy Court, Data, Hardship, Hope, Pandemic, Small businesses, Survival, Toll, Uncertainty, Vaccines, Virus
USA Today (November 22)
“The coronavirus pandemic is spreading out of control: More than 256,000 people have died in the USA, schools are closed and the nation set records of infections multiple times over the past week. That has prompted people to rethink their Thanksgiving plans, many choosing to eat a meal known for community and family alone.”
Tags: Alone, Community, Coronavirus, Died, Family, Pandemic, Rethink, Schools. Infections, Thanksgiving, U.S.
WARC (November 19)
“The seismic events of 2020 will echo long into the coming year: marketing strategies are being reshaped to suit the new e-commerce reality, media budgets have been slashed, brand-building activity is on hold…. Performance marketing is accelerating the trend toward digital channels, with Amazon and TikTok among the growth stories…. Brands must find new creative solutions to achieve distinctiveness in the post-pandemic marketplace.”
Tags: 2020, Amazon, Brand building, Creative solutions, Digital channels, E-commerce, Echo, Marketing, Media budgets, Pandemic, Reshaped, Seismic, Strategies, TikTok
Atlanta Journal Constitution (November 17)
“Despite five consecutive months of growth, Georgia has 366,000 fewer people employed than before the pandemic.” Though seasonal work is often “low-paid and short-term,” many people are now desperate for whatever “they can find.” This year, however, “traditional stores are struggling as consumers venture out less ahead of the holiday shopping season. Many businesses have delayed hiring plans, unsure about demand for their goods and services.”
Tags: Consumers, Delayed, Demand, Desperate, Employed, Georgia, Growth, Hiring, Holiday shopping, Low-paid, Pandemic, Seasonal work, Short term
Sydney Morning Herald (November 9)
“The coronavirus has hit another sobering milestone: more than 50 million positive cases worldwide since the pandemic began…. The US, with around 4% of the world’s population, represents almost a fifth of all reported cases.”
Tags: Coronavirus, Milestone, Pandemic, Positive cases, Sobering, U.S., World
The Scotsman (November 8)
“It is clear that the four-nations approach that the UK government pursed at the start of the pandemic has been replaced with something far less constructive. If Mr Johnson baulks at the suggestion that he is starting to look more like a Prime Minister of England than the UK, then he should really stop acting like one.”
Tags: Baulks, Constructive, England, Four nations, Government, Johnson, Pandemic, Prime minister, UK
Seattle Times (October 27)
“The world’s biggest buyers of commercial jets believe Boeing, which is set to report more heavy financial losses Wednesday, has fallen significantly below parity with rival Airbus — with limited options for recovery as it bleeds cash during the pandemic-driven aviation crisis.”
Tags: Airbus, Aviation, Bleeds, Boeing, Buyers, Cash, Commercial jets, Limited, Losses, Options, Pandemic, Parity, Recovery, Rival
Washington Post (October 26)
“The coronavirus pandemic numbers have been going the wrong direction for more than a month, topping 80,000 newly confirmed infections daily across the country, with hospitalizations rising in more than three dozen states and deaths creeping upward. Now, the United States is barreling toward another inflection point: a holiday season dictated by the calendar and demanded by tradition.”
Tags: 000, 80, Confirmed, Coronavirus, Deaths, Holiday season, Hospitalizations, Infections, Inflection point, Pandemic
Investment Week (October 20)
“The UK’s credit rating has been downgraded by Moody’s amid a looming economic hit from the coronavirus pandemic and the forthcoming Brexit deadline.” The UK’s sovereign debt status dropped “one notch to Aa3, from Aa2,” with the ratings agency “noting that Britain’s growth has been meaningfully weaker than expected and is likely to remain so in the future.”
Tags: Aa3, Brexit, Coronavirus, Credit rating, Deadline, Debt, Downgraded, Economic hit, Looming, Moody's, Pandemic, Sovereign, UK
