Barron’s (October 8)
“The near-simultaneous collapse of two companies tied to the U.S. auto industry is shedding new light on a fast-growing part of the financial ecosystem little known outside Wall Street.” Non-depository financial institutions (NDFIs) “now account for some 33% of all commercial and industrial loans originated by large banks” and, at the end of the month, stood at $1.7 trillion (up over 400% since 2015). “These hard-to-track loans fall outside systems that regulators can track to assess where risk is concentrating.”
Tags: $1.7 trillion, Auto industry, Banks, Collapse, Commercial, Concentrating, Fast-growing, Financial ecosystem, Industrial, Loans originated, NDFIs, Regulators, Risk, U.S., Wall Street
New York Times (March 14)
Some now fear an “urban doom loop.” Cities are encountering budget crunches brought on by “steep discounts” in office and commercial real estate “as the pandemic trends of hybrid and remote work have persisted.” Cities are “starting to bear the brunt.” Budgets once reliant “on taxes associated with valuable commercial property are now facing shortfalls and contemplating cutbacks as lower assessments of property values reduce tax bills.” Cutting services or raising taxes could make cities less attractive, inducing urban flight and further exacerbating city budgets.
Tags: Budgets, Cities, Commercial, Cutbacks, Discounts, Fear, Hybrid, Office, Pandemic, Property, Real estate, Remote, Services, Shortfalls, Tax, Urban doom loop
Wall Street Journal (November 13)
“Foreclosures are surging in an opaque and risky corner of commercial real-estate finance, offering one of the starkest signs yet that turmoil in the property market is worsening.” Through just October, the Journal found notices for “mezzanine loans and other high-risk loans” had already more than doubled the number for all of 2022 and likely reached “the highest total ever for a single year, as higher interest rates and rising vacancies punish the property sector.”
Tags: Commercial, Finance, Foreclosures, Highest, Interest rates, Mezzanine loans, Property market, Real estate, Risky, Surging, Turmoil, Worsening
American Banker (November 9)
“Lenders made it harder in the third quarter for both consumers and businesses to access credit,” and this trend looks likely to continue. “If the U.S. economy falls into a recession, more than 80% of banks said they would ‘somewhat’ or ‘substantially’ tighten lending standards for credit cards and loans backed by commercial real estate. More than 70% of banks said they would do the same for auto, commercial and industrial and residential real estate loans.”
Tags: Access, Auto, Banks, Businesses, Commercial, Consumers, Credit, Credit cards, Economy, Industrial, Lenders, Lending standards, Loans, Real estate, Recession, Tighten, U.S.
Seattle Times (September 27)
“Built to carry nine passengers and one or two pilots,” the flight demonstrated “the potential for an electric commercial commuter aircraft flying a few hundred miles between cities at an altitude of around 15,000 feet.” Clearly, “the technology is pioneering and puts this region at the forefront of efforts to develop a zero-emission, sustainable era in aviation.” The larger question, however, is “whether it can deliver the economic returns necessary to become a commonplace mode of air travel.”
Tags: Aircraft, Aviation, Commercial, Commuter, Economic returns, Electric, Flight, Forefront, Passengers, Pilots, Pioneering, Potential, Sustainable, Technology, Zero-emission
New York Times (February 2)
“Warehouse space is the latest thing being hoarded.” Retailers and logistics companies now confront a new challenge as they “try to stockpile goods to hedge against supply chain problems…. The shortage of commercial warehouse and industrial space is the latest fallout from pandemic-fueled growth in online shopping and shows few signs of abating.”
Tags: Challenge, Commercial, Fallout, Hoarded, Industrial, Logistics, Pandemic, Problems, Retailers, Shortage, Space, Stockpile, Supply chain, Warehouse
Washington Post (October 2)
“The commercial pipeline that each year brings $1 trillion worth of toys, clothing, electronics and furniture from Asia to the United States is clogged and no one knows how to unclog it.” The median cost of container shipping *from China to the West Coast of the United States hit a record $20,586, almost twice what it cost in July, which was twice what it cost in January.” Supply chain problems are now “expected to last through 2022.”
Tags: 2022, Asia, China, Clogged, Clothing, Commercial, Container, Cost, Electronics, Furniture, Pipeline, Record, Shipping, Supply chain, Toys, U.S., West Coast
WARC (June 8)
“The first efforts of a robot creative director have been unveiled by McCann Japan, in work for Clorets Mints.” The first machine member of the agency’s creative department, AI-CD ß, designed a 30-second spot commercial which is airing “alongside work created by a human director, with the Japanese public being invited to vote for the one they prefer,” with the results to be revealed by September.
Tags: AI-CD ß, Clorets Mints, Commercial, Creative director, Director, Human, Japan, McCann, Robot
Institutional Investor (January 3)
“The most powerful influence on current and future climate mitigation and practice is the sleeping giant: the consumer. When people wake up in the morning frightened that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could detach from the continental shelf and cause an abrupt sea level change and all the geophysical mayhem that could accompany such an event, they might then make purchasing decisions calculated to alter commercial, industrial, municipal, national and international pollution practices and management.”
Tags: Climate mitigation, Commercial, Consumer, Industrial, Influence, Pollution, Purchasing decisions, Sea level change, Sleeping giant, West Antarctic Ice Sheet
Washington Post (December 6)
“So far, hacking has involved mostly commercial and criminal misdeeds.” Though costly, “they are a lesser danger. The real threat is hacking intended to destabilize entire societies.” Cyberwar and cyberterrorism could do unprecedented damage so “we need to think the unthinkable.” This “change in consciousness” will help us limit the risk that, for chilling example, an entity will intentionally crash the electric grid.
Tags: Commercial, Criminal, Cyberterrorism, Cyberwar, Damage, Destabilize, Electric grid, Hacking, Misdeeds, Unthinkable
