As I have written many times before, the last lingering symptom of the COVID-19 Pandemic is really its legacy: shifting the culture of work from the traditional office setting to working from home. But the statistics really don’t bear out this trend except in certain markets, and slowly but surely, the Return-To-Office (RTO) movement is starting to take hold. The…
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The Consumer Strengthens
“It’s all over but the shouting.” The expression’s first use in print was in 1842, by Welsh sportswriter Charles James Apperley when reporting a late score in a sporting event. As so it is with the election, but as I have said many times before, election outcomes have near-zero impact on our businesses, and life goes on. Even before the…
Read MoreA No Landing?
You would have to be living under a rock not to see the tear the stock markets are on, and especially the construction materials subset of companies that supply aggregates, cement and ready mixed concrete; and that are all breaking through previous records to all-time highs. And jobs reports continue to be strong, and in a strange dichotomy, the consumer…
Read MoreThe Fed Goes Big
That was the subject line on an end-of-day email from one of the major business media enterprises on a Wednesday afternoon in mid-September. It was the day the Fed held its regular meeting, and ended speculation as to whether the all-but-assured rate cut would be 25 basis points, or a more aggressive 50 points. And 50 it was, but it…
Read MoreA Mid-Year Look at the Housing Market
Interest rates have been elevated for a long time now, a stretch spanning the longest period for high interest rates that we can remember. Starting in March 2022, rates have ratcheted up to their current levels and have been there for 2½ years now. But as I have been predicting for some time, rates will come down, although the timing…
Read MoreThe Bewildering Status of Non-Compete Clauses
The use of non-compete clauses, or even entire agreements, are an integral part of the American employment landscape, especially at the C-Suite level, but often in middle management and sales positions as well. Our firm has a large and diverse client base, all focused in the construction materials industry, and the use of non-compete clauses or agreements are all over…
Read MoreA Desk of Their Own
Last month, I wrote about the push across America of the “Return-To-Office” (RTO) movement, and how “Work-From-Home” is slowly becoming less tolerable to employers. As I related last month, Walmart is laying off hundreds of white-collar jobs, and forcing others to relocate, many to their headquarters town of Bentonville, Ark. Others, like JP Morgan Chase, has a CEO in Jamie…
Read MoreA Return-to-Office is Coming
As I sit to write this month’s column, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has touched 40,000. Only the weeks ahead will determine if the average pushes through and trades up into the 40s permanently, or if profit-taking results in continued trading in the 39,000s, or even lower. Remember, this stands in stark contrast to the average’s 20-year low we experienced…
Read MoreWait! Stop the Presses!
I have to start by explaining this headline for the younger readers who don’t remember the culture of the newspaper industry, which is now long gone. You see, newspapers in larger markets once printed multiple editions throughout the day, so that news could be as recent as three or four hours old. “Wait! Stop the Presses!” was a popular expression…
Read MoreProductivity Gains Will Drive Stock Markets Higher
I have developed a fascination with one of the biggest life-changing events that has enveloped our economy, and our lives, and offers infinite promise: A.I. As I have written in the past, I have witnessed three life-changing events in my 50-plus-year career: the invention of the personal computer, the advent of cellular telephony and the Internet. Each of these drove…
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