Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February and the ongoing conflict will have ramifications for both the United States’ and global economies.  However, we believe it is not likely to have a major negative impact on the U.S. commercial real estate market despite damaging economic sanctions placed on Russia as the U.S. economy is not...Read More

The year has been undoubtedly a watermark for the commercial real estate market in terms of record sales. Given the Fed’s likely decision to begin tapering of asset purchases in reaction to accelerating inflation above their two percent target, we will likely see the end of the accommodative monetary policy brought on by the Covid...Read More

Despite being two years into the pandemic, the U.S. economy has demonstrated remarkable resilience with the assistance of unprecedented fiscal and monetary policy support. Multiple rounds of fiscal stimulus aggregating to several trillion dollars, coupled with the Federal Reserve reducing their policy rate by 150 basis points and doubling the size of their balance sheet...Read More

COVID Though pandemic-fatigue may be setting in for many people, it’s difficult not to address the elephant in the room that has shaped life as we know it for the past two years. With a new, effective vaccine and hopes of a decline in cases, many expected Covid to be a thing of the past...Read More

Last week, labor data from Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) were updated for the month of December. ADP Nonfarm Private Payrolls reported a +807,000 jump in the month of December, the largest increase since May 2021. This marks the twelfth consecutive month of positive prints for ADP Payrolls....Read More

Boyd Watterson’s approach to ESG starts with placing the clients’ interests first. For our Real Estate portfolios, putting our clients’ interests first through ESG means careful scrutiny of our ESG initiatives to ensure that these decisions are aligned with our return targets and provide a similar or better risk and return profile than investing capital...Read More

Over the last two years, the record amount of federal spending related to covid relief and stimulating the economy has been a primary news topic. Historical context in the amount of that spending, both implemented and proposed, can provide additional context of the workload ahead for federal, state, and local governments. Data from the Congressional...Read More

The monthly rate of headline inflation increased +0.9% in October, led by rising energy prices. It was the fastest month-over-month acceleration in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) since June 2008. The percent change from a year ago moved up +6.2%. The last time CPI accelerated this quickly on a year-over-year basis was October 1990 at...Read More

When companies refinance debt, they tend to extend the maturities as well. Through October 4th, there has been more than $1.2 trillion of corporate bonds issued year-to-date, which appears to be ahead of the pace seen in 2019, prior to the pandemic. Source: Wells Fargo. In addition to refinancing existing debt, companies come to the...Read More

Despite early recognition as an essential industry or perhaps because of it, contractors have not been immune to the supply chain shortages that have affected large segments of the global economy. Commodities such as steel, copper, plywood, and other raw materials have been in short supply for months due to labor shortages in the manufacturing...Read More