When it comes to being “committed” to New York City, JPMorgan is “planning for the next 50 years.”
That’s according to a spokesman who emailed Bloomberg Tuesday.
So, when you hear that the bank is “marketing big blocks of office space in Manhattan,” just know it’s nothing personal. It’s not anything against the city. It’s just that… well, you know the story. The last 12 months have changed the corporate calculus. While most executives continue to insist that work-from-home arrangements can’t be permanent for everyone and that Zoom calls are a poor substitute for the kind of “wholesome” misogyny and illegal-stimulant-fueled merriment that only downtown Manhattan office culture can offer, the fact is, rent’s expensive. And it’s now painfully obvious that organizations simply don’t need everyone to come to the office everyday.
In the article mentioned above, Bloomberg cited their own interview with Jamie Dimon. “JPMorgan is building a new skyscraper on Park Avenue that will be one of the largest in Manhattan [but] Dimon said… the shift to remote work brought on by the pandemic may lead to permanent changes in how businesses operate and will reduce companies’ need for real estate.”
Apparently, JPMorgan is one of those companies. What was it I said Monday about “dying reefs”?
Read more: $1 Trillion In Credit Losses And Dead Reefs
Tuesday was a patchwork news day. There wasn’t a readily discernible narrative, so one was left to just sew snippets together.
Equities were lower in the US, with tech underperforming badly after Monday’s surge. Bubble warnings from Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and Party secretary of the central bank, put everyone in a sour mood.
Treasurys look to have settled into a new range, although “settled” doesn’t feel like it’s the right word. The 10-year ended at 1.41%. “The debate has shifted to whether the bearish run has exhausted itself or this is simply a respite on the road to higher yields,” BMO’s Ian Lyngen and Ben Jeffery said. “We’re certainly sympathetic to arguments for a higher rate range; reflation first, followed by improving growth on the heels of a solid retail sales report that has Q1 on strong footing,” they added, noting that “the market is eager to leave the pandemic behind and pulling forward the primary bearish assumptions to propel 10-year yields to 1.60% has been intuitively followed by a period of consolidation as rates struggle to stay >1.40%.”
The reopening narrative got a boost from news that Merck will help make Johnson & Johnson’s COVID vaccine. The Washington Post called it “an unusual pact between fierce competitors that could sharply boost the supply of the newly authorized vaccine.” The White House now says the US will have enough vaccine for every adult by the end of May.
Greg Abbott, meanwhile, apparently thinks Texas hasn’t had enough controversy over the past month. He announced plans to lift the state’s mask mandate Tuesday, saying “It’s now time to open Texas 100%.” Starting in a week, businesses can operate at 100% capacity. Abbott was (extremely) proud of himself (tweet below).
I just announced Texas is OPEN 100%.
EVERYTHING.
I also ended the statewide mask mandate.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) March 2, 2021
State Democrats, on the other hand, weren’t particularly amused. “This will kill Texans,” the state’s Democratic Party Chair remarked, flatly.
Abbott’s decision came just two weeks after the state was crippled by a devastating deep-freeze that exposed the local power market as just the kind of disaster in-waiting that critics have long suggested it might be.
Now, you’ll be able to go back to work at your favorite saloon, mask-less, and risk your life to raise money to pay your $5,000 power bill.
Abbott touted the state’s “always voluntary” vaccine push. “Today Texas will report a new one day record for the number of people receiving vaccines—more than 216,000,” he said. “We are now providing more than 1 million Vaccines a week. This is a big reason why hospitalizations are at the lowest level in four months.”
On another, totally unrelated note, the IG primary market saw 13 new deals. That brought this week’s total to 26. Some $47 billion in supply means this week has already passed dealer estimates. 2020 is a tough act to follow, that’s for sure (figure below).
On the stimulus front, Democrats plan to have Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief bill ready for the president’s signature by the end of next week.
Bernie Sanders is still irritated by the exclusion of the minimum wage hike, and may make some additional noise. Also, Joe Manchin is calling for the planned bump to the federal unemployment supplement to be scrapped in favor of a longer extension.
“Three hundred dollars is where we’ve been. It’s consistent with what we’ve been doing. It’s kind of hard to explain you’re getting a bump up now basically, when you’re ready to come off,” Manchin mused.
It’s often difficult to discern what, exactly, Manchin is trying to prove. Sometimes, it’s clear that his positions are bolstering his centrist/moderate bonafides. Other times, it just seems like he’s being difficult for the sheer hell of it.
Texas is where stupid goes to die.
A key takeaway from the ERCOT debacle and deaths due to lack of electricity is that Texas is not a model for the rest of the nation to follow. Texas is right up there with Florida, and California, in this regard.
There used to be a time when the federal nature of our system was a strength, i.e., many different opportunities for ideas to be tried. For example, being able to turn right at a stop light after coming to a complete stop. One of the three above states initiated this, and other states followed, some begrudgingly, to the point where all 50 states eventually adopted this. Now, we take it for granted that it’s the right thing to do and we all benefit.
At one time, state health care systems for the needy and indigent were seen as laboratories, as models, for what might work elsewhere, and possibly be adopted by other states, or by the Feds. There was a time when, for example, Oregon, and Arizona (yes, Arizona), had model systems for funding and providing care to the medically needy and medically indigent.
The idea of using this strength of our system was tossed aside. Now, it’s not nurtured. No one talks about it (probably because they are ignorant of the idea). Now, instead of evolving to better serve citizens, adopting winning ideas that worked in other states, we’ve adopted polarity. I wouldn’t put it past a state such as Texas to purposefully avoid adopting a sound practice from another state, e.g., California, just because the idea came from California.
We are so dumb. We’ve mostly jettisoned the best system of governance invented over a 4,000-year period for what we have now and what we are evolving into. Obviously, gerrymandering, the exercise of the elites’ First Amendment right of free speech (to contribute as much money as they like to political ends), and the purposeful encouragement of discord and division, will only yield a better system than the one we let go of.
I will believe it when it actually happens in May – most states are doing a subpar job of distributing vaccines.
Why distribution channels were not set up at Walgreens/CVS well in advance, I do not know.
Because incompetent dummies who did not care were running the show. Donald and Melanie got theirs though….
Actually, it’s Melania. Not that anyone cares.