TD Ameritrade Features Marcus & Millichap’s President and CEO Hessam Nadji Post-Pandemic Recovery Delivers Exceptional Range of CRE Investment Options Real estate risk/reward spectrum expands as economy emerges from health crisis Pandemic-driven migration patterns shifting market picks Why forward-looking investors favor hard assets like commercial real estate  

Accelerating reopening bolsters hiring. Job creation soared to a seven-month high of 916,000 in March as easing business restrictions and broadening vaccination availability alleviated barriers to travel, dining and shopping. Hiring last month was led by the leisure and hospitality sector with 280,000 personnel, followed by a combined 190,000 roles in public and private education, fields heavily impaired by forced closures. This robust recruiting helped lower the unemployment rate to 6.0 percent, less than half… Read More

American Rescue Plan Act signed into law. The latest round of stimulus, at $1.9 trillion, is the second largest package ever passed by Congress. The spending bill contains relief for individuals, states, and schools, as well as new financial resources for vaccine distribution. Additional funding is allocated to restaurants, which could support struggling establishments after a winter spike in cases forced many such businesses to shutter or sharply curtail occupancy. Passed along party lines, the… Read More

Consumer spending dips after January surge. Following the delivery of stimulus checks at the beginning of this year, retail sales jumped across all categories. The surplus spending resulted in a month-over-month decline in February. Core retail sales dipped 3.3 percent last month, though the level is up 6 percent from the same period in 2020. Additional stimulus is currently arriving in most residents’ accounts and should reverse the trajectory of consumer spending, particularly due to… Read More

Easing restrictions aid employment at bars and restaurants.Employers added 379,000 workers to payrolls in February, the largest monthly gain since November. Hiring was most prolific in the leisure and hospitality sector with 355,000 new jobs. About 80 percent of those positions were at bars and restaurants, reflecting the benefit of relaxed restrictions on dining, particularly in Cali-fornia and New York, as well as ongoing stimulus measures. Other sectors of the economy that grew staff counts… Read More

Consumers return with new government cash. Spending in every major sector improved in January, lifting core retail sales 6.1 percent from December and 7.6 percent from one year ago. The arrival of $600 stimulus checks to millions of Americans early last month was the primary catalyst for the jump. Shoppers reversed three consecutive months of declines as most of the CARES Act stimulus had faded from the economy. The $300 increase in unemployment benefits that… Read More

Bloomberg News Features Marcus & Millichap’s President and CEO Hessam Nadji Commercial Real Estate Risk/Reward Spectrum Fuels Capital Flows How the Health Crisis has broadened the real estate yield spectrum The opportunities international investors see in U.S. real estate What’s driving the urban real estate outlook and the implications for investors Do rising interest rates pose a risk to real estate?  

Beleaguered by infections, hiring gets off to slow start in 2021. Employers expanded payrolls by a modest 49,000 jobs last month following a loss of 227,000 positions in December. January’s mild employment gain underscores the ongoing weight of the health crisis on economic growth, with some sectors recovering and others struggling. Continuing vaccinations and fewer infections in early February, however, may point to improved hiring in the weeks ahead.

Renewed shutdowns end hiring streak. After seven consecutive months of employment growth and the creation of over 12.4 mil-lion jobs, employers shed 140,000 positions in December. A rise in COVID-19 infections and the resulting lockdown precautions added new burdens on businesses already challenged by the delayed stimulus, leading to staff cuts in critically impacted sectors. While over 6 million vaccine doses have been administered in the U.S. so far, last month’s hiring regression underlines the persistent… Read More

Dwindling income and renewed closures push retail sales lower. The last of the supports from the CARES Act are winding down, including an extension of state-level unemployment benefits that will expire at the end of this year. Furthermore, several major cities have ordered businesses to temporarily shutter or reduce capacity. As a result, core retail sales declined 0.8 percent in November, marking the second consecutive monthly decline. Year over year, core retail sales have climbed 5.9… Read More