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☆ PNC seems 'expensive' heading into the print, says KBW's David Konrad
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Hugh Son | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailPNC seems 'expensive' heading into the print, says KBW's David KonradCNBC's Hugh Son and Dom Chu with David Konrad, KBW large cap bank analyst, joins 'The Exchange' to discuss banks.

☆ Kyiv denies Wagner Bakhmut claim, Russia says forces advancing
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Tom Balmforth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The claim by Russian entrepreneur Yevgeny Prigozhin that his Wagner mercenary group had seized more than 80% of Bakhmut was untrue, it said. And Russian forces, it said, had struck Ukrainian army reserves trying to break through. Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern military command, dismissed Prigozhin's latest 80% claim in a comment to Reuters. Analyst Konrad Muzyka, director of the Rochan military consultancy in Poland, said his calculations bore out the Russian claim of 80%. Russian forces, it said, had tried unsuccessfully to move on two villages to the northwest.

☆ Houston Apartment Owner Loses 3,200 Units to Foreclosure as Multifamily Feels the Heat
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Will Parker | Konrad Putzier | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/houston-apartment-owner-loses-3-200-units-to-foreclosure-as-multifamily-feels-the-heat-fb3d0e75

☆ Next Wave of Remote Work Is About Outsourcing Jobs Overseas
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Konrad Putzier | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The idea came to Johnny Taylor Jr . early last year, after one of his employees made a case that her technology position could be done anywhere. She wanted to leave Virginia, where she held a job at the Society for Human Resource Management, a professional association based in Alexandria. She asked to work remotely in North Carolina.

☆ Billions in Signature Bank Debt to Be Sold by Newmark Group
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Peter Grant | Konrad Putzier | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has hired Newmark Group Inc. to sell about $60 billion of Signature Bank loans, according to people familiar with the matter, a process that is expected to intensify pressure on falling commercial real-estate values. Signature collapsed earlier this month after its customers rushed to pull deposits. The bank held $35.7 billion in real-estate loans at the end of 2022, which accounted for nearly half of its total loans at the time, according to FDIC data.

☆ Distress in Office Market Spreads to High-End Buildings
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Konrad Putzier | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Photo: Shelby Knowles for The Wall Street JournalPimco recently defaulted on a mortgage backed by a portfolio of office buildings that included Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco. Defaults and vacancies are on the rise at high-end office buildings, in the latest sign that remote work and rising interest rates are spreading pain to more corners of the commercial real-estate market. For much of the pandemic, buildings in central locations that feature modern amenities fared better than their less-pricey peers. Some even were able to increase rents while older, cheaper buildings saw surging vacancy rates and plummeting values. Now, these so-called class-A properties, whose rents generally fall into a city’s top quartile, are increasingly coming under pressure.

☆ Putin's war turned this quiet Polish airport into a global military hub where passenger jets touch down alongside Patriot missiles
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Stephanie Stacey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport is just 50 miles from Poland's border with Ukraine. He told Insider: "I realized that a great challenge was ahead of us and that any mistake on our part couldn't be an option." Hamryszczak told Insider that he had to rise to "countless" challenges, including making complex arrangements with world leaders and welcoming the world's media. Air Force One is "the most famous aircraft that has ever visited our airport," Hamryszczak said. "This is no longer the same regional airport that operated in 2021, or even before the pandemic," Hamryszczak told Insider.

☆ Vietnam may resist diplomatic upgrade with Washington as U.S.-China tensions simmer
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Francesco Guarascio | Thomson Reuters | Francesco Leads A Team Of Reporters In Vietnam That Covers Top Financial | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The United States is hoping for an upgrade in the relations this year, ideally to coincide with the 10th anniversary in July of its comprehensive partnership with Vietnam. The United States is a major investor in Vietnam and the largest ever U.S. business mission visited the country this week. Though it is Vietnam's biggest export market, it is currently ranked as a third-tier diplomatic partner for Hanoi. A formal ties upgrade this year "is not considered realistic anymore," said Florian Feyerabend, the representative in Vietnam for Germany's Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Le Hong Hiep, a Senior Fellow at Singapore's ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, said there was no doubt Vietnam wants to upgrade ties with Washington, but it was unlikely to agree to that this year.

☆ Commercial Property Debt Creates More Bank Worries
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Konrad Putzier | Peter Grant | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A record amount of commercial mortgages expiring in 2023 is set to test the financial health of small and regional banks already under pressure following the recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Smaller banks hold around $2.3 trillion in commercial real estate debt, including rental-apartment mortgages, according to an analysis from data firm Trepp Inc. That is almost 80% of commercial mortgages held by all banks.

March 20 (Reuters) - Shares of First Republic Bank (FRC.N) closed 47% lower on Monday, adding to recent losses as concerns about its liquidity continued to worry investors despite a $30 billion influx of deposits last week. The bank's stock fell as much as 50% and closed at $12.18 after the New York Stock Exchange halted it several times due to volatility. S&P Global downgraded First Republic deeper into junk status on Sunday and said the recent cash infusion from 11 large U.S. banks last week may not solve its liquidity problems. A First Republic Bank branch is pictured in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., March 13, 2023. First Republic Bank's stock market collapseFirst Republic's stock market value has collapsed by over 80% in the past 10 trading sessions due to fears of a bank run as a large proportion of the lender's deposits are uninsured.

March 20 (Reuters) - Shares of First Republic Bank (FRC.N) extended a recent slump on Monday with a 15% drop, after a report the regional bank could raise more money fanned worries about its liquidity despite a $30 billion rescue last week. On Sunday, Reuters reported that the lender was still trying to put together a capital raise but that no deal was imminent. Short sellers in First Republic made about $560 million profit on paper since last Monday, analytics firm Ortex said. The S&P 1500 regional banks index (.SPCOMBNKS) added nearly 3.4%, while S&P 500 banks (.SPXBK) gained 2.3%. A U.S. official told Reuters on Sunday that the deposit outflows that left many regional banks reeling in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank's failure had slowed and in some cases reversed.

☆ Real-Estate Investor Run on Signature Bank Helped Fuel Its Demise
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Konrad Putzier | Peter Grant | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A rush by New York City real-estate investors to yank money out of Signature Bank last week played a significant role in the bank’s collapse, according to building owners and state regulators. The withdrawals gained momentum as talk circulated about the exposure Signature had to cryptocurrency firms and that its fate might follow the same path as Silicon Valley Bank, which suffered a run on the bank last week before collapsing and forcing the government to step in.

☆ Sunbelt Traffic Jams Are Frustrating Drivers and Threatening Growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Konrad Putzier | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Bruce Jordan, a 69-year-old retired corporate attorney, has lived in the Miami area for most of his life. But reaching either one is becoming increasingly difficult. Roads are often clogged by snowbirds, tourists and recent arrivals from the Northeast. Driving to a pharmacy less than a mile from his suburban home north of Miami used to be a breeze. Now, he says, it can take more than 45 minutes during rush hour.

☆ Explainer: Bakhmut: Why Russia and Ukraine are battling so hard for one small city
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Yet Russia and Ukraine are still battling for the small city of Bakhmut. After nearly eight months of trench warfare Ukrainian forces are surrounded on three sides, Kyiv's supply lines are fraying, and Moscow is in control of just under half of Bakhmut. Volodymr Zelenskiy, Ukraine's president, has portrayed "Fortress Bakhmut" as a symbol of defiance which is bleeding the Russian military dry. It also claims to be decimating Ukrainian forces. A regional transport and logistics hub, Bakhmut would be useful for Russian forces although that depends on how much of its infrastructure is intact.

☆ KBW gives a slew of safe-haven bank stocks to buy after SVB collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Some bank stocks remain "safe havens" for investors even after the Silicon Valley Bank collapse , according to Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. The firm recommended 11 stocks that investors should buy "right here, right now" following the sell-off in bank stocks in the wake of SVB's failure, as well as the regulatory response over the weekend, according to a Sunday note. That could spell a buying opportunity for some bank stocks. "We see a potentially significant rebound in several bank stocks, as the market is likely to believe that the Fed and FDIC stuck the landing," analyst Christopher McGratty said to clients on Sunday. Old National Bancorp is a buying opportunity that's also a best idea for 2023, according to the note.

☆ Amazon and Other Tech Firms’ Dwindling Demand Upends Office Market
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Konrad Putzier | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Photo: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for The Wall Street JournalThe site of Amazon’s second headquarters in Arlington, Va., where the company has halted the start of construction on a second phase. Amazon .com Inc.’s decision to delay building part of its Virginia office campus is the latest sign that fading demand from technology companies is becoming a problem for the commercial real-estate sector. Tech giants like Amazon, Alphabet Inc. and Microsoft Corp. for years drove demand for office space, helping prop up building values in cities like New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

☆ Amazon’s and Other Tech Firms’ Dwindling Demand Upends Office Market
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Konrad Putzier | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Pimco Is Saddled With a $1.7 Billion Default in Office-Market Meltdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Peter Grant | Konrad Putzier | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

In 2021, the asset-management firm known as Pimco banked on an office-market comeback. Interest rates were near historic lows, and the economy was humming. Cities were expecting a surge in newly vaccinated workers returning to the office. In September that year, Pacific Investment Management Co. said it was acquiring Columbia Property Trust Inc., which owned 19 office buildings in New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and other cities. The deal valued Columbia at $3.9 billion.

☆ As Americans Work From Home, Europeans and Asians Head Back to the Office
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Konrad Putzier | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Public-transit systems in Europe and Asia are often more reliable and less prone to delays, making it easier to get to work. While U.S. offices are half empty three years into the Covid-19 pandemic, workplaces in Europe and Asia are bustling again. Americans have embraced remote work and turned their backs on offices with greater regularity than their counterparts overseas. U.S. office occupancy stands at 40% to 60% of prepandemic levels, varying within that range by month and by city. That compares with a 70%-to-90% rate in Europe and the Middle East, according to JLL , a property-services firm that manages 4.6 billion square feet of real estate globally.

☆ Corporate Tax Breaks Surge in Push for Chip and Electric-Vehicle Factories
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Konrad Putzier | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Ohio tract where a planned Intel computer-chip factory, lured by state grants and tax credits, is expected to create thousands of jobs. States and cities, flush with pandemic-stimulus cash, are ramping up their pursuit of new jobs by showering companies with big tax breaks. States and local governments, including in Georgia, Michigan and West Virginia, agreed to give out at least $1 billion in subsidies eight times in 2022, according to an analysis from Good Jobs First, a nonprofit research group that is often critical of subsidies. These tax breaks, cash grants and other incentives went to companies in return for opening a factory.

☆ Airbnb Posts First Annual Profit as Travel Demand Remains Strong
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Konrad Putzier | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

An advertisement for Airbnb in Berlin. The company said it benefited from a pickup in European intracontinental travel. Airbnb Inc. recorded its first-ever annual profit last year, boosted by a rise in cross-border travel during the fourth quarter over previous years. The short-term rental company recorded a profit of $1.9 billion in 2022, after losing $352 million in 2021. Fourth-quarter profit of $319 million came in well ahead of the consensus analyst estimate of $171 million.

☆ Detroit Aims to Spur New Housing, Boost Property Values With Tax Change
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Konrad Putzier | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Detroit city officials are weighing a radical change to the way the city taxes property, which proponents say will help revitalize the city and become a model for the Rust Belt. Detroit would be the largest U.S. city to introduce a so-called land-value tax. Like most U.S. cities, Detroit calculates property taxes by estimating the value of a property’s land and buildings and charging a fixed percentage each year.

☆ KBW downgrades Bank of America, says the stock trades at an unwarranted premium to its peers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Now is not the time for investors to get into shares of Bank of America , according to Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. BAC YTD mountain Bank of America's 2023 performance Bank of America shares are up more than 10% this year after falling 25.6% in 2022. In its fourth-quarter report, Bank of America topped expectations as higher rates offset some declines within investment banking. According to Konrad, shares look vulnerable after the run-up in shares post-earnings and consensus cuts to PPNR, a profitability measure that accounts for net interest and non-interest income. The stock also trades at a premium to peers despite lower expected returns, and above its historical price-to-earnings multiple.

☆ Airbnb and Expedia Turn Customer Cash Into Profit, Aided by Rising Interest Rates
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Konrad Putzier | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Airbnb Inc. and Expedia Group Inc. invest billions of dollars of their customers’ money for their own profit. Thanks to rising interest rates, returns on these investments are higher than ever. The travel sites typically collect money from guests the moment they book. But they only pass it on to hosts or hotels after the guest stay starts, which can be several months later.

[1/2] Goldman Sachs' Chairman and CEO David Solomon attends a session at the 50th World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2020. REUTERS/Denis BalibouseNEW YORK, Jan 27 (Reuters) - To listen to Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) chief executive David Solomon, the bank is doing "great," while skeptical investors wonder what comes next. Still, Goldman shares are up 3.6% over the past year, outperforming the S&P 500 banking index and peers. In October, Goldman scaled back ambitions for Marcus by placing it under the newly-merged asset and wealth division. "Going back to what has made Goldman great for decades will allow the firm to reset and recover," he said.

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