FIG Topics of Interest

05/10/17

China has rapidly climbed the ranks to become the world's second-largest economy. Now, the most populous nation on the planet wants to increase its influence by digging further into its pockets — flush with cash after decades of rapid growth — to splash out with its "One Belt, One Road" policy. 
The initiative is meant to connect Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa to bolster trade and development. This weekend, hordes of foreign diplomats and business leaders are expected to descend on Beijing for a two-day meeting about the policy.

05/09/17

First quarter 2017 commercial and multifamily mortgage loan originations increased 9% compared to the same period last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Quarterly Survey of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originations.

05/08/17

The main obstacles for the Trump tax plan are Senate rules. While reconciliation bills need only a majority in the Senate, they cannot increase the deficit beyond a 10-year horizon, which the tax plan is estimated to do. The alternative is to garner 60 votes in the Senate and be signed into permanent law.
One of the 12 bullet points in the tax reform plan released Wednesday calls for a "one-time tax on trillions of dollars held overseas." It was unclear what that reduced rate would be, but the last tax holida allowed companies to repatriate overseas earnings at a tax rate of 5.25 percent. That was enacted by President George W. Bush in 2004 in another attempt to stimulate the economy 

05/05/17

The US industrial real estate market is seeing a shortage of bulk warehouse and logistic centers available for sale and a shift in focus by industrial REITs from acquisition to development. The resulting flattening in yields will likely result in lower investment sales volumes this year.

05/04/17

"It's an intimidating time for a lot of these retailers," said Jennifer Bartashus, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. "We're poised to see a lot more change in the next couple of years." These are the five forces that are going shake up the landscape of American groceries. 

05/03/17

How the US defense budget stacks up against the rest of the world.

05/02/17

"Reports of the death of retail real estate have been greatly exaggerated, and Kimco's strong first quarter is living proof," said Conor Flynn, CEO of Kimco Realty. "Our leasing volume has validated the success of our transformation in helping to offset the challenging retail environment the industry is currently experiencing." 

05/01/17

Borrowing by small U.S. firms stalled in March, as business owners remained cautious about investing amid policy uncertainty, data released on Monday showed. The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index for March registered 134, down 1 percent from last March. The index was up 4 percent from February, which had four fewer working days.

04/28/17

Robots are likely to replace 50 percent of all jobs in the next decade, according to Kai-Fu Lee, founder of venture capital firm Sinovation Ventures and a top voice on tech in China.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the wave of the future, the influential technologist told CNBC, calling it the "singular thing that will be larger than all of human tech revolutions added together, including electricity, [the] industrial revolution, internet, mobile internet — because AI is pervasive."

04/27/17

Implications of a Switch to a Territorial Tax System in the United States: 
A Critical Comparison to the Current System
http://www.thinkbrg.com/media/publication/391_BRG_Implications%20of%20Territorial%20Tax_Nov2013.pdf