1) Research by the Wall Street firm UBS, predicts that as many as 100,000 brick and mortar retail stores in the U.S. will close by 2025. Because of the pandemic, retailers are closing store locations permanently at an un-precedent rate. But this closure was going on before the coronavirus shutdown, with shoppers embracing other ways to buy such as e-commerce and picking up products at stores purchased online. This is in addition to large traditional retailers going into bankruptcy. This prediction is in keeping with the 9,800 stores already closed this year, with 25,000 stores predicted to close by the end of 2020. The retail sector has already lost 1.2 million jobs between March and June. This opens questions if the present hyper-consumerism economy can continue.
2) With the continued threat of the pandemic and a slowdown of reopening of economies in states, evictions are likely to skyrocket as jobs remain scarce. This is because a backlog of eviction cases is beginning to move through the court system. Millions of people had been counting on federal aid and eviction moratoriums to remain in their homes, but now fear of being thrown out is mounting. This situation is further aggravated as the enhanced unemployment benefits run out at the end of July. The enhanced unemployment and $1,200 stimulus payment had been supporting households this spring. There are 110 million people living in rental households with 20% at risk of eviction by the end of September.
3) The food delivery service Uber has acquired rival Postmates, despite Uber not having become a profitable enterprise yet. This should make Uber a stronger competitor to its main rival Doordash. The food delivery sector is undergoing a major consolidation this year, people jumping from service to service to find the best deal. With this acquisition, Uber gets a bigger share of the market with 31% of the business with DoorDash the largest at 44%.
4) Stock market closings for – 6 JUL 20:
Dow 26,287.03 up
Nasdaq 10,433.65 up
S&P 500 3,179.72 up
10 Year Yield: 0.68%
Oil: up at $40.59