- Trump Says Administration Will ‘Be Doing a Big Number’ on Dodd-Frank “President Trump said his administration will do a ‘big number’ on the Dodd-Frank financial reforms as he signs an executive order to roll back regulations. Speaking from the White House on Monday morning, the president took aim at the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which became law in 2010 to increase regulation of the financial industry in response to the Great Recession. ‘Dodd-Frank is a disaster. We're going to be doing a big number on Dodd-Frank,’ Trump said.” (The Street)
- U.S. Can Withhold Some Documents in Freddie, Fannie Case: Court “A federal appeals court on Monday narrowed the range of documents that the U.S. government must turn over to investors suing over its August 2012 decision to seize the profits of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals said four documents could be withheld from Fairholme Funds and other investors on the basis of presidential privilege, and four other documents were protected by privilege of the deliberative process.” (Reuters)
- Record Number of Real Estate Secondaries Tracked in 2016 “A record number of real estate secondary transactions, valued at more than $5.01bn (€4.65bn), took place in 2016, according to Landmark Partners. The company said it had tracked the largest number of individual secondary trades of real estate funds ever recorded in a single year. The 99 real estate ‘secondaries’ transactions represented an 8% increase on the number of deals in 2015. But in dollar value, the total was lower than the record of $8.2bn set in 2015 because of a lack of billion-dollar-plus deals.” (IPE Real Estate)
- Hennes & Mauritz Rolls Back New Store Openings “Hennes & Mauritz AB said it was abandoning its target of opening 10% to 15% more physical stores each year--a blistering pace that turned it into one of the world's largest clothing retailers--and instead targeting local-market sales growth both online and off. H&M said the shifts, disclosed Tuesday along with another strong quarter of earnings and sales growth, will better capture both physical and online sales growth around the world. The changes also come as H&M struggled in the last quarter of the year in some of its traditionally strong markets, including the U.S., Europe and China.” (MarketWatch)
- From Book to Boom: How the Mormons Plan a City for 500,000 in Florida “Everything about the Deseret cattle and citrus ranch, in central Florida, is massive. The property itself occupies 290,000 acres of land – more than nine times the size of San Francisco and almost 20 times the size of Manhattan. It is one of the largest ranches in the country, held by the one of the biggest landowners in the state: the Mormon church. On an overcast weekday afternoon, Mormon missionaries give tours of the vast estate. Fields, orange trees and grazing animals stretch as far as the eye can see.” (The Guardian)
- Sears Shares Have Lost 30% of Their Value in Four Days “Sears shares tumbled 13 percent on Monday, piling onto declines that have sent the value of its stock more than 30 percent lower since Wednesday. The precipitous drops, which pushed the chain's shares to fresh lows since its merger with Kmart more than a decade ago, come as Kmart is laying off employees at many of its U.S. stores that will stay open past the spring. Sears currently operates roughly 800 Kmart stores, but is in the process of closing 108 of them.” (CNBC)
- Fed to Hold Interest Rates While Congress Debates Stimulus “The Federal Reserve is likely to stand pat on interest rates at the end of their two-day meeting on Wednesday, awaiting more clarity on fiscal policy. ‘Fed officials, just like investors, businesses and consumers, is waiting to see what the Trump Administration and Congress actually gets done,’ said Michael Gregory, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets. There has been a groundswell of U.S. financial market and economic optimism since the election, yet the optimism looks pretty fragile.” (MarketWatch)
- U.S. Home Prices Rose 5.6% in November: S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller “U.S. home prices rose slightly in November from the previous month, posting a 5.6 percent annual gain thanks to rising disposable personal income per capita, decreasing unemployment, and low interest rates. The S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, which measures all nine U.S. census divisions, was up 5.6 percent on an annual basis in November from 5.5 percent in October. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-City Composite index also rose 5.3 percent year over year, up from October's 5.1 percent.” (CNBC)
- Exclusive Q&A: GameStop Talks Strategy “In an era when gamers want new releases in their hands as quickly as possible, GameStop is changing the rules. The gaming retailer calls its updated strategy a “new moment of truth.” Described as the gap between when a consumer purchases merchandise and actually receives it, this timing can truly make or break the chain’s reputation going forward — especially as digital retailing increases customer expectations. Eager to engage its shoppers post-purchase, the chain launched a new e-commerce strategy just prior to its holiday rush — a move that drove post-purchase engagement and revenue, and created more satisfied customers during this critical selling period.” (Chain Store Age)
- Caterpillar to Move Headquarters to Chicago Area “Caterpillar Inc said on Tuesday it would move its global headquarters to the Chicago area from Peoria, Illinois later this year to move closer to a global transportation hub and make it easier to recruit executives. A limited number of senior executives and some relocated from Peoria will be based at the new headquarters, and about 300 will be based there once the facility is fully operational, the company said in a statement.” (Reuters)
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