Daily Briefing – 161
This Morning! Broadcasting Live From Stanfordville Machine, Mfg Day 2020
WKIP’s Hudson Valley Focus Live will be broadcasting live the morning of October 2nd from Stanfordville Machine, Victory Lane in Poughkeepsie.
Hosted as always by Tom Sipos, guests will include Stanfordville CEO Neal Johnsen, the Council of Industry’s Johnnieanne Hansen and Harold King, and many other manufacturers, educators and economic development professionals.
Tune in at WKIP or with the iHeart Radio App
Cuomo: State Continues to Monitor Hot Spots,
The Governor issued a press release yesterday afternoon providing an overview of New York’s COVID-19 tracking data from Wednesday, September 30th. Of the 109,218 test results reported yesterday, 1,382 were positive. The State continues to monitor zip codes with high coronavirus infection rates, and is releasing data for these areas as compared to the rest of the State, see below for more information on these areas. Infection rates:
- 20 hotspot zip codes: 6.5%
- Orange 10950: 17%
- Statewide: 1.27%
- Statewide excluding hotspots: 0.98%
Use these helpful tools.
- Read the press release (includes hot spot zip codes with percent positives)
- See the early warning dashboard
- The School district dashboard will be here beginning Wednesday, 9/9
- Here is the SUNY Dashboard
NY and NJ Announces Creation of an “Alert App”
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced the launch of COVID-19 exposure notification mobile apps in their respective states that will supplement the effort to trace and contact individuals subject to a COVID exposure. The apps, COVID Alert NY and COVID Alert NJ, notify users of potential COVID-19 exposure while maintaining user privacy and security. With today’s launch, New York and New Jersey join Pennsylvania and Delaware in creating a regional COVID Alert app network that operates across state lines to stop the spread of COVID-19. Connecticut has also announced it will launch the Exposure Notification System in the coming weeks.
The app can be downloaded here.
ADP: 749K private payrolls added in September
Private-sector job hiring in the US reached 749,000 in September, according to the ADP monthly employment report. The figure beats economists’ estimates of 600,000 as well as the August total of 481,000.
During the coronavirus pandemic, ADP’s initial estimate has often trailed the official government count by a significant margin, indicating potential upside for the September count. The initial ADP estimate for August was just 428,000 but was revised upward to 481,000, still a good distance from the Labor Department tally.
5 Positive Signs A Deal Will Happen This Week
After weeks of stalled negotiations over another stimulus package, progress can now be seen toward another deal. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are finally negotiating again. While a deal hasn’t been reached, there are at least 5 positive signs that a deal could be reached this week.
U.S. Jobless Claims Hold Steady for Fifth Straight Week
New applications for unemployment benefits in the U.S. fell slightly last week but remained between 800,000 and 900,000 for the fifth straight week, reflecting a labor-market recovery that is losing momentum.
Weekly initial claims for jobless benefits fell by 36,000 to a seasonally adjusted 837,000 in the week ended Sept. 26, the Labor Department said Thursday. In a positive sign, the number of people collecting unemployment benefits through regular state programs, which cover most workers, decreased by 980,000 to about 11.8 million for the week ended Sept. 19. That was the lowest level since March.
NY Fed Report: The Impact of the Corporate Credit Facilities
The Authors document the impact of the Primary Market and Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facilities (PMCCF and SMCCF) on bond market functioning, and also describe the impact that a collapse of corporate bond markets could have had on employment and investment.
The direct impact of the facilities was to improve bond market functioning, reduce default probabilities and reverse some of the dramatic increase in bond spreads prior to March 2020. They document a dramatic reduction in average duration-matched spreads—that is, spreads to Treasuries with similar timing of interest and principal payments—of 140 basis points in the three months after the initial announcement of the facilities. Lower spreads in the secondary market often translate into lower interest rates on newly issued bonds, facilitating companies’ access to debt markets.
Federal $18 Million Grant to Help NYS Train Workers for In Demand Jobs
Yesterday Governor Cuomo announced that New York State has been awarded an $18 million federal grant to fund educational opportunities that train New Yorkers for in-demand jobs, support entrepreneurs, and help small businesses recover from the coronavirus pandemic. New York was one of just eight states to receive the funding – made available through the CARES Act – and received the most of any state that was awarded a grant.
New York State’s Department of Labor will partner with the Office of Workforce Development, Empire State Development, New York’s ten Regional Economic Development Councils, the State University of New York, and the City University of New York to allocate the federal grant funding on programs that support New York’s continued economic recovery.
Dreamliner Production Moving from Washington to South Carolina
Boeing is expected to announce soon its plan to consolidate production of 787 Dreamliner aircraft in North Charleston, S.C., a decision reported as a possibility in late September. The Wall Street Journal confirmed the decision this week, but as yet there is no indication of the schedule for the shift.
The move is a cost-saving effort for Boeing, as the South Carolina operation has lower labor costs, but it also represents proof that aircraft production rates will be cut significantly as commercial demand declines following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read more at American Machinist
ISM: Manufacturing Growth Steady in the Shadow of Virus
The U.S. manufacturing sector held on to slow, steady growth for a fourth month running in September according to the latest report from the Institute for Supply Management. The ISM’s Pricing Manager’s Index fell less than one point to 55.4% as it continued to grow, albeit at a slower rate than before. The overall economy grew for a fifth month.
Other positive measures of new orders and production also fell but remained in growth territory: the ISM’s production index fell 2.3 points to 61.0%, and its new orders index fell 7.4 points to 60.2%, consistent with a slowing expansion. The ISM’s manufacturing employment index, which has been in contraction territory for 14 months now, almost managed 50%, which would indicate stable employment figures. The index grew 3.2 points to land at 49.6%.
