Investment bank Goldman Sachs has been analyzing the market performance, and has a mixed outlook for the year – not necessarily bad news for the long term, but an acknowledgement that we’re not completely certain what the economic cycle has in store. David Kostin, Goldman Sachs’ chief U.S. equity strategist, predicts that the market has not found its true bottom yet, and has to meet three conditions before it can. Kostin notes that the current peak-to-trough time, of just 23 trading days, is an order of magnitude faster than the median – which stands at 17 months. But there is hope on the horizon: Kostin also believes that the S&P can finish out the year at 3,000. The three conditions Kostin sees as essential to a true market bottom are: A slow in the viral spread in the US, allowing investors to understand the actual economic impact; evidence that policy actions by the Federal Reserve and Congress are showing success in limiting the damage; and a bottoming out in both investor sentiment and positioning. Once the bottom is reached, Kostin sees a quick rebound in the offing. With that in mind, Goldman’s stock analysts remind investors that compelling opportunities can still be found. Using TipRanks database, we were able to pinpoint 3 stocks that are Buy-rated and backed by the analysts from Goldman Sachs as well as the rest of the Street. To top it all off, each stands to see over 35% gains in the next year. Click to read more at www.nasdaq.com.

Are the many activities that underline the real estate industry – from home construction to title searches – essential services during the coronavirus pandemic? Christopher Krebs, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), thinks so. Earlier this week, Krebs designated “real estate services” as part of the nation’s “critical infrastructure” in a memorandum that serve as a guideline rather than an enforceable federal directive. Aside from real estate, the 15-page advisory encompasses healthcare, agriculture and transportation, among other economic segments. “This list is intended to help State, local, tribal and territorial officials as they work to protect their communities, while ensuring continuity of functions critical to public health and safety, as well as economic and national security,” Krebs’ letter says. Here are the real estate professionals and activities CISA considers essential: Residential and commercial real estate services, including settlement services. Staff at government offices who perform title search, notary, and recording services in support of mortgage and real estate services and transactions. Click to read more at www.forbes.com.

There was SARS starting in 2002, H1N1 in 2009 and Ebola in 2014. Though these outbreaks all landed on U.S. shores to one degree or another, the economic impact of those events and COVID-19 aren’t correlative. The preventative shutdowns now in place mean that the financial repercussions this time around are already much worse. “Once we got a handle the on H1N1, the economy did rebound pretty quickly,” said Gary Bechtel, president of Money360. “But in that case the economy was still functioning. People were still going to work, they were still shopping, they were still going out to restaurants and hotels.” Early estimates suggest that, if stay-at-home mandates are able suppress the spread of COVID-19 as health experts hope, the economy could start to show signs of recovery within six to nine months of the initial outbreak. Assuming that timeline holds, the recovery could be swift once it starts to take shape. “I think six to nine months is a reasonable best-case scenario,” said Bechtel. “And I do think it’s going to rebound relatively quickly once we’re allowed to go back to work and back to restaurants and to travel.” Click to read more at www.rejournals.com.

There is no doubt that COVID-19 is creating a significant impact throughout the world, both in the short and long term, and the disruption to the supply chain is immense. We are seeing a number of major trends along the supply chain and related industrial real estate areas resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. First, some good news. China, which is the source of many supply chains, is starting its comeback. As of this writing, factory production in the country is anywhere from 50 to 80 percent back online with some reduced staff (based on recent ISM survey); up from a standstill leading up to the Jan 25th Chinese New Year (CNY) and weeks after. Obviously, the prolonged gap in product flow created from CNY and the outbreak of COVID-19 created a one-two punch lasting 8 to 12 weeks. In addition to reevaluating the shutdown for CNY altogether, many companies were already shifting as much sourcing as possible away from China to other countries in Asia and India, according to a very recent supply chain leader study conducted by the Supply Chain Leaders in Action. According to a survey performed by Institute of Supply Management, 62 percent of manufacturers are seeing delayed orders and 53 percent are having hard time getting information from China. Additionally, 48 percent of manufacturers are seeing slower logistics in China as well as delays at ports while 57 percent report longer lead times from China. Click to read more at www.rejournals.com.