Strome Business Minute with Dr. Jeff Tanner

The title of the band's fifth album, “Dance Fever,” refers to a 14th century ritual where groups of people burst into dance frenzies to the point of exhaustion or even death.

I’m Jeff Tanner, Dean of the Strome College of Business, and this is a Strome Business Minute. The COVID caused recession has affected the Port of Virginia but really only in a mild way. While the number of ships calling on the Port has declined every year for the last 4 years. That’s really because the ships are getting bigger and carrying more cargo, necessitating fewer ships. Import volume and value, though, have declined 12 and 15 percent due to the recession. Export value, on the other hand, has held steady though volume has declined about 5.5 percent. Coal exported from Virginia is down over 13 percent. One piece of good news in all of this, though, is that employment recovered in maritime supply chain and logistics from a dip in May and is now back to nearly 250,000 jobs. This has been a Strome Business Minute, presented by the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University.

I’m Jeff Tanner, Dean of the Strome College of Business, and this is a Strome Business Minute. We already discussed here the shrunken inventory of homes for sale in the 757, down to its lowest level in 15 years. New home construction can’t keep up with the demand due to labor shortages so the median price of homes has crept up as supply can’t keep up with demand.

Strome real estate professor Walter D’Lima’s research shows that our market is representative of the national residential market. Overall, new listings for existing homes are down across the country, as demand is shifting from apartments to houses. But his study also shows that starter home owners are also trading up. But mid-priced owners aren’t trading up. Inventory of higher priced homes is way down and those prices have actually declined so now may be the time to move up. This has been a Strome Business Minute, presented by the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University.

I’m Jeff Tanner, Dean of the Strome College of Business, and this is a Strome Business Minute. With interest rates so low, the mortgage refinance business has been going strong, up some eighty four percent. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two largest purchasers of mortgages, though, just slapped an additional half a percent fee on cash-out refinances, claiming the COVID-induced recession adds risk. The two government-sponsored organizations are forecasting an increase in losses on qualified loans due to recession-based defaults. Trade groups denounced the fee, which begins September 1, noting that borrowers who haven’t locked in their refinancing will have to pay the fee, expected to average fourteen hundred dollars. Still, a Zillow spokesperson told Barron’s that the refinance market is likely to remain hot and Forbes expects rates to fall even more. Lenders could choose to absorb the fee, so shop around and pay attention to the closing costs. This Strome Business Minute is presented by the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University.

I’m Jeff Tanner, Dean of the Strome College of Business, and this is a Strome Business Minute. In June, Facebook committed one hundred million dollars to advance US-based Black businesses, artists, and nonprofits. Last week, they unveiled their plan to offer Black businesses up to forty million dollars or forty percent of the original commitment, as grants. The grants, for Black-owned businesses with fewer than fifty employees, are broken into twenty five hundred dollars in cash and fifteen hundred dollars in Facebook advertising credits and the program will be administered by Accenture. Facebook’s goal is to pump the cash out in a hurry, hoping to get all of the cash released by the end of August. The grant application process opens today and they plan to support ten thousand businesses before the program concludes. With Black-owned businesses closing at twice the rate of other small businesses, every bit helps. This has been a Strome Business Minute, presented by the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University.

I’m Jeff Tanner, Dean of the Strome College of Business, and this is a Strome Business Minute. The Brookings Institute is publishing a weekly economic recovery matrix that reports a metro area’s performance across a dozen measures. For each measure, Brookings reports the actual value for that metro, color-coded by how it compares to other metros of a similar size. The measures include things like business closings, unemployment, commercial real estate vacancies, multifamily rent, and air travel. Our metro area is compared to 52 others with greater than one million in population. Compared to most in our class, we’re doing pretty well, much better than Richmond for example. We’re actually among the 5 strongest for variables like business travel, multifamily rent, and small business closings, and in the next tier for jobs change and job postings. Yes, things are down but much less than in other cities. This has been a Strome Business Minute, presented by the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University.

I’m Jeff Tanner, Dean of the Strome College of Business, and this is a Strome Business Minute. When the COVID caused recession began, one segment that seemed unaffected was construction. Of course, commercial construction projects can take years and typically, though not always, continue on in spite of the economic downturn. The Association of Building Contractors, though, says that construction shrank thirty five percent last quarter, a little bit more than the overall economy. Supply chain disruption made it harder to get materials, some laborers left to take unemployment with the bonus, and other factors contributed to the decline. Hardest hit were retail and hospitality, and with the closing of so many businesses in those sectors, new space may not be needed, leading to postponements and cancellations. But data centers, fulfillment centers like the two Amazon is building here, healthcare and manufacturing may begin to pick up the slack. This has been a Strome Business Minute, presented by the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University.

I’m Jeff Tanner and this is a Strome Business Minute. I’m often asked how the stock market remains at record highs while the economy struggles. As we’ve discussed here, the stock market and economy are not the same thing – for one, when you buy stocks, you’re buying future earnings one to two years out. The market is betting on beating the pandemic, whether by a vaccine, herd immunity, or better treatment. For another reason, what you see as the market is really only a few stocks. The Dow Jones average, for example, is the average price of only thirty stocks and six of those propping up the entire market. Companies with a strong online presence are actually benefiting from the pandemic. But so are large companies are benefiting from the closure of smaller competitors who haven’t been able to weather the pandemic. Put it together, and the market stays strong. This Strome Business Minute is presented by the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University.

I’m Jeff Tanner, Dean of the Strome College of Business, and this is a Strome Business Minute. According to Virginia Business Magazine, Virginia is home to 281 companies listed in the Inc 5000, comprised of the fastest growing companies in America. Other than growth, criteria for the list include that they must be private independent companies, not divisions or subsidiaries, and that they had to be at least one hundred thousand in revenue five years ago. Number one in Virginia is Sassy Jones, an online retailer of jewelry and accessories based in Richmond. We had one in the 757, Kern Technology Group in Virginia Beach, a government services provider primarily serving maritime and defense customers in developing new products and solutions. The company grew over 1,000 percent, placing them at number 407 on the list. This has been a Strome Business Minute, presented by the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University.

I’m Jeff Tanner, Dean of the Strome College of Business, and this is a Strome Business Minute. ODU cancelled its football season last week, hoping to play a shortened spring season. The financial impact on the school will be tough but imagine the financial impact of the Pac 12 and the Big 10 dropping fall sports. Just in television advertising alone, companies spent an estimated one point seven billion last season. A T & T led the way spending seventy million dollars, followed by Allstate, Chic-Fil-A, and State Farm, each spending about thirty million. According to Kantar, a firm which tracks advertising spend, the national championship game alone brought in over ninety million. Fox and Disney will take the greatest hits, as they own ESPN and ABC, the two largest college football broadcasters but it puts more pressure on other Power Five conferences to play for the money. This has been a Strome Business Minute, presented by the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University.