Fed Watch
Fed watching is a major pastime for investors at any level, but particularly the US stock market and the Commercial Real Estate market have been watching and waiting for every crumb of information they can glean from the central bank’s quarterly gatherings. Economic news has been steadily improved all year. Unemployment numbers continue downward. This […]
Three Pieces of Good News
There were three articles in the Columbian over the past few weeks that hold good news for Clark County economic trends as we head into the 4th quarter of the year. First Scott Bailey our regional labor economist with Washington Employment Security released an employment report that showed Clark County’s economy expanded by 5,800 jobs […]
Transition on interest rates?
Members of the Federal Reserve Board have a very active end of summer, with a conference in Jackson Hole and then their upcoming Quarterly policy meeting September 16 and 17. The majority on the Fed thinks the economy needs more time to heal and that a rate hike sooner than necessary would damage growth. John Williams of […]
End of a long wait with a short drive – 139th street overpass opens
Over fifteen years of hard work, 150 million dollars of investment , and a consistent vision for an improved community comes to life Wednesday with the ribbon cutting ceremony and the opening of the 139th Street overpass in Salmon Creek. Not all the work will have been completed says WSDOT – there remain some ramp […]
Summer warms up coffee inventory
As part of the general higher economic activity levels here in Clark County the past twelve months we are seeing a strong expansion in the number of coffee outlets. Dutch Brothers has been very active in searching for sites and has two under construction in Hazel Dell . This one , located at Northgate Center on […]
Top Projects tops off a great year
Wednesday July 23rd the Vancouver Business Journal held their 20th annual Top Projects recognition ceremony. This years ceremony was well attended and you could feel the enthusiasm and optimism in the crowd for the improved business activity levels from the past several years. Held at the former Vancouver City Hall – located on Broadway and […]
Trending to the Positive !
Trendlines are certainly encouraging for the employment picture in Clark County. Here are two recent graphs provided by the Washington State Employment Division. The first shows total employment, which almost topped 144 thousand residents as we reach the mid point of 2014. After the fits and starts we experienced in 2010 and 2011 the graph has […]
Craft Brew Community Hops to a Steady Beat
While attending the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours tonight at Cellars 55 – which is a very cool venue ( especially where they store the wine) I met Mike Difabio. Mike is the owner of Fortside Brewing Company a start up local craft brewer and he is in the process of building out his […]
June 2014 – A Snapshot of the US Economy
The US economy has steadily continued to add jobs for the past 56 months. Employers added 217,000 jobs in May, a substantial gain for a fourth straight month. On June 3, the Labor Department released a report that showed the U.S. economy is steadily strengthening and outpacing struggling countries in Europe and Asia. Overall unemployment […]
The Gateway is percolating and buzzing
On going roadwork along 15th street and upper Main immediately after you enter Vancouver from I-5 is causing regular traffic slowdowns, but doesn’t seem to be hurting business. I went and had some a morning beverage at Compass Coffee last week. Spoke with owner Bryan Wray as there have been earth moving machines and holes […]
