Signature Associates

Posted By: DBUSINESS on December 7, 2022.  For more information, please click here to read the source article.   Despite headwinds from supply chains, inflation, and labor shortages, small business owners are forecasting a strong year ahead, according to the 2022 Women & Minority Business Owner Spotlight, a new report from Bank of America exploring the outlook of […]

Posted By: MiBiz on November 7, 2022.  For more information, please click here to read the source article.   Key metrics in a monthly report on West Michigan’s industrial economy trended downward last month into negative territory, reflecting a slowing economy. Indexes for new orders, purchases and employment each fell into negative territory for October, according to results […]

Posted By: The Detroit News on August 25, 2022.  For more information, please click here to read the source article.   The city’s economy is expected to recover from pandemic-related challenges faster than Michigan or the United States overall, even as new recession threats loom, University of Michigan researchers predict. The Detroit Economic Outlook for 2021-27 notes that […]

Walmart is adding four new fulfillment centers to its existing capacity, a move that will bring more than 4,000 jobs and make next- or two-day shipping available to more Americans. The announcement comes at a time when consumers are relying on packages being shipped to their homes more than ever before. While online ordering has […]

Michigan customers had lots of options to support a new, small business in 2021. They could get a “Millennial Lunchable” in Saginaw, an “all-beef dirty water plain dog” in Kalamazoo or BYOC — bring your own container — and fill up on cosmetics in Ann Arbor. Despite a labor shortage and a wave of resignations defining the first year after coronavirus […]

Toledo City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved plans to establish seven new community entertainment districts in an effort to bring more business and attract more residents to the downtown area. The districts are designated areas that will open the door for more liquor licensing and allow for a mix of entertainment, retail, social, and cultural […]

Michigan’s economy is expected to fully recover by the end of 2023, with job growth and personal incomes set to increase in that time, according to a University of Michigan forecast released Friday. However, high inflation will continue to cut into purchasing power, the economists said, with real disposable income, which factors in taxes and rising […]

West Michigan’s industrial economy entered the second quarter trending along with the global and national economic recoveries from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Four key activity indexes from economist Brian Long’s monthly survey of industrial purchasing managers in the Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo areas all improved from February to March, as did short- and […]

When Gov. Mike DeWine ordered all nonessential businesses to close by March 24 due to the coronavirus pandemic, pet groomer Telia Williams said she immediately felt a sense of loss and disconnection as the job she so loved doing was suddenly taken from her. “To be perfectly honest, I sat home and avoided everything because […]

The Portage City Council approved a $93 million budget during its Tuesday, May 26, meeting, but plans to reassess the budget quarterly as revenues change due to the coronavirus pandemic, the city manager said. Despite the economic impact of the pandemic, the city passed a balanced budget and retained a 24% reserve in its general […]

The forecasts seem impossibly wretched. Economists at JPMorgan Chase project a 40 percent decline in gross domestic product in the second quarter. Trillions of dollars in economic activity abandoned in the wake of COVID-19. April’s unemployment rate is expected to hit 20 percent or more. That’s 25 million without work. More than 817,000 filed for […]

Early projections are out about the impact of COVID-19 on the West Michigan economy, and they paint a sobering picture for the second quarter of 2020. James Chung — partner at StratoDem Analytics, a data science firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts that generates geographic market intelligence and forecasting in the U.S. — told the Business Journal […]