July 13, 2020

State Chamber Update

Has economic activity picked up? What cargo ships are in the water and is the rate of trade nearing normal? What are the interesting office or common space design ideas that will instill confidence in my employees or customers? How does Delaware compare to our surrounding states? What process improvements are state agencies making to speed approvals? What is the plan to bring broadband access to more Delawareans and employers?

These and other important conversations will be part of our “Putting Delawareans Back to Work” Conference on July 21st. You can register here to be part of this event!

We hope this conference will yield many great ideas and future “to do’s” that will become part of our agenda. Please register today!

Disruptors

Today we share details about companies that are shaking things up. Nobody had heard of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google and others a decade or so ago, so who is bursting on the scene and perhaps the "next big thing?" Next on this list:

Zipline: “This California-based drone delivery company transports critical medical supplies such as blood and vaccines in Rwanda and Ghana. In April it added COVID-19 test samples to the list." Learn more >

I actually know something about number 8 on the list, SoFi: As consumers lost some access to physical banks, “that shift has been benefiting SoFi. In April the San Francisco-based personal finance company bought Galileo, a payments software company, for $1.2 billion. The deal will help SoFi capitalize on the fact that the need for mobile financing services is booming now and will likely continue long after the pandemic ends.”  Learn more >

News You Can Use

New York Fed President John Williams offers remarks today, as does Dallas Fed President Rob Kaplan. On Tuesday, the NFIB small-business index numbers, and consumer price index figures for June become public. Philadelphia Fed President Pat Harker speaks on Wednesday, and we will see June import price index and industrial production results from June. On Thursday June retail sales results are public, as are early July indicators from the NAHB home builder index. We wrap up the week on Friday with June housing starts and building permits data.

Michael J. Quaranta

President

Delaware State Chamber of Commerce