January 3, 2022
For the past 185 years, our Annual Dinner has served to bring people together for high-level networking between business leaders, state dignitaries, and elected officials. We know that many of you were looking forward to doing just that this January.

Since our Annual Dinner committee and staff began the planning process for this event in July 2021, we followed the pandemic closely and made decisions based on CDC and State guidelines to design a responsible event that minimized risks to our guests. However, the current data shows that we are in a situation very different than when we began this process.

It is our priority to put our members’ safety first and we believe we must do our part to help lessen the burden on our health care workers. For these reasons, we have made the decision to postpone the 185th Annual Dinner to Monday, April 4.

The Delaware State Chamber of Commerce brings people together to create jobs, promote business, and improve the quality of life for all Delawareans. It is our mission to always deliver on that 185-year-old promise to you, our members.

We thank FMC Corporation, our sponsors, and each and every one of our members for continuing to support our organization during these fluid times. We encourage everyone to get vaccinated, receive your booster, and wear a mask. We look forward to seeing you on April 4.

Join us this Friday, January 7 at 1:30pm for a webinar with Dr. Marci Drees, chief infection prevention officer and hospital epidemiologist at ChristianaCare, who will share her perspective on the omicron variant and outbreak. She will answer questions around booster efficacy, what to do if you experience symptoms or test positive, how long the current spike could last, and more. Register here >
We kick off 2022 with the release today of November construction spending figures. On Tuesday we’ll see data regarding job openings and job quits, followed by Wednesday’s ADP employment report from December. Thursday brings us trade deficit results and factory orders from November. We wrap up the first week of the year with national unemployment results from December on Friday.

Not surprisingly, this is a light week for earnings calls. However, a few interesting calls are scheduled: Bed, Bath and Beyond, ConAgra Brands, Franklin Covey, Helen of Troy, and Walgreens.
Michael J. Quaranta
President
Delaware State Chamber of Commerce