Highlights from our January 27 issue |
December was a bad month for foreclosure filings around the Pacific Northwest. All five states we cover posted gains. Find out which state took the worst hit and why.
You don’t get many chances to invest your money alongside the revered Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett. We'll tell you about a recent initial public offering for a Northwest-based company that offers you an opportunity to do just that.
Bank earnings reports are beginning to trickle in. We dig inside the reports to get a sense of what 2009 might tell us about 2010.
Last year was a challenge for business owners and managers trying to make a profit or just stay afloat. We share some of the lessons decision-makers across the Northwest learned about running their firms during tough times.
How wealthy is your county? Our regional scorecard — PNW Snapshot — shows where the largest counties in the region stack up when measuring weekly wages.
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Highlights from our January 13 issue |
Seattle and Tacoma are among the busiest ports in North America. But the economic winds are shifting for port managers all along the West Coast. We’ll tell you the two biggest issues facing port officials in the coming years, as well as what 2010 may bring.
It was the same story, told in two communities 600 miles apart: Paper mills closing, and taking away well-paying jobs. The closures are another byproduct of the recession and consumers’ changing buying habits. We'll lay out exactly how large the financial blow will be to their respective cities.
The first bank to fail nationwide in 2010 was based in Washington. We explain what brought it down and why the same cause will plague other banks across the region this year.
Are the jobs here? Not just yet in the Northwest. Unemployment rates for cities in our region were up sharply over the same time last year. Learn which communities are best fending off the recession when it comes to employment. |
Highlights from our December 30 issue |
The fortunes of Alaska’s commercial salmon fishermen are susceptible to a wide range of factors, but 2009 was prosperous for them. And that is a big boost to Alaska’s overall economy. Learn just how big a role salmon play in Alaska’s economic output and how many jobs they create.
Personal income is a closely watched indicator of a state’s economic health. A recent federal report shows how states fared when measuring personal income in the third quarter. The state posting the fastest growth was right here in the Pacific Northwest. We’ll tell you what fueled this state’s big gains.
The Northwest has always been an attractive place to live. And a recent Census Bureau report continues to back up that claim. Read about how many people the region has added since the 2000 census and where they are coming from.
China is a key importer of U.S. goods, and the Pacific Northwest has been a big beneficiary of that. This issue’s PNW Snapshot illustrates each state’s top export to China and its value.
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Highlights from our December 16 issue |
The Pacific Northwest’s wine industry’s reputation as a major player was solidified recently when a Washington wine earned the No. 1 ranking on a prestigious list. We show you how much the wine industry has grown in Washington and Oregon and why it has more economic muscle than you might think.
News coming out of state capitals from the five states we cover has been bleak this month. No matter if your state depends on personal, sales or income taxes, or taxes on oil, revenues have shrunk. We lay out the specific challenges facing the state budget makers who convene next year.
Where does your city rank in terms of economic strength? We highlight a recent report that shows which cities are outpacing their peers when it comes to jobs and other indicators.
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Highlights from our December 2 issue |
The percentage of office space being unused around the region provides a good indicator of the economy’s health. Downtowns, suburbs, and smaller cities all are being affected differently. See which markets are holding up best in the commercial real estate market.
The next possible bubble to burst could be in commercial real estate loans. Lenders are helped by guidance from the FDIC to head off another crisis. We’ll tell you how banks are working with struggling borrowers in order to keep the economic recovery moving forward.
One in four borrowers underwater? Not in the Northwest. We take you behind the headlines and point out how the region’s homeowners are faring better than the national average when looking at how much they owe on their homes.
It isn’t a good thing to have your economy compared to California’s these days. But that’s what a recent report did with Oregon and its fiscal troubles. As legislators prepare to convene early next year, we'll show some statistics that paint a picture of the challenges they’ll face come budget time.
House prices continue to depreciate. This issue’s PNW Snapshot shows you which cities in our five states are holding their ground best, and which continue to take a beating. |
Highlights from our November 11 issue |
Before firms start hiring back employees in earnest, they typically go to temporary employment and staffing agencies for help. We survey firms across the region to see what kind of demand they are experiencing this fall and get their forecasts for when they’ll see real gains in hiring.
Boeing sent a message to its Puget Sound staff when it decided to locate its second 787 production line in South Carolina instead of Everett. The decision’s impact on our region will be smaller than you think. Here’s why.
Bank earnings reports continue to trickle in. Most community and regional banks are still feeling pain on their balance sheets. We tell readers the lengths to which one bank is going to get back on solid ground.
Washington held its 15th annual economic symposium last month. Economists offered a wide range of opinions on what was next for the state’s and nation’s economies.
This issue’s PNW Snapshot offers up a ranking on the average wage in the five states Marple’s covers. |
Highlights from our October 28 issue |
Banks have been reporting their quarterly earnings over the last few weeks. Northwest-based banks are having mixed success in this current economic climate. You will learn which banks are seeing red ink on their ledgers and which are positioned to weather the storm.
A $30 billion pipeline project to bring natural gas from Alaska’s North Slope to the Lower 48 has been discussed almost since oil was discovered there in the 1960s. The project is back in the news, but is it any closer to being built?
Personal income inched up in the second quarter of 2009 for four of the five states in our region. We’ll tell you what is driving those numbers.
In this issue’s PNW Snapshot, we visit where the five states we cover rank nationally when it comes to foreclosure rates, including which are in the top five and which are in the bottom five.
A report from the University of Oregon’s economic forum offers an outlook on when jobs may return and what that state’s residents can expect in 2010. |
Highlights from our October 14 issue |
A combination of factors are luring solar manufacturing companies to the Pacific Northwest. Firms have already invested billions of dollars in the region, and nearly a dozen others have Northwest communities on their short lists. Read why the Northwest is positioned to be a leader in this renewable energy sector.
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Unemployment numbers still aren’t uplifting. We offer unemployment rates for all the metro areas in the region so you can see which are weathering the economic storm best. |
The Bureau of Economic Analysis recently released gross domestic product data for metro areas. Marple’s gets behind the numbers to show which metro areas have experienced growth, and what propelled those gains. |
A recent study by the Tax Foundation shows which states’ tax structures are friendlier to business. Learn which of our region’s states climbed on the foundation’s ranking — and which fell. |
Highlights from our September 30 issue |
Few industries have grown during the last couple years as the economy crashed to the ground. Health care stands out from the pack, having consistently added jobs among all five of our states. Learn which states hold the brightest future for health care job growth. |
It’s no secret the real estate market is battered. This issue of Marple’s will tell you which cities have taken the worst beating, but also look at the big picture to put numbers in perspective. |
| The region’s banks are positioning themselves for the next shakeout. We offer a scorecard on which institutions are going to be buying up their wounded competitors and which are hanging on. |
| Are more solar jobs coming to the Pacific Northwest? An announcement by a South Korean company to manufacture solar cells in Oregon brings much-needed good news. |
Highlights from our September 16 issue |
As the fall harvests around the region get under way, the prospects for the region’s farmers are mixed. You can learn about which crops are expected to bring the most money into the region and which farmers will be anxious to put 2009 behind them. This Marple’s report looks at the five major commodities – milk, livestock, wheat, apples and potatoes – that the Pacific Northwest produces, and their role in each state’s gross domestic product. |
Key unemployment figures came out recently. We look beyond the numbers and explain their meaning. Find out why one state describes its situation as the “worst since the Depression,” while another state is in roughly the same shape as last year. The Great Recession has been unkind to the Northwest. Read Marple’s to learn exactly how that’s happened. |
Highlights from our August 26 issue No. 1530 |
| Where will growth occur in the Pacific Northwest when the Great Recession fades? A glance at our exclusive table and related charts suggests where growth likely will be weakest and suggests which metro areas have the best shot at growth, and why. This is typical Marple's Northwest reporting and analysis -- data-driven, concise, succinct, to the point, and available in no other business publication. |
Metropolitan-area housing perspective: Who would have guessed that Bellingham, Missoula, Medford and Wenatchee would outrank Seattle and San Jose in house-price appreciation over 10 years? Or that Lewiston, Coeur d'Alene and Spokane would outrank Portland and San Francisco over five? Check out our coverage of more than 30 metro areas (each illustrated by a chart) in six states, including California. Another exclusive, analysis and reporting found only in Marple's Letter.
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| Management pay prospects:The largest employers in the Pacific Northwest remain relative tight-fisted with their management and professional employees in 2009, and will remain so in 2010. |
Highlights from our July 29-Aug. 13 special double issue |
EXCLUSIVE: So you thought August was a dull month? Think again. Pacific Northwest bankers are busy raising capital that will separate predators from prey in the coming inevitable consolidation. We tell you who will be in the hunt and provide a rule of thumb for guessing whether your bank is a candidate for an FDIC-assisted shotgun marriage. |
| EXCLUSIVE: Latest quarterly results – plus data and analysis on loan-loss provisioning, the key to the sea of red ink – for three dozen publicly held banking institutions based in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Here are fragments of our comprehensive earnings table and our detailed summary of loan-loss provisions by quarter since December 2007. |
| Great Recession's impact: Exclusive analysis of employment trends by sector for each state on our masthead since the start of the recession. Here's a sample. Plus background on a key economic indicator that puts Oregon and Washington in rough company with Michigan and Nevada. |
| Insider trading: Who's selling, and, more to the point, who is buying shares of publicly held companies based in the Pacific Northwest. Marple's Letter consistently carries the most comprehensive and timely reporting on open-market trades by officers, directors and some shareholders of companies based in the Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. |