Latest news with #TheNationalObserver
Business Journals
02-06-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
The National Observer: Southern city wants to be a global fashion hotspot
Entrepreneurs in a major Southern market want their home to be viewed among the world's fashion hotspots. Find out what they're saying, learn why a tech-billionaire-backed development company thinks shipbuilding could be the key to creating a city in California and more in this week's The National Observer.
Business Journals
25-04-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
SkyDeck exec: AI hype may be waning; tariffs hit spice industry
By submitting your information you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy and User Agreement . Venture capitalists might be less fervent about artificial intelligence than they once were. Editor's note: Welcome to our latest look at coverage from The National Observer, a roundup of top business news and actionable insights from across The Business Journals' network of publications. Get more stories like these every day in your inbox by subscribing to The National Observer newsletter. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events Interest in AI may be coming off of fever pitch More than half of the startups that pitched at accelerator Berkeley SkyDeck's demo day earlier this month featured artificial intelligence as a core part of their business, reported Sara Bloomberg of the San Francisco Business Times. Despite that, SkyDeck Fund managing partner Chon Tang said some of the fever pitch around AI has abated on the investor side. "AI is actually not as hot as it used to be," said Chon Tang, the fund's managing partner. "The investor interest on those companies has been lukewarm, and it's almost like how it used to be two, three years ago, pre-AI, where if you're in an industry I care about, if you have already shown tremendous traction, then I want to meet you." That would be a big shift from the recent excitement surrounding the technology. Nearly one-third of all the venture capital deployed in 2024 went to AI companies, marking an 80% increase over 2023, SFBT's Bloomberg reported in January. But venture capitalists aren't the only ones losing a bit of interest. Managers less keen on replacing workers with AI Managers are changing their tunes on whether they want to replace workers with artificial-intelligence tools, reports Andy Medici of The Playbook. Just 30% of managers said it would be financially beneficial if they could replace large numbers of employees with AI, according to the second-annual manager survey from AI-powered presentation-software firm That's down from 48% last year. The percentage of respondents who said they did not want to replace workers with AI jumped from 39% to 54%, meanwhile, and 63% said they do not believe multiple employees they manage could be replaced by AI tools and still operate well without them (up from 43% last year). Anxiety among workers over generative AI tools has been high since OpenAI's ChatGPT took the world by storm in late 2022, rapidly becoming one of the fastest-growing digital tools. About 58% of managers said their employees are still worried AI tools will eventually cost them their jobs. FULL STORIES: How the spice industry is talking tariffs As U.S. companies scramble to find new suppliers amid soaring tariffs on Chinese imports and broad tariffs everywhere else, one Texas company has found there simply isn't another option, reports James McCandless of the San Antonio Business Journal. A lot of the spice industry's supply chain is international and unmovable, and Adams Extract has its chain set up so that most of its stock is kept in the country of origin and orders are placed as needed, said Paul Nagy, director of procurement at Adams Extract. "We can't grow certain spices here, we can't have an infrastructure in the U.S. because of the climate and because of soil," Nagy said. "We could develop that over decades but it's something we can't really replace tomorrow and it's something we don't compete in." China exported about 2.6 billion pounds of onions and about 4.2 billion pounds of garlic in 2023, according to the World Bank, and much of it ends up in U.S. spice mixes. India has a similar supply of onions and garlic, but it would take years for the American palate to adapt to the difference in taste, Nagy said. The inflexibility in the supply chain means the cost of the tariffs will end up passed toward the consumer. "Most of the tariffs will be passed through eventually," he said. "There may be some amount we can hold back in the beginning because of our stock, but you'll see prices driving up because of the tariff and it'll be within the next month or so that you'll start to see that." FULL STORY: South Texas spice maker: No ready replacement for Chinese supply chains
Business Journals
25-04-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
The National Observer: Is the AI hype wearing off?
Venture capitalists might be less fervent about artificial intelligence than they once were. Editor's note: Welcome to our latest look at coverage from The National Observer, a roundup of top business news and actionable insights from across The Business Journals' network of publications. Get more stories like these every day in your inbox by subscribing to The National Observer newsletter. Interest in AI may be coming off of fever pitch More than half of the startups that pitched at accelerator Berkeley SkyDeck's demo day earlier this month featured artificial intelligence as a core part of their business, reported Sara Bloomberg of the San Francisco Business Times. Despite that, SkyDeck Fund managing partner Chon Tang said some of the fever pitch around AI has abated on the investor side. "AI is actually not as hot as it used to be," said Chon Tang, the fund's managing partner. "The investor interest on those companies has been lukewarm, and it's almost like how it used to be two, three years ago, pre-AI, where if you're in an industry I care about, if you have already shown tremendous traction, then I want to meet you." That would be a big shift from the recent excitement surrounding the technology. Nearly one-third of all the venture capital deployed in 2024 went to AI companies, marking an 80% increase over 2023, SFBT's Bloomberg reported in January. But venture capitalists aren't the only ones losing a bit of interest. Managers less keen on replacing workers with AI Managers are changing their tunes on whether they want to replace workers with artificial-intelligence tools, reports Andy Medici of The Playbook. Just 30% of managers said it would be financially beneficial if they could replace large numbers of employees with AI, according to the second-annual manager survey from AI-powered presentation-software firm That's down from 48% last year. The percentage of respondents who said they did not want to replace workers with AI jumped from 39% to 54%, meanwhile, and 63% said they do not believe multiple employees they manage could be replaced by AI tools and still operate well without them (up from 43% last year). Anxiety among workers over generative AI tools has been high since OpenAI's ChatGPT took the world by storm in late 2022, rapidly becoming one of the fastest-growing digital tools. About 58% of managers said their employees are still worried AI tools will eventually cost them their jobs. FULL STORIES: How the spice industry is talking tariffs As U.S. companies scramble to find new suppliers amid soaring tariffs on Chinese imports and broad tariffs everywhere else, one Texas company has found there simply isn't another option, reports James McCandless of the San Antonio Business Journal. A lot of the spice industry's supply chain is international and unmovable, and Adams Extract has its chain set up so that most of its stock is kept in the country of origin and orders are placed as needed, said Paul Nagy, director of procurement at Adams Extract. "We can't grow certain spices here, we can't have an infrastructure in the U.S. because of the climate and because of soil," Nagy said. "We could develop that over decades but it's something we can't really replace tomorrow and it's something we don't compete in." China exported about 2.6 billion pounds of onions and about 4.2 billion pounds of garlic in 2023, according to the World Bank, and much of it ends up in U.S. spice mixes. India has a similar supply of onions and garlic, but it would take years for the American palate to adapt to the difference in taste, Nagy said. The inflexibility in the supply chain means the cost of the tariffs will end up passed toward the consumer. "Most of the tariffs will be passed through eventually," he said. "There may be some amount we can hold back in the beginning because of our stock, but you'll see prices driving up because of the tariff and it'll be within the next month or so that you'll start to see that." FULL STORY: South Texas spice maker: No ready replacement for Chinese supply chains
Business Journals
23-04-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
Spring housing market stagnates despite increased listings
Homebuyers are gaining leverage and price cuts just hit a milestone, but other factors are putting a damper on what is usually a strong spring real estate market. Like much else about the U.S. economy, tariffs and broader uncertainty are weighing on home sales amid the industry's crucial spring season. In March, more than 375,000 homes were newly listed on the market — an increase of nearly 9% compared to the same time last year, according to Zillow Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ZG) research. But newly pending sales were flat compared to last year, despite slightly lower average mortgage rates in March 2025 compared to a year ago. That's despite several aspects of the market — including price cuts hitting their highest point in at least seven years — shifting to favor buyers. Inventory rose to 1.15 million homes in March, an increase of 19% from last year and the most inventory for buyers in the month of March since 2020, according to Zillow. Inventory is now about 24% below 2018 and 2019 averages for the spring housing market. Stay on top of the latest real estate news by signing up here for The National Observer: Real Estate Edition. During the four-week period that ended April 13, the median home-sale price was down from the same time a year ago in 10 of the 50 most populous U.S. metro areas, most especially in Texas and Florida, according to Redfin Corp. (NASDAQ: RDFN). That's because supply is outpacing demand in most places, especially in hot Sun Belt metros that've seen a lot of homebuilding and in-migration that's cooled since its pandemic peak. Homes today are also sitting on the market for longer. The typical home that went under contract in March had been listed for 47 days, according to Redfin. That's the slowest pace tracked by Redfin since the Covid-19 pandemic. These factors are adding up to a sluggish spring homebuying season, usually the start of the housing market's most active time of year. And while the U.S. housing market is finally shifting to favor buyers, the underpinnings for that change aren't necessarily in buyers' favor. "We really haven't seen that big spring lift that's in the traditional spring selling season, where sales spike up and you hit that peak," said Sean Fergus, executive director of economic research at real estate data firm Zonda. "It feels like it's a little bit in a holding pattern, with so much uncertainty and volatility in the market right now." Among new-home sales tracked by Zonda, 650,355 new homes sold in March at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate, a decline of 3.2% from February and down 11.5% from a year ago. In its monthly survey, Zonda also found 32% of builders lowered their prices in March, 53% held prices flat and 15% raised prices. In February, 21% of builders lowered their prices from the month prior, 61% kept prices the same and 18% raised their prices. The slowdown in new-home sales comes as builders are grappling with higher materials and labor costs because of White House tariff and immigration policy. "Some of the markets are seeing softness in home prices, like Florida and Texas, and an increase in new home inventory sitting there," said Brian Bernard, director of industrials equity research at Morningstar who tracks public homebuilders. "If the spring selling season is solid, it would work through that, but it feels like this season has been mixed, at best. If [builders] don't have a great spring selling season, that's more of a reason for pullback on starts." One positive from the amount of resale listings coming to market means the market is moving to a healthier inventory level than it's had for some time, Fergus said. More options within the greater housing market is ultimately a good thing, he added. And while new home sales have pulled back about 10% in the past year, according to Zonda, they're still 4% higher than they were at this time in 2019, Fergus said. "[More inventory] could have longer upside potential, especially if rates come down, attracting more potential buyers," Fergus said, although he added Zonda is not expecting mortgage rates to come down significantly in the near term. Mortgage rates, a key lever in the housing market, have also not moved much recently, with the 30-year fixed rate hitting an average of 6.83% last week, according to Freddie Mac data. Rates have largely been hovering in the mid- to high 6% to low 7% range for the past year. Shift to a buyer's market The change happening in the housing market is somewhat nuanced. It's not that buyer demand has recently or suddenly dropped off but, rather, demand from homebuyers isn't growing while supply is. Chen Zhao, head of economics research at Redfin, said homebuyer demand has actually been weakening since mid-2022, when interest rates began to rise. But since that time, and through 2024, supply remained low. Inventory in recent weeks and months has been picking up, through both new construction and resale homes. "You might expect that, since 2023 or 2024, as people get more used to these high mortgage rates, demand would naturally start to increase," Zhao said. "And demand would have to increase in some sense if you have more homeowners selling their homes — a lot of them have to buy another home if they're move-up buyers. Demand is somehow not increasing." That's because economic turmoil has sidelined buyers who now may be more reticent to make what's likely the biggest investment of their lives by purchasing a house, both Zhao and Fergus said. Cameron LaPoint, assistant professor of finance at the Yale School of Management whose research includes housing affordability, said in addition to consumer sentiment, major climate events, such as last fall's hurricanes and the wildfires in Los Angeles in January, may also be cutting demand for housing. He added tariff's ripple effects could make other monthly housing costs more expensive, too, such as homeowners insurance, which has already been soaring in recent years because of more severe weather risks from climate change. Homes are now spending four additional days on the market compared with this time last year, according to And more sellers are slashing their prices, with about 23% of the listings on Zillow receiving a price cut in March — the highest share for any March since at least 2018, according to Zillow. While price cuts may be welcome in a housing market laden with affordability challenges, especially since the pandemic, many would-be buyers are pausing big purchases right now. "Some are saying, if [there's] a recession, mortgage rates will fall, that will bring back housing demand," Zhao said. "If you're in a recession with the [higher] tariffs, I'm not even sure mortgage rates will fall. That also doesn't necessarily bring back demand, depending on the severity of the recession. If we assume mortgage rates stay where they are, you can have higher demand than what we're seeing right now." For buyer demand to come back meaningfully, consumers need to have more certainty about the direction of the economy, she added.
