Forward-looking components in the RSM US Middle Market Business Index imply that midsize firms are ready to expand hiring and bolster compensation over the next six months as the real economy reopens and enters a hyper-competitive post-pandemic period. We expect middle-market hiring will boom ahead of the April U.S. employment report, which will be ... READ MORE >
middle market
Inflation-adjusted interest rates, investment and the middle market
A confluence of events and policy shifts has coalesced into a unique opportunity for middle market firms to make long-term strategic investments in their firms. Interest rates, once adjusted for inflation, reside in negative terrain. This implies that firms should take advantage of those historically low borrowing costs to increase productivity-enhancing ... READ MORE >
Small and medium size firms in crisis: A message from the real economy
The condition of small and medium-size firms implies a potential inflection point in the nascent economic rebound following the near shutdown of the economy last spring. Without further reform and support of the signature Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)—which provided a vital lifeline to those firms during the worst of the pandemic—there will be an ... READ MORE >
A spring unlike any other: Ground rules for reopening
Thirty states have coronavirus reproduction rates of greater than one (R>1), meaning that each infected person is expected to spread the virus to more than one other person. This implies that the timing of reopening the economy may have been premature and the rules framing that reopening may have involved too much risk, as the first wave of the pandemic ... READ MORE >
CARES Act expands access to loans for small and midsize businesses
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act signed into law on Friday, March 27, 2020, provides various options for small and midsize businesses facing liquidity challenges from the COVID-19 crisis. The three options included under the act include the U.S. Small Business Administration Economic Injury Disaster Loan Assistance Program; ... READ MORE >
U.S. manufacturing sector hit hard by COVID-19, new RSM data shows
The recession in the U.S. manufacturing sector that began in the second half of 2019 has been sharply exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, new proprietary data from RSM shows. Significantly more middle market manufacturers reported losses to U.S. revenue and greater disruptions to operations and their supply chains than the retail, technology and fintech ... READ MORE >
The new tech economy is all about location, location, location
Economic output in the United States is increasingly revealing a geographic divide, with a greater share of gross domestic product being concentrated in the nation’s largest metropolitan areas. In 2018, 31 counties generated 32% of U.S. gross domestic output, according to a report in Bloomberg based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The ... READ MORE >
Private equity is booming. So why are fewer middle market launches planned for 2020?
These are heady times for the private equity industry. With interest rates low and doubts swirling about the bull market’s longevity – not to mention dreary returns in the competing hedge fund industry – investors are pouring cash into private equity funds. Indeed, there is more private equity capital to deploy than ever before. According to Preqin, a ... READ MORE >
Women outnumber men in the workforce, and the middle market must adapt
Rarely are inflection points in the history of an economy or a nation observed in real time. Profound change is often only identified long after it has occurred. The December U.S. employment report provided a hint that the U.S. labor market, economy and the basic organization structure of the relationship between work and the individual has reached an ... READ MORE >
Middle market hedge funds, facing a squeeze, look to AI and alternative data
Hedge funds appear vulnerable headed in to 2020. Portfolio gains have been sluggish, fees are at their lowest levels since tracking began, and 2019 ended a five-year period when investors pulled out more money than they invested in the industry. This all took place amid increased geopolitical risk resulting from China trade tensions and, most recently, ... READ MORE >