Chicago Economic & Finance News

[Nowhereman1280]

Originally Posted by lawfin

^^^^Yeah I think that the odds end favorite is somewhere in the western - diversery Milw corridor. I am fairly certain many of those guys live in the wicker-park - bucktown- ls nexus....I myself do not know them; but I have a friend who is in the beer business who does know them & that is what he said. I'd say maybe pilsen - bridgeport - even douglas park could be darkhorse.

I offcourse am hoping for RP....that isn't going to happen but one can dream

Yeah, a lot of the FFF employees do live in those areas, but I'm fairly certain the Floyds themselves still live in Indiana. I've only met Nick Floyd once, but it seemed from the discussion that he still lives across the boarder. As I mentioned I have several contacts with FFF and they all live in the areas you mentioned.

Also, I would absolutely die if they built it in Douglas Park. As I mentioned I've been exploring some bets on that area lately some of which would pay off huge if FFF was added to the Cinespace-Lagunitas mix. Then again, having it built at the end of my street would pay off even more, either way I'm just happy they are putting their stamp on Chicago. FFF is a world-class cultural gem and, even though they are based in Indiana, they are considered a Chicago brewery. Having a flagship brewpub in Chicago will only cement that idea in people's heads.

[rgolch]

CME to throw bid for LME

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...s-for-lme.html

[the urban politician]

^ Seems like everybody's trying to get in on that action. I hope CME gets a bit aggressive with their bid. It would be great to see them become the world's premier metals marketplace

[the urban politician]

Great video about an innovative and promising new Chicago retailing company based in River North



Edo to roll out real-time, location based consumer deals

By Wailin Wong
May 8, 2012

Edo Interactive, a digital marketing company backed by Chicago-based Baird Venture Partners, said Tuesday it is rolling out a new service that delivers real-time, location-based offers to consumers when they make purchases at local businesses.

Edo is based in Nashville, but Chief Executive Ed Braswell said Chicago is considered a "co-headquarters" for the technology company. It employs 12 people in Chicago and will double or triple that number over the next 120 days, he said. Edo has 50 total employees and will grow to 110 by year-end.

[Tom In Chicago]

I found this article interesting. . .

http://www.suntimes.com/business/124...spections.html

A side-note to the article caught my attention. . .

Also on Wednesday, Emanuel introduced an ordinance that would pave the way for pushcart vendors to sell produce, nuts, grain, flowers and bottled water on private plazas or in “limited public locations” on sidewalks and near mass transit stations. It’s part of the mayor’s plan to wipe out “food deserts,” officials said.

. . .

[rgolch]

Trib article on how Emanuel is helping business environment:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,1175052.story

CME not thought to be among highest bids for LME:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,3536296.story

Illinois coal making a comeback:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,7899623.story

[HowardL]

Originally Posted by rgolch

CME not thought to be among highest bids for LME:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,3536296.story

Which may not necessarily be a bad thing. Not opening with your highest bid can be a good approach. If HKEx puts in their top bid now, then they have less room to maneuver when LME decides that they would like to see how much they are really worth and bids need to be revisited.

HKEx seems a little too hungry.

In any case, I am biased but I do think CME is the best fit for a London metals market. LME would fit very nicely into and augment CME's existing COMEX and NYMEX metals asset class. Clearing Europe is already in place. CME does not need LME but it would be nice to have.

[the urban politician]

CNN's list of the to 100 fastest growing inner city companies in the US has 12 companies from Chicago, easily beating out every other city.

I knew that in the midst of all the bad news, there are some promising numbers for Chicago.

Compared to other metros, (by my fly-by count):

Metro NY (including Connecticut, Woodhaven, NY): 6
Los Angeles: 5
Washington, DC: I counted 4 or 5

Chicago really blows away the competition by this measure

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

Originally Posted by HowardL

Which may not necessarily be a bad thing. Not opening with your highest bid can be a good approach. If HKEx puts in their top bid now, then they have less room to maneuver when LME decides that they would like to see how much they are really worth and bids need to be revisited.

HKEx seems a little too hungry.

In any case, I am biased but I do think CME is the best fit for a London metals market. LME would fit very nicely into and augment CME's existing COMEX and NYMEX metals asset class. Clearing Europe is already in place. CME does not need LME but it would be nice to have.

Thanks for the insight. You're really knowledgeable about CME. Are you in the industry?

Originally Posted by the urban politician

CNN's list of the to 100 fastest growing inner city companies in the US has 12 companies from Chicago, easily beating out every other city.

I knew that in the midst of all the bad news, there are some promising numbers for Chicago.

Compared to other metros, (by my fly-by count):

Metro NY (including Connecticut, Woodhaven, NY): 6
Los Angeles: 5
Washington, DC: I counted 4 or 5

Chicago really blows away the competition by this measure

This. Is. Awesome.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Ch.G, Ch.G

This. Is. Awesome.

^ I just thought that the link I provided above was a nice indicator of new trends which may be brewing under the surface. Chicago has a lot of industries that have left town or collapsed, and that has wreaked havoc upon its economy, but from the ashes we see plenty of signs of new life, and that is crucial.

The OECD review mentioned a talent/employment gap occurring in Chicago, but perhaps in part that is contributing to so much entrepreneurship in the city. A lot of people are sticking around and creating their own companies, doing their own thing and that seems to be reflected in part in the above numbers.

What is nice about Chicago is that when you look at that list of 12 companies, you see a diversity of industries:

manufacturing
logistics
digital media
telecommunications
financial services
web design
marketing

Chicago’s tremendous economic diversity serves it well here.

Interestingly, America’s “dream city” Houston only has 2 companies on the list. Also interesting is Nashville’s performance, with 6 companies on the list. This is impressive considering Nashville’s size compared to all of the big boys.

Here is the same list for last year:

http://money.cnn.com/smallbusiness/f...ist/index.html

Interestingly, Chicago wins in this list as well, but this time its lead is less over its rivals, with 7 companies. In this list, San Francisco has about 5, but if you include Oakland then the Bay Area either ties or wins at 7 or 8.

So Chicago pulled even further ahead of the field this year, and it also appears that Nashville has recently stepped it up a notch, while the Bay Area took a bit of a hit, only having 3 companies on the list for this year.

These lists also point to some good indicators for Detroit as well, which seems to have a good handful of companies on the list for each year. Keep in mind that this list is for “inner city” companies only, so the “inner city” of Detroit, which has long been struggling, does show signs of life. Great to see. We need other midwestern cities to enter the global age as well.

[the urban politician]

City to Give $2 Million to Companies That Hire City Colleges Grads

May 12, 2012

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Saturday announced a $2 million stipend for companies willing to hire City Colleges of Chicago graduates.

[Centropolis]

What is the definition of " inner city," in that case anyway? I'm think of how this definition would apply to more sunbelt type cities with huge core city boundaries vs say, a city surrounded by "inner city." Obviously Chicago is like that but that's not really what I mean.

[YakuzaIce]

Originally Posted by Centropolis

What is the definition of " inner city," in that case anyway? I'm think of how this definition would apply to more sunbelt type cities with huge core city boundaries vs say, a city surrounded by "inner city." Obviously Chicago is like that but that's not really what I mean.

"The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) defines inner cities as core urban areas with higher unemployment and poverty rates and lower median incomes than their surrounding metropolitan statistical areas. For the 2012 list, ICIC received more than 2,000 solicited nominations using its database of small businesses and through the support of its nominating partners, including the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Staples, New York City Department of Small Business Services, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Companies were ranked by compound annual growth rate (CAGR) based on their revenue over the five-year period between 2006 and 2010, the last year for which complete data was available. This list was audited by the independent accounting firm of Rucci Bardaro and Barrett, PC. "

[emathias]

Emanuel announces thousands of jobs in O'Hare cargo deal
Crains Chicago Business
Full text here

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Monday announced the development of a huge cargo center on the northeast edge of O'Hare International Airport, a facility he said would create thousands of jobs.

In a press conference with Aeroterm LLC, the mayor said an agreement has been reached on a deal in which it will develop a $200 million cargo facility on 65 acres area near Johnson Road and Patton Drive, not too far from a recently opened new runway.

The city will chip in $62 million in airport funds for the project — apparently for infrastructure. Aeroterm, which already operates some cargo facilities at the airport, will put up $130 million.

Mr. Emanuel said the project would create 1,200 construction jobs and 1,200 permanent, on-site cargo jobs that would spur another 10,000 related positions throughout the Chicago area.

Officials have talked on and off for years about developing new cargo facilities as part of the O'Hare Modernization Program. Those extra plans soured with the bad economy.

But the OMP runway work "has paved the way for this project to commence," said city Aviation Commissioner Rosemarie Andolino, with the airport now capable of handling the latest generation of Boeing 747-8 cargo planes.

...

[the urban politician]

^ I'm kind of hoping this is Chicago's way of saying to Smisek, "O'Hare doesn't need more capacity, eh? Well, here's some more cargo traffic, let us know when you've changed your mind"

Great news on the jobs

[uaarkson]

Chicago is getting up on its feet.

[bnk]

The details in pdf

http://www.aeroterm.com/chicago/images/Brochure.pdf

[the urban politician]

Groupon's revenue up 89% in Q1

[F1 Tommy]

Originally Posted by emathias

Emanuel announces thousands of jobs in O'Hare cargo deal
Crains Chicago Business
Full text here

Long overdue. I show ORD as number 6 in US cargo tonnes. 3 airports above O'hare are FED EX and UPS hubs along with ANC wich is a fuel stop. As the new 747's come on line fuel stops will be fewer. ATL is not even on the map.

[the urban politician]

Always great to see this kind of collaboration between Chicago's heavyweight research institutions:

Argonne to work with Northwestern, U of C on materials science research

The idea is to accelerate development of new materials that will lead to cost-effective solar cells, car batteries and other products.

"At Argonne, we are working toward that goal by building and expanding a materials innovation ecosystem in the Chicago — an ecosystem that leverages the power of discovery science, the deep expertise of academia, the energetic spirit of entrepreneurialism and the pragmatic focus of industry — all powered by the unique suite of scientific facilities at Argonne," Mr. Isaacs said in his prepared remarks.