Despite labor shortages, high inflation and supply chain issues, business creation is alive and well. Yelp says 637,000 new businesses opened their doors across the nation last year, up 12% from pre-pandemic 2019.
The growth was driven largely by new home and local services businesses. Hotel and travel businesses saw 28% growth, while auto services grew 25%. Beauty services were up 17%. Meanwhile, new restaurants, shopping and nightlife business openings fell behind pre-pandemic levels.
Newbuilding order volumes for vessels shrank by 39% last year, despite record ordering of LNG carriers. Tanker orders dropped by 64%, while bulker orders fell 54%. Orders in 2022 were dominated by LNG carriers with a record 182 vessels.
Futures are Down after stocks closed mixed yesterday. The Dow Industrials gained 104, but the NASDAQ fell 30 and the S&P 500 slipped 2.





