Blackhawk Capital Group

03/19/2022

Even if the broader luxury market holds up, sanctions — or the threat of sanctions — pose awkward questions. If an apartment is effectively frozen in a luxury building because of sanctions, for example, could that affect the value of others? If the unit was not purchased outright, would the lender take a hit?

Many are selling up for fear of being caught in US sanctions over Putin’s invasion of Ukraine

06/13/2020

CLO's are loans made to companies that have maxed out their borrowing and can no longer sell bonds directly to investors or qualify for a traditional bank loan. There are more than $1 trillion worth of leveraged loans currently outstanding.

Just as easy mortgages fueled economic growth in the 2000s, cheap corporate debt has done so in the past decade, and many companies have binged on it.

The U.S. financial system could be on the cusp of calamity. This time, we might not be able to save it.

12/26/2018

05/21/2018

Major tech players, including Amazon.com, Google, LinkedIn and, of course, Salesforce have all dropped big money on space in rising buildings in and around Transbay. The incoming 43-story office building at 250 Howard, dubbed "Park Tower" and located in the middle of the new Transbay development cluster, will make Facebook the third largest office tenant in San Francisco, as the Silicon Valley Business Journal reports that they plan to lease the entirety of the available space.

Tech mammoth reportedly set to lease entire 743,000 square feet of Transbay tower.

05/21/2018

Only *twice* before have we seen the ratio, or "cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings" top 30. Slightly-above average valuations may be justified by still-low interest rates and relatively low inflation. If earnings growth for the rest of the year remains meets forecasts, stocks could be in for a double-digit percentage rise from here.

“When we combine reasonable valuations with solid fundamentals and a positive technical and sentiment backdrop, stocks look like a potential opportunity to us,” wrote LPL Financial strategists John Lynch and Jeffrey Buchbinder, in a note to investors.

05/15/2018

As rates rise, worth looking at sovereign debt figures around the world. The U.S. is a prime example of “debt creep” – the country hasn’t posted an annual budget surplus since 2001, when the federal debt was only $6.9 trillion (54% of GDP). Fast forward to today, and the debt has ballooned to roughly $20 trillion (107% of GDP), which is equal to 31.8% of the world’s sovereign debt nominally.

The US holds more than 30% of global debt.

05/09/2018

Stock market margin debt is at an extreme (above levels in 2000 and 2007), that suggests forced selling could become a problem once again.

10/08/2014

Buffett also emphasized the appeal of 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, which can be refinanced if rates fall or remain outstanding if rates rise. That provides a way to bet against higher borrowing costs, with a hedge against a decline.

Shorting interest rates is a bet they will rise. The average rate on a typical 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 4.19 percent last week, Freddie Mac surveys show. That compares with the 6.14 percent average during the past two decades.

“It’s an incredibly attractive instrument,” Buffett said. “It’s a 30-minute instrument if you’ve been wrong on interest rates and it’s a 30-year instrument if you’ve been right on interest rates.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-07/buffett-says-no-brainer-to-get-mortgage-to-short-rates.html

Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said he was puzzled by the sluggish rebound in U.S. home construction amid near record-low interest rates and a broader recovery in the economy.

07/13/2011

Blackhawk Capital Group recently closed on a 7-year commerical lease for OCZ Technology Inc., negoitiating under-market rent terms and favorable lease economics.

“Our new facility enables us to more than double the amount of resources for the design and engineering of new products and makes it possible to further expand our validation and support departments, all of which translates to even better service and the introduction of increasingly innovative solutions for our customers in the years to come.” -CEO, Ryan Petersen