North America In the U.S.: The White House continues to be on defense as new details emerge regarding the whistleblower report showing a potential cover up of the President’s call with the Ukrainian president where it appears that President Trump urged the Ukrainian president to pursue an investigation into his political rival Joe Biden. Congress has opened an official impeachment inquiry, which has been labeled a witch hunt by the White House. REIT Focus: Paramount Group, Inc. (PGRE) announced the sale of Liberty Place in Washington D.C. for $154.5M. Paramount Group plans to use the proceeds to fund its recent purchase of Market Center in San Francisco. ASIA In China: Trade talks with the US seem to have de-escalated this

North America In the U.S.: As expected, the Fed cut rates by 25 bps. Fed chair Jerome H. Powell, said at a news conference after the meeting that the United States economy remained strong and unemployment low, but that “there are risks to this positive outlook.” If the economy weakens, he said, a “more extensive sequence” of rate cuts could be appropriate.The US announced new sanctions against Iran’s central bank in response to the attack on Saudi oil fields this past weekend. The Pentagon on Thursday called the attacks a “dramatic escalation” of tensions in the region.  REIT Focus: Bloomberg reported that CyrusOne (CONE) has drawn interest from Digital Realty Trust (DLR). CyrusOne was previously reported to be exploring a

North America In the U.S.: A Reuters poll showed that most economists expect the Fed to cut the fed funds rate by 25bp at the next FOMC meeting. Also, nearly 80% of over 60 economists said US-China trade relations would either worsen or stay the same by the end of next year. President Trump floated two financial reforms this week. The first was the idea of indexing capital gains to inflation and the second was to be a “very substantial” middle class tax cut. As usual, there was no concrete details surrounding these two ideas. REIT Focus: HCP, Inc. (HCP) announced the acquisition of 224K sq. ft. LEED Gold Laboratory building in West Cambridge for $332.5M. The building is 100%

North America Several members of the FOMC committee spoke this week with some showing support for cuts of 50 bps while other others supported no cuts. On Thursday the Wall Street Journal new Fed whisperer Nick Timiraos wrote that “officials are gearing up to reduce interest rates at their next policy meeting in two weeks, most likely by a quarter-percentage point, as the trade war between the U.S. and China darkens the global economic outlook.”This week had a record level of bond issuance of at least 29.65B. Apple, Deere, and Walt Disney among others issued debt to capture low rates.Argentina government imposed capital control to prevent a further reduction of foreign currency reserves. In the decree released on Sunday the

North America In the U.S.: Bloomberg reported that the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee (TBAC) is again likely to counsel Treasury Secretary Mnuchin against issuing ultra-long bonds as they would not be sustainable over the long-term. Although Mr. Mnuchin is not bound by the TBAC’s recommendation, he shelved a similar plan in 2017 following TBAC’s analysis. REIT Focus: Piedmont Office Realty Trust (PDM) announced that it has completed the purchase of Galleria 400 and Galleria 600, two office towers totaling approximately 860,000 square feet and an adjacent 10.2 acre land parcel entitled for one million square feet of additional development for a total of $231.2M. The acquisition is located within The Galleria, is a master-planned, mixed-use development in northwest Atlanta. ASIA