Kickstart: Business leaders expect a rebound in 2020

Would you say that your outlook for your business is in positive territory right now? Or maybe it's just positive compared to a couple of months ago?

The latest survey of business conditions conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago shows that business leaders in the region are "surprisingly upbeat about recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic," our sister paper Crain's Chicago Business reports, adding that "economic activity in the Midwest not only rebounded in June, but was the best it's been since late 2018."

The survey asks leaders to rate the local economy on a scale from +3 to -3. Those numbers are combined into an index. Anything better than 0 shows that growth is greater than historical rates.

In June, manufacturers placed the comeback at a 31. That compares to -95 in April and -21 in May.

At the same time, however, business leaders expected the rate of hiring and spending on capital expenditures will slow during the next 12 months.

Everyone knows that sturdy shipping totes are designed to be used multiple times. An Amazon warehouse in Ohio is finding even more ways to use them, stacking the totes as temporary barriers to keep workers socially distanced.

Our sister paper Crain's Cleveland Business noted in a story that "corridors built from stacks of yellow storage totes — the same bins that ferry gadgets, books and household goods on a winding path through the building — channeled one-way, single-file traffic. A checkerboard of tape on the floor showed the path employees should follow when approaching the time clocks."

That's not the only low-tech solution at the North Randall site. As seen in the photo above, the site also uses a plexiglass pod on wheels during activities where workers can't stand at least 6 feet apart.

This week's print issue of Plastics News takes a look at what's been happening with mergers and acquisitions in 2020. I'm sure you're not shocked to learn that the number of deals is down.

As Frank Esposito notes, the number of deals for plastics and packaging fell by almost one-third in the first half of 2020, dropping from 169 to 115, according to P&M Corporate Finance of Southfield, Mich.

Major declines were seen in April with only 11 deals and May with only six deals. The market rebounded strongly in June, however, when 25 deals were recorded. In the food and beverage market, deals dropped to 13 from 37 for the first half of 2020 vs. 2019. There were only 10 deals in medical for the first half of 2020, compared to 19 in 2019.

Check out plasticsnews.com later today for more on the M&A business in 2020.