The Business Journal’s final issue of 2018 features our 2019 Economic Preview, and who better to give their take on where the economy is headed than 2000s Bond King of the Decade Bill Gross.
Gross told our Peter J. Brennan last week that he doesn’t see an immediate recession in 2019, but rather a slowdown to growth of 1% to 2%, and low inflation. “It’s a particularly dicey time,” he said.
Chapman University economist and President Emeritus Jim Doti a week ago predicted U.S. GDP growth of 2.4% and 1.7% job growth in OC next year—check back here a year from now to see how those two experts’ forecasts turn out, along with a slate of 2019 predictions from our staff members in this week’s issue.
Gross added that he sees stocks as a “relatively attractive value.”
So do we. We’re bullish on Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., Edwards Lifesciences Corp. and Five Point Holdings LLC, in particular. Banks, not so much.
Our front page story on the PIMCO co-founder and Janus Henderson bond manager largely focuses on his new $380 million foundation; an initial donation is going to support the Orange County Teachers of the Year awards.
Might a few recipients of that funding come from Santa Ana’s El Sol Science and Arts Academy?
The charter school—which serves about 1,000 students in preschool through eighth grade—was one of four recently honored with an America’s Best Urban Schools Award for the year, presented by the National Center for Urban School Transformation. Not bad for a school established in 2001.
El Sol “has a dual language program in Spanish and English and middle school students [can] use their bilingual skills in the community for service projects,” noted a write-up on the award in trade publication Urban Educator.
El Sol Executive Director Monique Daviss, meet Bill Gross…
It’s been written that Paul Musco has a heart of gold. Make that heart of palladium for the benefactor of Chapman’s performing arts center, OC’s opera scene and numerous local charities.
A New York Times article noted that palladium, an “obscure and far less sexy rival” to gold in terms of precious metals, this month hit a record high price, and overtook gold as the world’s most valuable commodity for a period.
They both stood around $1,260 an ounce as of press time.
Readers of our profile on Musco last month might remember that his Gemini Industries Inc. reclaims precious metals, like platinum, aluminum and iridium—as well as palladium—that are used in catalysts to refine crude oil.
A final prediction for the year ahead: you haven’t heard the last opera in OC.
