Mark Martiak, Managing Director Investments Alliance Global Partners

In February 2021 alone, luxury residential real estate sales in Manhattan have had their best performance since late February into March 2015, with 144 contracts signed above $4 Mil. YTD, there has been a 47 percent increase in Contracts signed year-over-year.

U.S. stocks were set to trade higher Wednesday March 24 against an uncertain backdrop for COVID-19 in parts of the world.

Global gross domestic product growth is now expected at 5.6% this year, more than 1 percentage point above the OECD’s December forecast, thanks to the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and the U.S. stimulus, it said. The world economy is seen expanding by 4% in 2022. The U.S. economy would expand by 6.5% this year, China by 7.8% and the eurozone by 3.9%. But faster and more effective vaccination deployment across the world is critical, the OECD warns. More jabs, more jobs, it adds.... The organization also notes that there are increasing signs of divergence across countries and sectors, and that resources required to provide vaccines to lower-income countries are small compared with the gains from a stronger and faster global economic recovery.

Playboy rejoined the public markets after a decade as a private company. Now called PLBY Group, the company hardly resembles the male-focused, Hugh Hefner-founded media business of the past. Instead, Playboy is now a more inclusive global consumer-products startup, but under a decades-old brand with established positioning and worldwide recognizability. The CEO Ben Kohn says that licensed and owned Playboy-branded products accounted for over $3 billion in spending in more than 180 countries last year. That includes lingerie and sex toys, perfumes, furniture, fashion-forward apparel, and more. The company wants to both grow that pie and own a larger slice of it for itself, through adding new products and acquiring complementary brands that fit under the Playboy halo.

Bumble went public today, and its debut was as well received as you'd expect any initial public offering to be in these frothy times. The shares closed up almost 64%, at $70.31, giving Bumble a market value of about $13.6 billion. Bumble sold 50 million shares at $43 each, raising $2.2 billion. "Love is profitable" said the dating app's CEO.