President Joe Biden and his team announced 30 planned actions during the first supply chain resilience council meeting to improve diversity and shore up the flow of goods and relevant data. Some of the actions include improving the ability of agencies to share data and monitor supply chains and expansion of the Freight Logistics Optimization Works network.

Sales of new US single-family homes fell by 5.6% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 679,000 units. However, sales increased 17.7% from a year earlier. Higher mortgage rates are hurting affordability and slowing construction, but a marked decline in previously owned properties on the market is supporting new home sales.

Amazon can prepare packages for dispatch within 11 minutes of an order at same-day facilities employing AI, an hour faster than next- or two-day centers. AI is also being used for delivery route plotting that adapts to real-time weather and traffic and demand forecasting for more than 400 million products, and Tye Brady, Amazon Robotics' chief technologist predicts the technology "will touch just about every piece of our supply chain."

Amazon delivered more packages end-to-end than FedEx and UPS and is on track to widen the gap this year, according to Wall Street Journal sources, while USPS still holds the lead for package volume. Amazon has been building out its logistics network, increasing its volume and share of deliveries, while competitors say they've been more focused on delivery profitability.

Total occupied warehouse space in the US during the third quarter marked the 55th consecutive quarterly increase but marked the third lowest increase over that period, according to commercial real estate firm Transwestern. Likewise, rents continued reaching new highs for the 25th consecutive quarter, with the average topping $9 per square foot.

Increasing sales and revenue has been the primary goal for 22% of marketing leaders, while 19% have been keenly focused on sales and marketing alignment, fostering customer relationships and boosting brand loyalty, marketing effectiveness or improving customer understanding of their product or services, according to HubSpot research. Caroline Forsey offers tips to help marketers excel on all fronts.

AI can prove beneficial in "kickstarting the muse" for creativity and help "connect our ideas, concepts and goals" that can then be synchronized between groups and yield positive disruption, writes Vu Dang, leader of agency SCS' Design Studio. AI "creates new opportunities to rethink and reforge not only each of the individual disciplines that exist in marketing but how they all relate together," Dang writes.

Investors are increasingly convinced the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in the first half of next year. Interest-rate futures indicate a 52% chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter percentage point by May, up from 29% in October, CME Group data shows. Investors also expect four rate cuts by the end of 2024.

A survey by NORC at the University of Chicago found only 13% of employers are offering new incentives such as higher pay to satisfy employees who don't want to work in the office, even though 75% of HR representatives say keeping those employees is a problem. "Once workers discovered that (remote work could be) less expensive and ... make their life a little easier, they just wanted to keep doing it, even once the pandemic began fading away," says Marjorie Connelly, senior fellow at NORC's Public Affairs & Media Research department.

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Experience three days of excellent networking opportunities, cutting-edge content, and educational programming for leaders in the wholesale-distribution industry at NAW's Executive Summit Jan. 30 - Feb. 1. Hear from world-class speakers and explore issues critical to the industry. Be prepared for what's next and learn new strategies to get there first. View agenda and registration information here.