The Trial Balance is CFO’s weekly preview of stories, stats and events to help you prepare.
Part 1 — Governor Kathy Hochul to host meeting with execs on safety in NYC
In the wake of the murder of UnitedHealthcare divisional CEO Brian Armstrong, which has drawn international attention due to widely circulated macabre video footage, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced last week that her team will host a virtual meeting with 175 companies and their security personnel to discuss “intelligence” that says “a certain class of individuals are being targeted.”
The focus of the meeting will be on how law enforcement and private security teams can work together to keep business leaders safe in New York City. Hochul said the meeting, which will be hosted by Director of State Operations Kathryn Garcia, will be “proactive.”
Wylde detailed the state-representing attendees to Politico, which include State Police representatives as well as state Homeland Security and counterterrorism officials. “It’s a demonstration that New York really has the most prepared and informed counterterrorism capacity in the country,” Wylde said. “There’s nowhere safer to be.”
None of the private organizations and their security leaders have been publicly named. However, Wylde’s comments indicate Hochul confided in her regarding concerns around the sentiment of New York’s corporate leadership shortly after the recent shooting. “She understood how serious the impact of both the killing and the hateful reaction to it is, and she wants to make sure that the state resources, specifically the domestic counterterrorism resources, are focused on being supportive, sharing information,” Wylde said of her initial conversation with Hochul.
The move likely comes as an effort to help quell the growing list of reasons businesses are choosing to operate outside the Empire State. New York’s ability to headquarter and build businesses has been diminished in recent years, directly cutting into the state’s future corporate tax revenue.
This trillion-dollar exodus can be attributed to the city’s political leadership, including Mayor Eric Adams, who is under FBI investigation, is in the midst of a political flip, and has been most recently denied public money for reelection. Hochul’s leaky administration has also faced criticism for its attempts to raise taxes on businesses to compensate for overspending and her recent double reverse on congestion pricing, which has led to growing disapproval.
While the idea of economic growth despite poor political leadership is embedded in the city’s economic history, the security of its executives, particularly amid rising crime, is a new challenge that state officials already have a poor track record of addressing for the non-executive population.
Part 2 — This week
Here’s a list of important market events slated for the week ahead.
Monday, Dec. 16
- Empire State manufacturing survey, Dec.
- S&P flash U.S. services PMI, Dec.
- S&P flash U.S. manufacturing PMI, Dec.
Tuesday, Dec. 17
- U.S. retail sales, Nov.
- Retail sales minus autos, Nov.
- Industrial production, Nov.
- Home builder confidence index, Dec.
Wednesday, Dec. 18
Thursday, Dec. 19
- Initial jobless claims, week of Dec. 14
- Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey, Dec.
- U.S. leading economic indicators, Nov.
Friday, Dec. 20
- PCE index, Nov.
- Core PCE index, Nov.
- Consumer sentiment (final), Dec.
Part 3 — Chipotle CFO Q&A, Vertex CFO’s morning, the future of corporate DEI policies
This week, CFO.com will publish a Q&A with Chipotle’s newly expedited CFO Adam Rymer (12/19), an edition of The 6 a.m. CFO Series with Vertex’s finance chief John Schwab and a story on how CFOs can handle the shifting sentiment around DEI policies in 2025.
