By Logan B. Anderson

DOVER — Mid-Delaware business and community leaders were served some cautious optimism, plans for investment and designs for future growth, along with their bacon and eggs, during the Central Delaware Chamber of Commerce Economic Forecast Breakfast on Thursday morning.

The event, held at Maple Dale Country Club in Dover, featured David F. Boothe, of BIG Investment Services; Cerron Cade, Delaware’s director of the Office of Management and Budget; and Michael Petit de Mange, Kent County administrator, as its speakers. The morning gathering was sponsored by BIG Investments.

The CDCC Economic Forecast Breakfast is in its eighth year and aims to present chamber members and attendees with a snapshot of what is happening in the local economy. The breakfast was originally scheduled for January but concerns about the surge in COVID-19 cases forced it to be rescheduled to Feb. 10.

“I think it’s going to be a positive year, but it’s going to be a bumpy ride,” Mr. Boothe said.

BIG Investment Services is a Dover-based financial planning firm that provides estate, retirement and education fund planning along with investment, risk and tax management.

Mr. Boothe told the audience that when it comes to investments, the U.S. is in a secular bull market.

A secular market is one driven by forces that could be in place for many years, causing the price of a particular investment or asset class to rise or fall over a long period. In a secular bull market, positive conditions push stock prices higher.

He warned against investing in what he called “COVID stocks.” He described Peloton, the exercise equipment company, as one of those stocks. Last year, at the height of the pandemic and during lockdowns around the globe, the company’s stock was trading at about $160 per share. Now it’s less than $40 per share.

Thanks to economic bailouts and stimulus checks related to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Boothe said the economy was flush with cash and doesn’t see a painful slowdown in the immediate future.

“I think there is still a lot of runway in front of us until we have to worry about the next recession. Understand this, recessions cause the worst bear markets ... Nothing indicates we are anywhere near recession,” Mr. Boothe said.

He told economy watchers on Thursday that they should expect interest rates to increase soon. He said investors should also keep an eye on Ukraine but that China is the region to really watch. “I don’t think it’s going to lead to some sort of world war where the U.S. is dragged into some sort of ground war or anything like that. The market’s likely to have a knee-jerk reaction if boots did hit the ground, because that’s what markets do. But Goodyear is going to keep selling tires, Starbucks is going to keep selling coffee. I don’t think it’s going to be a long-lasting issue for the market. People are more worried if China starts to act. You got to worry about that.”

The state’s director of the Office of Management and Budget gave an overview of Delaware’s financial status and its planned investments in economic development in the next fiscal year.

Last month, Gov. John Carney released his proposed Fiscal Year 2023 budget which includes $60 million for preparing the economy of the future.

The breakdown of those dollars includes $30 million for the state’s strategic fund which allows Delaware leaders to create incentives and other investments to attract businesses and skilled workers.

The state has set aside $10 million for the site readiness fund. That initiative will assist businesses that want to build in the first state. The fund is part of the governor’s “Ready in Six” program, Mr. Cade said. The program commits to helping companies that are ready to invest in Delaware put shovels in the ground in six months.

Delaware leaders also plan to make $10 million available to the transportation infrastructure fund.

The final $10 million will go to the graduation lab-space project designed to attract and retain scientific companies to Delaware.

“If you look at the impact that losing DuPont and AstraZeneca, a lot of the larger chemical companies … had on us was that a lot of other smaller companies spun out of those,” Mr. Cade said.

The graduation lab fund will help create research facilities for the smaller companies, so they don’t have to leave Delaware to find the infrastructure they need. The spaces created by the state’s investment will include laboratories and co-working spaces to accommodate smaller research companies.

During his time addressing the crowd at the Maple Dale Country Club, Kent County’s administrator talked about areas of future investments.

Kent County leaders plan to continue to actively support the DE Turf Sports Complex south of Frederica, but also have plans for the region just north of the sports complex.

Among the list of planned developments Mr. Petit de Mange shared with the group on Thursday was the Little Heaven corporate business park.

“This is in the area south of Dover Air Force Base on the west side of Route 1. About 570 acres of area dedicated for future corporate office development, business park development, and it’s currently vacant farmland,” Mr. Petit de Mange said.

It took the county about 18 months to create the concept, working with the landowners in the region. The county plans to use the space to attract companies that want to locate in the Mid-Atlantic region.