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Roaring Fork - Thu. 10/30/25 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
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TODAY
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- Aspen's Past to Present Tour, 10 to 11:30 a.m., Historic Downtown Aspen, AspenWalkingTours.com, 970-948-4349
- Dia de Muertos Community Ofrenda, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Powers Art Center, Carbondale, powersartcenter.org, 970-963-4445
- Library Resource Help, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Snowmass Village Town Hall, pitcolib.org/smv, 970-429-1900
- Aspen/Pitkin County Airport public open house, 5 to 7 p.m., Hoffmann Hotel, Basalt, aspenairport.com
- Aspen's DarkSide Ghost Tour, 7 to 8 p.m., Historic Downtown Aspen, aspenwalkingtours.com, 970-948-4349
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FED, AS EXPECTED, DROPS INTEREST RATES ANOTHER QUARTER POINT
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By a 10-2 vote, the Federal Open Market Committee of the U.S. Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark overnight borrowing rate to a range of 3.75 percent to 4 percent. The benchmark rate now is at the lowest setting in three years and down from a peak of around 5.4 percent that the central bank maintained for much of last year. In addition to the rate move, the Fed announced that it would be ending the reduction of its asset purchases, a process known as quantitative tightening, on Dec. 1. Officials long said they would cease the runoff of their Treasury holdings when they detected evidence in overnight lending markets that banks were no longer awash in surplus cash. Those signals have mounted over the past week.
The Fed will continue to shrink its holdings of mortgage-backed securities, but it will replace maturing bonds with short-term Treasury bills starting in December. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell indicated that there is no certainty of one more rate cut at the final Fed meeting of the year in December. Powell said, “A further reduction in the policy rate at the December meeting is not a foregone conclusion. Far from it.” Stocks, which had been higher after the initial decision was released, turned lower on the chair’s comments.
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JOHN MALONE STEPPING DOWN AS CHAIRMAN OF LIBERTY MEDIA, LIBERTY GLOBAL
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John Malone will step down as chairman of Liberty Media and Liberty Global at the end of this year. Liberty Media, headquartered in Englewood, has been simplifying its holdings in recent years and now has two divisions, representing ownership stakes in the Formula One Group and Live Nation Entertainment. Malone said he would be succeeded at Liberty Media by longtime director Robert Bennett, who is currently vice chairman. Mike Fries, Liberty Global’s chief executive, will also become its chairman. Beginning in the 1970s, Malone spent more than a quarter-century as CEO of Tele-Communications Inc.
Through acquisitions, Malone transformed TCI into the nation’s biggest cable-television operator, before selling it to AT&T for $55 billion in 1999. He invested in telecom, filmmaking, concert promotion and Formula One racing, combining them under the umbrellas of Liberty Media, Liberty Global and other related companies. Malone, with a net worth of about $11.1 billion, is also the biggest landowner in Colorado and one of the largest private landowners in the U.S. He published his memoir, “Born to Be Wired,” earlier this year.
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COLORADO ONE OF 25 STATES SUING FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OVER ENDING SNAP FREEZE
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Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced on Tuesday that Colorado is joining a coalition of attorneys general and governors from 25 states and Washington, D.C. that is suing the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins over the suspension of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Those benefits are set to expire on Nov. 1 due to the federal government shutdown. The states are asking a federal judge in Massachusetts to order the Dept. of Agriculture to provide benefits through SNAP for November, including tapping into a contingency fund to ensure the assistance continues to flow to more than 25 million people living within their borders. In Colorado, about 10 percent of the population, or some 600,000 Coloradans would be affected by the SNAP suspension.
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GLOBEVILLE, ELYRIA-SWANSEA COALITION PURCHASES MORE LAND FOR HOUSING
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The Globeville, Elyria-Swansea Coalition used money from the Proposition 123 Land Banking program to buy a 0.7-acre site along Brighton Boulevard just north of Interstate 70. The purchase totaled $2.7 million, priced at $86 a square foot, and the land will be the site of a proposed 40- to 60-unit residential project. The Globeville, Elyria-Swansea Coalition has about 600 neighborhood residents and has its own land trust. The group has already built 14 homes in the area, with 23 more planned. The property it just purchased runs along the east side of the street from 4640 to 4684 Brighton Blvd. and is currently home to a brick duplex and a car wash.
GES is in talks to buy more land directly to the south from the Colorado Dept. of Transportation, which owns it due to its proximity to the interstate. Elsewhere in the neighborhood, the coalition has a small ownership stake in a 170-unit project at 4995 Washington St., where a former used-car lot is being redeveloped into housing and a public library, the first in Globeville.
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NON-NATIVE EMERALD ASH BORER NOW PRESENT IN MORE THAN 20 FRONT RANGE CITIES
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The tree-killing emerald ash borer has made significant expansion across locations on Colorado’s Front Range this year. The non-native insect is now found in more than 20 Front Range cities. This year, the borer was found for the first time in Berthoud, Aurora, Denver, Edgewater, Golden and Wheat Ridge. The emerald ash borer beetle kills ash trees by feeding on the layer beneath the bark, cutting off water and nutrients. Trees typically die within two to four years after becoming infected. The borer was first detected in Colorado in 2013 in Boulder. The emerald ash borer has no predators in North America. Adult beetles, which can fly up to a half mile, naturally spread infestations. But more significantly, people transporting infected ash tree wood long distances speeds up the spread of infestations. That is likely how the insect made its unexpected jump to Carbondale in 2023, and why it is important not to transport ash wood.
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SNOWMASS: WINTER BOOKINGS ARE DOWN
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A report as of Sept. 30 from DestiMetrics, which tracks resort occupancies across the West, indicates occupancy at Snowmass Village is down 13 percent for the coming six months, compared with the report for the corresponding period a year ago. However, according to the report, local lodging revenues are not as low as the occupancy rates, as Snowmass hotels/lodges have raised their Average Daily Rates by 8.3 percent for the next six months compared to the same period last year, leaving a total revenue drop, so far, of only 5.8 percent, according to the report. Snowmass Assistant Town Manager Greg LeBlanc said the town’s tax revenues from lodging might not necessarily be impacted, even with the drop in occupancy, given the upcharge from hotels. Snowmass predicted its 2.4 percent tax on lodging would generate $3.898 million in 2026, a zero percent change from the $3.901 million the town predicted it would generate in 2025, according to Snowmass’ proposed 2026 budget.
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FARM TO FRIDGE RETURNS TO ASPEN NOV. 19
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For the 18th year, Farm to Fridge returns to the Roaring Fork Valley on Nov. 19, at The Farm Collaborative, 220 Juniper Hill Road in Aspen, from 2 to 6 p.m. There is registration for a bag opening at 1 p.m. this Saturday, Nov. 2, at farmco.org. Individuals and families will be able to pick up a bag at the event filled with fresh, regeneratively grown produce from local farms, enough to feed four people at no cost, according to The Farm Collaborative release. This year, food will be shared from Two Roots Farm, Mountain Oven, Top of the World Cultivators, Kelso Orchard, Toadstool Traditions, Greenbones, Sunfire Ranch, Rock Bottom Ranch, and produce from The Farm Collaborative’s own farm. All participating locations are within the Roaring Fork or the North Fork river valleys.
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NVIDIA IS OFFICIALLY THE FIRST $5 TRILLION COMPANY IN MARKET CAPITALIZATION
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Nvidia, the world’s largest company, reached another milestone Wednesday when it became the world’s first company to reach a $5 trillion market capitalization, as shares surged more than 3 percent in early trading. The uptick pushed Nvidia’s market capitalization from about $4.89 trillion to $5.06 trillion, becoming the first publicly traded firm ever to surpass a $5 trillion valuation. The surge followed remarks from CEO Jensen Huang at the company’s GTC developer conference in Washington on Tuesday, where he disclosed Nvidia has secured more than $500 billion in orders for its AI chips through the end of 2026. The announcement represents what Huang described as unprecedented visibility into future revenue for a technology company. The potential for expanded access to China’s market added momentum to Wednesday’s gains.
President Donald Trump said aboard Air Force One he planned to discuss Nvidia’s Blackwell chip with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting Thursday in Busan, South Korea. The discussion carries significant implications for Nvidia, which has been effectively locked out of China, previously one of its largest markets, due to U.S. export controls and Chinese government restrictions.
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THINK WE HAVE PROBLEMS WITH BEARS, JAPAN IS SENDING OUT THE MILITARY
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Japan does not seem to be a location known for bears, but bears have become a major problem in the country. Japan does have bears, notably the Asiatic black bear and brown bears, and their numbers appear to be increasing. The bears are now appearing more and more in residential areas. There has been a surge in bear attacks, with more than 100 people injured by bears in Japan this year, resulting in 11 deaths. Bears attacked workers at a hot springs resort, bears have been breaking into supermarkets, bears attacked a tourist at a bus stop, and classes were called off for two days at Iwate University in northern Japan because of a bear on campus. As a result, Shinjiro Koizumi, the minister of defense, will send troops to Akita Prefecture, in the mountains in northern Japan. As Koizumi notes, “People are living in fear.”
Experts say the surge in attacks is partly the result of climate change, which has led to a scarcity of foods like beechnuts, a favorite snack for bears, in some areas. Japan’s population decline has also contributed to the problem, with bears venturing into rural areas that were once full of people. In Akita, home to about 880,000 people, the problem has been particularly acute. More than 50 people have been injured in bear attacks in the prefecture this year, and two have died. The troops will help set traps and dispose of bear carcasses. Japanese law allows the military to transport dead animals, but it does not permit extermination. Japan has tried to train more hunters in recent years to help control the bear populations, but hunters are aging and there are fewer available to hunt.
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HURRICANE MELISSA: “STORM OF THE CENTURY”
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Hurricane Melissa made landfall near New Hope, Jamaica, at 1 p.m. EDT Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 185 mph. It was the first time an Atlantic storm made landfall as a Category 5 since Hurricane Dorian in 2019. It made a second landfall near Chivirico, Cuba, at 3:10 a.m. EDT Wednesday as a Category 3 storm. The World Meteorological Organization described it as the "storm of the century" for Jamaica. In terms of impact, Melissa does not compare with the "Great Hurricane" which hit Barbados on Oct. 9, 1780. Its wind speed was likely more than 220 mph and resulted in a death toll of 20,000 to 27,500. The deadliest storm in U.S. history was the Galveston hurricane of 1900. It passed over the Gulf of Mexico in early September 1900, strengthening to a Category 4 hurricane before slamming into Galveston, Texas, on Sept. 6. The storm is estimated to have caused between 6,000 and 8,000 deaths.
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GOLFWEEK’S BEST INTERNATIONAL GOLF COURSES
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Golfweek released its latest version of the Best International Courses. Golfweek compiled its list with over 800 expert raters, highlighting the world’s top courses outside the United States, with a focus on design, playability and unique settings.
- Royal County Down - Northern Ireland
- St. Andrews Old Course - Scotland
- Royal Melbourne - Australia
- Royal Dornoch - Scotland
- Cabot Saint Lucia - Caribbean
- Muirfield - Scotland
- Shanqin Bay - China
- Royal Portrush - Northern Ireland
- Hirono - Japan
- Sunningdale - England
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MARKET UPDATE - 10/29/2025 Close
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(Courtesy of Alpine Bank Wealth Management*)
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Canadian dollar (per U.S. dollar)
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Mexican peso (per U.S. dollar)
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30-year fixed mortgage rate (Freddie Mac 10/23/2025)
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*Not FDIC insured. May lose value. Not guaranteed by the bank.
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Alpine Bank is an independent, employee-owned organization with headquarters in Glenwood Springs and banking offices across Colorado's Western Slope, mountains and Front Range. Alpine Bank serves customers with retail, business, wealth management*, mortgage and electronic banking services. Learn more at alpinebank.com.
*Alpine Bank Wealth Management services are not FDIC insured, may lose value and are not guaranteed by the bank.
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