Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch. Our afternoon update on today's market action news and analysis.

Good afternoon. Today is Monday, August 7th, and I'm your host, Kim Kahn. Our top story in today's session.

Even as the hybrid work model becomes more popular, large office spaces remain vacant, pushing businesses to shift to smaller and less expensive properties.

HSBC is planning to shift its global headquarters from London's Canary Wharf to much smaller offices in the city of London in 2026.

It will cut its worldwide office footprint by about 40%.

HSBC, which set up shopping Canary War for 2002,

is looking to move into BT's former headquarters.

The move will likely be a blow to the Canary Wharf Hub, which is already saddled with mounting

debt and it may be forced to sell some assets at a discount to help it de-leverage.

Office markets continue to see heightened uncertainty during Q2, according to real estate firm JLL.

Global office leasing volumes are down 14% year-on-year. The global vacancy rate rose to a record high of 15.6%.

JLL says leasing activity is likely to remain subdued as economic growth slows in major markets through the second half of

2023. Accelerating return to office mandates, upcoming lease

expiries, and lower renewal rates will provide additional impetus to demand for new high quality space.

More than 20% of office space has been vacant in the U.S. according to Morgan Stanley.

They expect commercial real estate to underperform on a relative basis in the near to immediate term.

Now here's a look at today's trading. Stocks are higher with cyclicals leading the way.

The Dow is the best performer up nearly 1%, the S&P is up more than half a percent, and the NASDAQ trails up around 0.2%.

Financials and industrials are the best performing sectors.

Rates are little changed. The 10-year treasure yield is above 4.05 percent.

W.T. I. Crude is back below $82 per barrel, and gold is also down.

Among active stocks, Tyson Foods dropped after reporting results that missed estimates.

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