A SIGNIFICANT MOVE – AT 1:34 P.M. ET:  Sometimes a small story is actually a very big story, and a sign of the times.  From Bloomberg:

New York is losing more than a thousand financial-industry jobs -- and Manhattan’s loss is Music City’s gain.

AllianceBernstein Holding LP is moving its corporate headquarters and about 1,050 jobs to Nashville, Tennessee, the company said in a filing Wednesday, concluding a months-long search that evaluated cities on attributes including housing, cost of living, education and weather.

While some of the firm’s traditional Wall Street functions -- including portfolio management, sell-side research and trading, and private wealth management -- will stay in New York, workers from finance, legal, sales and marketing teams, among other functions, will start relocating this year. AllianceBernstein Chief Executive Officer Seth Bernstein will join them in Nashville in 2020, according to an internal memo.

“I see Nashville as a game-changer for AB in terms of our ability to source, develop and retain talent, provide a high quality of life for our employees, increase our competitive edge in an increasingly challenging marketplace,” Bernstein said in the memo.

Jonathan Freedman, a spokesman for the asset manager, declined to give additional details about the move, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal late Tuesday.

Even as JPMorgan Chase & Co. plans a new headquarters on Park Avenue, some big banks and money managers are shifting resources by hundreds or thousands of miles to cheaper U.S. cities. In recent years, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has built up operations in Salt Lake City, while Deutsche Bank AG has expanded in Jacksonville, Florida. Pacific Investment Management Co. just chose Austin, Texas, for a new office as the asset manager seeks to recruit tech workers and broaden marketing in the U.S.

COMMENT:  The old saying is that people vote with their feet.  New York is a high-tax, high-cost state, with educational systems that, in too many cases, are declining.  It's also a very liberal state, and New York an ultra-liberal city, with all that implies about quality of life.

The same thing is happening in San Francisco.  Even members of the local liberal gentry, still proudly wearing their McGovern buttons on their Mao jackets, are getting tired of the vast cost of living, combined with the depravity in the streets. 

One element in all this is the change brought by the Trump tax-reform bill.  Taxpayers have had the right to deduct their state and local taxes on their federal tax return, but the amount was capped by the recent legislation, making the benefit far less valuable for people in high-tax states.  Some are leaving for lower-cost locations.

Look for states in the Midwest and South to gain.

May 2,  2018