2009 Hot Markets -- Thawing In a Frigid Economy

EC2 will also create demand for virtual server platforms to enable even Windows users to cloud up. In the future, Amazon may not be remembered as an online retailer, but for its transformational technology back in ’09.

At No. 6 is real estate ($2.11T, +4%; with $11.0B to print, 0%). Rental housing ($2.8B to print +25%) will be where foreclosed “sub-primees” return to live, and where a new class of multi-unit buyers will take out the banks and then “lease,” rather than rent, formerly distressed properties. (Perhaps, they’ll package these leases and sell them to foreigners.)