Back in July 1994, I wrote: You Has It or You Don’t. Dressed in snakeskin, feathers, grease paint and radiant colors, New Orleans gris-gris musician, Dr. John, delivers his musical message. Funky, gumbo-tinged rhythms spiced with a Bayou flavor makes for a perennial Mardi Gras atmosphere when delivered by Crescent City favorites like Jessie Hill, Cyril Neville, Chuck Carbo, Allen Toussaint, and the eclectic Night Tripper, Dr. John. When asked what makes the whole musical gumbo of New Orleans come together, Dr. John explains that it’s the groove of the thing, a pulse, an inner self sort … [Read more...]
Archives for December 2018
A Troubling Look for iPhone Sales
Taiwanese suppliers for the iPhone are reporting a month-to-month revenue decline for November reports the Nikkei Asian Review. The news could be a sign that demand for iPhones has peaked, suggest Lauly Li and Cheng Ting-Fang, writing: TAIPEI -- A majority of Apple's Taiwanese suppliers suffered a monthly fall in revenue in November, as hopes for a sales uptick of the new iPhones ahead of the holiday season were dashed. Seven of nine Apple suppliers tracked by the Nikkei Asian Review logged a month-on-month revenue decline in November, according to figures released on Monday. The nine … [Read more...]
Wealth Management Pitfall: ESG, Part II
Earlier this week, I wrote to you about the pitfall of environmental, social and governance investing, or ESG. Thousands of investment firms have signed a pledge to follow ESG and abide by a United Nations sponsored statement of principles. The problem here is multifold. First, your investment advisor should act as your fiduciary not an environmental activist with your money. Second, the number of state pensions that have signed this pledge is appalling. Not only are these pensions underfunded, but the administrators are using other people’s money (retired teachers, police, and firemen … [Read more...]
McDonald’s Fights Overuse of Antibiotics in Beef
Deena Shanker writes for Bloomberg that McDonald's is fighting the overuse of antibiotics by implementing new guidelines for its beef suppliers. McDonald's is such a large buyer of beef, its new policies could affect the entire beef industry. Shanker writes: As consumers have grown increasingly concerned with how their food is made, they have demanded a number of changes, including antibiotic-free meat and poultry. Scientists say the overuse of antibiotics in agriculture is behind the growing global problem of antimicrobial resistance. The chain has been on a mission to clean up its … [Read more...]
E-Commerce: Not Just for the West Anymore
While Amazon has rapidly dominated the e-commerce market in the United States, America isn't the only place e-commerce is revolutionizing the way people shop. Cheap, internet connected electronic devices have opened the entire world to e-commerce, and consumers everywhere are taking advantage of the efficiency of shopping online. Indonesia's Jakarta Post explains the surge in online shopping there, writing: Global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company has forecast fast growth for e-commerce in Indonesia, predicting sales to reach US$65 billion annually by 2022, eight times the $8 … [Read more...]
Have Democrats Killed the Trump Bump?
In what may be a reaction to Nancy Pelosi's Democrats winning control of the House of Representative in November, small businesses' outlook for the future has declined sharply. Patrick Thomas reports for The Wall Street Journal: Optimism among small-business owners fell slightly in November for the third straight month, mainly due to concerns about slower economic growth and moderating expectations for sales, according to a survey from the National Federation of Independent Business. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index had a November reading of 104.8, down 2.6 points from the prior … [Read more...]
Cryptocosm and Life After Google Part V
Operations Management? When I was at Babson College one of our core curriculum courses was Operations Management. And, at the time, I didn’t see the vast opportunities that would unfold from this course. Who wants to spend a career figuring out how to piece together a supply chain or re-tool a factory? Then, when I had an internship at an online grocery delivery start-up, I recognized how fruitful a career in Ops could actually be. Fast forward to today and if you’re an Ops wizard, companies like Walmart or Amazon want to talk with you. Sometimes it’s hard to see the forest through … [Read more...]
Inflated Assets for All and to All a Good Night
Looks like the Fed is keeping the punch bowl full for the holidays with a cheery: “Inflated assets for all and to all a good night.” We’ll see how this plays out when the going gets tough next year. The Fed is already in the danger zone. Originally posted on Your Survival Guy. … [Read more...]
The Global Bear Market
Outside of the United States, equity investors have had a rough year. Some of the world’s biggest equity markets have fallen into bear market territory including China, Germany, Korea, and Italy. The MSCI index of developed stock markets that excludes the United States is only a whisper away from bear market territory. The emerging markets index is already in a bear market, down more than 23% from its January high. And the United States? The S&P 500 remains up on the year. U.S. investors still seem to have the speculative bug that the rest of the world has avoided. The NYSE FANG+ … [Read more...]
Can Politics Predict the Markets in 2019?
I have written in the past that politics can have a great effect on market performance. Today America is enduring one of the most contentious political climates in memory, and at the same time the stock market has become volatile. The best year in the four-year presidential election cycle is the year before the election. In this cycle that’s 2019. Since 1875, the average performance of the S&P 500 in the calendar year before a presidential election has been 14.3%. The presidential election year itself comes in next with an average of 10.9%, and midterm election years and the year after … [Read more...]
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