The Turkish lira hit a new record low against the dollar this week as the country's central bank held rates steady. The Wall Street Journal's Caitlin Ostroff and David Gauthier-Villars report: The lira fell 2.1% on Thursday, with $1 buying 7.9792 lira, after the central bank left its key, one-week repo rate at 10.25%, surprising the majority of investors and analysts who anticipated an increase. For several months, the central bank’s main policy rate has been negative when adjusted for inflation, making holding the Turkish lira an unattractive proposition for foreign investors and … [Read more...]
CVS Hiring an Army of Pharmacists to Test for COVID-19
Melissa Repko reports for CNBC that CVS will be hiring as many as 15,000 employees, most of them pharmacists, to expand its testing and dispensing of drugs for COVID-19. She writes: CVS Health said Monday that it wants to immediately hire 15,000 employees to prepare for an expected rise in Covid-19 and flu cases this fall and winter. More than 10,000 of those will be full-time and part-time licensed pharmacy technicians who can help dispense medications and administer Covid-19 tests. Public health officials have warned that Covid-19 cases will likely rise in the months ahead, as more … [Read more...]
Shopify Competing with Amazon: Opens New Opportunities for Retailers
Shopify is enabling small retailers to compete with Amazon by providing the fulfillment network they need to do so. It's difficult to understand why more firms haven't done exactly what Shopify has with its fulfillment network. Firms like UPS and Fedex should have been all over this. Amazon doesn’t have any real competitive advantage if a firm can match them on delivery. They were the first mover, but that’s typically not durable. Jennifer Smith reports for The Wall Street Journal: Shopify Inc.’s recent expansion into physical distribution is looking prescient, as surging digital sales … [Read more...]
Consumer Confidence Soars as Economy Reopens
As President Trump and governors like Ron DeSantis and Kristi Noem work to reopen America's economy, consumers are responding with growing enthusiasm. In the Wall Street Journal, Gwynn Guilford reports on September's highest increase in the Conference Board's index of consumer confidence in 17 years. Guilford writes: Consumers are growing more optimistic about the state of the U.S. economy, according to September surveys, as the labor market continued to gradually improve and a summer coronavirus surge receded in parts of the country. The Conference Board, a private research group, said … [Read more...]
The World Gets Back to Buying Clothes, but Online
Nike's online sales boomed in the second quarter, increasing by 82% compared to the year before. The Wall Street Journal's Khadeeja Safdar reports: Nike Inc.’s sales rebounded in the summer quarter after slumping earlier during the coronavirus pandemic, as rising digital sales offset declining revenue at traditional stores. On Tuesday, the sportswear company said revenue was $10.6 billion in the quarter ended Aug. 31, down 1% from the prior year. Digital sales increased 82%. “These are times when the strong can get stronger,” Chief Executive John Donahoe said on a conference call with … [Read more...]
Americans Make Peace with Shopping Online for Groceries after COVID-19
Americans quickly embraced the idea of shopping online for most things. First books launched Amazon, and then inexpensive MP3s launched Apple's iPod. The hardest in-store shopping habit to give up has been groceries. That is changing now, thanks to people avoiding grocery stores to keep away from COVID-19. Teresa Rivas writes in Barron's: Americans can be very picky about their avocados. That was one of the reasons often cited by experts to explain why people were happy to buy almost everything except groceries online. E-commerce penetration of the food and beverage sector, which includes … [Read more...]
Amazon’s Fleet of Jets is Growing Rapidly
While fewer people are boarding airplanes, demand for cargo shipping has increased during COVID-19 as people around the world prefer to remain at home. Annie Palmer reports at CNBC, that Amazon has been rapidly expanding its own fleet of cargo-carrying jets. From last February alone, the fleet has grown by 40%. She writes: The airline industry may be reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, but Amazon’s air cargo business has rapidly accelerated in recent months. Between May and July, Amazon added nine planes to its Amazon Air fleet, “the most it has added over a three-month span since its … [Read more...]
Manhattan Apartment Vacancies Reach Record High
Bloomberg's Oshrat Carmiel reports: Manhattan apartments are piling up on the market -- and it’s getting harder to fill them. Rental listings jumped to a record 15,025 at the end of August, more then double the inventory from a year earlier, according to a report Thursday by appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate. The borough’s vacancy rate reached a new high of 5.1%. Last August, it was under 2%. Renters are finding few reasons to sign new leases in Manhattan, with Midtown offices still largely empty and public school reopenings an unresolved question. … [Read more...]
Can Strong Retail Numbers Be Maintained?
Teresa Rivas explores the possibility of sustained retail sales in Barron's, writing: After the close of regular trading Wednesday, Costco Wholesale (ticker: COST) reported another month of double-digit comparable-sales growth. Comps climbed 14.5% in August, excluding fluctuations in gasoline and foreign exchange, while e-commerce sales soared more than 100%. That is par for the course for the discount retailer, which put up similarly strong same-store sales in June and again in July. While the company got a boost from panic-buying in March, flat April sales had some investors worried that … [Read more...]
Is a Shale Rebound Coming?
Liberty Oilfield Services has purchased the shale fracking business of Schlumberger, in a bet on a resurgence in shale's prospects. Reuters' Liz Hampton reports: Liberty Oilfield Services’ acquisition of Schlumberger’s shale fracking business will make it the third-largest oilfield services firm by North American revenue, nudging out Baker Hughes Co (BKR.N) in a bet on a shale rebound. Denver-based Liberty Oilfield (LBRT.N) on Tuesday agreed to swap a 37% stake in the company in exchange for Schlumberger’s North American hydraulic fracturing fleet, two Texas sand mines and other … [Read more...]
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