DC Velocity reports: The Port of Virginia welcomed a pair of massive container cranes to its Norfolk International Terminals (NIT) this week, the final pieces of equipment needed to complete a $450 million, two- a-half-year-long renovation of the terminal’s South Berth, port officials said Thursday. The cranes increase the port’s ability to handle larger volume ships—now and down the road, officials said. The cranes will be able to accommodate so-called ultra-large container vessels (ULCVs) that make regular stops in Virginia, as well as higher-volume “ships of the future,” according to … [Read more...]
Will 5G Spur a Surge in Smartphone Sales?
Asa Fitch reports in The Wall Street Journal that chip makers are expecting a surge in smartphone sales as consumers purchase 5G phones. Fitch writes: Mobile-phone chip-making giant Qualcomm Inc. QCOM 12.64% expects a surge in smartphones sales next year as consumers flock to 5G-capable devices such as Apple Inc.’s new iPhone 12 that helped lift its latest results. Qualcomm, a leading supplier of the chips powering 5G equipment, is projecting shipments of 450 million to 550 million 5G smartphones in 2021, at least double the expected total this year. Handset sales were the big driver of … [Read more...]
Why the Turkish Lira Just Keeps on Falling
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...]
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