Hedge funds have been moving out of most stocks, but the few stock purchases they are making are increasingly concentrated among the big American and Chinese tech names. Bloomberg's Lu Wang and Melissa Karsh write that Goldman Sachs data shows "the top 10 holdings on average made up 70 percent of a fund’s long portfolios, the highest since at least 2002." The narrow band of stocks being traded by the hedge funds are highly correlated and basically constitute one trade. If the sector is hit, the lack of diversification could send hedge funds reeling. Wang and Karsh write: As a group, … [Read more...]
AT&T Prevails in Case to Acquire Time Warner
The Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal calls AT&T's defeat of the Department of Justice over its acquisition of Time Warner a "stone cold knockout." The Justice Department sued AT&T to block its acquisition over carriage-fees, but failed miserably, with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals writing a 127-page opinion rebutting the DOJ's position. The Board writes: The three-judge appellate panel comprised of two Democratic appointees largely agreed, notwithstanding some nits with Judge Leon’s legal diction. As is its custom, the D.C. Circuit judges reviewed the trial … [Read more...]
Grocery Delivery Joint Venture Stirs Excitement in Advanced E-Commerce Market
The United Kingdom is one of the world's most advanced e-commerce markets, and a new joint venture between Marks & Spencer and online delivery startup Ocado Group, is getting attention. Ocado is a 16 year old online grocery retailer with over 580,000 active customers. It has previously made news in the United States after Kroger, America's largest grocery business, bought 6% of the company last year. The attraction by big grocery businesses to Ocado is the company's high-tech warehousing and logistics technologies including advanced robotics and software. For Marks & Spencer, … [Read more...]
Your Apps Are Giving Your Most Sensitive Information to Facebook
Planning on getting pregnant? Buying a home? Trying to diet successfully? If so, and if you're using an app on your smartphone to help you manage the process, chances are Facebook is fully aware of it all. The Wall Street Journal has investigated some of the most popular apps and found that many of them were sending customers' information directly to Facebook without their knowledge. Some, but not all, of the Apps stopped sharing information with Facebook after the Journal contacted them about such behavior, but the investigation only surveyed 70 out of the millions of apps that exist. Sam … [Read more...]
The Richest Town in the U.S.A.
The richest town in America had an average income of $450,696 in 2017. It's tree-lined streets and acre sized lots offer the wealthy employees of Google, Facebook and Stanford University peace and privacy. The richest town in America is Atherton, CA. At Money, Shelly Hagan and Wei Lu report that Atherton, home to Eric Schmidt and Sheryl Sandberg, has placed as the nation's wealthiest town for the third year in a row. They write: “We value a semi-rural environment,” said Widmer, who moved to Atherton in 1996. “There are few sidewalks and many places don’t have streetlights.” Scarsdale, New … [Read more...]
Europe Takes Aim at America’s Big Tech Companies with Copyright Demands
European Union countries have backed a new set of regulations to force Google, Facebook, and other big online companies to pay content creators like artists, new agencies, and broadcasters for their output. That would even include the snippets of stories posted online in services like Google News. Reuters' Foo Yun Chee reports from Bussels: The revamp would require Google and other online platforms to sign licensing agreements with rights holders such as musicians, performers, authors, news publishers and journalists to use their work online. Google’s YouTube and Facebook’s Instagram and … [Read more...]
Surprise: Battery Powered Cars Don’t Work Well in Extreme Temperatures
Batteries have always had problems in extreme temperatures, that why it is interesting to see such surprise at revelations from a AAA study that suggest that electric vehicles perform worse in hot and cold temperatures than they do in milder weather. Lucas Laursen reports for Fortune: Not too hot and definitely not too cold–that’s when electric car batteries work best. “Batteries are like humans,” Anna Stefanopoulou, director of the University of Michigan’s Energy Institute told Wired: they do best at temperatures between 40°F and 115°F. In results that are unlikely to shock the many … [Read more...]
What Do You Need to Do Before You Retire?
Are you ready to plan ahead and to avoid rookie mistakes in retirement? At Money, Alix Langone discusses some of the things retirees need to do before they retire. He writes: It’s the biggest worry for people approaching retirement, financial advisors say: “Will I have enough? Where’s my cash flow coming from?” But if you actually map out your spending ahead of time, you’ll know the answer (at least for the short term), and you’ll enjoy greater peace of mind when you stop working. At a minimum, it’s important to figure out your first three to five years of cash flow — the money you will … [Read more...]
After Long Declines, Branded Consumer Companies Comfortable Raising Prices
Low wage and economic growth has been holding back the ability of branded consumer products companies to raise prices for a long time. But economic gains in the last couple years have given big consumer companies the confidence to once again increase prices for their products. With wages growth and consumer confidence up, it is becoming easier for consumer companies to increase the prices paid for their premium products. Aisha Al-Muslim reports for The Wall Street Journal: Makers of household staples from diapers to toilet paper are set to raise prices again this year after already hiking … [Read more...]
Can You Rely on Income Funds?
Managed payout funds are certainly better for retirees than annuities, but can you rely on them in retirement? Funds promising steady income for retirees are subject to the same market swings as other funds. If your expectation is that you'll always receive the same income stream, you should carefully reread the fund's prospectus. They aren't guaranteed. Barron's reports: Converting a pot of money into retirement income isn’t an easy task for many retirees—and it’s a tricky proposition even for fund firms. Take the Vanguard Managed Payout fund (ticker: VPGDX), one of the largest of a type … [Read more...]
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