For investors with a concentrated U.S. growth stock focus, the third quarter continued what has been a solid year. For veteran investors who recognize the peril of such a strategy and instead choose to take a balanced, value-conscious approach, the third quarter added modestly to what has been an OK year. Fixed Income Markets Fixed income markets have been a drag on balanced portfolios YTD. The Bloomberg Barclay’s U.S. Aggregate Index was flat in the third quarter and is down 1.6% YTD. We view the modest losses in U.S. bonds as a blessing in disguise. Bonds are down YTD because interest … [Read more...]
Kroger and Walgreens Join Forces to Thwart Amazon
With Amazon diving deeper into drugs and grocery delivery, it makes some sense that grocery giant Kroger and pharmacy giant Walgreens, would work together to fight back against the online retailer. Pan Kwan Yuk reports on the tie-up in the Financial Times: Under a new pilot programme that will be launched, Kroger customers will be able to place their grocery orders online and pick up their orders at participating Walgreens stores. In addition, products from Kroger’s private-label Our Brands will also be stocked in the participating Walgreens as well. “This exciting collaboration aligns … [Read more...]
GE Board Finally Wakes Up
Once America’s most venerable industrial company, GE has been a disaster. Former CEO Jeff Immelt oversaw the firm’s fall from grace, and his replacement, John Flannery, has been even worse for shareholders. GE shares are down 54% over the last twelve months. The board has finally woken up to the mess and fired Flannery. Larry Culp will become the new CEO. Culp had success as CEO of Danaher, and he is not a life-long GE insider. Ed Crooks reports at FT: Mr Culp said in a statement: ““GE remains a fundamentally strong company with great businesses and tremendous talent. It is a privilege to be … [Read more...]
Warren Buffett Predicted This
The SEC announced yesterday that it is suing Elon Musk for misleading statements he made via twitter about taking Tesla private. The SEC is seeking to ban Musk from being an officer or director of a publicly traded company. Without Musk steering the ship, the cult-of-Elon premium is likely to fall out of the shares. Tesla is a startup electric car maker in a fiercely competitive industry with high capital requirements and competitors all over the globe that are viewed as national champions by their political leaders. That’s a tough business to enter. Warren Buffett advised long ago that “When … [Read more...]
Brick-and-Mortar’s Not Dead Yet
Amazon is bringing its online talents to the brick and mortar world by building a store in New York City that sells some of the e-commerce giant's best rated products. This novel idea of using an online data advantage to put items customers really want within their reach at all times might just work. As big retailers compete to find the best mix of physical locations and online sales, innovations like this could be the key to success. Laura Stevens reports in The Wall Street Journal: Amazon.com Inc. AMZN +1.38% on Wednesday said it is opening a new bricks-and-mortar store that will … [Read more...]
Need it Yesterday? Home Depot is Ready to Help
Customers are demanding instant gratification when it comes to the delivery of their products, and Home Depot is stepping up its efforts to fulfill their desires. Matthew Townsend reports at Bloomberg that Home Depot "has started same-day delivery across the U.S. to help it stay relevant with consumers’ need-it-yesterday mentality." The move is a strategy to compete with fast-delivering e-commerce sites such as Amazon. Townsend writes: The home-improvement chain had already been using trucks to deliver large items such as building materials from stores in a day or so. Now, aided by … [Read more...]
Walmart Adopts IBM’s Blockchain for all U.S. Suppliers
With Walmart adopting IBM's blockchain technology for all its U.S. suppliers, Big Blue has found a path toward monetizing one of its most promising technologies. The blockchain is good for much more than just crypto-currencies, its potential in logistics is vast. At Bloomberg, Olga Kharif reports: After several years of tests, Walmart Inc. is ready to mandate use of blockchain technology by a swath of its U.S. suppliers, marking one of its biggest commercial uses. Starting in September 2019, Walmart and its Sam’s Club division will require suppliers of fresh, leafy greens to implement … [Read more...]
Is This the Beginning of Streaming Consolidation?
Over the last few years the number of music streaming services has grown quickly, with major players like Amazon, Apple, and Google getting into the business, along with many smaller rivals led by Pandora and Spotify. Now Sirius XM satellite radio wants to enter by buying Pandora. The move could imply that music services need to scale up to stay competitive. Could this be the beginning of a consolidation phase in the industry? Allison Prang reports for The Wall Street Journal: Subscription radio company Sirius XM Holdings Inc. SIRI -0.43% agreed to buy Pandora Media Inc. P -3.19% in a deal … [Read more...]
Tech Loses its Biggest Stars
Changes to indices from S&P and MSCI will move some of tech's biggest companies into other classification categories, drastically altering the look of some tech fund benchmarks. Bloomberg's Carolina Wilson and Sarah Ponczek report: (Bloomberg) -- ETF investors have ridden tech stocks to outsized returns during the record bull market in U.S. equities. But a major shakeup coming next week to the indexes some of the biggest funds track could leave fans cheering for a team they barely recognize. S&P Global Ratings and MSCI Inc., two of the world’s biggest index providers, are … [Read more...]
Separate Your Insurance from Your Investments
The WSJ does a deep dive on the problems some are now facing with Universal Life Insurance. Universal Life became popular in the 1980s as a way for insurance brokers to offer a competing product to customers who started buying term insurance and investing the balance of their monies in stocks and bonds instead of buying whole-life insurance policies. The insurance policy type emerged in an era nearly four decades ago when the Federal Reserve was fighting inflation with high interest rates. Some financial advisers suggested people forgo traditional “whole life” insurance and buy less-expensive … [Read more...]
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