Emerging market currencies are in the tank. The Turkish lira is plummeting, as is the Argentine peso. Stronger emerging markets are even feeling the pain. Many U.S. investors assume a currency debacle couldn’t happen in the U.S. But make no mistake, just because something hasn’t happened, doesn’t mean it can’t. Investors who continue to eschew gold may want to brush up on their monetary history. … [Read more...]
As Tech Invests its Cash, Who Will Buy Bonds?
For years tech companies with vast overseas cash reserves have invested their wealth in the short-term debt of other corporations. But now that Apple and other companies are taking advantage of tax reform to bring home cash held abroad, the demand for that short-term corporate debt is drying up. Bloomberg's Molly Smith reports: Once the biggest buyers of short-dated corporate debt, Apple along with 20 other cash-rich companies including Microsoft Corp. and Oracle Corp. have turned into sellers. While they once bought $25 billion of debt per quarter, they’re now selling in $50 billion clips, … [Read more...]
What’s Happening at Walmart?
With all the attention given to Amazon's business, some investors may have forgotten about the former biggest name in retail, Walmart. But, the big box store appears to be back. With 40% growth in its e-commerce business last quarter, Walmart is transforming its strategy and riding the online shopping wave. Aaron Back reports at The Wall Street Journal: Investors are starting to give Walmart credit for that growth but the stock price still underestimates the power of the retailer. Leveraging its 2016 acquisition of Jet.com, Walmart today offers free, nationwide two-day shipping on … [Read more...]
The Amazon ❤ Affair
There is a deep love for Amazon on Wall Street. An obsession of sorts. Of the 50 analysts who follow Amazon and provide recommendations, 48 rate the stock a buy and 2 call it a hold. Not a single soul on Wall Street is brave enough to tell you to steer clear of the shares. Morgan Stanley (MS) was the latest big bank to publicly profess its love for the internet retailer. Yesterday, MS upgraded its price target on Amazon by a massive 35% to a Street high of $2,500 per share. That upgrade comes on the heels of a July upgrade from MS that brought the price target to $1,850. Has Amazon’s … [Read more...]
Is Global Auto Demand About to Collapse?
New regulations, tariffs and an emerging market economic slowdown are having a major impact on global auto sales. William Boston, writes at The Wall Street Journal that automakers are entering their first sustained slowdown since the financial crisis. The question is, will it remain just a slowdown, or will auto sales collapse even further? Boston continues: China’s once-booming car market is cooling, in part because of escalating trade tensions with the U.S. American demand for cars and trucks—long a bright spot for the global auto industry—has topped out, following a seven-year growth … [Read more...]
Being Right isn’t Enough
Investing in the stock market can be a maddening task for the amateur investor. As a friend in the real estate investing business once remarked, the stock market is the only place one can be right and still lose money. That’s not totally accurate. The bond market can be just as unforgiving. But he was correct, being right isn’t enough. Take Microsoft for example. Microsoft hit a high of $53.61 in December of 1999 on expectations that the company would dominate the market for operating systems for the foreseeable future and its earnings would continue to increase at a rapid … [Read more...]
Coca-Cola Dials Up Innovation Overseas
In an effort to expand its sales beyond its core American brands, Coca-Cola has been encouraging its overseas operations to increase their innovation and find winning products in new markets. Eric Bellman and Jennifer Maloney report: When Coca-Cola Co. directed its global subsidiaries to launch more local flavors last year, the company’s Indian arm came up with a unique drink: chunky mango juice. Indians commonly squeeze mangoes to soften them and then bite a hole in the tropical fruit’s tough skin to suck out the pulp, Coke’s Indian drink developers knew. So they concocted a beverage to … [Read more...]
Is Apple’s Services Business all that it’s Cracked up to Be?
Many Apple bulls contend that Apple’s best business is the company’s highly profitable services business. What comprises Apple’s services business? Music, cloud storage, iTunes, and the app store among others. But as Bloomberg reports here, Apple’s services business may not be all that it is cracked up to be. App developers are starting to rebel against Apple’s onerous 30% cut of app sales and in-app purchases. A thirty percent cut for providing what basically amounts to a website that keeps out malicious software and centralizes billing is criminal. Visa and Mastercard only charge … [Read more...]
JPMorgan Upends the Online Brokerage Market
JPMorgan is planning to offer unlimited free trades for Chase Private Clients on its online brokerage platform. Daniell Verbrigghe reports at the FT: JPMorgan plans to introduce the new programme next week, featuring 100 free stock and ETF trades for all users, and unlimited trades for Chase Private Client customers, who typically have higher account balances. The new programme, first reported by CNBC early Tuesday, was confirmed by a JPMorgan spokeswoman. Shares in the lender were up 1.3 per cent in early trading. JPMorgan and other brokerages have been focused on adopting digital … [Read more...]
Can Killer Cobalt be Replaced in Electric Cars?
Cobalt is at the center of modern day lithium-ion battery technology. Batteries without cobalt are unstable, but the majority of cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The DRC is a country with an unstable government and internal strife. Child labor is said to be used to mine for cobalt. These are not traits that end-users of battery technology want attached to their purchase. In the Financial Times, Henry Sanderson explains the work of Michael Zimmerman to replace cobalt, and just how important it is to do so. He writes: In a laboratory on an industrial park an hour’s drive … [Read more...]
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