US economic growth came in at a 1.1% annual rate in the first quarter with consumer spending increasing at a 3.7% annual rate. The headline number doesn't tell the whole story though. Inventory liquidation subtracted significantly from the headline number. Excluding inventory liquidation, GDP would have come in at a 3.4% annual rate. Based on the initial GDP data, the long-anticipated recession hasn't started yet, though it is true that certain sectors of the economy are contracting. The recession so many investors are expecting didn’t come in the first quarter. It might not come in the … [Read more...]
Blank Check Company Boom Goes Bust
The Boom in blank check companies has turned into a bust. According to the WSJ, many blank check firms or SPACs, are down more 90% or more from their IPO price. The SPAC boom took hundreds of risky companies to the stock market. The next stop for many is bankruptcy court. Dozens of companies that merged with SPACs are running out of cash, joining at least 12 that have already gone bankrupt after combining with special-purpose acquisition companies. More than 100 companies, including electric-scooter firm Bird Global Inc., smart-sock baby-monitor maker Owlet Inc., and electric-car … [Read more...]
Tesla Model Y Now Cheaper than Average U.S. Vehicle
Tesla has slashed prices on its Model Y over the last year with the latest cuts being announced this week. The lowest trim level Model Y is now cheaper than the average U.S. vehicle. While the difference is only marginal, if Tesla and other auto manufacturers can drive the cost of EVs significantly below the cost of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, adoption may accelerate. Today's EVs are still an inferior product in the eyes of many consumers and the price hasn't reflected that. If that calculus changes significantly, so may perception and demand. Bloomberg reports on the price … [Read more...]
World’s Largest Food Company Raises Prices 10%
Nestle, the world's largest food company, raised prices nearly 10% in the first quarter with only minimal loss in volume. Nestlé raised prices at close to the fastest pace in more than three decades last quarter but sacrificed only a modest slice of its sales volume, as consumers proved willing to pay more for its packaged food and drinks. Results on Tuesday from the world’s biggest food company, whose products include Aero chocolate bars, Perrier sparkling water and Nespresso coffee, showed that it pushed prices up by an average of almost 10 per cent in the first three months of the … [Read more...]
Toyota Bets on Practical Electric Vehicles
Toyota will roll out the Prius Prime to dealers in May. The Prius Prime is a plug-in hybrid gas-electric vehicle. While hybrids are known for combining gas engines and electric motors, the Prius Prime will operate primarily on battery power with the gasoline engine serving as a backup. Toyota is branding it a practical electric vehicle. Toyota, Ford Motor Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. are among global brands rolling out new plug-in hybrid gas-electric cars. While most hybrids on the road today combine gas engines with electric motors to save fuel, plug-in hybrids can drive primarily on … [Read more...]
Regional Banks Steadying Themselves after SVB Collapse
Regional banks are attempting to steady themselves as the volatility in the wake of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank subsides. Stephen Gandel, Joshua Franklin, and Brooke Masters report for the Financial Times: Regional banks across the US have largely stopped the massive outflow of deposits that threatened their stability after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank but their profit margins are shrinking unexpectedly quickly. Many of the more than a dozen midsized US banks that reported earnings this week warned the turmoil following SVB’s collapse had heightened competition for deposits, … [Read more...]
Is San Fransisco Becoming the New Detroit?
Is San Francisco headed the way of Detroit? Will it become a hollowed former boomtown? In the Financial Times, George Hammond and Tabby Kinder analyze the current state of the city, writing: At rush hour on a recent morning in downtown San Francisco, passengers exiting the Civic Centre station had to step over a discarded hypodermic needle, an all too common sight in a city where open air drug use has become unremarkable. Around the station, usage of which has plunged two-thirds since 2019, the most obvious presence was not commuters heading into work but rather groups of homeless people … [Read more...]
China Prepares to Lose Major Position to Rival
China has been the world's most populous country for decades, but soon will no longer be the case. The position of the most populous nation will belong to India by the end of this year, according to United Nations data. John Reed, Elanor Olcott, and Joe Leahy report in the Financial Times: India is due to overtake China as the world’s most populous country by mid-year, the UN said, marking a historic shift for the two Asian rivals. According to the UN Population Fund’s World Population Dashboard, released on Wednesday, India’s growing population is to surpass 1.428bn by mid 2023, just … [Read more...]
Life Insurance Sours on Commercial Real Estate
Commercial real estate owners are finding it harder to get loans from life insurance companies as the insurers turn their backs on lending to the sector. Leslie Scism and Peter Grant report in The Wall Street Journal: Life insurance companies, until recently a reliable source of capital for commercial property developers, are turning their backs on office building owners as tens of billions of dollars in office loans come due this year. Many of these insurers have slowed or stopped making office loans, executives and analysts say, interrupting the sector’s decadelong expansion into … [Read more...]
Sega Sammy Offers $776M for Rovio
The company that gave you Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega Sammy, has made a $776 million bid for Rovio, the company best known for its Angry Birds franchise of games and movies. Leo Lewis and Tim Bradshaw report in the Financial Times: Sega Sammy, the Japanese gamesmaker behind the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has launched a €706mn ($776mn) offer for Rovio Entertainment, the Finnish group that gave the world Angry Birds. The €9.25 a share offer values the mobile games pioneer at almost 20 per cent below the price at which Rovio went public five and a half years ago, when it debuted with a market … [Read more...]
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