The Wall Street Journal followed eight reporters in four countries to see if the world is ready to make the switch to electric cars. … [Read more...]
Small, Local, Robotic: The Grocery Store of the Future
In The Wall Street Journal, Jennifer Smith outlines the characters of the grocery store of the future: small, local, and robotic. She writes: Grocers looking to fill online orders more quickly are testing micro-fulfillment systems that can spit out as many as 4,000 orders a week but can still be housed in the back of stores or in urban areas where space is at a premium. The store owners are evaluating whether automation can help tamp down costs while speeding up deliveries and they are turning to a new set of startups aiming to make e-commerce fulfillment more efficient in a small … [Read more...]
Can Luxury Brands Survive the Wuhan Coronavirus?
The Financial Times reports that luxury brands could be facing trouble from the Wuhan coronavirus, as Chinese customers have become such a big part of the luxury industry. The FT writes: A queue of roughly 30 people, many of whom were speaking Chinese, queued at the Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Gucci stands in the Galeries Lafayette department store in Paris on Monday, writes Leila Abboud. Across the street at Galeries Lafayette’s centre for Asian tourist groups, crowds of people were waiting to get tax refunds on their purchases. The scenes in the French capital reflect how critical Chinese … [Read more...]
Is the Stock Market Run Set to Continue? And Should You Care?
The stock market has been on a tear since the Fed announced it would start what has been labeled non-QE QE (quantitative easing) in October. The S&P 500 is up 15% since then. The more speculative Nasdaq is up more than 20% and the FANG+ Index (a new index comprised only of the hottest tech stocks) is up 35%. Envious of the returns in the S&P or Nasdaq? Don’t be. You can’t call yourself an investor today and expect to keep up with either index. Even the S&P has now become way too speculative for investors in or nearing retirement. To keep up with the S&P today you … [Read more...]
Is Competition Finally Impacting Netflix?
Anna Nicolaou reports for the Financial Times that Netflix is blaming less-than-expected subscriber growth in the United States on increased competition and its higher prices. She writes: Netflix added 8.8m subscribers in the final three months of 2019, eclipsing its guidance for 7.6m and analyst forecasts for 7.9m. This was welcome news for the first quarter that the streaming group competed head-on with Disney and Apple, which launched rival services in November. However in the US, its largest market, Netflix added only 420,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter — below its guidance for … [Read more...]
Junk Bond Traders are Extra Jumpy over Ratings Downgrades
In normal times, junk bond traders will often have ratings downgrades priced in well before the ratings agencies get around to making it official. Today though, traders are making bigger moves than normal in response to the agencies' downgrades of junk bonds. David Caleb Mutua reports for Bloomberg: Usually, when a credit-rating firm downgrades a company, bond prices move much less, because the securities had weakened weeks or months earlier when investors first suspected trouble. In each of 2017 and 2018, bonds from a high-yield company that got cut would have lagged the index by just 5 … [Read more...]
Tesla “Just as Risky to Own as to Bet Against”
At The Wall Street Journal, Charley Grant warns investors that Tesla is just as risky to own as it is to bet against. He writes: After a recent pullback, its market capitalization now merely hovers around $90 billion, about the combined value of Ford and General Motors. Projections of Tesla’s future market dominance in China have eclipsed the 8% decline in total revenue that it reported for the third quarter. Analysts expect a second consecutive quarterly profit when Tesla unveils full-year results and another stock surge is certainly possible if that proves correct. But such exuberance … [Read more...]
Is the Fed Boosting Risk? An Insider Says Yes
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan is raising alarm bells over the Fed's recent injections of liquidity into financial markets. Kaplan said recently that it is wise to acknowledge that “Many market participants believe that growth in the Fed balance sheet is supportive of higher valuations and risk assets." The Wall Street Journal's Michael S. Derby reports: “Many market participants believe that growth in the Fed balance sheet is supportive of higher valuations and risk assets,” Mr. Kaplan told reporters after an appearance at the Economic Club of New York. When it … [Read more...]
Could Gold Rally to Record High in Response to Stimulus?
Could the price of gold rally to a record high of over $2,000 as central bankers print more money? According to Greg Jenson of Bridgewater Associates, the answer is yes. Jennifer Ablan reports Jenson's prediction in The Financial Times: Mr Jensen, who helps oversee more than $160bn at the Connecticut-based group, told the Financial Times he believed the Federal Reserve, in particular, would let inflation run hot for a while and “there will no longer be an attempt by any of the developed world’s major central banks to normalise interest rates. That’s a big deal”. At the same time, … [Read more...]
You Want to Hire Who as Your Financial Advisor?
The Financial Times reports that Vanguard’s assets under management have surged past $6 trillion for the first time. In the investment business, the biggest rarely means the best. Big funds and big investment managers have fewer opportunities to choose from, and bigger funds are harder to maneuver. Do You Think Your Business Really Matters to Vanguard? Even if you have a $1 million portfolio with Vanguard, your business means almost nothing to the firm. They have $6 trillion under management. There are 5,999,999 other $1 millions in $6 trillion. Think about that the … [Read more...]
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