The New York Times has reported that Apple may be tipping the scales of search results in the App Store in favor of the company's own apps. Jack Nicas and Keith Collins report: Top spots in App Store search results are some of the most fought over real estate in the online economy. The store generated more than $50 billion in sales last year, and the company said two-thirds of app downloads started with a search. But as Apple has become one of the largest competitors on a platform that it controls, suspicions that the company has been tipping the scales in its own favor are at the heart of … [Read more...]
Will Shopify Democratize the Robo-Logistics Revolution?
E-commerce giant Amazon has changed the landscape of online retail logistics with its investment in robotics at its fulfillment centers. Now, Shopify, a smaller competitor in the e-commerce industry is bringing robots into its logistics offerings. Jennifer Smith reports at The Wall Street Journal: E-commerce technology company Shopify Inc. is buying warehouse robot-maker 6 River Systems Inc. for approximately $450 million as it deepens its move into physical distribution. 6 River Systems makes software and autonomous mobile robots that guide workers through warehouse aisles, lighting up … [Read more...]
Activists Turn Up the Heat on AT&T
Activist investor Elliott Management has amassed a $3.2 billion stake in AT&T and is advocating for the sale of underperforming assets. The investors claim that AT&T is more valuable than its recent share price would suggest and that it should be run more like Verizon. Connor Smith reports at Barron's: AT&T shares shot up after Elliott Management revealed a $3.2 billion stake in the company, as well as a plan the activist investor says could bring a 65% gain in the stock by the end of 2021. Elliott Management’s Jesse Cohn and Marc Steinberg wrote in a letter to AT&T’s … [Read more...]
States Prepare for Battle Against Internet Behemoths
A number of states are launching antitrust probes against Google and Facebook over their business practices. John D. McKinnon reports for The Wall Street Journal: State attorneys general are formally launching separate antitrust probes into Facebook Inc. FB -2.10% and Alphabet Inc. GOOG -0.35% ’s Google unit starting next week, according to people familiar with the matter, putting added pressure on tech giants already under federal scrutiny. The Google probe is expected to be announced at a news conference outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, with a bipartisan group of about three … [Read more...]
Munis Stuck between a Rock and a Hard Place?
There may be no good alternative for muni bonds today. According to Mark Schmidt and Michael Zezas of Morgan Stanley, whether the economy slows or accelerates, the muni bond market could suffer. Bloomberg's Amanda Albright reports: A slowing U.S. economy could be bad for the asset class -- and so could a rebounding one. That’s made the bank less optimistic about state and local government debt, which has returned 7.6% in 2019, marking the best year since 2014, according to the Bloomberg Barclays index. The bank’s municipal-securities strategists, Michael Zezas and Mark Schmidt, said in a note … [Read more...]
Didn’t This Happen Before the Last Crisis?
Companies from a wide array of industries are securitizing their assets. Essentially the companies are mortgaging themselves to achieve investment-grade debt ratings. This is reminiscent of similar behavior just before the Great Recession. Claire Boston reports for Bloomberg: As borrowing costs plunge for the highest-quality companies, there’s a growing incentive for riskier businesses like fast-food chains to mortgage virtually all their assets. Franchised companies like burger restaurant Jack in the Box Inc. and massage provider Massage Envy are increasingly selling unusual bonds backed … [Read more...]
Big Short’s Michael Burry Calls a Bubble in Passive Investing
Bloomberg's Heejin Kim and Myungshin Cho report that Michael Burry of "Big Short" fame has called out what he says is a bubble in passive investing. They write: Michael Burry shot to fame and fortune by betting against mortgage securities before the 2008 crisis, a trade immortalized in “The Big Short.” Now, Burry sees another contrarian opportunity emerging from what he calls the “bubble” in passive investment. As money pours into exchange-traded funds and other index-tracking products that skew toward big companies, Burry says smaller value stocks are being unduly neglected around the … [Read more...]
Is Liquidity Risk Lurking in the ETF Market?
Can ETFs maintain liquidity during times of market turbulence, or should rules be changed to allow ETF providers to pay market makers directly in order to ensure stability? That's the debate currently raging among market participants. At Bloomberg, Ksenia Galouchko reports on the problem and possible solutions: Some see a potential cure in a practice that’s commonplace from Italy to the U.K. but banned in America: ETF providers paying market-makers directly. The argument goes that conflict-of-interest concerns are misplaced -- and that traders under contract to keep transacting in passive … [Read more...]
Is Ring the New Neighborhood Watch?
Across America, 400 police forces have signed up to work with Amazon's Ring doorbell camera service. The deal gives the police access to surveillance footage from cameras mounted on people's doorways. The program has generated concerns from civil liberties activists, but has also helped create a new digitized "neighborhood watch." Drew Harwell reports for The Washington Post: The doorbell-camera company Ring has quietly forged video-sharing partnerships with more than 400 police forces across the United States, granting them access to homeowners’ camera footage and a powerful role in what … [Read more...]
Banks are Fleeing Munis. What are They Leaving Behind?
With fewer tax advantages offered by municipal bonds after the 2017 Tax reform, banks are leaving the market for the fixed income securities. What is that leaving in their wake? The market for munis is likely to become more volatile as fewer big players are available to create liquidity. Michelle Kaske reports at Bloomberg: Big banks cut their holdings of state and local-government bonds during the last three months of 2018 as the corporate tax cut reduced the benefit of owning the securities, signaling the industry’s biggest annual pullback from the market on record and its first in more … [Read more...]
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