Asset managers have been begging the SEC to allow them to hide their ETF holdings for years, with the simple argument that they can't deliver market beating returns if all their competitors know what they're holding at all times. Currently ETF managers are forced to disclose their holdings each day, but the disclosures haven't allowed for managed ETFs to take off because managers can't maintain secrecy. A new decision from the SEC could change all that, allowing managers to hide their assets better, but do investors even want that? Annie Massa and Rachel Evans report at Bloomberg: After more … [Read more...]
Walmart’s Robot Army
Walmart has deployed an army of robots in its stores to monitor inventory, clean floors and unload trucks. The effort to increase efficiency comes at a time when the company's chief competitor, Amazon, has used robots to revolutionize its fulfillment centers. The race is now on, as mega-retailers are finding the best ways to incorporate robots into their businesses. Sarah Nassauer and Chip Cutter write in The Wall Street Journal: The country’s largest private employer said at least 300 stores this year will add machines that scan shelves for out-of-stock products. Autonomous floor scrubbers … [Read more...]
Retail Wars: CVS Launches Nationwide Same-Day Rx Delivery
In an effort to catch up in the retail delivery war, CVS has announced the roll-out of nationwide same-day prescription delivery. CVS announced: CVS Pharmacy, the retail division of CVS Health (NYSE: CVS), today announced that it is now offering prescription delivery within hours in addition to their 1-2 day prescription delivery service available nationwide. The service, delivered by Shipt, a leading same-day delivery marketplace, is available at 6,000 CVS Pharmacy locations across the country, giving patients a faster and even more convenient way to get their medications. "A year ago CVS … [Read more...]
Can Electric Car Batteries Catch Up to this Charger?
Automakers are currently racing to fix one of the most significant problems with electric vehicles, charging times. Ultra fast chargers are available that could add 215 miles of range to a battery in 10 minutes, if today's batteries could handle it. Unfortunately they cannot, and so automakers are looking for solutions. Bloomberg's David Stringer reports: A typical, slow-speed public EV charger offers about 20 miles of driving distance per hour at the plug. The next level up, called a fast charger, can add about 75 miles in 30 minutes, according to Los Angeles-based station operator EVgo … [Read more...]
Can Silicon Valley Cut Wall Street out of IPOs?
The workplace messaging app company, Slack, is getting ready for its initial public offering. Rather than using the traditional underwriter process, Slack plans on a "direct listing," on the NYSE. The tech industry's growing use of direct listings on the NYSE could end up being a threat to Nasdaq's dominance of the sector. The Wall Street Journal's Corrie Driebusch and Maureen Farrell write: The workplace-messaging company is set to follow Spotify Technology SA in debuting on the NYSE through a direct listing, according to people familiar with the matter, after the music streamer’s listing … [Read more...]
Is Jerome Powell Blowing an Asset Bubble?
With a recent U-turn on his plan to continue raising rates and trimming the Fed's balance sheet, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is targeting higher inflation rates. The policy runs the risk of inflating an asset bubble. Bloomberg's Rich Miller reports: The Federal Reserve risks stoking the same sort of asset bubbles that Chairman Jerome Powell has linked to the last two recessions with its new-found eagerness to fan inflation. The Fed’s surprise pivot away from any interest rate increases this year has boosted prices of stocks, high yield bonds and other risky assets in spite of nagging … [Read more...]
This IPO Frenzy is Different
The WSJ reports that the current IPO frenzy featuring the likes of Lyft, Uber, Pinterest, Postmates, and Slack Technologies is different than the IPO frenzy in 1999. Then, many of the firms coming public had little more than a half-baked business plan. The current crop of IPOs includes more established businesses with average annual revenues approaching $200 million. Despite the higher revenue generation, profitability is just as elusive for firms coming public in 2019 as it was in 1999. Maybe this time isn’t so different after all. The WSJ has more details below. One trait that … [Read more...]
Can Apple Still Innovate?
Much of Apple's success has come on the back of the company's ability to introduce revolutionary products at the right moment. The iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone and iPad were a succession of game changing innovations that turned Apple into a worldwide mega-brand. Lately though, sales have been slowing, and Apple is turning its attention away from its devices and toward services. This is worrying some analysts, including James Wang, who spoke to Barron's reporter Tae Kim about Apples "innovation DNA." Kim reports: Even some Apple (ticker: AAPL) investors are questioning the technology giant’s … [Read more...]
Death Comes for the Chinese Electric Vehicle Market
The Chinese government has signaled a phase out of electric vehicle subsidies that experts are saying will kill off many of the smaller firms in the industry. The country's EV industry has exploded under government support, with 487 manufacturers operating in China last year. Now all that is about to change. Trefor Moss explains in The Wall Street Journal how a mixture of national and local subsidies are to be reduced and eliminated, and what it means for the industry as a whole: Under a Finance Ministry plan released this week, the maximum central-government subsidy for an electric car is … [Read more...]
Once Hailed as a Panacea, Negative Rates Getting a Skeptical Second Look
When the ECB instituted a negative rate scheme on banks' excess reserve in the bloc, the idea was supposed to be the key to successfully kick-starting the economy. Now, nearly five years later, the idea doesn't look like it's helping, and it may even be hurting. Tom Fairless reports at The Wall Street Journal: European Central Bank President Mario Draghi signaled Wednesday that ECB officials are starting to worry about the adverse side effects of negative interest rates, a controversial policy tool introduced by the ECB almost five years ago to encourage European banks to lend. Speaking at … [Read more...]
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