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Morning News: November 17, 2017
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on November 17th, 2017 at 4:58 amIndia’s Surprise Credit Boost to Benefit Corporate Debtors
Central Banks Seen Using Blockchain Settlements This Decade
In Puerto Rico, Law Passed for Fiscal Crisis Hampers Storm Recovery
FCC Approves Advanced TV Sought by Sinclair
Comcast Has Approached 21st Century Fox About an Acquisition
With AT&T and Time Warner, Battle Lines Form for an Epic Antitrust Case
Emerson Raises Heat on Rockwell Automation With $29 Billion Bid
Tesla Unveils ‘World’s Fastest Production Car’ and Electric Big Rig
Tesla’s Power Plant on Wheels Won’t Upend Trucking
Nissan Blames Scandal on Inspector Shortage, Management
GM’s Cadillac Expects China Sales to Jump 60% in 2017
Keystone Pipeline Leaks 210,000 Gallons of Oil in South Dakota
Howard Lindzon: Stocktwits – Is Unique Data an Edge?
Cullen Roche: Fine Art and the Capitalist’s Conundrum
Mark Hines: Despite Fundamentals, We Nailed RH, Again
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Recent Economic Reports
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on November 16th, 2017 at 2:17 pmI wanted to mention a few recent economic reports.
Yesterday, the Census Bureau said that retail sales rose 0.2% in October. In the last year, they’re up 4.6%. Taking out gasoline, retail sales rose 0.4% in October.
Today we learned that industrial production rose a healthy 0.9% last month. Economists had been expecting an increase of 0.5%.
Over the past year, industrial production has increased 2.9 percent.
Furthermore, the damage from the deadly hurricanes in the Gulf Coast and Florida was revised downward in the latest report. The August reading, the month most affected by hurricane damage, was revised up 0.2 percentage points to a loss of 0.5 percent.
Yesterday, the government said that consumer prices rose 0.1% last month. In the last year, consumer prices are up 2%.
Core inflation also rose 0.1% last month, and it’s up 1.8% over the last year.
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Smucker Beats Earnings
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on November 16th, 2017 at 10:08 amGood news this morning from JM Smucker (SJM). The jelly folks beat earnings thanks to higher prices for several of their product lines. The company earned $2.02 per share last quarter which beat estimates by 12 cents per share. SJM also beat on sales.
The price increases helped drive profit in Smucker’s consumer foods business about 10 percent higher in the quarter ended Oct. 31.
But profit in Smucker’s U.S. coffee business fell 18 percent even as sales rose slightly, bruised by rising costs to buy green coffee.
Smucker said its net income rose 10 percent to $194.6 million or $1.71 per share in the second quarter. Excluding one-time items, the company earned $2.02 per share, beating analysts’ average estimate of $1.90, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Operating margins improved to 17.2 percent from 15.8 percent a year ago thanks to cost-cutting measures.
Net sales rose slightly to $1.92 billion and topped analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion.
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Morning News: November 16, 2017
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on November 16th, 2017 at 7:01 amGoldman Sachs’s China Deal Prompts Questions About Country’s U.S. Investment
As U.S. Debates Ending Electric Car Tax Credit, China Aims to Expand Sales
Richard Cordray’s Exit from Consumer Bureau Gives Trump an Opening
Fed Insiders Push for Radical Policy Review as Powell Era Dawns
FCC Plans December Vote to Kill Net Neutrality Rules
Is Whole Foods Embarrassing Amazon’s Deal Team?
The Most Expensive Boardroom Proxy Battle in History Just Took a Massive Twist
Investor Who Skirted ‘Path to Hell’ Lands a $50 Billion Jet Deal
VW Teams With Chinese Partners in $12 Billion Electric-Car
The Biggest Loser: Target Misses the Mark
How an $8.4 Billion Takeover Could Save Noble
Meredith Bid for Time Inc. Said to Be Backed by Koch Brothers
Narrow Win for Fox Shows Restlessness With Dual-Class Shares
Howard Lindzon: The Augur and The Ogre
Ben Carlson: Introducing My New Podcast: Animal Spirits with Michael & Ben
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Morning News: November 15, 2017
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on November 15th, 2017 at 7:05 amChina is About to Take the Entire Global Economy For A Wild Ride
China’s Energy Gorilla Will Eat Less and Do More
Japan Extends Economic Growth Streak
Venezuelan Debt Now Has The Vultures Circling
AT&T Engages Its Washington Firepower With Megadeal on the Line
Airbus Has Its Biggest Sale Ever of 430 Planes to Indigo Partners for $49.5 Billion
What Tesla’s Big Rig Must Do to Seduce Truckers
GE Extends Stock Drop After Wall Street Pans CEO’s Turnaround Plan
Nestle Restructures Infant Nutrition Business
Snapchat’s New Test: Grow Like Facebook, Without the Baggage
Shareholders Take Aim at Murdochs With Fox Voting Rights Push
Why Sales Quotas Ruined Wells Fargo
Joshua Brown: Bring This Chart To Your Thanksgiving Dinner
Ben Carlson: Caution Alone Is Not An Investment Strategy
Cullen Roche: Is Robert Shiller Right That Passive Investing is Dangerous?
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Morning News: November 14, 2017
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on November 14th, 2017 at 6:49 amGerman Growth Surprise Lifts Europe as China Subdues Asia
The Forks and Fights Behind Bitcoin’s Turbulence
America’s `Renaissance’ to Gains for Renewables: Global Energy Trends
Millionaire Bankers Feel Sorry for Struggling Millennials
Trump’s Administration is Right to Block the AT&T and Time Warner Merger
GE’s Reboot Plan is Just More of the Same
Amazon to Sell Part of Its Cloud Business in China
Home Depot Profit Beats as Hurricanes Spur Demand
What a Combined Hasbro-Mattel Could Mean for the Toy Industry
Apple Targets Rear-Facing 3-D Sensor for 2019 iPhone
Haste on Tax Measures May Leave a Trail of Loopholes
Steve Jurvetson Quits Venture Capital Firm Amid Investigation
Jeff Carter: Some Feedback on Digital Innovation in B2C Banking
Roger Nusbaum: Very Odd And Unfamiliar Crimson Hue On My Screens
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The 2/10 Spread Drops to 10-Year Low
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on November 13th, 2017 at 10:58 amLast week, The spread between the 2- and 10-year Treasury dropped to 67 basis points. That’s the narrowest in a decade.
This may suggest that the Federal Reserve doesn’t have a lot more room to play with interest rates. The yield curve could go negative with just three more hikes, one of which is coming next month.
The forecast from the Fed has been to hike rates several more times. We’re not in the danger zone just yet. In fact, the economy looks pretty good. However, this won’t last forever.
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GE Cuts Its Dividend
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on November 13th, 2017 at 10:43 amRecently, I mentioned the market’s guess that General Electric was soon going to cut its dividend. I had been under the impression that the company was doing all it could to stave off a dividend reduction. Today we learned that GE has, in fact, reduced its dividend. This is GE’s second dividend cut since the Great Depression. The quarterly dividend will fall from 24 cents per share to 12 cents per share.
I don’t have a strong opinion of whether this is the right or wrong thing to do. I suspect it’s the correct decision. But I’m more struck that we’re talking about GE here, and we’re talking about this during a bull market and economic expansion.
GE also cut its dividend in 2009, but back then, everybody was doing that. This time is different. The company now says they expect to make $1.00 to $1.07 per share next year. That’s nearly half of what they had been expecting less than a year ago.
This is an important lesson for all investors. In this game, there are no guarantees. Misfortune can strike anybody at any time.
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Morning News: November 13, 2017
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on November 13th, 2017 at 7:02 amBitcoin Tumble Erases as Much as $38 Billion While Rivals Gain
While Everyone Was Watching Bitcoin Cash, the Fifth-Largest Cryptocurrency Exploded
The U.S. Yield Curve Is Flattening and Here’s Why It Matters
The Future of Coal Remains Bleak One Year After Trump’s Election
Trump’s Trade Policy Is Lifting Exports. Of Canadian Lobster.
SoftBank’s Uber Deal Shows Doubts About Ride-Hailing
Alibaba’s Singles’ Day Goes Global With Record $25 Billion in Sales
Qualcomm Draws Up Plans to Rebuff Broadcom’s $103 Billion Offer
Emirates Puts Pressure on Airbus to Commit to Ailing A380 Jumbo
Aramco CEO Says Size of Share Offering Is Still to Be Decided
Ben Carlson: One of the Biggest Sources of Market Inefficiency
Howard Lindzon: Thinking in English…and Bitcoin
Michael Batnick: These Are The Goods
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In Memoriam
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on November 11th, 2017 at 6:28 amIn Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
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