Year: 2020

The latest coronavirus developments and big bank earnings will be on investors’ radars Tuesday. …read more […]

Stock futures were little changed Monday evening as investors braced for what is expected to be an ugly earnings season, with the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the country at the end of the first quarter. …read more […]

Here’s a lockdown impact that you may not have predicted…
According to Bloomberg, cannabis use reached an all-time high in March amid lockdown measures.
And no wonder…
With more than 17 million Americans now unemployed – and under quarantine – it’s logical to think that a large majority of this group will decide to just sit around and smoke some pot.
Never before have more people in the U.S. had this much free time – with nothing to do.
Oh, and give them an extra $1,200 – thanks to Uncle Sam – and the appeal of increased cannabis use becomes even greater.
This is why I’d …read more […]

You may have heard the saying “If it bleeds, it leads.”
And right now, there’s no shortage of bad news for anxious Americans nervously glued to the news.
Take your pick:
New cases of infections… body counts… crashing stocks…
Skyrocketing unemployment… impending economic disaster… runaway central bank stimulus…
This constant, unyielding pressure of negativity is weighing heavy in people’s guts like 2-month-old fruitcake.
It feels like there’s no escape. Though Americans aren’t going to stop trying to find one… or at least trying to drown those sorrows.
Alcohol sales in the U.S. rose 55% during the week ending March 21.
Digging deeper into the data, we find …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Tesla Inc. rose for a sixth straight session, capping a 43% gain triggered by the the electric-car maker’s April 2 first-quarter delivery report.The six-day run was Tesla’s longest winning streak since early February. The S&P 500 Index rose 9.3% during the same period.“Coming off its recent first-quarter delivery numbers, which were better than reset Street expectations, there is some clear optimism from the bulls,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote to clients. China production and demand appear poised for a significant rebound and should be a key growth driver over the coming quarter, he said.Even so, it is now …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Zoom Video Communications Inc. will let paying customers decide which countries their virtual meetings get routed through, a move to assuage clients worried they may be vulnerable to possible Chinese snooping.The ability to select preferred data center locations will be available beginning April 18, Brendan Ittelson, Zoom chief technology officer, said Monday in a blog post. Paid users can also opt out of certain locations. Free users will be locked into data centers in their region, which will mean a U.S.-based data center for many users.Zoom has gone from being used by 10 million office workers a day …read more […]

Along with the debate about the shape of a potential travel industry recovery, crosscurrents are emerging about which companies and business models would lead the charge. Cowen Equity Research published a recent investor note contending that Booking Holdings is “in a better position to maintain staff today and invest in the recovery” compared with other […] …read more […]

A recurrent theme this year has been bad news out of China. First, and most obviously, the novel coronavirus; then equipment China sent to other countries to help combat the virus. For example, last week Pakistan received what they expected to be N-95 masks from China, only to find they were masks made out of […] …read more […]

Swift and sweeping fiscal and monetary policy responses from U.S. officials will ultimately support stock prices from here, blunting some of the damage as the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing measures ravage the economy and grind business activity to a temporary halt, analysts at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and BlackRock said in new notes Monday. …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — J.C. Penney Co. has tapped the consulting firm AlixPartners LLP for advice as the retail chain mulls options for managing its approximately $4 billion debt load amid shrinking revenue, according to people with knowledge of the matter.J.C. Penney has been in conversations with its banks in recent weeks about their liquidity needs, and has been in on-and-off negotiations with lenders about a possible debt deal, said the people, who are not authorized to speak publicly and asked not to be named discussing private information. The company’s shares declined following news of the hire and were down as much …read more […]

Specialized startup investment platforms or portals play an indispensable role in the crowdfunding ecosystem. Every time we recommend a startup to you, we tell you which portal it’s listed on. No portal, no recommendation.
Portals also curate the startups that want to raise by rejecting those that don’t meet their standards. They identify “bad actors,” something the SEC requires them to do. They collect information and data and present the backstories of founders. They provide links to investment documents. And they encourage investors to ask the founders questions.
The better the portals are at doing their job, the more data you have …read more […]