Featured Article

E-Commerce Explodes As Boomers Go Digital

Posted by Josh Owens

on Monday, 29 June 2020 6:53

Things like test-driving, touching the fruit before you buy it, or even trying on clothes prior to purchase won’t be so important from here on out, thanks to a lockdown that has seen millions of Americans forced to work and stay at home to halt the advance of COVID-19 (rather unsuccessfully, it would seem).  During this time of lockdown, however, everyone–not just the younger generations–have used their spare time to hone online shopping skills.

That’s led to a wild uptick in ecommerce.

Amazon is still a leader in it, Walmart and Target are also catching up in online sales. But even the auto industry has now embraced digital platforms and ecommerce. It turns out, all it took to get people to buy cars sight unseen was a guarantee that they can return it (contactless) within a certain number of days, no strings attached.

New data from eMarketer estimates that more than 204 million people ages 14 and older will make an online purchase in 2020.

But the real disruptor for traditional retail is this bit of data: Two-thirds of those online shoppers will be 45 and older–an age group that hasn’t until now really taken to the idea that much.

The updated forecast, which factors in the pandemic’s effects, anticipates a 5.8% increase in the number of digital buyers 45 and older, up from 3.2%. This equates to nearly 5 million new users…CLICK for complete article

Immigration Attack Will Ruin America’s Tech Dominance

Posted by Michael Kern

on Wednesday, 24 June 2020 6:49

This is where Canada’s “Waterloo” conducts a silent coup against Silicon Valley, thanks to the use of immigration as a political punching bag in the United States, and yet another move against foreignw workers by the Trump administration.

The American tech industry is already reeling from the effects of a lack of homegrown talent at a time when the United States is ostensibly in war for technological dominance–the only kind of dominance that matters right now.

On Monday, President Trump signed an executive order to suspend several temporary work visas for skilled workers, managers and au pairs through the end of the year, proclaiming: “Under the extraordinary economic contraction from the Covid-19 outbreak, certain nonimmigrant visa programs pose an unusual threat to the employment of American workers.”

This move follows a similar one In May, when Trump issued a temporary halt on new green cards, which was set to expire Monday but stopped short of suspending guest worker programs amid concerns from the business community.

Faced with protests, COVID crisis, slow economic recovery, plunging approval ratings and criticism of his overall handling of the pandemic, Trump is turning to his tried and true method of reanimating his support base–attacking immigration.

According to the White House officials, the goal of the move is to protect 525,000 jobs and is part of its response to job losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic…CLICK for complete article

2020 S&P 500 Recovery Rally ‘Closely Tracking’ 2009 Rebound

Posted by Wayne Duggan

on Tuesday, 16 June 2020 11:32

The historic stock market rally off the 2020 March lows continued on Tuesday, with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust trading higher by 2.3%.

It may seem like the recent market trading action is unprecedented, but DataTrek Research co-founder Nicholas Colas said it’s actually “closely tracking” the market’s 2009 bounce off of the March 9 lows.

In fact, 58 days after the March 23 lows, the S&P 500 is up about 37%, almost perfectly in-line with the 39% index gain 58 days after the March 9, 2009 low. Unfortunately, if the S&P 500 continues to track its 2009 rebound, Colas said investors can anticipate about seven weeks of high volatility and very little overall gains.

Key Differences: Colas warned investors that the S&P 500 index is a lot different than it was back in 2009, and the current economic situation is different as well. First, the S&P 500 is currently trading at around 19.6 times recent peak earnings compared to 10.4 times trailing peak earnings at the same point in 2009…CLICK for complete article

‘They are just doing stupid things, and in my opinion, this will end in tears,’ — Leon Cooperman

on Tuesday, 16 June 2020 6:04

Billionaire Leon Cooperman on Monday said that the emergence of individual investors eagerly scooping up stocks that have been rocked amid the coronavirus-induced downturn will ultimately not end well for those individual investors.

The ‘Robinhood markets are going to end in tears,” said Cooperman during CNBC’s show “Halftime Report” on Monday, referring to the popular online trading platform.

Critics like Cooperman say that a dearth of diversions due to COVID-19 lockdowns and unemployment have created a perfect environment for newly minted day traders to wreak havoc on Wall Street.

Full Story

Worst Day until the next one….

Posted by Bill Blain

on Friday, 12 June 2020 6:31

 

“When Black Friday comes, I’ll stand by the door, and catch the grey men when they dive from the fourteenth floor.”

“The worst day since March!”  The commentariat is full of stuff like “markets got creamed”, a “new sell off to new lows is coming”, and “market froth blown away”. Whatever. Yesterday’s 6% market stumble on the back of Fed Chair Powell’s comments about economic and jobs weakness, and signs of rising virus infections across the US, triggered the biggest market dip in weeks.

Is it a buy the dip or run for the hills moment? Read More