Month: August 2024

Taxman squeezing Coca-Cola, Elon Musk gets blocked in Venezuela, and there’s a new richest person in China

🇺🇸 S&P 500 technically marked its third consecutive week of decline, but the numbers are negligible: it’s more like it’s standing still. On Thursday, the indices rebounded sharply, delivering their best day since 2022—apparently due to a drop in unemployment claims. Bumble, the dating service, plummeted as it struggles to find men willing to pay for the privilege of browsing photos of unavailable women. Warner Bros. Discovery took a 12% hit in a single day after tweaking something in their accounting. The official reason? Losing NBA broadcasts. The real reason? People are losing interest in television altogether. 🥥 C*oca-Cola *is likely to lose billions of dollars in court against the IRS. To cover the upcoming penalty, the company will issue a special bond offering of over a billion dollars. They’re being hit with a $6 billion tax bill for the years 2007-2009, discovered eight years ago. Coca-Cola has decided to pay but will continue to contest the case. The problem is that Coca-Cola was funneling profits into low-tax countries and not into high-tax ones. Weird, right? 👖 The founder of the Temu marketplace, Colin Huang, has become the richest person in China, with a net worth of $49 billion. He overtook some guy in the bottled water business (seriously?). Interestingly, during the pandemic, Colin lost 87% of his wealth. But he’s since made it back. 🇻🇪 Elon Musk continues to fight on. Yesterday, the president of Venezuela blocked Twitter for 10 days, explaining that Musk incites hatred. Question to subscribers: who exactly does Musk incite hatred in? Reminder: Elon challenged Maduro to a fight and also sued a consortium of advertisers for boycotting ads on X. 🔪 S*amsung *is recalling… no, not cars, but kitchen stoves! The company promises to provide some kind of clamps or locks for over a million sold electric stoves. The issue? Cats and dogs jump onto the stovetop and accidentally turn it on. I can believe it with dogs—they’re mostly dumb. But cats? Accidentally turning on the stove? Don’t make me laugh! They’ve been waiting for this stove their entire lives! 📿 Humane’s brooch, which I’ve been trashing since its announcement, is going down the drain. Out of the announced $9 million in sales, customers have already returned $1 million worth of the product, and over 1,000 orders have been canceled. More of these idiotic devices have been returned over the summer than sold. Negative sales—a new trend! ⛵️ Miracle machines in Italy: the yacht of billionaire Laurene Powell Jobs collided with the yacht of billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego. No one was hurt, but Salinas now has a hole in the side of his yacht. Patching it up won’t be cheap! Good thing he’s a billionaire. 🦉 D*uolingo *is crushing the charts: their fifth consecutive profitable quarter, and what a quarter it is! A profit of $24 million—up 500% year-over-year. The owl now has over 100 million active users, with 8 million of them paying tribute to the bird. submitted by /u/XGramatik [link] [comments]

BREAKING: The number of US bankruptcies filed under Chapter 11 has surged to 2,462, the highest in 13 years.

https://preview.redd.it/bnhwr01uq6id1.png?width=1520&format=png&auto=webp&s=e570e185e70e0cb89e7bd419b4c9348b859ac94b Chapter 11 allows a company to reorganize under court supervision while continuing to operate, giving it a chance to restructure its finances and business operations. These bankruptcies have more than doubled in just two years. This spike follows widespread struggles among companies to meet debt obligations as the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates to the highest levels in 23 years. Now, markets are expecting 50 basis point rate cuts, with the US economy teetering on the edge of a recession. So much for a “soft landing. submitted by /u/XGramatik [link] [comments]

Tether CEO: MiCA regulations pose a threat to stablecoins.

CEO of Tether Paolo Ardoino expressed concern about the MiCA regulations. He criticised the European bill because of the strict rules and recalled the bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank. https://preview.redd.it/rqzwmyr1i3id1.png?width=714&format=png&auto=webp&s=ad298ee339e31a95b708b252986f1cac07fa9aba submitted by /u/Lor1al [link] [comments]

Consumer revolving credit dropped by $1.7 billion in June, marking the largest decline since March 2021. Americans are reaching their limit on taking on more credit.

https://preview.redd.it/fnm3eupfs2id1.png?width=857&format=png&auto=webp&s=c891c15dadfc3c59bc5f50922dfca68911f7b756 On a month-over-month basis, it decreased by 0.13%, making it the second decline in the last three months. For context, in the six years leading up to the 2020 Pandemic, the US only saw five months of revolving credit declines. The 3-month moving average growth has been decreasing for over two years, the longest downward streak since the 2008 Financial Crisis. This decline follows the average credit card interest rate hitting a new high of 22.8% in Q2 2024. submitted by /u/XGramatik [link] [comments]

In the US, 42 million credit cards and 3.3 million auto loan accounts are nearing default.

https://preview.redd.it/xdqa9xc132id1.png?width=1054&format=png&auto=webp&s=58ea8f6dd7400f94cf1d2ea8df4520bb228d3036 Credit card serious delinquency rates in the US rose to 7% in Q2 2024, the highest since 2011. Delinquencies of 90+ days have more than doubled since 2022. Meanwhile, serious delinquencies on auto loans have spiked to 3%, the highest level in 14 years. According to data from the NY Fed, there are currently around 600 million credit card accounts and approximately 110 million auto loan accounts in the US. submitted by /u/XGramatik [link] [comments]

Retail Investors Just Lost a Poker Game

During the recent market turmoil, mom’n pop investors sold about $1 billion worth of their stock. At the same time, what did institutional investors do? They bought $14 billion. If that doesn’t raise an eyebrow, consider this… For retail investors, their recent selling clocked in as a -2.5 standard deviation move below the 12-month average for stock market orders. But for institutional investors, their buying registered as a +2.9 standard deviation move above the 12-month average. What’s behind this enormous differential? Analyst Adam Khoo has a theory: Short term price movement is largely manipulated by market makers and algos (and later justified by ANAL-lyst using bullshit reasons) … e.g. driving prices down to scare and force weak holders to sell… it’s like a game of poker… bluff the weak hands to fold their cards so the pros can grab their money and their shares more cheaply. Whether Khoo is right or not, preventing a shakeout in your portfolio requires you to remember the most important truth of investing… You don’t own a “stock.” You’re a partial owner in a business. This distinction is critical. In the short-term, prices can wildly decouple from the value of an underlying business. So, if price is your central focus, it’s entirely reasonable that violent selloffs would shake you out of your position. But if your focus is on the underlying business itself – and assuming the business remains healthy – then the stock price is just an indicator suggesting one of three things: Buy more of the business if you want (when prices are abnormally low) Skim profits from your stake in the business if you want (when prices are abnormally high) Do nothing (when prices are somewhere in the wide middle, i.e., the majority of the time). But what about stop-losses? Stop-losses are another critical part of investing. They prevent small, acceptable losses from snowballing into massive, portfolio-busting losses. But stop-losses must be tailormade to each unique stock you hold. For example, a 35% stop loss might be appropriate for a volatile biotech that moves 10% a day, but it would be far too high for a low-volatility utility company that rarely moves 2% in a day. Source: InvestorPlace Digest None of this is actually applicable to CFD’s trading where you neither own a “stock” nor you’re a partial owner in a business, but a pure price speculator. submitted by /u/FXgram_ [link] [comments]

Wealth inequality is escalating at an unprecedented pace

https://preview.redd.it/j3pg2v3lc0id1.png?width=851&format=png&auto=webp&s=48cb904f4db2fbef13183ac4950e1c072359cb19 The top 40% of income earners in the US now control 83% of the nation’s total net worth, approaching an all-time high. The top 20% alone hold 71% of the total wealth, an increase of 10 percentage points over the past 20 years. Conversely, the bottom 40% of income earners possess just 8% of the wealth. Even more stark, the bottom 20% account for a mere 3% of the country’s wealth. In recent years, the rich have become significantly wealthier, while most consumers are struggling to keep up. submitted by /u/XGramatik [link] [comments]

Iran keeps announcing its plans for how it will punish Israel for Haniyeh’s untimely demise.

They’ve published a list of targets, down to a local supermarket, and now they’re saying that the “air operation” will last three to four days. But they haven’t yet figured out how to “punish” Israel without suffering consequences themselves. For now, the tense waiting continues. Although, I don’t think the wait will be long, maybe two or three more days. Then they’ll either do something symbolic—like sink a banana boat in the Red Sea that “belongs to Israel”—or they’ll actually attack, with all the consequences that come with it. They probably can’t keep up this charade for months. It’s crucial for these thugs to save face, but they’ve already become a laughingstock across the Middle East. Just open any Arab website and see the cartoons they’re drawing about them. submitted by /u/XGramatik [link] [comments]

The City of Santa Monica has officially launched a Bitcoin Office to enhance education and explore economic opportunities related to Bitcoin, further positioning itself as a leader in crypto innovation.

The Bitcoin Office’s primary goals include educating the local community, exploring potential partnerships that could boost the city’s economic recovery, and identifying career opportunities related to Bitcoin for residents and students. https://preview.redd.it/h6mv65l5dwhd1.png?width=1131&format=png&auto=webp&s=7bfa1455c183298bec8cf833ec605345cd410294 submitted by /u/Lor1al [link] [comments]

Binance has saved more than $73 million stolen in hacks.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance’s security team has recovered or frozen more than $73 million in user funds stolen as a result of external hacks as of 31 July 2024. For 2023, the exchange has managed to retain approximately $55 million. https://preview.redd.it/fnroccsvewhd1.png?width=722&format=png&auto=webp&s=7ff99acfb2304cedf467ec63396f766f886ca0cd submitted by /u/Lor1al [link] [comments]

The stock market is a prophet? Well, it might be, and also can predict the outcome of the presidential election

Who is the true winner of the presidential election? Yet we don’t know. But do we want to know? Of course! We can use astrology, maidens or even witches to take a look what future holds for us. But what about something more realistic? What can be more “real” and precise than numbers? Nothing. And the numbers from the S&P 500 are what we are looking for. Did you know, that since 1928, the S&P 500 has had an 83% accuracy rate in determining which political party will win the White House? I barely knew it. However, the stock market’s performance in the three-month window before election day is the ultimate predictor of who will win the presidency. 83% accuracy rate, can you imagine this? But it’s only 83%, not 100%: the market can get it wrong with the 2020 presidential election being a prime example. Who will take the chair only God knows. Or the S&P 500, they’re basically demi-gods nowadays submitted by /u/Aftermebuddy [link] [comments]

After a rash of stolen cars, Hyundai and Kia’s new anti-theft software is showing results

CNN — More than a year after Hyundai and Kia released new anti-theft software updates, thefts of vehicles with the new software are falling, according to a new analysis of insurance claim data. The automakers released the updates starting last February, after a tenfold increase in thefts of certain Hyundai and Kia models in just the past three years — sparked by a series of social media posts that showed people how to steal the vehicles. “Whole vehicle” theft claims — insurance claims for the loss of the entire vehicle — are 64% lower among the Hyundai and Kia cars that have had the software upgrade, compared to cars of the same make, model and year without the upgrade, according to the Highway Loss Data Institute. “The companies’ solution is extremely effective,” Matt Moore, senior vice president of HLDI, an industry group backed by auto insurers, said in a statement. The cars in question are certain older Hyundai and Kia models made before 2023 that are particularly vulnerable to theft. Less expensive versions of these vehicles were equipped with turn-key ignitions rather than a button-press to start, and they’re roughly twice as likely to be stolen as other vehicles of a similar age, according to the HLDI. Many of these vehicles also lack some basic auto-theft prevention tech, such as electronic immobilizers, included in most other vehicles made the same years, says the HLDI. Immobilizers rely on a computer chip in the car and another in the key that communicate to confirm that the key is authentic and really belongs to that vehicle. Between early 2020 and the first half of 2023, thefts of Hyundai and Kia models rose more than 1,000%. submitted by /u/Ankle_be [link] [comments]

Container shipping costs from China have surged to their highest levels since 2022, contributing to rising inflation.

https://preview.redd.it/pea1isjli0id1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=5329a9ca3d38d4a2f07667d029d011964b3d7f0e Since the start of 2024, shipping rates have more than tripled. It now costs around $9,000 to ship a 40-foot container from Shanghai to New York and about $8,000 to Los Angeles. This spike is due to a steep decline in Suez Canal traffic, disruptions at several Asian ports, and increased demand driven by inventory restocking. submitted by /u/XGramatik [link] [comments]