#724: Three Ways to Save Big Bucks in 2021

 Click here to read this short and practical post from Katie Couric's media site.  

#723: Zappos CEO Dies a Millionaire, But Without a Will

 Click here to access this Washington Post article.  Registration may be required, but you can register to read a small number of articles free each month without a subscription.

#722: Shop Safe. The Scammers are Coming for You

 This Washington Post article, by Michelle Singletary, has some important tips for navigating the holiday shopping season.  If necessary, you can sign up for free limited access, to get a minimal number of articles each month.  Shop Safe

#721: Key Financial and Tax Saving Moves to Consider Before Year End

 

#720: Checking in on the Vaccine Scene from Morning Brew

Hey, you. Looks like you’re making some cool, spiky shots in there. How’s it going? 

AstraZeneca: Better than it was. We had suspended our late-stage vaccine trial after a participant developed neurological symptoms. But this week we restarted it when independent monitoring committees and international regulators agreed that it was safe to resume. 

Johnson & Johnson: Same here; we’re back up and running after a reported stroke incident in a volunteer. Outside experts and the FDA sniffed around and said we’re good to go. 

FYI, our vaccine is the only one being tested that involves a single dose.  

Pfizer: Optimistic. The current trial with BioNTech could reveal our vaccine's effectiveness by late November, which would be the first from any vaccine candidate. We could potentially get emergency authorization by the end of the year. 

Still, we just barely beat Q3 earnings estimates yesterday. Our costs were down, but sales fell 4% thanks to people’s continued reluctance to go to the doctor—i.e. fewer prescriptions for our drugs. It’s not just us; they’re having the same problem over at Eli Lilly. 

Herd immunity: Stock is down. Doctors don’t know yet if antibodies = immunity, but it may not matter. A study published Monday showed the number of people with antibodies dropped significantly (27%) in a three-month period, indicating that any immunity could be temporary. 

The study hasn’t been peer reviewed yet. 

Big picture: The U.S.’ vaccine game is high-stakes. Any slip-ups in the program—such as only four out of six candidates proving effective, or not enough people getting vaccinated—could mean we’ll be dealing with the virus well into 2023. But if everything goes smoothly, we could turn the tide by July of next year. 

+ FYI: On Monday, Dr. Anthony Fauci told Yahoo Finance that the “primary endpoint” of a vaccine is “to prevent clinically recognizable disease,” aka stamping out symptoms, rather than eliminating the virus entirely.

#719: How Race Affects Your Credit Score

 This article by Michelle Singletary, personal finance writer, appeared in the 10/16/20 edition of the Washington Post.  I believe that WaPo will prompt you to create an account, but then you get a number of free articles per month.  In the past they have also provided a limited subscription (6 months maybe?) for Amazon Prime subscribers, but I'm not sure if this is still the case. If you need to Google, the article's banner is "Credit Scores are Supposed to be Race Neutral. That's Impossible."

#718: Low Mortgage Rates and Inventory, Higher Sales Prices

 This segment describes how the real estate market is responding to changes created by the pandemic.  

#717: Tom Colicchio on Saving the Restaurant Industry

 Click here to access this video segment from the 3rd Hour of the Today Show.  While the stock market has largely recovered from its precipitous drop earlier this year, so much of the economy continues to suffer, particularly the restaurant industry.  Their challenges impact so many from their supply chain.  Watch this video to learn more and consider watching segments #694 and #707 to enhance your knowledge.

#716: Another Morning Brew Article - This Time It's Inventory Management

 From 8/14/20

We Made Too Much

Francis Scialabba

Months after the pandemic slowed retail to a standstill, brands are still struggling to move mountains of unsold inventory. Like the unfolded laundry pile staring at me as I write today, this mess has layers. The backstory: Retailers ended up with 525,600 minidresses largely because inventory forecasts didn’t predict the pandemic. And retailers often produce more than they can sell. A broken fashion system made the inventory crisis worse for designer brands, the NYT Magazine writes. Brands that partnered with department stores often created “novelty” or “exclusive” items for each wholesale account they opened.  Those items appeased corporate buyers...but shoppers didn't bite. The temporary solution: Brands are flocking to donation services to offload the goods they haven’t sold this summer, the WSJ reports.  Clothing donation firm Good360 expects to receive $660+ million in retailers’ unsold clothes by the end of 2020. That’s 2x the donations it received last year.  Gap alone has donated $60+ million of unworn apparel during the pandemic.  It’s a charitable choice, but it’s also to circumvent a controversial alternative: destroying inventory. A famous example? Burberry’s 2018 admission that it burned $37 million of unsold goods.  Shoppers and government agencies in some markets have stepped in to demand cleaner practices, but they’re not uniformly enforced across nations or even within large companies. LVMH has started partnering with a recycling company to process merchandise it can’t sell, but only for 11 of its 75 brands. Of those, some items are still destroyed. Amazon has started donation programs for merchants in the U.S. and France with unsold merchandise, but Amazon still destroys some unsold inventory in the U.S.  Another alternative: If retailers can’t get their orders in order, they can also sell inventory to off-price retailers like T.J. Maxx. But concerns about diluting their brands’ value makes this option less attractive. My takeaway: If retailers only produced what their customers truly wanted, the inventory glut would shrink. Now that the pandemic’s revealed the worst-case scenario for excess inventory, some brands may be convinced to create smaller batches at the outset.

#715: Walmart Reports Outstanding Earnings With an *

 Another great Morning Brew article from mid-August

Can We Get the Check?

Francis Scialabba

If you work in retail, you likely saw yesterday’s headline earnings beat. Walmart’s Q2 earnings defied expectations, led by a 97% jump in e-commerce sales.   But there’s an asterisk. Low-income shoppers who relied on federal stimulus checks make up a significant portion of Walmart’s customer base. And without a second round of $1,200 checks or renewed unemployment aid to keep filling carts, CEO Doug McMillon said Walmart’s boom period has already deflated. Comparable sales only rose 4% in July, compared to 9.3% gains for the quarter overall.  So far in August, “Consumers are still spending money but not at [the] pace they were in the middle of the quarter,” CFO Brett Biggs told Bloomberg.  It’s not just Walmart. Across retail earnings calls this week, leaders 1) dropped our forbidden words like Supreme collabs and 2) said that the end of stimulus relief is hurting sales.  Home Depot CEO Craig Menear: “When customers have more money in their pocket, there’s some benefit to that. So we don’t kid ourselves to think that that didn’t have some kind of impact.” Kohl’s CEO Michelle Gass: “Consumer behavior has been profoundly altered given safety and spending concerns, and we don’t expect this to change in the near term.” Analysts expected as much when overall retail sales rose only 1.2% in July, a marked slowdown from May and June surges.  The only exception? This morning, Target reported in-store and online sales rose 24.3% in Q2, a record for the Walmart rival. CEO Brian Cornell attributed rising sales to shoppers sitting out summer travel—not stimulus benefits. “The stimulus was a factor, but even as it waned we saw strong comparable-sales growth in June and July,” Cornell told Bloomberg. Looking ahead...Federal lawmakers will determine if the tide can turn in retailers’ (and consumers’) favor.  Congress is currently deadlocked over competing stimulus packages.  President Trump signed an order on August 8 granting supplementary unemployment benefits, but it’s short of the possible trillions the stimulus packages could offer and won’t reach beneficiaries for weeks. Bottom line: Stimulus or no stimulus, Walmart and company aren’t putting a restructuring expert on speed dial anytime soon. But waning benefits could set retailers of all sizes up for disappointing results in Q3.

#714: Apple's Stock Split

 From a recent edition of Morning Brew - a fabulous source of daily business news:

TECH

Apple’s Stock Must Be Using One of Those Big Charging Blocks

Francis Scialabba

Apple’s market cap surpassed $2 trillion for the first time yesterday, cementing its status as the biggest company in the world. Its stock, which will undergo a 4-1 split in the coming weeks, has increased over 50% in 2020. 

Apple wasn’t the first to break the $2 trillion valuation mark—that honor goes to the oil conglomerate Saudi Aramco—and it (probably) won’t be the last. Big Tech buddies Amazon and Microsoft are both sitting at valuations around $1.6 trillion.

A crazy stat: it took Apple 42 years to reach a $1 trillion valuation, but only two years after that to break $2 trillion.  

How’d Apple do it?

Pretty much by just being Apple. The iPhone maker hasn’t released an entirely new product since the HomePod in 2018, mostly focusing on tweaking or updating existing lines. But if there is one thing Apple does well, it’s make money: Despite the pandemic, Apple’s Q3 profits rose 12% while sales of every single product increased. 

But it doesn’t just sell iPhones: Part of investors’ Apple fever has been fueled by CEO Tim Cook’s increased focus on its services business that includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, iCloud, and the App Store. In 2017, Cook outlined his goal to double 2016 services revenue by 2020, which he achieved six months ahead of schedule. 

It was a prescient move. With iPhone sales plateauing worldwide, Cook’s pivot has investors valuing Apple less like a hardware company and more like a software one.

There will always be controversy

After Cook testified in the antitrust showdown with Congress last month, Fortnite creator Epic Games poked the bear by attempting to circumvent Apple’s 30% cut of in-app purchases. But even as other developers have joined in to criticize Apple’s alleged monopolistic control of the app marketplace, investors remain unfazed. 

Looking ahead...Apple optimism continues to abound. The iPhone 12 coming this fall is widely expected to come equipped with 5G connectivity.

#713: Major Shakeup at the Dow

 See also previous post (#712).  This article from Morning Brew details which stocks remain part of the Dow index.

#712: Apple and Tesla Set to Split Their Shares

 Here's an article that is relevant to ACC 201's chapter 11.  A perfect example of how stock splits increase access and then push the shares back upward as more investors show interest.  Evidently there is quite a bit of interest in fractional trading for Apple and Tesla, along with other popular stocks.

#711: Is Toilet Paper Bad for the Environment?

 Click here for this CBS This Morning segment on toilet paper and sustainability.  We need it, but we need better ways to manufacture is the message of this sustainability segment.

#710: The Flavorful Story of Vanilla

This story pairs nicely with post #510 from February 14, 2017.  That post illustrates well the effects of price fluctuations on the direct materials price variance and this post further supports why pricing on vanilla can fluctuate so much.  Lots of direct labor involved in production and weather factors influence as well.

#709: Personal Finance 101: The Complete Guide to Managing Your Money

Click here to read this great article from CNBC or visit by copy/paste: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/30/personal-finance-101-the-complete-guide-to-managing-your-money.html

#708: Time for a Will?

View this segment for estate planning concerns that are more important than ever during the pandemic! Click here if video fails to load https://www.cbsnews.com/video/time-for-a-will-important-estate-planning-decisions-to-consider-during-the-pandemic/

#707: Danny Meyer on the Key Takeaway For Rescuing Restaurants

Click here for main video which includes a discussion of break-even for restaurants or view here. View the web extras in the embedded video or click here for that second video.

#706: COVID-19 Leads to Major Nationwide Disruptions

Click here if video fails to load. This video is a great example of how our view of supply chain has shifted due to changes in demand. JIT isn't quite as great as we used to think it is/was!

#705: College Students Weigh Costs of Online Classes or Pausing Their Education

Click here if video fails to load.

#704: Chicago Pizza Shop "Baking" Face Shields for Health Care Workers

Click here if video fails to load. Great example of a nimble business!

#703: A Digital Revolution Comes for the Cash King

From Morning Brew 6/20/20. This is a photo of the story appearing in the daily email blast. Links won't work.

#702: Why Brands Like Oreo Are Cutting Back on Wacky Flavors Right Now

Click here to read this short CNN article.

#701: Coronavirus Concerns Encourage Use of Digital Payments

Click here if video fails to load.

#700: The Daily Show Segment with Scott Blubaugh

This segment represents an intersection of ACC 202 with economics and history. Interesting comments on JIT! Click here if video fails to load. This segment represents one point of view. I don't expect you to agree with it, but I ask you to consider it thoughtfully and recognize where you might agree and where you might disagree, particularly with regard to anti-trust legislation.

#699: Southwest CEO Gary Kelly on the New Normal for Airlines

Click here to view this segment

#698: Retail Winners & Lowers in the Wake of COVID-19

Click here for this CBS Sunday Morning segment.

#697: The Future of Work - one more follow-up to #695

Click here if video fails to load.

#696: Extra Commentary on #695

This 60 Minutes Overtime segment adds additional insight to the segment on GM & Ford, featured in #695.

#695: How GM and Ford Joined the Fight Against Coronavirus

Click here if video segment fails to load.

#694: Top Chef Judge on Restaurant Apocalypse

I found this segment while channel surfing and found it to be very relevant to the economic impact of our current health crisis. Worth the watch! Very relevant discussion of importance of cash flow and how the payroll protection plan as currently written isn't working for this industry. Click here if video fails to load.

#693: Farmers' Fears: Dwindling Demand & Struggle to Harvest Crops Amid Labor Shortfall

Click here to watch this segment.

#692: Help Wanted: Coronavirus and Job Prospects for US Workers

Click here to load this article & video from CBS Sunday Morning.

#691: The Economic Fallout of Coronavirus

Click here to access this CBS Sunday Morning story which has a video embedded. Part of the segment's video is also embedded below.

#690: Kings of the Road: Will Driverless Trucks Disrupt the Trucking Industry as Soon as 2020?

Click here to load this 60 Minutes segment on driverless trucks.

#689: Kroger CEO on Supply Chain

Click here to read this excellent article from the Courier Journal on the supply chain challenges faced by Kroger and other grocery chains.

#688: Businesses Brace for Devastating Impact from Coronavirus Pandemic

Click here if video fails to load.

#687: Federal Sick Leave Policy Emerges as Important Issue in Response to COVID-19 Crisis

Click here to watch this CBS This Morning video on the important topic of sick leave for our nation's workers.

#686: Coronavirus Leaves Immense Uncertainty for Businesses Big & Small

Click here if video fails to load

#685: Coronavirus Strains Health Care Capacity

This short video helps to illustrate how the health care systems worldwide are working to maximize their constraints and avoid catastrophe. Not exactly like the short term decisions to maximize profits when you have limited capacity in your system, but similar. Click here if video fails to load.

#684: Financial Strategies for Getting Through the Coronavirus Crisis

Click here if video fails to load.

#683: Coronavirus - Big Picture Impact on Global Health & Global Economy

Click here if video fails to load.

#682: Personal Finance Expert on Smart Retirement Strategies

Click here if video fails to load

#681: The Meteoric Rise of Beer & Cocktail Prices

Click here to view this CBS This Morning segment on how inflation has impacted the prices of alcoholic beverages.

#680: Tax Tips x Two from the Today Show

#679: Try a "Cash Diet" to Dig Yourself Out of Credit Card Debt

Click here if video fails to load.

#678: What to Know Before Filing Your Taxes

Click here if video fails to load.

#677: Best & Worst Girl Scout Cookies

Click here

to read this Washington Post article. Site may require registration to get 10 free articles per month.

#676: Smarties: Meet the Women Who Keep the Candy Rolling

Click here to view the Smarties story. This segment from the Today Show's 3rd Hour will be a fun view for most students who are bound to have sampled Smarties at some time in their lives.

#675: Retail Giant Macy's Announces Massive Cuts

Click here to watch this CBS This Morning segment which highlights Macy's plans to downsize and compares with Amazon & other competitors.

#674: Costly Mistakes Related to College Debt, Identity Theft & Life Insurance

Click here to watch this CBS This Morning segment on a variety of personal finance topics.

#673: Why Identity Theft is So Easy and What Consumers Can Do to Combat the Threat

Click here to access this CBS This Morning segment.

#672: A Big Tax Refund is Nothing to Celebrate. Here's Why.

Click here to read article. You may have to register for the Washington Post to access a limited number of free articles, but again they are free!

#671: Changes Are Coming To Your FICO Score Calculation

Click here if video fails to load.

#670: Is College Still Worth It?

This Washington Post article recaps the latest economic statistics on the value of college. You may register with WaPo and receive a limited number of articles free each month without being required to subscribe.

#669: Delivery Dilemma: Americans Are Ordering More, But US Can Only Handle So Much

Click here to read this article from NBC News.

#668: California is Expanding Digital Privacy: Will People Use It?

Click here to load video.