Global music-streaming leader Spotify is adding video and customizable features to draw in more users and ad revenue as competitors such as Jay-Z’s high-fidelity Tidal and a rumoured forthcoming streaming product from Apple Inc. threaten to steal its market share. The service is revising its user experience, doubling down on mobile and adding numerous features…
Evan Spiegel begins a conversation in the offices of his startup, Snapchat, by propping a sneakered foot onto an Eames chair, leaning back, and acknowledging how infrequently he speaks to the press. “I literally have not done this in so long,” he says, before taking a sip from something called a Happy Juice—pineapple, pear, ginger,…
SHANGHAI — For two decades they have been the northern and southern giants of China’s real estate market – two companies with similar names (in Chinese, both begin with the character ‘wan’), one based in Beijing, the other in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, both riding China’s stunning real estate boom to make their owners…
Equities: Although performance was not robust, stocks bounced off their lows and finished at the upper end of their weekly trading range. Weekly percent changes: SP-500 (SPY) +0.39%; Nasdaq-100 +0.82%; and Russell-2000 (IWM) +0.82%. Volatility: The VIX exchange traded fund has now declined 5 out of the last 7 trading weeks. After several previous weeks…
Just three days ago in “Wall Street To Enter Hollow Guilty Plea On FX Rigging, Return To Business As Usual,” we lamented the fact that the Justice Department’s latest attempt to convince an incredulous public that the government is willing to prosecute white collar crime at TBTF institutions (which includes an amusing ‘crack down’ on UBS which…
Precious metals have been under pressure for a long time, but the three charts below indicate that silver might be breaking out. The last breakout attempt of the white precious metal was capped by the rally of the US dollar (starting August 2014). At this point in time however, it seems like nothing stands in silver’s…
by Stock Pucker It’s here, 13F day that is; in working up the suite of activist investor focused newsletters to go out in a few days, it’s hard not to get distracted by the various other 13Fs from value investors like Seth Klarman coming across the wire. If you want to get a look at last…
The economic news today was not good. The Fed’s Industrial Production index for April posted its fifth consecutive monthly decline. Michigan Consumer Sentiment took a dive, its biggest plunge since December 2012. The market was not particularly troubled. The S&P 500 opened higher, vacillated a bit and hit its -0.20% intraday low with the bad consumer sentiment…
The “in-coming” data turned into a blizzard of bad news today, but the Cool Aid dispensers at the New York Fed urged us not to fret—–it was all a temporary blip: New York Fed staff economists said in a new report growth should regain some of its swagger after stumbling during a chilly first quarter…… it believes first-quarter weakness…
Empire Manufacturing, Industrial Production, and even Michigan Consumer Sentiment came in weakly this morning. Stocks were trying to rally, but were just able to hold their ground into the weekend. I get the feeling we are in store for an interesting convergence of appearance and reality later this year. Have a pleasant weekend.
