Quest for Profit Every morning, hundreds of drivers congregate at a delivery hub in Minneapolis. They get ready to fill their personal cars with packages that they will deliver to thousands of customers in the area. This hub belongs to Target (TGT), and these gig-workers are how the retailer is [...]
It Adds Up A study from consulting company Oliver Wyman shows overdraft fees are big business for major US banks. While many people likely classify them as an annoyance, the fees generated are responsible for more than half of the profits derived from mass-market consumer checking accounts. Banks and credit [...]
The State of Housing The housing market has been booming for most of the past two years. The number of homes being sold increased and prices went through the roof. More recently things have been cooling. Industry observers attribute this to a combination of inflation and the rising-rate environment that’s [...]
Get your money, members: SoFi Checking & Savings is raising the APY for all members. Members with direct deposit will now earn 1.80% APY¹ on their balances, 60 times² the current national average. For members without direct deposit, all balances will now earn 1.00%, 33 times³ the national average. SoFi [...]
Supply Overload The explosion of online shopping during the pandemic spurred the growth of warehouses across the US. Amazon (AMZN) nearly doubled its warehouse capacity in two years. But now, as shoppers return to the malls, the trend has slowed — making these facilities a drain on profits. In recent [...]
Social Media Stumble Once high-flying social media stocks are struggling to overcome numerous headwinds that have eroded their bottom lines. Snap (SNAP), the parent of the popular instant messaging and photo app Snapchat, has been hit particularly hard. Its share price was hammered last week after it posted its worst [...]
Nuclear Fusion TAE Technologies was founded in 1998. Its mission is to use power generated from nuclear fusion to produce clean energy. Some industry experts contend the technology could potentially provide nearly unlimited carbon-free energy. As such, it could be a scalable solution to meet low emissions goals. Since 2014, [...]
Summer Bummer The pandemic dampened summer fun for the last two years, and Americans are eager to get caught up on their travel plans in 2022. Despite high prices, some people feel the urge to get moving. But as it turns out, for the airlines that are supposed to get [...]
A Tale of Three Spreads I’m not talking about a mezze platter. In this macro-obsessed environment, I want to take a moment to focus on some less headline-worthy market indicators that can be important guideposts. We talk about the spread between 2-year and 10-year Treasuries so often that I’m purposely [...]
New Home Construction Stalls When the market for housing gets hot, homebuilders typically get busy, motivated by visions of outsized profits. For those looking to buy, the prospect of more supply coming into the market provided hope that prices could stabilize or even fall. A recent report from the US [...]
