Whirlpool CEO Says Company Is About To Run Face-First Into $1 Billion In Inflation Costs
by Zero Hedge - July 23rd, 2021 2:10 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge
Whirlpool is the latest in a growing line of companies publicly stating that inflation has been a headwind for their business. Whirlpool CEO Marc Bitzer said yesterday that his company is going to run face first into $1 billion worth of inflation this year.
"We have raised prices across the globe and we feel we are in a pretty good position to mitigate the effects of raw materials," Bitzer said yesterday, according to Yahoo.
He noted that "peak increases" due to inflation would be materializing in the current quarter.
Despite the headwind, Whirlpool is aiming to try and not raise prices with hopes that inflation could subside heading into 2022. Good luck with that.
Bitzer continued: "Right now we feel like we are in a good position to deal with what we saw coming. We have been pretty predictable in terms of raw materials and pretty stable in terms of our outlook."
He also commented that "we don't feel good, we are letting consumers down," when asked about issues the company was having meeting demand.
Bitzer concluded: "They need new appliances because for many people right now they have been using appliances a lot more in the last year than any time before. You have high consumption. People need to replace certain appliances and we of course, feel really bad about having so many consumers waiting for our appliances."
"If current trends persist, there will be a carryover of inflation to next year. At the appropriate point, we will quantify how much of a carryover will be there."
Recall, we noted just days ago that automaker Stellantis' CEO said he could see inflationary pressure "very clearly". His exact words were: “I see the inflationary pressure very clearly. I see inflation coming from many different areas.”
Days before that we wrote about how paint company PPG, who supplies to major manufacturers like Ford and Boeing, is raising the prices of its paint and coatings solely as a result of "inflation in raw material and logistics costs".
PPG's CEO commented earlier this month: “What we’re obviously studying now is the need to be out with a third set of price increases.
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Is Amazon About To Start Accepting Crypto?
by Zero Hedge - July 23rd, 2021 12:56 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge
For the first time ever, Amazon has shown itself to be interested in crypto with a new major hire within its payments-focused team.
Posted on Thursday, the new role seeks an experienced product leader with expertise in blockchain, central bank digital currencies and cryptocurrencies to “develop the case for the capabilities which should be developed” and drive overall product vision.
The Payments Acceptance & Experience team is seeking an experienced product leader to develop Amazon’s Digital Currency and Blockchain strategy and product roadmap
The Amazon Payment Acceptance & Experience Team is responsible for how Amazon’s customers pay on Amazon’s sites and through Amazon’s services around the globe.
In an email to Insider, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed the job posting and the company's ambition to eventually accept cryptocurrency from its customers.
"We're inspired by the innovation happening in the cryptocurrency space and are exploring what this could look like on Amazon," the spokesperson said.
"We believe the future will be built on new technologies that enable modern, fast, and inexpensive payments, and hope to bring that future to Amazon customers as soon as possible."
As CoinTelegraph reports, the latest job posting reaffirms Amazon’s growing attention to digital currency, as the company has been apparently developing a new service to allow its customers to shop using digital currency. Earlier this year, Amazon posted a job application to launch a new digital payment product known as “Digital and Emerging Payments,” initially planning to roll out the initiative in Mexico.
Bitcoin bounced modestly after tumbling earlier as the news broke…
It remains unclear whether Amazon is considering launching its own digital currency as part of its payment acceptance process with the new position, as well as (or instead of) existing cryuptocurrencies, but for now this is a major step towards a much more mainstream adoption.
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After JPMorgan Chase Admits to Its 4th and 5th Felony Charge, Its Board Gives a $50 Million Bonus to Its CEO, Jamie Dimon
by ilene - July 23rd, 2021 10:16 am
Courtesy of Pam Martens
Jamie Dimon Being Sworn In at House Financial Services Committee Hearing, May 27, 2021
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
The unthinkable is happening with alarming regularity at the Frankenbank JPMorgan Chase. Over the last seven years, with Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon at the helm, JPMorgan Chase has managed to do what no other federally-insured American bank has managed to do in the history of banking in the United States. The bank has admitted to five separate felony counts brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, while regulators took no action to remove the Board of Directors or Jamie Dimon.
Now, once again, the outrageous hubris of this Board is on display. Just last fall the bank forked over $920 million of shareholders money to settle its fourth and fifth felony counts brought by the Department of Justice, this time for rigging the precious metals and U.S. Treasury market. Now, in the dog days of summer, rarely a time for bonuses on Wall Street, the JPMorgan Chase board announced on July 20 that it is giving Dimon 1.5 million stock options which, according to a specialist cited at Bloomberg News, have a total value of $50 million on paper.
In its filing with the SEC, the Board wrote this about the 1.5 million stock option award to Dimon:
“This special award reflects the Board’s desire for Mr. Dimon to continue to lead the Firm for a further significant number of years. In making the special award, the Board considered the importance of Mr. Dimon’s continuing, long-term stewardship of the Firm, leadership continuity, and management succession planning amidst a highly competitive landscape for executive leadership talent.”
Translation: No one else wants to run a mega bank with a rap sheet like ours.
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Global Investing: Here’s the Message of Consumer “Overconfidence”
by ilene - July 23rd, 2021 4:29 am
Global Investing: Here's the Message of Consumer "Overconfidence"
Bear markets tend to follow this particular sentiment
Courtesy of Elliott Wave International
In many global regions, economies are flourishing. For example, here are two headlines about the U.S.:
What America's Startup Boom Could Mean For The Economy (npr.com, June 29)
Inflation Rose in June as Economic Recovery Continues (WSJ, July 13)
The goings-on in the United Kingdom provide another example. Employers in the UK are hiring people at the highest rate in more than six years. Plus, business and consumer spending are climbing swiftly — at the fastest clip in a quarter of a century.
So, it wasn't surprising to see this June 18 CNBC headline:
Morgan Stanley picks the global stocks set to ride Europe's expected boom
However, here's what investors need to know: An economic boom follows an uptrend in the stock market, not the other way around. In other words, history shows that a booming economy may serve as a contrarian indicator.
Indeed, here's a chart and commentary from our July Global Market Perspective, a monthly Elliott Wave International publication which provides forecasts for 50+ worldwide financial markets:
The chart shows that consumer confidence in the European Union two months ago eclipsed the survey's pre-pandemic optimism from February 2020. Financial markets have traveled this territory before. In May 2020, GMP discussed two prior outbreaks of consumer overconfidence and noted that bear markets followed such sentiment. In the case of this survey, the all-time high came in May 2000.
The Stoxx 600 peaked in March of that year and fell 60% over the next 24 months. Consumer confidence peaked two months before the stock market's top in July 2007, and the Stoxx 600 declined 61% to March 2009.
Yes, consumer and business confidence might climb even higher. However, the point is: The "boom part of the cycle" appears to be in the "mature" zone. Another key takeaway is that many in the investment community see the economic upturn as a sign that the bull market in stocks will persist when history suggests just the opposite.
As Frost & Prechter's Elliott…
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Sam Bankman-Fried, Founder and CEO of FTX, Joins Howard Lindzon to Discuss Futures, the Global Scale of Crypto and More
by ilene - July 23rd, 2021 3:16 am
Sam Bankman-Fried, Founder and CEO of FTX, Joins Me on Panic with Friends to Discuss Futures, the Global Scale of Crypto and More (EP.159)
Courtesy of Howard Lindzon
?I am really excited to share this ‘Panic’ podcast with Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and CEO of the crypto currency exchange FTX.
Listen right now here on Megaphone.
I recorded it last month, but it is an evergreen conversation about entrepreneurship, domain experience, product, crypto, trading and growth.
Sam and FTX are doing it all right now at warp speed.
FTX is only 120 employees at the moment and a fresh $900 million investment at an $18 billion valuation and a great origin story that he shares in the podcast.
He does laugh a lot which I proved in the podcast.
Sam is a young entrepreneur, but very bold and taking corporate development buying Blockfolio and buying the naming rights to the Miami Heat stadium.
He is an MIT graduate, a Vegan and has great hair.
I had so many questions so I just fired away from how he came up with the names of his companies, the first time he heard about Bitcoin (was donated to him at MIT in 2012 which he never claimed), what is a stablecoin, Defi (not ready for primetime), life in Hong Kong, sleep struggles and dating.
In late 2017, he got the strong instinct to take it seriously because of the volatility, international interest and large retail interest.
I first heard of FTX last year when Sina Nader reached out to me. Sina was previously leading crypto at Robinhood and before that he was at Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley.
I hope you enjoy the podcast. You can listen to it here on Spotify or Apple or Google
Scroll down for more information on Sam and this episode.
.
Guest: Sam Bankman-Fried
Profile: Founder and CEO of FTX
Where to Find Him: LinkedIn, Twitter
What He’s Panicked About: “All the things I wish I were able to fit into my day and can’t.”
Episode Summary:
For this week’s episode, we’re…
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US is split between the vaccinated and unvaccinated – and deaths and hospitalizations reflect this divide
by ilene - July 23rd, 2021 2:47 am
US is split between the vaccinated and unvaccinated – and deaths and hospitalizations reflect this divide
As coronavirus cases surge, unvaccinated people are accounting for nearly all hospitalizations and deaths. Fat Camera/E+ via Getty Images
Courtesy of Rodney E. Rohde, Texas State University and Ryan McNamara, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
In recent weeks, one piece of data has gotten a lot of attention: 99.5% of all the people dying from COVID-19 in the U.S. are unvaccinated.
We are two researchers who work in public health and study immunity, viruses and other microbes. Since the start of the pandemic, public health experts have been concerned about what might happen if large sections of the U.S. population, for whatever reason, did not get vaccinated. Over the past few weeks, the answer to that question is starting to emerge.
In early July, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned of ‘two Americas’ emerging.
‘Two Americas’ of vaccination
As of mid-July 2021, the U.S. has fully vaccinated more than 160 million people – just under 50% of the population – against COVID-19. Despite a surplus of available vaccines, in recent weeks the rate of vaccination has slowed substantially. In early April, health workers administered roughly 4 million new vaccines daily. Today, that number is about 450,000 doses a day.
As people sought vaccines over the past few months, the U.S. has split into what Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is calling “two Americas” – one of the vaccinated population and one of the unvaccinated population. These two Americas are divided geographically and in most cases along political lines.
Vaccination rates will continue to rise, albeit slowly, as rural areas get better access to vaccines and messaging persuades some vaccine-hesitant people to get the shot. But according to survey data from late June and early July, more than 10% of adults 18 or older say they are probably not or definitely…
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Global Home Prices Are Rising At The Fastest Pace On Record
by Zero Hedge - July 22nd, 2021 6:20 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge
Those looking for signs of a new housing bubble need look no further than today's existing home sales report which showed that median prices of existing homes in the US soared 24% to a record $363,300.
And while banks have been quick to reprise their roles as the "Ben Bernankes" of this neverending business cycle, trying to counter growing speculation that the US housing market is once again in a giant bubble, with both Goldman…
… and Bank of America telling readers not to believe their lying eyes…
… the reality is that not only is it a bubble in the US, but it is also the biggest housing bubble in the entire world!
As BMO's Doug Porter writes, global real home prices are rising at their fastest pace in 45 years of records. According to data compiled by the Dallas Fed, prices after inflation are now up more than 6% y/y, surpassing the prior peaks in 2005 and 1989.
The results are weighted by GDP in the 24 countries covered, so naturally the U.S. leads the results. But the index covers the entire G7, as well as nations as diverse as Korea, Israel, South Africa, New Zealand and Slovenia.
Among these nations, who is the frothiest of them all? Why, none other than Canada, where real prices are now up by more than 20% y/y (topping even New Zealand by this metric), although today's NAR existing home sale price update likely means that the US is once again in pole position when it comes to the biggest asset bubble ever.
And speaking of Canada, it may have lost the first place in the world's biggest housing bubble, that doesn't mean it can't regain it and as Porter adds "it’s no surprise that residential mortgage growth is gathering steam, now running at 8.3% y/y in May, the most since 2010." The fastest rate in the past three decades is 14% in 2007, but with the 3-month annualized rate now running at just under 12%, this milestone could be tested if house prices continue to rip higher and sales remain strong.
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PhilStockWorld’s LIVE Weekly Webinar 07-21-2021
by clarisezoleta - July 22nd, 2021 10:00 am
PSW's LIVE Weekly Webinar 07-21-2021
Major Topics:
00:00:04 – EIA Report
00:02:22 – Crude Oil WTI
00:03:50 – VLO
00:06:07 – Crude Oil WTI
00:08:31 – EIA Report | OPEC Oil Production Chart
00:21:48 – LTP: TTE
00:26:12 – Trading Techniques
00:33:12 – Bargain Hunting
00:55:01 – VTRS
01:03:36 – ATH | APO
01:09:51 – WBA
01:20:31 – VIAC
01:26:58 – LTP
01:27:09 – STP
01:27:52 – CMG
Phil's Weekly Trading Webinars provide a great opportunity to see what we do at PSW. For LIVE access to all our webinars, join us at PSW!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and view our past weekly webinars here.
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Law Firm that Was Sued Last Year by NYS Attorney General for Refusing to Turn Over Trump Documents Lands a Partner to Head the Criminal Division in Biden’s Justice Department
by ilene - July 22nd, 2021 9:49 am
Courtesy of Pam Martens
Kenneth A. Polite
It’s starting to look very swampy again in the nation’s capitol. President Biden pushed forward a law partner from the law firm that notoriously represented Donald Trump and the Trump Organization on tax matters for 15 years, right up to January of this year, to be the head of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Astonishingly, on Tuesday, the Senate confirmed that nominee, Kenneth A. Polite, for the position.
The Trump Organization and its CFO, Allen Weisselberg, were indicted earlier this month on tax evasion charges.
Polite, a law partner with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, will now preside over the criminal division of DOJ, which holds the reins on whether to bring criminal charges against the well-connected and powerful in corporate America – his law firm’s former clients, and more than likely, his future clients if past precedent is any gauge. That doesn’t ensure confidence among the American people, nor does the history of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.
Another law partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Sheri Dillon, shared the stage with President-Elect Donald Trump on January 11, 2017 as one of his legal and tax advisors. This is what she told the American people that day: (Play close attention to her statement that “conflicts of interest laws simply do not apply to the president….”)
“President-elect Trump wants the American public to rest assured that all of his efforts are directed to pursuing the people’s business and not his own. To that end, as he explained a few moments ago, he directed me and my colleagues at the law firm Morgan Lewis and Bockius to design a structure for his business empire that will completely isolate him from the management of the company.
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Integrated Apple and App Store Risk
by ilene - July 21st, 2021 10:15 pm
Integrated Apple and App Store Risk
Courtesy of Ben Thompson, Stratechery
[Originally published June 8, 2021]
Apple acquired Dark Sky, the popular weather app and weather API provider, in March of 2020; the Android version was shut down in July, and the API in December. The real storm, though, arrived in yesterday’s WWDC keynote, when Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi spent 49 seconds previewing iOS 15’s new weather app, filled with new features and wrapped in a gorgeous interface featuring real-time weather elements like accumulating snow and bouncing raindrops.
What made these 49 seconds notable is that they came at a developer conference, and yet Apple’s acquisition of Dark Sky and iOS 15’s new weather app are quite clearly focused on obviating 3rd-party weather apps built by the developers WWDC is theoretically for. This isn’t a complete surprise — the public WWDC keynote is focused on consumers, while the afternoon Platforms State of the Union is for developers — but the new Weather App was only the most extreme example of Apple deciding what part of the iPhone user experience was theirs, and what was left for developers.
The Dark Side of Weather Apps
There is another way of thinking about Apple’s new Weather app; in 2019, a year before the Dark Sky acquisition, the city of Los Angeles sued the IBM-owned Weather Company for collecting and selling location information from its popular Weather Channel app; the company eventually settled with an agreement to better disclose that it was leveraging user location data for more than delivering weather reports.
The problem for users is that it is not as if they could turn location data off: unless a user wanted to manually enter their location every time they used a weather app the app would be fairly useless for its intended function — displaying the weather wherever the user was. The challenge for weather app makers, though, is that weather information is a commodity that costs money: app makers had to pay for the data, but that data was open to anyone willing to pay. The result was a race to the bottom, with user privacy as the casualty: AccuWeather was shown…
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW.
