Business news 2019

[Rewind]

Whoever was the first to realize people would eagerly spend large sums of money on plain old water in small plastic bottles is a genius! Considering people's willingness to pay more for a gallon of plain old water than they pay for a gallon of gasoline, I have no doubt these same people will also spend large sums of money to buy Dasani and Aquafina – plain old water – in aluminum cans. Do they not not have water faucets in their kitchens and bathrooms?

Coca-Cola will sell Dasani in aluminum cans and bottles

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/13/busin...ans/index.html

[Rewind]

Among today's biggest losers: Best Buy -6.06%, Bank Of America -4.69%, General Motors -4.67%, Wells Fargo -4.33%, Hewlett Packard -4.03%, Chevron -3.80%, Panasonic -3.55%, General Electric -3.42%, Amazon -3.36%, The Home Depot -3.24%, Target -2.79%, Pfizer -2.73%, Google -2.71%, Dell -1.86%, McDonald's -1.48%.

Dow tumbles 800 points after bond market flashes a recession warning
CNN, Aug 14 2019 4:05 PM ET

The Dow fell 800 points today after the bond market, for the first time in more than a decade, flashed a warning signal that has an eerily accurate track record for predicting recessions. Here's what happened: The 10-year Treasury bond yield fell below 1.6% this morning, dropping just below the yield of the 2-year Treasury bond. It marked the first time since 2007 that 10-year bond yields fell below 2-year yields. US stocks fell as investors sold stock in companies and moved it into bonds. The Dow fell as many as 808 points and was nearly 3.1% lower at the close. The broader S&P 500 closed down 2.9% and the Nasdaq sank 3%. It was the worst day for stocks of 2019.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/14/inves...day/index.html

[Rewind]

Bernie Madoff whistleblower Harry Markopolos and his investigators have uncovered $38 billion – so far – in financial fraud at GE and believe the conglomerate is close to insolvency. Their report can be downloaded at https://www.gefraud.com

GE shares tank more than 10% after whistleblower calls GE 'a bigger fraud than Enron'

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/15/ge-s...ccounting.html

[Rewind]

Why couldn't Target use "Target" as the brand name for its food products? "Good & Gather" – an adjective and a verb – is dumb. It sounds like the name of a law firm.

Target is launching its own food brand as it doubles down on grocery and takes on Walmart

https://www.businessinsider.com/targ...grocery-2019-8

[Rewind]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics' admission that job growth was much lower than initially reported didn't hurt the stock market. Today the Dow rose 0.93%, NASDAQ was up 0.90% and the S&P climbed 0.82%.

US created 500,000 fewer jobs since 2018 than previously reported, new figures show
Hiring doesn't appear to have gotten big boost from Trump tax cuts.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us...how-2019-08-21

[Rewind]

In an August 12 press release, Patrick Byrne confirmed that he had a three-year relationship with Russian agent Maria Butina and had been involved in a "deep state" investigation of the 2016 Presidential election. Two days later, Overstock.com shares had fallen from $25.56 to $15.68. Following Byrne's resignation today, OSTK shares started climbing, to near $22.

Overstock.com CEO resigns after 'Deep State' controversy

https://www.latimes.com/business/sto...te-controversy

[Rewind]

Fears of an impending global recession have led to a lot of volatility in the stock market over the past year. December was the market's worst month since the Great Depression of 1929-39. And now.......

Insiders are selling stock like it's 2007
Matt Egan, CNN Business, Aug 26 2019 4:11 PM

The leaders of Corporate America are cashing in their chips as doubts grow about the sustainability of the longest bull market in American history. Corporate insiders have sold an average of $600 million of stock per day in August, according to TrimTabs Investment Research, which tracks stock market liquidity. August is on track to be the fifth month of the year in which insider selling tops $10 billion. The only other times that has happened was 2006 and 2007, the period before the last bear market in stocks.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/26/inves...ing/index.html

[Rewind]

Since 2010, Apple has released iPhone 4, iPhone 5, iPhone 6, iPhone 7, iPhone 8 and iPhone 10. On September 10, Apple will introduce iPhone 11. They aren't very creative with the names, are they? And Apple went from 8 to 10 in the same way Microsoft went from Windows 8 to Windows 10. Do tech companies consider 9 an unlucky number?

Apple just sent out invites for its big iPhone announcement next month

https://www.businessinsider.com/appl...r-event-2019-8

[Rewind]

Ebony & Ivory, a 1982 number-one hit by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder, noted that black piano keys and white piano keys "live together in perfect harmony" – so why can't black people and white people do likewise? Thirty-seven years later, a London-based confectionery company has come up with an equally dumb idea: four different types and colors of chocolate "united in one bar." It seems the different chocolates also "live together in perfect harmony." Ain't that nice?

Cadbury is being mocked for making a 'Unity Bar' with 4 different kinds of chocolate to celebrate diversity

https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddri...ity/ar-AAGws2R

[Rewind]

Jay Foreman, same as the CEOs of all other companies that manufacture in China, is not going to comply with Emperor Trump's order to "hereby" quit doing business there. His company is also hurting because of Trump's tariffs – the tariffs Trump says are paid by China but are actually paid by Americans.

Basic Fun CEO: If we move out of China, Trump could just 'put a target on somebody else's back'
The company behind Lincoln Logs, My Little Pony and other toys plans to keep its production in China.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/30/basi...ite-trump.html