E.U. ANNOUNCES RESTRUCTURING PLAN WORTH ALMOST €2 TRILLION. Another day, another list of government plans to rescue nations from falling in depression. The latest is the European money pumping scheme to reinvigorate the EU economy as many of its nation’s GDP rapidly decline. Highlights: The European Commission (EC) will borrow €750 billion on the open...
Tag: jul 28 2020
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GOING DOWN AND OUT
DIAMONDS LOSE THEIR SHINE. With millions out of work and weddings fallen victim to social distancing, the sale of diamonds has crashed. Jared, “the Galleria of Diamonds,” reported sales down by 40.5 percent for the quarter ended 2 May. Alrosa, a diamond wholesaler partly owned by the Russian government, said sales of rough and polished...
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TOY SALES FALL. BOUNCING BACK?
Toymaker Mattel posted second-quarter revenues of $732 million and a loss of 26 cents per share, beating analysts’ expectations of $679 million in revenue and a per-share loss of 34 cents. The company also announced a gross margin of 43.8 percent, an improvement over the same period a year earlier. The company’s gross margin improved...
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TWEETS UP, AD SALES DOWN
It’s a century’s old trend. One of the first cuts from business budgets when sales go down are advertising expenditures. And when the COVID Panic struck and politicians locked down people and economies, cut-away they did. From newspapers and TV to online media and social media sites, while viewership’s are rising, ad revenue are diving....
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IT’S OFFICIAL: DIRTY CASH TO DIGITAL TRASH
As evidenced in our reports in a series of Trends Journals, we forecast the world monetary system will devolve from dirty cash to digital trash. With central banks flooding nations with trillions to artificially inflate failing economies, we forecast they would replace existing currencies with digital ones, thus creating the illusion with a new currency...
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QUITTING THE GYM?
About 59 percent of U.S. gym members will not renew their memberships, according to a TD Ameritrade. More than 56 percent of respondents said the economic shutdown led them to find cheaper ways to exercise. More Americans are jogging or walking, using workout apps, or buying home exercise equipment, according to Molly Passantino, TD Ameritrade’s...
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NON-PERFORMING BRANDS NIXED
Coca-Cola has shut down Odwalla, a line of juice smoothies that failed to grow, and will do the same with other under-performing brands, CEO James Quincy said. Coke will continue is shutdown-era practice of focusing on best-selling products to streamline supply chains. The company fields about 400 different brands, many country-specific. Combined sales of more...
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EATING CHEAP, GETTING FAT
For U.S. stores open at least one year, the pizza delivery chain Dominos reported 16-percent better sales in 2020’s second quarter, compared to just a 3-percent bump a year previous. Among Domino’s 11,000 overseas outlets, sales nudged up 1.3 percent against 2.4 percent a year earlier. During the peak of the shutdown, about 2,400 Domino’s...
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THE DIGITAL FOOD INVESTMENT
The Chipotle Mexican Grill chain reported online sales tripled during the economic shutdown, due in part to the company’s previous investment in digital technologies. Online sales made up 61 percent of revenue in this year’s second quarter, compared to 26 percent in the first. As a result, Chipotle was able to hold its second-quarter sales...
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HOME SALES SAIL ON RECORD-LOW INTEREST RATES
Sales of existing homes jumped 20.7 percent in June from the month before, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). It was the biggest one-month increase since 1968, when records began being kept. However, the number was 11.3 percent lower than in June 2019, as many potential buyers, fearful of losing their jobs, or...