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Aim Altitude unveils ultra long-haul social space concept

To that end it has created a “conversational starting point”, which features a number of flexible zones which could be dedicated to dining, wellness, exercise, work and entertainment.

The firm says that the Relax and Dine mode could be used for situations from “an afternoon glass of wine with a friend, or preparing a presentation with a work colleague, to booking the booth for a special romantic meal whilst on honeymoon”, while wellness and focus modes could enable flight yoga routines, meditation or prayer.

Source: https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2019/04/06/aim-altitude-unveils-ultra-long-haul-social-space-concept/

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Dow Jones Futures: Stock Market Rally Pressured; Tesla, Okta, Costco Moving

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Source: https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/dow-jones-futures-current-stock-market-rally-tesla-stock-okta-stock-costco-stock-upland/

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Wells Fargo error blamed as hundreds lose their homes

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Wells Fargo says a computer glitch is partly to blame for an error affecting an estimated 500 customers who lost their homes. The giant bank filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, revealing it incorrectly denied 870 loan modification requests. About 60 percent of those homeowners went into foreclosure.

Legislators, housing advocates, regulators and, most importantly, the people who lost their homes – people like Jose Aguilar – are asking how this happened.

"It's been very hard for me. It's something I wouldn't wish upon anybody," Aguilar told CBS News correspondent Anna Werner.

These days, Aguilar can only drive by the home he and his family lost to foreclosure three years ago, the small ranch house in upstate New York where they wanted to raise their children.

"I used to look there and see how many times my kids and I used to run up and down, ride our bikes," Aguilar said.

He said the problems began when he and his ex-wife found mold in the house. He tried to remediate it himself but fell a few months behind on the mortgage payments. So the couple asked their lender Wells Fargo to modify their loan to lower their monthly payment.

"At first they told me, 'OK, you know, you might be able to qualify for a loan modification,'" Aguilar said.

But he said then came the delays – weeks, then months – waiting for a decision.

"Then the whole process just started all over again. And then it got to the point we were a year behind," Aguilar said.

Finally, Wells Fargo turned them down.

"What was your reaction, I mean, after all that time?" Werner asked.

"At that point I just gave up," Aguilar said.

He and his wife split up. The house went into foreclosure. With the hit to his credit, Aguilar said he found no one would rent to him.

"At that point my son and I had to move to the basement of a friend's house and we stayed there for three months, and we had nothing. We had a couch and my son had a bed," Aguilar said, choking up with emotion. "I felt worthless. I felt like I had let my family down." 

Then in September this year, nearly three years later, he got a letter from Wells Fargo. "Dear Jose Aguilar," it read, "We made a mistake. . . . We're sorry." It said the decision on his loan modification was based "on a faulty calculation" and his loan "should have been" approved.

"It's just like, 'Are you serious? Are you kidding me?' Like they destroyed my kids' life and my life, and now you want me to – 'We're sorry?'" Aguilar said.

Wells Fargo now said that "calculation error" on loan modifications affected 870 customers over an eight year period, customers who either were denied loan modifications or "were not offered a modification in cases where they would have otherwise qualified." About 545 of those customers ultimately lost their homes to foreclosure.

At least some of those people got a check from Wells Fargo along with the letter. In Aguilar's case, it was for $25,000. But his attorney Marc Dann said that doesn't begin to cover his total losses. 

"So how do you think they came up with the amounts of money that they handed out to people?" Werner asked.

"That's what we want to find out. We want to find out what went wrong, how it went wrong," Dann said.

Alys Cohen is with the National Consumer Law Center. 

"The question is: How did this happen? Aren't they supposed to check their computer programs regularly to make sure they're accurate?" Cohen said. "This is clearly more than just a simple computer mistake."

Wells Fargo declined to do an on-camera interview. The company could not say how much money it expects to pay out in remediation to customers. But Aguilar said it's not just about money.

"I want Wells Fargo to know that there's people out there with feelings and families that try hard to pay their bills and survive. We're real people, we're not just money," Aguilar said.

Wells Fargo said it plans to work with each of those customers to reach a resolution. The bank is also offering no-cost mediation. Meanwhile, nonprofit groups and some legislators are pushing for more answers.

Source: http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/wells-fargo-computer-glitch-blamed-as-hundreds-lose-their-homes/ar-BBQtjz7?srcref=rss

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More Harassment Allegations Emerge At CBS

The network is under fire — again — for its workplace culture and its treatment of female employees. A potential merger could bring more upheaval for the company.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2018/12/15/677015741/more-harassment-allegations-emerge-at-cbs

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R.I.P. Jack Bogle, Democratizer Of Investing

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Mark Lennihan/AP

John Clifton Bogle — "Jack" Bogle, the founder of the Vanguard Group — passed away yesterday, at the age of 89. He was a giant in the financial industry but in a way, his legacy is not about what he did for the financial sector, but rather about the ways that he tried to prevent the financial sector from ripping people off.

On today's Indicator, Cardiff talks with Katherine Bell, the editor-in-chief of Barron's, which covered Jack Bogle's ideas and career extensively over the years, and in fact published Bogle's last major interview.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: Twitter/ Facebook.

Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, PocketCasts and NPR One.

Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/01/17/686361876/r-i-p-jack-bogle-democratizer-of-investing

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Ecological Importance and Human Rights Be Damned, Trump Admin Says Fossil Fuel Pillaging in Arctic Refuge Coming Soon

Jerri-Lynn here. Trump has pledged to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to fossil fuel drilling, and as this post describes, Interior Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Joe Balash told an industry gathering last week in Alaska that leases will be offered for sale later this year.

This move will undoubtedly be subject to a legal challenge – which would at minimum delay the administration’s  timeline to offer leases for sale.  US federal district court judge Sharon Gleason in March voided Trump’s 2017 executive order opening Arctic waters to oil drilling. Gleason’s order reinstates existing limits to offshore oil and gas leasing in the Arctic, which includes most of the Beaufort Sea and all of the Chukchi Sea, as reported by Arctic Today in Court ruling on offshore Arctic leasing creates new obstacle for planned Beaufort sale.

A bipartisan group of House members have introduced a bill to amend the 2017 tax bill to remove the section that opened the refuge to drilling, as reported by the Hill in Lawmakers introduce bill to ban drilling in Alaska wildlife refuge. This measure is not a serious obstacle to Tump’s plans.. Even if the full House passed it, the Republican-controlled Senate would likely vote it down; and in the unlikely event that Congress passed the bill, Trump would certainly veto it.

By Andrea Germanos, staff writer, Common Dreams. Originally published at Common Dreams

Caribou graze on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. (Photo: USFWS/Flickr/cc)

Interior Dept. statement that “lease sale will happen in 2019” comes as oil companies face heat over possible extraction on previously protected public land

Environmental and indigenous activists are hoping to make sure the Trump administration’s promise to soon sell oil leases in the previously protected Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is never fulfilled.

Republicans laid the groundwork for the fossil fuel leases in the refuge’s 1.6 million-acre coastal plain in a “deplorable” provision in their 2017 tax law. The administration followed through in December with a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for granting the leases. And with a final draft EIS expected in August, an administration official said Thursday that an oil sale would happen before the year’s over.

Speaking at an oil industry conference in Anchorage, Interior Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Joe Balash said, “Once we have a final EIS, we will be in a position to issue a record of decision and notice of lease sale. And that lease sale will happen in 2019.”

Among the issues at hand: the land is sacred to Gwich’in; it is the site of the planet’s longest land-based mammal migration—that of the porcupine caribou herd; extraction and exploration would disrupt other wildlife; and it would add fuel to the climate crisis.

Morning read: Despite myriad internal issues and overwhelming public opposition, @Interior and Joe Balash promise to hold #ArcticRefuge lease sale in 2019. #ProtectTheArctic https://t.co/42wZvadFMz pic.twitter.com/4G50h5Isx0

— AlaskaWild 🏔️ (@alaskawild) 31 May 2019

A group of teachers and scholars wrote earlier this year about the potential threats, noting that the draft EIS failed “to address the ecological impacts of drilling”:

Fossil fuel development in the Coastal Plain would devastate an Arctic nursery of global significance. It would violate human rights, jeopardize food security, and threaten the health and safety of Indigenous communities. It would contribute to the escalating crises of climate change and biological annihilation. The Arctic Refuge is an irreplaceable ecological treasure.

Given such impacts, oil giants including BP and Chevron were targeted during shareholder meetings this week, where demonstrators demanded they not drill in the public lands. Bank behemoths that would finance the extraction have been targeted as well.

Among those who wanted to deliver a message to Exxon at a shareholder meeting this week was Donald Tritt, a representative of the Gwich’in.

In a statement shared on Twitter—the oil company didn’t let him speak—Tritt said that drilling in the Arctic Refuge would not only affect his family today, “but future generations to come.”

“The cost of drilling in the coastal plains is just too high for my people and the reputation of any company that decide to lease there,” he said. “Leasing in the Coastal Plain is bad for business at a time the world is turning away from fossil fuel[s].”

Donald Tritt, a Gwich’in leader w/ @OurArcticRefuge, traveled from Alaska to Texas to be at the #ExxonAGM today to ask @ExxonMobil to stay out of the Arctic Refuge. Exxon wouldn’t even let him speak. Here’s what he would have said. RT to #StandWithTheGwichin! #ProtectTheArctic pic.twitter.com/NxWUjJm5iP

— Sierra Club (@SierraClub) 29 May 2019

The Sierra Club agreed.

“Major banks and oil companies will continue hearing from the public and their shareholders loud and clear that the Arctic Refuge is no place for drilling,” said Ben Cushing, a campaign representative for the group, on Thursday.

“Pursuing drilling in this unique wilderness would be bad for the environment, bad for human rights, and bad for their bottom line,” he added. “The public is watching and demanding that these companies commit to staying out of the Arctic Refuge.”

The Wilderness Society, which also opposes drilling the refuge, suggested the leasing decision is a likely outcome given the Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s record as a former oil industry lobbyist.

“We said it once and we’ll say it again,” the group said. “We can’t trust an oil lobbyist to manage #PublicLands.”

This entry was posted in Banana republic, Doomsday scenarios, Energy markets, Environment, Global warming, Guest Post, Politics, Regulations and regulators on June 2, 2019 by Jerri-Lynn Scofield.

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Source: https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/06/ecological-importance-and-human-rights-be-damned-trump-admin-says-fossil-fuel-pillaging-in-arctic-refuge-coming-soon.html

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Japan's Cornelius Wows Tokyo With Uniquely Visual 'Mellow Waves' Concert

Cornelius and his band performed Oct. 8 at the Tokyo International Forum Hall A as part of the Mellow Waves Tour 2018.

Going to a Cornelius show isn't just about enjoying live music; it's about taking in a distinctly unique audio and visual experience, including innovative visual effects and lighting. As today's market for live music continues to expand, the importance of visual tricks and twists to accompany live performances has grown as well, but Cornelius -- the solo project of Keigo Oyamada -- has been integrating music and visual effects in his concerts for over a decade and is a pioneer in this regard.

As expected, Cornelius' aesthetic and the band's skilled performance were effectively presented through the seamlessly synchronized music and visuals at the Tokyo show.

Opening with the rearranged intro of "If You're Here" from the 2017 album Mellow Waves, the extensive set spanned Oyamada's career from the groundbreaking 1997 FANTASMA album to his latest release last month, Ripple Waves. Tracks from Mellow Waves were featured in key points throughout the concert, infusing it with the psychedelic and ambient atmosphere of Cornelius's first studio album in 11 years. 

The band -- Yuko Araki on drums, Hirohisa Horie on guitar/keyboards, and Yumiko Ono on bass/synthesizer -- had played about 40 shows with him for the past year, since the release of Mellow Waves, and their precision was highlighted by the visual effects and lighting projected in sync with their performance. 

While they are all incredibly talented musicians involved in many other bands and projects, their collective identity as the "Cornelius band" resulted in a kind of freshness not seen in their other endeavors. While they otherwise work as independent artists, they were required to deliver something entirely unique for this project. In that sense, the concert was also a big moment for the band as well, though presented under the Cornelius name.

Musically, the genre-defying set included elements of pop, rock, punk, heavy metal, Brazilian sounds, electronica and ambient noise. The climax of the show featured his hit number "STAR FRUITS SURF RIDER" with a theremin solo during the bridge, and the mesmerizing "If You're Here" that Cornelius himself has described as being "weirdly difficult to play."

The tempo of the instruments in "If You're Here" are all slightly off, and the challenge of performing this complex song live had been pointed out since the tour began in 2017. At the Tokyo show, the band nailed the performance in terms of technique while also expressing the emotion of the rare Cornelius love song, and the audience shared the culmination of the year-long tour with the performers onstage.

Cornelius and his band presented cutting-edge innovation, fusing live music and visual expression during the main set and captivating the audience through their artistry as rock musicians.

Source: https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/international/8481762/japan-cornelius-tokyo-mellow-waves-concert-tour-recap-review

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‘For artists, work ethic and intelligence are just as important as talent.’

Scroll through the blue-ticked Instagram accounts of most major-league US music executives, and you’ll tend to find the same old schtick: images of their artists playing career-boosting stages; flattering snaps of their newly decked-out office; a smattering of vacation/weekend shots accidentally-on-purpose showcasing that sleek second home in the Hills.

Mike Caren’s Insta feed, however, offers a little something more – a little something indicative of the inquisitive mind of the man himself. A swift perusal of Caren’s page throws up graphs, charts and textual provocations covering themes like ‘10 trends that will reshape the music industry’, how fast TV watching is declining amongst Millennials, the average ages of social media use in 2019, and the ‘share of ear’ that radio claims amongst US consumers over 13.

This all fits because Caren, as well as being obsessive about the A&R process, is also obsessive about media trends, and how consumption of everything from HBO to Fortnite and Instagram are munching into the daily music habits of today’s teenagers.

Such compulsive attention to detail is serving Caren’s businesses well. The Beverly Hills-raised exec founded Artist Publishing Group back in 2006, followed by the launch of Artist Partner Group in 2013. Warner Music Group and Atlantic Records, with whom Caren has worked for more than 20 years, injected a multi- million dollar investment into APG three years ago.

Since then, APG, which now employs more than 40 staff, has developed and broken stars including Bazzi, Charlie Puth, Kehlani, Kevin Gates and NBA Youngboy, as well as an electric array of songwriters such as Hitmaka, Yung Berg, Amy Allen and Madison Love.

Most recently, Los Angeles-based APG unleashed Ava Max, who hit No.1 in many territories this year including the UK, Sweden, and Germany with international smash “Sweet But Psycho”.

Caren began his career aged 17 with Atlantic Records, and later served as Co-President – alongside John Janick – of the relaunched Elektra Records (Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, Cee Lo Green) between 2009 and 2012.

MBUSA recently sat down with Caren within APG’s Fairfax studio complex to ask him all about his A&R philosophy, and where he sees the future of multimedia going in the next few years…

Tell us a truism about the music industry.

So much of what moves the needle in this business is just about listening – really listening. When a label or publishing exec has a 60 minute meeting with a producer or songwriter, once you’ve caught up with each other, you’re already 30 minutes into it, and only then do you start listening to music.

That leaves you 25 minutes to listen, and consider eight to 10 ideas. Then the meeting is over – and you haven’t even cracked the surface. If you’d allowed for 90 minutes of music, you would probably have found something really special.

So for that last 20 minutes, I might ask you to [hand over] everything you haven’t played me – whether you think I might or might not like it. Then I’m actually going to listen to it all and hear the stuff that other people don’t get to.

You employ more than 40 people at APG, and you’re expanding. Can you actively keep the roster here capped at certain size?

Yes. We started in the publishing world, where I felt that one A&R executive couldn’t really have a high impact on every one of their writers unless they were limited to approximately 10 writers.

I noticed that at most of the major publishing companies, when I talked to executives, their personal roster would be over 50 writers. I found it hard to believe that they would be able to deliver something significant for every writer with that roster size. Records is about a smaller amount of artists, but it’s also about building teams.

People with different perspectives, different skill sets all working together, learning from each other and bringing different things to the table. I work with people that have so much passion and intelligence and determination. This company is a sum of those parts. There’s 40 people here that have the impact of 150.

What would you say is the defining A&R philosophy of APG?

We believe that work ethic and intelligence are just as important as talent. A smart and hardworking creative will keep improving whereas someone without that work ethic or vision might creatively just tread water, or even decline in their quality.

“We work with [talent] for days, weeks or even months before we sign a deal.”

The biggest thing is getting to know writers and artists personally. We work with them for days, weeks or even months before we sign a deal. We will often lose a deal because somebody – after working with APG – is rushed elsewhere in the industry by a bidding war or whatever. And if that happens, it’s okay. It wasn’t meant to be.

Why is getting to know artists properly so important to you?

Ideally, you want to enter a relationship that’s a decade or decades- long. You can marry the first person you kiss, but I think it’s better to go on more dates and ask a lot of questions to see if your vision of the future is aligned. When you have tough conversations upfront, it leads to better conversations for years to come.

Give us an example of a tough conversation with an artist.

Those conversations revolve around expectations, timeline, patience, vision. I love artists that have huge goals and who know several moves they want to make to get there – who aren’t expecting to make it all in one single play. I love songwriters turning into artists too, because they’ve had this passenger seat in other artists’ careers to which they’ve contributed. The writer-turned-artist has seen other artists making tough decisions, and what the results were, which helps them avoid their own mistakes and pitfalls.

“If you just try to protect artists from making those mistakes, it doesn’t help, because when they become very successful, they will ultimately take all the big decisions; your job is to prepare them to make great ones.”

APG is the best at amplifying, investing in and turbo-charging artists who have a lot of ideas. And the best ideas always come from artists. It’s always better to let an artist make a mistake, because when a smart artist makes a mistake, they learn from it. If you just try to protect artists from making those mistakes, it doesn’t help, because when they become very successful, they will ultimately take all the big decisions; your job is to prepare them to make great ones. You can’t shelter talent early on, then expect people to act like an experienced artists when they’re successful.

How do you feel about the number of songwriters behind the majority of hits today?

The other day somebody sent me a video with Bob Marley, One Love and said, ‘What an incredible song and songwriter.’ I said, ‘Yeah, Curtis Mayfield was a fricking genius.’ They said, ‘Are you kidding? That song was written by Bob Marley!’ It’s a co-write. Curtis Mayfield and Bob Marley. And if Bob Marley can co-write, anyone can co-write.

One defining modern A&R trend is that of collaboration. Two people from largely different genres cross-pollinating fan bases. What do you make of that trend, and does it ever concern you?

I saw an exhibit of Picasso and Matisse years ago. They were friends and they did interpretive pieces of each other’s work. Their artistry was so clear when they did so. Anything that allows someone to demonstrate creativity and originality is an amazing vehicle – but the song [has to be] organic and creative.

Why did you started APG in the first place?

First, I had been working as an A&R person at Atlantic for 10 years. Having been in one company for so long, I wanted a different experience and I wanted an entrepreneurial experience.

I built a lot of trust at Atlantic, so they allowed me to create a partnership venture with them. But I operated it independently, and I love to experiment. Every session is an experiment; every marketing idea is an experiment; every day here is about experimentation.

“I had this philosophy, this is 15 years ago, that songwriters and producers are artists in their own right.”

And second, I had this philosophy, this is 15 years ago, that songwriters and producers are artists in their own right – and that a publisher could publish their songs and get them paid, but could also treat them as an artist and A&R them in that way, providing the introductions, the insights, and the resources that labels provide to artists.

It was a learning process because I didn’t know about publishing, and I didn’t have the budget to chase hits, so we had to be bold.

Why is so much A&R focused entirely on the new – the thrill of ‘breaking’ something?

Out of anything in this business, I get the most satisfaction from seeing other people with their first big successes: their first hit song; their first platinum record; their first sold out tour; their first song on the radio.

Every time a new artist, a new writer has an experience like that, it’s contagious. To me, that’s more powerful than congratulating someone on their fifth of sixth platinum album. It’s an honor to make music – it’s exciting and it’s an adventure.

I’m really proud of the artists and writers that have been successful, but I’m just as proud of the executives. That goes for the team here, but also people that have previously worked or interned here and moved on. I root for their success.

“Every time a new artist, a new writer has an experience like that, it’s contagious.”

Right now, I’m in awe of A&R moves from Miles Beard (pictured), Jeff Vaughn, Tizita Makuria, Eli Picarretta, Edgar Machuca, Matt MacFarlane, Lisa Mottahedeh, David Phung, and Dan Snyder, all of whom landed their first A&R roles here – several starting as interns or assistants – and all of whom have signed Gold or Platinum artists or writers, or had hits this year.

But I’m also thrilled to see fast career growth and broadening responsibility from vets that joined us such as Elyse Rogers, Angie Pagano, Mike Mathewson, Olly Sheppard, Jessica Kelm, and the list can go on. Fifteen years in, I look around and see our team members thriving, and people who’ve cut their teeth with us at pretty much every label, from A&R Executive to Chairman.

APG takes a white label approach with its artists – your brand is kept on the sidelines. Why?

We’re too broad to create a single, forward-facing brand. The great labels that I love had, and continue to have today, sonic consistency. They had a cultural voice and a specific niche, with a sound or a through line.

I lean in to creative people; we’re not going to not sign an artist just because they don’t fit in with other artists on our roster, or not work with an executive because they’re a certain type. There are no rules and no limitations to who APG works with. We just want to work with people for whom we can deliver more than anyone else out there.

Also, I love our entrepreneurial artists and I don’t want to take away from their opportunity to build their brand – both their artist brand and their company brand. I love it when an artist’s dreams include everything from festivals to clothing to charitable organizations. If I can help build an artist’s brand, it’s one more resource that we’re providing that I don’t think many others offer.

What makes a good artist manager?

One, they have to have enough experience to know that everything changes every year. Two, they have to listen to their artist but also speak the truth to them. And, of course, work ethic and intelligence are so important – especially the work ethic, because managers have to provide an example for their artist. Great managers are also great communicators; people who bring people together.

“there’s this ‘Napster Gap’, as I call it, 2002 to 2014, where only a few people invested into the business, and only a few people got hired – so there was not as much opportunity for mentorship for a lot of people versus what had come before.”

It’s a weird time for the music business because there’s so much opportunity now. But there’s also this ‘Napster Gap’, as I call it, 2002 to 2014, where only a few people invested into the business, and only a few people got hired – so there was not as much opportunity for mentorship for a lot of people versus what had come before. There are some incredible managers out there who are just so smart, and had to learn the game on their own.

The head of Netflix, Reed Hastings, said earlier this year that Fortnite was a bigger competitor to his company than traditional rivals like HBO. What do you make of the idea that other media is stealing attention from artists and music?

It’s something I think about a lot. I heard about something recently that said that Americans have over 11 hours a day of media consumption because of how much multitasking they do – like how they will play video games while listening to music. Their consumption is literally doubling.

I see incredible opportunity there, because if you work in the music business and you’ve never played Fortnite, you’re going to fall a few steps behind.

“If you work in the music business and you’ve never played Fortnite, you’re going to fall a few steps behind.”

How Fortnite makes its money is worth thinking about: the short windows of items being for sale; the opening for other platforms [as the game can be played across different devices]; the live events; how [Epic Games] updates and changes the game’s dynamic to keep things so exciting. There are so many amazing things to learn from it.

As far as competing in media, there’s going to be huge L.A. production competition. You have Netflix, Apple, Amazon, Hulu, Spotify and a bunch of other companies with endless amounts of money going to go into content production. It’s going to mean a whole new competition for creative talent, and it will be interesting. It could be incredible for talent – and it will definitely fortify L.A. as the creative capital of the world.

How do you counter that with the value of labels?

There’s no one-size-fits-all, right? Some people love business. Some people love managing people and administration. Some people love to be creative. Some people can do all of those things together. And there are some people who are just true artists who want to color outside the lines and break rules. They don’t want any of the administrative burden. They don’t want to reconcile tours, or deal with Social Security or 401ks, you know?

Some of that’s to do with different points in your life. You may be young; you may want to have fun and be creative and break the rules and not deal with turnover and all of these things. And later in your life, you may want to be more stationary and operate a company and a business. People just need to know what things entail.

“Staying independent is probably the right thing for a lot of artists and it’s probably the wrong thing for a lot of artists.”

There are an increasing number of artist managers who now say that running an independent operation for an artist isn’t ‘management’ – it’s a business partnership, so it shouldn’t be 15 or 20% commission, it should be 50% across everything, including touring. And that all depends on how much of an artist’s business is just music – whether they need a manager who’s just doing music, or managing several businesses.

Staying independent is probably the right thing for a lot of artists and it’s probably the wrong thing for a lot of artists. It all has to do with individual ambition, and how you actually want your 16 to 20 waking hours to be spent.

In an age awash with A&R data, how do you feel about the reduction in signings based purely on based on gut instinct?

I love data… partly because so much of the major label business is focused on it, which leaves all this open territory for us. But, also, I will say data can definitely show more than just momentum, it can reveal a pool of artists who didn’t wait for anyone to move their career forward, who got out of bed every day and worked hard to move the needle.

Somebody can tell me they’re going to work hard all day long, but an artist that had no resources that went out and built some fans? That’s someone you know wants it. I’ll never discount that, as work ethic is so essential.

Where do you get your work ethic from?

My mom’s creative. My dad’s organized. I love this job – this isn’t work, look how soft my hands are! The worst part of my job is sitting waiting for someone to show up who’s late. That’s it! And nowadays, I can always fill those hours by listening to music anyway.

I’m very sure you could have capably run an established major label group. Contemporaries like John Janick are doing it…

He’s awesome.

Why did you choose to build something from scratch, rather than run a big frontline label during this period of your career?

I don’t think anyone ever offered me a job that had the freedom that I now enjoy as an entrepreneur. As an industry, we need to empower people and trust them. There’s always a lot of oversight and structure in majors – and it’s probably needed. But now, we’re facing an ever-evolving future, we have to experiment and to do R&D.

“Change is inevitable. Change is good. But you have to try things in order to figure out what works with change.”

Change is inevitable. Change is good. But you have to try things in order to figure out what works with change. It’s inevitable that artists are going to change the way they make music and market music – and anyone who clings on to the past will get left behind. I love nostalgia like anyone else; we can still tell great stories of the good old days, but we have to be open to try new things all the time.

Let’s talk about the future, then. What are you excited about?

We are a very de-centralized company; I’m trying my absolute best to build the most entrepreneurial organization possible. I want everyone here to think like entrepreneurs, and to make decisions. I choose to run this company differently from, say, the way the legendary Clive Davis ran Arista. He’s incredible, but I hear he personally approved every piece of art and every mix.

Again, just like the artists here, everyone should be making decisions, seeing the results and learning from them. I want every executive I work with to feel that their career grew twice as fast in this organization than it did anywhere else.

What’s going to change at APG over the next five years?

We’re trying to reorganize the entire approach to being a global company. Many major labels don’t seem like singular global companies; they’re a bunch of companies, around the world, that license to each other. Spotify is a global company; they have editors in different offices, but they are a global company.

That’s something we’re a couple of steps ahead on and I don’t think it will take five years. I think it will happen way before then.

The above interview originally appeared in Music Business USA – MBW’s new annual magazine featuring some of the smartest people, with the best stories, in the Stateside music industry.

Subscribe to MBW’s premium bundle to ensure you never miss one our physical magazines in future. Click through here to find out how.Music Business Worldwide

Source: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/for-artists-work-ethic-and-intelligence-are-just-as-important-as-talent/

[quitblow5-blog]

Adobe, Kroger and More Earnings Coming This Week

The second-quarter earnings reporting season is all but over, and though things will be quiet on the earnings front for a while, there still will be a few notable companies reporting their quarterly results. We already have seen strong earnings from many companies pushing the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to all-time highs, although this past week has seen markets pull back slightly.

24/7 Wall St. has put together a preview of some companies that are about to report their quarterly results. We have reviewed the consensus earnings estimates from Thomson Reuters, the stock price and the trading history.

Be advised that the earnings and revenue estimates may change ahead of the formal reports, and some companies may change earnings dates as well.

Sonos Inc. (NASDAQ: SONO) is scheduled to share its quarterly report late on Monday. The consensus forecast calls for a net loss of $0.22 per share on revenue of $207.96 million. Shares were last seen trading at $18.75. The stock has a 52-week trading range of $15.51 to $23.60, and the consensus price target is $22.83.

Pivotal Software Inc. (NYSE: PVTL) is due to release its most recent quarterly results after the markets close on Wednesday. Analysts are looking for a net loss of $0.09 per share and revenue of $158.22 million. Its shares traded at $26.61 on Friday’s close, in a 52-week range of $15.11 to $31.24. The consensus price target is $25.56.

Look for Tailored Brands Inc. (NYSE: TLRD) to report late Wednesday as well. The consensus estimates are $1.07 in earnings per share (EPS) and $828.35 million in revenue for the fiscal second quarter. The stock traded at $22.61 on last look. The 52-week trading range is $12.04 to $35.94, and the consensus target price is $34.50.

Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) will share its latest quarterly results early Thursday. The consensus estimates call for EPS of $0.37 on $27.97 billion in revenue. Shares ended last week’s trading at $32.37, in a 52-week range of $19.69 to $32.74. The consensus analyst target is $30.68.

Adobe Systems Inc.’s (NASDAQ: ADBE) fiscal third-quarter results are expected after Thursday’s closing bell. The consensus estimates are EPS of $1.69 and $2.25 billion in revenue. The stock closed at $260.87 a share on Friday. The consensus price target is $273.46. The shares have traded between $143.95 and $269.96 in the past year.

And the Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: PLAY) fiscal second-quarter report is scheduled for Friday morning. The consensus forecast is $0.67 in EPS on $315.25 million in revenue. Shares ended the week trading at $57.65 apiece. The consensus price target is $64.56, and the 52-week range is $37.85 to $58.86.

24/7 Wall St. 8 Nations Facing Sky-High Interest Rates and Inflation

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Source: https://247wallst.com/investing/2018/09/09/adobe-kroger-and-more-earnings-coming-this-week/

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Here’s What a Real Strike Looks Like: 150 Million Say No to Despotism in India

Yves here. Even though the gilet jaunes are getting a lot of interest due to the vivid images of damage to Paris, other important protests for labor and against inequality are being neglected by the Western media. One is against anti-labor “reforms” in India.

By  Vijay Prashad, an Indian historian, editor and journalist. He is a writing fellow and chief correspondent at Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute. He is the chief editor of LeftWord Books and the director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He has written more than twenty books, including The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World (The New Press, 2007), The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South (Verso, 2013), The Death of the Nation and the Future of the Arab Revolution (University of California Press, 2016) and Red Star Over the Third World (LeftWord, 2017). He writes regularly for Frontline, the Hindu, Newsclick, AlterNet and BirGün. Originally produced by Globetrotter a project of the Independent Media Institute.

Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.Indian cities never go silent. Sound is a constant feature—the horns of cars, the chirping of birds, the cries of hawkers, the steady hum of a motorcycle engine. On Tuesday, India is on strike. It is likely that about 150 million workers will stay away from their workplaces. Trade unions of the Left have called for the strike, a general strike in a country exhausted by rising inequality and a mood of dissatisfaction.

The streets of Kerala—a state governed by the Left Democratic Front—are not quiet. Cars and motorcycles go their way. But the roads are quieter. Public transport is off the road, because the transport unions are behind the strike. Thiruvananthapuram sounds like it did about 20 years ago, when traffic was lighter and when the city was calmer. But there is nothing calm in the atmosphere. Workers are angry. The government in Delhi continues to betray them.

Largest Strike in World History

Strikes of this scale are not unusual in India. The largest recorded strike in world history took place in India in 2016, when 180 million workers protested the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The demands of this strike are—as usual—many, but they center around the deterioration of the livelihood of workers, around the demise of work itself for many people and around the political attack on unions.

Modi’s government is eager to amend the trade unions laws. Tapan Sen, the leader of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), said that the new trade union laws would essentially lead to the enslavement of Indian workers. These are strong words. But they are not unbelievable.

Liberalization

Since India won independence in 1947, it has pursued a “mixed” path of national development. Important sections of the economy remained in government hands, with public sector firms formed to deliver essential industrial goods to enhance the development goals of the country. The agricultural sector was also organized so that the government provided credit to farmers at subsidized rates and the government set procurement prices to ensure that farmers continued to grow essential food crops.

All this changed in 1991, when the government began to “liberalize” the economy, privatize the public sector, reduce its role in the agricultural market and welcome foreign investment. Growth was now premised on the rate of return on financial investment and not on the investment in people and their futures. The new policy orientation—liberalization—has grown the middle class and earned the wealthy fabulous amounts of money. But it has also created an agrarian crisis and produced a precarious situation for workers.

Demoralize the Workers

The government, since 1991, knew that it was not enough to privatize the public sector and to sell off precious public assets to private hands. It had to do two more things.

First, it had to make sure that public sector enterprises would fail and would then lose legitimacy. The government starved these public sector firms of funds and watched them swing in the wind. Without investment, these firms were unable to make improvements and so began to deteriorate. Their demise validated the argument of liberalization, although their demise had been manufactured by an investment strike.

Second, the government pushed to break trade union power by using the courts to undermine the right to strike and by using the legislature to amend the trade union laws. Weaker unions would mean demoralized workers, which would mean that workers would now be utterly at the mercy of the private firms.

Right to Strike

This strike, like the 17 before it, is about livelihood issues and about the right to strike. A new trade union law sits in the legislature. It would mean the death of trade unionism in India. Tapan Sen’s statement about enslavement seems less hyperbolic in this context. If workers have no power, then they are effectively enslaved to the firm. This is already the case in factories that operate almost like concentration camps.

Walking through factories along the Chennai-Coimbatore corridor or in the Manesar area gives you a sense of the power of these new factories. They are a fortress, difficult to breach. Or a prison. Either way, trade unions are not welcome there. They are kept out by force—either violence or political muscle. Workers are often brought in from far away, migrants with few roots in the area. No workers stay long. As soon as they appear settled, they are removed.

Footloose workers and harassed trade unionists make for a harsh work environment. The culture of working-class solidarity erodes, social violence grows—the seedbed of neofascist politics.

Hope in Kerala

Kerala is a unique place in India. Here, the culture of struggle remains strong; the pride in Kerala’s history of social transformation is evident. Over the course of the past 100 years, Kerala has sharpened its attack on hierarchy and on division. Horrific social practices were beaten back, and the Left movement cultivated public action as a normal feature of social life.

When the Left is in power—as it is now in power—it does not introduce new policies by fiat. Mass movements of the Left develop public campaigns to raise awareness and build a political will behind policies. This is one of the reasons why the air of hopelessness does not hang over Kerala.

Elsewhere in India, about 300,000 farmers have committed suicide largely because of the agrarian debt crisis. Professor Siddik Rabiyath of the University of Kerala tells me that the fisher folk have a higher debt burden than farmers, but that they do not commit suicide. He suggests that this might be because of the hope that the next day’s catch will rescue them from debt. It is also because of the general atmosphere of hopefulness in Kerala.

Last year, when this state of 35 million went underwater in a flood, the fisher folk grabbed their boats and became the frontline of rescue workers. They did not do this work for money or for fame. They did it because of the tradition of social solidarity in the state and because of the culture of public action here (see the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research dossieron the floods in Kerala).

Strike

The rail lines out of Thiruvananthapuram do not function. Strikers sit on the tracks. They have blocked the trains. So have strikers in Assam—at the other end of India. They have also blocked railway lines. National Highway 16 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, is a parking lot. Cars and motorcycles cannot move. Schools and universities are silent. Unions patrolled the industrial areas outside Delhi and outside Chennai. Public buses in Mumbai sit in their parking lots, bus stands a lonely sight.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has been silent. There are elections later this year. The temperature in India does not favor Modi. But that is not the reason for his silence. He has made it a habit to ignore public action, to stand above it all, pretend that it is not happening. If the new trade union law goes into effect, India will essentially abandon any commitment to workplace democracy. It is part of the slow erosion of democratic processes in the country, a drift into the ugliness of hierarchy and domination. The workers do not want this. They are on the streets. They have other plans for their future.

This entry was posted in Banana republic, Free markets and their discontents, Guest Post, Income disparity, India, Legal, Politics, Social values on January 10, 2019 by Yves Smith.

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Source: https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/01/heres-real-strike-looks-like-150-million-say-no-despotism-india.html

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CBS settles lawsuit over company control; Moonves to resign: sources

NEW YORK (Reuters) - CBS Corp (CBS.N) has reached a deal to settle litigation over the control of the company with its controlling shareholder Shari Redstone and National Amusements Inc in a deal expected to be announced as early as before the markets open on Monday, sources familiar with the discussions said.

FILE PHOTO: CBS chief executive officer Les Moonves arrives at the premiere of CBS Film's "Extraordinary Measures" at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California, U.S., January 19, 2010. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok/File Photo

CBS is also expected to announce on Monday Chief Executive Leslie Moonves is resigning, said the sources on Sunday, asking not to be identified because the plans have not been made public.

CBS and National Amusements declined to comment.

CBS has also negotiated an estimated $100 million settlement with Moonves, these sources said. CBS will donate a portion of that settlement to an unnamed charity and the company reserves the right to claw back all of the remaining payment pending the results of an investigation into allegations of sexual assault and harassment, sources familiar with these discussions said.

The investigation, which is conducted by two outside law firms, continues.

The settlement comes on the heels of a second report from the New Yorker published on Sunday in which six additional women have raised assault and harassment claims against Moonves. An earlier New Yorker report revealed six women who alleged similar behavior by Moonves between the 1980s and early 2000s.

In a statement to the magazine, Moonves acknowledged three of the encounters, but said they were consensual.

Reporting by Kenneth Li; Editing by Lisa Shumaker

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cbs-moonves-settlement/cbs-settles-lawsuit-over-company-control-moonves-to-resign-sources-idUSKCN1LP0QE?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

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The Rise of Fiduciary Law

Tamar Frankel is Professor of Law Emerita Boston University School of Law. This post is based on a paper by Professor Frankel.

Introduction

Fiduciary rules appear in family law, surrogate decision-making, laws of agency, employment, pensions, remedies, banking, financial institutions, corporations, charities, not for profit organizations, medical services and international law. Fiduciary concepts guide areas of knowledge: economics, psychology; moral norms; and pluralism. Fiduciary law was recognized in Roman law and the British common law. It was embedded decades ago in religious Jewish, Christian, and Islamic laws. Internationally, fiduciary law appears in European, Chinese, Japanese and Indian laws.

What explains the expansion and predicts the future of fiduciary principles? Part One offers a short description of fiduciary relationships. Part Two describes the growth of expertise in living beings—from genetic to chosen cooperative specialization. Part Three notes the law’s encouragement of the relationships while discouraging its potential abuses. Part Four highlights criticisms of fiduciary law. Part Five speculates about the future of fiduciary law.

Part One: Fiduciary relationships and the conditions under which they arise.

Fiduciary relationships are crucial to individuals and societies’ few individuals are self-sufficient or can live alone. The fiduciary services respond to both individual humans and society’s needs: medical treatment addresses individual sicknesses as well as society-wide epidemics.

Fiduciaries benefit from their contributions. The recipients of fiduciary services cannot acquire the expertise necessary for all the services that all fiduciaries can, and offer. However, with these services come dependence and often an inability to fully evaluate and judge the quality and reliability of services. Thus, fiduciaries acquire power over the service-recipients. This power can be misused, intentionally or negligently.

The best fiduciary services are rendered voluntarily because forced services might be dangerous to recipients, who do not understand or evaluate these services. The purpose of fiduciary law is (i) to encourage the use of expert services, (ii) entice experts to offer their services and (iii) prevent the experts’ abuse of these unequal power-dependent relationships.

Part Two: The evolution of live group to specialization—from genetic to cooperative.

Most living beings cannot live alone. Their survival depends on the support of others. Theirs services and rewards, however, are genetically compulsory. Thus, the lion’s family members live by genetically-fixed duties of functions and rights. Being the physical protector of the group the male receives the “lion’s share.” The female needs less food being the hunter: small, agile, and ferocious. However, animals may habitually cooperate, e.g., in hunting for food. Cooperation may be a genetic tendency yet requires adjustment to others’ intentions and decision-power that is to cooperate in performing functions for a collective purpose.

Human societies are complex, as compared to the animals’ societies. Humans can develop new expertise which can contribute to other humans, their longevity, pleasure, and well-being. Working together, learning from past successes and failures, and noting changes and opportunities, humans develop knowledge, which is useful to their communities, and members of their species. However, humans’ service to others is not genetic and unlike animals human genes allow more freedom and power. Enticing rewards may drive to acquire and develop various new specialties.

The lion’s family which is driven by genetics is likely to change slowly, while humans can learn and acquire their expertise relatively faster by learning. Learning ability may be genetic but much of it can be taught and self-driven. Therefore, unlike most animals, humans may choose to offer or withhold their expertise from others, as well as accept or reject the expertise of others. The source of the expertise may be chosen. Therefore, humans may persuade their experts to provide them with the fruits of their expertise.

Because more expert services appear, no one human can master all available humans’ expertise. The governing gene has become subject to the person who owns it. But the sharing is less genetically inbred. Further, human expertise is more diverse. Therefore, experts in some areas are non-experts in other areas. Finally, as noted below, many, if not all, humans cooperate, thus creating expertise that none of each participant in the group can create alone.

Therefore, human societies develop mechanisms that enable the members to benefit from the expertise of others by negotiation. Human expertise is marketable rather than innate. Givers and receivers must agree or be forced by law to provide expertise. The rewards to each party may differ, and the exchange terms are flexible as compared to genetic ones. Therefore, human expertise is rarely offered free and is often induced by an exchange of a reward. Receiving expertise model has changed from automatic—genetically driven—to an exchange or a gift, depending on both parties’ bargain.

Part Three. The social impacts of fiduciary relations and the law’s response: encourage the relationships while discouraging the abuse they might pose.

Pre-exchange inequality continues after the relationship is established. The recipient of the expertise obtains its benefits, but not its control, and most importantly, not control over its abuse. The experts have the power of knowledge over the recipients. This power is often continuous and could be hidden.

Power can be used to benefit or harm. The recipients’ inability to check the experts’ power and services quality can result in suspicion and withdrawal from the expert. This result conflicts with society’s interests. After all, the financial, health, legal and education systems, to name a few, are built on offer and exchange of expertise.

In response, fiduciary law establishes duty of care ensuring expert services and duty of loyalty prohibiting conflicting interests which undermine trust. Fiduciary law can entice and protect those, who need expert services to rely and trust their experts. The lower the ability to check the experts’ expertise and honesty, the higher the fiduciary duty of experts and their punishment for abuse will be.

Part Four. What are the critics saying about fiduciary law?

Not everyone agreed with this extension of trustworthiness under fiduciary law. One commentator suggests that some breaches of contract are “voluntary but … efficient,” noting “that it is not the policy of the law to compel adherence to contracts, but only to require each party to choose between performing in accordance with the contract and compensating the other party for any injury resulting from a failure to perform.” Yet contracting of a non-expert with an expert can be similar to a contract by a blind person to a party that can see. Freedom to “walk away” by a needy (e.g. for a mortgage) is the freedom to starve. And mortgagors who can walk from their low quality property are just as unfair. Cheating the cheaters is not the solution. Blind who contract with a party that sees should not be defrauded. Contract is biding among equals and inequality in bargain or understanding or driven but fear is not a contract.

A subtle way of undermining fiduciary law is to make the law murky when the duty of care (quality service) and lately (conflicting interests) has been merged into duty to “act in the best interests” of the client or entrustor. This expression merges two different obligations and should be questioned.

Part Five. The future of fiduciary law

Will we need fiduciary law in the future? The impact of fiduciary law is likely to rise. Fiduciary law issues are expanding. Inequality of knowledge and expertise exist and is likely to continue, depending on the degree to which those who rely on the experts can trust the experts, and the degree to which society benefits from this degree of trusting by expanding and exchanging knowledge and helpful services to its members.

Trust is not necessarily emotional. Nor are trusting people foolishly blind. Trust might depend on experience, memory and the level of risk of trusting. If breach of trust brings suspicion if might lead to rejecting reliance on experts, or to additional rules of culture or of law, aimed at maintaining the offering of, and reliance on, the expertise of others.

Alternatively, breach of trust may result in retaliation by the injured people and the withdrawal from experts. That is likely to impoverish the mistrusting societies. Whether experts or the government can revive general trust in experts, may depend on the efforts by the government, the experts, and by their mistrusting, but needy, members of the society. The occasional stock market crashes that this country has experienced need no cited evidence.

Perhaps the success of trusted enterprises and societies, as compared to societies plagued by mistrust and suspicion, may drive to the rise of fiduciary law. Mistrusted people, who benefit from breach of trust, can succeed only in societies, which value the success, no matter how it is achieved, and regardless how short-term it is. Societies that impose a law, which measures and specifies the required level of trust in expert services, are likely to be less successful than societies that impose a law, which requires experts to create and follow a culture of expert’s identification with the people they serve. After all, the test of trustworthiness is not very complicated.

Fiduciary law should be based on one guiding test by a party that offers trusted fiduciary expert: “Would I, the trusted person, like to be treated the way I treat those who trust me? If I do not, then I should not treat others that way. That is, regardless of whether I can blame them or whether they are greedy, foolish, or cruel. Besides, others’ misbehavior does not justify misbehavior. The test: is: Am I abusing the trust put in me. It should be self—imposed, regardless of how others view my behavior, including the law and the government and the victims. I am my own judge and my own potential victim of my own activities.

Fiduciary law has significant influence on society’s culture. Both individuals, and human societies learn, can become wealthier, healthier and flourish by following fiduciary law principles. E.g., exchange is beneficial: to both exchanging parties. Yet, even exchanging products requires a measure of trust and some services are needed more than products. Yet, an exchange may involve unequal knowledge. Also, cooperation is beneficial and often crucial while mistrust destroys it.

Regardless of whether they are enforced by law, by social rules, or by cultural pressures, fiduciary rules are a condition to the long-term well-being of a human society. They induce cooperate-relationships, which require justly rewarded truthful and reliable expert services by humans to other humans. Freedom does not include what fiduciary law prohibits. A society will be wealthier if its fiduciaries self-enforce and follow fiduciary principles. The reverse is likely to be true as well. A society whose fiduciaries do not feel compelled to be trustworthy, will, in the long run, be the poorest.

The complete paper is available for download here.

Source: https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2018/09/10/the-rise-of-fiduciary-law/

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Stocks Mixed On Staffing, Shutdown Fears; Nike Boosts Dow Jones

Stocks jumped out of the start gate, then quickly turned mixed Friday. Nike (NKE) buoyed the Dow Jones industrial average, amid concerns over a shutdown in Washington and a wave of selling that dragged global markets lower.

X

Nike scrambled higher as analysts upgraded the stock following Thursday's earnings report. Perrigo (PRGO) tanked after receiving a $1.9 billion tax bill from Irish regulators. Among the largest early gains were China's NetEase (NTES) and Nike retail partner Foot Locker (FL). Facebook (FB) lagged its FANG stock brethren following an analyst price target cut.

The Dow Jones industrial average trimmed its early gain to 0.5%, as more than two thirds of the Dow components advanced, headed by Nike. The S&P 500 narrowed its advance to 0.2%. Nike led, Perrigo lagged at either end of the S&P 500.

The Nasdaq Composite shed its early gain, and slipped 0.4%. NetEase led the Nasdaq 100 by a wide margin, apparently following China regulatory approval of new video games. WorkDay (WDAY), BioMarin (BMRN) and Illumina (ILMN) posted the index's widest early losses.

The Dow Jones industrial average remained on track toward its worst week since February, and the Nasdaq's correction on Thursday dipped below 20% and crossed the bear-market boundary. The Dow Jones industrial average ended Thursday down 5.2% so far for the week. That put the Dow more than 10% lower thus far for December. The S&P 500's 5.1% weekly loss puts it down 10.6% for December. Both indexes are on track to log their worst month since February 2009 -- near the lowest point of the Great Recession.

The Nasdaq ended Thursday a 5.5% decline for the week, deepening December's decline to nearly 11%. That would be the Index's worst monthly loss since October 2008.

GDP Revision, Durable Goods Orders A Little Light

The Commerce Department revised its estimate for third quarter GDP growth to 3.4%, a notch below its prior 3.5% estimate and below forecasts for 3.5%. The GDP price index growth inched up to 1.8%, from the department's prior 1.7% view. Estimates called for a steady 1.7% gain. Consumer spending came in at 3.5%, vs. the 3.6% prior reading and estimates for no change.

Durable goods orders rose 0.8% in November, rebounding from October's 4.4% decline, although stopping short of the 1.4% advance projected by economists. Minus transportation, orders were down 0.3%, vs. views for a 0.3% increase. Orders for core capital goods fell 0.6%, vs. a flat tally for October and projections for a 0.3% advance.

White House Resignation Rattles Markets

Lawmakers were locked in a standoff as the U.S. government approached a midnight budget deadline. Without a signed budget deal, the government would go into a partial shutdown, idling some federal offices and workers.

Funding over a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border is the sticking point. The House approved a $5.7 billion measure that funds a wall. The item has so far not found sufficient support to pass a Senate vote.

The sudden announcement of Defense Secretary James Mattis to resign in February rattled U.S. allies and raised concerns regarding White House cabinet staffing. Mattis resigned following White House decisions to pull U.S. troops out of Syria and Afghanistan.

Oil Prices Hit 15-Month Low

Oil prices are suffering their worst weekly losses since January 2016. West Texas Intermediate fell another 4.8% on Thursday, to below $46 a barrel. That put prices down more than 10% for the week and testing a low from September 2017. WTI traded 0.5% lower on Friday, holding just above $45. Brent crude fell 1.8%, to below $54.

Oil investors will be watching Baker Hughes (BHGE) weekly rig count, due out at 1 p.m. ET, to see whether weak prices have led producers to curtail any drilling activity.

Japan, India Take Steep Dives; China Mixed

Global markets posted broad losses Friday, driving bear markets deeper in China and Germany, and fast-forwarding Japan's correction to near the bear market threshold.

The Shanghai Composite ended down 0.8% Friday and with a 0.3% loss for the week. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 0.5% in Friday's session, narrowing its decline for the week to 1.3%. Both benchmarks are in bear markets.

In Japan, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 carved a 1.1% loss. Hurtling 5.7% lower for the week, the index has now erased all of its gains since September 2017, and is approaching bear market status, almost 18% below its October high.

The Sensex index tracking activity on India's Bombay Stock Exchange dived 1.9% Friday. The index has been in an uptrend since late October.

In Europe, stocks battled moderate losses near midday. The CAC-40 in Paris was down 0.6%, London's FTSE 100 slumped 0.4% and Frankfurt's DAX had fallen 0.3%. For the week, the CAC-40 was down 3.9%, the FTSE 100 showed a 1.3% loss and the DAX was 2.6% lower. The DAX has been in a bear market since early December.

Dow Jones: Nike Gets Digital Boost

Dow Jones stock Nike swooshed almost 8% higher to lead the Dow and S&P 500 in premarket trade. JPMorgan and Pivotal Research both upgraded the stock, after the athletic wear icon reported a 13% earnings gain, vs. forecasts for a mild slip. Revenue jumped 14%, helped by digital sales. Management said it was possible that digital sales could eventually become a majority of the business.

Nike shares have fallen in five of the past six sessions, leaving the stock well below its converged 10- and 40-week moving averages.

Stocks: NetEase, Tencent Jump; Perrigo Tumbles

NetEase jumped nearly 6% in early trade. Reuters reported late Thursday that China regulators may have approved some new video game releases. Gaming rival Tencent Holding (TCEHY) also popped more than 5%.

Generic drug maker Perrigo crumbled 10% before the open. Irish officials assessed a $1.8 billion tax charge related to the company's $6.7 billion tax inversion takeover of Ireland's Elan in 2013. The charge was tied to Elan's sale of multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri in 2013 to Biogen.  Perrigo said it would appeal the decision.

Among FANG stocks, Alphabet (GOOGL) led in early trade with a modest, 0.4% gain. Facebook lagged the group, down 1.1% after Needham trimmed the stock's price target to 170, from 215. The note cited rising taxation concerns in Europe, as well as weakening economic growth.

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Source: https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/stock-futures-stocks-dow-jones-3/

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Here’s why Tesla’s Model Y announcement is ‘fodder for the bears’

© Bloomberg News/Landov

Tesla Inc.’s Model Y may, at last, have a reveal date, but the timing of the announcement could provide more “fodder for the bears” than act as a catalyst for the stock, analysts at RBC said Monday.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk tweeted Sunday that the compact SUV’s unveiling is set for March 14 at the company’s Los Angeles-area design studio. The news came just days after Musk announced plans for a $35,000, shorter-range Model 3.

Announcing the cheaper Model 3 last week was an indicator that demand for higher-end Model 3 vehicles “has not been as strong as the company expected,” said the RBC analysts, led by Joseph Spak.

And announcing the Model Y unveil shortly after that “suggests that consumer reaction toward the $35k Model 3 may not have been as strong as the company had hoped.”

Related: Meet the ‘O.G.’ Uber and Lyft drivers who could cash in on the IPOs

Tesla shares fell more than 3% on Monday, slipping under $300. The shares have lost 15% in the past 12 months, compared with gains of around 3.4% for the S&P 500 index. (SPX) 

“We expect the Model Y launch to also require deposits to order,” the analysts said.

When the Model 3 was first announced, the company took in more than 400,000 orders at $1,000 each, “effectively” a raise around $400 million, they said.

Ordering the cheaper $35,000 Model 3 requires a $2,500 deposit. That is “notable timing,” the analysts said, since Tesla on Friday repaid $920 million in convertible notes, likely using up a quarter of its cash.

“We believe there has been a fall-off in U.S. demand and softer-than-expected demand in Europe/China,” they said in the Sunday note. “Price cuts on the Model S/X/3 globally supports the view that overall demand has softened.”

See also: Tesla finally launches $35,000 Model 3, and moves all sales online

Moreover, as Tesla grows its fleet, service and quality have been under stress, the analysts said.

“More customers are growing frustrated and more potential customers are likely to know someone who has had a bad experience. To be clear, we don’t mean to imply that service (and quality) issues are rampant, but they are occurring,” and enthusiasm for the brand might be lower than when Tesla launched the Model 3 three years ago, they said.

The Model Y announcement could also further impact Model 3 demand since “we believe consumers prefer CUVs,” the RBC analysts said.

Source: http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/heres-why-teslas-model-y-announcement-is-fodder-for-the-bears/ar-BBUne5e?srcref=rss

[quitblow5-blog]

Trump Told Powell: "I Guess I'm Stuck With You"

That there is no love lost between president Trump and Fed chair Powell is a well-established fact: having repeatedly bashed both the Federal Reserve and its Chairman for much of of 2018, when the president demanded that the Fed halt its rate hikes and end its balance sheet runoff, Trump was eventually proven to be correct as Powell admitted in late December when the S&P dropped as low as 2,300 and the Fed decided to end its sad attempt at rate normalization. So with Trump was proven right, was that enough for the President? The answer: a resounding no, because as the WSJ report, Trump is now blaming the Fed for holding back the economy and stock market even despite the central bank’s recent decision to do the two things he wanted.

According to the WSJ, the feud between the world's two most powerful men continues with the president blasting the Fed and Chair Powell at three meetings in the past week alone, telling Republican senators and supporters that if it wasn’t for the central bank’s past rate increases, economic output and stocks would be higher and the U.S. budget deficit would be rising less.

“He was pretty rough,” said one person who was present at one of the meetings.

Trump also blamed Steven Mnuchin for recommending Powell for the top Fed job. “Mnuchin gave me this guy,” Trump said.

But the main highlight took place during a recent phone conversation between Trump and Powell, when according to a WSJ source Trump told the Fed Chair "I guess I’m stuck with you." The Fed chief took a brief phone call from Trump on March 8, a Fed spokeswoman said when asked about the conversation, declining to elaborate further.

The phone conversation hasn’t been reported prior to the WSJ's report.

That wasn't the end of it: the president continued to gripe about Powell during a policy briefing with staffers on an unrelated matter at the White House on Monday. This WSJ source described Trump’s drumbeat of unprompted and critical Fed commentary as the latest point on a recurring list, or “greatest hits,” that Trump likes to raise.

The president’s irritation flared again two weeks ago, when Trump announced he would nominate Fed critic Stephen Moore to the central bank’s board of governors; Moore, who previously was uberhawkish, famously told the NYT in an interview that would cut rates by 50bps immediately if given the chance.

And the final indignity took place last week, when Trump’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said that the president wanted the Fed to cut its benchmark rate by half a percentage point, effectively reversing rate increases from late last year that Trump had publicly opposed.

And while Kudlow said that the Fed is independent and that he is merely conveying Trump's wants, not demands, the relentless criticism is complicating Powell’s job by fueling speculation among market participants that the Fed has been caving to political pressure, even though both Powell and other Fed officials uniformly claim this is not the case. In the most dramatic outcome, it could be a prelude to a historic court battle should Trump ever attempt to remove Powell.

In an effort to reduce tensions, Steven Mnuchin, who famously called the Plunge Protection Team on December 23 igniting the biggest market rally since 1987, arranged for Powell and Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida to join him for dinner with Trump in the White House residence in early February. Fed and administration officials took steps to ensure the central bank could manage how the public learned about the dinner to minimize interpretations of political interference.

In an interview on 60 Minutes last month, Powell said he doesn’t believe the president has the authority to remove him over policy disagreements and that he would not resign his post if asked to do so by the White House.

So did Trump end up influencing the Fed? After all, Powell's historic U-turn was so dramatic it shocked even the most sycophantic "Fed pets" amid the financial reporter crowd.

According to the WSJ, the answer is no, and instead what happened is that the market turmoil in December was a critical turning point. When officials met on Dec. 18 and 19, most projected between one and three rate increases in 2019. Yet just 16 days later, in Atlanta, Powell signaled that the Fed would pause rate increases and shift to a more flexible stance on the portfolio runoff, a position endorsed shortly after that by almost every other Fed official.

Trump's wishes came even closer to being granted during the Fed's March meeting when most Fed officials projected no rate increases at all this year even if the economy performed as they expected. At the same time, they announced they would slow the process of shrinking their $4 trillion asset portfolio starting in May and that they would end it by October.

So while Trump may not be influencing the Fed, "somehow" the former reality TV star is getting everything he "requested" from Powell. He may also get his rate cut (and QE4 shortly after). All Trump has to do is to push the US economy into recession.

Source: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-02/trump-told-powell-i-guess-im-stuck-you

[quitblow5-blog]

Spotify: The Decline of Playlists and Rise of Podcasts [MIDiA]

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Source: https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2019/04/spotify-the-decline-of-playlists-and-rise-of-podcasts-midia.html

[quitblow5-blog]

MFs hold the key in commodity futures

The decision to allow mutual funds to trade in commodities is welcome as this has been a long-standing demand from the time futures trading was reintroduced in 2003. There is a lot of hope in the market now and this could just be a push which was required to reinvigorate futures trading which has plateaued in recent times.

Globally, mutual funds play an important role because of the volumes traded as well as knowledge on the subject. They help to enhance the price discovery process by adding liquidity thus lowering also the impact cost. As the markets are already refined with large volumes and delivery never being an issue, their role has been quite seamless with no glitches in operation. With mutual funds also active in stocks, they can enhance efficiency in their operations across the two markets by taking logical actions — countervailing at times, when relations between commodity and stock prices are established and firm.

If one looks at how mutual funds have become an integral part of the stock market, it is possible to conjecture the important role that can be played by them in the commodity space. While the demand existed since 2003, the regulatory disconnect between the erstwhile FMC and SEBI prevented this from happening.

Now with SEBI having full control of all these markets, it was only a matter of time before mutual funds entered the trading ring. Today while FPIs (foreign portfolio investors) play an important part in the growth of the stock market, their withdrawal does not lead to a decline or shock as domestic institutions have continued to stabilise things. The immediate thought that comes to mind is that mutual funds will be best able to bring the retail category into the commodity market and can add significant liquidity in the trading space. While individuals can trade in commodities, it is a relatively difficult terrain to understand as the fundamentals are not easy to grasp.

Individuals know everything about the companies that go into the Sensex or the Nifty and can trade on their own judgments as there is a plethora of information available on these companies. But when it comes to, say, soyabean one never knows what drives the prices and hence taking investment calls can be challenging.

Delivery issues

Besides, delivery issues can also be taxing. In fact, farm products have considerable volatility as we have seen in the last three years where even a good monsoon has meant volatile prices. Mutual funds with their institutional knowledge can channelise investment by taking calls on prices.

Mutual funds would, however, have to analyse the market and processes better before launching products. Currently, there are some commodity schemes in the market. These have no exposure to commodities per se, but to companies which are commodity intensive. Hence, one can invest in a scheme which has steel stocks, where the benefits are on the share prices of the companies rather than the price of the product.

From the point of view of mutual funds the main issues to be sorted out are: First is the case of delivery, which has to be made or taken in case the contract cannot be squared off before the maturity date. This is probably the most irksome problem as it can result in penalty and distortion in the market, especially if the market knows that the mutual fund is likely to be called to take or give delivery due to its inability to square off the contracts.

The second pertains to size of contract and position that can be taken. With the size being limited to what is allowed for members or hedgers at the upper end, the actual position held on to could be low to meet the requirements of the retail investors. Suppose there is lot of interest in sugar and positions have to be taken on, say, half million tonne.

This cannot be done today as the member limit is 6.5 lakh tonnes or 15 per cent of OI (open interest). This can be a dampener. A non-delivery-based contract for institutions can be thought of, with the caveats being that it should not lead to distortions in the existing contracts due to arbitrage opportunities.

Price influence

Third, the price influence can be significant in case there are several such funds that trade and move the price significantly. We may not be prepared for such changes as mutual funds would be investing to make money and not deliver benefits to farmers. This could become politically controversial.

While the stance today is that sensitive commodities will not be in the ambit, even non-sensitive products in the agri basket like guar or turmeric can cause upheaval. The commodity exchanges have been facing these challenges on an ongoing basis and this can enhance uncertainty. It is more likely that such permission will be more in products like bullion and oil where global factors come into play in price discovery.

Fourth, tax issues will be an important consideration. With GST coming in, the cost of trading will become volatile depending on whether or not there is delivery. This is something mutual funds have to take into account, which is not witnessed in shares and bonds.

This raises a broader question of whether the idea of getting in institutional players is to just get liquidity and encourage retail participation or more efficient price discovery. Restricting the play to non-farm products will enhance liquidity for sure but may add limited value to the price discovery process. This is an issue which has to be addressed along the way.

The progress of mutual funds will be closely watched as the next step will be to bring in FPIs which can be the final push for the markets. Therefore, the success of mutual funds will in a way be the template set for the FPIs. For both the regulator and FPIs the issues are similar with foreign trade considerations being an added dimension for the latter. It is therefore necessary that the narrative is positive.

The writer is Chief Economist CARE Ratings. Views are personal

Source: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/mfs-hold-the-key-in-commodity-futures/article26488033.ece?_escaped_fragment_=