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Articles by Michael Goodman
Prediction Markets In Canada: Tax Rules And CIRO Requirements
Graeme R. Oddy’s articles from Devry Smith Frank LLP are most popular: with Senior Company Executives, HR and Finance and Tax Executives with readers working within the Accounting & Consultancy, Retail & Leisure and Law Firm industries Until recently, prediction markets were unavailable in Canada.
Game-Changing Business Books to Read Now
in Books to Read if You Like..., Business & Finance, eBook Game-Changing Business Books to Read Now From reframing fear to mastering curiosity, these books go beyond clichés to challenge how you lead. Each one dives deep into mindset, culture, and the psychology of success. The kind of reads that change how you show up at work and in life.
Midday Market Brief: Wait and See
With the corporate news cycle easing into the sparse summer season, economic data will have to pull more of the weight to push the market significantly higher. Stocks were down slightly on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 off 0.3%. The sideways action — much like Monday’s — comes as investors kick rocks around before two key releases on Wednesday: the consumer price index for May and the Federal Reserve’s “dot plot,” both of which could offer a clue about if and when interest-rate cuts will come.
Midday Market Brief: Eurovision
While the US awaits some key data and decisions this week, Europe wasted no time putting its imprint on the week. US stocks were mostly muted on Monday, likely due to both factors. Here in the US, the main events to come will both hit on Wednesday: the consumer price index report for May and the Fed’s decision on interest rates.
Midday Market Brief: Catch Your Breath
Given the S&P 500 has jumped more than 7% from its late-April low to hit a new all-time high this week, a respite may be in order. Stocks were trending sideways without much conviction on Thursday, as investors head into summer seemingly needing another spark to drive the market significantly higher.
Midday Market Brief: Big Tech Takes Over
With much of the economic data this week comprising a mixed bag, the market had to rely on its old standby to lift stocks higher on Wednesday. Nvidia was up 3.8%, helping the Nasdaq to a 1.6% gain, as well as pushing the S&P 500 to an all-time high. That’s not to say there weren’t some decent tech earnings lifting investors’ spirits (more on that below), but it’s yet another day to marvel at Nvidia’s run: Its shares are up 35% in the past month and have jumped 142% in the past 12 months.
Midday Market Brief: Hiring Freeze
Any chance of a trifecta? Going back to last Friday, the last two market sessions have started down and out, only to push higher as the day wore on. Investors are faced with the same dynamic on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 down modestly but without much conviction to continue strongly either up or down. With another earnings season behind us and a slow summer news cycle ahead (US/global elections notwithstanding), the macro outlook will likely loom large in the weeks ahead.
Midday Market Brief: Just Another Meme-Stock Monday
So much for a calm start to the trading week. While the stock indices were struggling to extend the upward momentum they suddenly found to close the week last Friday, some individual names were a little more frenzied. The good news is that Berkshire Hathaway shares did not, in fact, fall 99% on Monday morning. That was just a technical issue that affected several New York Stock Exchange-listed stocks as the trading day got underway. Trading was halted for certain stocks while the issue was fixed.
Boston Beer Co. May Be Swallowed by Japanese Whiskey Giant
It’s known as Samu Adamusu in Japan. With a name like Boston Beer Co. and a brand called Samuel Adams, everything about the business screams “USA.” But the 40-year-old New England brewery’s identity may become the latest casualty in the global beer industry’s consolidation. Beer is still big, but new products and quick-changing consumer habits are disrupting the industry.
Midday Market Brief: Slugged by Salesforce
It’s probably not as bad as it looks. Stocks have spent most of the session lower on Thursday, as the market tries to shake off a real downer of an earnings report late Wednesday from Salesforce, which (as you’ll see below) offered up weak guidance for its second quarter. As a result, the Dow component has dragged that index of 30 stocks to a 0.7% fall, while the S&P 500 is only down 0.2%.
Midday Market Brief: Nvidia Can’t Do All the Work
Hello and welcome back. Nvidia has done a lot of work for the stock market recently, with the $2.8 trillion market cap AI chipmaker’s stock already jumping nearly 32% in May alone and helping lift the S&P 500 given its 6% weighting in the broader S&P 500. But even Nvidia investors will take an occasional break and we then tend to see how healthy the rest of the market is.
Midday Market Brief: The Nasdaq Touches a New High
Hello, and welcome to the inaugural edition of The Daily Upside’s Midday Market Brief. The idea here is simple: a quick but comprehensive snapshot of the day’s market somewhere close to the halfway point of the trading session. We don’t quite have a motto yet, but it’d be something close to “Here’s everything you need to know about today’s stock market packaged in something you can read in 60 to 90 seconds.” Yes, we’re still working on it.
Jamie Dimon Seems Unfazed About JPMorgan’s Tepid China Business
At times like these, one is reminded of Wile E. Coyote running out into thin air before remembering that gravity exists. In a brief respite from warning there’s still a risk of a “hard landing” for the US economy, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told attendees of the bank’s conference in Shanghai on Thursday that parts of the company’s business in China had “fallen off a cliff” in the past few years.
Good Luck: Travel Should Be a Mess This Weekend
Even the threat of killer turbulence isn’t enough to halt our holiday travel plans. The Transportation Security Administration projects as many as 3 million travelers will pass through airport checkpoints on Friday alone, setting the stage for one of the busiest Memorial Day weekends for travel ever. Unfortunately for Boeing-wary wanderers, highway traffic won’t be much better, let alone safer. In fact, highway traffic may be pretty terrible.
Utility Stocks Surge on AI and Cloud Computing Boom
Who are you calling boring? Shares in power companies have outpaced the broader S&P 500 over the past three months, with utility stocks accounting for three of the five best performers in the index. Similar to consumer-focused firms like Procter & Gamble or Coca-Cola, the stocks of utility companies are generally seen as safe and defensive bets. They won’t pay out the biggest dividends, but they’re consistent and tend to weather the ups and downs of the market without the extremes.
More Working People Feel Good About Their Finances
While the price of chicken eggs is still inducing rage, Americans are feeling more confident about their nest eggs. The number of US employees who rate their financial wellness as good or excellent is on the uptick, according to a new report from Bank of America. The state of the economy is clear to most Americans: Inflation is still high, Interest rates are still high (and may stay that way for a while), and the housing market is in the doldrums.
Fed Official Hints That Future Rate Hikes Are Off the Table
Before you can lower something, you have to stop raising it. Readers of the tea leaves of Federal Reserve governors’ public statements may have caught a glimpse of a small but possibly significant shift in the central bank’s tone regarding future interest-rate decisions — namely, they might be as high as they’re going to get.
Target Slashes Prices to Entice Shoppers Tired of High Prices
Target and Walmart both opened in 1962, and they’ve been going mano a mano ever since. Now they’re joined together in a battle against a nationwide scourge: inflation, which they helped stoke. On Monday, big-box retailer Target lowered prices on 1,500 grocery items — with thousands more on the way — in an attempt to both lure back customers put off by inflated costs and keep pace with lower-cost rivals like Walmart.
Walmart’s Market Cap Jumps to All-Time High After Stellar Earnings
Now that’s what you’d call the Sam Walton Way. On Thursday, Walmart reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings, pushing its market cap to an all-time high of more than $500 billion. Walmart handily outsells Amazon, for anyone keeping score at home. So just how, exactly, does the behemoth box store chain Walton founded in 1962 keep on finding ways to grow? Walmart sets a high standard for itself every year.
US Blocks Chinese Textile Firms Over Forced Labor Concerns
The Biden administration, which hasn’t exactly been cottoning to Beijing trade practices lately, blocked more than two dozen textile companies from exporting to the US by adding them on Thursday to a list of Chinese businesses that allegedly exploit forced labor. The bans not only attempt to address human rights violations but also aim to protect domestic textile producers from unfair competition, The Wall Street Journalreported.
EU Hits Meta With Yet Another Child Welfare Investigation
Europe sure doesn’t think the kids are alright. The European Commission said Thursday it initiated an investigation into whether Instagram and Facebook breached rules laid out by the Digital Services Act (DSA) — a muscular and relatively new piece of European legislation aimed at protecting minors online. This is far from Meta’s first rodeo, but the threat posed by the DSA might have more power to punish Meta than what it’s previously dealt with.
Baidu’s Robotaxi Nears Profitability, While US Peers Are Stuck in Neutral
While American robotaxis spin their wheels, China’s raring to go. Baidu, the Beijing-based tech giant sometimes referred to as “China’s Google,” said Wednesday that its Apollo Go robotaxi business projects that it will start turning a profit as soon as next year. This is a bit of a kick in the teeth for US robotaxi wannabes, a couple of whom were just hit with regulatory investigations.
US Oil Industry Faces Wave of Antitrust Trouble
There’s oil in them thar shale fields. And maybe some price-fixing and collusion, too. Following increased scrutiny from antitrust regulators, US shale producers are on the receiving end of a wild well of class-action lawsuits alleging anticompetitive behavior, with the latest suit filed on Monday. And suddenly, the industry’s increasingly cozy relationship with OPEC is being called into question.
Keith Gill Resurfaces, Kicks Off Another Meme-Stock Frenzy
Kitty has gone from snoring back to roaring. After a three-year hiatus, day-trader Keith Gill — a.k.a. “Roaring Kitty” — returned to social media on Sunday, sparking surges in shares of GameStop and other companies that gained popularity during the 2021 meme-stock craze. And while that fervor was short-lived, this one might be even shorter.
Temu Gets Spooked by Possible TikTok Ban
One China-based app isn’t waiting for US lawmakers to banish it. Temu, the e-commerce app that has spent a fortune marketing itself to American consumers, is reportedly starting to hedge its reliance on the US market, sources told The Wall Street Journal. It’s a striking about-face for the company, and one that was reportedly prompted by the US government voting to either ban or force a sale of fellow China-owned company TikTok. It’s hard to overstate how bombastic Temu’s marketing drive has been.
Can We Solve Climate Change by Suing Polluters?
Your typical mental picture of an eco-warrior probably doesn’t involve billing by the hour, but climate litigation is not just growing — it’s snowballing. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) was established in 1959 to safeguard the rights and basic freedoms of more than 700 million people in Europe. But one of its biggest rulings may end up protecting the entire planet.
US Mulls Export Bans on AI Software to China
Sometimes when you’re playing hardball, you have to go soft. Reuters reported on Wednesday that the US government might escalate its trade war with China by blocking US companies from selling powerful proprietary AI software models to China, along with the data used to train those models. The question is: What company in its right mind would sell its model to begin with?
EV Big Rigs Are Getting Too Expensive for Trucking Customers
Eastbound and down, but not quite loaded up and truckin’. Freight truck leasing companies that said customers were demanding battery-powered big rigs are now having a hard time finding takers of their low-emission-yet-high-cost semis, The Wall Street Journalreported. Electric vehicles are technically more popular than ever, but it’s no secret that the market isn’t growing as fast as originally hoped.
Uber Takes a U-Turn Back to Unprofitability
The good times, they never last. After recording its first-ever annual profit last year, Uber swung back into the red in its first-quarter earnings on Wednesday. Analysts were largely surprised by the dip, even if the firm’s roadblocks are now all too familiar. Uber’s core ride-hailing business remains trapped in the push-and-pull calculus of balancing rider, driver, and company incentives — push fares too high, or driver cuts too low, and risk tipping the entire thing out of balance.
Disney’s Streaming Unit is Finally (Sort of) Profitable
Streaming is no longer where dreams come to die for Disney. In its second-quarter earnings report on Tuesday, Disney announced its streaming business had, at long last, achieved profitability across a three-month span. Or, at least pieces of its streaming business had anyhow. That was the meticulously qualified silver lining the House of Mouse presented to investors as it braced for yet another quarter of all-too-familiar challenges for a legacy media empire in flux.
Japan Looks to Leave its Lost Decades Behind
Sunday marks the final day of Japan’s Ōgon Shūkan, or Golden Week. The celebration commemorates four national holidays including one all about the joy of kids, which is somewhat ironic for an aging country trying to put decades of little to no economic growth behind it.
Universal Music Squashes its Beef with TikTok
TikTok can tick Universal Music Group off its enemy list. Four months ago, the music giant pulled all its music off TikTok, saying the social media platform paid artists a pittance. Now the two companies have reached a detente with a new licensing agreement. While we don’t know who made what concessions, a few themes stand out in their public statements. The big ones? Money and AI.
UBS Mulls a Massive Cost-Cutting
UBS is having severe indigestion problems. It’s been about a year since the Zürich-based financial giant somewhat begrudgingly agreed to acquire beleaguered compatriot Credit Suisse as part of a state-sponsored rescue plan, and it’s still struggling to figure out what to do with its costly new toy. One thing seems clear, according to a Reuters report on Thursday: UBS wants to cut costs. A lot of them. There have been upsides to the Credit Suisse acquisition.
US Cattle Prices Take a Hit as Bird Flu Spooks Traders
Where’s the beef? In the discount aisle. Beef prices have taken a tumble as commodity traders anticipate US demand will weaken due to avian flu affecting the country’s cattle herd, the Financial Times reported. As of the end of April, the reported finding the avian influenza strain, H5N1, in 34 herds of cattle in nine states. The virus doesn’t typically infect humans, and it has a difficult time spreading from person to person, but it can be quite deadly.
Fed Keeps Interest Rates Steady Amid Solid Job Growth
The US labor market continues to deliver better-than-expected job and wage growth, which is great for working stiffs but is keeping inflation elevated and interest rates at a 23-year high. To practically nobody’s surprise on Wednesday, the Fed once again left rates alone. When prices start accelerating, the Federal Reserve can increase the cost of borrowing, making it more expensive for consumers to acquire loans for a home or a car — or for businesses to borrow for investing in expansion.
Business Groups Sue FTC Over New Noncompete Regulations
Corporate America is feeling lackadaisical about competition. Just a day after the Federal Trade Commission issued a measure prohibiting companies from enforcing noncompete clauses on any employees but top-level executives, the US Chamber of Commerce and Texas-based law firm Ryan LLC separately sued the regulator, arguing it had overstepped.
Gucci’s China Problem Is Testing Investors’ Patience
Shares of Gucci parent Kering fell in European trading on Wednesday after the luxury giant said late Tuesday that it expects its operating income for the first half of the year to tank by 40% to 45%, largely due to sluggish demand in China. The problem is that several of Kering’s luxury peers aren’t having the same issue.
UK's Octopus Energy Invests in US Offshore Wind Startup
That should put some wind back in wind energy’s sails. Octopus Energy, a UK-based renewable energy provider, said Wednesday that it’s investing in Ocergy, a San Francisco-based startup that produces floating offshore wind turbines.The Wall Street Journalreported the investment would be between $10 million and $30 million, which is small fry in the grand scheme of energy investments, but it’s a sign of green shoots in a sector that has otherwise endured a fairly devastating financing crisis.
Apple’s iPhone Is Getting Crowded Out of the Chinese Market
Apple must be feeling a little green about its China business. iPhone sales fell nearly 20% in the first quarter, with many consumers flocking to local rivals, according to data from market research firm Counterpoint. Tim Cook & Co. had been a shining example of an American enterprise succeeding in the Middle Kingdom until the US and China entered a trade war in 2018 that seems to escalate with each passing day.
NYSE Polls Market Players About Moving to Around-the-Clock Trading
New York Stock Exchange bells — which began as Chinese gongs and have signaled the opening and closing of trading days since the late 1800s — could soon be outta work. The NYSE has begun polling participants on switching to a 24/7 trading schedule similar to how cryptocurrencies operate, the Financial Timesreported. Though the NYSE’s official hours are every weekday from 9:30 am to 4 pm ET, plenty of buying and selling occurs outside that window via electronic exchanges.
Bigger Is Still Better in the S&P 500
Apple and Tesla’s fall and the contraction of the Magnificent Seven belies a central fact in the stock market today: bigger is way better. Size has been a predictive factor for performance on the S&P 500, with the index’s 50 biggest companies collectively performing the best and the 50 smallest performing the worst, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis published last weekend. The trend may widen with the new status quo of higher-for-longer interest rates.
Weight-Loss Drugs Are Dragging Down Snack Makers’ Bottom Line
Are you sure you’re not feeling even a little peckish? For people living with diabetes or obesity — two of the biggest health concerns in the US — the immensely popular group of weight loss medications called GLP-1s can be a miracle drug. But for restaurants, snack brands, alcohol makers, and fast food franchises, it’s a rival — and the competition might be winning.
Paris Residents Still Waiting on Huge Demand for Olympics Rentals
The Summer Olympics begin in about three months, with 15 million people expected to descend upon Paris in late July, offering a short but intense opportunity for the city’s residents and merchants to profit off the surge. But Parisians looking to rent out their apartments and earn la fortune have so far been disappointed. The problem appears to be another case of supply and demand — and we’re talking way, way too much supply.
WeWork Scrambles To Stop Adam Neumann From Buying it Back
If there’s one person WeWork doesn’t want to share any office space with, you’d think it’d be its quirky founder. The once high-flying “space management technology” company is trying to raise enough money to emerge from bankruptcy without selling itself, the Financial Times reported Thursday. The most high-profile bidder at the moment is Adam Neumann, WeWork’s often-barefooted cofounder and ex-CEO who stepped down in 2019 following investor pressure.
Tesla’s Stock Has Hit the Skids
Tesla is stuck in reverse. Ahead of its earnings report next week, the preeminent EV maker saw its share price sink to a 15-month low on Thursday amid a pile-up of bad news, as multiple analysts call for a serious course correction, and production woes continue to mount. Meanwhile, Elon Musk — ever the reader-of-rooms — is fighting to secure a massive payday. Tesla’s stock is down nearly 40% this year, due to a sizable sales dip and production slowdown.
Boeing Battles Dual Congressional Hearings
Boeing is entering even unfriendlier airspace now. On Wednesday, the airplane manufacturer’s crisis took center stage in Washington in the form of two separate Senate hearings, with one featuring testimony from a new high-profile whistleblower. Neither meeting exactly inspired confidence in the embattled firm.
Superyacht Sales Fall Due to Lack of Russian Oligarch Customers
Think of the yachting industry as Rose in Titanic and Russian oligarchs as Jack — a tragic romance cut short. Pulling together stats from the SuperYacht Times’ State of Yachting report (what, you don’t subscribe?), CNBC reported Wednesday that a combination of bottlenecked supply problems and a dearth of Russian oligarch buyers resulted in 2023 sales of superyachts falling 35% since 2021.
Dealmaking Is Coming Back - With or Without Fed Rate Cuts
Wall Street’s done trying to time the Fed. With no interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve until maybe the end of the year — if at all — US companies and financial institutions are just getting on with life, The Wall Street Journalreported, with dealmaking-related revenue at a handful of major investment banks collectively rising 27% year-over-year in the first quarter. Last year, global dealmaking volumes fell 18% to roughly $3 trillion, their lowest levels in 10 years.
US Growth to Lap G7 Peers, IMF Predicts
The informal grouping of seven advanced economies known as the G7 has one clear standout in the eyes of — at least, according to the International Monetary Fund. On Tuesday, the United Nations financial agency published its latest annual World Economic Outlook, projecting among other things that the US economy will grow twice as fast as any of its Western peers that comprise the G7 this year. Either because of or despite inflation, Americans just can’t stop spending.
Rent, Car Insurance Are Keeping Inflation High
Apartment rents and car insurance are complicating Jerome Powell’s life. To stop inflation, he must tame them both. Last week’s CPI report bore frustrating, headache-inducing news: Prices rose 3.5% compared to a year ago in March, marking the third month straight of higher-than-expected data. While a couple of key categories experienced some much-welcome price relief — namely, new cars and oil — inflation remained stubborn in the shelter and services categories.
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