Here we are at the mid-week hump and things look about the same as they did on Monday and Tuesday in the market. In fact, the market looks about the same as it has for most of January. Looking back at just a five-day chart of the DIJA tells the story. The market opens with decent volume, price-action tapers off, and then the market closes with decent volume. In that little “cup,” economic and earnings data swirls about but it does little to change the flow.
- U.S. factory production rose in December for the second straight month, buoyed by more output of autos, electronics, and business equipment.
Interestingly, the tech-heavy NASDAQ opened in the green and has stayed in the green thus far this morning. The news excerpt below is what makes this interesting.
- This earnings season, the U.S. technology industry is in an unusual position – dragging corporate America down, rather than lifting it up. Wall Street expects the tech sector’s fourth-quarter earnings to be down 1.1 percent from a year ago, the first drop since the third quarter of 2009.
Is it just me, or does anyone else detect a certain incongruity in the above news? Speaking of technology, the news below is interesting as well. Granted, the legal battle might not be finished, as the FCC is reviewing the ruling, but if it is over, the ruling opens the door for Dish Network to increase revenues.
- An appeals court struck down a rule on Tuesday that had been issued by the U.S. telecommunications regulator to allow customers to watch cable and satellite TV on “plug and play” televisions, replacing set top boxes. Satellite TV company Dish Network Corp objected to the rule because it included prescriptions on encrypting programming that prevented Dish and others from, for example, making deals with studios to play new movies on a pay-per-view basis.
Now, if Dish can pull off its bid to acquire Clearwire, its P/E of 22.46 could be changing in the near future. Currently, Dish’s market cap is about half that of its main competitor, DirecTV, but this deal and its potential for Dish could change that.
- As per the terms of the deal, Dish would offer $2.2 billion to acquire 24% of the carrier’s airwaves while Clearwire would assist the satellite TV provider build a wireless network.
Oh, about a months ago, I wrote about online retailers (e-bay and others) deciding to build brick and mortar stores to help improve online sales. The reason they would do this is that shopping for many is more than just selecting an item from an electronic catalogue. Physically shopping is a social outlet and, as well, it offers the potential buyer the opportunity to interact physically with a product, i.e., touch, smell, see, feel, and taste a product before buying.
- The overwhelming majority of shoppers made their last purchase in a store and not online, but far fewer are committed to do so the next time they buy something, according to a study from IBM. More than 80 percent of shoppers in the study last bought something at a store, but only half said they would go to a brick-and-mortar retailer next time. The study showed both the importance and global reach of “showrooming,” in which shoppers examine products in stores and then make their purchase online.
The above is interesting in that it supports the idea consumers will “showroom” a product and then go online to purchase it. As well, it also presents and interesting question — If this is becoming the way, does it mean that the point-of-purchase for the impulse buyer will be a smartphone utilized in the store?
I find this all fascinating. Technology changes how we interact with the world, true, but can the efficiency and ease of shopping online remove the desire for the impulse buyer to walk out of the store with the desired product in hand? I wonder.
Trade in the day; Invest in your life …
