Tag: news

New estimates from Counterpoint Research published Monday (seen by Apple Insider) show US smartphone sales volume tumbled 25% YoY in 2Q20. 

Counterpoint said Apple iPhone sales in the US plunged 23% in the period, but volumes increased through the quarter, due mostly to the low-cost iPhone SE. 

Sales of iPhone SE were propelled through the quarter because of the reopening of retail stores and promotional deals at Walmart, Metro by T-Mobile, and Boost.

“Apple volumes grew through the quarter and were especially helped by iPhone SE volumes. The device has been successful and selling above expectations in both postpaid and prepaid channels,” said Jeff Fieldhack, Counterpoint’s North American Research Director.

We outlined in May, credit and debit card data showed some folks were using their stimulus checks to buy iPhones. 

Counterpoint doesn’t believe increasing iPhone SE sales volume would deter customers from purchasing new iPhones with 5G technology later this year.

 “Our checks show that iPhone SE sales are unlikely to be cannibalizing fall 5G iPhone sales. iPhone SE buyers are more pragmatic about price, less concerned with 5G, and the smaller display is not considered a hindrance,” Fieldhack stated.

Fieldhack also said the low-cost iPhone is attracting Android users, and estimates at least 26% of iPhone SE users have switched from an Android device. 

Apple shares are up 34% YTD. 

Apple trades at a high premium versus 2020 earnings per share estimates mean of 37 analysts that follow the tech stock.

As consumers gravitate to cheaper iPhones during the virus-induced recession, this doesn’t bode well for demand for +$1,000 iPhone with 5G network capabilities, expected to be debut in the coming months.

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

Red Bull has fired two ‘diversity directors’ who tried to force the company into virtue signaling about Black Lives Matter while also dissolving several ‘culture teams’ who were pressuring Red Bull to take a more aggressive ‘woke’ political stance.

Stefan Kozak, its North America chief executive, and Amy Taylor, its North America president and chief marketing officer, have both left the Austrian drinks company after they tried to create a schism within the business about its supposed “inaction on the Black Lives Matter movement.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, “Ms. Taylor had been working on diversity and inclusion efforts within the company with Mr. Kozak’s support for several years but was met with opposition when she began advocating for Red Bull to be more overt in its support of racial justice in the last month, according to people familiar with the matter.”

Citing insiders, the Business Insider reports that the firings were a retaliation against efforts by Kozak and Taylor to create internal tension around “diversity issues” and pressure the company to make more diversity hires.

Red Bull also “cut or dissolved entertainment and culture teams in Canada, the UK, and Austria and canceled most of its major cultural events.” According to employees, these “culture teams” were “the most vocal about racial justice matters” and were therefore fired as a punishment for trying to force Red Bull into a political direction it didn’t want to take.

This story about Red Bull CEO getting rid of BLM activists in the company is encouraging.

Is Red Bull the only company with guts and subversive flare?https://t.co/R5zIMwVWpk

— Darren J. Beattie 🌐 (@DarrenJBeattie) July 20, 2020

“Red Bull has just shown the way forward for all who want to prevent a total Marxist-style takeover of business and government in America,” comments Revolver News.

“There is no appeasing these people, the only way forward is to fire them as quickly as possible, and with no mercy. Err on the side of firing everyone, if need be.”

The firings are unsurprising given that Red Bull is owned by 76-year-old billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz who has previously spoken out against political correctness and showed sympathy for Donald Trump.

Mateschitz also previously criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel for encouraging over a million “refugees” to flood into Germany at the height of the migrant crisis.

In summary, Red Bull is both based and red pilled. Time to stock up.

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In July of 2016, Ghislaine Maxwell spent two days with a group of attorneys in a midtown Manhattan law office and described her role in Jeffrey Epstein’s life – claiming that “A very small part of my job was from time to time to find adult professional massage therapists for Jeffrey.” Her testimony was obtained as part of a now-settled defamation lawsuit brought by accuser Virginia Giuffre, who claims both Epstein and Maxwell sexually abused her.

“My job included hiring many people” including cooks, gardeners, pilots, assistants and cleaners for his six homes, Maxwell said in a deposition. “A very small part of my job was from time to time to find adult professional massage therapists for Jeffrey.” –Bloomberg

Now, prosecutors allege Ghislaine lied nine times during the deposition, according to Bloomberg. According to an indictment against the now-jailed Maxwell unsealed on July 2, Maxwell lied when she denied knowing anything about Epstein’s recruitment of underage girls, as well as the dead pedophile’s interactions with underage girls at his properties around the globe.

One day after Maxwell’s deposition was partially unsealed, Epstein was found dead in a Manhattan jail cell following his arrest on charges which included sex-trafficking minors.

Jacob Wohl?

A former friend of Maxwell has told the Daily Mail that the British socialite hired ham-handed provocateurs Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman to smear alleged Epstein victims, and to try and use DC connections to get Attorney General William Barr to fire New York US Attorney Geoffrey Berman fired in order to stall or stop the criminal investigation into Maxwell.

One of the women they tried to use for their smear plots, Maryland model and paralegal Kristin Spealman, told DailyMail.com the men had been hired by Maxwell, who currently faces trial over charges she and Epstein trafficked underage girls for sex.

Spealman, 36, said the lobbyists bragged to her they had been hired around early June for $25,000 to dig up dirt on Maxwell’s alleged sex trafficking victims and to get Berman fired using Burkman’s supposed influence with Attorney General William Barr.

Berman ultimately stepped down after a push from Barr. But less than two weeks later, Maxwell was charged on July 2 as being part of Epstein’s sex trafficking ring and taken into custody. –Daily Mail

Wohl, who was charged with 14 counts of securities fraud in 2017 teamed up with Burkman during the 2018 Kavanaugh confirmation trials in a failed stunt to accuse special counsel Robert Mueller of a sex crime. More recently, a woman claims Wohl and Burkman paid her to accuse Dr. Anthony Fauci of sexual assault.

A form filed with the US Senate by Burkman’s company, J M Burkman & Associates, on July 3 under the Lobbying Disclosure Act shows Wohl and Burkman were hired by Granite Realty LLC.

The form lists Burkman and Wohl as lobbyists for Granite Realty, described as a ‘real estate company’, and indicates the pair will be lobbying over ‘Issues relating to US DOJ, Senate Judiciary, House Judiciary.’

New York prosecutors say the firm is connected to Maxwell, with the LLC linked to her purchase of a New Hampshire house where she was arrested on July 2 – the day before Burkman’s lobbying disclosure was filed. –Daily Mail

It’s a bit odd that Ghislaine Maxwell – the daughter of alleged Mossad operative Robert Maxwell, would hook up with Wohl – who ‘catfished’ Mueller accuser, Carolyne Cass, by claiming he was a “25-year-old, Mossad-trained private investigator named “Matthew Cohen.”

Submitted by Mark Glennon of Wirepoints

You have to hand it to Black Lives Matter Chicago. Friday evening played out beautifully, as they must see things. From inception through execution, they got exactly the results they seek, including violent confrontation with the police, more chaos, more division, yet a mostly sympathetic or indifferent response from officeholders and the media.

BLM needed help to pull that off. That help has been coming from countless individual supporters, proud to show their allegiance with signs in their manicured yards. Dozens of major corporations have followed the herd sending money to BLM.

Blame those supporters, not just BLM rioters themselves, for the violence. Standing up for racial equality under the BLM banner may have earlier been an excusable error, but not anymore.

What happened in Chicago’s Grant Park on Friday is the best illustration yet, as we will explain.

What are BLM supporters thinking? Maybe some have missed how thoroughly the evidence has been compiled that BLM is violent, Marxist, antisemitic, anti-family and just plain nuts with demands like entirely abolishing the police, prisons and the entire Illinois Department of Corrections.

But it’s far more likely that most would say – and you often hear this – that it’s not the organization but the “movement” they support. Black Lives Matter is also just a phrase in the movement for racial justice, they say.

But that’s precisely the problem, and it’s BLM’s secret sauce for stoking violence and pursuing its revolution. The phrase is melded with the organization and its violent agenda. You’re for racial justice, aren’t you? Sending a check to BLM or putting up a sign proves it. Just don’t dare question either the movement or the organization. The severity of the consequences of questioning either one ensures that there’s no place for nuance so, whether intentional or not, the BLM phrase will continue to be conflated with the BLM organization.

The end result is disastrous. No major officeholder or media in Illinois, to my knowledge, has challenged anything about BLM. Tens of millions of dollars have been donated to BLM by America’s biggest companies on down – the very companies that would be confiscated if BLM had its way. Not a word of criticism has been directed to BLM for its role in Friday’s riot.

Here is what happened Friday, showing BLM’s role and why BLM can assume it has a green light to do more of the same. It was very different from what’s being described in most news stories.

During the week prior, BLM Chicago heavily promoted what they called a Black, Indigenous Solidarity Rally, under their own name and using hashtags like #Fuck12Friday. Beyond their primary message about abolishing the police and prisons, they tried to broaden their base a bit by bringing in some Native Americans with calls to decolonize Zhigaagoong, their word for Chicago. They demand that all land east of Michigan Avenue be “rematriated” to, well, it’s not entirely clear which of the many tribes that inhabited that land at one time or another would get it.

With colonization in the mix, one target was clear – the Columbus statue in Grant Park.

If you were on Twitter Friday around 7PM to 9 PM, you could watch what unfolded in video and images thanks, in part, to what BLM itself broadcast.

Around 7:20, as they neared the Columbus statue, many in the crowd changed into all-black clothing and masks and immediately attacked the police, throwing frozen water bottles, rocks, fireworks and other objects.

The cops were vastly outnumbered and surrounded. They called repeatedly for help, as reported by CWB Chicago, which monitors police radio traffic. “Call more units to the Columbus statue! 10-1! Police emergency,” said one another. They were being “attacked by a mob,” said another.

“I live in one of the high rises in South Loop and witnessed it from my apartment in person,” said one of our commenters here. “It resembled the Battle of Bull Run. The cops that fortified the statue were outnumbered 4-1 while on receiving end of projectiles and fireworks.”

The mob then went after the Columbus statue and managed to get a rope around it to pull it down.

But the police, unlike what we’ve seen so often in other cities, fought on to save the statue. They succeeded, though 18 cops were injured and the statue covered with graffiti.

You can find plenty of video of the attack on YouTube. One is below.

By Saturday morning, BLM was back on its social media platform spinning the event as a police riot and announcing that all arrestees had been bailed out. BLM gets outside help on bail money, too.

BLM is surely thrilled with the aftermath. Most press stories refer to the rioters as “protesters.” The statue wasn’t vandalized, it was “tagged,” one wrote. Claims of police misconduct are getting as much attention as the attack on the police. Some of those claims may well be valid since it’s hard to imagine any cop could stay within the rules of engagement in a situation so tense and dangerous.

Any criticism of BLM by leading politicians? Mayor Lori Lightfoot gave a statement that began with what’s more like an endorsement of a righteous protest:

Hundreds took to the streets yesterday to express their First Amendment right to protest. I unequivocally support and will always fight for the rights of individuals to peacefully protest on any issue. The history and stories of the lives of Indigenous People here in Chicago need to be lifted up and celebrated. There is a dialogue that must be had to honestly confront the deeply ingrained history of racism and discrimination that has subjected Black, Indigenous and other communities of color in our city and our nation for too long.

She included only her standard, perfunctory lines about violence: “Unfortunately, last night, a portion of the protesters turned violent… These violent acts are unacceptable and put everyone at risk.” Nothing about BLM. Nothing thanking the cops for their bravery defending each other and the statue.

Governor JB Pritzker? Not a word.

Editorial condemnation of BLM? Nothing so far in Illinois.

Many Chicago alderman are openly siding with the rioters, blaming the violence on police.

Riots like Friday night’s almost certainly will continue. Police can’t stop them because they are outnumbered and get no support from the city or the Cook County State’s Attorney, Kim Foxx, who routinely lets arrestees off.

It’s not just Chicago. A reporter for UnHerd spent a month traveling the country to see the scale of damage from the “movement,” which he says is “almost incomprehensible.”

Who blessed the violence?  Is there any doubt that the “protesters” feel enobled by the “movement’s” BLM obsession, including their yard signs? What could be wrong with going to a BLM orchestrated “rally” when so many socially conscious Americans carry its banner?

And as for BLM’s corporate contributors, they’d be wise to remember Vladimir Lenin’s words: “The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.”

BLM violence will continue as long as the public, directly or indirectly, gives BLM free rein to organize riots. Using the BLM phrase as a call for racial justice might initially have been just a mistake, but that time has passed. No more excuses.

If you stand up for racial justice — and you should — then ditch the BLM yard signs. Find a better slogan than Black Lives Matter. Defund its network.

And big salute to the police who kept their cool for the most part and didn’t abandon the statue to the mob.

While scrolling through Twitter this morning, we stumbled upon a thread from Bloomberg’s Joe Weisenthal arguing (somewhat facetiously) that the rebound in total compensation (which, crucially, includes enhanced unemployment benefits and the stimulus checks) and retail sales (driven in part by the shift to working from home and a reaction to the shortages of critical supplies that plagued US pharmacies and supermarkets) suggests that the US economy did experience a “V-shaped recovery” after all, and that the only way this will end is if Congress pulls the plug (by not approving more stimulus checks and ‘enhanced’ benefits). After all, the last round of expanded unemployment checks are going out in 5 days.

THE V-SHAPED RECOVERY WE JUST EXPERIENCED

In today’s @Markets newsletter, I wrote about how by some measures, we’ve already experienced a genuine V-Shaped Recovery, and the question now is if Congress pulls the plug. https://t.co/gC2ZuuNU0i pic.twitter.com/phRE6z3J4x

— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) July 20, 2020

The reason people are uncomfortable calling it a true V is that while income and spending have surged back to pre-crisis levels, employment and salary (ex unemployment insurance) remains depressed. So there’s a view that this recovery isn’t, like, really real. pic.twitter.com/T7X68wlXge

— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) July 20, 2020

But such distinctions are for other people to worry about IMO. Fact of the matter is that income and spending have rebounded so hard. Much faster than most people would have guessed in the middle of March. And basically anyone would call those lines above a V.

— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) July 20, 2020

Weezy can be forgiven for trolling readers with his “maybe the real V-shaped rebound was inside us all along” routine – that’s just what he does. In reality, one of the biggest reasons economists – or at least most economists – have stopped talking about a “V-shaped” rebound is that, despite two months of labor-market growth, some 50 million Americans have been marooned on the unemployment rolls.

And after this week ends, as Weezy acknowledges, Americans who are out of work will be forced to make do with less – a lot less.

At this point, 80% or more of US states have scaled back reopening measures, with many of these decisions coming in the past week or two. California, the biggest state in the US, has taken perhaps the most drastic measures to rollback its reopening.

Using real-time data, Goldman suggests that consumption is stalling out in July as restrictions are reimposed.

And if all US states who are rolling back their reopening efforts decide to go all-in like California, that could have a disastrous impact on consumption.

While it’s tempting to believe that any new restrictions would simply push growth back from Q3 and Q4 to 2021, as Goldman points out, the situation unfortunately isn’t that simple. Because the longer businesses remain shuttered, the more likely they will fail and close their doors permanently.

Meanwhile, the longer a given worker remains furloughed, the greater the chance that they’ll lose touch with their former employer.

Even a temporary stalling of the economy threatens to inflict some longer-term damage, however. We have highlighted the risk that operating well below normal for too long will cause scarring effects on the business sector and the labor market, which we monitor in our weekly US economic recovery tracker. For businesses like bars and restaurants, being forced to close a second time—and shortly after Paycheck Protection Program funds have been exhausted in most cases—could lead to a jump in permanent closures, though further support from the Phase 4 fiscal package should help.

Similarly, many of the over 80% of newly unemployed workers who remain on temporary layoff likely have a limited window of time to get back to their old jobs before the connection with their former employer is lost. Exhibit 10 shows that employment growth is also likely to stall in July after two months of healthy gains. Even if the stall in rehiring lasts only a couple of months, it could have lasting effects.

Finally, using real-time data from Google’s Mobility project, Goldman warns that after two months of rebound-driven growth, the job market is expected to stall in July.

Even if rehiring stalls out for only a few months, it could still have a lasting impact as the global economy tries to shake off the trappings of the pandemic.

With stocks continuing to power higher on elevated hopes for a vaccine by the end of the year, executives from five major drugmakers are testifying Tuesday before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee panel. The executives will testify about their high-stakes efforts to develop a vaccine. Lawmakers are expected to grill them about plans to develop and distribute the vaccines.

The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Energy and Commerce is hosting the hearing. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce is led by Chairman Rep. Frank Pallone, and the subcommittee is led by Rep. Diana DeGette.

Watch live below:

Witnesses include:

• Dr. Mene Pangalos Executive Vice President, BioPharmaceuticals R&D AstraZeneca
• Dr. Macaya Douoguih Head of Clinical Development and Medical Affairs, Janssen Vaccines Johnson & Johnson
• Dr. Julie Gerberding Executive Vice President and Chief Patient Officer Merck
• Dr. Stephen Hoge President Moderna
• Mr. John Young Chief Business Officer Pfizer

The tesimony is being delivered remotely via Cisco Webex.

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

n this edition of “Technically Speaking” we analyze the 15-bullish beliefs (or not) currently supporting the market. Is this time different? Or should investors be concerned?

Bullish Moves

Yesterday, the market broke out of its consolidation range that we have been discussing over the past several weeks. Such is undeniably bullish and sets the market up for a test of “all-time” highs. 

However, while we did get a bit of “exuberance” yesterday, there was still considerable weakness beneath the overall market. As noted this weekend, the month of July has continued to perform as expected and has provided the seasonal lift to stocks.

“In the short-term, the bulls remain in charge currently, and as such, we must be mindful of those trends. Also, the month of July tends to be one of the better performing months of the year.”

Seasonal Weakness

However, as noted by SentimenTrader, the markets are about to enter the seasonally “weak,” two months of the year.

“According to Morgan Stanley (via the WSJ), stocks are about to enter a seasonally rough stretch. Indeed we are, based on seasonal calendar returns for the S&P 500. Seasonality in stocks is a tertiary factor even at its best and carries very little weight. It’s still a headwind, though.”

“It’s even worse for indexes like the Nasdaq 100, whose component stocks have helped to drive this rally. The NDX’s seasonal peak is right now.”

“If we use the Morgan Stanley methodology to look at the S&P 500’s forward rolling 2-month returns since 1999, then we can see a similar pattern, with the biggest dip occurring right about now.”

“What the black line on the chart shows us is the S&P’s average two-month return over the next two months for every trading day of the year. We’re at trading day #138 as of Monday, with late July being one of the very few windows where the S&P’s average forward return is more than -1%. Contrast that to early October, when its average two-month return has been more than +3.5%.”

SentimenTrader’s analysis does mean that markets will “absolutely” fall out of bed next month. However, given the size of the run from the March lows, against a backdrop of extremely weak economic data, a “breather” should not be out of the question.

This is also the case, when we analyze the most common “media” arguments for the rally.

15 Bullish Factors (Or Not)

While this list is by no means exhaustive, it does offer many of the most important assumptions currently supporting the market.

1. Corporate managers have become so adept at their jobs that profit margins and equity valuations will remain at, or rise from current nearly unprecedented levels.

Read More

2. Bond yields will rise as economic growth returns, which will support stock prices.

Read More

3. The Fed will continue to expand its balance sheet and provide more liquidity. 

Read More

4. Annual fiscal deficits over $1 trillion will power economic growth with no consequences

Read More

5. The rising number of COVID-19 Cases, when they collide with the annual “Flu” season, will not inhibit consumers from getting back into the economy.

H/T @not_jim_cramer

6. The rising number of corporate bankruptcies is a “non-event” due to the Fed.

7. Technology companies are the best place to invest now and going forward as they can continue to grow earnings.

Read More

8. The resurgence of the U.S./China trade war won’t have any impact on the economy or markets.

Exports, which comprise roughly 40% of corporate profits, also have a high correlation to consumption and related economic activity.

Read More

9. Corporations, via stock buybacks, will continue to be the predominant purchaser of U.S. stocks

10. Liquidity flows to the financial markets are never going to stop. 

11. Central Banks can permanently prop up asset prices.

Read More

12. Valuations don’t matter. Just the Fed.

Read More

13. Corporations are issuing debt at cheap rates, which will be a good thing long-term. 

14. The stock market is a can’t lose situation. Buy stocks as they always go up.

 And…The most important factor bulls must assume to be true:

15. This time is different

In a move that clears one more hurdle to what’s expected to be a full NFL season for 2020-2021, the NFL players union has agreed to a new arrangement whereby players will be tested daily for coronavirus infections during the first two weeks of training camp. The players’ union had raised concerns about practices putting players at risk with the first set to begin in a week.

The decision comes after dozens of MLB and NBA players have tested positive, along with a smattering of soccer players and other athletes, as the coronavirus briefly shut down athletics around the world. Although the 2020 Olympics has been postponed, European soccer leagues have mostly re-started play.

The NFL preseason is set to begin mostly on time, with practices starting in late July, with the first games being held more than a month later.

The NFL Players Association told the press that 72 players have tested positive for the virus as of July 10. The spread across the population is risk enough to make players anxious about sharing locker rooms and other facilities, along with the physical contact that’s simply an essential part of the sport.

Here’s more from ESPN:

According to a memo obtained by ESPN, the NFL and the NFL Players Association will require daily COVID-19 testing for the first two weeks of training camp. After two weeks, if the positive test rate is below 5%, the league would scale back to testing every other day. If the positive test rate is not below 5%, they will continue with daily testing until such time as it falls below that number. If the positivity rate hits 5% or higher at any point, they go back to daily testing until it comes down again.

“This is ongoing work,” Dr. Allen Sills, the league’s chief medical officer, said. “There’s no finish line with health and safety, and I think these protocol are living, breathing documents, which means they will change as we get new information. They will undoubtedly be changing over time, which is what we usually see in medicine.”

Upon arriving at the team facility for the first time, players and team employees will be required to test negative twice before being allowed in. Basically, you show up on Day One, take a test, go home. You then must wait 72 hours before taking a second test. If both are negative, you can go into the building and get to work on Day 5.

“We recognize that, as players and coaches and staff come in, they’re going to be coming in from all over the country and in some cases the world,” Sills said. “So we want to take a slow approach here.”

The memo states that the testing rules – and the 5% threshold – will apply to all Tier 1 and Tier 2 employees for each team in the league. A June 7 memo sent to the teams by the league defined Tier 1 employees as all players and necessary personnel who must have direct access to players. It defined Tier 2 as “other essential personnel who may need to be in close proximity to players and other Tier 1 individuals and who may need to access restricted areas.”

Sills also said the league’s expectation is that test results will come back within 24 hours. The NFL has contracted with BioReference Laboratories to handle its tests and has said multiple times over the past several months that it wants to remain responsible about not taking up too large a share of the available tests in any market.

In other news, the NFL has reportedly assented to a Players’ Union demand that there be no pre-season games, in keeping with the notion that the season be as stripped-down as possible to minimize risk to players and team staff.

The proposal included an offer for a longer training and acclimation period, ESPN reported.

Some players have taken to Twitter to voice their concerns about the league’s decision to start training camps before an agreement on safety protocols have been reached. But the agreement should quiet those concerns.