McClatchy, 2nd largest newspaper in the country (owners of the Miami Herald and others), just BK'd, at least a Chapter 11 reorganization. Its bad enough that its a newspaper and understand that model is dead. However their idea of going digital is also not much of a future. Will be able to get into that conversation at another day.
What pushed McClatchy over the edge, once again its pension liability. From Kevin McClatchy
Perspective of what income puts you into the 1% crowd. The list is from our friends at Business Insider.
You are in depending on what country you are in. According to Business Insider:
Uber's earning announcement today results in a jump in their share price from $26 to $37. The headlines look great, Uber beat all the key estimates this last quarter. The phone app (not like they have to bear the cost of the labor or Capex of the fleet, but hey who needs to that when you have people to bear the cost, but Uber maintains control of the money).
Haynes and Boone released their oil bankruptcy report. Texas lead the way with bankruptcy last year with 42. Louisiana and Colorado were tied for second with 11. When the economy collapsed in 2008 WTI peeked at @ $165/brl. With the support of high oil prices, Texas was able to weather the economic collapse well.
Well negative rates that are suppose to push people to spend, invest with a little of inflation by charging people with money to keep their deposits. As usual the markets find a different way.
The headlines are out. GDP last year (2019) @ 2.3%. Slowed from 2.9% in 2018 and below the White House goal of 3%. Going back in time to August 2018, the US government changed how GDP is calculated. The articles by The Guardian and Seeking Alpha gets into the details of the new calculation.
Mizzou and other universities are using an app by Spotter "track" student attendance in class. Is it reasonable to track if a student is in class or not?
Making things simple to know what is happening without the overhead to management has great appeal. Particularly if you have students on scholarship or academic probation, understandable. Maybe even justified.
Great breakdown on what it takes to be in the top 1% in a state by NBC. The call out that 129,000 individuals working for Illinois' state/local government will have $1M+ retirement packages puts them in the Top 1% of the Illinois population.
If you are from the generation that get access to the pension system that are generous, everything looks great. However, the new hires won't be getting the same level of benefits.
Comparing options;
Ignoring the headline nonsense, the real matter is, how are negative interest rates in Europe impacting people at the conference? If you are one of the 159 attendees from Switzerland, negative rates may be on your mind. CNN summarized well the cost involved. What is interesting are the reports of requests for large cash withdrawals.
Back to the basics. Keep your eye on Baltic Dry shipping rates. the BDIY tracks the shipping rates for dry goods. Important basic commodities. Grain, coal, ore, steel coils and cement. The basic building blocks of the world economies. The index provides and average of the shipping cost for these dry goods across 20 different routes.