Morning News: September 13, 2018
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on September 13th, 2018 at 7:16 am

Turkey Raises Rates, Sending the Hard-Hit Lira Up Sharply

Fed’s Brainard Says An Inverted Yield Curve Won’t Get in Way of Rate Hikes

Bernanke Admits Fed Made Mistakes Combating Crisis 10 Years Ago

Ten Years After Lehman Bankruptcy, New Books Point Finger at Two Men

JPMorgan Predicts the Next Financial Crisis Will Strike in 2020

Here’s What Wall Street Is Saying About Apple’s iPhone Revamp

Facebook ‘Better Prepared’ to Fight Election Interference, Mark Zuckerberg Says

Walmart’s Jet.com to Offer Nike Products in Bid for Urban Consumers

The NFL’s Very Profitable Existential Crisis

Champagne Makers Bubble Over A Bumper Crop Caused By European Drought

Paying Is Voluntary at This Selfie-Friendly Store

Joshua Brown: Ser Jamie

Howard Lindzon: Do What You Can’t

Barry Ritholtz: Crimes Were Committed

Michael Batnick: How the Financial Crisis Affected Millenials

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From the NYT, September 14, 2008
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on September 12th, 2018 at 11:50 am

Here’s a lede you don’t see often.

In one of the most dramatic days in Wall Street’s history, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself on Sunday to Bank of America for roughly $50 billion to avert a deepening financial crisis, while another prominent securities firm, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy protection and hurtled toward liquidation after it failed to find a buyer.

This was from the New York Times on September 14, 2008.

Morning News: September 12, 2018
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on September 12th, 2018 at 7:07 am

There’s Never Been a President This Unpopular With an Economy This Good

Record U.S. Job Openings, Quits Rate Boost Wage Growth Outlook

The Global Economy Is Still Feeling the Lehman Fallout 10 Years Later

The Epicenter of the Housing Bust Is Booming Again. (That’s a Warning Sign.)

The Recovery Threw the Middle-Class Under a Benz.

Crypto’s 80% Plunge Is Now Worse Than the Dot-Com Crash

The Wall Street Power Lunch is Back, With Martinis and Impunity

Apple’s Newest iPhone Could Have Big Screen, Big Price

In Tesla’s Shadow, China’s NIO Raises $1 billion From IPO

FCC Pauses 180-Day Clock on T-Mobile and Sprint Merger for Additional Review

Amazon Has Quietly Taken a Big and Fast-Growing Stake in a $7 Trillion Market

Subway Kills The $5 Footlong — And Franchisees Stand To Gain

Lawrence Hamtil: Valuable Lessons from Peter Lynch

Ben Carlson: Wage Growth vs. The Stock Market

Roger Nusbaum: The Two ETF Portfolio Gets More Diverse

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Stryker is Buying Invuity
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on September 11th, 2018 at 1:42 pm

Stryker (SYK) is in a buying mood. This time, they’re buying Invuity (IVTY) for $7.40 per share. That’s about $190 million.

Invuity is the leader in advanced photonics and single-use, lighted instruments that deliver enhanced visualization for a wide variety of clinical applications including orthopaedic and spine surgery, general surgery, and women’s health procedures, and is a recent entrant into the enhanced energy market. Founded in 2004, and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Invuity’s portfolio of innovative products is highly complementary to the Surgical portfolio of Stryker’s Instruments business.

“Invuity’s innovative products in the single-use lighted instrumentation and enhanced energy markets provide best in class illumination and help make surgery safer,” stated Spencer S. Stiles, Group President, Neurotechnology, Instruments and Spine. “I look forward to the work we will do together to advance Stryker’s mission of making healthcare better.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Stryker will commence a tender offer for all outstanding shares of common stock of Invuity for $7.40 per share, in cash. The boards of directors of both Stryker and Invuity have approved the transaction. The closing of this transaction is subject to the expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and other customary closing conditions. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year and is expected to have an immaterial impact to net earnings in 2018.

Crossing Wall Street 17 Years Ago
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on September 11th, 2018 at 9:32 am

Morning News: September 11, 2018
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on September 11th, 2018 at 7:10 am

From Trump to Trade, the Financial Crisis Still Resonates 10 Years Later

Trump’s Sanctions on Iran Could Push Oil Prices Above $100 Per Barrel

Renesas to Buy Chip Maker Integrated Device Technology for $6.7 Billion

Tencent Folds’Em, Shutting Down Another Videogame as Beijing Tightens Grip

Sonos Can’t Miss a Beat

Ford Says Despite Trump’s Tweet, Focus Active Won’t Be Produced In U.S.

Winklevoss Twins’ Gemini Trust Launches World’s First Regulated Stablecoin

Salomon Ski Owner Gets $5.5 Billion Chinese Bid Ahead of Games

American Eating Habits Are Changing Faster than Fast Food Can Keep Up

The New American Dream Job Is Pretty Dull

CBS Board Tries to Move Past Moonves Crisis With New Directors

$10.4-Billion Lawsuit Over Diesel Emissions Scandal Opens Against Volkswagen

Nick Maggiulli: Nothing Into Something

Michael Batnick: Making Private Public

Jeff Carter: Who’s The Biggest Anarchist of All-Time?

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Torchmark Lowered to Sell by Goldman
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on September 10th, 2018 at 10:56 am

Shares of Torchmark (TMK) are down about 4% this morning after the company was downgraded by Goldman Sachs.

The stock is being lowered from neutral to sell. The analyst lowered his target price from $92 to $78. Personally, I’m not worried about TMK at all. It’s an excellent stock.

RPM’s Earnings Date
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on September 10th, 2018 at 10:47 am

Here’s a quick follow-up.

In Friday’s newsletter, I said that RPM International (RPM) hasn’t said when they’ll report earnings yet, but I guessed that the date would be October 3.

This morning, the company announced that it will be October 3.

The only two Buy List reports we will get until earnings season starts again in mid-October will be FactSet (FDS) on September 25, and RPM.

Morning News: September 10, 2018
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on September 10th, 2018 at 7:13 am

China Sees Hints of a Past Threat: Inflation

Bitcoin Tracker One and Ether Tracker One Suspended by U.S. SEC

Crypto Wipeout Deepens to $640 Billion as Ether Leads Declines

After Trump Tweets that the Ford Focus Can ‘BE BUILT IN THE U.S.A.,’ Ford Explains Why That Would Make No Sense

Apple Supplier Shares Slide After Trump Tells Tech Giant to Make Products in U.S.

Apple to Kick Off Product Blitz With iPhone Xs Line, New Watches

Amazon’s Antitrust Antagonist Has a Breakthrough Idea

Jack Ma’s Succession Plan Offers an Important Lesson in Leadership

Fintech Start-up TransferWise Reports Second Year of Profit, Revenue Almost Doubles

Volkswagen Trials Offers Hedge Funds a Chance to Settle Old Scores

CBS’s Moonves Toppled by Harassment Allegations, Redstone Clash

Ben Carlson: The Other Failure Risk in VC

Joshua Brown: Instability is Stabilizing.

Cullen Roche: Potential Problems with Narrow Banking

Jeff Miller: Inflation Watch

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The Economy Added 201,000 Jobs in August
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on September 7th, 2018 at 11:57 am

Today’s jobs report showed that the U.S. economy created 201,000 net new jobs last month. That’s pretty much inline with the current trend.

The unemployment rate was 3.9%. Looking at the decimals, the unemployment rate came very close to rounding down to 3.8%. The current unemployment rate is lower than every single month in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

In the last 102 months, the U.S. economy has created 9.5 million new jobs. In the last year, average hourly earnings are up 2.9%.

A broad measure of unemployment and underemployment that includes Americans stuck in part-time jobs or too discouraged to look for work fell to 7.4% from 7.5% the prior month.

Friday’s report showed job gains in the professional and business services sector, along with health care, wholesale trade and transportation. Employment fell in the manufacturing industry, and all levels of government subtracted 3,000 jobs from payrolls last month.

The average workweek was unchanged at 34.5 hours in August.