Business

Here we go again...

Over the summer, we argued that the grocery business in the U.S. is, and always has been, a fairly miserable one.  From A&P to Grand Union, Dahl's, etc., bankruptcy courts have been littered with the industry's failures for decades.

The reason for the persistent failures is fairly simple...razor-thin operating margins that hover around 1-3% leave the entire industry completely incapable of absorbing even the slightest financial shock from things like increasing competition and food deflation. 

Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com,

After years of setbacks and delays, China may be days away from launching a yuan-priced crude oil futures contract to make its currency more international and challenge the dominance of the petrodollar.

Many Chinese investors eagerly anticipate the start of yuan oil futures trading on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange, with hope it will come just in time for Christmas, when western markets will be either closed or calmer than usual.

Credit Suisse Chief US Equity Strategist, Jonathan Golub, has estimated that corporate tax cuts in the U.S. could boost average earnings of companies in the S&P by about 8-10%.  Now, as those tax cuts get priced into the market for the 10th time today, we decided to take a look at which industries will benefit the most and how they will spend their extra cash flow.

Authored by Jonathan Marshall via ConsortiumNews.com,

It seems like it’s always Christmastime at the Pentagon where the stockings are full and budget-cutting is for those domestic social-program guys...

Wise parents who celebrate Christmas advise their young children not to make unreasonably grandiose requests of Santa. After all, he has to squeeze down a rather narrow chimney to deliver their presents.