Our Work
Investment Insights – Keith R. Schicker, CFA, Partner & Portfolio Manager
- Good Consistently is Great Eventually: If you limit losses, small gains eventually compound into large sums. [Investment Insights]
Primary Sources
- The April 2024 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices: While banks, on balance, reported having tightened lending standards further for most loan categories in the first quarter, lower net shares of banks reported tightening lending standards than in the fourth quarter of last year across most loan categories. [FRB]
- FTC Announces Rule Banning Noncompetes: FTC’s final rule will generate over 8,500 new businesses each year, raise worker wages, lower health care costs, and boost innovation. [FTC]
News
Financial Markets
- About the ‘T+1’ Rule Making US Stock Trades Settle in a Day: Even in an age of instant communication and live financial data, investors still have to wait days to take ownership of the stocks they purchase or to receive payment for the stocks they sell. That’s about to change. [Bloomberg]
- SEC Wins Trial in Novel ‘Shadow’ Insider Trading Crackdown: The US Securities and Exchange Commission won a jury verdict in its ground-breaking insider-trading case that seeks to bar employees from using non-public information about their own company to place bets on rival stocks. [Bloomberg]
- The Fed Is Looking for a Job Market Cool-Down. It Just Got One: Wage growth and hiring slowed in April, evidence of the job market slowdown that Federal Reserve officials have been waiting on. [NYT]
- Office-Loan Defaults Near Historic Levels With Billions on the Line: Over $38 billion of U.S. office buildings face loan defaults, foreclosures or other forms of distress, the highest amount since 2012. [WSJ]
- Private Equity’s Unlikely Champion for Giving Workers a Leg Up With Employee Ownership: Fifty years ago, CEOs earned around 20 times the median worker salary. Today’s CEO can make in a day what the average laborer earns in a year. [CBS]
The above chart offers a glimpse into the top 10 largest stocks in the US across select years from 1969 to 2023. Starting in 1969, the corporate landscape characterized by IBM, AT&T and Exxon Mobil. Fast-forwarding to 2023, tech titans like Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet dominate the field.
Financial Planning
- The New Math of Driving Your Car Till the Wheels Fall Off: Drivers rethink the optimum number of years to hold on to a car as the costs of ownership increase. [WSJ]
Retirement Planning
- Who Can Be Trusted for Retirement Advice? New Rules Strengthen Protections: More investment professionals will be required to act in their customers’ best interest when providing advice about their retirement money. [NYT]
Tax Planning
- What Is the Alternative Minimum Tax? The alternative minimum tax (AMT) applies only to some taxpayers. Learn what the AMT is, who might be affected, and what might trigger it. [Schwab]
Business Strategy
- How Nike Won the Battle for Caitlin Clark: Some of the world’s biggest shoe brands made a run at the Iowa superstar. The swoosh prevailed by offering an Olympic-sized deal. [WSJ]
- Neutrogena Lost Dermatologists and Missed Out on the $42 Billion Beauty Boom: The brand’s parent company has seen its skin care market share plummet to less than 14% last year from nearly a quarter in 2019. [Bloomberg]
- For AI, a Few Seconds of Power Becomes a Booming Business: Expansion of data centers fuels demand for generators and battery backups: ‘You cannot have downtime’. [WSJ]
- How Big Data Centers Are Slowing the Shift to Clean Energy: In Virginia’s data-center alley, rising power demand means more fossil fuels. [WSJ]
- Air Conditioning and AI Are Demanding More of the World’s Power—Renewables Can’t Keep Up: Renewables can’t keep up with growth, which means more coal and more emissions. [WSJ]
Following the enactment of the Clean Air Act Amendments in 1990, America’s electricity mix remained relatively stagnant until the period of 2010-2020. During this decade, there was a notable decline in coal power generation. There is a promising trend indicating potential increases in solar, gas, and wind energy sources, while coal power is anticipated to continue its downward trajectory.
Life & Work
- Foxtrot and Dom’s Face a Lawsuit While Former Vendors Scramble For Solutions: The debris continues to fall in Chicago where earlier this week, the city saw all 15 Foxtrot convenience stores and two Dom’s Kitchen & Market locations suddenly close. [Eater]
- China Pledges a Pair of Pandas to The United States For The First Time in Decades: China for the first time in more than two decades is sending pandas to the United States. The San Diego Zoo is preparing to receive Yun Chuan and Xin Bao. [USA Today]
- ‘Finance Bro’ Outfits Desperately Need an Update. We Have Fixes: Many corporate guys default to drab fleeces, stretchy chinos and clunky running shoes. It doesn’t have to be that way. Pros offer easy wardrobe upgrades. [WSJ]
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