May 2, 2017

Perspective

BuzzFeed – Young People Are Struggling, So Furniture Stores Target “The Bank Of Mom And Dad” – Matthew Zeitlin 4/30

  • “The financial crisis and weak economic recovery locked millions of young people out of the labor force, and for many who do have jobs, they’re not particularly well-paying ones. Those jobs leave people burdened by student loans and unable to build up the cash needed to get a place of their own.”
  • Rather than focusing on selling millennials, focus on their parents.

WSJ – Apple’s Cash Hoard Set to Top $250 Billion – Tripp Mickle 4/30

Markets / Economy

WSJ – From Diapers to Soda, Big Brands Feel Pinch as Consumers Pull Back – Sharon Terlep and Annie Gasparro 4/26

Real Estate

FT – Australia record home sale highlights bubble risks – Jamie Smyth 4/30

Finance

FT – US credit card stocks sink to fresh lows – Alistair Gray 4/30

  • “US credit card stocks have hit new lows for the year after figures in recent days from three of the biggest providers — Synchrony, Capital One and Discover — showed they set aside 36%, or $1bn, more for bad loans in the first quarter than a year ago.”
  • “Weaker than forecast financial results on Friday from Synchrony Financial, a $90bn-in-assets issuer that provides cards for retailers including Walmart and Amazon, pushed its shares down 16% and sent a chill through the wider sector.”
  • “Just three months after the company forecast that net charge-off — or writedown — rates would come in at no more than 5% this year, Synchrony said it now expected they would in fact be at least that high.”

FT – Interest-free credit cards a ‘ticking time bomb’, bankers fear – Emma Dunkley 4/30

Health / Medicine

FT – Cancer pill costs soar as drug companies retain pricing power – David Crow 4/30

Africa

FT – Ghana crackdown on illegal gold mining inflames tensions with Beijing – Maggie Fick 4/30

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