Morning Breakfast
Read in Browser Trade Brexit drama returns Shutterstock The United Kingdom and European Union are back at the negotiating table today in an attempt to dodge a looming trade war. While Britain officially left the EU in January 2020, a number of hard-fought trade arrangements that ...
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Global Market Comments Mad Hedge
Global Market Comments November 11, 2021 Fiat Lux SPECIAL VETERANS DAY ISSUE Featured Trade: (A TRIBUTE TO A TRUE VETERAN) A Tribute to a True Veteran A couple yearsa ago found me on an obscure, deserted ridge in the Solomon Islands in a remote corner of the South Pacific. ...
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Nov 9th...
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Global Market Comments Mad hedge
Global Market Comments November 9, 2021 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (THE LAZY MAN’S GUIDE TO TRADING) (ROM), (UXI), (BIB), (UYG) (TESTIMONIAL) The Lazy Man’s Guide to Trading I like to start out my day at 5:00 AM by calling readers on the US east coast and Europe, asking how t...
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November 12, 2021 Deal Book NYT
November 12, 2021 Good morning. (Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here.) How credible is his pledge to halt inflation?Nicholas Kamm/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Ups and downs A big part of President Biden’s pitc...
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Global Market Comments Mad hedge Nov 12th
Global Market Comments November 12, 2021 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (HOW TO RELIABLY PICK A WINNING OPTIONS TRADE) How to Reliably Pick a Winning Options Trade You’ve spent vast amounts of time, money, and effort to become options trading experts. You know the difference between bids and...
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copy and pasting my post from a few weeks earlier;
a very good friend took a package from Air Canada when covid hit, he was senior management. A year and 1/2 later he's helping to build the Canadian arm of a US airline based in Miami.
Jetlines
CJET
they went live on NEO 2 weeks ago. or so . Have no idea how this will turn out, their goal is to make it Canada's rock bottom cheapest fares, they feel there's a niche. I dont own shares, just sharing. Pretty sure opened at .40c. Management is very experienced. I will put limit buy order at .45c , if filled, let it go for a few years
he did say ;
'forward booking for all airlines r through the roof' . He likes Air Canada to hit $50 again, yikes
.....................................
wanted to provide a little more info here. I have not been filled , on MOnday to put a GTC order at .50c (up from .45c, )
some more info from my friend . I had asked about competition with Flair Airlines, its the discount airline in Canada. Here is his response;
'Different niche. Flair is a greater threat to Air Canada and WestJjet
The good thing with Jetlines is that they will operate routes where there is not enough demand and are focused on the vacation bookings and they will be designed to operate where the demand is. For example in the winter months they will operate into Florida to cater to the cruise pax. In March break cater to the Caribbean etc. Domestically eventually will be the same and pick up the crumbs that AC and WJ don't have enough airplanes to cover it YYZ to YVR. You can put a plane on that route every hour and fill it up.
The beauty with Jetlines is that it's designed to cater to the person who wants to buy an individual seat or a package through Jetlines Vacations and we are setting ourselves up with agencies as well which other airlines have stoped doing as they want to be the direct point of sale. The good thing with agencies is that they are hungry as airlines aren't dealing with them as much so we can sell them blocks of our aircraft ie they buy 50 seats and sell them themselves but we get the cash upfront. In the end we are designing ourselves to be at a 88% old factor and with the routes we will operate that will be possible
also, on not getting filled i was jokingly giving him a hard time, lol ;
'.45 may be tough Rick as the pre offer was .40
Keep in mind we will go live March ish.....
In December we start selling seats and will Charter an aircraft to start seeking our seats prior our aircraft flying so that's likely when word starts spreading '
i dont plan on updating the behaviour of this stock regularly but wanted to add a bit more info . Also, i do want to own and my expectations are minimal,lol . Having a little fun here as i know a person in the management team and i do like their idea.
i think BABA reports this week? they were delayed.
have a whole shitload of sold puts that expire Nov 26, Dec, 3, Dec 17. One of the underlyings is KWEB. Sold the Nov 26 $46.50 awhile back. Looks safe but BABA may fuck that up with earnings , lol .Also China data comes out Sunday, that country is clearly slowly they say--yet BABA just crushed Singles Day as Boz posted..hmm. BABA's chart is looking good on the weekly, came back to test $160 and held forming a higher low on the higher time frame; there is short term event risk with earnings .(I actually do own KWEB with a longer term horizon )
stocks on the watch for me:
DIS, PYPL
pypl chart is screaming bottoming process with the options market refusing to pay for decent put sell prices , kinda telling. I would have sold puts on it but already have with V which is in the same sector. May still sell them on PYPL but in a few weeks, the RSI is insanely low on the weekly chart in outlier territory (ideal to sell a put, would be even better if it was at a support, the stars would have aligned lol ) .. also to add the general market is in a good seasonality period
dis- will let the dust settle , and look to sell puts on
best wishes gentlemen
a very good friend took a package from Air Canada when covid hit, he was senior management. A year and 1/2 later he's helping to build the Canadian arm of a US airline based in Miami.
Jetlines
CJET
they went live on NEO 2 weeks ago. or so . Have no idea how this will turn out, their goal is to make it Canada's rock bottom cheapest fares, they feel there's a niche. I dont own shares, just sharing. Pretty sure opened at .40c. Management is very experienced. I will put limit buy order at .45c , if filled, let it go for a few years
he did say ;
'forward booking for all airlines r through the roof' . He likes Air Canada to hit $50 again, yikes
.....................................
wanted to provide a little more info here. I have not been filled , on MOnday to put a GTC order at .50c (up from .45c, )
some more info from my friend . I had asked about competition with Flair Airlines, its the discount airline in Canada. Here is his response;
'Different niche. Flair is a greater threat to Air Canada and WestJjet
The good thing with Jetlines is that they will operate routes where there is not enough demand and are focused on the vacation bookings and they will be designed to operate where the demand is. For example in the winter months they will operate into Florida to cater to the cruise pax. In March break cater to the Caribbean etc. Domestically eventually will be the same and pick up the crumbs that AC and WJ don't have enough airplanes to cover it YYZ to YVR. You can put a plane on that route every hour and fill it up.
The beauty with Jetlines is that it's designed to cater to the person who wants to buy an individual seat or a package through Jetlines Vacations and we are setting ourselves up with agencies as well which other airlines have stoped doing as they want to be the direct point of sale. The good thing with agencies is that they are hungry as airlines aren't dealing with them as much so we can sell them blocks of our aircraft ie they buy 50 seats and sell them themselves but we get the cash upfront. In the end we are designing ourselves to be at a 88% old factor and with the routes we will operate that will be possible
also, on not getting filled i was jokingly giving him a hard time, lol ;
'.45 may be tough Rick as the pre offer was .40
Keep in mind we will go live March ish.....
In December we start selling seats and will Charter an aircraft to start seeking our seats prior our aircraft flying so that's likely when word starts spreading '
i dont plan on updating the behaviour of this stock regularly but wanted to add a bit more info . Also, i do want to own and my expectations are minimal,lol . Having a little fun here as i know a person in the management team and i do like their idea.
i think BABA reports this week? they were delayed.
have a whole shitload of sold puts that expire Nov 26, Dec, 3, Dec 17. One of the underlyings is KWEB. Sold the Nov 26 $46.50 awhile back. Looks safe but BABA may fuck that up with earnings , lol .Also China data comes out Sunday, that country is clearly slowly they say--yet BABA just crushed Singles Day as Boz posted..hmm. BABA's chart is looking good on the weekly, came back to test $160 and held forming a higher low on the higher time frame; there is short term event risk with earnings .(I actually do own KWEB with a longer term horizon )
stocks on the watch for me:
DIS, PYPL
pypl chart is screaming bottoming process with the options market refusing to pay for decent put sell prices , kinda telling. I would have sold puts on it but already have with V which is in the same sector. May still sell them on PYPL but in a few weeks, the RSI is insanely low on the weekly chart in outlier territory (ideal to sell a put, would be even better if it was at a support, the stars would have aligned lol ) .. also to add the general market is in a good seasonality period
dis- will let the dust settle , and look to sell puts on
best wishes gentlemen
week 10...NFL
Lions +8.5
Eagles+2
chiefs-2
Chargers-3
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Lions +8.5
Eagles+2
chiefs-2
Chargers-3
WSB
Top News Shutterstock Stocks rallied Friday, led by technology and communication services, but the major averages finished lower for the week on escalating inflation fears. The October consumer price index released Wednesday showed inflation running hotter than at any time in 30 years,...
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Last edited:
3-1..NFL
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Untitled document
Global Market Comments November 15, 2021 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (MARKET OUTLOOK FOR THE WEEK AHEAD, or PROFITING FROM INFLATION), ($INDU), (TLT), (TBT), (MS), (GS), (BAC), (BRKB), (TSLA) The Market Outlook for the Week Ahead, or Profiting from Inflation Worried about inflation? I’m ...
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MH nov 16th
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Untitled document
Global Market Comments November 16, 2021 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (A NOTE ON OPTIONS CALLED AWAY) (GS), (TLT) A Note on Assigned Options, or Options Called Away I know all of this may sound confusing at first. But once you get the hang of it, this is the greatest way to mak...
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wow...I haven't looked at BABA yet
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Untitled document
Global Market Comments November 17, 2021 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (HOW TO HANDLE THE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19 OPTIONS EXPIRATION), (GS), (MS), (BAC), (TLT), (ROM), (BRKB) How to Handle the Friday, November 19 Options Expiration Happy and newly enriched followers of the Mad Hedg...
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it's a big market... AAPL and hold and you'll win.. BABA is undervalued so I'm happy playing the long game..I look at the cloud growth and growth in new markets If they bring margins down over the next year this will be golden.
Good luck with the APPL vinny...Haven't looked at the NFL like anything early?
Global Market Comments
November 18, 2021
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(A NEW THEORY OF EQUITIES)
A New Theory of Equities
So far, 2021 is playing out just as I expected. Followers of the Mad Hedge Fund Trader are already up by 95% during the first ten months of 2021.
However, I have been getting some pushback from some of my readers, especially the many new ones. Yes, the Dow Average has risen a ballistic 18,000 points over the past 19 months, the sharpest increase in history.
However, we are only just getting started.
While snowshoeing up to 10,000 feet in the High Sierras the other day from the East Shore of Lake Tahoe (where I always get my best ideas), I had an epiphany.
I finally realized that nothing less than a New Theory of Equities was needed to get followers to understand WHY the Dow will rise from 36,000 to 240,000 by 2030, a gain of 670%. If I’m wrong, it will happen by 2025 or 2026.
It’s really very simple. Recall the laws of supply and demand?
From 2010 to 2020, roughly $6 trillion was invested in financial assets. Because the Great Recession and the 2008-9 crash had just happened, some 94% of this money went into bonds, while only 6% went to equities.
During the entire decade, portfolio managers, strategists, and hedge fund managers pronounced that bonds were overpriced and would imminently crash.
Instead, they went up for ten years.
Fast forward to 2021. A new decade has begun and bonds around the world are offering negative inflation-adjusted real returns. The planet is massively overweight bonds.
Many people don’t realize how stupidly low interest rates are right now. Triple “C” rated bonds are yielding what Triple “A” paper was a decade ago, about 7.5%.
I looked at municipal bond yields the other day and my eyes almost popped out of my head when I saw 0.85%. This is a yield that is so low that it is beyond any economic rationale. Buyers are locking in a guaranteed 25% decline in purchasing power over the next decade.
So, what happens next?
Let’s say that those bond/equity cash flow weightings reverse, that all new investment for the coming decade goes 94% into equities and 6% into bonds. Stock markets would rise for the decade while bonds fall. There’s your Dow at 120,000 right there.
Portfolio managers, strategists, and hedge fund managers predicting that stocks are overpriced and ready for a crash will be wrong for ten years. We won’t be massively overweight equities until 2030.
They are wringing their hands that stock prices have outrun fundamentals. In fact, the opposite is true. Fundamentals are outrunning stock prices….in a big way. Productivity and profit margins are exploding.
Traditional asset managers would correctly point out that price earnings multiples are historically high. And they’d be right if you were only looking at tech growth stocks, the market leaders since 2009. The big caps are priced at mid 30s multiples, while the smaller ones sport multiples of 200 or more.
This ignores the huge chunk of the market, the value stocks, that are selling at low teens or single-digit multiple and basically haven’t moved in a decade.
What happens next is that value stock multiples rise to match those of the FANG’s. Add in earnings growth and that gets you to 240,000 also. By the way, in this scenario price earnings rise a lot, from the current 20 to 30, 35, or even 40.
I’ve seen it all before.
The fact is that American companies cut costs so dramatically in 2020 that they have spectacular earnings leverage in 2021 and beyond. Last year, it was cut, or die.
Except that this time it’s different.
Remember the 2009 Obama stimulus package? It amounted to a measly $831 billion because Republicans were doing everything they could to block it and Obama was new at the job. Only major banks, brokers, insurance companies, and car makers got bailed out. The rest of us were left to stew in our own juices.
This time, aggregate stimulus is looking like $10 trillion by the time you add in packages 1,2,3,4, Covid-19 rescues, an infrastructure bill, and a huge middle class tax cut.
But wait, there’s more!
What about quantitative easing? There was none in 2008. Ben Bernanke didn’t start his QE until 2009 and then only at miniscule levels. This time, Jay Powell is pouring $120 billion a month into the financial markets, matched by another $120 billion in QE from foreign central banks. We all know that most of this is going into the US stock markets.
It gets better.
You have to live in Silicon Valley to know this, but the rate of technology innovation has increased by tenfold since the nineties and is far broader than ever imagined. You won’t believe what’s coming your way!
You might ask what happens if interest rates eventually rise, and they will. It turns out that all big tech companies don’t borrow and in fact are net lenders to the system because their cash flows are so enormous.
Other industries benefit from rising rates, like banks, brokers, insurance companies, payday lenders, and money managers. Companies that DO borrow substantially you don’t want to buy anyway, as they are in the wrong industries.
Interest rates would have to get really high before they act as a drag on the stock market, and that is probably a 2026 or 2027 event.
The bottom line here is that we are about to see the biggest binge of equity buying in 50 years. Yes, it really WILL be a new American Golden Age and Roaring Twenties. Start practicing that Charleston!
Yes, stocks are about to become what bonds were in 2010.
I have run this scenario past several of my big-time hedge fund buddies and they ask why I’m being so conservative. They are looking at a Dow Average of 300,000 or 400,000 by 2030 if everything plays out as I expect.
I guess I’m just a conservative kind of guy. Old age will do that to a person.
buy leaps
Is That A 120,000 Dow?
Quote of the Day
“Never sell short anything just because it is expensive,” said the late Ace Greenberg, CEO of the late Bears Stearns.
Top News
Tapping reserves
Shutterstock
The Biden administration is turning to some of the world's largest oil consuming nations to lower global prices after OPEC+ snubbed several requests to increase crude production. Reuters reports that the coordinated effort could include China, India, South Korea and Japan, and would involve releasing national crude stockpiles at a time when prices are rising at the pump. The U.S. and allies have coordinated strategic petroleum reserve releases before, with the last big effort coming during the 2011 war in OPEC member Libya.
Quote: "We're talking about the symbolism of the largest consumers of the world sending a message to OPEC that 'you've got to change your behavior,'" a source told Reuters. Crude futures (CL1:COM) -0.7% to $77.03/bbl, after dropping nearly 3% on Wednesday.
Reports also suggest that President Biden asked the Federal Trade Commission to probe possible criminal conduct in the U.S. gasoline market. He specifically pointed to gasoline prices that rose about 3% from a month earlier, even as the price of unfinished gasoline was down more than 5%. "This unexplained large gap is well above the pre-pandemic average," Biden said in a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan. "Meanwhile, the largest oil-and-gas companies in America are generating significant profits off higher energy prices."
What is the SPR? The U.S. created the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in 1975 after the Arab Oil Embargo led to a spike in gasoline prices that scarred the U.S. economy. The reserve currently holds enough oil to meet U.S. demand for more than a month, including about 606M barrels in dozens of caverns across the Louisiana and Texas coasts, as well as small heating oil and gasoline reserves in the U.S. Northeast. Presidents have authorized several emergency sales from the SPR (Gulf War in 1991, Katrina in 2005 and Libyan Civil War in 2011), but oil swaps take place more frequently, with the last exchange happening after Hurricane Ida in September. (63 comments)
Covid
Vaccine mandate
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has been told to suspend enforcement of the Biden administration's COVID vaccine mandate for private businesses with 100 or more employees, after a federal appeals court upheld a stay on the order. The rules would have required firms to develop a roster of vaccinated and unvaccinated employees by Dec. 5, and compelled the companies to ensure unvaxxed workers wear masks at the workplace and submit to weekly testing as of Jan. 4. In terms of execution, the OSHA regulation would have been enforced through company record-keeping and some in-person inspections (with penalties of up to $13,653 for each reported violation) and covered 84M workers nationwide.
How did we get here? Many legal challenges to the mandate popped up across the country, resulting in a judicial lottery to consolidate the lawsuits before a single appeals court. Under the unusual system mandated by Congress, officials placed the name of each of the judicial circuits with an active challenge on a ping pong ball that was placed in a solid wood raffle drum. John Nichols, clerk on the DC-based Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, then drew a ball, which ended up having the name of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.
Critics of the mandate were hoping for a strong conservative court, like the 5th Circuit, while proponents were pushing for an appeals court with a more liberal stance such as the 9th Circuit. More than twice as many judges have been appointed by Republican presidents than Democrats to the 6th Circuit, with a three-judge panel (yet to be determined) set to hear the first case. To note, the order being discussed by the court does not include other vaccine mandates, like the one on healthcare providers that receive Medicaid and Medicare payments, or the directive on employees of federal contractors.
Next steps: "Whatever the 6th Circuit decides, I think this [vaccine-or-test mandate] is going to be resolved at the Supreme Court," declared Dan Meyer, managing partner at law firm Tully Rinckey. (11 comments)
Sponsored By VantagePoint
The #1 Tool for Independent Traders
In a few hours, we will reveal how Vantagepoint AI successfully predicts stock trends utilizing Artificial Intelligence.
With volatility always around the corner - You need to be in this training if you want to effectively navigate the markets from day to day.
Today we'll cover:
Where and how the A.I. predicted recent selloffs
How we identify market trends up to 72 hours in advance before they even happen
How we forecast market movements with up to 87.4% accuracy
How to not only predict, but verify trend changes
Where you can still profit
Register Here, Room Closes After 200 Guests.
IPOs
The Chobani Way
It's been a red-hot year for IPOs and the party is not stopping. Chobani just filed for a listing on the Nasdaq Exchange under the symbol "CHO," becoming the latest food company to hit public markets. There's been mixed reaction from investors in the space, with oat milk rival Oatly (OTLY) slumping 50% since its May debut, while shares of coconut water maker Vita Coco (COCO) have climbed 24% since last month's IPO.
By the numbers: Chobani revenues grew 5.2% to $1.4B in the fiscal year that ended on December 26, 2020, though its net loss triple over that time frame to $58.7M (as it invested back into the company). However, for the nine-month period that ended on September 25, the firm's net sales growth outpaced its widening net loss, suggesting that its investments may have been successful. The majority of Chobani's sales come from North America, with international markets accounting for roughly a tenth of its revenue.
Founded in 2005, Chobani has been credited for popularizing Greek yogurt, though it has recently been expanding into other product categories. Those include launches of oat milk, coffee creamer, ready-to-drink coffee and plant-based probiotic beverage product lines.
Differentiation outlook: "We challenge the old, staid and conventional status quo represented by our legacy competitors by creating food that is delicious, natural, nutritious and accessible. Throughout our history, we have paired our innovative mindset with deliberate investments in people, plants and our sales and distribution platform (our 3Ps) that, coupled with unparalleled in-house execution capabilities, allow us to innovate rapidly and build scale across categories seamlessly. As a result, we believe we can move from concept to shelf more quickly than our competition and, importantly, with better quality, more natural and nutritious food options." (17 comments)
Tech
Right to repair
For anyone who has ever owned an iPhone and needed it repaired, their options have been to either go to an Apple Store, or to a repair shop which Apple (AAPL) has given access to the specific parts and specialized tools necessary to complete any gadget fixes. That's all about to change, with a new Self Service Repair program that will launch in early 2022.
Snapshot: The program will initially provide individual consumers with access to "genuine Apple parts and tools" for the mobile-phone displays, batteries and cameras in the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineups. Apple will follow that up with parts, supplies and manuals for Mac computers using the company's M1 processor. The program will be offered first in the United States, and to other countries over the next year.
Giving consumers the ability to do their own product repairs is a major change of policy for Apple. In addition to being highly secretive about its product pipeline, the company has often gone out of its way to make it as difficult as possible for people to make product repairs in their own home. Few examples of that have been more visible than Apple's use of a "pentalobe" screw that Apple has used on iPhones and Macs since 2009, and for which a screwdriver or replacement screw is close to impossible to find at any hardware store.
Pressure is building: It's a big U-turn for the iPhone maker, which was fighting a shareholder proposal in support of "right to repair" as recently as last month. However, the Biden administration unveiled an executive action in the summer, ordering the Federal Trade Commission to address "unfair anti-competitive restrictions on third-party repair or self-repair of items." Environmental advocates separately filed a shareholder resolution in September, stating that the high costs of repairs often prompt consumers to buy new products, resulting in a buildup of electronic waste. (30 comments)
Today's Markets
In Asia, Japan -0.3%. Hong Kong -1.3%. China -0.5%. India -0.6%.
In Europe, at midday, London -0.2%. Paris +0.2%. Frankfurt flat.
Futures at 6:20, Dow +0.2%. S&P +0.3%. Nasdaq +0.5%. Crude -0.5% at $77.13. Gold -0.3% at $1864.60. Bitcoin -1.5% at $59713.
Ten-year Treasury Yield -1 bps to 1.59%
Today's Economic Calendar
7:30 Fed's Bostic Speech
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
8:30 Philly Fed Business Outlook
9:30 Fed's William Speech
10:00 E-Commerce Retail Sales
10:00 Leading Indicators
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
11:00 Kansas City Fed Mfg Survey
2:00 PM Fed's Evans Speech
3:30 PM Fed's Daly Speech
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet
Tapping reserves
Shutterstock
The Biden administration is turning to some of the world's largest oil consuming nations to lower global prices after OPEC+ snubbed several requests to increase crude production. Reuters reports that the coordinated effort could include China, India, South Korea and Japan, and would involve releasing national crude stockpiles at a time when prices are rising at the pump. The U.S. and allies have coordinated strategic petroleum reserve releases before, with the last big effort coming during the 2011 war in OPEC member Libya.
Quote: "We're talking about the symbolism of the largest consumers of the world sending a message to OPEC that 'you've got to change your behavior,'" a source told Reuters. Crude futures (CL1:COM) -0.7% to $77.03/bbl, after dropping nearly 3% on Wednesday.
Reports also suggest that President Biden asked the Federal Trade Commission to probe possible criminal conduct in the U.S. gasoline market. He specifically pointed to gasoline prices that rose about 3% from a month earlier, even as the price of unfinished gasoline was down more than 5%. "This unexplained large gap is well above the pre-pandemic average," Biden said in a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan. "Meanwhile, the largest oil-and-gas companies in America are generating significant profits off higher energy prices."
What is the SPR? The U.S. created the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in 1975 after the Arab Oil Embargo led to a spike in gasoline prices that scarred the U.S. economy. The reserve currently holds enough oil to meet U.S. demand for more than a month, including about 606M barrels in dozens of caverns across the Louisiana and Texas coasts, as well as small heating oil and gasoline reserves in the U.S. Northeast. Presidents have authorized several emergency sales from the SPR (Gulf War in 1991, Katrina in 2005 and Libyan Civil War in 2011), but oil swaps take place more frequently, with the last exchange happening after Hurricane Ida in September. (63 comments)
Covid
Vaccine mandate
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has been told to suspend enforcement of the Biden administration's COVID vaccine mandate for private businesses with 100 or more employees, after a federal appeals court upheld a stay on the order. The rules would have required firms to develop a roster of vaccinated and unvaccinated employees by Dec. 5, and compelled the companies to ensure unvaxxed workers wear masks at the workplace and submit to weekly testing as of Jan. 4. In terms of execution, the OSHA regulation would have been enforced through company record-keeping and some in-person inspections (with penalties of up to $13,653 for each reported violation) and covered 84M workers nationwide.
How did we get here? Many legal challenges to the mandate popped up across the country, resulting in a judicial lottery to consolidate the lawsuits before a single appeals court. Under the unusual system mandated by Congress, officials placed the name of each of the judicial circuits with an active challenge on a ping pong ball that was placed in a solid wood raffle drum. John Nichols, clerk on the DC-based Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, then drew a ball, which ended up having the name of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.
Critics of the mandate were hoping for a strong conservative court, like the 5th Circuit, while proponents were pushing for an appeals court with a more liberal stance such as the 9th Circuit. More than twice as many judges have been appointed by Republican presidents than Democrats to the 6th Circuit, with a three-judge panel (yet to be determined) set to hear the first case. To note, the order being discussed by the court does not include other vaccine mandates, like the one on healthcare providers that receive Medicaid and Medicare payments, or the directive on employees of federal contractors.
Next steps: "Whatever the 6th Circuit decides, I think this [vaccine-or-test mandate] is going to be resolved at the Supreme Court," declared Dan Meyer, managing partner at law firm Tully Rinckey. (11 comments)
Sponsored By VantagePoint
The #1 Tool for Independent Traders
In a few hours, we will reveal how Vantagepoint AI successfully predicts stock trends utilizing Artificial Intelligence.
With volatility always around the corner - You need to be in this training if you want to effectively navigate the markets from day to day.
Today we'll cover:
Where and how the A.I. predicted recent selloffs
How we identify market trends up to 72 hours in advance before they even happen
How we forecast market movements with up to 87.4% accuracy
How to not only predict, but verify trend changes
Where you can still profit
Register Here, Room Closes After 200 Guests.
IPOs
The Chobani Way
It's been a red-hot year for IPOs and the party is not stopping. Chobani just filed for a listing on the Nasdaq Exchange under the symbol "CHO," becoming the latest food company to hit public markets. There's been mixed reaction from investors in the space, with oat milk rival Oatly (OTLY) slumping 50% since its May debut, while shares of coconut water maker Vita Coco (COCO) have climbed 24% since last month's IPO.
By the numbers: Chobani revenues grew 5.2% to $1.4B in the fiscal year that ended on December 26, 2020, though its net loss triple over that time frame to $58.7M (as it invested back into the company). However, for the nine-month period that ended on September 25, the firm's net sales growth outpaced its widening net loss, suggesting that its investments may have been successful. The majority of Chobani's sales come from North America, with international markets accounting for roughly a tenth of its revenue.
Founded in 2005, Chobani has been credited for popularizing Greek yogurt, though it has recently been expanding into other product categories. Those include launches of oat milk, coffee creamer, ready-to-drink coffee and plant-based probiotic beverage product lines.
Differentiation outlook: "We challenge the old, staid and conventional status quo represented by our legacy competitors by creating food that is delicious, natural, nutritious and accessible. Throughout our history, we have paired our innovative mindset with deliberate investments in people, plants and our sales and distribution platform (our 3Ps) that, coupled with unparalleled in-house execution capabilities, allow us to innovate rapidly and build scale across categories seamlessly. As a result, we believe we can move from concept to shelf more quickly than our competition and, importantly, with better quality, more natural and nutritious food options." (17 comments)
Tech
Right to repair
For anyone who has ever owned an iPhone and needed it repaired, their options have been to either go to an Apple Store, or to a repair shop which Apple (AAPL) has given access to the specific parts and specialized tools necessary to complete any gadget fixes. That's all about to change, with a new Self Service Repair program that will launch in early 2022.
Snapshot: The program will initially provide individual consumers with access to "genuine Apple parts and tools" for the mobile-phone displays, batteries and cameras in the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineups. Apple will follow that up with parts, supplies and manuals for Mac computers using the company's M1 processor. The program will be offered first in the United States, and to other countries over the next year.
Giving consumers the ability to do their own product repairs is a major change of policy for Apple. In addition to being highly secretive about its product pipeline, the company has often gone out of its way to make it as difficult as possible for people to make product repairs in their own home. Few examples of that have been more visible than Apple's use of a "pentalobe" screw that Apple has used on iPhones and Macs since 2009, and for which a screwdriver or replacement screw is close to impossible to find at any hardware store.
Pressure is building: It's a big U-turn for the iPhone maker, which was fighting a shareholder proposal in support of "right to repair" as recently as last month. However, the Biden administration unveiled an executive action in the summer, ordering the Federal Trade Commission to address "unfair anti-competitive restrictions on third-party repair or self-repair of items." Environmental advocates separately filed a shareholder resolution in September, stating that the high costs of repairs often prompt consumers to buy new products, resulting in a buildup of electronic waste. (30 comments)
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