Wednesday morning news drop - Tomorrow is Canada day, we will be taking the day off!
Commodity Traders Harvest Billions While Prices Rise for Everyone Else From oil to steel, raw material prices are surging. As the world economy recovers, how much further does the boom have to run? (Bloomberg)
The balance in Nike’s business is shifting dramatically Nike didn’t make its billions alone. Most of its sales have come from selling to wholesale partners such as department stores, mom-and-pop shops, sporting goods specialists, and all the thousands of retail businesses Nike has long relied on to distribute its products to shoppers. Just a decade ago, in 2011, roughly 84% of Nike brand sales were still to wholesale customers. Sales Nike made to shoppers itself, through channels such as its stores and website, amounted to just 16% of its business. (Quartz)
A financial shock is coming for those who jumped into the housing market during the COVID-19 pandemic The widely anticipated post-COVID discretionary spending binge is variously being branded as the Roaring 20s; revenge spending; YOLO, for you only live once; and MUFLT, for make up for lost time. A recent personal finance column warned of the risks of getting carried away with this spending in ways that increase debt. The smart splurge is one you can pay for out of savings. (Globe and Mail)
Seven Reasons to Be Extremely Optimistic About the Economy Right Now The U.S. economy is in the middle of an awkward transition. Like a groggy bear roused from hibernation, the country is no longer dormant due to the pandemic but isn’t quite back in full form either. Millions remain unemployed, businesses are having trouble hiring, workers are still avoiding the office, and shortages of everything from lumber to computer chips have helped push up consumer prices. (Slate)
Why Aren’t Interest Rates Higher? We may not get 4-5% sustained inflation but we could see 2-3% which would be a step up from the 1-2% post-2008 recovery. And we may not see 6-7% real GDP growth continue but it’s certainly possible for 3-4% for a few years as opposed to the 2% or so we’ve become accustomed to. Yet interest rates remain stubbornly low. (A Wealth of Common Sense)
Injuries Are Haunting the NBA Playoffs. How Teams Respond Will Decide Them. Atlanta found a way to steal Game 4 without its superstar. Milwaukee may have to do the same in Game 5. It’s been an all-too-common theme this postseason, and one that isn’t likely to go away. (Ringer)
'Big Scotch' is going after this Canadian distiller from Victoria, BC for naming his whisky after himself The Scotch Whisky Association filed a lawsuit alleging Graeme Macaloney's distillery was illegally branding its whisky as though it were Scotch, with his use of words like 'island' and even his surname, 'Macaloney' (McLean’s)
Can We Survive Extreme Heat? Humans have never lived on a planet this hot, and we’re totally unprepared for what’s to come (Rolling Stone)
