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Brooks Brothers are looking for a buyer as it goes through BK reorganization. It’s closed 51 of the 250. Brooks Brothers of 500 stores worldwide.
One reason for Brooks Brothers’ had problem with its big rent obligations, but the company was also feeling some effects of a change in traditional business dress and shift towards casual.
Men’s Wearhouse owner Tailored Brands (TLRD), facing its own bankruptcy question.
Barneys of New York, sought bankruptcy protection last year, and it was followed by others suffered by the pandemic, including Neiman Marcus, J.Crew and J.C. Penney.
More bankruptcies are anticipated in the retail sector.
The virus-induced recession has cratered spending in most sectors of the economy and accelerated shifts in where people shop, mostly to the benefit of online retailers like Walmart.
Days after India banned 59 Chinese apps, the US said that it is ‘looking’ at banning Chinese social media apps too. In an interview with Fox News, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the US may ban a few Chinese apps. Meanwhile, in Australia, there are calls for the govt to ban TikTok and other Chinese social media apps.
In a letter to the Indian government dated June 28th and seen by Reuters on Friday, TikTok Chief Executive Kevin Mayer said the Chinese government has never requested user data, nor would the company turn it over if asked.
TikTok, which is not available in China, is owned by China’s ByteDance but has sought to distance itself from its Chinese roots to appeal to a global audience. Along with 59 other Chinese apps, including Tencent Holdings Ltd’s WeChat and Alibaba Group Holding.
Globally, TikTok has been downloaded more than two billion times through the Apple and Google app stores after the first quarter this year, according to analytics firm Sensor Tower.
But, to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission, there’s one crucial ingredient missing: crowds.
To provide atmosphere in the absence of people, broadcasters are experimenting with canned crowd noise, much like the laugh tracks used in sitcoms. Last weekend the NRL unveiled its fake audience noise, drawing a mixed response from viewers.
EA Sports’ popular FIFA soccer gaming franchise is famed for its fake crowd noise.
But why do we care so much about crowd noise, and why do many of us feel we need it?
It’s because it bonds us with members of our tribe, provides us a sense of connection, and acts as a psychological cue for when to pay particular attention to the action, like a goal opportunity. Without it, sport just doesn’t seem as exciting.
Following a team brings a sense of connection with others who follow the same team. That sense of belonging is an incredibly powerful motivation for people – it drives our thoughts and our emotions. And following a team is an emotional experience. We share the highs when they win, and the lows when they lose.
Spectators may not even play the sport they watch, but still refer to “us” and “we” when talking about their team, and use “they” and “them” for the opposition. And when the crowd supporting our team is the one making all the noise, it drives home that sense of connection.
Crowd noise is a cue
For a couple of rounds of competition, before the COVID-19 suspension, we saw games of AFL where we could actually hear the players yelling to each other. When they scored, the only noise was from the players themselves. It sounded similar to watching an amateur match at the local park. Even the most tense moments, or heroic efforts, were somehow not as exciting without the crowd.
That’s because crowd noise is a cue for spectators. We know something exciting has happened when the crowd goes nuts. When a game comes down to the last few minutes, and the scores are very close, the crowd noise adds to the tension. When my team is getting cheered on, I share in the excitement with others like me – my tribe. It seems the broadcasters are reflecting this by increasing the volume of fake crowd noise during exciting moments.
Without crowd noise, we just don’t get the same level of excitement, because we’ve learned to link excitement with crowd noise. You can have the most amazing players, with so many things to cheer on, but the only noise you’re likely to hear will be from whoever is watching with you in the lounge room (and maybe your neighbour if they’re watching too).
If we’re not sharing the moment with everyone, we’re missing out on that sense of belonging.
Most teams have their own home ground, but in some cases, two or more teams might share a home ground. When they’re playing against each other, one team is still designated as home, and the other as away. Neither team has to travel far, and both teams are familiar with the stadium’s quirks, but the designated “home” team will have a more sympathetic crowd. A 2015 study used this exact scenario at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles to find that essentially the entire home advantage between two teams comes down to the crowd effect. So crowd noise can support players, and spur them on.
A 2010 study found referees used crowd noise as a cue when making decisions such as whether to give a yellow card for a foul.
The home crowd is more likely to be loud for fouls against their own team, rather than fouls their team has committed against the opposition. Because crowd noise is strongly associated with exciting action, and fouls are exciting, referees may not even be aware they’re using crowd noise as a cue. Further, they may just want to appease the home crowd.
Sport won’t be as exciting without crowds
I distinctly remember the moment when Nick Davis kicked that goal with 5 seconds to go to defeat the Geelong Cats and send the Sydney Swans into a 2005 preliminary final. The crowd went nuts and I loved sharing that moment with everyone. I belonged.
But if something like that happened this year, and there was no crowd to see it and cheer it on, would it be as exciting? I doubt it.
And that’s precisely why fake crowd noise is on TV. It might feel forced, and some people might not like it much, but at least there’s just a little bit more excitement with it. With any luck, we won’t have to worry about it for too long.
This article was amended on June 3, 2020. It originally referred to the Sydney Swans advancing to the grand final after defeating Geelong. The team actually advanced to a preliminary final.
Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) Nasdaq has reached new highs. With a market cap of Market Cap $1.504T, Amazon has widely benefited from the recent global crisis due to COVID-19.
Stocks rose sharply Monday morning after new economic data showing a stronger than expected rebound in US service sector activity in June 2020. Amazon has outpaced the S&P 500’s 1.8% decline by increasing the value of their stock which is up over 6% for the year to date.
Financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2020.
Operating cash flow increased 16% to $39.7 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $34.4 billion for the trailing twelve months ended March 31, 2019.
Free cash flow increased to $24.3 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $23.0 billion for the trailing twelve months ended March 31, 2019.
Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), announced that IHS Markit Ltd. (NYSE: INFO) has selected AWS as its preferred cloud infrastructure provider and is moving the majority of its data processing infrastructure, corporate platforms, and end user applications and services out of its data centers to AWS to accelerate innovation and improve resiliency. Under the new agreement, the company will migrate hundreds of additional applications over the next three years. Source: Click Here
CEO Jeff Bezos is an American internet entrepreneur, industrialist, media proprietor, and investor. He is best known as the founder, CEO, and president of the multi-national technology company Amazon. The first centi-billionaire on the Forbes wealth index, Bezos has been the world’s richest person since 2017 and was named the “richest man in modern history” after his net worth increased to $150 billion in July 2018. Source:Click here
Bezos pledged to spend $10 billion to fight climate change in February and promised $100 million to food banks in April. Source:Click Here
Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: UBER) and Postmates Inc. today announced that they have reached a definitive agreement under which Uber will acquire Postmates for approximately $2.65 billion in an all-stock transaction.
This transaction brings together Uber’s global Rides and Eats platform with Postmates’ distinctive delivery business in the U.S. Postmates is highly complementary to Uber Eats, with differentiated geographic focus areas and customer demographics, and Postmates’ strong relationships with small- and medium-sized restaurants, particularly local favorites that draw customers to the Postmates brand. Additionally, Postmates has been an early pioneer of “delivery-as-a-service,” which complements Uber’s growing efforts in the delivery of groceries, essentials, and other goods.
For restaurants and merchants, Postmates and Uber Eats will together offer more tools and technology to more easily and cost-effectively connect with a bigger consumer base. Consumers will benefit from expanded choice across a wider range of restaurants and other merchants. And delivery people will enjoy more opportunities to earn income, with increased batching of orders to make better use of their time. Following the closing of the transaction, Uber intends to keep the consumer-facing Postmates app running separately, supported by a more efficient, combined merchant and delivery network.
“Uber and Postmates have long shared a belief that platforms like ours can power much more than just food delivery–they can be a hugely important part of local commerce and communities, all the more important during crises like COVID-19. As more people and more restaurants have come to use our services, Q2 bookings on Uber Eats are up more than 100 percent year on year. We’re thrilled to welcome Postmates to the Uber family as we innovate together to deliver better experiences for consumers, delivery people, and merchants across the country,” said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.
“Over the past eight years we have been focused on a single mission: enable anyone to have anything delivered to them on-demand. Joining forces with Uber will continue that mission as we continue to build Postmates while creating an even stronger platform that brings this mission to life for our customers. Uber and Postmates have been strong allies working together to advocate and create the best practices across our industry, especially for our couriers. Together we can ensure that as our industry continues to grow, it will do so for the benefit of everyone in the communities we serve,” said Postmates Co-Founder and CEO Bastian Lehmann.
Uber currently estimates that it will issue approximately 84 million shares of common stock for 100% of the fully diluted equity of Postmates.
CWEB Analysts see (NYSE: UBER) as a potential for long term growth and a great addition to one’s portfolio and upward of $65 by 20121
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM): The 60 / 40 allocation has been around for years as it advised investment strategy from stockbrokers to their clients. Financial advisors would suggest their clients keep 60% of their cash on hand in stock at 40% in hire rated bonds such as government bonds. The strategy was the way to gain increases when the market is rising and help whether a portfolio when the market is down. Currently yields are at zero and it looks like the zero-yield old will be around for quite some time. Bonds do not offer much protection or a return against market downturns.
Now that long-term treasury yields are at historic lows, investors question whether government bonds and other fixed-income investments can rally. Recommendations are real estate investment trusts, junk rated bonds, collateralized loan obligation, and investment-grade corporate debt.Recommendations are as follows: 40% hybrid, 40% stocks, 20% 2 bonds. This portfolio allocation can offer an additional 50 basis points over the traditional 60/40 split model.Other banks have recommended this model such as Bank of America.
Hedge Funds are bullish on JPMorgan Chase & Co.NYSE: JPM. The largest stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) was held by Berkshire Hathaway, which reported holding $5196 million worth of stock at the end of September 2019. Fisher Asset Management holds a $543.8 million position.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) is a buy. The bank is the largest U.S Bank in total assets. While the bank reported a $2.9 billion profit 1st quarter 2020, it is down from $8 billion in profit from previous quarters. With that said the Coronavirus pandemic has affected earnings. JPMorgan Chase & Co was forced to set aside a credit provision to set aside loan losses in the future.
JPMorgan is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.7 trillion. JPMorgan is a leading has consistently gained market share. Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co. invests heavily to keep the bank at the competitive advantage it holds today. The banks’ balance sheet has substantial excess capital and liquidity. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) has outpaced its peers substantially. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) provided investors with a 3.8% dividend yield. This is a compelling reason to own the bank. The bank is a bellwether for the global financial system. We see JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) as a good long-term investment.
Jamie Dimon the brilliant brain of Chase Bank became Chairman of the Board on December 31, 2006 and has been Chief Executive Officer since December 31, 2005. He had been President from 2004 until 2018 and Chief Operating Officer from 2004 until 2005 following JPMorgan Chase’s merger with Bank One Corporation. At Bank One he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from March 2000 to July 2004. Before joining Bank One, Mr. Dimon held a wide range of executive roles at Citigroup Inc., the Travelers Group, Commercial Credit Company and American Express Company. Source:
NYSE:JPM CWEB Analysts view the stock as a long term growth and a great addition to your investment portfolio with an upward momentum of $240 by 2021
The Washington Redskins name controversy involves the name and logo of the Washington Redskins, a National Football League (NFL) franchise. Native Americans have been questioning the use of the name and image since the 1960s, while the topic has received widespread public attention since the 1990s. Native Americans demanding change include tribal nations, national tribal organizations, civil rights organizations, and individuals. The largest of these organizations, the National Congress of American Indians, counted the enrollment of its member tribes as totaling 1.2 million individuals in 2013. According to the American Psychological Association as of 2010, over 115 professional organizations representing civil rights, educational, athletic, and scientific experts have published resolutions or policies that state that the use of Native American names and/or symbols by non-native sports teams is a harmful form of ethnic stereotyping that promotes misunderstanding and prejudice, contributing to other problems faced by Native Americans.Public awareness of the issues has been growing based upon social science research on the harmful effects of stereotyping. The number of high school and college teams using the Redskins name has been declining steadily along with other Native American mascots. There is also a growing number of public officials, sports commentators and other journalists advocating a change.
The Washington, D.C., team is only one example of the larger Native American mascot controversy, but it receives more public attention because modern dictionaries define the name as derogatory or insulting and because the team represents the nation’s capital. The team headquarters is in Ashburn, Virginia and its home stadium, FedExField is in Landover, Maryland, both within the Washington metropolitan area. The name controversy was a factor in the team’s departure from Washington, DC in 1997 and remains so in discussions of the location of a new stadium.
As well as picketing and other forms of direct protest, opponents took legal action to cancel the trademarks held by the team. On June 18, 2014, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) voted to cancel the Redskins federal trademark registrations, considering them “disparaging to Native Americans”. The cancellation was affirmed in 2015 by the judge in a first appeal by the Redskins. However, in June 2017 the Supreme Court of the United States came to a unanimous decision in a different case, ruling that not allowing disparaging names to be protected by trademark registration is an unconstitutional infringement of freedom of speech, thus voiding the legal basis for the cancellation of the Redskins’ trademarks.
Support for continued use of the name has come from the team’s owners, management, the NFL Commissioner, and a majority of fans, which include some Native American individuals. Supporters say that the name honors the achievements and virtues of Native Americans, and that it is not intended in a negative manner. Some, such as former team president Bruce Allen, also point to the use of Redskins by three high school teams, two on reservations, that have a majority of Native American students. Supporters have asserted that a majority of Native Americans are not offended by the name based upon a national poll by Annenberg Public Policy Center in 2004. In a commentary published soon after that poll, 15 Native American scholars collaborated on a critique that stated that there were so many flaws in the Annenberg study that rather than being a measure of Native American opinion, it was an expression of white privilege and colonialism. Specific criticism of the methodology includes the use of self-reporting to identify Native Americans, which violated the basic principles supporting the validity of public opinion polling. In May 2016, the Washington Post published a poll that duplicated the central question posed in 2004, yielding an identical result. However, a 2020 study at UC Berkeley found that a 49% of Native Americans found the name offensive, rising to 67% of those who said they regularly participated in native or tribal culture.
Ghislaine Maxwell, British socialite and longtime accomplice of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has been arrested by the FBI in Bradford, New Hampshire on charges of facilitating sexual abuse of under aged girls.
The youngest child of disgraced publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell, she moved to the United States after her father’s death in 1991 and became a close associate of the financier and subsequently convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Maxwell has faced persistent allegations of procuring and sexually trafficking underage girls for Epstein and others, charges she has denied.[3]
Maxwell founded the ocean-advocacy group The TerraMar Project in 2012. The organization announced closure on 12 July 2019, a week after the sex trafficking charges brought by New York federal prosecutors against Epstein became public. On 27 December 2019, Reuters reported that Maxwell was among those under FBI investigation for facilitating Epstein. Since Epstein’s arrest, Maxwell was in hiding, communicating with the courts only through her lawyers who, as of 30 January 2020, have refused to accept service of three lawsuits on Maxwell’s behalf On 12 March 2020, she filed a lawsuit in Superior Court in the U.S. Virgin Islands seeking compensation from Epstein’s estate for her legal costs
The Labor Department’s employment survey is expected to show that a record 3.1 million jobs were added in June as the unemployment rate fell to 12.3% from 13.3%, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
Reflects continued resumption of economic activity that had been curtailed in March and April due to the coronavirus pandemic and efforts to contain it.
Job gains also made in retail trade, education and health services, other services, manufacturing, and professional and business services.
Average hourly earnings fell by 35 cents to $29.37 in June. The decrease average hourly earnings largely reflect job gains among lower-paid workers, which puts downward pressure on the average hourly earnings estimates.
The number of people working part time for economic reasons fell by 1.6M in June, but it’s still more than double the February level.
US$2.795 billion (2016)
US$145 million (2016)