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Metal Thoughts: Double rainbow
Brad Yates Natural ResourcesLast week saw oil, gold, long duration treasuries, the U.S. dollar and most U.S. equities all higher (show in Chart 2, below). As best I can tell, that hasn't happened in at least a year. All of those asset classes benefit in some way from lower interest rates, so much of it was due to weak GDP and perceived dovishness from the FOMC. You would not normally expect the U.S. dollar to rally as well, but much of that was driven by new levels of Bank of Japan (BoJ) aggression. Still, it's a bit of an anomaly.
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Tightening supply to sustain nonresidential construction growth
Michael J. Berens Construction & Building MaterialsNot all the news about the economy is bad. Numbers coming in for the final month of 2015 show resurgence in activity in nonresidential construction after a drop in November. That trend is projected to continue into 2016, with the commercial sector likely to experience the strongest growth as vacancy rates and employment numbers continue to improve.
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Metals Thoughts: A new hope
Brad Yates RetailGold has broken through its heretofore stubborn resistance at the 100 DMA and also made a new high above its prior January highs of 1,113. The higher highs, higher lows, trend is still in place from the Dec. 3 lows.
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What took center stage at NRF 2016? 3 key takeaways
Danielle Manley RetailThe National Retail Federation concluded "Retail's BIG Show" Jan. 20, and attendees left with plenty to think about for the year. From emotional robots serving wine to networking with the biggest names in retail, NRF 2016 was full of innovation and excitement.
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How much data is needed to predict customer buying behavior?
Peter Moloney MarketingThere are two fundamentally different approaches for selecting the data used to predict customer buying behavior. The first approach involves collecting as much information as possible about your customers (demographic attributes, behaviors, preferences, etc.) so you can see what correlations there might be between this information and purchasing. This is supported by a basic tenant of Big Data theory: Because we are now able to collect ever more data on our customers from all kinds of sources, and we have new, better technologies for managing and analyzing all that data, that's what should be done.
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Droning on: Amazon unveils its flight plan
Rebecca Ryan EngineeringDid you forget a gift? No worries, just get it flown to the party. Left your toothpaste at home on a business trip? Get it air-dropped to the hotel. Your phone case broke? You get the idea. Digital retailer Amazon is planning to use drones to fly packages less than five pounds to its customers in about 30 minutes, making instant gratification a little closer to instant. The service, called Amazon Prime Air, was announced in 2015, and details of the project were released Jan. 19.
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New PATH for small business tax breaks
Paul Zukowski RetailWhile 2015 was an off year in terms of major tax law changes coming from Congress, our elected representatives did cook up quite a smorgasbord of extensions — many permanent — for a wide array of existing tax breaks on which most small businesses rely.
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The differences between B2B and B2C warehousing
Ken Ackerman Distribution & WarehousingPerhaps there was a time when warehousing was almost entirely "business to business," or B2B. Today, a growing number of warehouse operations are involved with "business to consumer," or B2C. Some in the industry have been slow to recognize the significant differences when the warehouse operator is dealing with an individual consumer rather than another business.
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Are tech upgrades on your list of goals for 2016? They should be
Danielle Manley RetailJanuary is a time for resolutions and goals — and not just personal ones. Business goals are a great way to motivate yourself, your employees and the company as a whole. The first step is to create specific goals. For retailers, goals can be widespread — from increasing inventory to creating new inventory, from opening new locations to increasing e-commerce sales. However, those are generic goals. How will you increase inventory? How will you open another location? Where will you open another location?
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3 tips to become a people expert
Anne Rose Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementAngry people you can't seem to please. Unhappy clients who tell you on their return about a bad experience on their vacation you could have resolved but can do nothing about now. Wending your way through a bureaucracy to find the right person or the right department to resolve your issue. A bitter co-worker who is infecting the office morale or a dictatorial boss who's making everyone miserable.
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