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5 ways to improve creative performance
Randall Craig Business Management, Services & Risk Management"Some people are incredibly creative, and others are not. I am more analytical than creative." This rubbish statement does more to limit our creative potential than any other. Creativity can be mastered — it is not an endpoint of a so-called creative-analytical continuum.
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Metals Thoughts: Bank doubleheader
Brad Yates Natural ResourcesThe next 36 hours or so are likely to have an outsized effect on capital markets the world over as we get the Bank of Japan (BoJ) statement tonight and the Federal Open Market Commitee (FOMC) announcement and presser tomorrow afternoon.
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Will Wal-Mart’s Restorative Justice program shake up the industry?
Danielle Manley RetailApproximately two calls every hour are made every day to local police departments from Wal-Mart locations in four Florida counties, according to a recent Tampa Bay Times investigation. And, in Lakeside, Colorado, Wal-Mart's calls for service accounted for approximately 40 percent of the department's calls, according to KUSA-TV findings. However, the majority of these calls are for are for nonviolent and low-level crimes.
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Trusting the process: 3 key features of effective project management
Michelle LaBrosse Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementAccording to well-known business executive Don Tapscott (see his TED Talk above), the technological development that will most impact the way we live in the next few decades is not the newest iPhone or flying drones or self-driving cars. It's a technology many of us may not have heard of: blockchain.
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Metals Thoughts: Failure to yield
Brad Yates Natural ResourcesThe broad commodities indices have seen decent selling so far today, with generally all risk assets getting some to some extent or another. The tone flipped last week when the ECB failed to meet extremely dovish expectations, and bond crowned prince Jeffery Gundlach made broad prognostications (again) for the case for going to cash amid some mild hawkishness.
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The economy takes on a summer glow fit for a peach
Paul Zukowski Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementWaiting for economic statistics to form meaningful patterns can be like watching fruit ripen. I mean, what's with the U.S. unemployment rate anyway? Sticking to 4.9 percent again? That's potential for a big yawn. The same goes for the number of jobs added nationally in August. The forecast had been for a none-too-exciting 180,000 new jobs, and the reality came in at 151,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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A look at the rapid expansion of online grocery services
Bambi Majumdar RetailWhat was a disruptive concept for shopping once has now become the norm today — even for buying groceries. Amazon paved the way, and now Wal-Mart, Kroger, ShopRite, Meijer and Safeway, among others, have realized the only way to beat the retail behemoth is to jump aboard the e-grocery bandwagon.
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Metals Thoughts: The almighty dollar
Brad Yates Natural ResourcesWelcome back from the long weekend (or perhaps even the long summer). We are basically flat to prices from the first of July, and volatility has been coming off accordingly. As the new school year begins, we have new opportunities, but the low volatility regime is likely to persist for a couple more weeks as of yet — with the Sep. 20-21 FOMC meeting as an interesting potential catalyst.
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Counteroffering the landlord’s lease-renewal proposal
Dale Willerton and Jeff Grandfield RetailYou have received your landlord’s lease-renewal proposal, so what is your next step? Your job isn't to simply accept those terms. The proposal is just the beginning. Like a good boxer, commercial tenants need certain character traits to avoid going down in the second or third round. Having the mental stamina, the will and the desire to actually go back and forth with multiple counteroffers is important. Often, a landlord will win a negotiation with a tenant due to greater endurance.
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Metals Thoughts: Tight lines
Brad Yates Natural ResourcesGold — along with most every other asset class — has pretty much been a dollar story of late. Dollar weakness means higher asset prices. Last week's brief experiment with yen strengthening through the 100 USDJPY level seems to be held at bay for now, but barely and is probably the single biggest number to watch right now. It's not uncommon to test a level, sell off and then break through after consolidation, and we have witnessed the same thing through the 110 and 105 levels already this year.
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