Category: Business and Finance

Plans for the Swatch Smartwatch?

Swatch Group plans to launch a series of watches with “smart” features to complete with the wearable gadgets from large brands. They plan to unveil the Swatch Touch next summer. Swatch Chief Executive Nick Hayek explained that the watches will have a step counter, calorie calculator and other “Swatchy” things.

Apple has recently invited the media to a special event where many believe they will unveil an “iWatch.” and this is perhaps partly responsible for Swatch losing almost 15% so far this year.

Other companies are working on smartwatches as well with Google’s Motorola having plans to launch the Moto360 next week in the US. The spotlight, however, is all on Apple and its up-and-coming announcement.

 

 

Facebook Acquires LiveRail

In a desire to make video ads a larger part of their business, Facebook Inc. is acquiring the video advertising company LiveRail. LiveRail’s technology pairs video ad with videos that appear on websites such as sites for ABC, Major League Baseball and others.

Facebook won’t discuss its own plans for the technology. Learn more about LiveRail and about Facebook’s acquisition.

 

Apple Inc. Entering the Wearable Items Market?

Apple Inc. is set to sell its first wearable item this coming October with the goal of producing 3-5 million smartwatches a month in their first run. This is reported by Nikkei. The devices are probably going to have curved OLED (organic light-emitting diode) displays and sensors that will collect health data from blood glucose and calories consumed.

The industry has just been waiting, assuming that Apple would produce a smartwatch at some point after Samsung released its Galaxy Gear watches. CEO Tim Cook has promised “new product categories” for 2014.

Former Madison Capital Execs Establish Middle Market Direct Lending Business

meetingTwo of the key individuals involved in creating and bolstering the direct lending section of Madison Capital Funding, have been appointed to Angelo Gordon.

Both Trevor Clark (formerly of Madison Capital) and Chris Williams (Madison Capital co-founder), will be working at Angelo, Gordon & Co. in the middle market direct lending area. They bring to the role expertise from the same position held at their prior company – managing directors. Clark and Williams will focus on loans to companies that have EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Authorization) of between $3 -$50m.

It seems that it is becoming increasingly common for institutional investors to be loaning money more so than banks.  Indeed, throughout Europe, “non-bank lenders only issue around 20% of corporate loans. [This year] 59% of new lending was done by institutional investors rather than banks.”

G.I. Joe Action Figure Creator Dies at 86

gi joeThe G.I. Joe action figure it probably one of the most popular of all times. Donald Levine, the Hasbro executive who designed this figure, the world’s first action figure, recently died at 86. As head of Hasbro’s research and development team, Levine took the toy through the design and development stages.

Levine, who served in the Army in Korea, said that he got the idea for the figure as a way to honor veterans. The G.I Joe figure hit the shelves in time for Christmas in 1964 and it sold for $4. It was popular until the late 1960s, when opposition to Vietnam intensified and parents started to move away from military related toys.

In the 1970s, to revive the love for G.I Joe, Hasbro added “lifelike hair” and a “kung-fu grip” to the figures and outfitted them with scuba gear to save oceans and with explorer’s clothes.

Today, the G.I. Joe figure has a following that includes comic books, cartoons, two movies, a G.I. Joe Collector’s Club, an annual convention and more.

 

GM Under Fire and Under Investigation

General Motors Co. is in hot water as they recall 51,640 Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Acadia SUVs from their 2014 model year. They have done so because of faulty software that could cause fuel gauges to read in accurately.

As the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on its website, “An inaccurate fuel gauge may result in the vehicle unexpectedly running out of fuel and stalling, increasing the risk of a crash.”

GM dealers plan now to reprogram the engine control modules in these cars. The fuel gauge could be off by as much as a quarter of a tank, causing cars to run out of gas and create an accident. At least 7 million vehicles have been recalled this year. This includes 2.6 million Chevrolet Cobalts, Saturn Ions and similar models that have been linked to at least 13 deaths as a result of faulty ignition switches.

In addition to their recall issues, GM is under investigation by NHTSA, Congress, the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission for waiting until now to order the new ignition switch recall when they apparently knew about this issue for more than ten years.

Craft Brewers Conference Heads to Denver

beerThe Craft Brewers Conference takes place in Denver this week and more than 7000 industry professionals are expected to attend. The event will take place at the Colorado Convention Center from Wednesday to Friday. The CBC actually rotates to cities around the country, and this year Denver can expect to fill its hotel rooms to capacity and generate significant revenue for its bars and restaurants.

Local breweries will also be able to feature their work. More than one brewery opened a week in the state of Colorado in 2013. As Steve Kaczeus, the co-owner of Boostrap Brewing of Niwot said,“I just think it’s a chance to learn for us, and to network. We’ll have a bunch of people stopping by. They get to try our beer … There’s still a lot of technical information we can gather, a lot of networking we can do.”

During the conference, close to 400 exhibitors will show off their brewing gadgets, their canning equipment and other specialty items.

The country is brimming with opportunity for brewers at the moment. As of March of this year, there are 2966 operating breweries in the US with 99% of them meeting the definition of craft breweries, according to Bart Watson, the staff economist for the Boulder-based Brewers Association, which is running the event. Craft beer hit a record 14.3% share of the national beer sales in 2013, and this is an area of interest for the conference as well. One of the conference goals is to have craft beer retain a 20% sales share nationwide by the year 2020. Time will tell how they do.

For now, it’s drinking time in Colorado.

Pimco Reevaluates Outlook for US Economy

Bill Gross’s Pacific Investment Management Co., or Pimco, recently raised its outlook for the U.S. economy, stating that expansion is likely to be between 2.5% and 3% over the course of the year. At the end of last year, the fund estimated growth of between 2.25% and 2.75%.

According to Pimco, the adjusted assessment is a result of “trends toward growth and spending in the consumer, corporate and public sectors.”

“The global economy will likely experience steady, broad-based growth in 2014 thanks in no small part to the extraordinary expansion in central bank balance sheets in 2013,” said portfolio manager Saumil H. Parikh.

Pimco’s report went on to explain that “rising asset prices in combination with fading near-term fiscal uncertainties will drive global aggregate demand growth forward, adding stability to what has thus far been an on-again, off-again global recovery from the financial crisis of 2008.”

Pimco also reassessed its outlook for the euro zone, now claiming to expect real economic growth in the region to measure between 1% and 1.5%.

“We expect the reduction in fiscal drag in the euro zone periphery will reinforce gradually improving credit conditions to drive aggregate demand growth from well below potential to up toward potential in the year ahead,” Parikh said.

The report also revealed the fund’s expectations for China and Japan in 2014.

 

Trucks Shift Towards Compressed Natural Gas

Some of the largest operators of truck fleets in the United States are shifting gears toward natural gas-fueled trucks. Lowe’s, Procter & Gamble and United Parcel Service are three examples of groups who are placing their bets on new engine technology that should reduce the costs of dropping diesel fuel.

Switching from diesel fuel to natural gas is a growing trend; many companies are switching their fleets to run on compressed natural gas. Companies such as American Natural CNG have made it their mission to make the transition as easy and affordable as possible in an effort to lower America’s carbon footprint. The Department of Energy has stated that CNG is clean and significantly cheaper than gasoline, costing around $2.14 per gallon at the pump.

Lowe’s, the home improvement retailer, aims to shift its entire fleet to natural gas over the next three year. P&G is already well on its way, with 7% of its trucks currently running on CNG. UPS intends to acquire 1,000 natural gas trucks by the end of 2013, while FedEx hopes to have 30% of its long-distance trucks running on CNG within the decade.

Though there has been some hesitation, company managers throughout the U.S. are beginning to see the benefits of making the change. A Pittsburgh business owner, having already made the switch, explained:

“CNG is the future, the way I see it. Using natural gas is very rewarding. It allows me to expand the use of American fuel with American drivers.”

Global Economy Projected to Grow 3.6% in 2014

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development recently explained the current economic outlook for different regions across the globe, stating that growth prospects are most promising in emerging economies such as those in Eastern Europe, South America, some parts of South Africa and Asia, and weakest in Europe.

OECD Deputy Secretary-General and Chief Economist Pier Carlo Padoan explained that many areas of the global economy remain vulnerable in the aftermath of deep recessions.

“The global economy continues to expand at a moderate pace, with some acceleration of growth anticipated in 2014 and 2015. But global growth forecasts have been revised down significantly for this year and 2014, in large part due to weaker prospects in many emerging market economies. Downside risks dominate and policy must address them,” he said.

 Learn more about the global economic outlook here: