Offbeat Wall Street

This week, we're asking the question:   "Is the Fed dazed and confused?"

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to announce its latest interest rate decision this week.  On the surface, this seems like a boring meeting.  Almost everyone believes the central bank will leave rates alone.  But where is the Fed going to go next?  Opinions are starting to split.

Longer term, it seems likely that the Fed will eventually resume its rate-hiking campaign.  But there are growing whispers that the next move might have to be a rate cut.

We'll take a deep dive into what the markets are looking for from the Fed and what the current economic outlook tells us.

We'll also take a look at some of the earnings reports due out this week, including package delivery giant FedEx

And as always, we'll park our Chevelles in front of some of Wall Street's more unheralded parties...

We've got some good news about incomes in the U.S.  Well, good news if you didn't have to live through the last 17 years.  

We've got Facebook claiming a wider U.S. reach than the U.S. has people.  We've got a retailer experimenting with having no inventory.    

And we've got a few legal questions that need answering...One involves whether monkeys can hold a copyright.  Another involves the constitutional right to wear a bikini to work.  And a third tells you how NOT to deliver marijuana in California.  Hint: don't use a drone.

This week, we're celebrating Labor Day.  There's no better time to take a look at work and employment market.

Lucky for us, we have some jobs data to digest.  Unlucky for us: the data came in worse than expected. We take a look at the numbers say and detail what they mean for the overall labor picture.

We also take some time to acknowledge the tragedy in Houston and along the Gulf Coast.  We look at the potential economic impact of the disaster, from gas prices to overall GDP impact.

And as always, we send our consultants to review some of the more unusual departments on Wall Street...

We've got some tales of accidental gouging in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.  We've got a loss in the legal battle to watch movies without sex or violence.  We've got a wall coming down in Westeros, but one maybe going up in Arizona.

 

And we've got some controversy about who is going to replace the White Supremacist on our $20 bill.

This week, we've got the big fight on our minds.  Not Mayweather vs. McGregor. We've got job growth vs. the Federal Reserve's interest rate policy.

The government is set to release its monthly jobs data this week.  Employment growth has been strong throughout most of the year so far.  We take a deep dive into the recent data, letting you know what's going on below the surface and how it stacks up historically.

We also take a look at how the jobs data could impact the Federal Reserve's thinking.  Earlier this year, it looked like the rate-hike train was well out of the station and picking up stream.  In recent weeks, though, there's been a growing sense that the Fed needs to scale back.  There's even been whispers that the next move should be a rate cut.

And as always, we brawl with some of Wall Street's more obscure middleweights...

We've got a review of the feud involving everyone's new cabinet WAG.  We've got a lawsuit alleging premium bottled water is really just from a tap.  We've got an electric Microbus on the way.  We've got a $2 million lottery scam that could lead to 25 years in jail for one software programmer.  We've got a European country that might launch its own cryptocurrency.  And we've got bad news on the gender pay gap.

This week, we're looking at three major themes: entertainment, sexism and shopping.  That makes it a perfect week for Pretty Woman.

First, entertainment: last week saw the release Disney's quarterly report.  But the bigger news is the company's move away from Netflix.  We take a look at the decision and at the state of Disney's business.

On to sexism: last week saw another in a long line of troubling revelations about the state of gender relations in Silicon Valley.  This time, the epicenter of the turmoil was in the capital of the new economy - Google.  We recount what happened and look at how it fits into the larger narrative about Silicon Valley.

Finally, to shopping: this week will see the release of a number of key earnings reports from the retailing sector.  Wal-Mart will lead the charge.  There's also reports due out from Target and from Home Depot.  Meanwhile, we're poised to get the latest retail sales numbers from the government.

And as always, we strut our stuff on some of Wall Street's more secluded corners....

We've got the first-ever acquisition by Netflix.  We've got a price drop for Tesla's SUV.  We've got a new entry in the space race - Ghana has sent its first satellite into orbit.  The Trump brand might be expanding in China's version of Las Vegas.  And one of the most high-profile patent trolls has finally been killed.

This week, we're talking earnings again.  We've gotten some big companies reporting recently.  Last week alone, we got results from Facebook, Amazon and the parent of Google.

But this week is the big dog.  The alpha tech company.

That's right: Apple is reporting.  So we're taking a Teen Wolf-inspired look at leader of the Wall Street pack.  And because we're old, we're inspired by the 1985 Michael J. Fox movie and not the MTV TV show.

Sorry kids...

Earnings aren't the only thing out this week...we're also going to get one of the biggest economic reports.

The government is scheduled to release its monthly jobs data.  We'll take a look at the labor market and how the employment report could affect interest rates.

And as always, we howl at some of Wall Street's more obscure moons.

This week, in honor of Apple, we've got a series of stories about technology taking over our lives.  We've got a company in Wisconsin that's installing chips into their workers.  We've got federal regulators trying to get oversight of parts of the cryptocurrency market.  Meanwhile, we have a Singapore company trying to tie your Visa card with BitCoin.  And Delta Airlines is testing the use of fingerprints instead of boarding passes.

Dunkirk is out this week.  So we're taking as our inspiration another World War II epic: Inglourious Basterds.  With that in mind, we've got some glorious basterds on the docket this week...

Some of the biggest of the big names are set to report their quarterly results this week.  This includes three out of the four so-called FANG companies.  On tap for this week: results from Facebook, Amazon and the parent company of Google. We also take a look back at earnings from Netflix - the other FANG brother - which has raised expectations for the bunch.

We also check in on some upcoming economic news.  The latest Federal Reserve decision is due out.  Not much is expected this time around, but we'll preview what might be on tap for the rest of the year.  Meanwhile, the first reading of economic performance for the second quarter is due out as well.

This week, we're shaking up the format a bit.  Instead of our usual tour through the darker alleys on Wall Street, we're taking a look at a little bit of business history.

And in deference to Independence Day (and to cold beverages), we're going for a July-centered theme.  In this episode, we detail two key days in the history of the Coca-Cola Company, both taking place in July, but happening nearly seven decades apart.

In the first, we look at the July day in 1916 when Coke introduced its now-iconic bottle.  In the second, we fast-forward to the 1980s, when the company had to fight to save itself from one of the biggest blunders in corporate history.

The latest installment in Michael Bay's Transformers series is out.  So we're paying tribute to the one-and-only original Transformers movie: the 1980s cartoon version.

And with that in mind, we're looking at an economy that might be transforming.  Or maybe its a cartoon.

Updated statistics about economic growth are coming out.  We'll bring you up to date on the current trends and preview what to expect.  We'll also take a deep dive into some recent info for a couple of key sectors.  Big stats are out about the housing and banking sectors.  We'll look at how these affect the overall economic picture.

We'll also take an early peak at the jobs numbers due out early next month.  We'll review recent employment trends and see how it might impact upcoming Fed policy.

And as always, we disguise ourselves as some of Wall Street's stranger vehicles...

This week, we've got a shortage of a key ingredient in everyone's third-favorite ice cream flavor.  We've got a baby born on an international flight.  And he's got a pretty good first birthday present.  We've got a woman killed by whip cream and a high-profile TV host getting sued.  We've got millions of dollars in change left behind at airport security.  

And we've got a Netflix innovation that might help George R.R. Martin get his say back in Game of Thrones.  Eventually.  Maybe.

This week, with The Mummy marking another in Hollywood's unending series of sequels and unnecessary reboots, we're honoring the ancient dark magic that keeps Tom Cruise's career going.  We're asking the question: is the U.S. economy undead?  

Earlier this month we got jobs data.  The stats showed that employment growth last month was weaker than expected.  However, the unemployment rate ticked to its lowest level in more than a decade and a half.  

We take a deep dive into the data and look at what it means for the economy as a whole.  We also preview this week's Federal Reserve meeting.  The central bank is almost universally expected to announce another increase in interest rates.  But we take a longer view, and look at how Fed policy could shape up for the rest of the year.

And as always, we excavate some of Wall Street's dustier tombs...

We've got false advertising from the Honest Company.  We've got Walmart beginning to use employees for deliveries, while getting rid of employees for pick ups.  We've got an end of driving tests on the horizon.  And we've got Burger King taking its shot of the iron throne of Belgium.

This week, with the release the fifth installment in the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise, we're climbing into the crow’s nest and scouring the horizon for threats that could hijack the economy.

First, we're going to get a new job report this week.  The results have been spotty recently.  After a run of good reports, the labor market took on some water in March.  It bobbed back up in April, though, and we'll take a look at the labor market ahead of the new numbers.  

We’ll also check in on the Fed.  The central bank is set to announce its next rate decision in a couple weeks.  We detail provide an early preview of the meeting.

And as always, we'll take on crew in some of Wall Street's more eclectic ports...

We have a billionaire who is NOT running for president.  Even though he's got a political platform to tell you about.  We've got the great Amazon banana give away.  We've got underpaid Uber drivers and facial recognition baggage drops.  And we have a real tongue-twister of a logo fight.