Offbeat Wall Street

This week, like Caesar, we're contemplating the Ides of March.  That's this coming Wednesday.  That's also the day the Fed announces its next interest rate decision.

Traders are almost completely convinced that the Fed is going to announce another rate hike.  We take a look at what is fueling that certainty.

We also check in on Friday's big jobs report.  The numbers came in better than expected.  We go a little deeper and detail what's going on in the labor market.

We've also got driverless luxury from Volkswagen that the Lady's Man would enjoy.  We've got a new product from Yahoo that seems like it’s just automated nagging.  We've got Ford printing out car parts and Subway maybe printing out chicken.  And we've got a new player in venture capital - there's some dirt on his shoulder, can you brush it off for him...

Logan is in theaters now.  As a result, we've decided to pay homage to serious-minded X-men warriors.  So we're looking at some of the superheroes of finance: economists and monetary policy makers...

This week will see the release of the government's monthly employment data.  We're coming off a big report for January.  The data will show if the economy was able to follow up with more big job gains in February.

The report will also be important in predicting how the next interest rate decision is going to go.  The Fed is set to make an announcement in a couple weeks and the signs have changed direction over the past month or so.  We let you know how things are looking now and what the chances are for a rate hike in the near future.

And as always, we investigate some of the more heavily mutated genes on Wall Street's chromosomes.

We've got some guy at Amazon shutting down a big part of the Internet with a whoopsy typo.  We've got the return of female .  We'll tell you the best place to live to lead a really long life, at least if you can make it to 2030.  And we'll give a few more arguments in the ongoing debate about what to do in a world about to be run by robots.

As Wall Street takes a long President's Day weekend to contemplate what Washington and Lincoln might have thought of Trump, we preview housing data and big earnings from the retail sector.

We also take our usual tour of weirder business stories.  This week, it's news that Playboy is going to publish nude photos.  The newest American Girl is a boy.  Hooter's is covering up while Burger King gives out sex toys.  And an Uber might cause the next tension in your marriage.

Valentine's Day is on the way.  And just in time for the big day, we got the release of the sequel to 50 Shades of Grey.

With that in mind, we're hoping that Wall Street isn't in for some tough love this week.  There's a lot of economic news set to come out.  Also, a number of big companies still have to release their quarterly results.

On the economic front, retail sales data will lead the way.  We'll let you konw what to expect from the latest from those statistics.  We'll also check in with an iconic retailer that continues to suffer in new environment.

We've also got Tom Brady's missing jersey.  We've got Donald Trump getting between Steph Curry and his most prominent endorser.  We've got a Cheeto priced at nearly $100,000. And we've got another game that robots are officially better than people at playing: poker.

Two reasons we think Wall Street is like The Lion King this week: 1) America is still getting used to a new leader of its pride, and 2) Disney is going to be one of the main draws for the next round of earnings reports.

We leave the Scar/Trump comparisons to you, but we look at Disney's earnings in some detail in this week's episode.  We also give another long view on the Fed following last week's (predictably boring) interest rate meeting.  We also dive into the (decidedly not boring) jobs report that came out on Friday.

Finally, as always, we'll roam some of the less traveled savannas on the Wall Street Pridelands.

We've got corporate espionage involving self-driving cars.  We've got a Shark Tank product that doesn't work as well as its company said.  And we've got a Starbucks product that's working too well, leading to long lines and sluggish earnings.

This week, we should be talking about the Federal Reserve.  After all, policy makers are meeting to make their next interest rate decision.

Except this time around, there's little doubt about what the Fed is going to do.  Rates are widely expected to hold steady.

But we talk about the Fed anyway, looking ahead beyond this meeting to what might be in store later in the year.

This week's Fed meeting might be a sure thing, but that's not the case with the jobs report due out on Friday.  We review the state of the labor market.

And as always, we'll hitch a ride with some of the stranger drivers on Wall Street's highway.

We've got Lyft expanding, Uber apologizing and sea lice affecting the price of salmon.  We've also got cows eating skittles and one big-name company looking to make the Super Bowl a national holiday.

This episode, we're turning our attention to Hollywood!  

Oscar nominations are set to come out on Tuesday.  We take a look at who the front runners are for the major categories.

We've got a busy week on Wall Street as well.  Earnings season is getting into high gear. Microsoft and AT&T lead a crowded field of earnings reports.  We preview their results and take a look at who else is on tap.

We've also got flying cars, robot deliveries and lawsuits involving SpongeBob.  Meanwhile, the Greatest Show On Earth is shutting down after almost a century and a half in business.

It's going to be a good week for civics lessons.

We start off with a holiday for Martin Luther King day.  And end up with the inauguration of a new president.

In this episode, we take a look at what Wall Street is expecting from the new administration.  We also contemplate the possible complications that might come up with a president who is both pro-business and anti-trade.

We also look at some recent big-name earnings reports, and preview some possible headline-grabbers due out this week.  

And as always, we'll puruse some of the less-cited articles of Wall Street's constitution....

We've got delayed tax refunds, accidental Nazi footprints and new pieces for Monopoly.  Apple is apparently jealous of Amazon and Cadillac might be jealous of Apple.  And we've got the perfect job for soon-to-be-former president Barack Obama.

Christmas is over, but we've still got shopping on the brain.

Last week, we got more evidence that the industry continues to change.  Two of the biggest names in retailing announced some tough news.  Sears and Macy's both revealed that they were closing stores and cutting jobs.

Meanwhile, this week will see the release of the latest monthly stats on retail sales.  The report will reveal how the holiday season turned out.  We'll preview the report and take a look at the state of the industry right now.

And as always, we browse through some of the more out-of-the-way racks on Wall Street.

We've got trips to black holes, brave social experients and a sports team who is really very sorry that they sucked so much last year.   And we tell you about a pillow maker that got in trouble because its pillows are really half as expensive as you think they are.

The new year is here and we're going to keep the party going for at least another week.

The government is scheduled to release its monthly jobs report this week.  We take a look at what to expect.  We also go in depth into one of the mysteries of the last several years: how come the unemployment rate keeps falling even though job growth has been decidedly ho-hum?

And as always, we'll boogie our way through some of the more out-of-the-way discos on Wall Street.

This week, we've got stories about how Amazon is turning the world into Blade Runner.  We've got robots who might sit with you and help you sort your magazines.  And we've got communist bureaucrats who can't afford yachts like we were expecting them to.