The Washington Post’s digital publishing platform, Arc Publishing, is creating another source of revenue for the media company outside of its newspaper operations. The software-as-a-service platform may grow into a $100 million business that would bolster the company’s bottom line. Read more….
Month: April 2019
| TIME (ET) | REPORT | PERIOD | ACTUAL | FORECAST | PREVIOUS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MONDAY, APRIL 29 | |||||
| 8:30 am | Personal income | March | 0.4% | 0.2% | |
| 8:30 am | Consumer spending | March | 0.8% | 0.1% (Jan.) | |
| 8:30 am | Core inflation | March | 0.1% | 0.1% (Jan.) | |
| TUESDAY, APRIL 30 | |||||
| 8:30 am | Employment cost index | Q1 | 0.7% | 0.7% | |
| 9 am | Case-Shiller house price index | Feb. | — | 4.3% | |
| 9:45 am | Chicago PMI | April | — | 58.7 | |
| 10 am | Consumer confidence index | April | 126.6 | 124.1 | |
| 10 am | Pending home sales index | March | — | -1.0% | |
| WEDNESDAY,MAY 1 | |||||
| 8:15 am | ADP employment | April | — | 120,000 | |
| 9:45 am | Markit manufacturing PMI | April | — | 52.4 | |
| 10 am | ISM manufacturing index | April | 54.8% | 55.3% | |
| 10 am | Construction spending | March | -0.2% | 1.0% | |
| 2 pm | FOMC statement | 2.25-2.5% | 2.25-2.5% | ||
| 2:30 pm | Jerome Powell press conference | ||||
| Varies | Motor vehicle sales | April | 16.9mln | 17.5mln | |
| THURSDAY, MAY 2 | |||||
| 8:30 am | Weekly jobless claims | 4/27 | 218,000 | 230,000 | |
| 8:30 am | Productivity | Q1 | 2.8% | 1.9% | |
| 8:30 am | Unit labor costs | Q1 | 0.7% | 2.0% | |
| 10 am | Factory orders | March | 1.6% | -0.5% | |
| FRIDAY, MAY 3 | |||||
| 8:30 am | Nonfarm payrolls | April | 190,000 | 196,000 | |
| 8:30 am | Unemployment rate | April | 3.8% | 3.8% | |
| 8:30 am | Average hourly earnings | April | 0.2% | 0.1% | |
| 8:30 am | Advance trade in goods (new date) | March | $73.0bln | N/A | |
| 9:45 am | Markit services PMI | April | — | 52.9 | |
| 10 am | ISM nonmanufacturing index | April | 57.5% | 56.1% | |
Starbucks boosted its loyalty program membership by 13% to 16.8 million people during its latest quarter. Read more….
Amazon reported revenue for its “other” category that mostly comes from ad sales rose 34% to $2.72 billion during the period, compared with a 96% yearly jump in the prior quarter. Read more…
Nearly 80% of viewers said they want more episodes that show how influencers create videos. Read more….
Economic Reports
4/22 Chicago Fed Nat’l Activ. (-0.29 prior)
4/22 Existing home sales (5.51 mil.)
4/23 New home sales (667,000)
4/25 Jobless claims
4/25 Durable goods orders (-1.6%)
4/25 Core capex orders (-0.1%)
4/25 Q1 GDP (forecast 1.5%, prior 2.2%)
4/25 Consumer sentiment (96.9)
Earnings (Date, Company, Consensus Estimate)
4/22 Whirlpool $2.87
4/22 Wynn $1.59
4/23 Coca-Cola $0.46
4/23 Goodyear $0.06
4/23 JetBlue $0.12
4/23 Lockheed Martin $4.34
4/23 Procter & Gamble $1.03
4/23 Nucor $1.50
4/23 Snap -$0.12
4/23 Twitter $0.15
4/23 Verizon $1.17
4/24 American Airlines $0.51
4/24 AT&T $0.86
4/24 Boeing $3.33
4/24 Chipotle $0.05
4/24 Dunkin’ Brands $0.62
4/24 Domino’s $2.09
4/24 Facebook $1.63
4/24 Microsoft $1.00
4/24 Packaging Corp of America $1.96
4/24 PayPal $0.68
4/24 Tesla -$.069
4/24 Visa $1.24
4/25 3M $2.57
4/25 Amazon.com $4.72
4/25 Caterpillar $2.86
4/25 Southwest Airlines $0.61
4/25 Bristol-Myers Squibb $1.09
4/25 Intel $0.87
4/25 Ford $0.26
4/25 McClatchy -$1.98
4/25 Tractor Supply $0.55
4/26 ADM $0.61
4/26 Chevron $1.36
4/26 Exxon Mobil $0.74
4/26 Weyerhaeuser $0.10
4/26 Colgate-Palmolive $0.66
4/26 Interpublic $0.04
The majority of social media users looking for product information prefer posts from other consumers, with 51% of survey respondents saying they trust user images because they’re more authentic and trustworthy than brand-owned creative. Read more….
Further Reading:
Consumer Trust: Usage and attitudes about user-generated visual content
OECD (2019), Under Pressure: The Squeezed Middle Class, OECD Publishing, Paris,https://doi.org/10.1787/689afed1-en.
Read-Only Version:
Facebook is developing a voice-powered virtual assistant similar to Apple’s Siri, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Read more…
Further Reading
Tech companies also are experimenting with monetization strategies that extend beyond the initial purchase of a smart speaker. Amazon likely sells its smart speakers at a loss, according to product teardowns by ABI Research, which estimated the second-generation Echo Dot that sells for $29 has about $31 in parts. But those devices give the e-commerce giant a foothold in the connected-home market and help to support Amazon Prime, the subscription service that costs $119 a year for streaming video, a limited package of streaming music and no-fee two-day shipping on most products. People who have an Echo in their home spend about $1,700 a year on Amazon, or 66% more than the average Amazon customer, per Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.