There’s a massive shift underway in the labor markets… and I’m not sure some companies are even going to survive.
Think of the line everybody was throwing around about the World Economic Forum.
YOU WILL OWN NOTHING AND YOU WILL BE HAPPY.
Yeah, that created one heck of a counter-reaction…
Maybe even a bit of paranoia about what the political and financial elite have in store for us. And the reaction is playing out in unexpected ways.
Take the “gig economy.” Supposedly, this was the way that work would change going forward. We wouldn’t have jobs with pensions and benefits (how old fashioned!) but instead we would have gigs that would allow us to supplement our income.
It may seem like exploitation, but let’s face it… we all take advantage of it. If you’ve used Lyft or Uber, you’ve relied on this system. And if it went away, it would have a dramatic impact on the ordinary course of our lives.
But that may be what’s about to happen…
The Department of Labor is proposing a regulatory change that would mandate benefits for gig workers… which could jeopardize the entire model of doing business for these companies.
And don’t overlook the waves of unionization at companies like Apple and Amazon… more on which below.
Even while relying on your technical toolkit, you need to remain cognizant of these broad-based social and political changes.
The assumptions of the past and corporate America’s vision of the future are shifting under our feet…
Be quick or be dead.
Keep Moving,
WORD ON THE STREET
Inflation, Unionization, and Feds Are Coming After Stock Market
- Double What Was Expected – Bad news in the Fed’s fight to contain inflation. A new report shows that wholesale prices rose by 0.4% in September – double what experts were predicting. That means the Fed’s strategy of raising interest rates – which is wreaking havoc on growth stocks – hasn’t been enough yet.
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Critical Union Vote Underway – Workers at an Amazon (AMZN) facility near Albany, New York are voting on whether they will join the Amazon Labor Union (ALU). The stakes can’t be overemphasized – company workers around the country are watching to see if the effort will succeed. Amazon itself has not formally recognized a branch organized in Staten Island. The company doesn’t want this trend to continue. But if unionization sweeps Amazon facilities, will the company’s model still work? Or can workers humble the retail giant?
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Fed Minutes Show MONOLITHIC Focus On Inflati0n – Minutes released from the September 20-21 Federal Reserve meeting shows that officials are willing to tolerate a “softening of the labor market” (i.e. higher unemployment) in order to stop inflation. “Robust” hiring was also identified as a possible red flag. Federal Reserve officials are also worried about economic slowdowns in China and Europe.
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Apple Moves Against Unionized Workers – Nice benefits you have there. It would be a shame if something would happen to them. Apple (AAPL) is using both the carrot and the stick to fight unionization. Educational and health care benefits are going to be offered to workers. However, one group of workers will be left out – those at a store in Towson, Maryland who have organized a union. Apple says that the union will need to independently negotiate with the company through collective bargaining to get anything.
HOT SPOTS: What’s Going on in Geopolitics
- Ukrainians Hoping For Kherson Attack By Winter – Ukraine recaptured five settlements yesterday near Kherson as forces continue to organize for a major attack on the city. The stakes are high, as Russia has reinforced the area with some of its best troops. However, the recent damage to a bridge to Crimea and the low morale among some other Russian groupings have Ukraine hoping for a victory that could decisively break Russia’s expeditionary forces in the occupied territory. Kherson is one of the four regions Russia has claimed to annex.
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Iranian Regime Moves To Suppress Kurdistan – The Iranian government, facing protests around the country, is organizing military forces to suppress the restive Kurdistan province. Social media indicates that violent clashes between protesters and security forces have already taken place earlier this week in the city of Sanandaj.
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Taiwan Sends Mixed Signals To People’s Republic – Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen tried to convey both strength and moderation in a “Double Tenth” day speech. She said she wanted “mutually acceptable ways” to ensure peace between the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan (which is still styled officially as the Republic of China). At the same time, she said there was “no room for compromise” over sovereignty. The American Senate is moving to send billions of dollars in military aid to Taiwan, something the People’s Republic has called “abusive” and “dangerous.”
CUTTING EDGE: What‘s Happening In Tech
- We Must Destroy The Factory In Order To Save It – If there’s one critical material that’s underlying global supply chains, it’s semiconductors – so it’s a bit of a problem that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is ground zero for a geopolitical showdown between China and the United States. A recent paper from Army War College Quarterly showed that American officials may even be planning to blow up the company rather than lose it to China in the case of an invasion. Taiwanese defense minister Chiu Kuo-cheng recently assured his people that “there is no such plot” and that China wouldn’t be able to exploit the company even if it was seized because of a lack of supplies from overseas.
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MSFT’s Surface Studio Gets An Expensive Upgrade – Microsoft is making a play for the high-performance desktop market with its 28-inch Surface Studio 2+. The all-in-one desktop features cameras, microphones, a digital pen, and a 1 TB SSD hard drive. Sound good? Well, it can be all yours… for $4,299. Oh, excuse me, $4,499 if you want the digital pen. Of course, the whole point of trading is so we can afford things like this. (Check out Chris Hood’s column below on how to make money in a bear market.)
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“Space Tourist” Heading Back For Round Two – Dennis Tito became the first private individual to pay to go to space in 2001 when he traveled to the International Space Station. Now, he and his wife Akiko are reportedly going to fly around the moon. SpaceX said that the couple will ride along on a mission using the company’s “Starship” rocket.
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
“Even those who perform amazingly well with bullish trades often come up short (pardon the pun) when the market is trending down. Why should that be the case?”
A lot of the traders flying high during the pandemic are suddenly pretty shaky. (Looking at you, Cathie Wood.)
But Chris Hood says that he actually prefers bear markets. Do not miss this article in which he shows how his tools and indicators make it “much easier to make money quickly when the market drops than when it grinds upwards.”
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