Life

The FDA Has No Chill When It Comes To Vaping, Plus Is This The Beginning Of The End For Hedge Funds?

by Last Updated

This week’s Brew quiz is live! We’ll spare you the mumbo-jumbo—just ace it and win that exclusive Brew shout-out and swag prize. Easy-peasy.

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“I’m sorry” — Craig Wright, the Australian computer scientist who outed himself as the notorious Bitcoin inventor earlier this week. Despite claiming that he would provide further irrefutable evidence to back up his words, he has yet to follow through. Instead, his uncorroborated claims have only provided further fuel to his doubters’ fires.

 

MARKET SNAPSHOT
Big Picture

  • U.S. stocks moved very little on Thursday, at least halting a two-day slide, but the Nasdaq still pulled off its tenth loss in its last 11 trading sessions as investors readily await today’s employment report

Alternatives to Watch

  • Oil surged a bit after a wildfire in Canada burned output, which caused major pipelines to close and temporarily cut roughly a third of the country’s production

__________

 

CORPORATE PRIMER
E-Cigs…Sweet

We get it bro, you vape…unfortunately, the fellas over at the Food and Drug Administration aren’t quite so “chill” about it. Yesterday, the FDA assumed regulatory power over e-cigarettes, banning sales to anyone under 18 and making all products subject to government approval. What does this mean for the average Vape God? Many small vape shops will be forced to shut down as they won’t be able to afford the approval process, which could slow down the industry’s once-meteoric growth…and result in a shortage of high school posers.

The Truth Lies Within

With sales rising nearly 40% last quarter, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba seems to be killing the game, at least on the surface—plus, the stock was up 4%. But that’s not how we do things at the Brew. Pearl of wisdom #1: dig a little deeper, and you’ll see the truth. Ali B’s year-over-year net income actually dropped a bit, likely due to poor investments in the brick and mortar area—a risky venture for an e-commerce-savvy company. Bottom line: the move backfired, and future losses seem imminent for the Chinese giant despite the strong sales growth.

GoPro Still Kinda Disappoints

Pearl of wisdom #2: the lower your expectations, the less likely you are to be disappointed. We all do it: “family game night with Aunt Jodi wasn’t that bad,” “I actually really enjoyed Must Love Dogs.” If this is you, you’re like action camera maker GoPro, which missed earnings targets but beat revenue expectations. How? Wall Street set such a low benchmark that it was nearly impossible for GoPro to disappoint. Well done…we guess? What’s next: the FAA’s favorite troublemaker—drones. The expectation is that GoPro’s drones will be able to fly, sell and revive the company…but GoPro is delaying its new drone launch (ironically named Karma) until the winter. Exactly what it doesn’t need.

An Army of Self-Driving Taxis

After investing a solid $500 million in Lyft, General Motors is taking its relationship to the next level. No more playing around, it’s time to get to the self-driving cars. Here’s how it’s going to work: GM and Lyft are joining forces to produce a fleet of self-driving electric taxis for public roads. The program will be tested in a few different cities and mainly involve the Chevy Bolt (a handsome car at that). We probably don’t have to tell you that GM isn’t the only auto company with a self-driving trick up its sleeve. Both Ford and Microsoft recently invested in Pivotal, a mobility company driven by software development (aka self-driving cars). The space just keeps getting more crowded.

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OTHER STORIES

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ECONOMIC CALENDAR

MARKET SNAPSHOT
Big Picture

  • U.S. stocks moved very little on Thursday, at least halting a two-day slide, but the Nasdaq still pulled off its tenth loss in its last 11 trading sessions as investors readily await today’s employment report

Alternatives to Watch

  • Oil surged a bit after a wildfire in Canada burned output, which caused major pipelines to close and temporarily cut roughly a third of the country’s production

__________

 

CORPORATE PRIMER
E-Cigs…Sweet

We get it bro, you vape…unfortunately, the fellas over at the Food and Drug Administration aren’t quite so “chill” about it. Yesterday, the FDA assumed regulatory power over e-cigarettes, banning sales to anyone under 18 and making all products subject to government approval. What does this mean for the average Vape God? Many small vape shops will be forced to shut down as they won’t be able to afford the approval process, which could slow down the industry’s once-meteoric growth…and result in a shortage of high school posers.

The Truth Lies Within

With sales rising nearly 40% last quarter, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba seems to be killing the game, at least on the surface—plus, the stock was up 4%. But that’s not how we do things at the Brew. Pearl of wisdom #1: dig a little deeper, and you’ll see the truth. Ali B’s year-over-year net income actually dropped a bit, likely due to poor investments in the brick and mortar area—a risky venture for an e-commerce-savvy company. Bottom line: the move backfired, and future losses seem imminent for the Chinese giant despite the strong sales growth.

GoPro Still Kinda Disappoints

Pearl of wisdom #2: the lower your expectations, the less likely you are to be disappointed. We all do it: “family game night with Aunt Jodi wasn’t that bad,” “I actually really enjoyed Must Love Dogs.” If this is you, you’re like action camera maker GoPro, which missed earnings targets but beat revenue expectations. How? Wall Street set such a low benchmark that it was nearly impossible for GoPro to disappoint. Well done…we guess? What’s next: the FAA’s favorite troublemaker—drones. The expectation is that GoPro’s drones will be able to fly, sell and revive the company…but GoPro is delaying its new drone launch (ironically named Karma) until the winter. Exactly what it doesn’t need.

An Army of Self-Driving Taxis

After investing a solid $500 million in Lyft, General Motors is taking its relationship to the next level. No more playing around, it’s time to get to the self-driving cars. Here’s how it’s going to work: GM and Lyft are joining forces to produce a fleet of self-driving electric taxis for public roads. The program will be tested in a few different cities and mainly involve the Chevy Bolt (a handsome car at that). We probably don’t have to tell you that GM isn’t the only auto company with a self-driving trick up its sleeve. Both Ford and Microsoft recently invested in Pivotal, a mobility company driven by software development (aka self-driving cars). The space just keeps getting more crowded.

__________

 

OTHER STORIES

__________

 

ECONOMIC CALENDAR

INTERVIEW QUESTION OF THE DAY

You have two pieces of rope, each of which burns from one end to the other in 30 minutes (no matter which end is lit). If different pieces touch, the flame will transfer from one to the other. You cannot assume any rope properties that were not stated. Given only one match, can you time 45 minutes? (Answer)

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BUSINESS TERM OF THE DAY

Acqui-hire — Combine “acquire” and “hire” and you’ve got an acqui-hire, which is when a company is acquired for the sole purpose of recruiting the company’s talent, rather than gaining access to the product or service provided by the company. That’s what LinkedIn pulled off yesterday in buying startup Run Hop, which specializes in online content distribution—and is led by talent useful for LinkedIn as it looks to make its feeds more engaging.

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT

A French employee is suing his employer, Interparfums, a perfume and cosmetics company, for $400,000 for being “bored out” of his job. Who knew boredom could be so lucrative?
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