Hey Snackers,
Too early to consider Taco Bell Halloween costumes?
While the UN met in New York and impeachment chatter hit DC, markets dipped for the final full week of September — It's political uncertainty season.
Nice job avoiding the cliche "Amazon of (blank)"... Uber announced changes to its app on Thursday — it's all designed to make the mobility company the "operating system for your everyday life." Sound fancy. Here's what you'll see when you open the new app:
1-Star. From everyone... Uber's facing hate from Wall Street, regulators, and politicians. So it's also making some friendly non-design moves, like adding allergy-friendly filters to food delivery in case the gluten in that pad thai will ruin your night. It's also helping drivers honestly estimate how much money they'll make because knowing that's kinda important.
Silicon Valley needs a win... Uber's stock price is down to $30, way below the $45 it IPO'd at (which was already underwhelming). Many of its 2019 tech IPO classmates are also unprofitable and also down:
You workout?... Nike shares hit an all-time high after a cinderella story earnings report with a come-from-behind story: Nike is beating the trade war. A quarter of Nike goods are made in China and a sixth of them are sold there. Even though its biz was tossed in the middle of the trade war, its overall profit surged 25% last quarter. Buckets.
Amazon pulled an Oprah... dishing out new gear at its Apple-ish new product event. The theme was sticking Alexa voice-activation everywhere so that you're always Amazon-connected. Echo Studio ($200 smart speakers), in-car Alexa (with Samuel L. Jackson voice option) via General Motors, Echo Buds (AirPods knockoffs), Echo Frames (smart glasses), Echo Loop (smart ring). Check out this "ranking by creepiness."
The Cuba Treatment... According to Bloomberg, President Trump wants to dish it out to Chinese stocks: The idea is to limit Chinese companies from listing their shares on US stock markets. That would basically cut off American $$$ from Chinese firms. It's why investors sold off Alibaba (the Amazon of China), Luckin Coffee (Starbucks of China), and Baidu (Google of China), and Tencent (everything-tech-ish of China) before the weekend.
Update the LinkedIn profiles... 3 major business chiefs ducked out last week.
Disclosure: Authors of this Snacks own stock of Luckin Coffee, Alibaba, and Amazon.
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