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THE HEADLINES
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LET OUR POWERS COMBINE
Walmart and Microsoft are going full-on Mega Dragonzord in an attempt to defeat the evil Bezonian empire. The retailer announced on Prime Day that it is entering a 5-year deal with Mr. Softee. Microsoft cloud services will support walmart.com and samsclub.com websites.
In addition to the web services, Microsoft will provide artificial intelligence technology to reduce energy consumption in Wally World stores as well as improve delivery systems. The move aims to improve Walmart’s operations … and crush Amazon with the fury of 1,000 suns.
The Walton’s family business also announced last month that it will begin offering shopping via text message and same day delivery.
The two retailers are constantly jockeying for supremacy online, but Amazon offers a cloud service as well, competing with Bill Gates’ baby in the space.
Water Cooler Talking Point: “Don’t get it twisted – it’s no coincidence that this news dropped on Amazon Prime Day. Well played Walmart, well played.”
OVERCHARGING AND UNDERWHELMING
Fed Chair Jerome “Jay” Powell enters his second day on the hot seat in front of the Senate Banking Committee for his bi-annual AMA on the economy.
Jay’s sentiments were (mostly) upbeat signaling that the Fed’s rate-setting committee “believes that—for now—the best way forward is to keep gradually raising” its short-term interest rate. The qualifier “for now” got more than one pair of undergarments in a bunch, but markets seemed unaffected.
The otherwise uneventful Day 1 wasn’t without its C-SPAN Top 10 Moments. The Honorable Jerome H. Powell was pressed on wage inequality and gives Congress a lesson in Fed 101: “Congress has the tools to assure stronger wage growth over time. We really don’t have that.”
Water Cooler Talking Point: “Jay Powell isn’t a regular Fed chair, he’s a cool Fed chair. Powell is doing his best to make monetary policy digestible for the masses. Exhibit A: His podcast appearance on Marketplace.”
IN OTHER NEWS
- Texas Instruments’ CEO Brian Crutcher has resigned after just two months on the job for violations of the company’s code of conduct. He definitely didn’t pass the sexual harassment new hire training and assessment on his first try … if you catch our drift.
- Despite yesterday’s outage, Amazon sales were up an estimated 89% over the first 12 hours of Prime Day vs. last year.
- Coinbase got the green light from the SEC to begin listing tokenized securities. This means that Coinbase may soon allow users to trade cryptocurrencies that have ICO’ed.
- And speaking of crypto … Bitcoin jumped 10% yesterday past $7k partially on a “positive shift in sentiment,” including the Coinbase news.