Dow dropped 75, decliners over advancers 2-1 & NAZ lost 10. The MLP index fell 4+ to the 409s & the REIT index lost 2+ to the 307s, both close to recent lows. Junk bond funds saw selling & Treasuries also sold off. Oil prices slumped on inventory data & gold did little.
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
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McDonald's, a Dow stock & Dividend Aristocrat, is aiming to sell its stores in Taiwan to a franchise operator & expand its franchise business in China as the company tries to turn around its fortunes in Asia & cut costs globally. The company uses franchisees & licensees in its more mature markets, like the US. But elsewhere it has largely relied on a more costly model of operating its own stores to oversee their quality & growth. The new CEO, Steve Easterbrook, has been overhauling its US business, including by selling more restaurants to franchises & eliminating management layers. Now he's turning to the intl market in an effort to boost sales & profits. He has said global franchise ownership, including the US, will expand to 90% from 81% currently, & that the company will sell 3½K restaurants to franchisees by 2018. MCD is looking for a franchise candidate to run its 413 Taiwan stores, which it has operated itself since entering the market more than 3 decades ago. It operated all its stores in China for more than 2 decades, until 2008 when it turned to franchising. By the end of last year, around 20% of its 2K-plus stores in China were franchised, & the company plans to continue increasing the licensees and franchisees. Sales in Asia tumbled after problems with one of its suppliers last year affected its available menu items & crippled sales. Sales at stores open more than a year Japan, where MCD has also faced food contamination scares, & China declined 32.3% & 4.8%, respectively, in Q1. The company is still aiming to pull back consumers that it lost last year. MCD will also close 700 underperforming stores primarily in Japan, China & the US. The company expects China sales to return to "a normalized level of performance by midyear." The stock fell 85¢. If you would like to learn more about MCD, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/MCD?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Ford will begin testing a car-sharing program that it hopes will sway young drivers on the fence about owning a vehicle. The Blue Oval plans to run the pilot program thru Nov in 6 US cities & London. Customers who finance their vehicles thru Ford Motor Credit will have the option of allowing prescreened drivers to rent their vehicles for short-term use. Ford will open Peer-2-Peer Car Sharing to 14K US customers & 12K in London. Getaround, a ride-sharing company, has partnered with Ford to connect US users with vehicles that are available for rent. In London, Ford is working with easyCar Club. The company is banking on the theory that customers will sign up as a way to offset some of the costs of owning a vehicle, from monthly payments to maintenance. Ford cited a study from Penn Schoen Berland, which found that more than ½ of Millennials are open to sharing rides with others. Jumping into the car-sharing business could protect Ford’s core business of producing cars & trucks. Upstart companies represent a potential threat to automakers, but Ford & its rivals appear ready to fight back. Ford, which opened a research center in Silicon Valley early this year, also unveiled an electric bike concept & related smartphone apps this week. MoDe:Flex can be folded & stored in any Ford vehicle. The stock was off pennies. If you would like to learn more about Ford, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/F?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Deadlines for the Greek debt mess are drawing near & trader's are worried. Another bailout is questionable & given the acrimony on both sides, it's difficult to see a compromise between the lenders & Greece. There will be more meetings in Europe, probably thru Tues. But nobody knows anything. However there is underlying optimism in the markets as the popular averages remain near their record highs.
Dow Jones Industrials
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
| CLQ15.NYM | ....Crude Oil Aug 15 | ....59.64 |  ...0.63 | (1.1%) |
The IMF said it still expects Greece to repay $1.7B due Tues, as
the lender & other creditors struggled to reach a last-minute accord
with the nation to keep it from running out of cash. “Our expectation is that the payment will be made,” the
fund’s chief spokesman said. The fund’s longstanding policy isn’t to extend payment
deadlines, & Greece would immediately be in arrears if the money
doesn’t arrive, he added. The IMF’s other deadbeat countries include Sudan, Somalia & Zimbabwe, with combined overdue payments of about $1.8B. Given the visibility of the Greek case, IMF Managing Director
Christine Lagarde wouldn’t follow fund guidelines that call for a
one-month delay until she formally notifies the lender’s board of a
missed payment. Lagarde can inform the board of developments
any time & would notify the board “promptly” if Greece failed to pay. Lagarde in Brussels told reporters that more work was needed to see if Greece’s proposal
could be reconciled. Earlier this month, Greece deferred 4 Jun payments starting Jun 5 until the end of the month, taking
advantage of an IMF rule that had previously been used only once (in the
1980s by Zambia). Nations that miss IMF payments are ineligible for further funds as
long as they are in arrears. The lender’s procedures for dealing with
overdue borrowers stretch over 2 years & culminate in potential
expulsion from the fund’s membership.
IMF Says It Still Expects Greece to Pay $1.7 Billion Due Tuesday
McDonald's, a Dow stock & Dividend Aristocrat, is aiming to sell its stores in Taiwan to a franchise operator & expand its franchise business in China as the company tries to turn around its fortunes in Asia & cut costs globally. The company uses franchisees & licensees in its more mature markets, like the US. But elsewhere it has largely relied on a more costly model of operating its own stores to oversee their quality & growth. The new CEO, Steve Easterbrook, has been overhauling its US business, including by selling more restaurants to franchises & eliminating management layers. Now he's turning to the intl market in an effort to boost sales & profits. He has said global franchise ownership, including the US, will expand to 90% from 81% currently, & that the company will sell 3½K restaurants to franchisees by 2018. MCD is looking for a franchise candidate to run its 413 Taiwan stores, which it has operated itself since entering the market more than 3 decades ago. It operated all its stores in China for more than 2 decades, until 2008 when it turned to franchising. By the end of last year, around 20% of its 2K-plus stores in China were franchised, & the company plans to continue increasing the licensees and franchisees. Sales in Asia tumbled after problems with one of its suppliers last year affected its available menu items & crippled sales. Sales at stores open more than a year Japan, where MCD has also faced food contamination scares, & China declined 32.3% & 4.8%, respectively, in Q1. The company is still aiming to pull back consumers that it lost last year. MCD will also close 700 underperforming stores primarily in Japan, China & the US. The company expects China sales to return to "a normalized level of performance by midyear." The stock fell 85¢. If you would like to learn more about MCD, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/MCD?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
McDonald's Shakes Up Taiwan, China Strategy
McDonald's (MCD)
Ford will begin testing a car-sharing program that it hopes will sway young drivers on the fence about owning a vehicle. The Blue Oval plans to run the pilot program thru Nov in 6 US cities & London. Customers who finance their vehicles thru Ford Motor Credit will have the option of allowing prescreened drivers to rent their vehicles for short-term use. Ford will open Peer-2-Peer Car Sharing to 14K US customers & 12K in London. Getaround, a ride-sharing company, has partnered with Ford to connect US users with vehicles that are available for rent. In London, Ford is working with easyCar Club. The company is banking on the theory that customers will sign up as a way to offset some of the costs of owning a vehicle, from monthly payments to maintenance. Ford cited a study from Penn Schoen Berland, which found that more than ½ of Millennials are open to sharing rides with others. Jumping into the car-sharing business could protect Ford’s core business of producing cars & trucks. Upstart companies represent a potential threat to automakers, but Ford & its rivals appear ready to fight back. Ford, which opened a research center in Silicon Valley early this year, also unveiled an electric bike concept & related smartphone apps this week. MoDe:Flex can be folded & stored in any Ford vehicle. The stock was off pennies. If you would like to learn more about Ford, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/F?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Ford Jumps into Car Sharing to Entice Young Drivers
Ford (F)
Deadlines for the Greek debt mess are drawing near & trader's are worried. Another bailout is questionable & given the acrimony on both sides, it's difficult to see a compromise between the lenders & Greece. There will be more meetings in Europe, probably thru Tues. But nobody knows anything. However there is underlying optimism in the markets as the popular averages remain near their record highs.
Dow Jones Industrials
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