| |  | TOGETHER WITH |  | | | Good morning.
Thursday marked the rare case where it was totally appropriate to tell someone they have a screw loose. Luxury carmaker Bugatti recalled a single car, a rare 2018 Chiron that retails for $3 million, because, as the company notified federal regulators, “one of the screws that fastens the front frame support may be loose.” It’s part of a new luxury service Bugatti is calling “the Kia experience.” | | | • | | The Secretary of the Treasury addresses the state of cryptocurrencies. | | • | | The world is getting a new oil shipping giant. | | • | | Walmart will pay truck drivers up to $110,000. | | | | |  | US Economy | Janet Yellen Warns of Coming Crypto Regulation | | You’ve heard the pitch. Someone in your life — whether a Reddit-trawling younger cousin or a suddenly sorta-wealthy colleague — is a cryptocurrency evangelist. You’ve heard their sermon on the thrills of ditching fiat currency, centralized banking, and the watchful eye of Big Government.
However you feel about the crypto space — it has now become too big for Uncle Sam to ignore. On Thursday, as the US government begins to turn its gaze to digital currencies, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called for increased regulatory scrutiny, warning of fraud and illicit activity. | Tales From the Crypt(o) | Yellen’s comments, given in a Thursday speech at American University, follow a March executive order by President Biden, which tasked federal departments and agencies with developing regulation frameworks for the unwieldy crypto ecosystem. The Treasury was tapped to lead the way, making every word that Yellen utters on the subject worth their weight in PAX Gold. While light on specifics, Yellen highlighted the government's concerns, touching on everything from Wall Street to the possibility of a government-issued stablecoin: | • | | Regulation must be based on risks and not technologies, she argued, urging safeguards to protect consumers, investors, and businesses. She added taxpayers should receive the same type of tax reporting on digital asset transactions as they do for stock and bond transactions. | | • | | While Yellen said a government stablecoin, sometimes called a central bank digital currency (CBDC), is not on the horizon, the US and its G-20 partners plan to launch an instant payment service to smooth over cross-border transaction frictions — one of the problems CBDC’s aim to solve. | | | | “Digital assets may be new, but many of the issues they present are not,” Yellen concluded.
Buy the Dip?: Fearing increased regulation, investors dumped cryptocurrencies across the board. Bitcoin fell below $45,000, dropping about 5% in the past week, which has analysts cautioning the world’s biggest cryptocurrency may become increasingly volatile. | | | | | | Shipping | Two Oil Shipping Giants are Merging to Create the World’s Biggest Tanker Fleet | | Two of the largest crude tanker firms agreed to merge Thursday in a deal that would form the world’s biggest oil tanker fleet.
They will fall under the charge of an eccentric, swashbuckling billionaire with a penchant for sending ships into conflict waters. What could go wrong? | Crude Language | | John Fredriksen, who began his career as a messenger boy for an Oslo-based shipping company, gave up his Norwegian citizenship for a passport from Cyprus, a noted tax haven, and runs his businesses from London (where billionaires love parking assets). Fredriksen first bought tankers in the 1970s and turned his firm Frontline into an industry powerhouse in the 1980s by making his crews risk life and limb in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War, capitalizing on high oil prices when many other companies wouldn’t dare to sail. Fredriksen is now worth $12 billion.
On Thursday, Frontline agreed to merge with Euronav in a $4.2 billion, all-stock deal. The new company keeps the Frontline name and, if recent events are any indication, will also hang on to Fredriksen’s cavalier spirit: | • | | The new group, if greenlit by regulators, would be the owner of 69 very large crude carriers, a term for ships that hold 2 million barrels of oil, and 57 Suezmaxes, which hold 1 million barrels. The new Frontline would control 10% of the world’s crude oil tanker fleet. | | • | | Despite NATO warning no naval ships could offer protection in the Black Sea during Russia’s siege of Ukraine, last month Frontline sailed to the Russian port of Novorossiysk to pick up a highly explosive compound used by oil refineries. The company said last month that, while unlikely, it's "not ruling out" transporting Russian crude oil. | | | Tough Business: Thanks to copious demand for physical goods during the pandemic (computer screens, outdoor furniture, etc.), virtually every facet of the shipping industry has experienced a surge during the pandemic. That is, except for oil shippers, who suffered under a global lull in fuel demand during lockdown measures. Euronav lost $338 million last year, a reversal of a $473 million profit a year earlier. Frontline lost $11 million in 2021. Batting Zero: Fredriksen is a longtime advocate of consolidation in the fragmented crude shipping business, but he’s no Ichiro Suzuki. In recent years, Frontline has swung and missed on attempted deals with US shippers Overseas Shipholding, DHT Holdings, General Maritime, and Gener8 Maritime, and Norwegian rival Double Hull Tankers. | | | | | | Sponsored by Vinovest | Is This The Best-Kept Secret In Investing? | Attractive historical returns? Check. Recession-resistant? Check. Delicious to drink? You better believe it. We’re talking, of course, about fine wine. Not only is fine wine one of the best-kept secrets in investing, it’s also now easier than ever to get in on… and that’s all thanks to Vinovest. The wine investors of yesteryear used to have to track down bottles, pay out of pocket, store them themselves, then somehow find a seller when the time was right to cash in (if that all sounds like more trouble than it’s worth, we agree). Luckily, Vinovest does all the hard work for you – including curating diverse wine portfolios suited to your investing goals, scoring the best prices on proven vintages, and even shipping it to you should you want to pair your investment with a nice steak dinner. Take their simple 1-minute assessment to see what kind of wine portfolio Vinovest could build you today. Get started with Vinovest. | | | | | | Labor | Entry-Level Walmart Truck Drivers Will Earn the Same as Goldman Sachs Analysts |  | | Both jobs involve often stressful 70-hour work weeks, both require sitting in a cube-shaped workstation, but only one lets you sample every roadside greasy spoon from Bangor to Bakersfield.
The starting salary for one of Walmart’s in-house truck drivers could be $110,000, the same as a first-year analyst at Goldman Sachs, the retail giant announced Thursday. The economics that got things here are unique. | Coming Up Shortage | | Unlike many major retailers, Walmart maintains its own private fleet of truckers, a policy going back to the company’s very early days when its founders decided they preferred to do the job in-house. Walmart started paying truckers way more, often double the industry standard, and never looked back. "You pay a little bit more, but you get a more safe and loyal workforce," Ken Braunbach, Walmart’s VP of transportation, told Business Insider in 2019.
Truck driving often demands long hours, pressing deadlines, and low pay. More than 3.5 million Americans are truck drivers, but the Department of Transportation estimates 300,000 leave the profession every year. While massive churn has led some to claim there’s a shortage of truckers, simple numbers suggest there’s more likely just a shortage of desirable trucking jobs like Walmart’s: | • | | The American Trucking Associations, an industry trade group, claims there was a worker shortage of 80,000 truckers last year. But the Bureau of Labor statistics, academics, and labor groups have frequently challenged such assertions, noting 450,000 people obtain commercial licenses every year to enter the field. | | • | | The average salary for a long-haul driver was $52,240 in 2021, while Walmart, which employs 12,000 truckers, is now offering a starting salary of $95,000 to $110,000. | | | | “We still have a lot of positions that can’t be filled because of the working conditions,” Mike Chavez, executive director of the Inland Empire Labor Institute, told Time.
Driving Need: Walmart’s need for more truckers is obvious. Pandemic-driven demand was a boon for major retailers, and more business means more drivers. The company hired a record 4,500 truckers last year and will even pay for commercial driver training, which can run up to $5,000 per person, for employees who want to switch jobs and hit the open road. | | | | | | Extra Upside | • | | Ever heard of a playground? Epic and Lego say they’re going to build a metaverse for kids. | | • | | Exiting Russia has cost oil giant Shell $5 billion. | | • | | Ever wonder how hedge funds like Citadel and AQR consistently beat the market? The answer might shock you: A team of financial wizards they keep in an old castle Quant-driven investing. Now, Composer is putting the power of quant in the hands of regular investors with their game-changing super-app. Pick an investment strategy, backtest it with their no-code tools, and put the magic of quant to work in your portfolio. Discover why over $1 trillion is managed by quant funds with Composer today.* *Partner | | | | | | |  | Just For Fun | | | | | Written by Sean Craig and Brian Boyle.
*Investing in securities involves risks, including the risk of loss. Composer Technologies Inc., SEC Registered RIA. | | No longer want to receive these emails? Unsubscribe here. Copyright © 2022 The Daily Upside, LLC., All rights reserved. 1230 York Avenue, Box 154, New York, NY 10065 | | | | |
Movie-Time Available! 
Free Download Available!
Beef Jerky YouTube Video Site 
How To Make Wine YouTube Video Site 
Movies, News & YouTube Live
0 Comments:
Post a Comment