Markets •

Eggmergency: Bird flu Causes Significant Spike in Wholesale Price of Eggs

June 3, 2015 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

Bird flu has decimated plenty of poultry flocks in the Midwest, causing a significant spike in wholesale price of eggs. In turn, consumers and businesses find themselves in the situation of having to pay more for the product itself, as well as for the food made with it.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, chicken and turkey producers from Iowa and Minnesota have been the worst-affected by the recent avian flu outbreaks, amounting to more than 44 million birds across the Midwest.

Chris Hurt, a Purdue University agricultural economist, explains that even though this figure sounds like a lot, the nation’s egg-producing capacity hasn’t been critically hit. However, a significant spike in prices was to be expected.

Hurt said that a look at the bigger picture of the egg industry shows why this raid of bird flu hasn’t made such a dent in the chicken and turkey market. These birds are relatively small, and they produce a lot of eggs; for reference, there were 358 million of egg layers reported in the United States in April.

However, the flu-related problems occurring in May had a near-doubling effect in the wholesale price of eggs. Individual consumers aren’t the ones most affected by this change, as the demand for eggs tends to remain the same in spite of price fluctuation.

Hurt said that a significant increase in price was needed in order to bring consumers’ demand back into accord with the expected supply. High-volume buyers and sellers are the ones who feel this price spike the most.

Often when egg costs increase, restaurants, bakeries and other companies using eggs in their prepared food, fail to pass the raised costs they are facing along to consumers. This means that companies are paying more to receive the same gain, cutting pretty deep into the businesses’ already thin margins.

But there are some winners in the situation, too. While egg producers who have lost entire flocks to avian flu will suffer, there are those who still have their healthy flocks – these are the beneficiaries of the price increase.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, warmer weather is expected to reduce the flu’s transmission, as the virus affecting the birds loses power between 65 and 85 degrees. A survey from the Indiana State Board of Animal Health shows that 16 states have reported diagnosed cases.

Indiana’s chicken and turkey industry is the one fearing the outbreak the most, because the state is the nation’s third largest egg producer and turkey producer.
Image Source: Cleveland Blog

Why Conferences Are a Powerful Marketing Tool

April 21, 2015 By James Faulkner Leave a Comment

With all the emphasis on digital marketing, many businesses have forgotten just how effective conferences can be as a marketing tool within their industry. Whether they are providing a product or a service, there is nothing like a good old fashioned conference to get the word out and reach a huge number of people. Here are some reasons why conferences are so powerful in terms of marketing.

Real Life Visual

No matter what you are trying to sell, it is much easier for a potential customer to see the benefits if they get a true visual of your product. Pictures are wonderful but they are not 3-D (in the real sense of the word) and even professional videos can’t demonstrate quite as effectively as a real-life demonstration. This is especially important if your product (or service) is hi tech, needing a proper demonstration based on the complexity of use.

Hands-on Demonstrations

How many products have you seen online and just wish you could ‘try’ to see if they do all they are advertised to do? Holding a conference is a wonderful way to allow prospective customers to get a hands-on feel for what you are trying to sell. Why do you think those door-to-door vacuum salesmen were so effective back in the day? They were able to let housewives try their amazing floor cleaners and voila! Sold.

We Are Social Creatures

By nature we are social creatures and nothing sells quite like a conference where plenty of time is allocated for socialisation. Why do you think social media has such a huge impact on sales? Some conferences have a grand closing dinner, cocktails and even entertainment. If prospective clients have a great time at your conference, there is a positive psychological link with your products/services. Nothing sells quite like fond remembrances and if you design your conference with this in mind, it is sure to be a success.

There are a number of great venues that cater to this type of conference and if you don’t know where to look, try an online venue search engine such as Venuesearchlondon.com. It is vital to host your conference at a venue that can provide the atmosphere and features you need to ensure a good time.

Leads from the Attendance Roster

Finally, just think about all those contacts you’ve gathered from the attendance list! If you’ve met all the above then these leads are a veritable gold mine! Those names have seen what you have to offer, have gotten a hands-on demonstration, had a great time at the closing gala and now you have your foot in the door. Even if they don’t register to buy at the conference, they are ‘primed’ for the closing when you contact them later. Just don’t let too much time elapse as you want those great memories to be fresh on their minds.

Plan your conference far enough in advance so that everything falls into place nicely. You want to leave attendees with pleasurable memories and some useful information. Altogether too often businesses forget about the power of conferences as a marketing tool, but seen in this perspective, you can’t lose.

Sales Are Not a Priority this Season

January 14, 2015 By Georgia Dawson Leave a Comment

Even though the number of jobs considerably increased this December, there is no sign that consumers are not interested in spending the new earned salary. Retail sales dropped while gas sales got retreated their offer. In other words, sales are not a priority this season.

The Commerce Department stated that this season’s holiday sales dropped by 0.9 percent last month after a rise of 0.6 in November. Since April, online sales also dropped by 0.3 percent. The department fears that this is the biggest decline in the past eleven months. They have not taken into consideration fluctuating industries such as auto, construction, catering or oil.

One cause of the downfall of retail sales can be the weak hourly pay. The hourly payments have also dropped last month. The inflation rate is 1.3 while the average pay has only been raised 1,7 percent.

However, American economists are optimists about the U.S economy and do not see this downfall a major catastrophe. They believe that this drop is temporary and it will not have a long term effect on the economy. Since the employment rate has grown, retail sales cannot remain at this low point for too long. A 3 percent increase is foreseen in the first quarter of the year.

On the other hand, general merchants complained that last month’s sales have never been this low in the last 4 years. Retailers like Wal-Mart or electronic departments along with clothing and building materials lost almost one percent in December. These figures were said to be the lowest since the recession ended in 2009.

A cause for these small figures can be the low gas prices. A gallon of gas has become extremely cheap, selling for about 2 dollars. This is the lowest price range in the last five years.Spending less money on gas, retailers were expecting consumers to spend their salaries at the holiday shopping season.

While merchandise store sales lost considerable percentage, restaurants and furniture gain almost one percent increase. The good news is also that most people’s concern was health products. Stores selling groceries and healthy products gained a one percent increase on sales. This came as a surprise for most analysts.

However, all retail sales had only a 4 percent increase in the entire year. Also, the stocks have bloomed in the past years. So wealthy people have additional income to spend.
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Facebook Will Keep Selling Ads Based on User Data

September 30, 2014 By Deborah Cobing Leave a Comment

Yesterday we reported on the new Ello social network and we talked about how some people believe that it’s going to be the death of Facebook. Today, we’re going to take a look at what Facebook is up to these days and we’re certain that you’re not going to like it one bit. It appears that Facebook will keep selling ads based on user data, but this time it is going to use its own ad network called Atlas.

Facebook Will Keep Selling Ads

Have you ever noticed how Facebook is suggesting pages and products based on something you’ve searched on an engine that had nothing to do with Facebook? Well, Facebook does this thing where it uses its user data and sells it to companies that get to do target marketing.

But it seems that Facebook wants a piece of the pie, so in 2013 it purchased Atlas, an ad network, from Microsoft. Atlas cost Facebook $100 million and it works by displaying ads on websites other than Mother Facebook; the ads will be based on Facebook users’ personal data.

If this sounds a bit too intrusive, it’s because it is intrusive. Facebook will keep selling ads based on user data that we give Facebook. Atlas works similar to Google AdWords and it is supposed to be a good thing, that will make shopping smart and advertising even smarter, but isn’t this a violation of privacy?

Erik Johnson, Atlas chief, said in a public statement:

People spend more time on more devices than ever before. This shift in consumer behavior has had a profound impact on a consumer’s path to purchase, both online and in stores. And today’s technology for ad serving and measurement – cookies – are flawed when used alone. Cookies don’t work on mobile, are becoming less accurate in demographic targeting and can’t easily or accurately measure the customer purchase funnel across browsers and devices or into the offline world.

What are your thoughts on this? Drop us a line in the comment section below, we would love to hear what you have to say about the fact that Facebook will keep selling ads based on user data.

UK Trade Deficit Widens as Geopolitical Tensions Accumulate

August 8, 2014 By Deborah Cobing 1 Comment

The UK economy seems to face some issues. The Office for National Statistics (ONS), published figures on Friday indicating a widening trade deficit. This is the third month is a row when this takes place. The trade deficit widened up to £9.4bn from £9.2bn. Economists presented optimistic prospects earlier, suggesting that the UK trade deficit will diminish to £8.8 bn.

Unfortunately for the British, the events taking place recently took their toll on the economy. The Eurozone economy is weak. Italy entered its third economic recession just a couple of days ago, as its GDP saw negative growth for a consecutive quarter. The British pound is strong at the moment, making British goods expensive on foreign markets. Another explanation for the expanding trade deficit rests in the consequences produced by the tensions between Russia and the Western countries.

The economic fight between the two parts hurt the global economy. Among other sanctions, the Western countries decided to cut Russian banks from European markets. Russia responded on Thursday by taking a strong large-scale measure. As of yesterday, all food imported from the 27 EU states, U.S, Canada, Australia and Norway are banned on the Russian market.

UK trade deficit widens because less oil and manufacturing goods are exported

Britain exported less oil and manufacturing goods in June, an important reason why the exports dropped by £400 million. The total value of exported goods in June totaled £23.5 billion. Imports fell by just £100 million, totaling £32.9 billion. Right now Britain’s trade with states from outside the EU faces difficulties. Both imports and exports with non-EU states dropped.

Another explanation for the British recent volatile trade is the fact that aircrafts have been traded in the past months. These are high value infrequent trades and skew the statistics easily.

The British construction sector output saw a 1.2 percent growth in June, according to other separate data, Reuters reports.

On the matter of UK trade deficit, Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight, declares for The Guardian that “The hope has been that gradually improving global growth will increasingly help UK exports over the coming months, but this hope is under threat from heightened global geopolitical tensions. In particular, UK exporters will be perturbed by current worrying signs that already weak eurozone growth is faltering anew as deteriorating relations with Russia and tit-for-tat sanctions weigh down on confidence.

Italy Enters Another Recession Period

August 6, 2014 By Sebastian Mc’Mannen Leave a Comment

The economic crisis is not over for Italy. The country faces a second quarter with a decreasing GDP figure. In the first quarter of 2014, Italy’s economy shrank by 0.2 percent. The numbers forming the second quarter figures indicate a trend, with another contraction of 0.1 percent. Successive quarters indicating negative growth are interpreted as a period of economic recession by economists. Italy enters another recession, but taken monthly, the numbers would not necessarily be so disastrous. From May to June, the economy grew by 0.9 percent.

Greece is finally seeing better economic figures. Moody’s just upgraded the country’s ratings by two notches, up to Caa1.

The end of 2013 signaled sustained economic growth for Italy, so the news of recession comes as a surprise. Hetal Mehta, European economist with Legal & General Investment Management, told the BBC: “Italy has a huge pile of government debt and they need growth to bring that debt stock down, so having such weak growth figures is a major setback.” Since 2007, Italy’s economy shrank by 9 percent, according to the Bank of Italy.

Italy did not undertake too many measures against the economic recession. Other countries, such as Spain, combined austerity measures with labor market reforms.

Italy enters another recession in the midst of international turmoil caused by Russia and Israel

The Italian administration predicted a 0.8 percent economic growth for 2014 and 2.6 percent GDP deficit. If things worsen up, Italy might have to appeal external aid and to form another budget. Nevertheless, this is Italy’s third recession in the last six years.

Matteo Renzi, the 39 years old Italian Prime Minister will be affected by the latest economic figures. He took the power in February and promised to initiate reforms in the labor market, privatization and support tax cuts. The neoliberal mindset does not seem to provide satisfactory results so far.

Other three countries from the Euro zone faced economic recession in 2014. Finland, Cyprus, and Greece have reported two successive quarters of economic shrinking.

Italy’s unsatisfactory economic results might have been influenced by external factors too. Russia and the Middle East are some of Italy’s biggest markets for fashion and luxury goods. But right now there is turmoil in both areas. Allegedly Russia gathers military resources at the border with Ukraine and the stock prices fell vigorously as a consequence. Italy enters another recession as its economy is sensitive to these recent changes.

U.S. Commerce Department Imposes Punitive Measures to Chinese Solar Panel Producers

July 26, 2014 By Jack M. Robinson Leave a Comment

Solar energy becomes increasingly important in a time when fossil fuel reservoirs run dry and pollution reaches alarming levels, even as the main polluting industries moved overseas. As production costs dropped, solar panel sales increased in the last several years. But the world market of solar panels gets more competitive and legal battles are being taken to clarify what it means to be a fair market competitor. U.S. based solar power technology companies claimed that Chinese solar panel producers do not operate fairly because they receive state funding and sell at sub-cost levels.

On Friday, the U.S. Commerce Department intervened by setting preliminary anti-dumping tariffs for some Chinese and Taiwanese solar panel producers. A month ago, anti-subsidy measures have been taken by U.S. regulators, so now a second step is being taken against Asian producers selling solar panels on the U.S. market. The Commerce Department’s June decision set duties from 10.74 up to55.49 percent. The World Trade Organization announced in July that the U.S. infringed global trade rules through its punitive 2012 tariffs on Chinese solar panels. Two different views on how production and distribution should take place clash, leading to increased tensions between the U.S. and China.

The development of solar powered solutions runs at a fast pace. In April, a solar powered plane to fly around the world was announced.

Prices rise as Chinese solar panel producers face anti-dumping taxes

U.S.-based SunPower, among other solar panel companies, will gain from the future anti-dumping tariffs. But the Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy, formed mostly out of solar panel installers, is not happy with the new measures, according to Reuters. The decision will hinder the development of alternative energy deployment and will affect consumers who will face escalated prices, the coalition argues.

By adding the anti-subsidy and anti-dumping penalties, Trina Solar will pay a total of 29.3 percent. Green Energy will pay a total of 47.27 percent, according to Internet Business Times. This June punitive decisions increased the prices with around 10 percent, hitting Chinese solar panel producers. In the meantime, U.S. and European producers start recovering.

The recent decisions will affect the global solar panels market. Without constant certainty regarding the evolution of prices, few developers can afford the risks involved in initiating new projects. Moreover, analysts cited by the New York Times say that the punitive measures against Chinese solar panel producers will not be beneficial on the long term, because low-cost production might as well move to another country like Mexico, for example.

French Bank BNP Paribas to pay $8.7 billion fine

July 1, 2014 By Georgia Dawson Leave a Comment

French Bank BNP Paribas pleaded guilty in a trial with the U.S. authorities. The bank will pay $8.7 billion fine for breaching the interdiction regarding financial transactions with Sudan, Iran and Cuba. It is another victory for the Department of Justice. Just about a month ago, Creddit Suisse pleaded guilty and it received a $2.6 billion fine for supporting customers dodge taxes. Both sums add up to a total amount of more than $100 billion penalties accorded to various financial institutions in the last couple of years.

The case U.S. authorities versus French Bank BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas ran concealed economic transactions between 2002 and 2012 in the name of Iran, Cuba and Sudan in oil business to avoid the ban imposed by the U.S. The banks operations ran in the context of being under investigation by the U.S. authorities. Besides the $8.7 billion penalty, the bank will not have the right to transfer dollars, a punishment known as ‘dollar clearing’. The effect of the measure will only cover the U.S. transactions. The bank will be able to carry its transactions in dollars through its European branches. Now BNP Paribas, which reported earnings in the last year, has to find administrative technical ways of offering services to its clients in the U.S. They will use third-party banking services and ensure that the clients will not even notice the change, as the bank will cover all the expenses. Lars Machenil, French Bank BNP Paribas chief financial officer, stated that the oil and gas departments do not account for more than one percent of the total revenues.

The ban will last one year, starting with January 1, 2015. Clients who wish to move their operations somewhere else will have almost a half a year to do so.

The French Government was worried that a very harsh penalty will have repercussions on the French economy. The French Finance Minister suggested that the penalties should be oriented towards past actions, instead of future economic relations. The problem is that white collar crime has not been extremely punitive so far. Thus, the question is what type of measures the authorities should take in these cases to ensure a drastic diminishment of corporate crime level.

French Bank BNP Paribas stock value fell by 15 percent since April. After the announcement made yesterday, its shares rose by 4 percent. If there is something the market adores, that is certainty.

BIGGEST LOSERS NASDAQ Pre-Market – RIGL, DNDN, TLAB, AMBA, PTNR, HIMX, MGIC, MNKD, ZNGA, CMLS

August 26, 2013 By Deborah Cobing 1 Comment

THESE are the most declined stocks during NASDAQ Pre-Market trade, as of 8/26/2013, 8:45 A.M.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (RIGL)

RIGL is currently trading at $3.04, down 0.59 percent with 16.25 percent change on 208,817 total traded shares

Dendreon Corporation (DNDN)

DNDN is currently trading at $2.82, down 0.09 percent with 3.09 percent change on 11,820 total traded shares

Tellabs, Inc. (TLAB)

TLAB is currently trading at $2.25, down 0.07 percent with 3.02 percent change on 3,100 total traded shares

Ambarella, Inc. (AMBA)

AMBA is currently trading at $14.61, down 0.44 percent with 2.92 percent change on 11,849 total traded shares

Partner Communications Company Ltd. (PTNR)

PTNR is currently trading at $7.88, down 0.23 percent with 2.84 percent change on 19,500 total traded shares

Himax Technologies, Inc. (HIMX)

HIMX is currently trading at $6, down 0.11 percent with 1.80 percent change on 18,580 total traded shares

Magic Software Enterprises Ltd. (MGIC)

MGIC is currently trading at $6.51, down 0.11 percent with 1.66 percent change on 3,775 total traded shares

MannKind Corporation (MNKD)

MNKD is currently trading at $5.43, down 0.09 percent with 1.63 percent change on 25,900 total traded shares

Zynga Inc. (ZNGA)

ZNGA is currently trading at $2.85, down 0.04 percent with 1.38 percent change on 21,782 total traded shares

Cumulus Media Inc. (CMLS)

CMLS is currently trading at $4.65, down 0.05 percent with 1.06 percent change on 3,000 traded shares

BIGGEST GAINERS NASDAQ Pre-Market – MTEX, AVNR, ONXX, MRGE, AMGN, JRCC, LOGI, UEPS, IBCP, MACK

August 26, 2013 By Deborah Cobing Leave a Comment

THESE are the most advanced stocks during NASDAQ Pre-Market trade, as of 8/26/2013, 9:30 A.M.

Mannatech, Incorporated (MTEX)

MTEX is currently trading at $22.82, up 1.66 percent with 7.84 percent change on 4,999 total traded shares

Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AVNR)

AVNR is currently trading at $5.36, up 0.38 percent with 7.63 percent change on 300,180 total traded shares

ONYX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ONXX)

ONXX is currently trading at $123.66, up 6.70 percent with 5.73 percent change on 4,349,465 total traded shares

Merge Healthcare Incorporated (MRGE)

MRGE is currently trading at $2.54, up 0.13 percent with 5.39 percent change on 25,414 total traded shares

Amgen Inc. (AMGN)

AMGN is currently trading at $110.75, up 5.15 percent with 4.88 percent change on 303,399 total traded shares

James River Coal Company (JRCC)

JRCC is currently trading at $2.24, up 0.09 percent with 4.19 percent change on 7,728 total traded shares

Logitech International S.A. (LOGI)

LOGI is currently trading at $7.77, up 0.29, up 3.88 percent change on 38,787 total traded shares

Net 1 UEPS Technologies, Inc. (UEPS)

UEPS is currently trading at $11.10, up 0.35 percent with 3.26 percent change on 8,635 total traded shares

Independent Bank Corporation (IBCP)

IBCP is currently trading at $9.76, up 0.27 percent with 2.85 percent change on 3,800 total traded shares

Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (MACK)

MACK is currently trading at $3.50, up 0.095 percent with 2.79 percent change on 4,627 total traded shares