08-20-2016, 10:59 PM
The single most important initiative that McMillon did was to pay people more. That's right, better pay. Higher benefits. Substantially better than many other companies. That's causing a monster chain reaction that's keeping good employees rather than losing them, say, to Target (TGT) , or to a fast-food company or any other national chain that could cherry-pick Walmart's best. It's all part of that plan announced last year to boost wages by $2.7 billion over several years time, to get the wages above the national average -- an amazing thing for this gigantic company. Why is this so important? Because the biggest cost to a place like Walmart is training. If you are constantly training new people after the good ones leave, you very well could be spending away all of your gross margins.
Jim Cramer -- Walmart Pays Employees Better and That's Paying Off - TheStreet
Recent research finds that traders looking at prices use parts of the brain associated with reading other people.
Neuroscience May Help Train Your Brain for Trading - Bloomberg
A surge in the yen weighed on Japanese index futures, which tracked losses in U.S. shares after Federal Reserve officials reignited speculation over an interest-rate increase this year. Oil was above $46 a barrel.
Yen Breaking 100 Damps Japan Stock Outlook With Crude Above $46 - Bloomberg
Don't look now, but the Fed is quietly unwinding QE. As seen in the figure below, the Fed's share of marketable treasuries has been shrinking: To be clear, this is a passive unwinding of QE. The Fed's treasury holdings have not changed, but the stock of marketable treasuries has grown. Nonetheless, this is still an unwinding according to the portfolio channel of monetary policy. This channel says the Fed's taking of safe treasury assets from the public would force investors to rebalance their portfolios toward riskier assets. This rebalancing, in turn, would reduce risk premiums, lower interest rates, push up asset prices, and help shore up the recovery.
Macro and Other Market Musings: The Unwinding of QE Has Begun
The Economist Intelligence Unit report, which ranks the best and worst cities to live in the world, found that 10 cities in Western Europe suffered falls in liveability in the wake of attacks in Paris and Brussels.
EIU Global Liveability Ranking: Worst cities to live in the world - Business Insider