A roundup of what The Globe and Mail’s market strategist Scott Barlow is reading today on the Web
The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada recently completed a probe of bank practices and found nothing amiss. One anonymous whistleblower CIBC employee clearly thought they should have looked harder,
“[The employee] describes feeling “desperate” to meet sales targets — by doing everything from tacking on a savings account, to extending a customer’s line of credit, to putting customers into bank-owned investments [when another option might be more suitable].“You’re saying to customers, ‘Let’s go over your finances. I’m here and I want to help,’” she told the CBC. “But what we’re doing is trying to find products you don’t have, that we can sell you.”
Coincidently, I recently went to change banks for the first time since getting preferred treatment as part of the financial industry. I found out it would cost around $600 per year for the privilege of handing over my savings for them to lend to someone else profitably, and for a credit card charging almost 20 per cent rates on unpaid balances. This isn’t about me, I’ll be fine, but many Canadians need that $600 to pay bills. Do banks?
“CIBC financial adviser ‘stunned’ that federal investigation found bank customers not widely upsold: Regulator warns that banks are not there to look after customers’ interests “ – CBC
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Gadfly’s Shira Ovide warns that global growth in smartphone sales is leveling off and Apple Inc might be in “iDenial,”
“Sales of new smartphones have ground to a halt globally, and Apple isn’t immune. Investors know this. Analysts on average expect Apple to sell 3 percent more smartphones in the current fiscal year than it did in 2017, and they’re forecasting a 1 percent bump in fiscal 2019… The reality is that the easy growth is over for the iPhone, which generates the majority of Apple’s revenue.”
“Everyone Talks About Apple’s Changing Business Except Apple” – Gadfly (Bloomberg)
“Hey Alexa, Which Chipmaker Found Life After Smartphones?” – Bloomberg
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Markets have shifted from worrying about flat yields curves to stressing about a breakout of U.S. ten year Treasury yields above three per cent. This quick about-face is a remarkable feat of investor anxiety,
“The global bond market’s primary benchmark, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield, is knocking on the door of 3 percent, a level it hasn’t topped in more than four years. That’s more than just a nice round number. Higher yields make the burden of everything from mortgages to student loans and car payments even heavier. Some market gurus see it as a turning point with effects that could be felt for years -- and not just in bonds”
“If Treasuries Reach 3%, That Would Be Big. Here’s Why” - Bloomberg
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Tweet of the Day:
Diversion: “The jobs guarantee and human-capital “nationalisation”” – Scaggs, FT Alphaville
Scott Barlow