An economic buzzkill - GDP and PCE, a GOOG stimulant, Robots and 1947.
An Economic Buzzkill… or is it?
Well, GDP and PCE came out this past week. That was the buzzkill.
Corporate earnings continue to come out, and there are some good numbers.
Let’s get into it.
With the economy, it’s all about expectations. The numbers are important, but did they exceed or fall below expectations?
GDP:
Expected was 2.2% growth for the first quarter. Keep in mind it was 3.4% for the 4th quarter of 2023.
Reality was 1.6%. Below expectations. Way below.
PCE – the Personal Consumption Expenditures, a key measure of inflation.
Expected was a monthly change of 0.3%, unchanged from the month before.
Reality was 0.3%. OoooKay. Nothing to see here, so what’s the big deal?
Except the annual PCE went up to 2.7% from 2.5% the month before.
That was NOT expected.
Prices keep going up. This is pretty much what everyone shopping for groceries, paying insurance, and eating out has been saying for about two years now.
Alphabet stock, aka Google, smoked earnings expectations. Not only that, they declared a dividend for the first time ever of 20 cents/share.
The stock, GOOG, was up $15.74/share, or 10%. That was just last Friday.
Google aside, the slowing of the economy and the continued rise in inflation will put the Fed in a quandary. Clearly, their actions are slowing down the economy, but prices are still going up.
A rate decrease is unlikely this year, folks. But that’s just me.
Robots coming for You
As if AI wasn’t bad enough, Rufus the Robot is coming for you.
More appropriately, your customers.
Rufus is a robot that can not only remove shingles from a residential roof but also reroof the whole house in half the time of a regular crew and without the worker’s compensation insurance premium that goes with it.
Then there is the robot operated by Smithfield Foods in Iowa. It cuts ribs. Pretty quickly too.
A $300 million cutting-edge (get it?) automated Tyson chicken processing plant that opened in late 2023 in Virginia can churn out 20% to 30% more chicken nuggets, strips, and wings with 250 fewer people compared with an older plant in Arkansas.
Folks, if you are not automating your manufacturing or packing line, and you can, you should probably give that some thought.
Who is Arthur D’Angelo?
Arthur, and his twin brother Henry, were born in Orsogna, Italy in 1926 and arrived in the United States in 1938 at the age of 12.
Their father wanted to get the heck out of Italy and leave Mussolini behind.
They wasted no time hustling to make a living, hawking newspapers on street corners in Boston during the late 1930s.
The papers were 2 cents, but if they got a nickel, they learned that if they fumbled to find change, the customer usually would tell them to keep it.
Their hustle continued, selling flowers, ice cream, water, dry-cleaning services, shoeshines, and Boston Red Sox pennants.
And they never finished high school.
The pennants and sports items stayed with them, and in 1947, they bought a street cart and founded the ’47 brand, named after the year they were founded. At the age of 21.
Must have been tough to do that without TikTok.
They eventually opened a store across the street from Fenway Park and later named the company Twins Enterprises.
Arthur was on a first-name basis with Carl Yastrzemski and Ted Williams.
He was such a fixture and reliable booster that he had the nickname of “Mayor of Fenway Park.”
His brother died in 1987, leaving Arthur to run the company.
Ettore Gabriel Pangrassio D’Angelo, also known as Arthur D’Angelo, died this past February 29 at the age of 97.
His four sons run the company, with 250 employees and over $400 million in sales.
“It’s been a lot of fun”, he said. “I’ve had a great life. My brother and I worked hard, but we were rewarded. And the stories! What stories!”.
Are you working hard to create those stories? Or are you just making up stories instead of working hard? You work hard, you get rewarded. Take it from Arthur. He seems to know what he’s talking about.
