ECONOMY

The Federal Reserve Cuts Interest Rates

The Fed slashed interest rates yesterday by 0.25% for the second time this year. The cut is the latest sign the Fed believes inflation is nearing its key target rate of 2%.

A new Donal Trump financial policy muddies the waters if any of the policy items discussed on the campaign trail get implement into policy. This brings to light the “economy stands on the brink of change”.

Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, on Thursday commented while addressing the press Fed officials would watch the economic data closely before the final decision is made on a final rate cut at its December 2024 meeting.

El-Erian Talks Economy On Face The Nation

Mohamed El-Erian, Allianz Chief Economic Advisor, talked jobs and economy on Face The Nation. The Jobs report released last Friday indicated jobs stalled in October. The distortion in the report he attributed to hurricanes and employee strikes but El-Erian also mentioned “we have an economy that has been growing robustly, (and) inflation is coming down”. Adding “the main challenge for the next administration is “to continue to position it for the engine of tomorrow’s prosperity”.

When asked when people will see grocery prices and the cost of housing come down El-Erian commented “it’s not going to happen”.

The FED began adjusted interest rates higher to fend off an over expanding economy beginning in 2022, the fallout from these rate move are higher costs for goods and services for households and businesses. Americans have seen these higher costs at the cash register and in borrowing costs, and rightly want to know when these increases costs will start to go down. As the process is reversed and the FED reduces interest rates, as it did in September, it generally has a tendency with some variance to drag inflation down along with it.

The danger for our national economy as El-Erian mentions is the national debt. The U.S. “debt to GDP is 120%”. For all us non-math folk that means for every $10 earned the U.S. borrows and spends $2 extra dollars or 20% more. That math just doesn’t math, and El-Erian went on to say the candidate that occupies the Whitehouse “like it or not are going to have to find a way to moderate deficits and debt”.

TECH TODAY

TikTok Banned In Canada The Canadian government ordered the closure of TikTok’s Vancouver and Toronto offices siting national security concerns. The government had previously banned TikTok from government phones. TikTok employees not citizens will need to leave the country. Though Canadian users can continue to use TikTok 🤔 

Yelp The trusted peer review website disclosed today in its earnings call the acquisition of auto repair service platform RepairPal. Yelp reported the acquisition cost the company $80 million in cash

Find My Phone Apple is considering allowing users to us the “Find My” app on the iOS 18.2 developer beta as a new “Share Item Location” option. MacBook’s, iPhones, and other items with air tags will be able to use the feature to locate a missing device.

HEADLINE NEWS 👀

WonderFi Crypto Exchange CEO Kidnapped

In a public statement WonderFi said its CEO Dean Skurka was kidnaped in Toronto and held hostage for ransom. Skurka was released unharmed after a payment of $1 million Canadian was transferred to the kidnapers.

Crypto Influence On 2024 Election

The Crypto industry had a significant impact on the 2024 election. Exerting financial influence, the industry poured $120 million into the election cycle in support of pro-Crypto candidates.

Former President Donald Trump, now President elect after winning the election, expressed strong support for Crypto currencies during his bid for a second Presidential term. And the Crypto industry through its support may have aide his victory. The wins of other pro-Crypto candidates may have been aided by this support.

With 50 million Americans owning some form of Crypto the Crypto industry’s involvement in the 2024 election may position it to potentially shape the future of U.S. financial regulation and more elections moving forward.

What’s In A Name

OpenAI, parent of the ChatGPT chatbot, confirmed it has acquired the domain name chat.com The story is Dharmesh Shah Co-founder of HubSpot reportedly bought the domain last year for $10 million the highest reported price for a similar domain name.

Earlier this week Shah wrote on his blog the domain was no longer forwarding to OnStartUps and that he had sold the domain to OpenAI, at a profit. Shah went on the state that he made a philanthropic donation of $250,000 to the Khan Academy to support their work teaching kids how to learn.

Bernard Marcus Co-Founder of Home Depot Dead At 95

Bernard Marcus better known to his associates as Bernie revolutionized the home improvement do-it-yourself retail landscape when he co-founded Home Depot with partners in 1979. The retailer has a touching anthology in Remembering Bernie Marcus.

Crypto Soars On Prospect Of Trump Win

Bitcoin soared to an all time high exceeding $75,000. In recent months former President Trump has assumed a pro-crypto stance while on the campaign trail calling for a national Bitcoin stockpile and openly threatened to fire SEC chairman Gary Gensler who has remained anti-crypto on his first day in office if elected.

Will Bitcoin get to $100,000 before year end? That’s a question on investors minds but if Trump engages in Bitcoin friendly policies the price of Bitcoin can rise higher.

CYBER SECURITY

Password Security For Business Survival

Password Armageddon is a real threat for business email, operating systems, and bank accounts. One innocuous oversight can put a business or finances at great risk.

We have all read the stories about cyberattacks, ransomware, and bank account hacks at large companies and institutions but these threats are also real threats to a Small Business. Cyber crooks roam the internet daily phishing for ways to raid a company’s treasures. Take these steps to improve security and avoid unnecessary hassle.

There are simple steps to help secure lines of communication and financial transactions like enrolling in two part authentication. This can be a pain in the butt, you would know if you’ve already enrolled accounts in this security measure, but it could also save a business countless hours of time and precious financial resources and or cash.

Follow these three simple password management processes to help secure password security in your business.

i. Implement a password manager preferably one with password encryption.

ii. Enable multi-factor authentication. A royal pain but it helps reduce risk of unauthorized access.

iii. Enforce strict password policies including the requirement to use of complex passwords.  

Business owners go to great lengths to grow and increase revenue but often do not take small steps to protect the castle and leave the front door open for crooks to enter. Lock down a simple to use password protection SOP for the health of the business and its employees.

STORY TIME

Kindergarten Vote

For many Americans the election process was a day of tense feelings regardless of candidate preference. To lighten the mood of this immense moment in history The Grind is enforcing story time. Select the “audio” link in the upper right corner and lay your head down on your desk, Jessica will now read you this newsletter.

Election day is always a weighty day and though they don’t vote children can also feel the impact of the day. When you are just 5 years old the ideological computation of an election process and what it actually means is rather complex. Though, then, there are 40 somethings that have been known to not understand the election process 🤷‍♂️ 

One clever elementary school in Houston, Texas thought the 2024 election would be a good opportunity to teach kids how elections work (disclosure my granddaughter may attend this school).

The ballot make up. Kid voters vote between two candidates.

• Candidate A - Chocolate Chip Cookie

• Candidate B - Oreo Cookie

In full sensory experience the voters were required to research the candidates. They could lift, weigh, sniff, and finally eat each candidate before casting their final vote.

After careful consideration of the candidates the voters wrestled with sticky fingers, smeared chocolate on lips, a sugar crash and then took to the polls.

The winner? Candidate A Chocolate Chip Cookie

What a terrific way to teach kids the election process and responsibility of voting. Now, lets just hope none of the voters recalled any of the candidates 🤮 

SHORT, SHORT BUSINESS STORIES

Pink slips, leave permanent scars. (Employees, your most valuable resource)

THE GRIND FACTORY ⚙️ 

Family Office Capital

Family offices are known to be opaque entities seldom seen in the public domain and rarely heard about as a source of investment capital. For Small Businesses seeking investment capital Family Offices (“FO”) could be a viable source of private investment capital.

Shielded by a labyrinth of private entities masking investments FO’s can be difficult to find. FO experts agree the best way to attract an FO investment is to find a point of alignment with the industry that created the FO’s wealth and or companies they are known to have a substantial investment interest. Family Offices can be more flexible than banks, private equity, and venture capitalists. When pitching an FO it is recommended by insiders that the pitch is based on projections based on known metrics instead of pi in the sky dreams and aspirations.  

WEALTH FACTOR

“You Like To Think Big”?

Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank has been known to think big and place big bets like in Uber, Nvidia, Alibaba, Door Dash, WeWork, and ByteDance (TikTok). Son said it will require “200 Million chips” to build out AI with a cumulative CAPEX cost of 💰$9 Trillion which he suggests is “reasonable”. Son concluded that $9 Trillion per annum will be generated with a 50% net profit and four new GAFA companies will have split the bulk of it taking in $1 Trillion in profits. Talk about a 🔥🔥🔥 chat❗️

REAL ESTATE CORNER

Interest Rate Conundrum

The average rate on a 30 year mortgage has gone up not down rising by more than 0.05% just in the last week. Why are mortgage rates going up while the Federal Funds rate is being lowered by the Federal Reserve?

Well, mortgage rates aren’t determined by the FED contrary to popular belief. Mortgage rates are heavily influenced by Treasury yields. These yields are market sensitive and rise and fall based on market participants perceived economic expectations in the future.

The current outlook for Treasury rates is strong growth which will keep treasury yields up and related mortgage rates will follow.

Adding more stress to this upward rate trend are the proposed Trump tax-cut policies discussed during President elect Trump’s campaign. These tax cuts would add to the national deficit, and increase economic growth with a corollary affect of increasing inflationary conditions. This will place upward pressure on Treasury yields. Trump promised higher tariffs on foreign made goods which could add further to inflation.

UNIQUELY INTERESTING

💡 Epiphany Moments

Daylight Savings Rescue: With the days now running shorter after the time change here are ways to stay fit, sharp, and sane.

1. Get out in the sunlight. Mornings will help regulate mood.

2. Get into a good sleep schedule. Sleep will help keep your body in sync.

3. Stay active. Boosts mood and energy.

4. Eat well. Eat a healthy diet.

5. Stay connected to friends and family.

6. Relax. Keep stress to a minimum.

7. Shelve electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bed.

8. Nest well. Create a cozy personal living space.

9. Light therapy. Void of natural sunlight use light therapy as a replacement.

10. Dial a friend, a family member, or a professional if help is needed. Don’t hesitate

 🍎 One Smart Apple

 HEALTH & LONGEVITY

Mushroom Color Atlas

Fungi, better known as mushrooms, are known to have desirable health properties. Did you know mushrooms are:

• Rich in nutrients, including B vitamins, selenium, copper, and potassium

• Antioxidant rich to boos the immune system

• Weight management friendly being low in calories

• Heart healthy 💝 

• 🧠 Supports brain health protecting against cognitive decline

• Vitamin D rich which is good for your bones 🦴 

This interactive design of fungi chromatic universe colors produced by dye mushrooms is presented through a spectrum of fungi color selection. Enjoy 👀