Sales & Marketing news

• Coinbase is finally supporting SegWit, an update that could fix bitcoin's biggest problems. Here's what's happening.

  21-02-2018 20:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  The $1.6 billion cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase will start using an updated version of bitcoin called SegWit. The company announced on Tuesday that it finished testing and will roll out updates throughout next week.
  SegWit is a politically contentious update to bitcoin which many believe will scale the popular cryptocurrency, making it faster and cheaper to use. 
  SegWit is an optional update, and only 14% of bitcoin transactions use it. But once 95% of all bitcoin transactions use SegWit,
  
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• Some Fed officials worry that inflation would fall short of their target

  21-02-2018 20:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  Some Federal Reserve officials see a sizeable risk that inflation could fall short of their 2% target, according to the minutes of their most recent policy meeting released on Wednesday. 
  At the January 30-31 meeting, which was the last under former Fed Chair Janet Yellen, the Federal Open Market Committee left interest rates unchanged, as expected. But its statement updated the language on inflation, indicating that the Fed expected prices "to move up this year." 
  Inflation has
  
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• Amazon is selling an exclusive line of over-the-counter medications (AMZN)

  21-02-2018 19:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  Amazon is selling an exclusive line of generic over-the-counter medications. 
  The private label-line is manufactured by drugmaker Perrigo, which is known for its store-brand over-the-counter medications for things like allergy and cold medications. 
  CNBC reports that the line of medications, called "Basic Care," has about 60 products. 
   
  Amazon is selling an exclusive line of over-the-counter generic medications. 
  The line, called "Basic Care," is essentially store-brand
  
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• Some prominent conservatives and white supremacists are blaming Twitter's bot crackdown for wiping out thousands of their followers (TWTR)

  21-02-2018 19:12 via feedproxy.google.com
  Several prominent conservatives and white supremacists on Twitter noticed they had lost thousands of followers on Wednesday morning.
  Claiming they were targeted because of their political views, they surfaced the hashtag #TwitterLockout.
  Twitter confirmed with Business Insider it had indeed suspended accounts, but said Twitter's tools are "apolitical."Some prominent conservatives and white supremacists on Twitter lost thousands of followers Wednesday after Twitter purged its service of numerous
  
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• Bank of America strategists shatter a widespread myth about interest rates and stocks after being bombarded with questions

  21-02-2018 18:46 via feedproxy.google.com
  Stocks actually have a "weak and inconsistent correlation" with interest rates, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategists. 
  They've been receiving lots of questions from clients following the market correction that was partly driven by fears of higher rates. 
  Returns stay positive until interest rates cross 6%, and the probability of losses starts to increase as rates rise above 3%, BAML found.Strategists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch say they have been fielding a lot o
  
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• A 21-year-old just raised $34 million to build an anonymous crypto-trading platform

  21-02-2018 18:28 via feedproxy.google.com
  Republic Protocol, a company run by a 21-year-old, has raised $34 million worth of ether to build a cryptocurrency dark pool, according to a Wall Street Journal report. 
  It will allow big crypto investors to trade in the shadows. 
   
  Some of the largest crypto hedge funds have poured money into a company that's building a platform for traders looking to operate in the shadows.
  Republic Protocol has raised $33.8 million worth of ether, according to a Wall Street Journal report, to f
  
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• The implosion of a wildly popular trade was actually a good thing, Morgan Stanley's US equity chief says

  21-02-2018 18:24 via feedproxy.google.com
  Morgan Stanley's chief US equity strategist, Mike Wilson, says the implosion of the immensely popular short-volatility trade was actually a positive for markets in the long run.
  Overall, Wilson has been impressed by the equity market's resilience since the correction that rocked investors earlier this month.
  The recent stock market correction featured a reckoning of sorts for one of the hottest and most profitable trades around: shorting volatility.
  When the Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX, more t
  
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• Lastminute.com wants to be known for more than just price as it turns 20

  21-02-2018 18:19
  It has been 20 years since Lastminute.com launched its website at the height of the dotcom boom with the aim of bringing late holidays deals online. At the time the idea was revolutionary but in a fast moving market staying at the top of the travel industry is not easy.
  Lastminute.com has managed what many of its contemporaries failed and is still going strong. But the road has not been easy, In 2014, it was sold to Bravofly Rumbo, a European online travel agent, for £76m, a fraction of th
  
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• CRYPTO INSIDER: Bitcoin regains some of its dominance

  21-02-2018 17:18 via feedproxy.google.com
  Welcome to Crypto Insider, Business Insider’s roundup of all the bitcoin and cryptocurrency news you need to know today. Sign up here to get this email delivered direct to your inbox.
  Bitcoin has regained some of its cryptocurrency dominance. The largest digital currency is up to 39.1% of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization as of Wednesday morning, its highest point of 2018 so far, but still still well off the more than half it made up through most
  
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• Americans are starting to love the GOP tax law — and they haven't even noticed its benefits

  21-02-2018 17:16 via feedproxy.google.com
  45% of people surveyed in a new Morning Consult/Politico poll said they support the GOP tax law, while only 35% opposed the law.
  But 51% of people said they had not yet received a paycheck increase from the law compared to 25% of people that said they did.
  Despite the steadily improving popularity of the law, many Americans have so far said they haven't received benefits.
  The IRS estimated that 90% of Americans should see a larger paycheck from the tax bill.Americans may be warming up to the rec
  
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• Priceline is changing its name (PCLN)

  21-02-2018 17:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  Priceline Group is now called Booking Holdings.The rebranding reflects the company's best performing business, Booking.com.You won't be looking for Priceline under the ticker "PCLN" for much longer.
  The travel site is rebranding, and will now be called Booking Holdings. Shares will still be listed on the Nasdaq, but will trade under the ticker symbol "BKNG." The change will be official on February 27.
  The move comes as one of the company's best businesses, Booking.com, has significantl
  
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• Tesla will face a reckoning this year if it doesn't make a fundamental change (TSLA)

  21-02-2018 16:55 via feedproxy.google.com
  Tesla is piling up promises, from the Semi truck to a new Roadster to fully ramped Model 3 production.
  The company has a long history of overpromising and underdelivering.
  That's been acceptable until now, but in 2018 Tesla needs to make good on consumer and investor expectations.Tesla's biggest promise is a good one: accelerate humanity's exit from the fossil-fuel era. Its second-biggest promise is also pretty big: be the first successful new American car company in decades.
  Given that Tesla ne
  
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• Amazon is zooming towards a record high (AMZN)

  21-02-2018 16:51 via feedproxy.google.com
  Amazon has easily outpaced the stock market at large in recent months.
  Now the retailer is closing in on another record, less than a month after setting its last. 
  You can track the stock in real-time here>>Amazon is up more than 1% in trading Wednesday, closing in on a new high. Shares set their previous record of $1,498 after gaining more than 6% on estimate-topping earnings on February 2. 
  The company has escaped the volatility that rocked markets earlier this year relati
  
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• Deliveroo launches global brand campaign to encourage people to ‘eat more amazing’

  21-02-2018 16:23
  Deliveroo is launching a new global brand campaign as it looks to showcase the breadth of food available on its service and get people using it more often.
  Launching today (21 February), the ‘Eat More Amazing’ campaign will feature traditional takeaway foods such as curry and pizza alongside more unconventional offerings such as poke, a type of Hawaiian salad, and sushi, as well as healthier options. Deliveroo hopes this will be the start of a long-term proposition that will encourag
  
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• It's 'difficult to ignore the magnitude' of Walmart's e-commerce slowdown (WMT)

  21-02-2018 16:14 via feedproxy.google.com
  Shares of Walmart lost 10% Tuesday after posting disappointing online sales growth.
  E-commerce growth slowed to about half what it had been the previous quarter.
  The results triggered a slew of downgrades from Wall Street analysts. Walmart saw its worst day on Wall Street in more than 30 years Tuesday after reporting earnings that fell short of expectations and spooked investors.
  Shares lost more than 10% in trading, resulting in a $31.6 billion decline in market cap, after e-comm
  
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• What Apple CEO Tim Cook says he'd do if he were 'king for a day' (AAPL)

  21-02-2018 16:07 via feedproxy.google.com
  Apple CEO Tim Cook doesn't like that public companies need to report earnings on a quarterly basis. 
  Instead, he prefers to focus on customer feedback to judge success. 
  He says he's had only good years while leading Apple, going back to 2003. Under CEO Tim Cook's watch, Apple has sold hundreds of millions of iPhones, booked hundreds of billions of dollars in profit, and launched new products like AirPods and Apple Watch.
  In fact, Cook says, he's never had a bad year as CEO of App
  
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• Jim Chanos says Elon Musk just told his 'biggest whopper' about Tesla yet

  21-02-2018 16:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  Business Insider's Linette Lopez asked famed short seller Jim Chanos about his ongoing Tesla short, and he shared "the biggest whopper" the company's CEO, Elon Musk has told the market.
  "...he said that truck will be out in 2019," Chanos said. "And if that's the case, those production lines have to be up now. That factory has to be up now. And where is that? I mean, what factory line is going to be making a truck in 2019 and a roadster sports car that he unveiled in 2020? You can't simply say th
  
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• Wassim Basir: A solution alone is not a strategy

  21-02-2018 16:00 via warc.com
  Wassim Basir is Coca Cola MENA’s Director of Integrated Marketing Communication and chair of judges for the second WARC prize for MENA strategy. He spoke to Lucy Aitken about the challenge of reaching the region’s youth and what...
  
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• Wasim Basir: A solution alone is not a strategy

  21-02-2018 16:00 via warc.com
  Wasim Basir, Coca-Cola MENA’s Director of Integrated Marketing Communication and the chair of judges for this year’s WARC Prize for MENA strategy, speaks to Lucy Aitken about the challenge of reaching the region’s...
  
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• Millennials are dragging down beer sales — but Gen Z marks a 'turning point' that will cause an even bigger problem for the industry

  21-02-2018 15:42 via feedproxy.google.com
  Generation Z is the first generation to prefer other types of alcoholic drinks to beer, according to a new report.
  The generation is also drinking less alcohol in general — in part because it doesn't think drinking is "cool" anymore.Millennials kicked off beer's downward spiral.
  While millennials have been blamed for beer's downward spirals, it seems that the next generation may be even worse news for the industry.
  A report from Berenberg Research found that members of Generation Z preferr
  
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• Republican senators are begging Trump to reverse one of his first major economic decisions

  21-02-2018 15:41 via feedproxy.google.com
  25 Republican senators sent a letter to President Donald Trump asking him to get the US back into the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
  Trump pulled the US out of TPP on the third day of his presidency, but recently said he is open to renegotiating the deal.
  But recent moves by the Trump administration suggest that the president is favoring more protectionist trade policies.More than two-dozen Republican senators on Tuesday released a letter they sent to President Donald Trump, requesti
  
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• It's only a matter of time before Wall Street's biggest fear holds 'the Fed's feet to the fire'

  21-02-2018 15:37 via feedproxy.google.com
  The prospect of rising inflation and the Federal Reserve's possible reaction to it is Wall Street's favorite new thing to worry about.
  After years of false alarms, "a sustained rise in inflation will hold the Fed’s feet to the fire," according to Capital Economics.
  It's "only a matter of time before Fed officials start dropping more hints that they are prepared to step up the pace of monetary tightening," they write in a research note.Wall Street is getting antsy about inflation again
  
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• Hedge funds just made a big mistake on tech stocks

  21-02-2018 15:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  Hedge funds and other large speculators made a poorly-timed decision to go net short tech stocks for the first time in 21 months.
  The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index surged 5.6% during the week in question.
  Everyone reacted to the stock market's recent correction in their own special way.
  Some investors rushed to protect their holdings, pushing hedging costs to a 14-month high. Others piled back into the flaming wreckage of the short-volatility trade.
  Hedge funds, meanwhile, turned their backs on te
  
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• Why one sportswear group is hiring 60 marketers to fuel its growth drive

  21-02-2018 08:35
  Pentland Brands’ Berghaus brand will continue to be run out of the Sunderland office.“Pentland is quite a well-kept secret. It’s not a consumer facing organisation, but when you talk to people about the brands they know them,” says the company’s global head of marketing, Sean Hastings.
  A third-generation family business, Pentland Brands is the company behind a variety of well known names in the sports, outdoor and fashion sectors, including Berghaus, Canterbury of N
  
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• Aldi’s ‘irresponsible’ Christmas TV ad falls foul of alcohol ad rules

  21-02-2018 01:01
  Kevin the Carrot might have been able to see dead vegetables at Christmas, but he couldn’t forewarn Aldi that it was going to land itself in trouble with the Advertising Standards Authority for breaking “strict” rules around alcohol advertising.
  A TV ad featured its Christmas character Kevin in a riff on the film Sixth Sense claiming to be able to “see dead parsnips”. An accompanying voiceover said: “Kevin was feeling a little bit tense. He thought there were
  
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• UK eyes China export growth

  21-02-2018 01:00 via warc.com
  LONDON: Amid warnings of a ‘Mad Max’ economy post-Brexit, and gestures toward China from the UK’s Prime Minister, Theresa May, growing exports to China suggests that the UK will continue to pursue this trend – yet the story...
  
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• Thai ecommerce sees slow growth, mobile potential

  21-02-2018 01:00 via warc.com
  BANGKOK: Ecommerce spending in Thailand remains far lower than the global average despite the country’s high mobile penetration. This is according to a study from Hootsuite and We Are Social, which found that the average ecommerce spend in...
  
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• Sydney Morning Herald is stickiest news site

  21-02-2018 01:00 via warc.com
  SYDNEY: The Sydney Morning Herald has seen a decline in the number of unique users of its website over the past year but it remains ahead of its digital news rivals in terms of ‘stickiness’, according to the latest Nielsen Digital...
  
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• NBA bets on virtual, augmented reality

  21-02-2018 01:00 via warc.com
  LOS ANGELES, CA: The US National Basketball Association sells the experience of games, but the disparity between watching the game on television and watching it courtside is falling away, as the league experiments with new visual media following a...
  
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• Mobile private marketplace growth indicates shift to quality metrics

  21-02-2018 01:00 via warc.com
  SAN FRANCISCO, CA: Mobile private marketplaces (PMPs) monetized impression volume increased by 37 percent year-over-year (YOY) in Q4 2017, adding to a long growth streak for mobile PMPs now spanning eight consecutive quarters, according to new...
  
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• How Heineken is thinking about 'walled gardens'

  21-02-2018 01:00 via warc.com
  LAS VEGAS: The imbalance in the relationship between advertisers and digital “walled gardens” has yielded a range of profound challenges for brands, according to Ron Amram, ‎VP/Media at Heineken USA.Amram discussed this...
  
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• Global ad trends: Out of home key to successful brands

  21-02-2018 01:00 via warc.com
  GLOBAL: Successful brands allocate 13% of their media budgets to out of home advertising, while the channel’s share of global display adspend has remained stable over the last decade, according to a new analysis of the sector by WARC Data. ...
  
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• Five facts about Millennials that definitely don't apply to Gen Z

  21-02-2018 01:00 via warc.com
  Millennials and Generation Z are often spoken about as though they're the same generation, but in fact there are some distinct differences between today's young adults and teens, says Voxburner's Jessica Pinkett.One important...
  
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