Category Archive: Paulitical Economy™

Post 378: “Luxury Sales and The Wealth Effect: How Hermes Benefits From Monetary Policy”

French luxury goods maker LVMH sees its strongest growth in over two years. Watches, jewellery and Japan lead the way. Hermes also sees its sales accelerate but its share price tanked on the announcement. And its shares are still very expensive. Tesla sales accelerate but profit sank 57%. Shareholders weren’t impressed. Nike has now gone eleven straight quarters with no sales growth.
Over the last five years its share price is down an astonishing 75%. Luxury furniture company RH sales go negative for the first time in two years. And its share price is challenging Nike for the worst performance over five years…

Post 369: “Even Ozempic Can’t Keep Canada Out of Recession”

Generic versions of weight-loss drugs are now on the market. Costing less to lose more. Hormel is a U.S. food-processing company based in Minnesota. Sales improved slightly but it’s all price: volume is still negative. We take a look back at the maker of Spam. Sharks vs. Coconuts cage match. Lululemon makes some changes to its board of directors. While its share price continues to struggle. Weight-loss drugs have become so popular that they are blowing holes in the budgets of some municipalities and public health plans. House prices in Canada have been outpacing income for many years. And now a whole generation is priced out of the house market in some markets. Chicken prices are soaring in Canada. And so are World Cup soccer tickets. Car prices have risen so much that Americans are buying fewer of them. Costco continues to chuck along and are a beneficiary of the weight-loss drug craze…

Post 367: Victoria Day Special: “The War on Cash, Business and the Next Generation”

Father’s Day trumps Mother’s Day. Don’t shoot the messenger. Comparing Uber with Lyft. I’ve started using Lyft more often. Canada’s youth are suffering from bad government policy. While the country’s baby boomers benefit. A look at cash. Most people still carry it but unfortunately its relevance is declining. This is a really bad thing. An Op-Ed from former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Pointing out how the anti-business government policies in the state of Washington are driving jobs to other states. Headline inflation in the U.S. is the highest since 2023 as the war in Iran takes its toll. Core inflation that excludes energy is also rising…

Post 366: “Central Bank Policy That Made Both Homes and Basic Necessities Unaffordable”

Clorox continues to struggle to grow its top line. And its share price. A look at real residential real estate price appreciation over the years in: Canada, U.S.A., China, UK. Costco sales are still soaring. And a look at the profit model. Whirlpool’s sales and share price are tanking. Tariffs to the rescue. And a look back at 1992. The US jobs numbers for April were weak. But the headline number looked OK due to a massive adjustment. Full-time jobs are down by over a million from last year. Canada has lost jobs in three of the last four months. And underneath the hood the quality is even worse. In Financial Ructions: The Canadian government launches the Canada Strong Wrong Fund. And no, it’s not a Sovereign Wealth Fund. A look at an article on value investing. Time horizon is the great differentiator…

Post 362: “High Income Consumers Drive Spending While Consumer Sentiment Hits a Half Century Low”

Sales at Dollar General are slowly accelerating. Even with discretionary items. But sales growth at Dollarama is ticking lower. And we take a look back. Retail sales and the Special K economy. The bottom 70% of income earners reduced their spending. But that was more than offset by increased spending from the top 30%. Luxury furniture retailer RH has had impressive sales growth, albeit slowing. Share price growth? Not so impressive. Consumer sentiment in the US is the lowest on record. What might be causing this?…