In The Headlines Automaton and the Changing Face of American Manufacturing The loss of American manufacturing jobs has been a mainstay issue of national elections for many years. The underlying problem now, though, is not foreigners taking American jobs, but instead the fact that factories do not need as many people [...]

In The Headlines The Rationale behind the Aggressive Shift to Passive Investing The move from actively managed investments to passive index funds has been a hot topic lately. Fund flow data show that investors are voting with their feet. Some in the industry have dubbed this trend “flowmageddon.” Bill Miller, the [...]

In The Headlines Do Hedge Funds Face a Slow and Painful Death? “It’s miserable, miserable,” Howard Fischer, the 57-year-old manager of $1.1 billion Basso Capital Management says of hedge fund returns over the past few years. “If that’s the normal expectation, I don’t have a business.” Fischer’s lament and ones like [...]

In The Headlines Dairy Farmers Innovate to End the Glut of Milk Farmers in the U.S. are pouring out tens of millions of gallons of excess milk, amid a massive glut that has slashed prices and has filled warehouses with cheese. More than 43 million gallons of milk were dumped in [...]

In The Headlines Russia’s Farming Renaissance Challenges American Growers Almost 25 years after watching the Dawn of Communism collective farm where he grew up land in the dustbin of history, Andrey Burdin is helping turn Russia into something the communists never could: a grain-export powerhouse. Over the last few years, Burdin [...]

In The Headlines Adidas Uses Focus, Speed, and Celebrities to Drive a Comeback When Angelique Kerber won the U.S. Open in September to bring the women’s tennis title to Germany, she was decked out head-to-toe in gear by Adidas. NFL wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins kicked off the Houston Texans season wearing [...]

In The Headlines Is Crowdfunding the House Flipper’s Dream Come True? House flippers and property developers are increasingly crowdfunding—tapping the virtual wallets of anonymous internet backers on platforms such as RealtyShares, LendingHome, PeerStreet, and Patch of Land. For riskier ventures, such as building new homes and buying, renovating and selling existing [...]

In The Headlines Feds Signal “Big, but not Too Big” on Walgreens, Rite Aid Deal It now appears that drugstore chain Walgreens Boots Alliance would likely have to divest between 500 and 1,000 stores, more than its previous estimate of fewer than 500, to ease antitrust concerns over its pending $9.41 [...]

In The Headlines McDonald’s Signals the End of Small Fry Franchisees McDonald’s has long been famous for its small-owner-focused franchise system, in which entrepreneurs with only a store or two would sweat the details of their restaurants, yielding better customer service. Lately, however, the fast-food giant has begun shedding mom and [...]

In The Headlines Is it “Lights Out” for Once Highflying ITT Education Services? The federal Department of Education imposed strict new rules on one of the nation’s largest for-profit education companies, ITT Educational Services, barring it from enrolling new students who use federal financial aid and ordering it to pay $153 [...]