Hi Everyone,
Since landing in California last week, it’s become very clear to me how quickly the retail landscape is moving to the cloud.
My family and I have been doing a fair bit of shopping since we got here but friends and relatives are giving us some funny looks. Why would we go out to a shopping center and walk around for hours instead of just searching on the internet to find exactly what we need in minutes?
Notice how quickly retailers were adding department stores from 2003 to 2005, only to shed most of them over the last three years, all the while watching their sales plummet. Talk about throwing money at a problem.
The thing is, the stores aren’t really empty either. Yesterday evening I had trouble finding a parking spot in a massive lot outside of JC Penny just one hour before the store’s closing time and the place didn’t seem like a ghost town.
However, what I’ve been informed is that people tend to do a lot of window shopping at these places and then later place their orders online. By now just about every store will price match what you find on the internet but this doesn’t seem to help much. I can’t help but think that there has to be a better model. Like, what if they put QR codes on all products so people could save the items to later compare and order?
Anyway, these stocks are falling pretty fast and if they don’t do something radical, brick and mortar may well go the way of the dinosaur.
Today’s Highlights
- Snapback Rally
- Security of XRP
- Steady as a Bell
Traditional Markets
Many political pundits are saying that Donald Trump has blinked in the face of what may end up being a strong shopping season. Pushing up prices on Christmas gifts isn’t exactly a great way to get re-elected.
The timing of the news is seen here for the Nasdaq in the purple circle.
Security of XRP
Relying heavily on new guidance from the SEC, it seems that some XRP investors have revamped their efforts to sue Ripple for selling them an unregistered security.
In my view, XRP has always been a utility token due to its unique role within Ripple’s payments network. However, the Securities and Exchange Commission has a strong tendency to see most digital assets as securities. As XRP is the biggest such instance, it does seem odd that they haven’t really commented on this particular case and it looks like this will end up being resolved by the courts.
What’s interesting here is that for the first time Ripple Labs will be compelled to give a formal response, the deadline for which is September 19th.
Crypto Shakeout
Once again bitcoin is searching for support and having trouble finding it. Volumes are back to normal today throughout the market but the price seems to be gradually falling.
Many analysts have been doing their best to tie in the latest moves in the crypto market to the uncertainty in geopolitics but it’s difficult to say exactly how much connection there really is.
In an attempt to answer this, I’ve done an interview for you this morning with Block TV’s Ron Friedman. Make sure to check it out here: https://blocktv.com/
Mati Greenspan
Senior Market Analyst
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