Entertainment Stocks: Disney Will Buy Marvel Comics for $4 Billion
Stock market activity continues to be sluggish in most sectors but we are now starting to see more activity in the consumer entertainment sector. This month, we learned that Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) will buy Marvel Comics for $4 billion in a move to diversify its content base. The company hopes to expand its outreach in age demographics in order to shield against potential declines in other areas of its businesses.
More recent news of sexual misconduct from one of Marvel’s founding members, Stan Lee, could impact the timing of the deal, according to analysts. Disney has had a much-storied run over the last year, and the injection of negative media headlines could prove to be ill-timed as far as the investor outlook is concerned.
China’s Move to Overthrow the Dollar: Will It Be a Success?
China is known as one of the fastest-growing major economies worldwide. Despite this, its currency is barely used in the global market, placing it just next to pound, euro, and yen. This year, the long-held desire of China to overthrow its competitors will likely get a boost. Bitcoin helped crypto markets reach new highs, as well.
At present, China is considered to be the largest importer of oil in the world. Last October 2017, Russia sold an S-400 air defense system to Saudi Arabia and such move symbolized a big shift eastward for the Kingdom. China has managed to finally persuade KSA to accept its currency, Renminbi or RMB (also known as yuan in international contexts), as a payment for oil. As a result, China saw this success as an indicator of the increasing power of RMB and a stepping stone towards challenging the world’s most powerful currency, the dollar.
Pricing oil in its own currency
Aside from pricing one of the most important global commodities, China is aiming to overthrow the dollar to lessen its dependency to it, and to reduce its exposure to this currency as well as to its politics. In order to do this, China plans to further price oil in its own currency through a futures contract.
China has opened more than 6,000 new forex trading accounts for this contract. China will most likely rely on state-owned oil companies to use the new RMB forex trading contract. By doing so, the number of trade activities may increase and sufficient liquidity may be generated.
China will likely approach its major oil suppliers in different regions in Russia, Middle East, and other parts of Asia (those who have already accepted RMD as a payment for oil).
Predictions in 2018
Interestingly, a number of analysts believe in the possibility that China might become successful in this endeavor. Market acceptance may be somewhat cold at first but may turn better over time. When this happens (as the Chinese hope), the percentage presence of yuan in the currency reserve basket will greatly increase; thus, ensuring a runaway success.
On the other hand, many analysts think that it is still too early to think about RMB’s currency dominance. The hardest challenge in China’s goal is to ensure that no country or entity should have a dominant advantage over the others. The Chinese central government still play a huge role in the nation’s energy division sector, despite being it the fastest growing and largest consumer of energy in the world.
Some analysts believe that if China puts too much state control in the global oil market, things may occur in any other way. Such manipulation may also hinder the drive to create a reputable oil pricing benchmark that is capable of competing against more reputable benchmarks. Given this, many would most likely expect that a Chinese currency-dominated oil benchmark will only be working under China’s control.
Apparently, another major hindrance standing in the path of China’s goal is RMB itself. To date, RMB is not yet readily convertible and is prone to various interventions and capital manipulations, and favoritism toward Chinese business companies.
Valuations in AT&T are now trading within striking distance of the 2015 lows.
Heightened competition in mobile and diminishing demand for traditional cable services have only been exacerbated by the building concerns over the viability of potential deals in acquiring Time Warner.
We believe the real risk here is that investors are so heavily positioned for a bullish outcome that any negative surprises could generate massive downside volatility in T before year-end.
The stock market rallies of 2017 have failed to make their presence felt in the valuation of AT&T (T), which is dealing with a disruptive confluence of negative events that has only fueled the stock’s downside volatility. Heightened competition in mobile and diminishing demand for traditional cable services have only been exacerbated by the building concerns over the viability of potential deals in acquiring Time Warner (TWX).
Real questions remain with respect to whether or not these agreements will reach a favorable conclusion. But it continues to look as though the general consensus is positioning for the merger to proceed in its original form. Are there too many passengers on one side of the boat? Perhaps. And this is the real risk for valuations in AT&T near-term. If you are already long the stock (as we are) this is not enough of a reason to completely abandon ship, as there is still scope for an acceptable outcome for shareholders. But, at the same time, we do not recommend loading up on T at current levels and investors will need to prepare for extended volatility going forward.
On a year-to-date basis, AT&T is trading lower by almost -20% in a broader market where the SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF is showing gains of nearly +15.5% for the same period. Volatility in TWX has been even more extreme of late, and the headlines over the weekend have focused on comments from President Donald Trump suggesting that he has not attempted to block the Time Warner deal unless CNN is sold to a separate media entity.
Speculation here has run rampant over the last few weeks, as there is still a strong belief that Trump has a vendetta against CNN and that he is interested in blocking any potential deals that could benefit the company. But, in our view, these discussions largely miss important parts of the equation. We could still see the Department of Justice take these talks in an entirely different direction, namely a requirement to divest DirectTV rather than CNN.
AT&T Deal with Time Warner
Most of the arguments siding with a likely approval of the Time Warner deal cite historical precedents in the Comcast (CMCSA) acquisition of NBC Universal. But the reality is that these two arrangements not as similar as they might seem.
As it was originally structured, the AT&T-Time Warner deal would have far more potential in terms of the ways a combined company could limit competitive influences within the industry. CEO Randall Stephenson has gone to great lengths to explain that there is no interest in selling CNN, and it would not be surprising at this stage to see extended litigation to keep the finalized asset base intact.
For investors, this suggests more volatility and since T is typically thought of as a conservative stock position it is still not entirely clear how the market will react if more downside moves are seen. None of this even touches the discussion of how an approved deal would impact AT&T’s debt load (which would surpass $180 billion if the deal passed in its current form). This would almost certainly lead to discussions on the way T’s dividend could be impacted — but that is a conversation that will have to be reserved for a later date once more information becomes available.
AT&T Chart Analysis
The market freefall in AT&T that occurred after hitting resistance near 43 has created a double-top in the region that will likely generate significant headwinds for the stock options trading outlook on a long-term basis. All hope is not lost, however, because we are still in the midst of an ascending triangle formation that is bullish in nature as indicator readings are attempting to bounce out of oversold territory.
This should help to stall further losses and we are now coming into additional support through the 200-period exponential moving average on the monthly charts. Share prices in T have pivoted around this reading for the last several years, and so this will be a critical line in the sand to monitor for positioning ideas in the weeks and months ahead.
Overall, there are arguments that can be made on both sides but the balance of the evidence still supports the bulls for the time being. We will remain long T and collect on the 5.7% dividend yield until we see a breakdown in the aforementioned price support zones.
Bank of America: Financial Stocks and Federal Reserve Monetary Policy
The financial sector is rallying strongly, and Bank of America is leading the pack higher.\
But all eyes are on US President Donald Trump in his next selection for leader of the Federal Reserve.
These rallies could be at risk depending on the outcome, and shareholders in BAC could be some of the most deeply impacted if certain monetary approaches are favored in Trump’s selection.
Stock markets continue to push in their upward surge and some of the strongest names over the last three months can be found in the financial sector. Leading the pack higher in Bank of America Corp (BAC), which is a stock that we originally bought on the drop to $15 in a trade that is now showing profits of roughly 75% (not including dividends).
The stock recently experienced the major range breakout that we were expecting, and investors that are long the stock will now need to gauge the likely monetary policy direction that is likely to be taken by the Federal Reserve as a means for understanding how to position going forward. This is a factor that is more likely to influence financial sector trends more than any other single element in the equation, and Bank of America could be used by the market as a proxy for expressing any significant changes in the outlook.
Stock Trade Ideas
Our stance is to remain long BAC but with the understanding that adjustments might need to be made if a move dovish monetary policy stance is signalled by Donald Trump’s next selection for leader of the Federal Reserve.
On a year-to-date basis, Bank of America has soundly outperformed the market with stock gains of nearly 26%. We can compare this to the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which has moved higher by only 15% for the period even though the broader environment has been characterized by optimism over tax reform and a pro-growth agenda for the US economy.
Global Interest Rates
The disconnect here is significant, as it underscores the majority expectation for higher interest rate into 2018. There are valid arguments in both direction with respect to whether or not these initial expectations have actually been satisfied. But the real questions here lie in the monetary policy direction that will be undertaken by the Fed once its new leadership regime takes control.
Currently, markets are dealing with three possibilities as Fed Chair (John Taylor, Jerome Powell, or the continuation of Janet Yellen in her current position). There are very different implications here depending on which economist is ultimately selected, and those long BAC will almost certainly feel the resultant volatility in their positions over the next few weeks.
BAC Earnings Data: Yahoo Finance
Higher interest rates generally make it easier for banks to drive revenues and improve margins, but the policy course that has been taken by Janet Yellen has been far more dovish than many analysts initially anticipated. We have seen conflicting commentaries from US President Donald Trump with respect to his assessment of Yellen’s approach to the economic recovery.
But, over time, it has started to look as though Trump does favor this supportive stance as it is more likely to drive consumer spending and help stock markets maintain their record highs. But, at the same time, Trump has shown an interest in appointing more hawkish names (i.e. Taylor and Powell).
Fed Policy Direction
On the spectrum from most dovish to most hawkish, this list of possibilities moves from Yellen to Powell to Taylor and so the ultimate decision here will likely determine the trading tone that is seen for most of the first half of next year. For BAC bulls, Taylor would likely lead to the most favorable outcome and this is important given the areas of weakness that were seen in Bank of America’s earnings report for the third quarter.
Earnings of 48 cents per share did beat the market expectation of 45 cents (confirming the longer-term trends) but revenues were more erratic at $22.079 billion (also confirming the longer-term trends). Trading revenues remain the central cause for concern, as annualized revenues from fixed-income trading fell a substantial 22% for the period.
Bank of America Chart Analysis
This has put some cracks in the foundation, and the rallies in BAC could be at risk if the market if not convinced that the next Fed chief is ready to aggressively tighten policy in ways that match normalized historical trends. Given Trump’s recent comments, it would not be entirely surprising to see something of a “compromise verdict” where the US President selects Jerome Powell as Fed Chair and then appoints John Taylor in a secondary role at the central bank.
Anything short of this is likely to lead to selling pressure in BAC. Readjustments in our long position will be considered if an unfavorable outcome sends share prices back below 23 as it would suggest another period of consolidation that cannot be fully mitigated by the stock’s 1.73% dividend yield. Until then, we will hold our positions and collect the dividend while the momentum is still positive.
Stock markets have resumed their rallies after the summer sluggishness.
The SPDR S&P 500 Trust could continue to benefit on multiple fronts.
Donald Trump’s pro-growth agenda could get another shot in the arm once his Federal Reserve selections are finalized.
Stocks are once again moving higher as markets have resumed their rallies after the summer period that was characterized by long periods of sluggishness. In recent weeks, there has been a good deal of debate about whether or not the election of US President Donald Trump is what actually led to all of the gains that have been seen for those trading CFDs in the SPDR S&P 500 Trust (SPY). Of course, a conclusive answer to those questions is all-but-impossible to achieve.
But the strength of the rally, its historical proximity to the 2016 election results, and the supportive outlook that is generated by agenda pieces like tax reform and infrastructure rebuilding combine to suggest that investors are reacting Trump’s strategy course (and that those results are favorable). In the weeks ahead, we could see additional impulse rallies in the SPY ETF if Donald Trump selects a Federal Reserve leader that is reluctant to aggressively rate interest rate levels. This supports the outlook for CALL options strategies in the SPY at current levels.
S&P 500 – Stock Markets
On a year-to-date basis, the SPY ETF has posted gains of 15.3%. Earnings have been largely supportive in many sectors but the real catalysts have been seen in the macro phenomena that have characterized the period. On several occasions, the current Fed Chair Janet Yellen has made suggestions that broad uncertainties within the economy (and within the policy agenda pieces promoted by President Trump) have made it difficult to normalize interest rate policy in line with historical trends. The ultimate result here has been cheap credit and improved consumer spending habits that have supported the outlook for corporate earnings into the final parts of this year.
Federal Reserve – Stock Markets
So the real question here is whether or not these trends will continue within the financial environment, and the answer to that question could be seen near-term once Donald Trump makes clear which economist will be leading the Federal Reserve. Of the likely possibilities, John Taylor has the strongest history of hawkish rhetoric so a selection here could catch markets by surprise and make rallies in the SPY ETF difficult as we head into the final parts of this year. Janet Yellen has kept her foot on the brake on many occasions and it is now looking as though markets will need to see a continuance of this (in the selection of Jerome Powell) in order to keep this bullish train moving forward.
Microsoft – Stock Markets
The second-largest holding in the SPY ETF is Microsoft Corp, which has been surging over the last several quarters as improvements in its cloud infrastructure have led to a series of strong earnings reports. The stock makes up 2.75% of the total values seen in the ETF and given the strength of the recent earnings performances in the tech sector as a whole, rallies here could continue to be supportive of the larger fund collectives going forward. In the monthly chart above, we can see that the bullish momentum here is undeniable and since the tech space is an area that is generally not as vulnerable to hawkish changes in interest rates, there is little reason to believe that these trends will be ending in the near-term.
Readings in the Commodity Channel Index are bullish but holding at overbought levels, which is suggestive of a period of consolidation without a macro catalyst to drive prices higher. This could come if a name like Jerome Powell is selected as Fed Chair, as the rising tide lifts all boats in the SPY fleet. At this stage, there is very little reason to expect declines (barring a major surprise in the coming Fed appointments). But with the SPY ETF still trading at record highs, the conservative bet is to use CALL options as a means for expressing that bullishness.
Taxes, Insurance, and Portfolio Planning at Morris Retirement Advisors
Retirement planning is one of the most important investment phases in the lifetime of any person, and there are several important issues that are often missed in the process. Some of these issues include less-glamorous factors like investment insurance and taxes but the fact that they are often neglected makes them no less important. In order to successfully structure your retirement portfolio, you need to find a retirement advisory that can help you plan in these areas. One of the fastest-growing names in the sector is Morris Retirement Advisors, which has shown a stable track record in all of these areas.
MRA offers 5 basic service plans for clients based on differing needs:
Wealth Management: A basic investment management solution allowing investors to select and automatically invest from a list of risk-based model portfolios. Expensed as a fee-based investing plan wherein customers are charged a wrap fee on percentage of assets managed. Tax planning and preparation with an in-house accountant/CPA is also offered for an additional fee.
Wealth Management and Basic Financial Planning: In addition to the services offered by the wealth management basic plan, this plan offers basic financial planning solutions including Budget, Cash Flow, Net Worth Projection and Analysis, Cash Management Strategies, Retirement Planning, Goal Tracking and Education Planning. A Digital Wealth Management Portal offering a consolidated view of all the client’s in-house and external accounts is also provided. Insurance solutions are also available as additional commission based solutions.
Wealth Management and Advanced Financial Planning: Aimed at career professionals and business owners with emerging wealth, this plan offers advanced financial planning solutions like Executive Benefits, stock option analysis, Estate and Legacy Planning along with Tailored Goals based wealth planning in addition to the services offered by the above plans.
Wealth Management and Complex Financial Planning: This plan is tailored for pre-retirees and retired clients looking to preserve, grow and distribute their wealth across generations. This plan offers Retirement Income and Distribution Planning in addition to the services offered by the above plans.
Customized Solutions for Business Owners: Offers solutions for business owners customized to their business needs. The wealth management solution allows clients to select and automatically invest from a list of risk-based model portfolios. Financial planning services include Complimentary Tax Assessment, Executive Benefits Planning, Key Person Retention Strategies, Quarterly Tax Filings, strategic planning for board of directors, Employee Benefits (retirement, life, health, etc), Succession Planning, Entity Formation and Use Evaluation, Estate and Legacy Planning. Insurance solutions are offered as additional commission based solutions.
Broad Approaches to Wealth Management
MRA’s wealth management approach focuses on helping clients understand and manage investment risk, as well as increasing their chances for goal achievement. The portfolio return expectations of clients are set using risk rather than return, which is generally preferable for a long-term outlook. The investment risk is quantified using a risk number. The risk number is determined using Riskalyze, a cutting-edge technology that identifies acceptable levels of risk and reward. Individual client portfolios are also stress-tested for a variety of stock and bond market scenarios.
MRA maintains multiple model risk portfolios that are used as the basis for implementing a client’s investment plan in the Wealth Management Program. The models range from income, conservative, moderate, moderately aggressive and aggressive. Each portfolio has varying degrees of asset categories and is reviewed with the client prior to implementation and periodically thereafter. The Wealth Management program can be summarized as follows:
Financial Planning for Retirees and Pre-Retirees
Investment advice offered by MRA is tailored for each client to address his/her financial goals, objectives and risk tolerance and structured in view of any outside investments held by the client, considering each investment’s effect on the client’s total portfolio. The financial planning services offered are:
Personal budgeting and cash flow
Personal financial statements
Life, disability and long-term care insurance consulting
Investment due diligence, management and portfolio construction
Financial independence planning
Estate planning and wealth transfer
Education and specific goal/need planning
Foundation management and charitable giving
Business investment analysis and succession planning
The Financial Planning program for every client has 4 stages:
Proven Investment Strategies
MRA maintains multiple model portfolios that are used as the basis for implementing a client’s investment plan. Portfolios are comprised of Core (traditional asset allocation) and Explore (tactical asset allocation) investment themes. MRA’s Investment Committee meets monthly to review investment policy and strategy.
During the investment committee meeting, there is a review of each investment model that may result in tactical adjustments to each model determined by market and economic conditions. The committee also reviews core recommendation list of investments, analyzing each individual asset class that supports the investment models. In the video below, we can see how Morris Retirement Advisors is redefining what it means to plan for retirement:
Here, we can see that MRA investment strategies work because they employ the following analytical criteria to select the funds and securities in its recommended portfolios:
Past risk-adjusted performance and expense ratios relative to other investments within the same asset class having similar investment objectives
Consistency of performance and rankings over time
The historical volatility and downside risk of each proposed investment
Consistency of investment style and tenure of the portfolio manager
How each investment complements the others in the portfolio
Economic conditions and comparisons to other investment opportunities
MRA re-evaluates portfolios using fundamental and tactical analysis each quarter, and rebalances them as necessary. For portfolio risk assessment, the company utilizes its sophisticated software services that provide risk management analytics for investing. Based on the risk metrics of each portfolio, these strategies can limit exposure to volatility and enhance your returns over the long-term. These are strategies that have been tested over time and can be tailored to the needs of the individual. For more information, visit MorrisRetirementAdvisors.com.
Options markets have quickly risen in prominence over the last several years, and there are many reasons to explain why these trends have been seen. Global markets are quickly adding many different trading instrument types in order to meet the needs of everyday investors.
For those most focused on Australian companies, this will often mean establishing positions in the ASX optionscontract. These option types allow investors to gain market exposure to the stocks listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, which is one of the most interesting and dynamic stock collections in the world.
Just like bonds and mutual funds, trading options is a kind of investment portfolio strategy for sophisticated investors. Options are a derivative security type, with a price derived from (or dependent upon) one or more underlying assets. Working as a contractual agreement, options grant the rights of buying and selling those assets on or before a certain date and at a set price – known as the strike price.
CALL Options and PUT Options
There are two basic types of options: CALLS and PUTS. With CALL options, the investor gets the right to buy a particular stock at a fixed price on a fixed timeline, but it is not an obligation to make the purchase. CALL options work like a future deposit. Within the expiry time, the stock can be bought at a fixed price (the strike price), and it does not matter if the market value of that stock has doubled during the timeline. This can help investors make big gains. CALL options are exercised when the market value of stocks seems to be going up in a bullish fashion.
With PUT options, investors have the right to sell a particular stock at a fixed price within an expiration timeline. Again, making the sale is not an obligation. This can be profitable in cases where the market value of the stock goes down while the investor can still sell it at the higher strike price. But for both CALL and PUT options, there is a set expiration date. After that, the right expires and all purchases and sales must be made at the actual market rate.
Options Premiums
A premium is the price/value of an option in options trading. It is the amount paid by the investor at the time the options trade is selected. Technically, the only potential risk for the buyer is to lose the initial premium amount paid for the option (in cases where the trader does not utilize his/her buying or selling right before expiration timeline). These premiums can range from narrow to wide bid/ask spreads, and are often quoted by market makers who build market activity in that specific option.
Expiration Date
Every option contract comes with an expiration date, which is the total life span of that contract. The right to buy/sell a stock is valid until that period of time. Expiration deadlines vary for different stocks and products. The premium is lost if the purchase/sale is not made within the specific time period.
Stock markets continue to post major bull rallies but one sector that has been largely missed by investors is the technology space. This can be seen in professional indices trading trends, which have recently shown that assets tied to the NASDAQ have underperformed those tied to the value of the S&P 500.
But we are starting to see some of these trends change, as tech stocks have been able to post better rallies in recent weeks. One of the best examples here can be seen in Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) which is now trading at long-term highs.
Stock Price Chart: Oracle Corp.(NYSE: ORCL)
Stock prices in ORCL have surged above prior resistance levels en route to new highs above $45 per share. “Information driven,” Oracle is one of the most prominent names in tech development and marketing of business software products, database technology software and cloud engineered systems. Based in the USA and established in 1977, the company is a public multinational entity having more than 136,000 employees currently with head office in California’s Silicon Valley.
Key products among others related to Oracle are storage, servers, oracle applications and oracle enterprise manager. Enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, and customer relationship management soft wares are also specialized names which are associated with Oracle. It reported annual revenue of $37.04 US billion Dollars (2016) and net income worth 8.90 US billion Dollars (2016).
Tech Manufacturing Companies
In addition to manufacturing and marketing of business software products Oracle also offers other services which comprise consultancy, training and financing which is also a unique element in relation to Oracle. Since its inception Oracle has gone through a comprehensive process of acquisition of entities both corporate and individuals. In 1995, IRI software was acquired by it under consideration of $100 million US Dollars.
Other notable acquisitions include:
PeopleSoft in 2005 $10.3 billion US Dollars
Seibel Systems in 2006 for $5.85 billion US Dollars
Hyperion Corporation in 2007 for $3.3 billion US Dollars
Sun Microsystems in 2010 for $7.4 billion US dollars
Micros Systems in 2014 for $5.3 billion US Dollars
NetSuite in 2016 for $9.3 billion US Dollars
Apiary in 2017 for which the valuation of purchase consideration is yet to be agreed
According to reports in 2015 Oracle after Microsoft was second-largest software maker revenue wise which is indeed an impressive and substantial outlook internationally. Since the beginning company has introduced multiple technological dimensions like UNIX-based Oracle applications in 1987, PL/SQL in 1988, 64 bit RDBMS in 1995.
This was followed by its free database to qualify industry standard security evaluations in 2002, smart scans that enhance software query response in HP Oracle Database machine in 2008 and in particular initiative in the shape of Oracle 12c which can facilitate cloud services along with Oracle Database in 2015. Conclusively, despite facing multiple challenges since the beginning, Oracle has proved itself among preferred and highly recommended global tech entities.
Gilead Sciences: Sluggish After Healthcare Reform Debate
Gilead Sciences is an American biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercially sells a range of therapeutics including antiviral drugs for the treatment of Hepatitis, HIV, and influenza.
The company was founded in 1987 by Michael Riordan, a medical doctor. He served as CEO till 1996. A venture capital firm Menlo Ventures made the first investment of $2 million dollars in Gilead. In 1996, it entered a collaborative research agreement with Glaxo for the development of genetic code blockers or antisense. This was terminated in 1998 and its antisense intellectual property portfolio was sold to Isis Pharmaceuticals.
Gilead IPO
Its Initial Public Offering raised $86.25 million. It launched Vistide for the treatment of CMV in patients with AIDS. It collaborated with Pharmacia & Upjohn to reach more markets outside the United States. In 2010, it acquired CGI Pharmaceuticals for $120 million which expanded its research into kinase biology and chemistry. It also acquired Arresto Biosciences for $225 million and their research for treating fibrotic diseases and cancer. It acquired Pharmasset Inc. for $10.4 billion dollars.
Drug Pipelines
This gave it control over the HCV treatment market by holding Sofosbuvir (medicine for Hepatitis C). It was the first firm to manufacture a pill which is known to reduce the risk of HIV infection. It had a market capitalization of US $113 billion and its stock doubled its value after the acquisition. It was ranked the 4th best drug company by Forbes. It attributed its success to FDA approval and potentially revolutionary drug Sovaldi.
The drug has faced its fair share of criticism for its high price. The committee of finance of the United States Senate investigated wherein it sent letters to the CEO of the company as to how it derived its price. It has recently also acquired PhenexPharmaceuticals, EpiTherapeutics and Nimbus Apollo. This has given access to treat liver diseases such as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, inhibitors of histone demethylases which regulates gene transcription in cancer and potentially treating hepatocellular carcinoma and an anti-inflammatory drug filgotinib which may be used to treat arthritis and Crohn’s disease. It’s current president and chief executive officer is John F. Milligan.
General Electric is an American multinational conglomerate incorporated in New York. It offers a range of services from power and oil, gas and aviation to financial services and even software development. It is one of the original 12 companies listed on the Dow jones index and while it may have not been listed on the index continuously it currently features in the index. It was one of the earliest companies incidentally funded Thomas Edison’s electricity projects.
General Electric was one of the earliest companies incidentally funded Thomas Edison’s electricity projects.The Radio Corporation of America was founded through GE in 1919. It was also used as the retail arm for radio sales until their separation in 1930. GE has been involved in power generation and its history working with turbines, it introduced the first superchargers. These were incorporated into flights during World War I. It reacquired RCA in 1986 and by that NBC.
Changing Company Focus
In the 1960s, GE was considered one of the major computer companies. It had a line of both general and special purpose computers such as GE200, GE400 etc. IN 1970, GE sold most of its computer division to Honeywell, though it did retain its timesharing options for a while after. GE’s current business divisions include GE Power, GE Oil & Gas, GE Renewable Energy, GE Energy Connections, GE Aviation, GE Healthcare, GE Transportation, GE Capital and GE digital.
Through these GE participates in various markets ranging from generation and distribution of electricity, medical imaging equipment, automation, motors and aviation. It also offers financial services through GE Commercial Finance, GE Consumer Finance etc. GE has a history of large scale water and air pollution. IT heavily contaminated the Hudson river with PCBs between 1947 and 1977. It also polluted the Housatonic River with PCB discharges from 1932 till 1977. Recently GE has shifted its efforts towards using clean renewabl
Recently GE has shifted its efforts towards using clean renewable energy. It unveiled its EV solar Carport which has solar panels on its roof with electric vehicle charging stations under its cover. It has a renewable energy programme ‘Ecomagination’ which has resulted in over 70 green products such as halogen lamps, biogas engines being introduced into the market. It invested nearly $25 billion dollars into the project due to popular market response.
