It's been a strong year for the U.S. economy, but not for Wall Street stocks.
Bottom line: The nation's biggest banks have lost value in 2018, despite generally strong earnings, increased corporate merger activity, rising interest rates and all of them passing their first round of Federal Reserve "stress tests." There is no firm consensus on why it's happening, although higher U.S. Treasury yields are a popular culprit.
Data: Yahoo! Finance through market close yesterday; Chart: Lazaro Gamio/Axios
Bill Shine, the former Fox News president who resigned last year at the height of the cable network's sexual harassment issues, is expected to be the next White House communications director, per a source familiar. The New York Times' Maggie Haberman and Michael Shear first reported the story.
The details: Shine's role, which is expected to oversee the White House's press and communications arms, will be behind-the-scenes rather than in front of the camera.
Reality check: Harley-Davidson has long had an international presence with offshore plants. About 40% of the company's bikes are sold abroad, per Bloomberg.
The Daily Beast, an American news, politics and culture website, is launching a direct-to-consumer paid membership service called "Beast Inside" for the first time in its 10-year history.
Why it matters: Publishers are creating membership and subscription offerings to diversify their revenue streams from being overly-reliant on advertising, now that technology giants are taking most of the ad dollar growth that for decades went to media.
After banning them in January, Facebook says it will now allow select ads for cryptocurrencies, but not for initial coin offerings.
Why it matters: Facebook's selectivity is telling—it will require advertisers to submit an application, including licenses and whether they are traded on exchanges, using these outside signals to filter out scams. ICOs, however, likely still seem too risky for the company to allow.
President Trump's policies have pushed Harley-Davidson to change its business, resulting in tangible effects on the manufacturing economy and people's jobs.
Correction: A previous version of this video incorrectly linked Harley-Davidson's decision to close its Kansas City plant to Trump's decision to pull out of TPP. In fact, the TPP decision only prompted the company to invest in a Thailand plant.
Speaking at the World Gas Conference Tuesday morning, Chevron CEO Michael Wirth said that President Trump's trade policies could be a "drag" on his company and Exxon CEO Darren Woods added that NAFTA has largely benefited the energy industry.
Why it matters: Big energy companies can have significant impacts on policy — and with Trump's burgeoning trade war and Energy Secretary Rick Perry pushing bailouts for coal and nuclear plants, their allegiances could begin to shift. However, these companies usually stay out of lobbying when they can. For example despite plenty of buzz about their support for a carbon tax, they've thus far avoided directly lobbying for it in Congress.
Should the former private equity owners of Toys "R" Us pay around $70 million in severance to the company's 33,000 laid-off employees?
Why it matters: This is not an academic question. It's been debated by big public pension funds that invest in private equity, prompted by a lobbying campaign by left-leaning nonprofit advocacy groups.
More than half (57%) of American television households (roughly 120 million in total) now own internet-enabled TV's, according to the Consumer Technology Association's 20th Ownership and Market Potential study.
By the numbers: Roughly a third (31%) own 4K UHD (ultra-high definition) TV's, up from just 7% two years ago. More than two thirds (78%) of American television households own flat panel TV's — and one in five (19%) of households owns a TV with a screen size of 60 inches or bigger.
President Trump is going after Harley-Davidson — once one of his favorite companies — after the motorcycle maker announced it will move some production out of the U.S. to relieve the burden of the EU's retaliatory tariffs. On Monday, Trump tweeted he was surprised Harley-Davidson was "the first to wave the White Flag."
Reality check: Harley-Davidson's shift to Thailand was also due to one of the Trump administration's trade moves. CEO Matt Levatich told Bloomberg that the decision to invest in a plant in Thailand was made after the company realized Trump's exit from the Trans-Pacific Partnership would make exporting motorcycles to Asia more expensive.
While CMO's sipped champaign at Cannes last week, Gen Z geeked out on the latest viral video trends at VidCon, the world's largest online video conference.
What they're saying: I asked three of the smartest people in the industry on video tech and culture about the biggest trends they saw on the ground this year.
Publishers that spent years investing in making dozens of viral social media videos every day are pivoting their production efforts to creating high-quality, episodic video series that can be sold or licensed across many different video channels.
The big picture: For many publishers, viral video — the holy grail of traffic just a few years ago — has now mostly become a marketing tool, due to changing consumption habits and tech platform dynamics. Now, series and shows are being created and leveraged for better revenue and audience development opportunities.
The details: Bossie, a veteran conservative activist and paid Fox News commentator, made the remarks Sunday on Fox & Friends Weekend. Host Ed Henry condemned the comments after a commercial break, saying: “I want to make clear that Fox News and this show, myself, we don’t agree with that particular phrase. It was obviously offensive.” Bossie also tweeted an apology.
