News for the Week of 12/11/16

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  • Argentina. Lawyers get credit for a break in the 15-year impasse.  
  • Distressed Legal Debt. Wait, say what? Anchorage Capital purchased Citi's debt in law firm Slater & Gordon for $0.38/on-the-dollar. 
  • Solar & Wind. In the wake of La Paloma Generating and Illinois Power Generating Company (Genco) both filing for bankruptcy (see below), solar seems to be gaining momentum with measurable progress in Florida and California (San Diego). But not just solar: this week Google announced that its reducing its carbon footprint with direct purchases of renewable (wind) energy. See Chart of the Week II below.
  • Fast Forward: UnderArmour announced this week that, starting in 2020, it has exclusive rights to produce Major League Baseball's uniforms. While this is a way off and numbers for MLB fanhood may be even weaker than today, this is a big deal for them and a major loss for Majestic Athletic. Cause and effect: we're wondering what this will mean for Majestic's business go-forward...
  • Rewind I: Dead Malls. People can't seem to talk about this enough: here, some ways to invest it.
  • Rewind II: Dallas. We previously mentioned the pension issues there and talk of Chapter 9. This week Moody's released a report highlighting that Texas' four largest cities have a combined $22.6 billion in underfunded pension liabilities. Yikes.
  • Rewind III: Last week we noted the injunction in place delaying, for now, a mandated overtime pay rule that is thought to endanger retail profits further. Some companies have decided to implement the change preemptively. 
  • Chart of the Week: When viewed in tandem with last week's chart about peak oil, the rise of battery-powered cars is marked.  

Renewable energy use...this is changing rapidly: