Effects of the Election on the Economy

The 2016 election that will be taking place in just under two weeks, is one of the most unorthodox and crazy elections that has ever been seen. While at this point in the race, the candidates are almost neck and neck, many people say that these two candidates are the worst ever to be on the ballot, and either one would cause the country to head downhill. All this uncertainty surrounding the race is a huge scare for investors, whose economic stability depends on the success of the economy and stock market. In fact studies show that economic growth is actually slowing down, as is less than would be expected. "The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported last week that U.S. gross domestic product ticked up only 1.2 percent in April, May and June – a pace less than half of what most analysts expected." Some people argue that this economic slowdown may be due to fear surrounding who will be the next president, as investors are holding on to their money tighter. Though some people think this is due to the unfavorable candidates, other think that this is just a regular cycle of slowdown that will take place in any marginal election. "When we've looked back over the last 30 years, we've seen two presidential elections that have spiked uncertainty. It was first Clinton/Bush Sr., then Bush Jr./Gore. They were margin elections, and in both cases it was the new candidates coming to the election". Another option is that it could be a combination of both. Fear over who might be president could influence it, but the uncertainty around Trump is also important, just because Trump has never help public office before, so it is much harder to accurately predict the effects on the economy of putting Trump into a public office.

Sources:
USANews
Marketplace

Choice Post - 10/21

During after hours trading today, Microsoft's stock skyrocketed over 5%, which gives the company the opportunity to break it's record of $59.56 per stock that was set in 1999, around the time the Internet was starting to become mainstream. This boom can be credited to Microsoft's incredibly successful cloud computing service, "Azure", which has been steadily creeping up on the current industry leader, Amazon's "Web Services". Microsoft has had recent blunder with their gaming-related sales, with the "Xbox S" selling less units than expected, and a ongoing loss in the phone department. Windows phones recently sunk below 1% of the market sharer, which is a huge disappointment, considering the large sums of money invested into research and development for these devices. Despite the few rough patches Microsoft has had to deal with lately, the phenomenal success of their division based on the very profitable idea of "hardware as a service" has caused a huge spike in their stocks, and shows that the tech giant is still as big as it's ever been. This cloud computing unit is a result of a high stakes business venture between Microsoft and Adobe, that, luckily for Microsoft, easily paid back all the investment money that went into it.


Main Article:
http://money.cnn.com/2016/10/20/technology/microsoft-earnings-q1/index.html?iid=hp-stack-dom

Sources:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/microsofts-cloud-buoys-earnings-1476995257
http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/23/11743594/microsoft-windows-phone-market-share-below-1-percent
http://money.cnn.com/2016/10/20/technology/microsoft-earnings-q1/index.htm
l?iid=hp-stack-dom

Tech News

Verizon Won’t Drop Yahoo But May Seek Lower Price

1. Yahoo was hacked in 2014, compromising 500 million yahoo accounts's passwords, names, DOBs, ect. This is one of the biggest cyber hacks to ever take place, and is a huge embarrassment for Yahoo. The hack is believed to be sponsered by Russian intelligence agencies.
2. $4.8 Billion Dollars
3. Verizon is investigating because they are in the process of buying Yahoo, and are still investigating the nature of the hack and assessing the damage
4. Verizon agreed to acquire Yahoo last July
5. Verizon wants to become a third player in the advertising market
6. Alphabet is Google's parent company, basically the company that owns Google
7. Facebook and Google

Samsung Discontinues the Galaxy Note 7 Over Fire Concerns

1. The Samsung Note was planned to take the market back from Apple, but the battery has been catching on fire, which is a huge nightmare for Samsung. Though this kind of thing has happened before, Samsung is in particular trouble because they new phones they are supplying are exploding as well. Hopefully, they can recover, as Samsung is a very far looking company, and are very innovative.
2. The Galaxy Note 7, due to battery explosions in the phone.
3. The Note 7 had been on the market since August.
4. Samsung originally offered to replace the phone with a new Note 7, but after reports that even the new phones were exploding, they recalled all the phones.
5. This could cost Samsung $17 Billion
6. Down 8%
7. The iPhone 6s and iPhone 7, both the market dominating smartphones
8. Verizon will shift its focus to other phones as opposed to the Note.
9. Verizon will concentrate on its other phones, such as the new iPhone 7, and the brand new line of phones from Google called the "Pixel".