What we’re reading (5/17)
“Inflation Is Good News for Stocks With High Dividends” (Barron’s). “Inflation may be hurting the broader market, but it also indicates that stocks paying high dividends can perform well…[t]hey have outperformed low dividend payers by just under 9 percentage points year to date, according to Evercore data. Citizens Financial Group (ticker: CFG), a component of Evercore’s Sustainable Dividend Growth portfolio, has risen 40% this year. It has a dividend yield of more than 3%, far more than the 1.63% on 10-year Treasury debt.”
“Natural Gas, America’s No. 1 Power Source, Already Has A New Challenger: Batteries” (Wall Street Journal). “A decade ago, natural gas displaced coal as America’s top electric-power source, as fracking unlocked cheap quantities of the fuel. Now, in quick succession, natural gas finds itself threatened with the same kind of disruption, only this time from cost-effective batteries charged with wind and solar energy.”
“AT&T-Discovery Deal Would Create A Media Juggernaut” (New York Times). “AT&T is in advanced talks to create a new company that would merge its media business, including CNN, with Discovery Inc., two people briefed on the deal said on Sunday. The plan would incorporate all of AT&T’s WarnerMedia assets, which include HBO and Warner Bros., one of the people said. The parties could announce a deal as soon as Monday, this person said, saying that the talks were not yet complete and final details were being worked out.”
“China’s Industrial Output Growth Slows In April, Retail Sales Miss Forecasts” (Reuters). “China's factory output growth slowed in April from the jump seen in the previous month while retail sales missed analyst expectations, indicating more pressure on the recovery in consumption.”
“Some Amazon Managers Say They Hire People They Intend To Fire Later Just To Meet Their Turnover Goal” (Business Insider). “Amazon has a goal to get rid of a certain percentage of employees every year — and three managers told Insider they felt so much pressure to meet the goal that they hired people just to fire them: ‘We might hire people that we know we're going to fire, just to protect the rest of the team,’ one manager said.”
