CVS, Walgreens Look For Big Data Reward From Covid-19 Vaccinations

Thelasko shares a report from The Wall Street Journal: Administering Covid-19 vaccines comes with a valuable perk for retail pharmacies: access to troves of consumer data. Chains such as CVS Health Corp., Walmart Inc. and Walgreens-Boots Alliance, Inc. are collecting data from millions of customers as they sign up for shots, enrolling them in patient systems and having recipients register customer…

Bitcoin Could Either Become Preferred Currency For International Trade Or Face a ‘Speculative Implosion,’ Citi Says

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Bitcoin rose nearly 7% on Monday as risk assets rallied after last week’s bond rout cooled, with Citi saying the most popular cryptocurrency was at a “tipping point” and could become the preferred currency for international trade. With the recent embrace of the likes of Tesla and Mastercard, bitcoin could be at the…

Biden Expresses Support for Amazon Union Vote in Alabama: ‘Make Your Voice Heard’

Without naming Amazon specifically, President Joe Biden on Sunday expressed support for a closely watched union vote at one of the retail giant’s Alabama warehouses, calling it “vitally important.” From a report: “Today and over the next few days and weeks, workers in Alabama and all across America are voting on whether to organize a union in their workplace,” Biden said…

Fry’s Electronics Going Out of Business, Shutting Down All Stores

UnknowingFool and scores of other readers have shared this report: Fry’s Electronics, the decades-old superstore chain with locations in nine American states, appears to have gone defunct. Bay Area TV station KRON-4 was the first press outlet to confirm the news late Tuesday, saying that Fry’s will shut down all 30 of its American locations. The retailer will reportedly make an…

Fake Amazon Reviews ‘Being Sold in Bulk’ Online

Fake reviews for products sold on Amazon’s Marketplace are being sold online “in bulk”, according to Which? The consumer group found 10 websites selling fake reviews from $7 each and incentivising positive reviews in exchange for payment or free products. From a report: It suggested the firm was facing an “uphill struggle” against a “widespread fake reviews industry”. An Amazon spokesman…

The Rich Got Richer: GameStop’s Trading Frenzy Benefited Wall Street’s Elite

While GameStop’s surge has been heralded as a victory for underdogs, “Growing evidence casts doubt on the idea that the episode mostly benefited small-time investors…” reports the Washington Post. (Alternate URLs here and here “And, in at least some cases, novice investors lost their shirts.” Giant mutual funds that own the largest stakes in GameStop saw the biggest gains in value….

Coca-Cola Begins Testing a Paper Bottle

“Coca-Cola is to test a paper bottle as part of a longer-term bid to eliminate plastic from its packaging entirely,” reports the BBC: The prototype is made by a Danish company from an extra-strong paper shell that still contains a thin plastic liner. But the goal is to create a 100% recyclable, plastic-free bottle capable of preventing gas escaping from carbonated…

Wall Street Fund Wants To Hire r/WallStreetBets Users To Help Pick Meme Stocks

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Cindicator Capital is the kind of investment fund that relies on software and algorithms to model investment strategies based on any number of disparate factors. In the wake of the WallStreetBets subreddit throwing hedge funds into chaos and driving stock prices to non-sensical extremes, Cindicator has posted a job listing on LinkedIn hoping…

Hey, kids! Meet the new Hot Wheels Mars rover!

Mattel, maker of Hot Wheels, has just released a new Hot Wheels Mars Perseverance Rover to celebrate the landing of the NASA Perseverance rover on Mars on February 18. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/hot-wheels-mars-perseverance-rover-mattel…

GameStop, AMC Experienced Their Worst Weeks Ever. Robinhood Lifts Purchasing Limits

“Even with Friday’s bounce, GameStop Corp. wrapped up its worst week on record as a stunning reversal of fortune wiped out $18 billion from the video-game retailer’s stock-market value,” reports Bloomberg: The stock fell 80% in the last five days, its worst weekly performance on record, to $63.77 in New York. The 19% gain on Friday after Robinhood Markets removed buying…