Click confusion: Online shopping has become as volatile as stock market trading, with wild, minute-by-minute price swings on everything from clothes to TVs making it difficult for holiday shoppers to “buy low.” The Associated Press reports a growing number of retailers are using software that changes online prices based on demand, competition, inventory and other factors. The main goal is to undercut rivals when necessary, and raise prices when demand is high and there’s no competitive pressure. But the new online tools can change the price on a single item—say, a sweater—dozens of times throughout the day. And that can leave shoppers confused about when they can get the best deal. Read the full story.
Bullish betting: Investors betting on a rebound in oil prices are nothing if not tenacious. As Bloomberg reports, they poured the most money they’ve invested in more than four years into exchange-traded products that track oil even as prices fell 18% this month. It marks the third consecutive month that the four biggest U.S. funds have seen an increase in investements, during which time futures have plunged 41%. “It’s a testament that after such a wild selloff people are more and more eager to step in and wait for this eventual rebound,” Stoyan Bojinov, a Chicago-based analyst at ETF Database, says. “Oil looked cheap a month ago and it’s even cheaper today; that’s why we continue to see these inflows.” Read the full story.
Gambling in Havana: PepsiCo wants in. So do Caterpillar and Marriott International. As The New York Times reports, within hours of President Obama’s historic move to restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba, companies in the United States were weighing how to introduce their products and services to a market they haven’t been in for the better part of 50 years—if ever. While many corporations appeared interested, consultants and others caution that there are still many details of doing business in Cuba that are yet to be determined and that not all companies will be welcomed or find a robust audience in Cuba. Read the full story.
