All posts by James Cannon

About James Cannon

James Cannon is an experienced hedge fund analyst. He has served on the advisory boards for various different Fortune 500 companies as well as serving as an adjunct professor of finance. James Cannon has written for a variety of Financial Magazines both on and off line. Contact James at james[at]businessdistrict.com

Three American-based Economists Share Nobel Prize

Economy, , , , ,


The Nobel Prize for Economics went to three US-based academics: Joshua D. Angrist, David Card, and Guido W. Imbens. Card earned his award for work on labor economics, while Angrist and Imbens contributed to the analysis of causal relationships.


Card, 65-years old, is a University of California-based professor of economics, while his partner, Angrist, is 61 and the Ford professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Imbens, the youngest of the three at 58, is based at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he is also a professor.


According to the Nobel Prize committee who chose the laureates, the three winners ” provided us with new insights about the labor market and shown what conclusions about cause and effect can be drawn from natural experiments.”


The committee added that the approach the researchers took to exploring social questions had “revolutionized empirical research.”

New Menu Boosts Sales at Subway

Companies, ,

Subway reported its strongest sales since 2013 in the wake of a complete make-over of its menu.

In the middle of July of this year, Subway’s US restaurants began to offer ten new or better ingredients in addition to ten re-configured or original sandwiches. The changes have been under consideration for over two years, and include new types of bread, better protein choices, and new toppings like mashed avocado.

August sales were the best they have been in eight years, and the projection for sales for the end of 2021 surpass $1 billion. Subway is a privately owned business and does not need to report its monthly sales.

“Our loyal regulars — in addition to many first-time guests — are commenting to our team that they taste a real difference in our new sandwiches and ingredients,” said Subway franchisee David Liseno in a statement.

The restaurant chain grew enormously during the 2008 financial crisis after the company offered a foot-long sandwich for $5. Subway became the largest in the US by number of units. Over the years, however, competitors ate into their market share and sales went south.

Subway’s parent company, Doctor’s Associates, reported annual revenue in 2020 of $689.1 million, down 28% since 2019. Total number of stores has also been in decline since 2016. At the end of 2020, the chain had 22,201 locations in the US.

Home Prices Reach Record Highs in May

Real Estate,


According to S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller report, home prices in the US were 16.6% higher in May 2021 than they were in May 2020. It was the highest reading in over 30 years of Case-Shiller reporting.


April’s rise was also high at 14.8% year over year.


The city’s reporting the highest home price increase were Phoenix, San Diego and Seattle, among the 20 cities tracked in this report. All 20 cities reported upward trends in home prices for the year ending in May 2021. Phoenix reported a 24.7% price increase for the year, and San Diego had a 24.7% increase. Seattle’s was 23.4%.


Cities with the lowest gains were Chicago, Cleveland and Minneapolis, although they all had gains in the low double-digits.


Some of the cities had record-breaking annual gains: Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Seattle and Charlotte, North Carolina.


The high home prices have but a bit of damper on the number of homes being sold during the past few months, but now that the number of homes available for sale is increasing it is expected that prices will begin to come back down to earth.

Director Peter Farrelly Considers New Project

Lifestyle, ,

It’s always exciting to hear about a new project coming out of Hollywood, particularly when that project might include actor Eddie Redmayne and Director Peter Farrelly. Multiple sources have been reporting that an untitled new movie is in the works for Joe and Anthony Russo’s company AGBO. Eddie Redmayne has already been tapped to star in the movie, and now Director Peter Farrelly is being courted to direct it.

What’s the plan for the movie? Well Redmayne is supposed to play Christopher Wylie in this political thriller. Redmayne starred in Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 and also finished Netflix’ thriller The Good Nurse.

Director Peter Farrelly has also been hard at work lately, basking in the Oscars he won for Green Book. He’s currently working on Apple’s move Th Greatest Beer Run Ever with Zac Efron and Russell Crowe.

It’s definitely worth paying attention to these plans as they unfold.

Private Space Flight Taking Off

Technology, , ,

Axiom Space, a non-government, private company that specializes in spaceflight, is teaming up with SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket-making enterprise, to bring more missions to fruition.
The deal is to add a total of four missions to the SpaceX schedule.


The Houston-based Axiom had already announced its first mission, Ax-1 would be ready to launch in January 2022, utilizing SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and the Crew Dragon capsule. The new agreement will provide for Ax-2, Ax-3 and Ax-4.


SpaceX already has three Crew Dragon flights to the International Space Station under its belt, all of them under the Commercial Crew program of NASA, using government trained and paid astronauts. Ten astronauts have flown with SpaceX already and a full schedule of astronauts, both government and private Crew Dragon missions are coming up this year.


“SpaceX has blazed the trail with reliable, commercial human launch capability and we are thrilled to partner with them on a truly historic moment,” Axiom CEO Michael Suffredini said.