Market Mad House

In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. Friedrich Nietzsche

MA

Market Commentary

Is MasterCard Unstoppable?

Nor was it just cash that was growing at MasterCard. The number of Americans that used a MasterCard grew by 550,000 between Fall 2015 and Spring 2016, Statista data indicates. Around 92.16 million people in the United States swiped a MasterCard in Fall 2015. That number grew to 92.71 million a few months later in Spring 2016.

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Good Stocks

American Credit Card Companies Are flush with Cash

Despite the risks, the U.S. credit industry is capable of generating a lot of cash, which can lead to high levels of float. Float is Warren Buffett’s term for a constant stream of revenue or stockpile of cash that a company can tap or borrow against at any time. Classic examples of float include credit card fees and insurance policy premiums.

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Good Stocks

US Credit Card Companies Allowed into China

The loss of Costco Canada is already hurting American Express, where revenue fell slightly between December 2014 and March 2015. AmEx reported a TTM revenue of $34.04 billion on March 31, down from $34.29 billion on December 31. The loss of Costco Canada hit American Express hard because the club store giant is huge in Canada, as anybody who visits the country knows.

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Long Ideas

Apple Pay vs. Venmo vs. Square

Square has also tried to launch its own payments apps called Square Cash and SnapCash. Square Cash is a payments app similar to Venmo and Apple Pay; SnapCash is a variation of Square Cash reengineered to work over the popular social network Snapchat. In other words, it’s Square’s answer to Venmo. One difference is that it can work with merchants that use Square.

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Good Stocks

MasterCard’s Latest Product Demonstrates Apple Pay’s Threat to Credit Cards

The Zwipe experiment shows that MasterCard is worried about security, in particular high profile data thefts like those at Target (NYSE: TGT) and Home Depot (NYSE: HD). The card provider is scared that customers will prefer the higher level of security offered by Apple Pay, which can be secured by a fingerprint scanner.

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