Category Archives: News

Famed Marilyn Monroe Portrait Sets New Record

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In a record-breaking sale, the famous 1964 Andy Warhol portrait of Marilyn Monroe has sold for $195 million. The sale took place at Christie’s auction house in New York.

While estimates before the event had the artwork priced at $200 million, this auction has set new records for 20th century American art. It is the most expensive piece of American artwork ever sold at an auction. It is also the second priciest auctioned piece of art, after Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” sold for $450 million in 2017.

The sale of the iconic silk-screen portrait was encouraging for many art dealers. Andrew Fabricant, COO of Gagosian Gallery and a top art dealer, explained: “This shows that quality and scarcity are always going to push the market forward. It will give a bump psychologically to everyone’s thinking.”

The artwork, entitled Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, was painted by Warhol two years after Monroe’s death in 1964. It is one in a series of five versions of the portrait, each featuring a different color scheme. After a woman entered Warhol’s studio and fired gunshots at a stack of the paintings, the portraits inherited their titles.

Since the 1980s, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn had been owned by a Swiss art dealer. Proceeds of this memorable sale will go to charity in support of education and health programming for children.

A Reason to Raise Your Spirits

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Beam Suntory, one of the largest producers of distilled beverages in the world, has been working to shift its image to higher-end spirits. Its popular Knob Creek bourbon has sported a new look for the past three years, with an updated label design that has brought back its nine-year age statement, and a new line of 12-year and 15-year versions of the whisky. While prices once ranged from $25 to $50 per bottle, prices are now anywhere from $36 to $200. Following the company’s conscious efforts to step into the higher-end market, international sales reportedly rose 11% in 2021.

CEO Albert Baladi said in an interview: “Two years ago, in 2020, we weren’t as affected as a lot of companies, so the bounce back isn’t as strong as some of the other numbers that you’re still seeing, but still I think double-digits against 2019 is quite powerful.” Baladi continued to explain that the spirits industry generally does well even in times of economic crisis, and that raising prices encourages the company to continue upgrading its beverages. An advantage has been that customers are less sensitive to price hikes made to counterbalance inflation, as they’re pleased to pay more for higher-end drinks.

Ready to tap into another beverage line, Beam Suntory has announced plans to expand its ready-to-drink cocktail line and has partnered with Sam Adams brewer Boston Beer. Although unexpected, this trendy market line has proven lucrative and ranked as the fasting growing of any spirit category, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. Beam Suntory’s premixed brands Sauza and Truly Vodka will be released this spring.

China Covid Recovery Means Challenges for Hollywood

News

With China having largely contained the coronavirus, the movie industry in the world’s number two consumer market is primed to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2021. That presents opportunities and challenges for legacy studios in Hollywood as Western economies struggle to reopen their leisure economies.

Bloomberg reports that ticket sales for Chinese movie theaters during the first five days of the Lunar New Year brought in 5.7 billion yuan ($882 million), a 33% jump over 2019, the  previous record year.

The financial newswire also said shares of Imax China Holding Inc. jumped by 31% in Hong Kong and that Alibaba Pictures Group Ltd. had rallied 35%.

For Hollywood, China’s growing percentage of the global film consumer base has not been seamless, and will likely involve more upheaval. In addition to the obvious language barrier – the gap between Mandarin and English is harder to bridge than between English and European languages – there are also cultural and political hurdles to overcome.

Chris Fenton, a long-time Hollywood executive and author of last year’s Feeding the Dragon: Inside the Trillion Dollar Dilemma Facing Hollywood, the NBA, and American Business, told NewsGram that Beijing is demanding the right to dictate the content of American movies – and getting it.

“(Beijing has) amazing influence over Hollywood,” Fenton told the online Newsgram site. “There are a couple of versions of it. One is a premeditated version of what is censored even before it was written or scripted, which is this idea with any sort of sensitive topics, whether it has to do with Taiwan, or Hong Kong or Tibet … things that have something to do with human rights issues, whatever it is. Those are essentially taboo in Hollywood.”

According to Aynne Kokas, a professor of media studies at the University of Virginia, the issue is not likely to disappear for Hollywood any time soon. “China’s market is now central to any major release,” Kokas told Bloomberg.

“Diminishing market share presents a worrying picture for Hollywood studios” that may have been relying on China to recoup blockbusters’ budgets, she said.

The Federal Reserve Announces Continued Near-Zero Interest Rates

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Interest rates will be staying low is the conclusion the Federal Reserve reached in its first meeting since its August decision to keep the benchmark federal funds rate near zero and its last meeting before the November presidential elections.

The Feds renewed its promise to keep interest rates close to zero until a time when they see inflation on a consistent climb.

The decision to keep the benchmark federal funds rate between 0 and 0.25 percent was not a surprise. The low rate has been maintained since March, when the pandemic began to take its toll on the US economy and health. Fed officials expect that the low rates will be maintained at least until 2023. Fed officials also altered their predictions about GDP, saying it would not be as steep a decline as they originally envisioned. They also expect the unemployment rate to reach about 7.6% by the end of this year.

“With inflation running persistently below this longer run goal, the Committee will aim to achieve inflation moderately above 2 percent for some time so that inflation averages 2 percent over time and longer-term inflation expectations remain well-anchored at 2 percent. The Committee expects to maintain an accommodative stance of monetary policy until these outcomes are achieved,” the post-meeting statement declared.

Money Management during dual crisis

How to Manage a Dual Crisis: Coronavirus and Market Meltdown

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The CEO of Source Financial Advisors, Michelle Smith, has issued several suggestions for how the financial community can endure two conflating situations: the economic fallout of the coronavirus and market declines.

Be in Touch

Use technology to maintain contact with clients. Video platforms should be utilized as much as possible to offer a face-to-face personal interaction. While working remotely may mean that things are a bit more casual, it is important to keep things professional.

Be Authentic

The need to maintain decorum and professionalism notwithstanding, it is also important to be genuine with clients. They want to know that their money is in good hands, but they also want to have a sincere conversation about life. Start and end every conversation with a client by discussing their wellbeing. Ask how they are managing and feeling. Give them the assurance they need. Show them that you care about their physical, mental, and financial health.

Michelle Smith advises maintaining professionalism alongside authenticity during these trying times.

Be Pro-Active

When things are uncertain it is tempting to switch to preservation mode. We have a fiduciary responsibility to do our best for those who are already clients; we may not have the bandwidth to grow our business. But as we focus on the clients we have, we should also maintain business contacts and relationships that can help our business in the future. Look for opportunities in various sectors and actively pursue leads.

Be Thoughtful

Clients are worried about a lot of things right now. It is the job of financial planners and economic advisors to ensure that money is not an additional concern. The current health concerns coupled with economic uncertainties present people with two extremely basic fears: being alone and broke. Now is not the time to overwhelm clients with statistics and trends. Listen closely to what the clients are saying and what they feel most comfortable with at this time. This is unchartered territory for everyone. Every individual, business owner, team leader, and industry specialist is figuring out how to navigate these uncertain times. In the money management field, being attentive, genuine, forthcoming, and caring is the best business practice right now.