Today is Thursday, July 7 and the weekly jobless claims report and data on international trade come out this morning. Following scandal and criticism, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to resign today but will likely stay on in a transitional role until October.
The U.S. rental market is showing some signs of slowing down, with the median rent of a two-bedroom unit falling 2.9% in popular cities, the most significant decline since before the pandemic. Here’s what else should be on your radar this morning.
Live Commerce. Livestream commerce hasn’t yet caught on in the U.S. — and Amazon is aiming to change that by luring top influencers and focusing new efforts on making Amazon Live the go-to destination. READ MORE
Grocery Smackdown. Amazon has overtaken Walmart in numerous retail categories, but groceries is the uncertain dividing line, especially in light of runaway inflation and strained budgets. “The Ongoing Battle for Consumer Retail Spend: Amazon Versus Walmart Q1 2022: The Grocery Wild Card” looks at the ongoing battle for consumers’ budgets sector by sector. READ MORE
Digitizing Agriculture. Bushel CEO Jake Joraanstad told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster that he wants to digitize the 90% of the $1 trillion domestic industrial agriculture sector that is still dependent on paper checks. Bushel is working to get the agriculture supply chain to move away from paper processes and adopt digital tools with data-focused tool sets. READ MOVE
Payments as a Strategy. Dustin Young, senior vice president of acquirer solutions at Cybersource, told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster that payments have moved beyond being just a utility and are now a strategic advantage. READ MORE
ICYMI. Apple is rolling out new features to help its users of phones, tablets, and laptops prevent state-sponsored hacks and other threats. Lockdown mode is an optional feature that will offer the small number of users who face “grave, targeted threats” an additional measure of digital security. Lockdown mode will block most attachments sent to the iPhone’s Messages app as well as wired connections to iPhones when they are locked. READ MORE
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