A summary of this week’s best articles. Follow us on Twitter (@INTRINSICINV) for similar ongoing posts and shares.

Wall Street’s 2017 Market Predictions: Pathetically Wrong (James Mackintosh, @jmackin2, WSJ)

Forecasting is difficult. 2017 turned out to be a very different year than Wall Street predicted. “Last year almost everyone was bullish about the prospects for the ‘reflation trade’ of higher bond yields, stock prices and the dollar, driven by rising wages and Donald Trump’s tax-cut plans.” While the S&P is up, it’s up much more than predicted. The yield on the 10 year UST went down. The dollar against a global basket has gotten weaker. And, US average hourly earnings has decreased.

U.S. Economy Reaches Its Potential Output for First Time in Decade (Ben Leubsdorf, @BenLeubsdorf, WSJ)

After the recent financial crisis, many pundits talked of a “new normal.” A world where the actual GDP of the US economy was going to persistently trend below the potential GDP. At first glance, one might think the economy turned out to be more resilient because actual GDP has now surpassed potential GDP for the first time since the forth quarter of 2007. But, the estimate for potential GDP has declined since 2007. The gap between actual GDP and potential GDP (as projected in 2007), the gap has persisted and even expanded.

The Future Of Retail In The Age Of Amazon (Austin Carr, @AustinCarr, Fast Company)

Amazon has been a forced to be reckoned with in the retail space. They now do 5% of all US retail sales. This assault on traditional retailers has exposed the differences among retailers and what services customers value.

Lamborghini Finally Unveils the $200,000 Urus SUV (Hannah Elliott, @HannahElliott, Bloomberg Pursuits)

As the growth rate of SUV’s has outpaced sedans, luxury auto makers are trying to capture this new trend. The practical use of the SUV is not a factor when purchasing the new Lamborghini SUV. From speed (it goes 62 mph in 3.6 seconds) to a 1,700 watt, 21 speaker sound system, they spared no expense in developing an SUV that creates desire and provides an image of rarity.

For more information about positions owned by Ensemble Capital on behalf of clients as well as additional disclosure information related to this post, please CLICK HERE.

While we do not accept public comments on this blog for compliance reasons, we encourage readers to contact us with their thoughts.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. All investments in securities carry risks, including the risk of losing one’s entire investment. The opinions expressed within this blog post are as of the date of publication and are provided for informational purposes only. Content will not be updated after publication and should not be considered current after the publication date. All opinions are subject to change without notice and due to changes in the market or economic conditions may not necessarily come to pass. Nothing contained herein should be construed as a comprehensive statement of the matters discussed, considered investment, financial, legal, or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy or sell any securities, and no investment decision should be made based solely on any information provided herein. Links to third party content are included for convenience only, we do not endorse, sponsor, or recommend any of the third parties or their websites and do not guarantee the adequacy of information contained within their websites. Please follow the link above for additional disclosure information.