Despite all of the unpredictability and uncertainty inherent in today's ad tech world, it's still possible for the optimum outcome to manifest. Verizon's acquisition of Yahoo's core assets is such an example.

Although the future will not necessarily be 100% rosy, it is surely the best current outcome for consumers, marketers and the industry as a whole. Verizon will certainly need to heed the lessons of poor previous mergers such as AOL - Time Warner.

Fortunately, there are many positives to focus on, such as both companies having impressive sales and industry knowledge expertise. In addition, there is the benefit of owning both production and distribution aspects of the system.

CargoX is a fantastic Brazilian trucking startup company that Goldman Sachs funded with a $10 million dollar investment.

Some people are referring to CargoX as if it is a type of Uber for the trucking industry. The startup announced that it reached its $10 million goal almost effortlessly.

It is not a surprise that people refer to CargoX as being similar to Uber. Uber's founder, Oscar Salazary, had a lot to do with the startup. He was delighted to support the venture and says that he sees a great deal of potential in it because of the flawed trucking market in Brazil.

Salazar made nothing but positive statements about the start up. He said that it seemed to be a billion dollar opportunity. Information asymmetry is what he attributed to the company's potential.

Frederico Vega, the CEO of the company, said that the startup probably has a closer likeness to Airbnb than it does to Uber. Nevertheless, one of the company's main goals is to reduce costs for people who own freight. What it does is bridge the gap between truckers and businesses who need to move product. It finds truckers who have no freight in them and puts them together with the businesses that need them. This results in having two happy parties and less trucks traveling on the highways empty.

Today, US stocks have opened at a higher price, triggered by an unexpectedly good jobs report. The report from last month led to anxiety and fear in the market. However, the report today has eased investors' worries, offering further evidence that the economy has moved in the right direction.

Over the days of June, roughly 287,000 jobs were generated in America, exceeding economists' predictions of 175,000 jobs. Nonetheless, the rate of joblessness increased slightly to 4.9 percent, whereas economists predicted it would increase to 4.8 percent. The shooting in Dallas has had an effect on numerous stocks as well, a phenomena we will address below.

Today, Twilio announced that it would set the price of its' first offering to the public at fifteen dollars per share. This values the firm at about $1.23 billion, which is over its' prior one billion dollar valuation from the previous financing round.

The firm expects to make about 150 million dollars, with an additional 1.5 million shares available for sale. Also, this is a bigger price than the twelve to fourteen dollars per share amount that the firm targeted in the past.

The Twilio IPO is important, because tech IPOs have dried up considerably in 2016. Concern has spread among many small businesses that have run into problems, due to the dearth of tech IPOs this year (Twilio is just the third of 2016). Most startups hope that Twilio will revitalize the tech IPO industry, with a good showing once trading starts tomorrow.

The debate over the $15 dollar minimum wage has two sides, one that believes that the higher wages will mean less jobs and the side that wants to see better incomes for employees in low skill jobs in America. Currently 2 states and 4 cities have passed laws to increase the minimum wage to this level over the next couple of years. This higher wage will have negative impacts on businesses and the workers that currently are employed there, while limiting the number of available jobs for young workers.

Franchise locations of the popular fast food chain McDonalds are everywhere and employee millions of American workers. But the franchises only keep 6 cents of every dollar of revenue that they generate, the rest goes to staff, food, rent, etc. A typical franchise has income of $2.6 million a year or $156,000. With this new minimum wage, 15 employees will cost the franchise 75% of its profit for the year. The company will attempt to increase revenue through price increases but customers are sensitive to these increases and lower wage earnings will be most affected by the increase in their purchases.

Rents  Down in 2016 Forecast

Zillow Rent Forecast sees rents to slow, shifting to low gear in all the 12 months of 2016 that will include even well-performing markets in the previous years.

For renters though, Zillow predicts a flat line this year as well, a market movement that is expected from a meager 1.1 % rent increase.

Back in 2015, rents shoot up over the charts well enough to go beyond the average income of most tenants and renters which then made rent affordability one of the most volatile issues then. This is dominantly obvious in rising metropolitan areas such as San Francisco where rent appreciation rose more than two digits or exactly 12.5 %. This will most likely not be an issue in 2016 where rent increases are performing only half as quickly compared to 2015.

The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) last month issued a statement alleging that famous golfer Phil Mickelson profited to the tune of at least $931,000 due to insider trading. While the two other men implicated in the case, a professional gambler and a former board member of Dean Foods, are facing potential jail time (the typical punishment in such situations), Mickelson hasn't been charged with any crime at all.

The U.S. federal government has been investigating this case for decades, but instead of being contrite and owning up to the alleged crimes Mickelson's lawyer issued a statement stating the pro golf player is an "innocent bystander" and he is not deserving of the focus and "false finger pointing."

Yes, Mickelson agreed to pay back the $931,000, as well as about $100,000 in interest, to the government. But as per the SEC's own rules, he should have never been in possession of this money in the first place.

Instead of facing jail time, however, Mickelson merely had to cut a check for $931,000. He didn't even have to promise to not engage in similar behavior in the future. Even for someone worth so much money, handing $931,000 to the government without putting up a fight seems suspicious.

These days it only take a simple touch of a screen or button to fulfill a whole bunch of everyday functions. This might be for simple leisure-related pursuits such as dinner reservations or buying tickets to a sporting event or gig. However, more complex tasks such as wealth management and investing are also becoming fully integrated into this brave new technology digital world.

Whereas once upon a time wealth management was a highly complex activity trusted to experts, the evolution of cutting-edge software has allowed it to become much more accessible, affordable and generally consumer-friendly. This can apply to investors at the introductory stages of accumulating personal wealth as well as those at a more advanced stage.

One of the best things abut automaton is that it also includes a human advice aspect. Software can be used to guide real-life human advisors in creating guidance for consumers. This is much deeper than jut using algorithms. Indeed, so-called goals-based engagement is sophisticated and allows for individually desired investment outcomes and goal values. There is a personal touch that helps a wealth advisor to take heed of infinite market outcomes and life scenarios. Basically, technology combined with human advice means that wealth management is more holistic than ever.

With the demand for oil continuing to increase every year from 1 to 2 percent, the price is destined to rebound higher within the next couple of years. Supply has fallen due to a lack of new production with the current price suppressed. We have seen trading around $30 with prices moving around a little bit, a general trend upward over the past 3 months. This price increase has been noticed at retail gasoline stations across the country.

Some view a yearly target of $45/barrel as being reasonable with a two to three year target of $60.

There are a couple of caveats to the price discussion. Derivatives are largely responsible for the price of the commodity. So supply and demand are often obscured from the current prices by these trading instruments. And their price is more volatile than a straight commodity traded on an exchange would be. A world event could cause the price to fall or jump quickly.

CEO Jack Dorsey is attempting to turn around Twitter but the latest quarter result, released Tuesday night, is no indication that will happen anytime soon. First quarter 2016 advertising revenue came in softer than anticipated. Analyst were hoping for $608 million in revenue but the company only produced $595 million. Shares tumbled after hours last night and opened up down 16% were they stayed all day (closing at $14.86), even as the overall market climbed in the afternoon.

Twitter added 5 million new users during the quarter, although Twitter is famous for having more fake accounts created than real accounts. The company also stated that 310 million users are active each month. The is an improvement over user sign-ups and activity from prior quarters. The popular social media site ranks second in media attention behind only Facebook.