One of the most popular New Year’s resolutions (as well as one of the most abandoned) is increased exercise. The question is, how dramatic will such trends change in a post-pandemic and recessionary environment, if at all.

In earlier years, one of the central issues of the Information Age was how one could properly harness the rapid production of content and curate it it in such a way that it could be commercialized. Then came social media; platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have indeed come to define the modern citizen.

The last few months have been something of an acid test for Netflix, launching its Basic with Ads subscription tier after a very rough year. AlphaROC has an early read, and contrary to recent press, our projections have the streaming service back on track.

China has finally put an end to its zero-COVID strategy, reverting factories back to full production. Nevertheless, the damage to iPhone 14 sales has been done. This upgrade cycle will not keep up with historical patterns and demand destruction is likely permanent. The good news, though, is Apple’s grip on their user base is stronger than ever, especially with Gen Zers. For bulls, this is likely worth more than a blip in near term demand.

2022 was the year of the electric vehicle, taking over more than 6% of the auto market from only 1.9% in 2019. As such, most observers seem convinced that Americans are embracing the clean energy transition. Not so fast, says AlphaROC’s data. Investors should be wary of Tesla’s crashing star and the EV industry’s ability to sell what buyers want.

occam’s ML engine uses AI to predict changes in the labor market. Our data suggests job growth remains robust and wage growth remains elevated, but in line with expectations.

Sure, there is no defining exactly what a recession is. What AlphaROC does know is Americans are preparing for a slowdown now, and accordingly, so is Wall Street. In an economy where seeing is often believing, the Fed will have a tough time reversing a recession it set in motion.

Competition has increased significantly for home internet. T-Mobile and AT&T are dominating port out activity thanks to 5G and fiber overbuilds. Even Verizon Wireless has joined the party with their wireless home internet offering. Cable is busy swimming upstream.

While all retail business are at risk from a slowing consumer, Amazon, thanks to Prime, has the best customer base to help weather the storm. Prime customers skew richer and younger. Amazon Prime scores highest in customer satisfaction amongst subscription services, and our data shows that even with the recent price increase, customers refuse to churn.

The U.S. clearly needs to get more people into the workforce as, despite low unemployment, the Labor Force Participation Rate (62.3%) remains below the pre-Covid levels of February 2020 (63.4%). In fact, that labor participation figure has actually dipped since earlier this year. We think there are encouraging signs emerging that this is about to change which should lead to a looser labor market… just what the Fed wants to hear.