6 Most Important Things in Business Today

October 23, 2017 by Douglas A. McIntyre

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) has agreed to build a factory in China, according to The Wall Street Journal. Its electric car market may well be the largest in the world soon.

“Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween” was number one at the box office this past weekend. According to Box Office Mojo:

As expected, Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween topped the weekend box office becoming the seventh of eight Madea films to open over $20 million. Meanwhile, it was rough going for the weekend’s four other new wide releases as Geostorm, Only the Brave and The Snowman essentially bombed while Pure Flix’s Same Kind of Different as Me failed to meet the low end of expectations after strong group sales on opening day. Overall, the top twelve generated just $81.3 million, over $30 million less than the same weekend last year as October is currently pacing ~13% behind last year.

China’s exports to North Korea rose last quarter. According to CNBC:

China’s exports to North Korea jumped an annual 20.9 percent in the first three quarters of 2017, customs data showed.

From January to September, Asia’s largest economy exported $2.55 billion in value to the pariah state, the data showed, according to Reuters. Imports from North Korea during that nine-month period actually fell 16.7 percent, according to the data, and so the total trade figure only saw a 3.7 percent increase, Reuters said.

According to Reuters, Fidelity Investments is the latest company to deal with harassment charges. Reuters reports:

Less than a year into her tenure as chairman of Fidelity Investments, Abigail Johnson faces a crisis amid allegations that the mutual fund giant has a men’s club mentality.

Johnson is addressing inappropriate workplace conduct such as sexual harassment by hiring a consulting firm to review employee behavior stretching back years, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

“Fidelity’s policies specifically prohibit harassment in any form,” the company said in a statement on Sunday. “When allegations of these sorts are brought to our attention, we investigate them immediately and take prompt and appropriate action.”

Subway’s sales have dropped sharply, according to the New York Post:

Sales at the privately held chain have fallen in each of the past two years, according to financial statements reviewed by The Post, and management is scrambling for an answer.

Chief Executive Suzanne Greco is pushing plans to spruce up the interiors of Subway’s dated decor, invest in technology and roll out a customer-loyalty program.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) plans to revamp its promotion plans for the holidays. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

After a disappointing season last year, Target is changing up its holiday playbook.

It is streamlining its number of promotions, sprinkling hundreds of new giftable items throughout stores and expanding its marketing efforts to go beyond its focus on families.

Target’s bevy of promotions and up-and-down prices confused shoppers last year, Mark Tritton, Target’s chief merchandising officer said at a media briefing. So this year, it is simplifying the approach to have fewer sales events that it hopes will have a bigger impact.

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