Don’t double click to pay!

In this buzz: Pricey Eggs and the Avian Flue; Swipe-less payments; Again Spotify; More Earnings reports coming and more …

Early Warning Systems (EWS):
The big banks do not want you to double tab the side button on your iPhone to pay for your online purchases anymore. Concerned about the rise of digital wallets, the biggies are joining forces again to allow cardholders to checkout without grabbing their physical cards. The banks are teaming up again to build a digital wallet run by Early Warning Systems (EWS), the bank owned company that runs Zelle. It will debut as an online checkout option with plans to become swipe-less.
Why? : The banks are worried about losing customers as products like PayPal and Apple Pay have surged in popularity.

Spotify:
Tech layoffs aren’t news anymore. Yesterday Spotify announced 600 layoffs or 6% of its workforce, joining tech companies from Amazon to Google in letting go of 60K + employees in the last few months. What’s interesting about the Spotify move is whether it is a signal that podcasting has reached its peak. Now, the layoffs aren’t confined to its podcast division, but it has been an area where Spotify has devoted a lot of resources over the past couple of years. Who knows, maybe I am just hoping the podcast space it fully saturated. I don’t need my cousin trying to force me to listen to one more true crime episode on our road trip. Spoiler alert… they never find out who did it.

More earnings this week: Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Verizon, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, 3M and General Electric.

Oh, and as you might have noticed when your brunch bill doubled.

– Egg prices rose 60% in 2022.

Why? : One farm group claims it’s a collusive scheme by egg suppliers (“Sue everybody!”), though the avian flu that ravaged the poultry industry seems like a reasonable enough cause.