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Markets, Inflation, And Golf · Bloomberg Intelligence

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bloomberg Markets Podcast. I'm Paul Sweeney alongside
0:04
Speaker 1: my co host Matt Miller. Every business day we bring
0:06
Speaker 1: you interviews from CEOs, market pros, and Bloomberg experts, along
0:11
Speaker 1: with essential market moving news. Find the Bloomberg Markets podcast
0:15
Speaker 1: called Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts, and
0:18
Speaker 1: at Bloomberg dot com slash podcast. All right, Montlet's bring
0:22
Speaker 1: our next guest, Rebecca Felton, senior and market strategist for
0:25
Speaker 1: Riverfront Investment Group and her claim to fame. She is
0:29
Speaker 1: a fellow Spider Matt from the University of Richmond, my
0:32
Speaker 1: alma mater, so we can't go wrong there, and Rebecca,
0:34
Speaker 1: thanks so much for joining us here. Um boy, the
0:38
Speaker 1: wall of worry out there for an equity investor is
0:42
Speaker 1: pretty darn high, and now you add to it over
0:44
Speaker 1: the last couple of months geopolitical risk. How are you
0:48
Speaker 1: guys thinking about the market right here? Well, good morning
0:51
Speaker 1: to you both, and thank you for having me. Um.
0:54
Speaker 1: You know, we're we're cautious somewhat just because of all
0:57
Speaker 1: of the headwinds that we face in terms of headlines,
1:00
Speaker 1: but we have recently actually put some money back to
1:03
Speaker 1: work and we're still a little bit overweight equities because
1:05
Speaker 1: we think the fundamentals are so strong. What are some
1:08
Speaker 1: of the sectors that you think folks should have some
1:11
Speaker 1: exposure to hear? If you, in fact in strates are rising,
1:15
Speaker 1: growth is slowing, how do you think about that? Well,
1:20
Speaker 1: we are sticking on the growth category with our technology overweight,
1:24
Speaker 1: specifically software and services, because you do have consistency of
1:28
Speaker 1: earnings and revenue growth there, and even if you've got
1:30
Speaker 1: to higher multiples, we're willing to pay up for it. Um.
1:33
Speaker 1: We've also added back to our energy exposure, so we're
1:36
Speaker 1: trying to sort of barbel that growth with some sicklicality.
1:39
Speaker 1: So we have gone a little overweight energy. And we've
1:42
Speaker 1: also gone overweight financials in our longer horizon portfolios because
1:46
Speaker 1: you do have the play into higher net interest margins
1:49
Speaker 1: and you've also got better loan growth, so we're sticking
1:52
Speaker 1: with some large cat banks there too. Are you worried
1:55
Speaker 1: about a recession? We had a survey from our end
1:58
Speaker 1: Live blog and about half of the people we survey
2:02
Speaker 1: to expect a recession in three Well, it is. It
2:07
Speaker 1: is a great question, and you know, one of the
2:09
Speaker 1: things that We always say our mantras process over prediction,
2:12
Speaker 1: so we don't think we have a better crystal ball
2:14
Speaker 1: than anyone else, and arguably that the worries are growing
2:18
Speaker 1: every day as to whether or not we cannot navigate
2:20
Speaker 1: a soft landing and avoid a recession. UM. So uh,
2:24
Speaker 1: we would agree that that the probabilities are are rising,
2:27
Speaker 1: but we are still not saying that we expect to
2:30
Speaker 1: have one next year. Rebecca, We're going to really start
2:33
Speaker 1: kicking off big time earning season next week. What do
2:37
Speaker 1: you think is critical for this market? How are you
2:39
Speaker 1: thinking about this earning season? Well, I guess the good
2:42
Speaker 1: news is there's a lot of companies have already guided lower.
2:45
Speaker 1: Right when you look at the number of companies UM
2:48
Speaker 1: that have pre announced, the majority of those pre announcements
2:51
Speaker 1: have been lower guidance. So we believe the bar is
2:54
Speaker 1: set low. Growth for the quarter is expected to come
2:57
Speaker 1: in at a low single digit level, so it should
3:00
Speaker 1: be a quarter where the surprises maybe to the upside,
3:05
Speaker 1: and we're optimistic about that in terms of actual earnings growth,
3:08
Speaker 1: But of course we expect there to be more caution
3:10
Speaker 1: around wage pressures, supply chain disruptions and that sort of thing.
3:14
Speaker 1: So the key will be to watch margins. So far
3:17
Speaker 1: they have held in above average up around twelve, so
3:20
Speaker 1: we're hopeful that the companies will still have pricing power
3:24
Speaker 1: and be able to deliver on those margins, which is
3:26
Speaker 1: going to be key to keeping multiples up here at
3:28
Speaker 1: these levels. But you think we're going to continue to
3:30
Speaker 1: see supply chain problems, continue to see chip shortage, continue
3:33
Speaker 1: to see commodity inflation. Do you stay away from companies
3:36
Speaker 1: that are hit by that? Well, I mean we are,
3:41
Speaker 1: We're seeing some signs of easing, but of course the
3:44
Speaker 1: situation in in in Ukraine Russia that has that has
3:48
Speaker 1: caused some aggravation in those supply chains again. Uh so
3:53
Speaker 1: again we've increased our our level of cyclicality in terms
3:57
Speaker 1: of energy. Also, we've got an avoid an industrial specifically
4:01
Speaker 1: infrastructure place, so some of those areas are going to
4:05
Speaker 1: maybe be um impacted by these types of things. But
4:08
Speaker 1: we're going to take away and see attitude before we
4:10
Speaker 1: start adjusting positions dramatically versus where we are. Rebecca, how
4:15
Speaker 1: do you and your firm, Riverfront Investment Group, how do
4:18
Speaker 1: you think about E s G investing? Does that factor
4:21
Speaker 1: into your analysis at all? It seems to be gaining
4:25
Speaker 1: a lot of momentum with a lot of different types
4:27
Speaker 1: of investors. Well, absolutely, it's gaining traction that when you
4:31
Speaker 1: think about how what we do, you know, we we
4:34
Speaker 1: are products are global as allocation products. So anytime we
4:39
Speaker 1: want to think about thematic investing, it has to be
4:42
Speaker 1: against the backdrop of that global allocation theme. But then
4:46
Speaker 1: you also have to remember that E s G means
4:49
Speaker 1: something different to every investor, so it's really hard, I think,
4:52
Speaker 1: for us to to go down that path in a
4:54
Speaker 1: global diversified strategy, So we're sticking with sort of true
4:58
Speaker 1: sector plays and that sort of thing, rather than really
5:01
Speaker 1: playing in what would be called traditionally an E s
5:03
Speaker 1: G world. At what point do you, um, how, how
5:09
Speaker 1: how or when do you expect inflation to come back down? Well,
5:15
Speaker 1: obviously that's what job number one for the FED right now.
5:18
Speaker 1: They're going to do whatever they have what is the wordings,
5:20
Speaker 1: will do whatever it takes um but it's probably still
5:24
Speaker 1: not going to be until the back half of this
5:27
Speaker 1: year or maybe even into three given the pressures that
5:30
Speaker 1: we've already discussed in terms of supply chain disruptions, higher
5:34
Speaker 1: uh net energy costs for folks um and those sorts
5:38
Speaker 1: of things, and also the wage pressures. Right, the wages
5:41
Speaker 1: are going higher, so it's probably going to be maybe
5:44
Speaker 1: we'll still be talking about inflation this time next year,
5:47
Speaker 1: but I think that ultimately the FED will succeed. We
5:49
Speaker 1: may not like the ride, but they will be successful
5:52
Speaker 1: in terms of accomplishing that mission. These of you the
5:55
Speaker 1: policy changes that they're going to make. Hey, Rebecca, thank
5:58
Speaker 1: you so much for joining us. We always appreciate getting
6:01
Speaker 1: your thoughts. Rebecca Felton, Senior market strategist, Riverfront Investment Group.
6:04
Speaker 1: They are located in lovely Richmond, Virginia. Let's check in
6:11
Speaker 1: with Seth Carpenter, chief Global economists from Morgan Stanley. All Right, Seth,
6:17
Speaker 1: d dollars for a trucker. That sounds inflationary to me.
6:21
Speaker 1: How do you think about inflation in this marketplace? When
6:23
Speaker 1: you hear news that again Walmarts can pay their truckers
6:26
Speaker 1: up the hundred ten thousand dollars. Absolutely, that does sound inflationary. UM.
6:31
Speaker 1: I have to say, though, the trucker shortage is a
6:34
Speaker 1: long standing trend. In fact, the pre dates COVID, and
6:37
Speaker 1: the fact that now they're realizing that one way to
6:40
Speaker 1: get people to work for you is to pay them
6:41
Speaker 1: a little bit more. Is not overly surprising. But I
6:44
Speaker 1: think more broadly, you're right. I mean, there there is
6:47
Speaker 1: a tight labor market. I think there are no two
6:49
Speaker 1: ways about it. There continues to be very strong aggregate
6:52
Speaker 1: demand and at the end of the day, something's got
6:54
Speaker 1: to give. And we have, of course seen not only
6:56
Speaker 1: strong wages, but we've also seen, as everyone knows, a
6:59
Speaker 1: lot of inflation. I have to say also, and then
7:02
Speaker 1: we'll get off the trucker thing. It is a difficult job.
7:05
Speaker 1: It is an important job, and it is not a
7:08
Speaker 1: job that you want to just give to anyone, right
7:12
Speaker 1: because it's dangerous, a big rig in the hands of,
7:15
Speaker 1: you know, someone who doesn't know how to control it.
7:17
Speaker 1: So I'm glad they're finally getting paid more. They deserve it,
7:20
Speaker 1: they earn it, and they should. Um all right, let's
7:22
Speaker 1: get onto the broader economy because um we did a survey.
7:26
Speaker 1: Paula just sent you the story. The umly blog did
7:30
Speaker 1: a survey set and half of the respondents said they
7:33
Speaker 1: expect a recession. Ine Now, considering what we heard from
7:39
Speaker 1: Lyle Brainerd and everybody else at the FED, UM it
7:42
Speaker 1: makes more and more sense. Buller just told us he
7:44
Speaker 1: thinks they need to raise to three percent, So, um,
7:48
Speaker 1: what do you think? Yeah, so you know, I'm not
7:52
Speaker 1: going to say that a recession in three is our
7:54
Speaker 1: baseline at all, um, But I think some of the
7:58
Speaker 1: complinents that you're talking about their do ray at the risk.
8:00
Speaker 1: So the FED is in a challenging circumstances situation. They're
8:03
Speaker 1: trying to in effect land a jet on an aircraft
8:07
Speaker 1: carrier during a storm, and they've only seen one training
8:10
Speaker 1: film before, right, So it's a very very difficult situation
8:14
Speaker 1: to be in. Um. And moreover, the amount by which
8:17
Speaker 1: they're going to be tightening policy, the speed with which
8:20
Speaker 1: they're tightening policy, I think is going to be directly
8:22
Speaker 1: influenced by how strong they see the economy. And right now,
8:26
Speaker 1: look at the last Non Front Perils Report, for example,
8:29
Speaker 1: it's clearly very strong right now. So they're on there,
8:32
Speaker 1: They're they're clearly asked to start going. So then what
8:36
Speaker 1: would cause us to have a recession next year and
8:38
Speaker 1: not at all our baseline? Cage? But I think I
8:40
Speaker 1: could see a few things happening. First, is the FED
8:43
Speaker 1: getting a little bit overly enthusiastic, and they're going to
8:47
Speaker 1: start running off their balance sheet. We've got some details
8:49
Speaker 1: from that in the Minutes yesterday. But I have to say,
8:52
Speaker 1: even after my fifteen years there at the FED spending
8:54
Speaker 1: a lot of time thinking about the FED balance sheet,
8:56
Speaker 1: if anybody tells you they know for sure exactly how
8:59
Speaker 1: that un of the balance she is going to affect
9:01
Speaker 1: markets in the economy, I think they're either lying to
9:03
Speaker 1: you or they're lying to themselves. So there's some possibility
9:06
Speaker 1: of of a policy you know, hiccup there. I think
9:09
Speaker 1: on top of that, as they start hiking, especially if
9:12
Speaker 1: they front load the hiking, if Heaven forbid, things get
9:16
Speaker 1: worse with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and we have
9:19
Speaker 1: what we've detailed as the cut off scenario where all
9:22
Speaker 1: energy stops flowing to Europe for example, you could see
9:25
Speaker 1: Europe slip into recession. That's got to spill over to
9:28
Speaker 1: the US. And if the set is already front loaded
9:31
Speaker 1: a lot of the hikes and let the unwinded the
9:32
Speaker 1: balance sheet go with some unintended consequences. I think that's
9:35
Speaker 1: the sort of constellation of the events that that gets
9:37
Speaker 1: you a recession in early how material is that risk
9:42
Speaker 1: to you seth and that energy risk for Europe leading
9:46
Speaker 1: to a recession. UM. Right now, the oil still flowing,
9:50
Speaker 1: the dollars and euros are still going into Russia, but
9:54
Speaker 1: boys are growing call to kind of tone that down
9:58
Speaker 1: or limit that it doesn't seem more really tenable. YEA,
10:02
Speaker 1: So I completely agree. I mean, I'm not a political scientist,
10:07
Speaker 1: and I cannot forecast where this conflict is going. But
10:10
Speaker 1: but I absolutely subscribe to the way you're reading things,
10:13
Speaker 1: which is things are worse now than they were two
10:18
Speaker 1: or three weeks ago. I think the calls for starting
10:20
Speaker 1: to cut off with oil with a coal rather so
10:23
Speaker 1: it shows you that when maybe we're on that path
10:25
Speaker 1: in that direction, the discussions about dollars versus rubles and
10:30
Speaker 1: which accounts are frozen, I think adds to the to
10:33
Speaker 1: the tension. So I think it's got to be a
10:35
Speaker 1: scenario that we take very very seriously. How about this, UM,
10:39
Speaker 1: where's your our start right now? I'd rather start off
10:44
Speaker 1: with how big the aeror bands are around that our star.
10:48
Speaker 1: I mean, the FED has there's the nominal terms at
10:51
Speaker 1: about two and a half. I guess I would very
10:53
Speaker 1: slightly take the under on that but boy, the ability
10:55
Speaker 1: to be certain about where that is is very hard
10:59
Speaker 1: to come by. And I'll just highlight one thing. I mean,
11:02
Speaker 1: in one version of the world, the FED having a
11:04
Speaker 1: really big balance sheet, all else equal, just makes financial
11:07
Speaker 1: conditions easier, which means our star has got to be
11:09
Speaker 1: higher to get the same amount of neutrality. On the
11:12
Speaker 1: other hand, the act of shrinking the balance sheet pushes
11:15
Speaker 1: spreads wider and tightens financial conditions. And so as you're
11:18
Speaker 1: shrinking the balance sheet, maybe that says our star is
11:21
Speaker 1: a little bit lower. Um. I think anybody would be
11:24
Speaker 1: an idiot to try to say that they know for
11:25
Speaker 1: sure where it is and and and drive with that knowledge. Instead,
11:29
Speaker 1: where I suspect Powell and company are going is they're
11:31
Speaker 1: going to be driving by feel a little bit sort
11:33
Speaker 1: of like what we saw in Alright, thanks so much
11:36
Speaker 1: for joining us. Seth Carpenter, chief Global Economists from Warring Stanley.
11:42
Speaker 1: All right, let's hep mobile banking. You know, Matt, I
11:44
Speaker 1: am a whiz now at mobile banking. I deposit checks,
11:48
Speaker 1: transfer money, wire transfers. I do it all, uh, and
11:52
Speaker 1: I'm feeling pretty good about that. And that's all learned
11:55
Speaker 1: in the last two years let check of a lovely
11:57
Speaker 1: in situ chair CEO and founder of BM Technologies help
12:00
Speaker 1: banks and folks, you know, kind of get into the
12:03
Speaker 1: digital game on the banking side. Lovely, thanks so much
12:05
Speaker 1: for joining us here. Am I representative of the average
12:10
Speaker 1: person out there? I E I've gotten a lot more
12:12
Speaker 1: tech savvys relates to my banking So absolutely, thank you
12:17
Speaker 1: so much for having me. And just to begin a
12:19
Speaker 1: little bit about b M Technologies, just as a reminder,
12:22
Speaker 1: we are one of the largest digital banking and banking
12:25
Speaker 1: as a service providers in the country today um and
12:29
Speaker 1: and really one of the first neo banking fintech to
12:31
Speaker 1: go public, to be profitable and now as to actually
12:34
Speaker 1: embrace a bank charter. Um. So to answer your questions,
12:37
Speaker 1: I think that you know, COVID in that period definitely
12:40
Speaker 1: accelerated the use of technology, not just in financial services
12:44
Speaker 1: but really across the board. Um. And then couple that
12:48
Speaker 1: with a surgeon deposits from stimulus, it was definitely, you know,
12:52
Speaker 1: a good good time for for banks and for consumers
12:54
Speaker 1: to start engaging with them in any way. So what
12:57
Speaker 1: does this mean, Lovely and we can do at b
12:59
Speaker 1: M Technology do can I use you as a consumer.
13:03
Speaker 1: Um or do companies use you to help embed you know,
13:08
Speaker 1: banking services in their online presence or do you work
13:12
Speaker 1: with with banks directly? What what is it? Who's your client? Yeah?
13:16
Speaker 1: A little bit of all of the above. Um And
13:19
Speaker 1: so we have you know, a unique digital banking platform
13:21
Speaker 1: that allows us to directly go to consumers and offer
13:25
Speaker 1: them a more compelling banking experience from the products, to
13:28
Speaker 1: the features, to more affordable products that but also the
13:32
Speaker 1: same digital banking platform that's cloud based, that's a PI enabled.
13:37
Speaker 1: The beauty of it is that we could license that
13:39
Speaker 1: to others and we allow and enable large brands to
13:43
Speaker 1: offer financial services as well, and not just from a
13:46
Speaker 1: technology standpoint, but you know, as you know, banking is
13:49
Speaker 1: regulated and there's a lot in the back end to
13:51
Speaker 1: really operate and support a bank, and all of that
13:55
Speaker 1: we also provide as well today and lovely and I
13:58
Speaker 1: know you know, the banks of a talking about for
14:00
Speaker 1: years the capital investments they're making in their technology platforms.
14:06
Speaker 1: Is it lowering the cost is allowing them to increase
14:09
Speaker 1: their profit margins if they really make the investment for
14:11
Speaker 1: digital You know, we've been saying for years that banks
14:16
Speaker 1: continue to invest in in in technology and product enhancements,
14:20
Speaker 1: and that doesn't always correlate to a better customer experience.
14:24
Speaker 1: It's how is it done and is it done well
14:27
Speaker 1: with the customer in mind? And so you don't rapidly
14:30
Speaker 1: see as as larger banks are investing billions and dollars
14:33
Speaker 1: that correlates to more and more happy customers. Um. But
14:37
Speaker 1: that being said, it's a good move forward. I think
14:39
Speaker 1: that you know, consumers are demanding more as it relates
14:43
Speaker 1: to crypto in terms of having that being part of
14:46
Speaker 1: their financial planning and assuming that banks would have an
14:50
Speaker 1: opportunity for them to get involved in that. They're demanding
14:53
Speaker 1: more of a rebundling of financial services. I shouldn't have
14:56
Speaker 1: to go to robin Hood for one thing, so by
14:58
Speaker 1: for another thing, but really going under one umbrella at
15:02
Speaker 1: one platform to get all of my financial needs um.
15:05
Speaker 1: And and lastly, you know, really a push for financial
15:08
Speaker 1: inclusion so that I don't just need to go to
15:10
Speaker 1: a bank branch to get my my banking done. But really,
15:14
Speaker 1: if there's a brand that I truly trust, I value,
15:17
Speaker 1: I have an emotional connection with, can I go there
15:20
Speaker 1: and get my banking needs met? And that's what we're
15:23
Speaker 1: doing with our banking as a service and and b
15:25
Speaker 1: M Technology is partnered with T Mobile, for example, to
15:28
Speaker 1: launch the T Mobile Checking account. Interesting stuff. Yeah, I'm
15:31
Speaker 1: doing it. I'm doing it. I feel like I am
15:34
Speaker 1: TECHT savvy. Now on my consumer financials gardner? What's that
15:38
Speaker 1: during this program? I paid my gardener? There you go,
15:40
Speaker 1: look at you. Lovely to do Chair, CEO and founder
15:43
Speaker 1: of b M Technologies, New York Stock Exchange list a
15:45
Speaker 1: b M t X. It is day one of the
15:53
Speaker 1: Master's tigers on a second hole. Even par so, we
15:55
Speaker 1: thought a good time to talk about the business of golf.
15:58
Speaker 1: Friendy Pich, CEO of PGA Superstore, He's gonna join us
16:02
Speaker 1: and talk us about the retail side of the game
16:04
Speaker 1: of golf. Plus, Barry Ridholtz joins us because it's Thursday
16:08
Speaker 1: and he always talks to us on Thursday, so we'll
16:10
Speaker 1: see what his thoughts are on these markets. But first
16:12
Speaker 1: let's go to Greig Jarrett's gonna blow our business flash.
16:14
Speaker 1: Greg Well stocks continue to retreat. Paul investors are digesting
16:18
Speaker 1: the possibility of even more aggressive monetary tightening by the FED,
16:22
Speaker 1: and are monitoring the war in Ukraine. Sp Right now
16:26
Speaker 1: is down six tenths and percent down twenty five. That
16:28
Speaker 1: DO was down eight tenths of a percent, down two
16:29
Speaker 1: hundred sixty seven, and the NaNs acts down eight tenths
16:33
Speaker 1: of a percent, down a hundred sixteen. The Tenure is
16:35
Speaker 1: down eleven thirty seconds. The yield is two point six
16:38
Speaker 1: four percent. West Texas Intermediate Crude continues to descend. It's
16:43
Speaker 1: down one point four percent. Seven of barrel Comics gold
16:46
Speaker 1: is up six tenths of a percent at nine twenty
16:49
Speaker 1: and ounced the dollar five, the euro dollar nine oh won,
16:53
Speaker 1: the British pound, the dollar thirty sixty. Harvard plans to
16:57
Speaker 1: sell green bonds to finance construction of a new science
17:01
Speaker 1: and engineering complex for renovation of an existing dorm. The
17:04
Speaker 1: richest U S College is planning to sell eight hundred
17:07
Speaker 1: million dollars of taxable bonds three D you know, which
17:10
Speaker 1: will be designated as green, according to documents posted to
17:14
Speaker 1: Muni o S. That is a Bloomberg business flash. Bloomberg
17:18
Speaker 1: Markets continues now. Paul Sweeney and Matt Miller. All right,
17:21
Speaker 1: great Jered, good stuff there, you know, Matt. When the
17:25
Speaker 1: pandemic hit March of Lockdown, one of the few things
17:30
Speaker 1: you could do is kind of go out on the
17:31
Speaker 1: golf course and play golf and rounds of golf at
17:34
Speaker 1: my club in New Jersey. Roup almost fifty there in
17:38
Speaker 1: just a you know, amazing surgeon. Has to be good
17:41
Speaker 1: for the game of golf. Let's talk about the business
17:44
Speaker 1: of golf. Randy piche CEO of p g A Tour Superstars, Randy,
17:47
Speaker 1: thanks so much for joining us here again. Rounds of
17:49
Speaker 1: my club, we're up. Is that kind of what we
17:52
Speaker 1: saw around the country. Yes, very very much, and thank
17:57
Speaker 1: you first of all for having me on the show.
17:58
Speaker 1: But you are absolute of the writing in the rounds
18:01
Speaker 1: of golf. Um, the industry saw five hundred and twenty
18:05
Speaker 1: nine million rounds of golf played last year. Um that's
18:09
Speaker 1: nearly a five percent increase from which was also the
18:13
Speaker 1: highest ever recorded. Uh So we are at an all
18:17
Speaker 1: time high in in rounds played, and as you said,
18:20
Speaker 1: at your club, you're seeing that and various clubs around
18:23
Speaker 1: the country are seeing a surge like has never been
18:26
Speaker 1: seen before in the golf industry. So, uh, it's it's
18:30
Speaker 1: it's really fun to to see it. And I know
18:33
Speaker 1: that our world is experiencing a lot of pain right
18:35
Speaker 1: now between wars and what you just announced in the market,
18:39
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of bad going on in the world,
18:41
Speaker 1: but um, people are are looking for a little bit
18:45
Speaker 1: of an escape from time to time. And that's what
18:47
Speaker 1: our our business and our our great game provides. So
18:51
Speaker 1: it's really fun to to be to be able to
18:53
Speaker 1: be a part of that. How important is Tiger's participation?
18:59
Speaker 1: Extremely important? So so you probably uh remember back in
19:04
Speaker 1: in n when he first won the Masters, um and
19:07
Speaker 1: the surge that the golf, the game of golf saw
19:10
Speaker 1: between nine and two thousand, when Tiger was at his peak, um,
19:15
Speaker 1: and prior tow we had never seen a surge like
19:18
Speaker 1: that in golf. Um and and this is equal to that.
19:21
Speaker 1: And um the human side of the story of Tiger
19:26
Speaker 1: that he actually almost lost his life number one, We
19:29
Speaker 1: start with that, uh, but he was he was more
19:33
Speaker 1: likely to lose that leg than he was to to
19:36
Speaker 1: have the leg. So to to see him out here
19:39
Speaker 1: even just walking around a golf course, let alone competing
19:43
Speaker 1: as I'm watching him hit his third shot into a
19:46
Speaker 1: par five year and fakes, but he ties for the
19:50
Speaker 1: lead in the Masters. Just to be able to say
19:53
Speaker 1: that in fourteen months after that horrific accident for Tiger
19:59
Speaker 1: Woods to be ties for the lead is something that
20:02
Speaker 1: um a normal story at the Master's obviously, this is
20:05
Speaker 1: the biggest tournament of the year. Um, a normal feel
20:09
Speaker 1: good story at the Master's reaches certain news outlets when
20:12
Speaker 1: Tiger is in the Masters and contending in a normal year,
20:16
Speaker 1: it's a bigger story that my wife, who's just marginally
20:20
Speaker 1: interested in golf talks about. It's talked about in places
20:23
Speaker 1: and on networks. Uh that it's not talked about in
20:26
Speaker 1: other places. But with the accident and the comeback story
20:30
Speaker 1: added to that, this has larger than life. And you
20:35
Speaker 1: know the fact that we're sitting here watching his second
20:38
Speaker 1: hole of a seventy two whole tournament and talking about
20:41
Speaker 1: it is is really incredible. And and lots of other
20:44
Speaker 1: people are as well. We've gotten text messages the Tigers
20:47
Speaker 1: now teeing off and what do you think he's gonna do?
20:49
Speaker 1: And it's it's the talk of the golf world. So
20:52
Speaker 1: it's a lot of fun, um and it helps business
20:54
Speaker 1: and it helps people be interested in golf, which is uh,
20:57
Speaker 1: which is the most important thing. Yeah, it's interesting. Uh,
21:00
Speaker 1: you know, we're you're in here a Bloomberg We're all over.
21:02
Speaker 1: Stay tuned for updates of the Master's Tournament every hour
21:04
Speaker 1: throughout the weekend on Bloomberg Radio, and a special edition
21:07
Speaker 1: of Masters Tonight coming up at eleven pm Eastern. Randy
21:10
Speaker 1: talked to us about supply chain. If I want to
21:12
Speaker 1: go buy a new set of clubs or golf shoes,
21:14
Speaker 1: are they going to be in the store. Yeah, so
21:16
Speaker 1: that's a great question we have. We have struggled like
21:20
Speaker 1: like others have initially on the supply chain. But the
21:23
Speaker 1: best part about us is we've gotten very, very creative.
21:26
Speaker 1: Uh So, Number one, we've we've we have great relationships
21:30
Speaker 1: with our manufacturers, as you can imagine, but we've done
21:33
Speaker 1: things that are a little bit out of the norm.
21:35
Speaker 1: So we had a manufacturer but you probably know, by
21:39
Speaker 1: the name of titlist Um, and they make wedges called
21:42
Speaker 1: Boki wedges, and they were out of grips, and what
21:45
Speaker 1: we told titleists, we worked to deal with them. They
21:47
Speaker 1: sold They sent us wedges that were ungripped, and we
21:50
Speaker 1: told customers that came in, you pick out any grip
21:53
Speaker 1: in our store and we'll put it on at no charge.
21:55
Speaker 1: And customers were happier we're able to have products, so
21:58
Speaker 1: we're doing things that are very unique. UM. And for
22:01
Speaker 1: the first time since the pandemic started, we are back
22:06
Speaker 1: to the inventory levels that are above what our plans are. UM.
22:09
Speaker 1: So it's really really good news, UM that that we're
22:13
Speaker 1: still we're we're doing better now than we ever have. UM.
22:17
Speaker 1: I'm not going to tell you that there are no
22:19
Speaker 1: lead times out there for certain special orders, but it's
22:21
Speaker 1: gotten a lot better. UM. And and as I said,
22:24
Speaker 1: we're the leader in the marketplace that's that's able to
22:27
Speaker 1: to do things that are really really unique UM. And
22:30
Speaker 1: I just got off the phone with our call center
22:33
Speaker 1: UM and the calls for things that are follow ups
22:36
Speaker 1: on special orders are way down UM, which is an
22:39
Speaker 1: anecdotal way to say that special order lead times are
22:42
Speaker 1: coming down. UM. So it's a it's great news for
22:45
Speaker 1: everybody that our manufacturers have stepped up and and we're
22:48
Speaker 1: certainly the leader in the category and in being able
22:51
Speaker 1: to get customers product quicker than what they're expecting today.
22:56
Speaker 1: Quite frankly, all right, Randy, thanks so much for joining us.
22:58
Speaker 1: Randy Piche there chief operating officer the p g A
23:01
Speaker 1: Tour superstore, and he has a ton of experience in
23:04
Speaker 1: the industry with posting formally at sports Authority and sacks,
23:09
Speaker 1: et cetera. So it's great to get his insight on
23:12
Speaker 1: the merchandizing and supply chain side of these things. In
23:16
Speaker 1: terms of sporting events, I gotta say, Paul, for me,
23:20
Speaker 1: the Masters is the greatest sporting event that I've ever
23:23
Speaker 1: been to. It's just so much fun. And I've been
23:26
Speaker 1: to other big deals like the super Bowl, but nothing
23:28
Speaker 1: is like Augusta. I appree with pent. I've been to
23:31
Speaker 1: the Masters once. I was fortunate enough to do that,
23:33
Speaker 1: and again, I've been fortunate to go to a lot
23:35
Speaker 1: of other big sporting events, but it's just special. Even
23:37
Speaker 1: if you're not a golf fan, there's just a special
23:40
Speaker 1: filling there, and uh, the place itself is just immaculate.
23:43
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Bloomberg Markets podcast. You can
23:46
Speaker 1: subscribe and listen to interviews with Apple Podcasts or whatever
23:50
Speaker 1: podcast platform you prefer. I'm Matt Miller. I'm on Twitter
23:54
Speaker 1: at Matt Miller three pt on false Sweeney I'm on
23:57
Speaker 1: Twitter at pt Sweeney. Before the podcast, you can always
24:00
Speaker 1: catch us worldwide at Bloomberg Radient