Going to a baseball game is a wonderful way to spend a day in the summer. Typically, your day at the ballpark is only complete with a beer and a hotdog! How much more does this classic food and drink combo cost at your favorite ballpark? Let’s find out.   The cheapest hot dog is $1.50 dollars at the Baltimore Orioles’ stadium, while the most expensive is a tie with the New York Mets, LA Dodgers, and Chicago Cubs at $6.50 a dog. The league average for a hotdog is $5.10. Now it’s time to wash it down with a beer! The cheapest beer is at the Colorado Rockies’ stadium, costing $3. The most expensive is again the NY Mets at $10.50 a beer. The league average is $5.98. Sorry to all you Mets fans, a beer and a hotdog is $17.00! The cheapest beer and hotdog combo is the Baltimore Orioles’ for grand total of $5.50, and the ball park average is $11.08. What is the take-away? Always remember to account for all possible expenses when deciding to have a little fun. Some of these prices are steep and you would not want a day at the ballpark to put a huge dent in your wallet. Enjoy the ball game!   Info Sources: Statisa.com

It is half-time for the 2018 markets and the heavy lifting is being done, literally, by just a few stocks.  More specifically, a recent report from CNBC indicated that only three companies, you guessed it, Amazon, Microsoft, and Netflix, are responsible for 70% of the move higher in the S&P this year.  That alone is amazing, but when it follows an on average gain in 2017 for the same three stocks of about 47%, it becomes  a real life Monster Jam show.  For the record, the S&P is higher by 4.1% year to date. 

Caps off to the Montgomery Biscuits minor league baseball team, for having a little fun with everyone’s most desired prospects, the Millennials.  On Saturday night they hosted  a “Millennial Night” promotion which featured avocado burgers, craft beer, nap and selfie stations, and “participation ribbons” just for coming to the game.  Nothing beats minor league baseball promotions, my favorite being when the Fort Myers Miracle had “George Costanza Night” where everything is the opposite.  Scoreboard ran from the 9th to the 1st, the fans were paid to park, and players asked fans for autographs.  “If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right.”

The markets have been edging up and down pending any news of decreasing or increasing trade war fears.  But now enough is enough, as tariffs on the cranberry, the quintessential American export, have reduced demand around the world.  This, on top of recent overproduction over the past several years, has dropped the market price for the berry to about $30 per barrel, a nearly 10 year low.  Sure, this is great for the Martha’s Vineyard crowd as they sip their ice cold Cape Codders. However, this really hurts Wisconsin, the largest U.S. cranberry production state, a state that of course went with Trump…

After twelve years, CBS and Warner Brothers (a unit of AT&T) is finally shutting down the long running sitcom “Big Bang Theory” next May. And what a run it was…from a peak audience of 23 million viewers per show to each of the seven main stars making over $1 million dollars per episode, the show was a huge success. It also represents the importance of content in the digital world. Amazingly, Warner brothers has received $1.5 billion dollars in domestic reruns alone. As Sheldon would say “Bazinga!”