I’ll have AI with a side of fries, thanks

McDonald’s is looking at tech acquisitions as a way to reinvent the fast-food experience. First having spent over $300 million on data startup Dynamic Yield earlier this year, and now with its latest acquisition of Apprente, an AI firm focussed on voice-automation for fast-food ordering.

Mindreading magic sauce

Apprente's artificial intelligence is speech-based, and its goal is to increase the speed of all transactions. Apprente’s technology is "sound-to-meaning", which means it goes directly from speech signals to result, making drive-thru ordering an all over better experience. It makes sense since McDonald’s gets about 70% of its US business through that window. Pair this with Dynamic Yield's decision engine that switches up menu items based on what it thinks consumers want, and you’re getting quite the happy meal. McDonald’s is going a step further embracing this new tech by forming its own McD Tech Labs, a Silicon Valley-based arm that will work on creating more personalised experiences for customers using data and technology. What does this mean for the humans who are currently working the drive-thrus? McDonald's won’t comment on whether these tech efficiencies will result in fewer jobs for humanoids, but claims that this move will offer a more consistent and pleasurable customer service experience.

McTech goes to show that if you want to stay relevant, you’ve got to change

Fact is, every company is becoming a tech company – even the ones you’d never suspect. From logistics to innovating with AI, McDonald’s is becoming a saltier, more delicious version of Amazon (AMZN) because it wants to stay alive. Shares fell with the announcement that sales in the US had been weaker than expected for the third quarter but with this new tech, the company could change how their customers decide what to eat and potentially make them eat more using factors like the time of day, the weather, and the popularity of certain menu items. Wait, there’s more: at some drive-thrus, they’re testing technology that can recognise your license plate number, then tailor a list of suggested purchases based on your previous orders. Welcome to a hyper-personalisation world. 

October is the spookiest month for the share market

October is notorious for being the month for a share market crash – 1907, 1929, 1987 and the close-call-crash in 1989 give this month a bad reputation. The worst by far was the October 24th crash in 1929 when the New York Stock Exchange plummeted and kicked off the Great Depression. For the 90th anniversary of Black Thursday, we thought we’d take a walk down memory lane to see if the world has learned anything from that terrible day.

What actually led to the crash

Late in the summer of 1929, a shoeshine boy gave Joe Kennedy some stock tips. Seems innocuous enough, but Kennedy was a weathered investor and figured that if shoeshine boys were going around giving tips, the market is too popular for its own good and it was time to get out. So, good ol’ Joe sold all of his shares, shorted the market and made a killing. During the Roaring 20s, investing in the share markets became a national pastime. Those who didn't have funds to invest could borrow from their stockbroker on margin, meaning they were investing other peoples’ money. From shoeshine boys to teachers, greed for profits sent the share market soaring 20% a year for seven years. Wild speculation led to company shares being valued way over their actual worth. Eventually, the bubble burst helped pave the way to the worst economic disaster in US history: the Great Depression.

What can we learn?

We’ve witnessed strong gains over the last decade, so could we be on the heels of yet another crash? Maybe, we haven’t had one in a long time and it's overdue, so let’s learn from the past with some important reminders:

• Diversify: By diversifying your portfolio across multiple sectors and asset classes, you can protect yourself from a drop from a single company, industry or asset class. 

• Hit the books: Understand the history of the share markets. While the past performance of the market doesn’t guarantee future performance, understanding that is has been volatile can be reassuring. Historically, shares have been one of the better long-term financial investments, but of course, what goes up can come down. Share prices tend to fluctuate, so they come with risk, but if you’re willing to play the long game, they have the potential to give you favourable returns.

• Sh*t happens: Market corrections and crashes are a reality. As investors, we have to accept that the markets move in cycles. That bear will rear his head at some point, and when it happens, keep calm and stick to your long term investing plan.

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