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Telehealth — the use of mobile technology to deliver health-related services, such as remote doctor consultations and patient monitoring — is enabling healthcare providers and payers to address the US healthcare industry’s growing list of problems.

The proliferation and rapid advancement of mobile technology are spurring telehealth adoption, and many believe that 2018 could be the tipping point for the telehealth market.

In this report, Business Insider Intelligence defines the opaque US telehealth market, forecasts the market growth potential and value, outlines the key drivers behind usage and adoption, and evaluates the opportunity telehealth solutions will afford all stakeholders. We also identify key barriers to continued telehealth adoption, and discuss how providers, payers, and telehealth companies are working to overcome these hurdles.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Telehealth is enabling healthcare providers and payers to address the US healthcare industry’s growing list of problems, including rising healthcare costs, an aging population, and the transformation of healthcare from service-centric to consumer-centric, which is straining healthcare system resources and threatening to drive up payer costs.
• Although telehealth solutions aren't suitable for all patients, right now, about 45% of the US population, or 147 million consumers, falls within the addressable market.
• Despite low usage rates, most consumers are open to using telehealth solutions, according to the 2018 Business Insider Intelligence Insurance Technology Study. 
• A range of companies are well-positioned to generate savings in terms of revenue and avoid potential pitfalls by deploying telehealth solutions.

 In full, the report:

• Offers an overview of different types of telehealth services and their applications in the US healthcare ecosystem. 
• Highlights the growth drivers and opportunities of these applications.
• Includes exclusive data and insights from the 2018 Business Insider Intelligence Insurance Technology Study. 
• Provides examples of key players in the telehealth market, including insurers, medical device makers, and health networks. 
• Gives recommendations on how health networks and payers should approach using and deploying telehealth solutions.

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Outside of the US Postal Service (USPS), FedEx and UPS have dominated the domestic logistics industry — and in particular, the last-mile of the delivery — for decades. On a quarterly earnings call in 2016, FedEx estimated that itself, UPS, and USPS executed a whopping 95% of all e-commerce orders.

But rapidly rising volumes have put the pair of legacy shippers in a bind. E-commerce sales have risen over 50% and are projected to continue their ascent into the next decade. High volumes are already straining shippers' networks — UPS struggled to bring consumers their parcels on time due to higher-than-anticipated package volume, which upset some big-name retail partners, including Macy's, Walmart, and Amazon. As online sales surge further, package volumes will outstrip legacy shippers' capacities, creating space for new entrants. 

Amazon is uniquely well-positioned to dethrone UPS and FedEx's duopoly. It's built up a strong logistics infrastructure, counting hundreds of warehouses and thousands of delivery trucks.

Further, as the leading online retailer in the US, it has a wealth of data on consumers that it can use to craft a personalized delivery experience that's superior to UPS and FedEx's offerings. Amazon must act soon, however, as UPS and FedEx are hard at work fortifying their own networks to handle the expected surge in parcel volume.

The longer the Seattle-based e-tailer delays the launch of a delivery service, the more it runs the risk that these legacy players will be able to defend their territory. 

In a new report, Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, explains how the age of e-commerce is opening up cracks in UPS and FedEx's duopoly. We then outline how Amazon's logistics ambitions began as an effort to more quickly get parcels out the door and fulfill its famous 2-day shipping process and how it'll be a key building block for the company if it builds out a last-mile service. Lastly, we offer concrete steps that the firm must take to maximize the dent it makes in UPS and FedEx's duopoly.

The companies mentioned in this report are: Alibaba, Amazon, FedEx, and UPS.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• While UPS and FedEx have dominated the US last-mile delivery market for the last few decades, the surge in e-commerce is creating more volume than shipping companies can handle.
• Amazon is uniquely well-positioned to put a dent in UPS and FedEx's duopoly due to its strategic position as the leading online retailer in the US.
• Amazon can carry its trust amongst the public, a wealth of consumer data, and its ability to craft a more personalized delivery experience to the last-mile delivery space to ultimately dethrone UPS and FedEx.
• The top priority for Amazon in taking on UPS and FedEx needs to be offering substantially lower shipping rates — one-third of US retailers say they'll switch to an Amazon shipping service if it's at least 20% cheaper than UPS and FedEx. 

In full, the report:

• Outlines Amazon's current shipping and logistics footprint and strengths that it would bring to the last-mile delivery space in the US.
• Lays out concrete steps that Amazon must take if it wants to launch a standalone last-mile delivery service, including how it can offer a more memorable, higher-quality delivery experience than UPS and FedEx.
• Illustrates how Amazon can minimize operating costs for a delivery service to ultimately undercut UPS and FedEx's shipping rates in the last-mile space.

SEE ALSO: Amazon and Walmart are building out delivery capabilities

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• Amazon announced it will introduce a new fee for sellers using its Fulfillment by Amazon program and who want to store and fulfill "dangerous" items like aerosols and lithium-ion batteries.
• The fees are a step higher than those charged to store and fulfill other kinds of items.
• The new fees come after a can of bear repellent fell off a shelf and released fumes in an Amazon warehouse in New Jersey, injuring dozens of workers.

Amazon appears to be discouraging its sellers who use the Fulfillment by Amazon program from sending more dangerous items into its warehouses.

FBA is a program in which third-party sellers send their goods to be stored in Amazon warehouses before they are sold on Amazon.com. Items are then shipped out like a normal order by the e-commerce giant. 

Amazon announced on its seller forum last Wednesday that it will be introducing a new fee for "dangerous" items like aerosol cans and lithium-ion batteries that sellers send to Amazon warehouses. The fees are higher than the regular fees Amazon charges for using Fulfillment by Amazon.

For example: a normal item with a shipping weight of between 10 and 16 ounces and is considered small would qualify for a fee of $2.48, while a "dangerous" item the same size would carry a charge of $3.45.

Amazon has a full list of items it considers "dangerous," which mostly consists of items that are "flammable or pressurized aerosol substances and items that contain lithium-ion batteries."

The new fees will go into effect on February 19, 2019, according to a note on Amazon's forum for sellers. Amazon did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for further comment. 

Amazon may have made it more expensive to sell and fulfill these risky items to discourage FBA sellers from sending them to warehouses. Earlier this month, a can of bear spray fell off a shelf in Amazon's warehouse in Robbinsville, New Jersey. The can released fumes into the fulfillment center, injuring workers.

Read more: 54 workers became sick and one is in critical condition after a can of bear repellent released fumes in an Amazon warehouse

Twenty-four people were sent to local hospitals, and one was in critical condition, local officials said. In total, 54 workers were affected by the incident.

Those affected reported having difficulty breathing and experiencing a burning sensation in the eyes and throat. Bear repellent is mostly made of capsaicin, the chemical found in hot peppers.

This isn't the first time a can of bear repellent has exploded in an Amazon warehouse, according to Wired, which reported that two other similar incidents occurred in 2015 and earlier this year. 

SEE ALSO: Shoppers trust Amazon, and it has completely changed the way last-minute holiday shopping is done

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NOW WATCH: The true story behind the name 'Black Friday' is much darker than you may have thought

Many companies use the term artificial intelligence, or AI, as a way to generate excitement for their products and to present themselves as on the cutting edge of tech development.

But what exactly is artificial intelligence? What does it involve? And how will it help the development of future generations?

Find out the answers to these questions and more in AI 101, a brand new FREE report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, that describes how AI works and looks at its present and potential future applications.

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• Life insurance is fundamentally hard to sell; it’s morbid to think about, promises no immediate rewards, and often requires a lengthy paper application with minimal guidance.
• Despite the popularity of personalized products in other areas of finance and fintech, life insurance largely remains unchanged.
• A small, but growing pocket of insurtech startups are shaking up the status quo by finding ways to digitize life insurance and increase its appeal.

Life insurance is a fundamentally difficult product to sell; it requires people to think about their deaths without promising any immediate returns.

And, despite tech innovations and the development of personalized services in other areas of finance, life insurance remains largely unchanged.

Luckily, there is a small but growing pocket of insurtech startups looking to modernize it. These companies are finding ways to digitize life insurance to  appeal to consumers — and they’re giving incumbents the opportunity to revamp traditional offerings, either by partnering with them or using their technology.

Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has forecasted the shifting landscape of life insurance in the The Future of Life Insurance report. Here are the key problems insurtechs are tackling:

• Lack of education: Forty percent of US consumers told the Life Insurance and Market Research Association (LIMRA) that they feel intimidated by the life insurance application process, often drastically overestimating its cost and facing uncertainty about how much or which type of coverage to buy.
• Inconvenient application process: It can take weeks or months for coverage to take effect because of the sheer number of meetings and parties combing through paperwork in each round of the application process. The risk for the insurer often warrants reviews from the carrier, a team of underwriters, a broker, and even a medical examiner.
• Low customer loyalty: Life insurance tends to be a “set it and forget it” type of purchase, with very few people revisiting it after buying. Insurers and consumers therefore have limited contact for most of the relationship — with the exception of an annual bill, of course.
• Inefficient data management and processing: The aggregate data life insurers rely on is typically fed into algorithms that make broad assumptions about particular populations, and often incorporate outdated medical documentation — all of which can delay applications and result in unnecessary rejections.

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The need for modernization in life insurance is clear: Overall sales are slowing and policy ownership is hitting record lows. And because it’s such a tightly-regulated space, innovation from incumbents has stagnated — but they’re not helpless. Consumer-focused and insurer-focused startups have emerged to offer new technologies and process improvements.

The Future of Life Insurance report from Business Insider Intelligence looks at the two main strategies life insurtechs are adopting to drive change in this market, for the benefit of both buyers and sellers. In full, the report discusses best practices incumbents and startups should adopt to steer clear of the risks attached to applying emerging technologies to such a tightly regulated product.

Insurtech startups will soon set new industry standards and consumer expectations around this complex product. That, in turn will serve as a catalyst for innovation among legacy players.

Companies included in this report: Ladder, Haven Life, Getsurance, Tomorrow, Fabric, Atidot, AllLife, Royal London, Polly, Life.io, Legal & General, Vitality, Discovery, John Hancock, Dai-ichi Life.

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Regtech solutions seemed to offer the solution to financial institutions' (FIs) compliance woes when they first came to prominence around 24 months ago, gaining support from regulators and investors alike. 

However, many of the companies offering these solutions haven't scaled as might have been expected from the initial hype, and have failed to follow the trajectory of firms in other segments of fintech.

This unexpected inertia in the regtech industry is likely to resolve over the next 12-18 months as other factors come into play that shift FIs' approach to regtech solutions, and as the companies offering them evolve. External factors driving this change include regulatory support of regtech solutions, and consultancies offering more help to FIs wanting to sift through solutions. Startups offering regtech solutions will also play a part by partnering with each other, forming industry organizations, and taking advantage of new opportunities.

This report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, provides a brief overview of the current global financial regulatory compliance landscape, and the regtech industry's position within it. It then details the major drivers that will shift the dial on FIs' adoption of regtech over the next 12-18 months, as well as those that will propel startups offering regtech solutions to new heights. Finally, it outlines what impact these drivers will have, and gives insight into what the global regtech industry will look like by 2020.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Regulatory compliance is still a significant issue faced by global FIs. In 2018 alone, EU regulations MiFID II and PSD2 have come into effect, bringing with them huge handbooks and gigantic reporting requirements. 
• Regtech startups boast solutions that can ease FIs' compliance burden — but they are struggling to scale. 
• Some changes expected to drive greater adoption of these solutions in the next 12 to 18 months are: the ongoing evolution of startups' business models, increasing numbers of partnerships, regulators' promotion of regtech, changing attitudes to the segment among FIs, and consultancies helping to facilitate adoption.
• FIs will actively be using solutions from regtech startups by 2020, and startups will be collaborating in an organized fashion with each other and with FIs. Global regulators will have adopted regtech themselves, while continuing to act as advocates for the industry.

In full, the report:

• Reviews the major changes expected to hit the regtech segment in the next 12 to 18 months.
• Examines the drivers behind these changes, and how the proliferation of regtech will improve compliance for FIs.
• Provides our view on what the future of the regtech industry looks like through 2020.
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• Artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and self-driving technology are helping the transportation and logistics industry finally transform by cutting costs, optimizing delivery routes, and automating mundane tasks.
• Startups will be the lynchpin of this transformation because they specifically target areas of need  with cutting-edge solutions.
• Business Insider Intelligence examined the top 5 startups within five key areas: digital freight services, warehouse robotics, AI for supply chain management, last-mile delivery robotics, and self-driving car software.

Transportation and logistics industries have operated largely the same way for decades. But the surge in e-commerce in the last several years, combined with consumers’ appetite for same-day delivery, has brought us to a tipping point.

Delivery companies are doing all they can to get orders to customers’ doors as quickly as possible, which has facilitated wholesale changes in how they operate.

Cutting-edge digital solutions (including digital freight services, warehouse robotics, AI for supply chain management, delivery robotics, and autonomous driving software) are forcing traditional delivery companies to either evolve or see their core businesses erode.

Transportation & Logistics Startups to Watch, a new report from Business Insider Intelligence, monitors the biggest change agents in the industry to offer unique insight into the development of the transportation and logistics space at large, and shows how traditional companies are adapting to their new environment.

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Business Insider Intelligence's Startups to Watch reports give a high-level overview of the funding trends for startups in a particular coverage area, as well as a list of key startups (by function, what they do, key news, and statistics). Businesses need to understand new competitive threats, technologies, and acquisition opportunities in order to thrive. These reports provide that contextual information in an easy-to-digest manner.

In full, the Transportation & Logistics Startups to Watch report dives into the top 25 companies - five startups across five key disruption areas - that are easing shipping burdens, improving order fulfillment efficiency, optimizing delivery, and automating processes.

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This is a preview of a research report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about Business Insider Intelligence, click here. Current subscribers can read the report here.

Remittances, or cross-border peer-to-peer (P2P) money transfers, hit a record high of $613 billion globally in 2017, following a two-year decline.  And the remittance industry will continue to grow, driven largely by digital services.

Several factors will fuel digital growth globally, such as increased smartphone penetration, greater demand for digital transactions, and an overall need for faster cross-border transfers. And with the shift to digital comes an audience of younger, digital-savvy customers using remittances — a segment that companies are looking to target.

As a result, the global remittance industry is becoming increasingly competitive for firms to navigate, with incumbents like Western Union and MoneyGram competing for the same pool of customers as digital upstarts like WorldRemit and Remitly. And in order to win, companies across the board will need to prioritize the four areas consumers value most in remittances: cost, convenience, speed, and safety.  

In The Digital Remittances Report, Business Insider Intelligence will identify what young, digitally savvy users value in remittances. We will also detail the concrete steps that legacy and digital providers can take to effectively capture this opportunity and monetize digital offerings — the primary growth driver — to emerge at or maintain their presence at the forefront of the space. 

The companies mentioned in the report are: MoneyGram, Remitly, Ria, Western Union, WorldRemit, TransferWise, and Xoom, among others.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• The global remittance industry recovered from a two-year decline in 2017 to reach a record $613 billion in transfer volume. That growth will continue and will be fueled by digital remittances, which Business Insider Intelligence expects to grow at a 23% CAGR from $225 billion in 2018 to $387 billion in 2023.
• There’s a new segment of customers that both legacy and digital firms are competing to grab share of. Young, digital-savvy consumers are the customer segment that all firms are vying to reach, which is creating a highly competitive dynamic. The needs of those consumers will precipitate transformational change in the industry.
• We’ve identified several tangible steps firms can take to improve in four key areas — cost, convenience, speed, and security — to not only attract but also maintain this customer segment to align with their preferences and ultimately win in the space.

 In full, the report:

• Outlines the global remittance landscape and sizes the opportunity that the industry presents. 
• Identifies the new audience for remittances and future drivers of the remittance space going forward. 
• Discusses four key areas that providers can focus on — cost, convenience, speed, and security — to improve offerings and ultimately capture that shifting audience. 

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SEE ALSO: These were the biggest developments in the global fintech ecosystem over the last 12 months

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• Children who called the US military's North American Aerospace Defense Command to get updates on Santa Claus' progress on Christmas Eve were greeted by President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump on Monday night.
• Together, the Trumps answered some of the phone calls in what has become an annual tradition for the first couple.

Children who called the US military's North American Aerospace Defense Command to track Santa Claus' annual trip around the world were greeted by President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump on Christmas Eve Monday.

Together, the Trumps answered some of the phone calls in what has become an annual tradition for the first couple.

"Are you still a believer in Santa Claus," Trump asked a 7-year-old on the phone in the State Dining Room of the White House. "[Because] at seven, it's marginal, right?"

"What's Santa going to get you for Christmas," Trump asked another child. "Have a great Christmas, and I'll talk to you again, OK?"

"Are you tracking Santa," Mrs. Trump to her caller. "I want to wish you a Merry Christmas."

"Do you know where [Santa] is?" Mrs. Trump asked another child. "I hope your dreams come true."

NORAD's 63-year tradition of tracking Santa started after a newspaper ad in Colorado encouraged kids to dial an fictitious number to the Continental Air Defense Command, NORAD's predecessor: "Hey, Kiddies! Call me direct and be sure and dial the correct number," the advertisement said.

More kids began calling in to CONAD, and instead of hanging up, operators began giving out Santa's location.

Today, around 1,500 volunteers are taking phone calls and replying to emails from people around the globe. Over 140,000 phone calls are made to NORAD's Santa hotline and the website receives about 9 million unique visitors each year, according to NORAD.

You can track Santa's movements here »

SEE ALSO: 'That's the way they want it': Trump claims dead US troops would have agreed with him to pull out of Syria

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NOW WATCH: Anthony Scaramucci claims Trump isn't a nationalist: 'He likes saying that because it irks these intellectual elitists'

Digital disruption is affecting every aspect of the fintech industry.

Over the past five years, fintech has established itself as a fundamental part of the global financial services ecosystem.

Fintech startups have raised, and continue to raise, billions of dollars annually, pushing incumbent financial institutions to get in on the action. Legacy players have begun using fintech to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving financial services landscape.

So what's next?

Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, explores recent innovations in the fintech space as well as what might be coming in the future in our brand new exclusive slide deck, The Future of Fintech: How Fintech Is Taking Over The World and What Comes Next.

To get your copy of this free slide deck, click here.

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The virtual reality (VR) market is expected to rally in 2018 after seeing slow growth from 2016 to 2017. The uptick will be largely catalyzed by the emergence of the newest headset form factor, stand-alone VR headsets, which address some of the biggest pain points that have prohibited mainstream consumers from adopting VR.

This new form factor is more affordable than cost-prohibitive high-end headsets and more capable than its smartphone-powered counterparts. Additionally, it features in-unit processing that frees the VR headset from wires. The first major stand-alone headset, the Vive Focus from HTC, was launched in January of this year, and more from other major companies like Oculus and Google are expected to follow over the next six months. 

In a new report, Business Insider Intelligence lays out where the VR market is and forecasts how it will grow over the next five years. We dissect the various hardware categories and the unique strengths and opportunities of each, and identify how they will gain traction at different points of the market’s evolution. Finally, we examine various components impacting consumer adoption.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Business Insider Intelligence forecasts shipments of all VR headsets to grow 69% year-over-year (YoY) to reach 13.5 million in 2018. Powering that growth is the stand-alone VR headset category, which is expected to account for 30% of total headsets shipped in the year ahead. 
• The VR hardware market is volatile because getting a device right is a balancing act. On one hand, the price point needs to be affordable for most consumers, and on the other, the experience has to be distinctive and immersive enough to convince a consumer to strap a visor to their face on a regular basis. 
• While only a handful of stand-alone VR headsets will hit the market in 2018, they mark the biggest step toward mainstream adoption of consumer-oriented VR headsets by making the technology more accessible for the average consumer. 
• Declining price points, coupled with high-quality headsets and the introduction of a game-changing app, are crucial for the VR industry to achieve before VR can really gain traction on a global scale.

In full, the report:

• Forecasts the growth projections and shipment expectations of the global VR headset market, and breaks it up by the major headset categories.
• Explores the four major segments in the current VR hardware market, defined by the hardware needed to power the experience — stand-alone, smartphone-powered, PC-powered, and game console-powered VR.
• Identifies the key players shaping the burgeoning stand-alone VR headset segment.
• Discusses the biggest challenges to VR development and adoption.

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	This report and more than 250 other expertly researched reports
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As streaming becomes an increasingly mainstream behavior among consumers, the video industry has produced new combinations of streaming video programming services to prepare for the progressive overhaul in how media is distributed.

These streaming bundles have emerged in response to the problems of media fragmentation, cord-cutting, and high consumer costs. Declining usage of traditional TV across every demographic, particularly among young viewers, has also demanded new solutions to the traditional distribution model that is pay-TV.

Although streaming media bundles are still evolving, four distinct models have emerged:

• Skinny bundles — Cheaper, streaming versions of the traditional pay-TV bundle, but with fewer channels.
• SVOD aggregators — Facilitate a la carte sign-ups to third-party streaming services through a central user portal. The primary example so far is Amazon Channels, Amazon's SVOD partner program. 
• SVOD integrations — SVOD services like Netflix that bring their offerings to a traditional operator's service.
• Streaming service partnerships — Combine one or more streaming services under a single offering, at a lower cost than the total price separately.

In the SVOD Bundling Report, Business Insider Intelligence examines the state of the US video ecosystem and how media companies are refining their distribution strategies to meet the changing needs of consumers. The report situates each of the four bundle model types within the overall SVOD market, and investigates the overarching advantages and challenges each faces. Finally, we predict how player dynamics might transform and adapt, outlining best practices for providers to succeed within the new TV landscape.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• SVOD bundles partake in a growing SVOD market in the US. Business Insider Intelligence estimates that the SVOD market totals $13.6 billion in 2018, primarily driven by uptake on services from SVOD giants Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video. 
• Streaming video accessed on over-the-top (OTT) platforms is going mainstream, while consumers — particularly younger viewers — are reducing usage on live, linear TV. Traditional TV usage among viewers ages 18-24 has dropped 48% since 2011, 35% among 25-34 year olds, and 18% in the 35-49 demographic. 
• Skinny bundle services are growing in popularity, with 7.2 million subscribers in the US, but they suffer fundamental financial sustainability problems. 
• Distributors with at-scale platforms and powerful back-end tech can capitalize on the growing consumer demand for content consolidation among consumers. Faced with a fragmented and expanding universe of content options, more than two-thirds of consumers say they would prefer to get all their services from a single source, per Hub Entertainment Research. 
• Winners in the bundling shakeout will have prioritized internet-connected tech, an effective user experience, reasonable pricing, and content diversity. 

In full, the report:

• Identifies the four SVOD model types that have emerged as alternatives or supplements to traditional distribution.
• Investigates the top advantages and challenges of each model type.
• Outlines strategies that players across media and distribution companies can use to address business or market challenges.
• Explores how the dynamics of each model type will evolve as services converge under new bundled offerings.

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• Jeff Kleintop, the global chief investment strategist at $3 trillion Charles Schwab, says many investors are focused on the wrong thing heading into 2019.
• Rather than worrying about the overall direction of the market, traders should be focused on the opportunities that arise from the end of an economic cycle.
• He outlines the three major shifts he expects to unfold, which he says investors should pursue in an attempt to get more defensive next year.

As 2019 approaches, investors are stressing out about the direction of the market next year.

Most strategists across Wall Street are expecting stocks to peak in 2019, yet they remain moderately bullish, especially from current depressed levels. Meanwhile, other respected pundits are expecting the sky to fall at any moment, and won't hesitate to tell anyone who will listen.

But Jeff Kleintop, the global chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, says people are focused on the wrong thing. Rather than pulling their hair out about the direction of the equity market, they should be scouring the landscape for opportunities.

That is, of course, easier said that done — especially when the market is as shaky as it's been lately. But Kleintop says there are three major shifts likely to take place in 2019 as the current economic cycle winds down, each of which offers a unique opportunity.

Read more:We interviewed Wall Street's 8 top-performing investors to get their best ideas for 2019

At the core of Kleintop's three investing themes is one central tenet: that large, cross-asset rotations happen near the end of cycles. And since they usually begin a year or so before the cycle's completion, there are returns to be gleaned if the right moves are made.

"We often get a turnaround in long-term asset class relationships," Kleintop told Business Insider. "And people think they come at the beginning of the next cycle. But they don’t. They come before the cycle ends."

Here are the three rotations Kleintop sees playing out in 2019 — a year in which he expects stocks to peak, and which could see the first economic recession in more than a decade.

1. Growth-to-value: Anyone with an eye on stocks over the past couple months knows that the once-invincible growth names that drove the market higher are in trouble. That means the mega-cap tech cohort that includes the likes of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Alphabet. Kleintop says traders should be seeking out beaten-down stocks available at cheaper prices. In fact, Morgan Stanley said in a recent report that the shift towards value is already underway.
2. US to international: Kleintop is quick to point out the large divergence in recent stock-market performance for the US relative to its international peers. This gap is bound to shrink eventually, especially as the end of the cycle approaches, and he says traders should get ahead of it. It's a theme that Ben Williams, an investment director at GAM Investments, highlighted for Business Insider in a recent interview.
3. Small-cap to large-cap: Small-cap stocks outperformed the benchmark S&P 500 by more than 60 percentage points during the bull market, through the end of September, before turbulence struck. Its waning dominance is a firm late-cycle signal, says Kleintop. And, like the growth-to-value shift, this is a rotation that's also flashed signs of life in recent months— perhaps a harbinger of things to come.

Read more:We got the most alarming sign yet that investors are bracing for a stock-market crash

But there's one caveat: Kleintop is not necessarily recommending overweight positions in these areas. He notes that even Charles Schwab is still neutral on international stocks for the time being.

He's simply suggesting that investors start to ease their way into these rotations, so they're not caught off-guard by the end of the cycle. In the end, Kleintop just doesn't want investors to panic and double down on bad habits.

"When people see troubled markets, they retreat back to what’s been working, and that’s the wrong thing to do here," Kleintop said. "People should embrace the laggards, because that’s where the performance is going to be over the next five to 10 years, and may already be underway."

SEE ALSO: We interviewed Wall Street's 8 top-performing investors to get their secrets for success — and their best ideas for 2019

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NOW WATCH: The equity chief at $6.3 trillion BlackRock weighs in on the trade war, a possible recession, and offers her best investing advice for a tricky 2019 landscape

The media landscape is almost shifting more quickly than consumers can keep up.

But certain trends have emerged that will carry the media industry into the future.

For the past eight years, IGNITION, Business Insider’s flagship conference, has collected the best minds in media and technology to share what they see as the future. Through unscripted interviews, cutting-edge demos, and insights from industry pioneers, attendees learn what key trends to be aware of and what they need to do to stay ahead.

Henry Blodget opened the latest sold-out IGNITION conference with a presentation entitled 14 Things You’ll Want to Know About The Future of Media. And he should know...Blodget is co-founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of Business Insider, one of the most-read business and tech news sites in the world with more than 80 million visitors a month worldwide.

The presentation was put together with the help of the team at BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• We're nearing "peak media" in the U.S.
• This phenomenon will spread to the rest of the world as four billion more people come online
• Digital ad spending is still growing
• Video is not the be-all, end-all of media
• And much more

To get your copy of this FREE slide deck, simply click here.

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This is a preview of a research report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about Business Insider Intelligence, click here. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most commonly referenced terms by financial institutions (FIs) and payments firms when describing their vision for the future of financial services. 

AI can be applied in almost every area of financial services, but the combination of its potential and complexity has made AI a buzzword, and led to its inclusion in many descriptions of new software, solutions, and systems.

This report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, cuts through the hype to offer an overview of different types of AI, and where they have potential applications within banking and payments. It also emphasizes which applications are most mature, provides recommendations of how FIs should approach using the technology, and offers examples of where FIs and payments firms are already leveraging AI. The report draws on executive interviews Business Insider Intelligence conducted with leading financial services providers, such as Bank of America, Capital One, and Mastercard, as well as top AI vendors like Feedzai, Expert System, and Kasisto.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• AI, or technologies that simulate human intelligence, is a trending topic in banking and payments circles. It comes in many different forms, and is lauded by many CEOs, CTOs, and strategy teams as their saving grace in a rapidly changing financial ecosystem.
• Banks are using AI on the front end to secure customer identities, mimic bank employees, deepen digital interactions, and engage customers across channels.
• Banks are also using AI on the back end to aid employees, automate processes, and preempt problems.
• In payments, AI is being used in fraud prevention and detection, anti-money laundering (AML), and to grow conversational payments volume.

 In full, the report:

• Offers an overview of different types of AI and their applications in payments and banking. 
• Highlights which of these applications are most mature.
• Offers examples where FIs and payments firms are already using the technology. 
• Provides descriptions of vendors of different AI-based solutions that FIs may want to consider using.
• Gives recommendations of how FIs and payments firms should approach using the technology.

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The transportation and logistics industry is undergoing a massive shift as a result of surging deliveries. Daily parcel volumes are higher than ever before — but so are customers’ expectations for cheap and fast fulfillment. 

To keep up with mounting demand, retailers and their logistics partners have been racing to develop more efficient processes with experimental supply chain models like crowdsourced delivery — the Uber model in which customers use mobile apps to connect directly with local couriers for on-demand or same-day fulfillment.

And it’s not just startups like Deliv and Postmates getting in on the action. This year Amazon not only launched its own shipping service to deliver packages for other businesses (“Shipping with Amazon”) but also announced its “Delivery Service Partner” program, which provides capital incentives for people to launch their own delivery companies fulfilling orders on behalf of Amazon itself.

With emerging delivery models like these aggressively stealing away customers, the pressure is on for legacy players like FedEx, UPS, the USPS, and the thousands of businesses who depend on them every day, to respond. But it will take more than just material resources or a large fleet of vehicles to truly compete. These companies need to earn the trust of consumers.

Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, has obtained exclusive survey data to paint the 2018 delivery landscape and the trends of its major players. The findings comprise the team’s latest Enterprise Edge Report, The 2018 Delivery Trust Report, and give transportation, supply chain, and logistics companies the tools they’ll need to win back customers.

Enterprise Edge Reports are the very best research Business Insider Intelligence has to offer in terms of actionable recommendations and proprietary data, and they are only available to Enterprise clients.

In full, the study:

• Uses proprietary consumer survey data to evaluate how the largest delivery companies in the US stack up on customer service, package tracking, package protection, and timeliness of delivery.
• Assesses how at risk these providers are to new challengers entering the space.
• Shares strategies on how delivery companies can achieve feature parity and, ideally, differentiation, in customer experience.

So, which delivery features do consumers care about?

First and foremost, speed. It makes sense that consumers value fast delivery, but did you know just how many of them prioritize this feature? According to a recent survey from Dropoff, it’s 99%. And with millions of packages delivered nationwide every single day, that’s a lot customers with high expectations.

But customers don’t just want their packages delivered quickly; they want to follow the journey from store to doorstep. Another one of the most important offerings delivery companies boast is real-time tracking, with nearly 90% of consumers noting it in the Dropoff survey.

If they can get it right, tracking is a twofold advantage for delivery companies; it entices consumers who want to know when their packages are coming, and it appeals to merchant partners who might be willing to switch delivery service providers for the added visibility and customer benefit.

And the field is still wide open for companies to differentiate on this feature. Among those who had a package delivered from UPS, FedEx, USPS, or DHL in the last year, nearly 30% of Business Insider Intelligence survey respondents couldn't actually say which company offered the best tracking features. Whether it means using mobile apps, SMS texting, or chatbots to communicate with customers, there’s plenty of opportunity for logistics companies to hone and become known for this feature.

Want to learn more?

This is just a snapshot of the Business Insider Intelligence 2018 Delivery Trust Report, which compiles the complete survey findings to dive deeper into the opportunities delivery companies have to engage and delight customers.

The multi-part report also presents actionable insights that transportation and logistics companies can use to fight back against Amazon’s continuous push into deliveries.

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• Goldman Sachs just released its annual Christmas crossword.
• The investment bank takes a lighthearted approach to recapping the year with the quiz.
• Try it for yourself below.

It's Christmas, which means now is the time to indulge in a few classic holiday traditions: carol singing, drinking egg nog, and of course, doing Goldman Sachs' annual end of year crossword.

Each year the investment bank takes a look back on the year through the form of a crossword, testing how much clients can remember of the last 12 months in finance.

The answers are all based on previous "Top of Mind" notes from the investment bank, which set out investment themes and analyze macroeconomic events.

2018 has been a crazy year for both markets and the world as a whole, so the crossword is a big one, totalling 30 clues. If you think you're up to the challenge, take a look below:

Ready for the answers? Keep scrolling past Santa to see them below (no cheating!):

Here are the answers: 

SEE ALSO: While China and the US spar over trade, Europe quietly heads for its worst year since the financial crisis

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NOW WATCH: The equity chief at $6.3 trillion BlackRock weighs in on the trade war, a possible recession, and offers her best investing advice for a tricky 2019 landscape

The last 12 months have been a strange and confusing time in tech, especially for the giants housed mostly in Silicon Valley. 

This is the year that the default public attitude to tech firms such as Google and Facebook became one of suspicion, resulting in greater scrutiny from politicians and media. 

Business Insider has captured something of the changing spirit with a list of the 17 most jaw-dropping quotes from 2018.

The list is, perhaps unsurprisingly, jointly dominated by Facebook executives and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, both of whom had a trying year under the spotlight. Other figures include Steve Jobs, after the Apple cofounder's daughter Lisa wrote a poetic and devastating memoir which showed her father in a new light.

SEE ALSO: Facebook endured a staggering number of scandals and controversies in 2018 — here they all are

"You're getting nothing."

It's an open secret that Apple cofounder Steve Jobs was not only a visionary but an exceptionally difficult man.

A memoir published this year by his daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs, lends further nuanced depth to that image and examines their often frosty relationship.

In one heartbreaking extract, told for the first time, Brennan-Jobs recalled that her father would replace every Porsche as soon as it got a scratch. She asked whether she could have one once he replaced it. 

"You're not getting anything," she recalls him responding. "You understand? Nothing. You're getting nothing."

"Funding secured."

Elon Musk's Twitter activity prompted great scrutiny of the Tesla CEO this year, but the tweet that bit back hardest was his infamous claim that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private.

The full tweet appeared to contain a marijuana reference. "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420," he wrote. "Funding secured."

Ultimately, the tweet led to Musk being slapped with a $20 million fine from the SEC after it became apparent that funding had not in fact been secured. Under the terms of the settlement, Musk also had to step down as chairman of Tesla.

"I saw him in the kitchen tucking his tail in between his legs scrounging for investors to cover his ass after that tweet."

A surprising twist in the tale of Elon Musk's "funding secured" debacle was when rapper Azealia Banks weighed in with her account of events.

Banks claimed that after being invited to Musk's LA home to collaborate with Grimes, who was in a relationship with Musk at the time (it is unclear whether they are still a couple), she saw him scrambling for investors.

"They bring me out there on the premise that we would hang and make music," Banks told Business Insider in a DM. "But his dumbass kept tweeting and tucked his dick in between his ass cheeks once shit hit the fan.

"I saw him in the kitchen tucking his tail in between his legs scrounging for investors to cover his ass after that tweet. He was stressed and red in the face."

Banks later wrote an apology letter to Musk, saying "I feel terrible about everything."

• Monopoly isn't a fun game.
• It was originally created to be an insight into the trials and tribulations of money.
• That's why it ends in flipped boards and family fallouts every Christmas. 

For most people, Monopoly is not an enjoyable board game in any sense of the word. Almost every family breaks out the box at Christmas, but it inevitably always ends in fall-outs, arguments, and hours of not talking to each other afterwards.

On the internet there are also tails of flipped tables, break-ups, and even stabbings after someone doesn't follow the rules or steals money from the bank.

The problem is, we all seem to have an obsession with a game that makes us miserable. For one player, their good fortune will make them feel like a king for a few hours, while everyone else will steadily abandon the game. Ultimately, all it comes down to is luck.

It was originally called 'The Landlord's Game'

Monopoly is derived from an original board game called "The Landlord's Game," and rather than being good family fun, it was actually created to be an insight into the trials and tribulations of money, and the negative implications of capital accumulation.

It was made up by a woman called Elizabeth Magie in 1903, who wanted it to reflect her political views. She was a georgist, which meant she believed people should own the value they produce themselves, but that anything earned from the land, such as natural resources, should belong to everyone in the community.

The Landlord's Game was supposed to show the dangers of land monopoly specifically, which is what happens when land is treated as private property.

"It is a practical demonstration of the present system of land-grabbing with all its usual outcomes and consequences," Magie wrote in a political magazine, according to The Guardian. "It might well have been called the 'Game of Life,' as it contains all the elements of success and failure in the real world, and the object is the same as the human race in general seem[s] to have, ie, the accumulation of wealth."

In the Landlord's Game, and in Monopoly, one person succeeds over all the others. There is no skill involved, as it all comes down to the numbers you roll, and thus what squares you land on. The winning player feels skilled, and has the illusion of making good choices, when really it's all down to the whim of the dice.

So actually, Monopoly was never created to be fun. When all the property is bought, and players have gone around the board a few times, the remainder of the game play is a simple rate of return calculation. In other words, the ultimate winner is already decided, it's just a matter of when they will obliterate the competition. Players can hang on until their very last pound is gone, and everything is mortgaged, but really nothing can bring you back from the inevitable loss.

Over the years, families have created their own "in-house rules," such as collecting all the tax money if you land on free parking, or earning £400 for landing on "Go." Also, seemingly few people play the auction rule.

However, all these extra complications seem to do is prolong the inevitable, so really you're better off sticking to the original rules — meaning you might want to give them another read through. Alternatively, you could just put the box away and play something else. That way you might still be on talking terms with your family afterwards.

SEE ALSO: All the Monopoly rules you've probably been playing wrong your whole life

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NOW WATCH: Barbara Corcoran on Donald Trump: 'He is the best salesman I've ever met in my life'

• Saxo Bank annually publishes a list of outrageous predictions for the year ahead.
• This year's forecast features recessions in two economic heavyweights, and the possibility of solar-related chaos.
• The predictions include a surprise potential buyer to take Tesla private. 

Saxo Bank's annual series of outrageous predictions is here with this year's theme covering a world that is increasingly saying "enough is enough." 

The Danish firm has compiled 10 possibilities with a low chance of happening, but that challenge investors to think outside the box on risk within financial markets and the world more generally. While these predictions are not Saxo's official expectations for the year ahead, they point out some of the risks that have been unallocated by the market so far. 

"This year’s edition has a unifying theme of 'enough is enough,' said Steen Jakobsen, Chief Economist at Saxo Bank. "A world running on empty will have to wake up and start creating reforms, not because it wants to but because it has to." 

"The signs are everywhere," he said. "2019 will mark a profound pivot away from this mentality as we are reaching the end of the road in piling on new debt and next year will see us all beginning to pay the piper for our errant ways."

Check out the compilation of Saxo's 10 outrageous predictions below.

SEE ALSO: Global stocks drop after Trump trade-war jitters spark US bloodbath

1. EU announces a "debt jubilee"

Saxo said that unsustainable levels of public debt, a populist revolt, rising interest rates from European Central Bank (ECB), and sluggish growth could lead the EU to announce a debt jubilee in 2019, writing off large amounts of debt across the continent.

Possible eurozone contagion could lead to the ECB backing monetisation if the EU lurches into recession. Italy's budget crisis and Greece's ongoing issues could damage confidence while the yellow vest protests in France indicate that people are unhappy with the status quo. 

2. Apple "secures funding" to buy Tesla at $520/share

Elon Musk's controversial tweet suggesting that Tesla had secured funding at $420 a share drew the ire of investors and later the SEC. Saxo playfully suggests that Apple, rather than Saudi Arabia, could be a new option for the electric vehicle maker. 

Saxo points out that Apple is keen to move deeper into consumers lives and suggests that automobiles could be the next frontier as vehicles become increasingly connected to technology. A 40% premium on Tesla's share price could make another Musk "funding secured" tweet a possibility in 2019. 

3. Trump tells Powell: "You’re fired"

Former Apprentice star and current US President Donald Trump has made no secret of his displeasure at the Federal Reserve in recent months and Saxo reckons Jerome Powell could hear the immortal words "you're fired" in 2019. 

December's proposed rate hike could send equity markets off a cliff in Q1 2019, according to Saxo's outrageous predictions, giving Trump the opportunity to bring in the dovish Minnesota Fed President Neel Kashkari instead.