Tag: bars

SEC charges ex–McDonald’s CEO Easterbrook for making false statements relating to his 2019 ouster

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The Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday it has filed charges against Stephen J. Easterbrook, former chief executive of McDonald’s Corp., for making “false and misleading” statements to investors about the circumstances that led to his ouster in November 2019.

The agency has also filed charges against McDonald’s for “shortcomings” in its public disclosures relating to Easterbrook’s severance agreement.

McDonald’s
MCD,
-0.55%
fired Easterbrook for exercising poor judgment and violating company policy by engaging in an inappropriate personal relationship with a McDonald’s employee. However, the separation agreement struck with the executive concluded that his termination was without cause, allowing him to retain substantial equity compensation that would have been forfeited in other circumstances.

“In making this conclusion, McDonald’s exercised discretion that was not disclosed to investors,” the SEC said in a statement.

In July 2020, McDonald’s discovered in an internal probe that Easterbrook had engaged in other, undisclosed relationships with employees. Those findings were not disclosed prior to Easterbrook’s termination, in the knowledge that they would influence the board’s decision making, according to the SEC.

“When corporate officers corrupt internal processes to manage their personal reputations or line their own pockets, they breach their fundamental duties to shareholders, who are entitled to transparency and fair dealing from executives,” said Gurbir S. Grewal, the SEC’s director of the division of enforcement.

The SEC is charging Easterbrook with violating anti-fraud provisions of the SEC Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Easterbrook has consented to a cease-and-desist order and five-year officer and director bar and a $400,000 civil penalty, without admitting to or denying the charges.

McDonald’s is charged with violating section 14(a) of the Exchange Act and Exchange Act Rule 14a-3. The fast-food giant has consented to a cease-and-desist order, without admitting to or denying SEC findings. The SEC has opted not to fine the company, as it cooperated with the agency and clawed back compensation after its probe.

The stock was slightly lower Monday in early trades.

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January 9, 2023

These 20 stocks were the biggest losers of 2022

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This has been the year of reckoning for Big Tech stocks — even those of companies that have continued to grow sales by double digits.

Below is a list of the 20 stocks in the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.72%
that have declined the most in 2022.

First, here’s how the 11 sectors of the benchmark index have performed this year:

S&P 500 sector	2022 price change	Forward P/E	Forward P/E as of Dec. 31, 2021
Energy	57.8%	9.6	11.1
Utilities	-0.5%	18.8	20.4
Consumer Staples	-2.7%	20.9	21.8
Healthcare	-3.2%	17.4	17.2
Industrials	-6.7%	18.0	20.8
Financials	-12.1%	11.7	14.6
Materials	-13.4%	15.6	16.6
Real Estate	-27.7%	16.2	24.2
Information Technology	-28.8%	19.6	28.1
Consumer Discretionary	-37.4%	20.7	33.2
Communication Services	-40.4%	14.0	20.8
S&P 500	-19.2%	16.5	21.4
Source: FactSet

The energy sector has been the only one to show a gain in 2022, and it has been a whopper, even as West Texas Intermediate crude oil
CL.1,
+0.41%
has given up most of its gains from earlier in the year. Here’s why investors are still confident in the supply/demand setup for oil and energy stocks.

Looking at the worst-performing sectors, you might wonder why the consumer discretionary and communication services sectors have fared worse than information-technology, the core tech sector. One reason is that S&P Dow Jones Indices can surprise investors with its sector choices. The consumer discretionary sector includes Tesla Inc.
TSLA,
+0.70%
and Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
-1.17%,
which has fallen nearly 50% this year. The communications sector includes Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
-1.21%,
along with Match Group Inc.
MTCH,
+0.50%,
which is down 69% for 2022, and Netflix Inc.
NFLX,
-0.44%,
which is down 52% this year.

There have been many reasons easy to cite for Big Tech’s decline, such as a questionable change in strategy for Facebook’s holding company, Meta, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg has put so much of the company’s resources into developing a new world that most people don’t wish to enter, at least yet. Meta’s shares were down 64% for 2022 through Dec. 29.

You might also blame the Twitter-related antics and sales of Tesla shares by CEO Elon Musk for the 65% decline in the electric-vehicle maker’s stock this year. But Tesla had a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 120.3 at the end of 2021, while the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.72%
traded for 21.4 times its weighted forward earnings estimate, according to FactSet. Those P/E ratios have now declined to 21.7 and 16.4, respectively. So Tesla no longer appears to be a very expensive stock, especially for a company that increased its vehicle deliveries by 42% in the third quarter from a year earlier.

Analysts polled by FactSet expect Tesla’s stock to double during 2023. It nearly made this list of 20 EV stocks expected to rebound the most in 2023.

The worst-performing S&P 500 stocks of 2022

Here are the 20 stocks in the S&P 500 that fell the most for 2022 through the close on Dec. 29.

Company	Ticker	2022 price change	Forward P/E	Forward P/E as of Dec. 32, 2021
Generac Holdings Inc.	GNRC, -0.84%	-71.4%	13.7	30.2
Match Group Inc.	MTCH, +0.50%	-68.9%	20.1	48.5
Align Technology Inc.	ALGN, -0.52%	-67.7%	27.4	48.7
Tesla Inc.	TSLA, +0.70%	-65.4%	21.7	120.3
SVB Financial Group	SIVB, -0.38%	-65.4%	10.8	23.0
Catalent Inc.	CTLT, -0.40%	-64.6%	13.0	32.5
Meta Platforms Inc. Class A	META, -1.21%	-64.2%	14.7	23.5
Signature Bank	SBNY, -0.34%	-64.1%	6.2	18.6
PayPal Holdings Inc.	PYPL, -0.01%	-62.6%	14.8	36.0
V.F. Corp.	VFC, +0.15%	-62.5%	11.9	20.4
Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. Series A	WBD, -1.64%	-59.9%	N/A	7.5
Carnival Corp.	CCL, -0.23%	-59.8%	38.1	N/A
Stanley Black & Decker Inc.	SWK, -0.42%	-59.8%	17.0	15.9
Lumen Technologies Inc.	LUMN, -1.79%	-57.8%	7.7	7.8
Zebra Technologies Corp. Class A	ZBRA, -0.44%	-56.7%	14.5	30.1
Dish Network Corp. Class A	DISH, -0.96%	-56.5%	8.6	10.9
Caesars Entertainment Inc.	CZR, +0.24%	-55.7%	51.4	144.5
Lincoln National Corp.	LNC, +0.26%	-55.1%	3.4	6.2
Advanced Micro Devices Inc.	AMD, -0.97%	-55.0%	17.8	43.1
Seagate Technology Holdings PLC	STX, -0.55%	-53.1%	15.0	12.4
Source: FactSet

Click on the tickers for more information about the companies.

Click here for Tomi Kilgore’s detailed guide to the wealth of information available for free on the MarketWatch quote page.

Another way of measuring the biggest stock-market losers of 2022

It is one thing to have a large decline based on the share price, but that doesn’t tell the entire story. How much of a decline have investors seen in the holdings of their shares during the year? The S&P 500’s total market capitalization declined to $31.66 trillion as of Dec. 28 (the most recent figure available) from $40.36 trillion at the end of 2021, according to FactSet.

Shareholders of these companies have suffered the largest declines in market cap during 2022.

Company	Ticker	2022 market capitalization change ($bil)	2022 price change
Apple Inc.	AAPL, -0.63%	-$851	-27.0%
Amazon.com Inc.	AMZN, -1.17%	-$832	-49.5%
Microsoft Corp.	MSFT, -1.15%	-$728	-28.3%
Tesla Inc.	TSLA, +0.70%	-$677	-65.4%
Meta Platforms Inc. Class A	META, -1.21%	-$465	-64.2%
Nvidia Corp.	NVDA, -1.37%	-$376	-50.3%
PayPal Holdings Inc.	PYPL, -0.01%	-$141	-62.6%
Netflix Inc.	NFLX, -0.44%	-$138	-51.7%
Walt Disney Co.	DIS, -1.62%	-$123	-43.7%
Salesforce Inc.	CRM, -0.96%	-$118	-47.8%
Source: FactSet

So there is your surprise for today: Apple is this year’s biggest stock-market loser.

Don’t miss: Best stock picks for 2023: Here are Wall Street analysts’ most heavily favored choices

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December 30, 2022

Cheap? Maybe. But These Stocks Have Been Dead Money for Decades

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Cheesecake Factory appears to be “running the same play,” wrote J.P. Morgan analyst John Ivankoe in a recent restaurant industry outlook. I don’t think he meant it as a compliment—the stock, he noted, trades where it did in 2004, adjusted for splits.

Why the long stall-out? My first thought was that maybe hitting the mall for a hypercaloric sit-down meal off a menu the size of a Gutenberg Bible has fallen out of favor over the years. But no: Sales have bounced back and then some from the Covid pandemic, with plenty of takeout business and dessert orders. The average

Cheesecake Factory

(ticker: CAKE) restaurant does more than $10 million in yearly sales, or twice as much as an Olive Garden.

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December 23, 2022
Julius’ Bar, the site of an essential 1960s LGBT protest, is officially a historic landmark | CNN

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CNN
—

Julius’ Bar, one of New York City’s oldest LGBT bars and the location of a crucial 1960s protest, has been officially recognized as a city landmark.

The bar was officially recognized by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on December 6th, according to a news release from the New York City government.

The city called the bar “one of the city’s most significant sites of LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) history” in the news release.

Julius’ was the site of the 1966 “Sip-in,” a protest against homophobic discrimination – although at the time, the bar wasn’t an explicitly LGBT space. Four men named Dick Leitsch, Craig Rodwell, John Timmons, and Randy Wicker staged the event to protest the persecution of gay men for drinking in public, according to the National Park Service. Bars and restaurants could be raided for “disorderly” conduct, which included men flirting and kissing, says the service. So bars often refused to serve clients who they knew were gay.

At Julius’, the men announced they were gay – and the bartender refused to serve them, saying it was illegal. The men successfully brought a court case challenging that interpretation of the law. And in 1967, “the courts ruled that indecent behavior had to be more than same-sex ‘cruising’” kissing or touching,” says the National Park Service. “Gays could legally drink in a bar.”

Julius’, located in New York City’s West Village, is a crucial piece of the city’s history: The bar has been open since the 1860s, according to the National Park Service. And today, it openly describes itself as a gay bar on its social media.

“The ‘Sip-In’ at Julius’ was a pivotal moment in our city and our nation’s LGBTQ+ history, and this designation today marks not only that moment but also Julius’ half-century as a home for New York City’s LGBTQ+ community,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams in the city news release. “Honoring a location where New Yorkers were once denied service solely on account of their sexuality reinforces something that should already be clear: LGBTQ+ New Yorkers are welcome anywhere in our city.”

Council member Erik Botcher thanked the activists who pushed for the landmark designation in the release.

“As a gay man who enjoys countless freedoms that were unimaginable in their time, I owe enormous debt to the activists who made Julius’ Bar the site of their protest.” Bottcher said in the release. “Landmarks should tell the history of all New Yorkers, including those from marginalized communities.”

And the landmark status will help ensure the historical site is preserved for decades.

“The Commission’s designation of the Julius’ Bar Building today recognizes and protects the site of the 1966 ‘Sip-In,’ an important early protest against the persecution of LGBTQ+ people that drew vital attention to unjust laws and practices and paved the way for future milestones in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights,” said Sarah Carroll, the landmarks preservation commission chair, in the release.

“This building represents that history and has remained an important place to commemorate it,” she went on.

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December 10, 2022
This Entrepreneur Is Using The Metaverse to Create an Immersive Lesbian Bar

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Elena Rosa is a Los Angeles-based artist who wanted to create a lesbian story world where people of all genders, sexualities and identities could learn about lesbian bar history. She drew from photographs, writings and interviews with former bar patrons and bar owners to bring L-BAR to life. Rosa sat down with Jessica Abo to talk about her interactive online bar and salon, and her advice for anyone trying to create a sacred experience.

Jessica Abo: You’ve spent years working as an actor and artist and say you’re really passionate about creating different worlds. What is it about creating environments that lights you up?

I love building environments. I like thinking about our architecture and how that frames our identity. I have a particular fascination with Byzantine churches, the way the masses can walk into this dome, this heaven on earth and everyone has one focal point. Straight ahead is the focal. It’s one truth, one belief. And if you look to the left or to the right or above you, there are depictions of saints mirroring that truth and confirming that truth. I love thinking about how that informs us in those spaces.

In contrast to the lesbian bar, which were our saloons and taverns, they’re usually pretty dark. And they might be down an alleyway or they might be down a flight of stairs, but they’re dark. In the beginning, there weren’t any windows, and where there were windows, they were covered with curtains, so you couldn’t see what was going on inside. I think that encourages experimentation and walking into the unknown. It’s full of mystery, and I believe in that space is where agency can be explored.

Why did you want to create a space dedicated to lesbian bar history?

I wanted to celebrate and honor lesbian bar history. I think that these bars, especially pre-Stonewall, were bars that really allowed women to frame feminism and ideas of desire and ways of being in the world. So, I wanted to honor that history and also honor the trailblazers, all the people that crossed the street to go into the bar when it wasn’t okay to do that.

I think about my own lesbian bar history, and I landed in San Francisco and I’d just come out and I would go to this bar on Sundays and it was Ladies’ Day on Sundays. I don’t recall it being about consuming alcohol. It wasn’t about that, the bar for me. But, on an unconscious level, I suppose there was this other aspect and I couldn’t wait to get to the bar. There was this other aspect of walking into a place, walking in somewhere, and the people that you see mirror who you are. I think that unequivocal understanding that someone else is like you. It’s a lifeline, really. I was raised very religious, and to me, this was everything. This was everything to me. But, I don’t know if I realized it at the time, but I needed it. I needed that mirror to myself at the time, from people, from those women in that bar.

What’s the state of lesbian bars today?

Well, there aren’t many lesbian bars left. According to the Lesbian Bar Project, which raises money to fund the remaining lesbian bars in the U.S., there are under 25 lesbian bars. I believe that in order to understand why they’ve disappeared, we need to understand why they existed. The lesbian bars are very different today. They are far more inclusive with language. I think when I was going to bars, there were many different identities and ways of being there, but they just weren’t spoken about. Or, if they were, it wasn’t foregrounded by that. I think bars were more foregrounded by desire, at least when I was coming up. Now, language is there, and inclusivity is there at the forefront, and I think that’s really great. I think that’s wonderful. Sometimes, I wonder if we need the term lesbian bar anymore if we need lesbian bar anymore.

It’s interesting to think about. I think also, I’ve noticed that the intergenerational aspect of bars when I was coming up is not there anymore. I remember going to early bars and I would talk to the older dykes about how to shoot pool and how to be and whatever, and there was a lot of communication between generations, and that’s not the case anymore. That’s to do with the online world. A lot of my older friends have wonderful, amazing relationships online and they don’t need to go to the bar. So, it’s not a bad thing, it’s just different. The bars are very different today.

What will someone experience when they enter L-BAR?

Inside L-BAR, you will be presented with a world, I call it a lesbian story world. That world has loads of cities that you can click into, and when you do, you’ll find bars, lesbian bars, presented to you. These bars all actually existed. They’re from 1925 through 2005. Now, I made these bars, they’re digital art interpretations, I made them based on oral histories from former bar owners and bar patrons. So, you can also hear those interviews inside the space. You can meet friends there or make new ones, sit at a bar stool and listen to people like Joan Nestle, Jewelle Gomez, Lillian Faderman to name a few. You can actually hear them inside the bars.

What do you think this project represents now?

I think this project represents a living archive. I think it offers a way to look at history differently by being inside of it, by occupying that history, by hearing the stories where that history took place and sitting inside of it and sharing your own story inside of it. I think it’s another way to document and another way to experience one’s self through history.

I think it also shows how important and sacred lesbian bars were for a lot of people, and sacred to our history in terms of identity building and shedding and ways of being in the world.

What’s next for you and L-Bar?

I’ll be moving off of this platform that I use, which is called ohyay, which is amazing. They are shutting down on December 31st, so L-Bar will also shut down. I’m currently applying for grants and looking for funding to move the project somewhere else. I’m also making a documentary about lesbian bar history.

What advice do you have for someone who is trying to create a sacred experience whether it’s through the metaverse or through a brick-and-mortar environment?

I think it’s important, in whatever you do, whatever you create, to make it personal, make it full of your heart, because I think people are going to disagree with you and they’re not going to like what you have to say, and that encourages conversation. I believe in the conversation. I believe in difference, and I think that is what sustainable business is. I don’t think it’s pleasing everybody. I think it’s actually a conversation.

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Jessica Abo

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November 24, 2022
A bartender who found a place to shine. A non-profit worker with a ‘huge heart.’ These are the victims of the Colorado club shooting | CNN
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CNN
—

As Colorado Springs residents and leaders wrap their arms around the 17 people injured and others traumatized in the Club Q shooting, loved ones are remembering five patrons who did not survive the attack on the beloved LGBTQ nightclub.

The Colorado Springs Police Department identified the five victims as:
Raymond Green Vance (he/him)

Kelly Loving (she/her)

Daniel Aston (he/him)

Derrick Rump (he/him)

Ashley Paugh (she/ her)
Some of the victims worked at Club Q, while others were there to enjoy the evening festivities.

Here are their stories:

Derrick Rump’s sister, Julia Kissling, confirmed his name to CNN and one of its affiliates.

Rump – who was a bartender at Club Q – had “found a community of people that he loved really much, and he felt that he could shine there – and he did,” Kissling told CNN affiliate WFMZ. “He made a difference in so many people’s lives, and that’s where he wanted to be.”

Tiara Kelley, who performed at the club the night before the incident, told CNN Rump and his coworker Daniel Aston were polar opposites in many ways, but worked well together.

“They were just amazing, and every bar should have a Daniel and a Derrick,” Kelley said.

Aston’s parents confirmed his identity to The Denver Post. The 28-year-old was a bar supervisor at Club Q, said bartender Michael Anderson, who had known Aston for a few years and considered him a friend.

The night of the shooting, Anderson saw the gunman and ducked behind the bar where he and Aston worked as glass rained down around him, he told CNN on Monday. He thought he was going to die, said a prayer and as he moved to escape the scene, he saw two people who he didn’t know beating and kicking the gunman, he said.

Anderson was crushed to learn Aston hadn’t made it out of the bar, which Colorado Springs’ LGBTQ community considered a safe space.

“He was the best supervisor anybody could’ve asked for. He made me want to come into work, and he made me want to be a part of the positive culture we were trying to create there,” Anderson said.

He added that Aston was an “amazing person. He was a light in my life, and it’s surreal that we’re even talking about him in the past tense like this.”

Aston moved to Colorado Springs two years ago to be closer to his mother and father, parents Jeff and Sabrina Aston told The Denver Post. The club was a few minutes from their home, and after one of Daniel’s friends told them he’d been shot, they rushed to the emergency room – only to find he’d never arrived.

Daniel Aston was 4 when he told his mother he was a boy, and it was another decade before he came out as transgender, his mother told the newspaper. He thought himself bashful, but that wasn’t the case, she said. He never knew a stranger, even as a kid.

“He had so much more life to give to us, and to all his friends and to himself,” she told The Post.

“He always said, ‘I’m shy,’ but he wasn’t. He wrote poetry. He loved to dress up. He got into drama in high school. He’s an entertainer. That’s what he really loves.”

Ashley Paugh’s family released a statement on her behalf Monday saying they were “absolutely devastated.”

“She meant everything to this family, and we can’t even begin to understand what it will mean to not have her in our lives,” the statement read.

Paugh was a mother, and her daughter Ryleigh “was her whole world,” the statement read, adding that Paugh was big on family.

“She loved her dad, her sister, and her family; Ashley was a loving aunt, with many nieces and nephews who are devastated by her loss,” the statement read.

Paugh had “a huge heart,” which she was able to show through her work at Kids Crossing, a nonprofit that looks to help find homes for foster children, according to the statement.

“She would do anything for the kids – traveling all over southeastern Colorado, from Pueblo and Colorado Springs to Fremont County and the Colorado border, working to raise awareness and encourage individuals and families to become foster parents to children in our community,” the statement read, adding that Paugh worked with the LGBTQ community to find welcoming foster placements.

Paugh also loved the outdoors through activities like hunting, fishing and riding four-wheelers, the statement read.
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November 21, 2022
Starbucks says higher prices, customizable beverages will carry it through potential economic winter

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Ever since Starbucks Corp. rolled out longer-term financial targets in September, Wall Street has wondered how the coffee chain might meet what analysts say were ambitious goals, as rising prices drain consumer spending. For at least the year ahead, executives on Thursday called out three ways to get there: higher prices, younger customers and cold, customizable beverages.

For the fiscal year ahead, executives for the coffee chain on Thursday said they expected global same-store sales to be “near the high end” of its long-term target of between 7% to 9% growth. FactSet expects growth of 8.6%.

When an analyst asked what gave management confidence in that target, interim Chief Executive Howard Schultz said that its coffee was an “affordable luxury,” and that it was armed with a loyalty program that it didn’t have in years past. And they said its customers were getting younger, not older.

“Not only has it gotten younger, but that young, Gen Z customer tends to have significantly more discretionary money at their disposal,” he said. “And their loyalty to Starbucks has been quite significant and predicted.”

He said Starbucks
SBUX,
+0.12%
had raised prices by nearly 6% over the past 12 months and hadn’t seen demand subside. And he said cold coffee beverages made up 76% percent of total drink sales in its U.S. company-owned stores. In the fourth quarter, more than half of beverages overall in those stores were customized, leading to $1 billion in sales a year for add-on syrups, foams and other ingredients.

“I think customization, which we spoke a lot about in our prepared remarks, is obviously giving us the ticket is becoming more accretive,” he said.

Management said they expect U.S. same-store sales growth of 7% to 9% for the year ahead. For China, they’re banking on “outsize” growth for the metric — interrupted by a decrease in the first-quarter — as the nation potentially emerges from pandemic-related lockdowns.

For overall revenue, they expect gains of between 10% and 12%. Management also said they would resume their buyback program in fiscal 2023.

Even as the Federal Reserve tries to chart a path to lower prices, Starbucks is the latest company to say it still has “pricing power,” or the ability to charge customers more. Snack maker Mondelez International
MDLZ,
-0.93%,
earlier in the week, said it planned to raise prices through next year. Similarly, its own chief executive also described its snacks as an “affordable indulgence.”

Prior to the call, Starbucks reported fiscal fourth-quarter results that beat expectations, helped by a boost in U.S. sales and higher prices.

The coffee chain reported net income of $878 million, or 76 cents a share, compared with $1.76 billion, or $1.49 a share, in the same quarter last year. Revenue rose 3% to $8.4 billion, compared with $8.15 billion in the prior-year quarter.

Same-store sales rose 7% worldwide, helped largely by bigger ticket sizes, even as actual transaction volume remained muted. They were up 11% in the U.S. But international same-store sales fell 5%, with a 16% drop in China.

Excluding restructuring, impairment and other costs, Starbucks earned 81 cents per share, compared with 99 cents a year earlier. U.S. members of its loyalty program who were active for three months rose 16% to 28.7 million.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected Starbucks to report adjusted earnings per share of 72 cents, on revenue of $8.323 billion. Same-store sales were expected to rise 4.2%.

Shares rose 2.4% after hours.

As with other restaurants and retailers, Starbucks’ sales this year have been helped by price increases. Analysts have also said higher-income consumers, who might not mind higher prices as much, as well as demand for cold beverages, have propelled demand. While China’s COVID-19 restrictions have weighed on sales, analysts say demand trends are strong elsewhere.

“The U.S. business is humming, and the China risk is increasingly understood,” Wedbush analyst Nick Setyan wrote in a research note ahead of Starbucks’ earnings.

The earnings report comes as Starbucks battles a nascent unionization push at some of its stores. Some bargaining efforts between the company and the union members have stalled, amid allegations from both of bad-faith negotiations. The company over the past year has spent more to raise employee pay and rolled out other incentives at non-union stores.

Starbucks stock has tumbled 27% so far this year. The S&P 500 Index
SPX,
-1.06%,
by comparison, is down around 22%.

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November 3, 2022
McDonald’s ‘adult Happy Meal’ toys are selling for up to $300,000 on eBay

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When it comes to nostalgia, McDonald’s customers sure are lovin’ it.

The burger chain brought back its Halloween pails on Tuesday, which haven’t been offered in the U.S. since 2016. The plastic trick-or-treat buckets decorated to look like a ghost, a goblin or a jack-o’-lantern (aka McBoo, McGoblin and McPunk’n, respectively) quickly began trending among real-time Google searches on Tuesday.

But the appetite for these Halloween buckets is nothing compared to the recent McDonald’s
MCD,
+1.10%
collaboration with streetwear company Cactus Plant Flea Market, which dished out a $12-$13 box (better known as the “adult Happy Meal”) that featured a food combo and a collectible figurine targeted toward the grownups who grew up on Happy Meals.

They sold out quickly, and now some enterprising fast food lovers are hawking the adult Happy Meal toys over online resale sites for thousands of dollars.

So what’s the appeal? Nostalgia, nostalgia, nostalgia. “Everyone remembers their first Happy Meal as a kid … and the can’t-sit-still feeling as you dug in to see what was inside,” McDonald’s wrote in a press release. “And now, we’re reimagining that experience in a whole new way — this time, for adults.”

The limited-edition Cactus Plant Flea Market Box at McDonald’s rolled out on Oct. 3, feeding the inner child of the average customer by offering a choice of a Big Mac or 10-piece chicken nuggets main dish, french fries and a soft drink, as well as one of four “toys” featuring redesigned McDonald’s mascots like the Grimace, the Hamburgler and Birdie, as well as a new “Cactus Buddy!” figure (yes, the exclamation point is part of his name.)

The Cactus Plant Flea Market boxes sold out in many places on the same day that they came out. Some McDonald’s employees took to Reddit and TikTok to share how much they were not lovin’ it — which was reminiscent of the hatred many Starbucks
SBUX,
+0.07%
employees felt toward the viral unicorn frappuccino in 2017.

And now, both the toys and the boxes have become near impossible to come by — unless you’re willing to cough up a lot of cash. A medium Cactus Plant Flea Market Box costs about $12, with large box closer to $13 — and one New Jersey mom noted that in her area, a Big Mac combo with fries and a drink runs under $10, so she spent $3 basically get the collectible toy.

But one eBay listing offering three of the collectible Cactus Plant Flea Market, still unwrapped and in their original packaging, is asking for a whopping $300,000.

The sold-out Cactus Plant Flea Market Boxes, aka McDonald’s “adult Happy Meals,” are popping up on resale sites for thousands of dollars.

Screenshot

Another listing on the fashion marketplace Grailed, which is marked as an “authenticated” post, features the “Cactus Buddy!” figure for the asking price of $39,999 (10% off of the original $44,444 price tag.)

The sold-out Cactus Plant Flea Market Boxes, aka McDonald’s “adult Happy Meals,” are popping up on resale sites for thousands of dollars.

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But there are dozens of other listings for the individual toys and boxes on resale sites such as eBay and Facebook Marketplace in the much more palatable $10-$30 range, or bundles with all four collectible figurines running between $60-$70.

McDonald’s was not immediately available for comment, but a rep told Axios that, “The hype for the Cactus Plant Flea Market Box was so real that some of our restaurants have sold out of the limited-edition experience.” They added that, “We’re thrilled by the excitement we’re seeing.”

The official McDonald’s Twitter account has also been fielding queries from disappointed potential customers who haven’t been able to get their hands on any of the adult Happy Meals, apologizing that this was only a limited time offer.

Time will tell if more “adult Happy Meals” will be offered in the future. There’s clearly a customer base hungry for more.

This isn’t McDonald’s first viral sensation, of course. The fast food giant has also scored success with celebrity collaborations featuring K-Pop sensation BTS, or singing diva Mariah Carey — which also reportedly sold out.

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October 18, 2022
A Milwaukee Bar Is Packed With Jeffrey Dahmer Netflix Fans

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The owner of a Milwaukee bar once frequented by Jeffrey Dahmer isn’t happy with its new crime-junkie clientele.

Curt Borgwardt | Getty Images

Following the release of the Netflix miniseries Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, the Wall Street Stock Bar, which was once called Club 219, has seen an increase in customers looking for a glimpse at the place the serial killer once looked for victims, despite it having a new look, name and owner.

People have been requesting a “Dahmer drink,” which isn’t on the menu, current owner Charese Gardner told Fox6 News Milwaukee, and some have even left face marks on the bar’s windows from trying to look inside.

Gardner says not all paying customers are good for business, and she isn’t pleased with the unwanted attention.

“I don’t really understand the obsession with walking on a place he walked at,” the business owner said in an interview with the Milwaukee-based news outlet. “It’s just kind of traumatizing to see how people would praise a serial killer.”

Gardner is also trying to remove phony Google reviews of the bar that she says say things like “Jeffrey Dahmer approved” and a “great place to meet new friends.”

“It’s senseless,” Gardner added. “Obviously, those people don’t care about the family members either. To me, it’s kind of like, whose side are you on? Are you really on the killer’s side? Because you’re like promoting for the killer, or is it just like sick jokes?”

To discourage the new wave of Dahmer-obsessed customers, Gardner said she going to make its “219” address less visible while she waits for the true crime craze to blow over.

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Sam Silverman

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October 12, 2022
U.S. stocks edge up despite higher-than-expected inflation data
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U.S. stock indexes edged higher on Wednesday, while hotter-than-expected producer price inflation data deepened concerns that the Federal Reserve may continue its aggressive interest rate hikes.

How are stock-index futures trading
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average
  DJIA,
  +0.50%
  was up 120 points, or 0.4% to around 29,355
- The S&P 500
  SPX,
  +0.35%
  gained 5.3 points, or 0.2% to about 3,594
- The Nasdaq Composite
  COMP,
  -6.31%
  traded 5.1 points, or 0.1% higher to 10,430
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 36 points, or 0.12%, to 29239, the S&P 500 declined 24 points, or 0.65%, to 3589, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 116 points, or 1.1%, to 10426. The S&P 500 closed down 1,177 points, or 24.7% for the year to date.
What’s driving markets

The 12-month rate of producer price inflation slowed to to 8.5% from 8.7% while the annual core rate, excluding food and energy, was unchanged at 5.6%, but the monthly rate rose 0.4% in September, above forecast, and the monthly core PPI was also up 0.4% in September.

Such data has worsened fears that to curb inflation, the Fed will continue its aggressive rate hikes, which may steer the U.S. economy into a recession.

“We believe the odds of a recession in 2023 are now better than 50%,” Greg Bassuk, chief executive at AXS Investments, wrote in a Wednesday note. “Last week’s market turbulence saw volatility at levels we have not seen since July, and we believe investors should brace for ongoing market volatility and uncertainty throughout Q4, in concert with another likely Fed interest rate hike to the tune of 0.75% in November,” according to Bassuk.

The 10-year Treasury yield BX:TMUBMUSD10Y, which started the year around 1.65% was trading at 3.931% on Wednesday, off 1.3 basis points, after the producer price inflation data.

Traders are also awaiting U.S. September consumer prices data on Thursday due at 8:30 am Eastern Time.

“Inflation has proven to be difficult to forecast and given the negative ‘shock’ from the August CPI, it would be difficult for any investor to have conviction going into this report,” according to Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat.

“For us, analyzing the month over month numbers is much more important than looking at the headline,” Zachary Hill, head of portfolio management at Horizon Investments, said in an interview.

“The way we’ve been thinking about it, the last three months annualized [inflation] gives you a kind of a decent idea of where the shorter term trends are around inflation,” Hill said. “We think that’s what the Fed is going to be looking at to see progress towards their 2% goal. And unfortunately, based on various measures, we’re nowhere near that today.”

Adding to the market anxiety, and keeping any Wednesday rally in check, is the continuing volatility in U.K. government bonds after the Bank of England reiterated it would stop supporting the market after Friday.

Investors have become increasingly concerned of late that severe stresses in the financial system may emerge as central banks switch from the era of zero or negative interest rates to sharply higher borrowing costs as they try to tackle inflation at multi-decade highs.

“[G]lobal financial conditions have tightened as central banks continue to raise interest rates. Our latest Global Financial Stability Report shows that financial stability risks have increased since our last report, with the balance of risks tilted to the downside,” said the International Monetary Fund in a report released on Tuesday.

“The mood of global investors was gloomy enough and hardly needed yesterday’s reminder from the IMF that the risks to financial stability have increased,” Ian Williams, strategist at Peel Hunt, noted. “Its report highlighted specifically (if obviously) the threats from persistent inflation, China’s slowdown and the war in Ukraine. The highlighted ‘disorderly repricing of risk’ is arguably already underway.”

The Fed may offer its view on the topic as a number of officials are due to give comments on Wednesday. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said the Fed is “dead serious” about getting inflation down. Fed vice chair Michael Barr will speak at 1:45 p.m. The minutes of the Fed’s previous monetary policy setting meeting will be released at 2 p.m. ET and Fed governor Michelle Bowman will deliver comments at 6.30 pm.

Companies in focus

Shares of Philips
PHIA,
-12.27%

PHG,
-11.33%
plunged 12% after the Dutch tech company issued its second profit warning this year, forewarning that supply chain problems will impact sales and third-quarter profits.

Intel Corp.
INTC,
+1.50%
may fire thousands of workers by the end of the month, around the same time the chip manufacturer reports quarterly results amid a tough year for semiconductor makers, Bloomberg reported late Tuesday. The company’s shares rose 1% Wednesday.

Shares of PepsiCo Inc. climbed 4.6% Wednesday, after the beverage and snack giant reported third-quarter profit and revenue that rose above expectations and raised its full-year outlook, as higher prices helped offset some volume weakness.
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October 12, 2022
Philips warns of 5% fall in like-for-like sales due to supply-chain woes

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Royal Philips NV said Wednesday that its performance for the third quarter was hurt by stronger-than-anticipated supply-chain challenges, and adopted a more pessimistic view on its sales through the end of the year.

The Dutch health-technology company
PHIA,
-8.01%

PHG,
-0.80%
said that it expects to record a 1.3 billion euro ($1.26 billion) impairment charge in the period. The company said that this is an impairment of goodwill of Philips Respironics, its sleep and respiratory care business, and that it is due to revisions to the business’s financial forecast.

This compares with adjusted Ebita of EUR512 million, or 12.3% of sales, a year earlier.

Analysts had seen the metric at EUR336 million, according to a consensus estimate provided by the company.

Philips expects to book a EUR1.3 billion impairment charge on its sleep and respiratory care business after revising its financial forecast for the unit, it said.

Group comparable sales for the quarter fell around 5%.

For the last quarter of the year, Philips now expects a mid-single-digit decline in comparable sales, it said.

In late July, Philips had guided for 6%-9% growth in comparable sales over the second half of the year.

“Philips still expects a better second half of the year, compared to the first half of 2022. However, the company sees prolonged supply chain disruptions and a worsening macro-environment,” it said.

The company said it expects adjusted Ebita margin to be in the range of a high single to double digit for the last quarter of the year.

Write to Anthony O. Goriainoff at anthony.orunagoriainoff@dowjones.com and Cristina Roca at cristina.roca@wsj.com

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October 11, 2022