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It might sound like a cheesy Instagram caption, but I couldn’t live without coffee. It’s one of my favorite things because it combines my love of nerdy cooking projects with my equally nerdy love of all things “gear” — Plus, it tastes great and it’s a great morning ritual. (And, of course, I am hopelessly beholden to the whims of caffeine.) However, as much as I love pulling espresso, using an Aeropress, and firing up a Moka pot, I find myself coming back time and again to pour-over and drip coffee. I’ll still stand by my love of a simple Mr. Coffee machine for outfitting your first apartment, but once you’ve graduated from that, splurging on a high-end, programmable drip machine can be a total game-changer. Since my girlfriend would kill me if I brought home another bulky piece of coffee equipment into our tiny apartment kitchen, I figured my parents — who have been stubbornly refusing to replace their broken coffee machine for years — could use an upgrade. That’s why I was so excited to test out the OXO 12-Cup Coffee Maker with Podless Single-Serve Function on them, since if it could win them over, it has to be top-notch.
Design Features That Stand Out
For me, the look of the OXO 12-Cup Coffee Maker nearly won me over at first sight. In classic OXO fashion, the machine is made with gorgeous stainless steel — which makes for a particularly sleek-looking body — and a glass chamber for water, which is a nice upgrade from coffee makers that use plastic carafes. There are also two swappable baskets for different brew sizes (each comes with included filters) and an option to make a single cup, so you don’t have to worry about wasting coffee if you’re home alone. The heavy-duty stay-warm carafe also keeps your coffee hot for hours, so you don’t have to pop your mug in the microwave if you’re itching for a second cup later in the day. The display is also easy to read and easy to use, with just a few simple buttons and a dial — perfect for even the most technologically averse people in your life. There’s also a built-in cleaning cycle, which lets you descale your coffee maker with the push of a button. (The instruction manual gives ratios for descaling solution or vinegar, depending on which you decide to use.)
So yeah, it looks great — but how does it perform? Well, like pretty much everything OXO makes, it’s top-tier. I brewed a single cup (programmed to start brewing five minutes in the future) to test it out, and it worked great. It started brewing right at the five-minute mark, and all you have to do is just pour as much water into the reservoir as you want to brew, and it’ll spit out that exact amount (minus a little lost to saturating the grinds and evaporation) right into your cup. The taste was phenomenal — sort of like a cup of pour-over, thanks to the Rainmaker shower and the BetterBrew Precision technology, which controls water temperature and brew cycles for a smooth end product. The full pots are equally delicious, and if you don’t take my word for it, take my folks’. “I can vouch for the excellence of the OXO coffee system — tasty brew and the coffee stays hot,” my dad explained. “Coffee is excellent and cleanup is easy!” according to my mom.
Look, this isn’t a cheap coffee maker, obviously, but after having to replace a few mediocre machines in the past, take it from me: Snagging the OXO 12-Cup Coffee Maker will save you money in the long run. Another thing to note is that the carafe has a smooth pouring action — as long as you don’t totally invert it, in which case it can get a little splashy. Just take it slow.
Should YOU Buy the OXO 12-Cup Coffee Maker with Podless Single-Serve Function
I can give a full-throated recommendation for this machine, as long as you:
Crafting a great one at home can make you feel as classy and sophisticated as they come.
Makes1 cocktail
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A Martini is one of the most iconic and classic cocktails around. It’s also one that not a lot of people agree on when it comes to making it the best way. Gin or vodka? Stirred or shaken? Ice shards or double strained? Lemon twist or olives? Blue cheese stuffed? Dirty?
Point being, how you like your Martini is probably different than how your aunt likes hers. Despite this, you and your aunt can both agree that crafting a great Martini at home can make you feel as classy and sophisticated as they come!
Because there are so many options, it’s always good to start with the tried-and-true classic recipe for a Martini before you get to customizing your own (espresso martinis, anyone?). As we dive into the recipe, let’s take a look at how such an elegant two-ingredient cocktail can have so many people divided.
A classic Martini calls for gin. Some people love it, while others feel like drinking gin is like biting into a pine cone. Gin is full of botanical flavors, most of which are juniper-forward. It’s like the friend who’s always wearing a bright, funky-colored shirt and despite how you feel about it, it just works. Gin works because it pairs really well with the herbal qualities of dry vermouth, the next key ingredient in a classic Martini. If you’re going the gin route, I recommend using something high-quality. Some common ones are Beefeater, Plymouth Gin, Tanqueray, or Hendrick’s.
In the other camp, we have vodka. It’s a neutral spirit that tends to take a little bit of a beating amongst cocktail enthusiasts for being flavorless. Yet, it’s smooth and a lot of people prefer it over gin. If you like vodka, I recommend purchasing a premium bottle like a Belvedere or Ketel One. Don’t skimp on ingredients here because every drop matters. I’d say $25 to $35 is a great price range for a quality bottle.
Who Is This Dry Vermouth Character?
The second ingredient in a Martini is dry vermouth. It’s a type of fortified wine, blended and infused with different herbs and botanicals. Use a quality, well-preserved bottle of vermouth. By well-preserved I mean refrigerated after it’s opened. It’s still a wine and begins to oxidize after opening, so be sure you keep it cold. There’s nothing worse than a left-out bottle of vermouth that has turned to vinegar. Not tasty. A recommended bottle of dry vermouth is Noilly Prat or Dolin.
Stirred or Shaken? (I’m Looking at You, James Bond.)
By rule of thumb, if your cocktail contains only booze, then you stir. By this rule, a Martini should be stirred. James Bond would probably disagree. On any other day I wouldn’t fight him, but on this matter I advise you to stir your Martini, especially when going with gin. Shaking can “bruise” the gin and mask the botanicals you want to taste.
Want an Ice-Cold Martini?
The reason people shake their Martini is because they don’t feel stirring the cocktail yields a cold-enough martini. If you want your cocktail arctic cold with ice shards floating on top, shake it.
A martini should always be served up in a chilled glass, but the garnish you use is up to preference. Squeeze the back of a lemon peel over the glass to release the lemon oils into the martini, then rub the peel around the rim of the glass. This enhances the aroma and brings a fresh zest to it. Either drop the lemon peel in, or discard and garnish with several fresh olives.
Most importantly, drink your martini pinky up because now you’re fancy!
Nestle reported a 7.8% organic sales growth in the first nine months of the year driven by price increases amid high inflation levels, and backed its full-year outlook.
The Swiss food and beverage giant said sales stood at 68.83 billion Swiss francs ($76.57 billion) in the period from CHF69.13 billion a year earlier, driven by pricing at 8.4%. Real internal growth was minus 0.6%, but the company said the recovery of volume and mix is underway.
A company-compiled consensus estimate had forecast organic sales growth of 8.1%.
Shares of PepsiCo Inc. PEP, +0.67%
rose 2.5% in premarket trading Tuesday, after the beverage and snack giant reported third-quarter earnings that topped consensus and raised its full-year guidance.
Net income rose to $3.092 billion, or $2.24 a share, from $2.702 billion, or $1.95 a share, in the same period a year ago.
Excluding nonrecurring items, core earnings per share of $2.25 were ahead of the FactSet consensus of $2.15.
Revenue grew to $23.453 billion from $21.971 billion, also ahead of the FactSet consensus of $23.413 billion.
“We are pleased with our performance as our businesses and associates displayed tremendous agility and resilience across geographies and categories in an evolving and dynamic environment,” Chief Executive Ramon Laguarta said in a statement.
Revenue at Frito-Lay North America rose 7%, while it was up 5% at Quaker Foods North America. PepsiCo Beverages North America rose 8%, while Latin America was up 21% and Europe up 2%.
Revenue for Africa, Middle East and South Asia fell 6%, while Asia Pacific, Australia and New Zealand and China Region’s revenue was up 4%.
For 2023, the company revised its core EPS guidance to $7.54 from $7.47 previously.
“For fiscal year 2024, we expect to deliver results towards the upper end of our long-term target ranges for both organic revenue and core constant currency EPS growth,” said the statement.
The company’s long-term target ranges for both organic revenue growth — 4% to 6% growth — and core constant currency EPS growth– high-single-digit percentage increase– remain unchanged.
The stock has fallen 11% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 SPX
has gained 13%.
Updated Oct 06, 2023, 2:51 am EDT / Original Oct 06, 2023, 1:15 am EDT
Consumer-staples stocks have gotten hit hard in recent weeks, and
hasn’t escaped the carnage. With the steady-Eddie beverage and snack giant set to report earnings on Oct. 10, its stock could be ready to pop.
Continue reading this article with a Barron’s subscription.
McDonald’s MCD, +0.27%
is planning to bring back its beloved McRib sandwich, just one year after giving the porky treat a “farewell tour.” The menu item is set to return next month, according to the company.
“While it won’t be available nationwide, some lucky fans may find their favorite elusive saucy sandwich at their local McDonald’s restaurants this November,” McDonald’s said in a statement to MarketWatch on Wednesday.
Not that the news should come as a complete surprise. McDonald’s has always employed a scarcity tactic in marketing the McRib. That is, the key to the sandwich’s appeal has been that it’s never around for long, leaving fans (including Homer Simpson) to devour it while they can.
As Restaurant Business, a trade publication, observed last year: “If consumers think there is a shortage of a product, or that it won’t be around for long, they will rush out to get it. Think of the Great Toilet Paper Shortage in 2020 and how many people rushed out to get some the moment they thought they might run out.”
The publication quoted McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski about this approach, particularly in relation to the “farewell tour”: “The McRib is the GOAT of sandwiches on our menu. And so like the GOATs Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, and others, you’re never sure if they’re fully retired or not.”
By all accounts, the strategy has worked: A Wall Street Journal story once noted that McDonald’s sold more than 60 million of the sandwiches over a three-year period — in spite of the fact (or maybe because of the fact) it’s available in such limited fashion.
Further proof of the McRib’s success: It has spawned some competition. In 2021, Arby’s released a Country Style Pork Rib sandwich as a limited-time fall offering — and took cheeky aim at McDonald’s in its marketing, referring to the McRib as a “rib-shaped sandwich” (there’s some truth to that — the McRib features a boneless pork patty with no actual ribs).
Naturally, the McRib’s return has sparked plenty of reaction on social media. One commenter on X (formerly Twitter) referred to the fact the sandwich seemingly has nine lives. Another said that McDonald’s retracting of its “farewell tour” announcement has left them having “trust issues.”
Nike Inc. on Thursday reported a fiscal first-quarter profit that beat expectations, although revenue came up just shy of Wall Street’s estimates, amid a drop in sales for Converse sneakers.
The athletic-gear giant reported fiscal first-quarter net income of $1.45 billion, or 94 cents a share, compared with $1.47 billion, or 93 cents a share, in the same quarter last year. Revenue crept higher to $12.94 billion, compared with $12.69 billion in the prior-year quarter.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected Nike to report earnings per share of 76 cents, on revenue of $13 billion.
Gross margin fell 10 basis points to 44.2%, weighed by higher product costs and a tougher foreign-exchange backdrop, and offset by “strategic pricing actions.” The company’s inventories fell 10%, as Wall Street seeks progress on efforts by businesses to narrow down their stockpiles of unsold goods.
Sales for Converse shoes were $588 million, down 9%, amid weaker demand in North America. Growth in Asia, however, acted as a counterweight to that decline.
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Diageo said expectations for fiscal 2024 remain unchanged despite warning of persistent continuing cost pressures and macroeconomic challenges.
The liquor maker–which owns Johnnie Walker whisky and Tanqueray gin–on Thursday said it expects a gradual improvement on both organic net sales and operating profit growth from the first half of the fiscal year ending June 30 and then an acceleration in the second half, given softer comparators.
Diageo said it is well-positioned to deliver its 2023-25 guidance for organic net sales growth of 5% to 7% a year and organic operating profit growth of 6% to 9% a year.
“I am confident in the resilience of our business and our ability to navigate these headwinds while executing our strategic priorities,” Chief Executive Debra Crew said.
The company changed its reporting and dividend currency to U.S. dollar from the pound at the start of fiscal 2024.
Inflation remains a top concern among Americans, so what do the Republicans seeking President Joe Biden’s job say they’ll do about it?
MarketWatch asked the 2024 GOP White House hopefuls to give at least three ways that they would address the elevated prices that have blown up many household budgets.
Most campaigns provided responses, while some didn’t but have offered proposals in other venues. See what they’re all planning below.
The economy is the No. 1 issue for Republican voters, according to a recent Wall Street Journal poll, which found 36% citing the economy generally and an additional 10% citing inflation.
MarketWatch contacted the eight contenders who took part in their primary’s first debate, along with former President Donald Trump, who skipped the debate, and two relatively well-known contenders who failed to qualify for the first debate, Larry Elder and former Congressman Will Hurd. They are listed below in order of their ranking in the latest polls, based on a RealClearPolitics moving average.
Inflation was low when Trump became president, with prices rising less than 2% a year. That was even considered a problem before the COVID-19 pandemic, with inflation often characterized as stubbornly or persistently low. Inflation began to spike in 2021, shortly after Biden took office, due to a global shortage of goods and a huge rebound in consumer demand following the pandemic’s early stages. Economists say massive stimulus by both the Trump and Biden administrations as well as low interest rates fostered by the Federal Reserve helped to push inflation to a 40-year high.
“I would get inflation down,” Trump said in a recent interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” while saying that “we did a great job with inflation.” His campaign pointed MarketWatch to a number of policy proposals in which Trump himself is quoted.
Former President Donald Trump walks over to speak with reporters before departing from Atlanta’s airport last month.
AP
The former president says he’ll rein in what he calls Biden’s “wasteful spending,” which Trump says is key to stopping inflation. Trump is proposing to use what’s known as impoundment authority to reduce federal spending. That term refers to the ability of a president to withhold congressionally appropriated funds from their intended use, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Trump also calls for boosting energy output. “When I’m back in the White House, I will immediately unleash energy production, slash regulations, like I did just three years ago, and repeal Biden’s tax hikes to get inflation down as fast as possible, and it will go quickly, so that interest rates can get back under control,” Trump says on his campaign website. “I would get inflation down, because drill we must,” he told “Meet the Press.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, says a spokesman, “will reduce inflation by, among other measures, tackling government spending, unleashing domestic energy and removing burdensome Biden administration regulations.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks in July during a press conference in West Columbia, S.C.
AP Photo/Sean Rayford
In his economic plan, DeSantis leans heavily into energy policy for addressing inflation. “DeSantis will unleash our domestic energy sector, modernize and protect our grid and advance American energy independence. This will not only increase our economic and national security while reducing inflation, [but] it will also help fuel a manufacturing renaissance that will create jobs, revitalize our communities and improve our standard of living,” says his plan.
He told “CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell” that, as president, he would “stop spending so much money. We need a president that’s going to be a force for spending restraint, because that’s one of the root causes, with Congress spending so much.” He criticized both Democrats and Republicans for government spending.
Vivek Ramaswamy
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks in April at an event in Iowa.
AP
“This isn’t complicated,” entrepreneur and author Vivek Ramaswamy said in a recent post on X. “Fight inflation, unleash growth by taking the handcuffs [off] the U.S. energy sector & dismantling the regulatory state.” His campaign didn’t respond to MarketWatch’s request for comment, but his campaign website offers the following proposals:
Ramaswamy is also calling for dramatically changing the Federal Reserve, by ending the central bank’s dual mandate of keeping inflation low and maintaining full employment. “Limit the U.S. Fed’s scope: stabilize the dollar DXY
& nothing more,” his campaign site says.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina governor.
Getty Images
“We want to eliminate the federal gas tax completely,” Haley told Fox Business. “We have to get more money in our taxpayers’ pockets.” That tax helps pay for highways, but she said the system isn’t working, echoing a point that some policy analysts have previously made. Biden pushed for temporarily suspending the federal gas tax in 2022, but Congress didn’t provide sufficient support for his proposal. In her economic speech, Haley also promised to cut income taxes for working families and make permanent the tax cuts that small businesses scored in 2017’s GOP tax overhaul.
The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said members of Congress are “spending like drunken sailors,” as she promised to reduce the federal government’s outlays. “I will veto any spending bill that doesn’t take us back to pre-COVID levels,” she told Fox Business, referring to budgets that date to before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020.
Haley in her speech Friday pledged to support the U.S. energy industry, as she suggested that Washington has been “stifling it.” She said: “We’ll drill so much oil and gas, families will save big on their utility bills.”
Mike Pence
A spokesman for Pence’s campaign pointed to the former vice president’s plan for “ending inflation,” which calls for actions such as reducing the federal government’s spending and changing the Federal Reserve’s job description.
Former Vice President Mike Pence served as governor of Indiana and as a congressman before becoming Donald Trump’s running mate in 2016.
AP
A Pence administration would “end runaway deficits by freezing non-defense spending, eliminating unnecessary government programs, repealing over $3 trillion in new spending under Biden, and reforming mandatory programs that drive our debt,” the plan says. Earlier this year, he urged “commonsense and compassionate” reforms for programs such as Social Security and Medicaid.
Pence wants to end the Fed’s dual mandate, which calls for the U.S. central bank to focus on full employment and stable prices. “Trying to serve two, often contradictory goals has led to wild fluctuation in rates,” his plan says, adding that it’s better to “leave employment policy to the president and Congress.”
The former vice president’s plan said he aims to bring supply chains and production “back home,” and that would happen by “removing regulatory burdens, enacting pro-growth tax policies, and ensuring access to abundant American energy.” In other words: “We will fight inflation by making America the best place to do business again.”
Similar to his 2024 GOP rivals, Pence blasts Biden’s energy policies, though some of the Democratic incumbent’s stances, such as his approval of the Willow drilling project in Alaska, have also been criticized by environmental groups. Pence’s plan says: “It is time to reverse Biden’s attack on American energy by restarting oil and gas leasing on federal lands, opening the Arctic and offshore regions for exploration XOP,
approving safe transportation of oil and gas, mining rare earth minerals, and rejecting climate change hysteria that is causing U.S. energy XLE
production to fall.”
Chris Christie
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie addresses a New Hampshire audience in April.
AP Photo/Charles Krupa
Chris Christie’s White House campaign didn’t respond to MarketWatch’s requests for comment, but the former New Jersey governor has emphasized that reducing government spending will help tame inflation.
“The out-of-control government spending has created this inflation,” Christie said in June during a CNN town hall. “I mean, even Larry Summers, who I don’t agree with much on, former Democratic Treasury secretary, warned Joe Biden, ‘Don’t do this spending. It’s going to cause the inflation.’ So, first, we need to bring spending down, and we’ve talked about that before.”
U.S. Sen. Tim Scott pointed to reducing the federal government’s spending and repealing one of Biden’s signature legislative packages, when asked about how he would address inflation.
Tim Scott, a U.S. senator from South Carolina, speaks last month during the presidential debate in Milwaukee.
Getty Images
Scott, from South Carolina, said in a statement that he would aim to “snap non-defense discretionary spending back to the pre-COVID 2019 baseline.” He described that as stopping Democrats from “turning the temporary pandemic into permanent socialism.”
Scott said he would rescind the Inflation Reduction Act, which is Democrats’ big economic package aimed at addressing climate change, capping drug costs and raising hundreds of billions of dollars through taxes on corporations. “The Inflation Reduction Act actually increased inflation and the only thing it reduced was money in our pockets,” he said in his statement. “Cutting that off and restoring tax cuts and eliminating the tax increases would go a long way to having the kind of stimulative impact in our economy and controlling spending.”
Scott called for stronger economic growth. “We have to also grow our economy somewhere near 5% consistently,” he said, adding that could create 10 million jobs. The U.S. economy grew by nearly 6% in 2021 after contracting in 2020 as COVID hit, then it expanded by about 2% in 2022.
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson blames “excessive federal spending” for leading to inflation when giving speeches, and outlines a plan for “fiscal responsibility” on his campaign site.
Asa Hutchinson, governor of Arkansas from 2015 until this year, speaks at an Iowa event in April.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
“Restore discipline by reducing federal government size, cutting spending, balancing the budget, and lowering the deficit to tame inflation,” it states.
When Hutchinson was governor, he signed a $500 million tax-cut package, saying “it could not come at a better time with the continued challenge of high food and gas prices.” That was in August 2022. On his campaign website, he repeats a call to cut taxes and “reduce regulations to boost the private sector and enhance wages for American workers.”
Hutchinson’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment from MarketWatch.
Doug Burgum
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a GOP presidential hopeful, speaks at the Iowa State Fair in August.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum’s website says that as president he would “get inflation under control, cut taxes, lower gas prices RB00, +0.31%,
reduce the cost of living and help people realize their fullest potential.” It doesn’t provide specifics.
A spokesman for Burgum’s White House campaign didn’t respond to MarketWatch’s requests for comment. A spokesman reportedly told the New York Times that the campaign will roll out its vision and plans on its own timeline.
Larry Elder
Larry Elder, a conservative radio host and a gubernatorial candidate in California in the failed 2021 recall of Democratic incumbent Gavin Newsom, said he views energy and tax policy and a constitutional amendment as ways to whip inflation.
Larry Elder is a conservative radio host and former gubernatorial candidate in California.
AP
“Reverse the war on oil CL00, +0.93%
and gas NG00, -2.65%
; permit drilling in Anwar [Arctic National Wildlife Refuge]; authorize the Keystone Pipeline; reverse the Biden restrictions on drilling on federal lands; and encourage nuclear energy NLR,
” Elder said in a statement.
“Encourage an amendment to the Constitution to set spending to a fixed percent of the GDP,” he also said.
Elder said the reduction in spending forced by that constitutional amendment would “coincide with a steep reduction in personal and corporate income taxes,” offering further help to Americans with stretched budgets.
Will Hurd
2024 Republican presidential hopeful Will Hurd, a former Texas congressman, speaks in Iowa in July.
AFP via Getty Images
Former U.S. Rep. Will Hurd of Texas announced his candidacy in June but so far hasn’t made it to the debate stage. In his campaign-launch video, he labeled inflation “still out of control.”
In a post on X in June, Hurd called for reining in spending. “You cannot be putting government funds into, at a time where you’re seeing the rising inflation,” he said.
And he said tax hikes are a nonstarter when inflation is high. “The worst time to talk about increasing taxes is when everybody’s hurting from inflation.”
Hurd also said the deficit should be addressed, to “start bending the curve back on the debt.”
Hurd’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment from MarketWatch.
Shares of Instacart CART,
are set to receive a warm reception in their Wall Street debut, as early indications are for the grocery delivery app’s stock to open about 30% above where the initial public offering priced. While the stock isn’t expected to trade for a while, perhaps hours, the first indication from the Nasdaq was for the first trade to be around $39.00, while the IPO priced at $30 a share, according to FactSet data. At that price, the company, which is officially named Maplebear Inc. and doing business as Instacart, would be valued at about $13.2 billion, based on 338.8 million common shares outstanding (as-converted, fully diluted). In last week’s high-profile IPO of semiconductor-design company Arm Holdings PLC, the stock’s ARM, -4.59%
first trade was 10% above the IPO price, but it closed 24.7% above the IPO price on the first day.
Editor’s Note: Sign up for CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter which explores what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world.
Hong Kong CNN
—
Starbucks says it has poured more than $200 million into a new campus in China, in a sign of how the Chinese consumer remains crucial to the global coffee chain despite a major economic slowdown.
The beverage giant opened the massive facility in eastern China on Tuesday that will serve as its main production and distribution center nationwide, supplying fresh coffee to thousands of Chinese stores, it said in a statement. The site is home to a large coffee roasting facility and an area that lets visitors see how drinks are made.
Starbucks (SBUX) says it has committed a whopping 1.5 billion yuan or about $220 million to the project, the largest investment it has ever made for a coffee manufacturing and distribution center outside the United States.
That’s nearly 50% more than the $150 million it had previously allocated in 2020, which was already higher than the $130 million announced earlier that year.
Asked why the amount was raised twice, a company spokesperson told CNN that “additional capital investments were made to further elevate the advanced technologies and equipment used.”
The opening of the 80,000 square-foot (7,400 square-meter) “innovation park,” located in the city of Kunshan, about an hour from Shanghai, comes after a year-long delay.
Starbucks had previously said the facility would be “operational in summer 2022,” though the timeline was given in November 2020, as China grappled with disruptive pandemic-related restrictions. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday on reasons for the delay.
China has long been one of the most important growth drivers for Starbucks, serving as its second-biggest market worldwide and top overseas market.
But CEO Laxman Narasimhan says the company is “still in our early days in China,” noting that coffee consumption in the historically tea-drinking nation remains relatively low.
On an earnings call last month, he pointed to how revenue in China had rebounded earlier this year after the company’s sales in the country were dented by Covid-19 restrictions, which were lifted late last year.
China’s economic growth is set to slow this year as it continues to reel from the effects of a crisis-hit property sector and choppy consumer confidence. But new data on Friday suggested the downturn was stabilizing.
“As one of the largest consumer markets in the world, China presents tremendous opportunities for Starbucks,” Narasimhan said in the statement.
He said the new space would improve its supply chain and sustainability goals, particularly as the facility is set to become the company’s most energy-efficient coffee manufacturing plant in the world.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the China team’s visionary thinking,” Narasimhan added. “As Starbucks’ largest and fastest-growing international market, we will continue to deepen our investment and reinforce our unwavering long-term commitment to the China market.”
When merry revelers from around the world lift their beer steins to mark the start of Oktoberfest in the Bavarian capital Munich, they might want to sip slowly, given they will now be paying €13.75 ($14.67) per liter.
That’s based on an analysis from a team at Berenberg, who provided this chart showing the soaring cost of beer at the Munich Oktoberfest compared with other consumer and food inflation measures:
The globally famed festival is due to kick off this Saturday. And while the cost keeps rising, the celebratory large glass of Bavarian beer —- served in a stoneware mug known as a Maß, or stein — often doesn’t seem to reach the required 1-liter mark once the foam has settled, notes Holger Schmieding, chief economist, who led the report.
“Do not even try to compare the price per liter to the cheap beer cans available at the discount retailers nearby. The difference might make some crave a stiffer drink to drown the financial pain,” he and his team said.
Citing data from German price statistics dating back to 1991, Berenberg’s economists said the price of an Oktoberfest beer has soared at an annual average rate of 3.9%, well above the annual 2% rise in inflation and the 1.8% rise paid for beer sold by retailers.
However, more recently the pain may have eased some. Schmieding said the price of that beer rise versus 2022 is just 4.2%, which is below the average food price rise of 9%. And German wages rose 6.6% on an annual basis in the second quarter of this year, meaning some might this year find those steins slightly little more affordable, once they get past the sticker shock.
The country has felt the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and soaring energy and food prices, which propelled inflation to a postwar high of 7.9% in 2022. Wage earners are currently recouping some of lost purchasing power, but Schmieding and his team warn this won’t last.
“In a lagged response to lower headline inflation and the modest rise in unemployment that we project for the next two quarters, German wage gains will likely slow down to 4% yoy by the time of the next Oktoberfest in September 2024, and the less volatile rise in beer prices at the party will likely outpace inflation and wages again,” they wrote.
The European Commission recently forecast that Germany, the bloc’s biggest economy, will be the only major one to see growth contract this year, with a forecast for gross domestic product to fall 0.4% in 2023. Weak industrial output has been a major factor in sluggish growth. Inflation for the EU bloc is expected to fall to 2.9% next year, slightly under the 2.8% previously forecast.
The European Central Bank on Thursday hiked its deposit rate by 25 basis points to an all-time high of 4% as it battles inflation for the region which it expects will average 5.6% this year, well above its 2% target.
Schmieding and the team say Germany, however, does not deserve the “sick man of Europe” title, which it last held in the 1990s, that some have slapped on it.
The country is, though, “nursing a collective hangover” after celebrating its “golden decade” between the global financial crisis and the pandemic onset too hard, with early retirement plans, expanded welfare benefits and too much dependence on Russian energy, they say.
Starbucks Corp. on Wednesday said former Chief Executive Howard Schultz is stepping down from its board of directors, capping a nearly 40-year career during which the company grew from a handful of stores in Seattle into a global coffee chain.
Schultz’s retirement from the board, which ends his involvement in the company’s leadership, took effect Wednesday and was part of a planned transition, the coffee chain said. Schultz stepped down as Starbucks SBUX, +0.72%
chief executive in March.
The company on Wednesday also said that it had elected Wei Zhang to its board of directors, effective Oct. 1. Zhang was most recently a senior adviser to Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group BABA, -0.75%
and also held leadership positions at News Corp China and CNBC China.
Shares of Starbucks were down 0.7% after hours on Wednesday.
Starbucks said Schultz “will now turn his attention with his wife, Sheri, to focus on a range of philanthropic and entrepreneurial investments to create greater opportunity, accessible to all.” The company noted that the two were co-founders of the Schultz Family Foundation in 1996, and of the emes project.
Although he was not technically the founder of the coffee chain, Schultz became the modern face of it. Schultz joined Starbucks in 1982 as its director of operations and marketing. After a brief hiatus from the company, he returned in 1987 as chief executive and bought the business with backing from local investors, according to a biography on the Starbucks website. The chain went public in 1992.
As the chain’s footprint expanded beyond the U.S., Schultz stepped down from the CEO role in 2000 but returned in 2008. He retired from Starbucks in 2018, then came back as interim chief executive and board member last year.
Over those years, Starbucks has banked on China for international growth — even as that country’s economy remains turbulent following the postpandemic reopening. It also added food and cold and customizable drinks to its menus and built out its mobile-ordering infrastructure.
The company has branded itself as a progressive employer and a supporter of social justice. But over the past two years, the company, and Schultz in particular, have faced criticism over the handling of employees who were trying to unionize. Union members have accused the chain of unfair labor practices, retaliation for organizing and delaying contract negotiations, leading to deeper scrutiny from lawmakers.
“We hope this is an opportunity for Starbucks to change course and leave their union-busting behind them,” Starbucks Workers United, the union representing those workers, said Wednesday in a tweet.
Still, even as inflation has eaten into consumer savings, Schultz said coffee has remained an “affordable luxury” for many customers. And Starbucks management said that younger, loyal consumers and customizable drinks would help sustain demand.
According to a filing on Wednesday, Schultz will still be connected to the company in other ways. Starbucks said it would amend Schultz’s retirement agreement from 2018 and continue to provide him and his spouse with security services.
“The security services will be provided for a period of 10 years and will be evaluated on an annual basis,” the filing said. “In recognition of Mr. Schultz’s leadership as the company’s founder and chairman emeritus, the company will also provide Mr. Schultz with the reimbursement of his monthly healthcare insurance premiums.”
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Shares of Canopy Growth Corp. CGC, +22.61%
shot up 21.7% toward a near four-month high in very active afternoon trading, putting them on track for the fifth double-digit percentage gain in seven sessions. The stock has rocketed 130% over the past seven session. Trading volume was 107.7 million shares as of Friday afternoon, to mark the fourth 100+-million-share volume day in the past six sessions, while the average volume over the past 30 days was about 36.3 million shares. The stock’s surge comes as Senate Banking Committee chair Sherrod Brown said Wednesday that there is “an agreement imminent” on the SAFE Banking Act, according to a Politico report, which could make it easier for the financial industry to work with cannabis companies. Among other cannabis stocks, shares of Tilray Brands Inc. TLRY, +2.03%
gained 2.4%, of Cronos Group Inc. climbed 6.0% and of Aurora Cannabis Inc. ACB, +14.75%
jumped 12.5%. The AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF MSOS, +3.88%
rose 7.5% on volume of 13.9 million shares, compared with the full-day average of about 5.6 million shares, while the S&P 500 SPX, +0.14%
slipped 0.1%. The cannabis ETF has soared 77% over the past seven sessions.
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Nestle said it has sold its Palforzia peanut-allergy treatment business to biopharmaceutical company Stallergenes Greer.
The Swiss consumer-goods company said Monday that it will receive milestone payments and royalties from Stallergenes Greer. The deal was closed upon signing, Nestle said.
The sale allows Nestle’s health-science operations to focus on its core strengths and key growth drivers, the unit’s Chief Executive Greg Behar said.
Nestle last year said that it would conduct a strategic review of Palforzia after a slower-than-expected adoption by patients and healthcare professionals.
Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@dowjones.com
Pernod Ricard plans to buy back up to EUR800 million ($874 million) in shares in fiscal 2024 after the company reported an increase in sales and profit for fiscal 2023.
The French drinks group said Thursday that organic sales for the year ended June 30 grew 13% on a reported basis to EUR12.14 billion, while net profit for the year rose to EUR2.28 billion from EUR2.03 billion in fiscal 2022.
Analysts had expected sales of EUR12.16 billion and net profit of EUR2.4 billion, according to a FactSet-compiled poll.
For the fourth quarter, sales rose to EUR2.63 billion from EUR2.30 billion a year earlier.
The company said sales in all regions increased thanks to pricing, with all spirits categories delivering strong growth.
Looking ahead, the company backed its fiscal 2023-25 medium-term financial target, including reaching the upper end of between 4% and 7% of net sales growth and a 50 to 60-basis-point increase in operating margin.
It proposed a dividend of EUR4.70, an increase of 14% compared with fiscal year 2022.
