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https://www.barrons.com/articles/ab-inbev-stock-bud-light-controversy-f42bc828
It’s another down day for
Anheuser-Busch InBev
putting the stock on pace for its worst month in nearly two years.
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CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Declaring a mission to liberate “Taco Tuesday” for all, Taco Bell is asking U.S. regulators to force Wyoming-based Taco John’s to abandon its longstanding claim to the trademark.
Too many businesses and others refer to “Taco Tuesday” for Taco John’s to be able to have exclusive rights to the phrase, Taco Bell asserts in a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office filing that is, of course, dated Tuesday.
It’s the latest development in a long-running beef over “Taco Tuesday” that even included NBA star LeBron James making an unsuccessful attempt to claim the trademark in 2019.
“Taco Bell believes ‘Taco Tuesday’ is critical to everyone’s Tuesday. To deprive anyone of saying ‘Taco Tuesday’ — be it Taco Bell or anyone who provides tacos to the world — is like depriving the world of sunshine itself,” the Taco Bell filing reads.
A key question is whether “Taco Tuesday” over the years has succumbed to “genericide,” New York trademark lawyer Emily Poler said. That’s the term for when a word or phrase become so widely used for similar products — or in this case, sales promotions — they’re no longer associated with the trademark holder.
Well-known examples of genericide victims include “cellophane,” “escalator” and “trampoline.”
“Basically what this is about is you cannot trademark something that is ‘generic,’ ” Poler said. “That means it doesn’t have any association with that particular source or product.”
Basketball legend James — a well-known taco lover — encountered this problem when he tried to trademark “Taco Tuesday” in 2019. The Patent and Trademark Office, in a ruling that didn’t refer to Taco John’s, deemed “Taco Tuesday” too much of a “commonplace term” to qualify as a trademark.
With more than 7,200 locations in the U.S. and internationally, Taco Bell — a Yum Brands
YUM,
chain along with Pizza Hut, KFC and the Habit Burger Grill — is vastly bigger than Cheyenne-based Taco John’s. Begun as a food truck more than 50 years ago, Taco John’s now has about 370 locations in 23 mainly in western and midwestern states.
The chain’s size hasn’t discouraged big-time enforcement of “Taco Tuesday” as trademark, which dates to the 1980s. In 2019, the company sent a letter to a brewery just five blocks from its corporate headquarters, warning it to stop using “Taco Tuesday” to promote a taco truck parked outside on Tuesdays.
Actively defending a trademark is required to maintain claim to it, and the letter was just one example of Taco John’s telling restaurants far and wide to stop having “Taco Tuesdays.”
Taco John’s responded to Taco Bell’s filing by announcing a new two-week Taco Tuesday promotion, with a large side of riposte.
Press release: Ring the Bell! Every Day is Taco Tuesday® at Taco John’s
“I’d like to thank our worthy competitors at Taco Bell for reminding everyone that Taco Tuesday is best celebrated at Taco John’s,” CEO Jim Creel said in an emailed statement. “We love celebrating Taco Tuesday with taco lovers everywhere, and we even want to offer a special invitation to fans of Taco Bell to liberate themselves by coming by to see how flavorful and bold tacos can be at Taco John’s all month long.”
The filing is one of two from Taco Bell involving “Taco Tuesday.” One contests Taco John’s claim to “Taco Tuesday” in 49 states, while a similar filing contests a New Jersey restaurant and bar’s claim to “Taco Tuesday” in that state. Both Taco John’s and Gregory’s Restaurant and Bar in Somers Point, N.J., have been using “Taco Tuesday” for over 40 years.
A Taco John’s franchisee in Minnesota first came up with “Taco Twosday” to promote two tacos for 99 cents on a slow day of the week, Creel told the Associated Press in a recent interview.
The Patent and Trademark Office approved the Taco John’s “Taco Tuesday” trademark in 1989. Even with its many letters, Creel said, the company — established in 1969 in Cheyenne, Wyo. — has never had to go to court over the phrase.
He’s not feeling too picked on, either, by the much bigger Taco Bell. “It’s OK. It’s kind of nice that they’ve noticed,” Creel said.
From the archives (January 2022): Taco Bell takes taco subscription program nationwide
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CNN
—
The roots of French cooking run deep.
The foundations of the country’s culinary empire were laid as early as the mid-1600s when chef François Pierre La Varenne penned his hugely influential “Le Cuisinier François” recipe book, which emphasized regional and seasonal ingredients and highlighted complementary flavors.
“French cooking is, at its core, about making beautiful, refined food out of simple ingredients,” said Maryann Tebben, author of “Savoir-Faire: A History of Food in France.”
“There is some mystery and magic to French cuisine that still draws people in. Even the basics – a perfect baguette, flaky pastry, potatoes simmered in cream – are astonishingly good even if we can’t quite figure out what makes them so delicious.”
The cuisine of France “keeps inspiring people. It is entertaining. It is delicious. It is accessible. It is possible,” said Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud.
Whether it’s country fare or haute cuisine that inspires, take a look at 20 classic French dishes:
Is there possibly a more French way to prepare beef than to marinate it in red wine? Named boeuf Bourguignon after the famed red wine from the Burgundy region of France, this dish combines a nice, fatty cut of beef with a dry pinot noir and plenty of fresh vegetables to create a hearty and indulgent stew.
It has been the focus of many discussions over which cuts of beef and types of wine create the best flavor profiles. But the most important ingredient for success is patience – like any good stew, boeuf Bourguignon is best when left overnight before serving.
Not a fan of beef? Another French favorite, coq au vin, takes the Burgundian preparation and gives chicken the leading role instead.
With a long name and an even longer list of ingredients, bouillabaisse is Marseille’s gift to France’s culinary canon. The soup, once a poor man’s dish and now a mainstay on many a Michelin-starred menu, elevates the catch of the day beyond your standard soupe de poisson.
According to the Mediterranean port’s bouillabaisse charter, in an attempt to standardize the ingredients and preparation of the classic dish, the soup must include at least four of six specific fish selections that are cut up in front of the diners.
Alongside optional crustaceans and a spicy broth, no self-respecting bouillabaisse is complete without a topper of croutons dipped in rouille, a peppery garlic sauce.
This list of classic French dishes would be incomplete without the inclusion of something from the country’s extensive repertoire of patisserie. Though not as refined or architectural as some treats seen in the windows of French sweet shops, the buttery, simmering tarte Tatin, essentially an upside-down caramelized apple tart, is famous around the world for its rich flavor and unique history.
Legend has it that sisters Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin were working in a restaurant in the Loire Valley of France in the late 19th century when Stéphanie was overwhelmed in the kitchen by the influx of customers during hunting season.
She accidentally left the apples in her apple pie cooking too long and tried to salvage it by covering the apples in pastry and baking. The resulting dish – steaming apples under caramelized sugar with a flaky crust – was so popular it was eventually named after the sisters: la tarte des demoiselles Tatin.
Though tarte Tatin is sure to be delicious anywhere you try it, it might be best sampled where it originated.
“Northern France is very known for its apples,” said David Lebovitz, author of “The Sweet Life in Paris.” “They have spectacularly good cooking apples.”
Onion soup is not a new invention or even a dish that can be directly tied to France. Some of the earliest iterations of it can be traced back to ancient Rome. But the most famous version? The version you think of when you think “onion soup”? The version you order to start off your meal made with beef stock, onions, toasted bread and ooey-gooey Gruyère cheese?
That’s all France.
The element that really sets this soup apart from other, less indulgent onion-based options is the layer of cheese that tops the steaming broth. That comes from baking the soup in a broiler to melt the cheese and produce what the French call au gratin.
The gratin “technique (is) about making something in a shallow dish that will bake and get croûte on top – which means creating a crust – and that crust can be cheese, can be bread, can be all kinds of things. But a nice crust,” explained Boulud, who opened Le Gratin, an entire restaurant dedicated to highlighting the technique, in New York.
The most popular dish at the restaurant is another cheesy French favorite, gratin Dauphinois, or gratin potatoes.
Escargot is perhaps one of the most famous – or infamous, depending on who you ask – French dishes around. The delicacy, which can be traced all the way back to the Roman Empire, might not be for everyone, but it’s definitely worth a try for the adventurous eater.
The classic recipe involves snails with parsley and garlic butter. The snails are served warm either inside their shells or in a specific dish fashioned with six to 12 small compartments. Often the dish comes with some bread to help soak up the rich, buttery flavor.
These aren’t your average backyard snails either. The most popular snail species for escargot are the particularly well-regarded Burgundy snail, which is highly protected in France.
Aptly named after the French term souffler, meaning “to puff up,” the experience of eating a chocolate soufflé or one of its savory counterparts is a bit like biting into a cloud. The rich yet lightweight dessert has been gracing French tables since the 18th century, but was really perfected by esteemed chef and arbiter of haute cuisine Marie-Antoine Carême in the mid-1800s.
Though notoriously difficult to prepare, the soufflé has a relatively simple ingredient list.
The distinctive airy texture comes from separating the egg whites from the yolk and whipping them into a stiff meringue before folding them back into the chocolate batter. The baking time and cooking temperature is specific, and easy to get wrong, but the payoff is immediate – soufflés are served hot and fresh from the oven.
Not every French dish can be served all day, but then again, the crepe isn’t just any French dish.
As France’s biggest-hitting entry to the global pancake catalog, crepes have a uniquely versatile quality. They can be served for breakfast, lunch or dinner. They can be made with buckwheat flour, the tradition of the Brittany region’s savory galettes, or with more widely used white flour. They can be folded into triangles or rolled into logs.
The paper-thin pancake is prepared rather theatrically on large griddles at crêperies. You can now find crepes made with any combination of sweet or savory ingredients, but crêpes suzette are still a popular iteration, consisting of caramelized sugar, orange juice and, for a flash of drama, flambeed liqueur.
Salade Niçoise is a celebration of the fresh, colorful produce available throughout the French Riviera, where the dish originated. Elegantly plated on a tray or large platter, the salad features a bed of lettuce and a simple olive oil dressing or vinaigrette that lets the real star of the dish truly shine – the crudités, or raw vegetables.
A purist’s salade Niçoise might feature a seasonal selection of fresh tomatoes, black olives, capers and green beans, all served cold, with the optional addition of anchovies or tuna. But as the salad’s popularity has grown outside of Nice, a number of ingredients have become common additions, such as hard-boiled eggs, potatoes, red bell peppers, fava beans and cucumbers.
The sandwich version of this salad, pan bagnat, is also worth a try. Picture all the delicious ingredients of a Niçoise salad tucked into pain de campagne, or French sourdough.
Every bite of a crème brûlée is an exercise in opposites. The sweet vanilla custard flavor contrasted with the almost bitter flavor of the bruléed topping; the crunch of the caramelized sugar against the smooth, creamy texture of the custard underneath; the gentle water bath used to bake the custard compared with the dramatic blowtorch flame used to melt the sugar – in this dish opposites definitely attract.
It’s hard to pinpoint when and even where the first crème brûlée might have been made. There were similar recipes floating around France, Spain and England dating back as early as the fifth century. But one thing for sure is that humans throughout history have always loved a good, creamy dessert. And who are we to disagree with 1,500 years of good reviews?
Perhaps the heartiest of hearty French dishes is the cassoulet.
A bean-centric ragout that originated in the southern town of Castelnaudary, the cassoulet can have different ingredients, depending on the region. In Castelnaudary, the white beans are prepared with duck confit, pork and sausage. Carcassonne features gamey meat such as mutton. Toulouse adds a bread crumb topping.
The general and historical premise is the same – take all the hearty and edible ingredients available and put them in a pot or, more specifically, an earthenware cassole.
This dish is so beloved by the French, Castelnaudary has its own brotherhood to defend it – the Grande Confrérie du Cassoulet.
“The purpose of the Grande Confrérie is to honor, disseminate and defend the reputation of Cassoulet de Castelnaudary, ensuring respect for traditions and quality,” a statement on the brotherhood’s website explains.
Creamy eggs, smoky bacon, flaky pastry crust – the quiche Lorraine is the quintessential French brunch item. But what has become a staple item at any decent French bistro or boulangerie had a rather tumultuous start.
The term quiche originates from the German word for cake – kuchen. This is because the first quiches were made in the Lotharingia kingdom of Germany which, during the Middle Ages, spanned several modern Western European countries.
The egg-and-cream custard pie was beloved in the Lothringen region, which was later annexed by France to become, you guessed it, Lorraine. The borders changed, but the dish stuck around. Now, quiches are served worldwide with any number of delicious and inventive flavor combinations.
What was once a method of preserving meat or vegetables before the existence of refrigerators has become one of the most famous French food preparation methods. The confit process produces juicy, tender meat with crispy skin that’s been enriched with the flavors of salt, herbs and its own fat. What’s not to love?
Confit certainly isn’t the easiest process, but it’s hard to conceive of a more delicious way to prepare duck. First, the raw meat is cured with salt and aromatics such as thyme or garlic, then it’s poached at a low temperature for several hours until the fat is fully rendered. The meat can then be stored with the fat in an airtight container for weeks or even months until you’re ready to fry it up and eat it.
This technique can easily go awry, but when done right, it produces a cut of duck that’s nutty in flavor and fall-off-the-bone tender.
Among so many heavy hitters featuring beef and poultry in the French culinary tradition, there is still one famous entrée suitable for vegetarians: ratatouille. From the French word touille, meaning “to toss,” ratatouille originated in the Provence region but quickly gained popularity throughout France for its use of fresh summer vegetables.
Featuring a colorful collection of eggplant, zucchini, peppers, onion and tomatoes, ratatouille can be prepared by either baking all the vegetables like a casserole or sautéing them with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. The resulting stew can be served hot or cold.
It pairs great with a crusty baguette topped with an egg, Parmesan, or both, according to the James Beard Foundation.
Beautiful, sweet and small enough to eat more than is probably advisable, profiteroles come in any assortment of flavors. Filled with vanilla custard, cream or even ice cream, these little cream puffs can be topped with chocolate sauce, fruit or just served plain.
The airy, delicate pastry is pâte à choux, or choux pastry. One of the backbones of French patisserie, choux is the dough used for éclairs, beignets, the Paris-Brest and more. It’s made by cooking flour with water, milk and butter before mixing in the eggs. The resulting dough is wet and pipable and puffs up when baked.
Because of their simplicity, profiteroles are a common dessert taught young in French homes, David Lebovitz explained. “French cooking is very technique oriented and pâte à choux is a very easy technique to master.”
This fish dish is fit for a king – literally. Sole meunière is said to have been a favorite of King Louis XIV during the late 1600s. The deceptively simple dish has few ingredients, but the flavor profiles are complex due to the specific techniques used to cook the fish.
For the most classic preparation, the Dover sole is the fish of choice because of its firm flesh and fresh flavor. The sole is breaded with flour and sautéed in butter until delicately crisp and golden, then topped with parsley and sizzling brown butter, or beurre noisette, which has a rich, nutty flavor.
“The flesh is transparent. It’s absolutely delicate. It’s one of the finest things in life,” said chef Danièle Mazet-Delpeuch, former personal chef to French President François Mitterrand, in “Julia,” the CNN Film documentary about Julia Child. “Perfect fish in butter. It’s perfect!”
A terrine is the great dish for the most creative of chefs. Named after the earthenware pot used to mold its distinctive, loaflike shape, this dish has a specific look, but the flavor combinations are almost limitless. Make a terrine rustic with ingredients such as pork and beans or go lavish with ingredients such as rare game and truffles. The dish can be made with poultry or fish, or even entirely of vegetables.
The most important feature for any ingredient? Big flavor.
Not to be confused with other popular charcuterie elements such as paté or rillettes, a terrine is made by layering forcemeat with any combination of additional ingredients in a terrine mold to cook slowly in a water bath. This dish can be dense enough to serve as an entrée or makes a great hors d’oeuvre with crusty bread and cornichons, which are tiny crisp pickles.
Try to name a more classic combination than steak and potatoes. Since its origins in France and Belgium, steak frites has been a centerpiece of brasserie and bistro menus throughout Europe – and for good reason. The elements are simple and universally loved: a sizzling cut of beefsteak with a side of piping-hot, crispy fries.
The steak is often served with a side of creamy béarnaise. Made from clarified butter, herbs and egg yolks, the sauce creates a rich accompaniment to the juicy cut of rib eye or porterhouse.
Paired with a nice red wine to cut through the heavy flavors, this dish becomes the ultimate casual dinner entrée.
The jambon-beurre is exactly what it claims to be: jambon, or ham, layered on a coating of beurre – butter – between two slices of bread, nothing more and nothing less. The simplicity of this sandwich forces its maker to use only the best ingredients because every element is as important as the last.
The bread, always a baguette sliced neatly down the center, must be freshly baked to perfection with a crunchy crust and a chewy interior. The ham is best if it’s jambon de Paris, sourced directly from the French capital, sliced thin and free from additives and preservatives. The butter, ideally directly from the northwestern Normandy region, should be lightly salted and spread generously.
Also known as the Parisien, the jambon-beurre is used as a marker of sorts for the popularity of classic French cuisine among the country’s residents. According to Maryann Tebben, an annual index measures the number of jambon-beurres purchased compared with the annual number of hamburgers, lest the country stray too far from its roots.
A favorite of home cooks across France, blanquette de veau is a veal stew prepared en blanquette, meaning neither the meat or the butter is browned during cooking. This process produces a dish of tender meat and mellow flavors with a creamy, comforting sauce coating it all.
The white sauce is made using one of France’s biggest contributions to cooking techniques worldwide – combining melted butter with flour to create a roux. The flour acts as a thickening agent, creating a denser base, and also acts as a bonding agent between the roux and other ingredients such as cheese or cream.
You can thank this technique for creating the base of dishes such as gumbo, some curries and creamy mac and cheese.
Move over chicken noodle soup. There’s another dish that makes a strong claim for the perfect cold-weather dish. Pot-au-feu (meaning “pot on fire”) is a warm, simple and flavorful slow-cooked meal.
Considered a national dish of France, pot-au-feu has no definitive recipe, and many regions of France have their own versions.
It’s generally made with meat, root vegetables, herbs, spices and bone marrow, which are prepared together but served in separate courses: the marrow starter, followed by the broth and then finally the meat and vegetables.
A large helping of pot-au-feu is thought to epitomize the spirit of French cooking – that sharing food, wine and conversation with a table full of loved ones is what makes life worth living.
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CNN
—
One golf fan has found an unusual way to bypass having to pay for beers at the PGA Championship this week – take a Joel Dahmen tee shot to the leg.
Dahmen was at the first tee of his final practice round Wednesday when his wayward drive struck spectator Caleb McGuire, the spectator said in a tweet.
Pictures showed a sizeable bruise on the fan’s calf, but his pain was eased when the American golfer subsequently asked about the cost of a beer at the major, hosted at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York.
When told each beer cost $17, Dahmen handed over $100 for some refreshments, McGuire said, with the tweet showing the duo posing for pictures with the bill.
Dahmen’s act of generosity comes a year after two-time PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas expressed his disbelief at the reported $18 cost of beer at the 2022 edition of the major in Tulsa.
“Sorry about that! Hope you enjoyed the beers,” Dahmen tweeted in response.
“It was a pleasure just to meet you!” McGuire replied. “We couldn’t stop talking about it for the rest of the day. Go ahead and win this week!”
Reporter asks Justin Thomas about high concession stand prices
Dahmen shot to fame following his starring role as the self-proclaimed, self-depreciating, “goofball” of the PGA Tour in “Full Swing”, Netflix’s fly-on-the-wall docuseries released earlier this year.
In an episode titled “Imposter Syndrome,” the show offered a candid insight into the 35-year-old’s wrestles with self-belief.
“I’m a middle of the road PGA Tour player,” Dahmen explained.
“The top players … they’re just built differently. They’re mentally just different. They hit it further and they chip and putt better. I’m not a threat when I walk into these things, really.
“I am not going to be a hall of famer. When I retire from golf, no one’s going to remember who I am. I understand that, I’m fine with it. I’m not playing for legacy. Some people are like, ‘That’s why you’ll never be great Joel, coz you don’t believe it.’”
However, the episode ended on a high note with Dahmen finishing inside the top 10 at the US Open in June last year, a career-best major performance.
The world No. 108 enjoyed a strong end to 2022 but has endured a tough start to the current season, missing the cut in four of his last seven PGA Tour appearances.
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An experimental skin patch may soon allow increased protection for toddlers who are allergic to peanuts, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The patch, named Viaskin, is coated with a small amount of peanut protein that is absorbed into the skin and would offer some protection against an accidental peanut ingestion that so many parents fear at birthday parties, in school cafeterias or on play dates.
If additional testing pans out, “this would fill a huge unmet need,” Dr. Matthew Greenhawt, an allergist at Children’s Hospital Colorado who contributed to the study, told the Associated Press.
There is no cure for food allergies. The number of Americans who are allergic to peanuts is estimated at 6.1 million, according to FARE, one of the largest private funding sources for food-allergy research.
About 2% of U.S. children are allergic to peanuts, some so severely than even a tiny exposure can cause a life-threatening reaction. Their immune systems overreact to peanut-containing foods, triggering an inflammatory cascade that causes hives, wheezing or worse. Some youngsters outgrow the allergy, but most must avoid peanuts for life and carry rescue medicine to stave off a severe reaction if they accidentally ingest an allergen.
In 2020, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first treatment to induce tolerance to peanuts — an “oral immunotherapy” named Palforzia that children ages 4 to 17 consume daily to keep up the protection.
The new study, which featured work from dozens of medical professionals in the U.S. and abroad, took samples from 362 toddlers with a peanut allergy. The toddlers were initially tested to see how high a dose of peanut protein they could tolerate. Then they were randomly assigned to use the Viaskin patch or a lookalike placebo patch every day.
After a year of treatment, they were tested again, and about two-thirds of the toddlers who used the Viaskin patch could safely ingest more peanut protein safely. One in three of the toddlers who were given the dummy patch also could safely ingest more peanuts, but Greenhawt said it’s likely those children had outgrown the allergy.
Deaths from allergic reactions to any food numbed a few hundred per year, according to the CDC. But each year there are about 200,000 emergency-room visits caused by allergic reactions to food.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Oil demand is likely to hold up longer than many people expect during the anticipated transition to electric vehicles. And changes in the industry point to oilfield services companies as good long-term growth investments as offshore production ramps up.
Below is a list of oil producers and related companies favored by two analysts who have followed the industry for decades.
U.S….
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https://www.barrons.com/articles/apple-pepsi-dividend-stock-investing-3516ced1
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A lawsuit filed in Delaware in April against the travel site Tripadvisor and its majority shareholder is highlighting what may be a growing trend: companies seeking to shift their incorporations to Nevada to avoid Delaware’s more stringent and entrenched legal standards.
The suit was filed on behalf of a group of Tripadvisor Inc. TRIP shareholders, who are hoping to persuade the Delaware Chancery Court to stop the company from pushing ahead with board-approved plans to reincorporate in Nevada, arguing their motive is to take…
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Put aside for a moment all that nutritional advice about eating fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins. Could one key to good health actually be a diet rich in … ice cream?
That’s the tantalizing question raised by a new story in the Atlantic, which states, “Studies show a mysterious health benefit to ice cream. Scientists don’t want to talk about it.”
The…
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Democrats largely have closed ranks behind President Joe Biden ahead of next year’s election, but he isn’t completely without challengers for the party’s nomination.
Author and activist Marianne Williamson has thrown her hat in the ring, pursuing a longshot bid that comes after her 2020 presidential campaign fizzled out before the Iowa caucuses.
Why isn’t she falling in line and supporting her party’s incumbent president? What’s her pitch to people who think she’s not a serious candidate? What are her top economic proposals?
Williamson, 70, tackled those questions and more in a phone interview earlier this week.
Our Q&A with the Democratic presidential hopeful has been edited for clarity and length.
MarketWatch: In a nutshell, could you explain why you’re running for president?
Williamson: I’m running for president because I believe that some things need to be said and some changes need to be made, in order to repair some serious damage that’s been done to our democracy, to our country, to our people and to our environment over the last 50 years.
MarketWatch: You’ve talked about running to address “systemic economic injustices endured by millions of Americans” because of the “undue influence of corporate money on our political system.” What do you see as the top examples of that?
Williamson: During the 1970s, the average American worker had decent benefits, could afford a home, could afford a yearly vacation, could afford a car and could afford to send their child to college. In the last 48 years, there has been a $50 trillion transfer of wealth from the bottom 90% to the top 1% of Americans. That transfer has decimated our middle class. We are now at a point where if you are among 20% of Americans, then the economy’s doing pretty well for you. But, unfortunately, that 20% is surrounded by a vast sea of economic despair. We have 60,000 people in the United States who die every year because they can’t afford healthcare
XLV,
one in four Americans living with a medical debt, and 18 million Americans unable to fill the prescriptions that their doctors give to them.
If you are in the club in America, if you are making it in America — and I have sold some books, so I understand the high side of the free market and have benefited, and I’m grateful for that — but no conscious persons wants to feel that they create wealth at the expense of other people having a chance. That is not American. It’s not what the American Dream is supposed to be.
I’m not trying to whitewash and romanticize American capitalism before this era. I’m not saying we were ever perfect, but it does seem to me that when I was growing up, the social consensus is that we were supposed to try. We knew that the higher good was that there would be this balance between individual liberty, including economic liberty, and a concern for the common good. But today concern for the common good has become almost derided as some quaint notion, and that we shouldn’t really give much more than lip service to it. And that’s a lot of human suffering that occurs because of that change in the social contract.
MarketWatch: Here’s kind of a two-part question. What would be your top economic priorities, and how in particular would you address high inflation and the recent banking
KBE,
crisis?
Williamson: I’d like to see universal healthcare. I want to see tuition-free college at state colleges and universities, which is what we had in this country until the 1960s. There should be free childcare. There should be paid family leave. There should be guaranteed sick pay and a livable wage. And I think Americans are waking up to the fact that those things that I just mentioned are considered moderate issues in every other advanced democracy. They should not be considered left-wing fringe issues. They are granted to the citizens of every other advanced democracy.
That was your first question. The second has to do with high inflation. A lot of that high inflation has to do with price gouging by huge corporations, whether it has to do with food companies, transportation companies and so forth. All of those CEOs should testify before Congress and talk about the ways that they have — for the sake of their own profits — gouged the American people, particularly at such a time as this. And this is what happens when we normalize such a lack of conscience and such a lack of ethics within our system.
In terms of what happened with the bank in Silicon Valley
SIVBQ,
which is what your third question was, right? I think the depositors should be made whole, but the bank executives who were taking multimillion-dollar bonuses for themselves, both before and right after the crash, they certainly should not get those bonuses. And also it’s concerning that some of the tech investors that would benefit the most from those deposits were the ones who caused the run on the bank. I don’t think that they should receive the benefit of what happens when those deposits are made whole. But the average depositor absolutely should be made whole in such cases.
MarketWatch: You mentioned free tuition and child care. Where would the funding for that come from?
Williamson: The funding should come, first of all, from taxation. The 2017 tax cut in this country was a $2 trillion tax cut, and 83 cents of every dollar went to the highest-earning corporations and individuals. Now that tax cut also included the middle-class tax cut, and the middle-class tax cut was good.
That tax cut for the highest earners should be repealed, but the middle-class tax cut should be put back in immediately.
Secondly, we should stop all the corporate subsidies. Why are we giving subsidies to these companies that are already making multibillions of dollars in profit and often then price gouging the American people?
Third, I believe there should be a wealth tax. If somebody has $50 million, I don’t have any problem with their paying an extra 2% tax. And if they have $1 billion, let them pay another 1%. Somebody with a $50 million portfolio, much less $1 billion in assets, would not even feel that change, but the changes in people’s lives that would be created by those shifts would be huge.
MarketWatch: Your campaign often gets described as a real longshot bid. Why are you running when so many people say you have a low chance for success?
Williamson: Well, certainly Donald Trump was considered a longshot. For that matter, when he began Barack Obama was considered a longshot. Surely we remember when Hillary Clinton was considered a shoo-in.
MarketWatch: A recent Monmouth University poll of Democratic voters found 11% had a favorable view of you, 16% had an unfavorable view, 21% had no opinion, and 52% had not heard of you. How do you win over those voters who have an unfavorable view, and how do you reach the folks who haven’t heard of you?
Williamson: Well, there was a poll that came out last week that put me at 10%, including 18% with independents and 21% with people under 30.
It’s very difficult for someone like myself to get the message out when you have such institutional resistance to my even being in the conversation, and that is displayed in various ways. But there is independent media today. God knows there’s TikTok, where my information seems to be doing quite well.
This early, no candidate should be allowing the polls to determine their path forward. I didn’t go into this expecting the approval of institutional forces. And I, as a matter of fact, expected the kind of resistance that I’ve received, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that a certain agenda be placed before the American people, and I am providing that option — the option of that alternative agenda.
I believe that agenda is the way for the Democrats to win in 2024. But even more importantly, I think it’s the agenda that will lead to the repair of this country.
MarketWatch: You mentioned TikTok, and that has been a hot topic in Washington, D.C., in recent weeks. Do you have a view on the Democratic and Republican proposals to ban TikTok in the U.S.?
Williamson: I think the United States government does need to be concerned with tech
XLK,
surveillance, but I wish they were as concerned when it comes to American-run companies as when it comes to Chinese. It’s a serious issue, it’s a valid issue — the whole issue of surveillance. But it’s a gnarly issue as well, and rushing to shut something down, which is so obviously a platform depended on by millions and millions of Americans for information sharing, is never something that should be done lightly.
MarketWatch: Some Americans may know you only for your spiritual work, and these folks may not think you’re a serious presidential candidate. The White House press secretary indicated she’s in that camp. What’s your message to win those folks over?
Williamson: First of all, I don’t think of my campaign as quote-unquote trying to win anyone over. There’s something that I read years ago that has always guided my work: “If there’s something you genuinely need to say, there’s someone out there who genuinely needs to hear it.” I am speaking to people who I know agree with me. I wouldn’t be doing this if I weren’t aware that millions of people agree with me.
I think it’s very sad that the president would allow a presidential press podium to be used to mock a political opponent, and I think that many people were and are offended by that. This is a democracy. We should have as many voices out there as possible. We should have as many people running in an election as feel moved. Nobody has a monopoly on good ideas. There are ideas on the left and ideas on the right. There are ideas all across the spectrum, and this is a point in American history where we as Americans should hear them all.
MarketWatch: What do you think are some of the main things that President Biden has gotten right, and in what areas has he gone wrong?
Williamson: Well, the first thing he did right was he defeated Donald Trump. The president has taken an incremental approach to America’s problems, and I believe that he does wish to alleviate the suffering of many people whose lives are affected by some deeply unjust systems. But I don’t think that the alleviation of stress is enough right now. We need fundamental economic reform.
We also need a serious answer to climate change, and the president’s approval of the Willow project is not that. The president has said that he recognizes that climate change is an existential crisis, and yet he has given more oil
CL00,
permits than even Donald Trump did, and he has approved the Willow project.
He also said that there will be a raise in the minimum wage. He did that for federal workers, but when it came to the Senate parliamentarian saying that he couldn’t put that raise in a bill, then he conveniently stopped right there and simply acquiesced to what the parliamentarian had said.
The Democratic House and Senate — they did cut child poverty in half with the child tax credit, but then, when that expired six months later, they didn’t bother to permanentize it.
These are the kinds of half-measures and incremental measures which are not enough to change the fundamental economic patterns in this country that lead to so much chronic economic anxiety and despair.
AFP via Getty Images
MarketWatch: One thing that comes up often with President Biden is his age, which is 80, while you’re 70. Do you think his age should be a concern, or is it ageism to bring it up?
Williamson: I think the individual has to consider this themselves. I have a problem, of course, contributing to the conversation because of the issue of ageism. But on the other hand, everybody can see for themselves what they can see for themselves.
I can only say if I were 80, I wouldn’t be running. But you know, I will not take potshots at the president, and I think that veers into potshots.
MarketWatch: Let’s talk about taking on Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis or whomever the Republican nominee ends up being. Why do you think you’re the Democrat who could end up beating one of them?
Williamson: Republicans are going to throw some big lies at the Democrats in 2024, and the only way that we’re going to defeat them, in my opinion, is to tell some big truths. Franklin Roosevelt said we would not have to worry about a fascist takeover in this country as long as democracy delivered on its promises. Democracy has not delivered on its promises. The only way to beat Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis in 2024 is to propose an agenda in which democracy once again delivers on its promises to the majority of the American people. And that would mean the issues I mentioned before: universal healthcare, tuition-free college, free child care, a guaranteed livable wage and paid family leave. Those are given to the citizens in every other advanced democracy, and there is no good reason whatsoever why they are not delivered to the average citizen in the United States.
MarketWatch: There are Democrats who could be challenging President Biden for the party’s 2024 nomination, but they aren’t and instead they’re supporting him. Why aren’t there more efforts in the party to get people to run for president?
Williamson: Well, you’d have to ask them why they’re not running. But there’s clearly a trope that the field should clear, and everybody should simply get in line with the opinion of the Democratic establishment that Biden is the man because they have decided so. I don’t see it that way. I believe the Democratic primary voters — and independent voters and anyone else, if it’s an open primary — they should decide who the Democratic candidate is. To me, that’s what democracy is. That’s what elections are about.
MarketWatch: The Democratic Party is not expected to hold presidential primary debates for 2024. What can you do to change that and get some time on a debate stage?
Williamson: Well, I hope to have a successful campaign. I hope to have high poll numbers. I hope to have a lot of people in those primary states yelling foul. It’s a government of the people, by the people, for the people. The American people should hear what their options are, and that’s what a debate would be. If enough people realize that and believe it and make laws about it, then that is what will happen.
I think sometimes there’s a kind of learned powerlessness on the part of the American people today. We forget the radicalism of the American experiment, which is that the governance of this country is supposed to be in our hands. But the American people have been trained to expect too little and almost trained to give up the power of independent thought. I hope that my campaign and other things that occur in this campaign season will awaken people, and I think a certain kind of awakening is happening already.
MarketWatch: We’re a financially focused publication, so here’s a question along those lines. I looked at your financial disclosure from your 2020 presidential run. It showed some investments in big public companies like Apple
AAPL,
and Mastercard
MA,
…
Williamson: Wait, what are you talking about?
MarketWatch: That’s from your 2019 executive-branch personnel public financial disclosure report. It shows investments in various stocks and funds. The question — for our readers who are investors or people saving for retirement — is could you describe your own approach to investing and preparing for retirement?
Williamson: Socially responsible investing, and that’s why I said, “Whoa, what?” Because I believe in investing in socially responsible companies.
MarketWatch: One last question: What else would you like people to know?
Williamson: America has some serious problems, but we have infinite potential to solve those problems. We need to revisit our first principles, as John Adams said, and find that place in our hearts where, as Americans, as adults in this generation, we recognize that this profound idea of American democracy is put in our hands for safekeeping. And that doesn’t just give us rights; it gives us responsibilities. The political system in the United States speaks to us too often like we’re children, like we’re seventh-graders. Our public dialogue is too often on this kind of seventh-grade level. This is not a time to be an immature thinker, and it’s not a time to get into mean-spiritedness or cynicism either. If we allow ourselves to rise to the occasion, no matter what our politics are, we’re going to repair what has been broken, and we are going to initiate a new beginning. I think that’s possible. Other generations have done it, and we can do it, too.
MarketWatch: Thank you for being available to chat.
Williamson: Thank you very, very much.
Now read: Here are the Republicans running for president — or seen as potential 2024 candidates
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CNN
—
Starbucks is betting big on olive oil infused coffee, hoping customers will be enticed by the anomaly and the health benefits of extra virgin olive oil.
“It is one of the biggest launches we’ve had in decades,” Brady Brewer, Starbucks’ chief marketing officer, told CNN. Former CEO Howard Schultz added in an interview with Poppy Harlow that it will “transform the coffee industry,” and be “a very profitable new addition to the company.”
But what the company may not have taken into account: Some customers say it’s making them have to run to the bathroom.
“Half the team tried it yesterday and a few ended up… needing to use the restroom, if ya know what I mean,” a barista on the Starbucks Reddit page posted. CNN has reached out to the Redditor for comment.
It might be the sheen from the oil. Or it could be the aftertaste. Social media was swift with condemning the drink – and the after effects.
“That oleato drink from starbs makin my stomach speak,” one user tweeted.
Those with sensitive stomachs are already weary.
“IBD patient here. I wouldn’t touch these drinks with a ten-foot pole,” one Redditor said.
The new platform, Oleato, rolled out in Italy in February. Each beverage – an oat milk latte, ice shaken espresso with oat milk and a golden foam cold brew – are made with a spoonful of oil, adding 120 calories to a drink. Select Starbucks stores in Seattle and Los Angeles and Reserves in Chicago, Seattle and New York are now serving the platform of beverages.
CNN has reached out to Starbucks for comment.
Olive oil is a staple in Mediterranean culture and some drink bits of olive oil in the region daily.
But the Starbucks drink has a potentially fragile combination: caffeine, which is a stimulant, and olive oil, which is a relaxant.
A 16-ounce drink has as much as 34 grams of fat, which is more than what many find in a meal, registered dietitian nutritionist Erin Palinski-Wade said. And mineral oils like olive oils tend to be used to treat constipation because it helps soften the stool, making it easier to go the bathroom.
“If you combined high fat in a meal or in a beverage along with coffee, which already stimulates the bowels,” Palinski-Wade said, “that combination can cause cramping. It can cause increased mobility in the colon and therefore have that laxative effect.”
Some customers said the speed at which they had to use the restroom after having the drink caught them off guard. But high fat meals take longer to digest than liquid olive oil, which will hit the digestive track faster, Palinski-Wade said. And most people in the US are drinking coffee on the go and aren’t pairing the drink with any carbohydrates and fibers to negate the impact.
The benefits of olive oil are widely circulated, linked to lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease to lowering blood pressure (though the positive health outcomes could be because the Mediterranean diet replaces unhealthy fats like butter with olive oil, The New York Times reported.)
“(The drink) is not going to make somebody physically ill from the standpoint of having a negative impact on health,” Palinski-Wade said. “But more of that uncomfortable feeling of having to go in the bathroom or potentially cramping.”
In the Mediterranean, taking a spoonful of olive oil a day is part of a daily routine. Former CEO Howard Schultz picked up this habit himself from olive oil producer Tommaso Asaro while in Sicily, Italy.
“When we got together and started doing this ritual I said to [Asaro], I know you think I’m going to be crazy, but have you ever thought of infusing a tablespoon of olive oil with Starbucks coffee?” Schultz told CNN’s Poppy Harlow. “He thought it was a little strange.” Asaro is the chairman of United Olive Oil, through which Starbucks is sourcing its olive oil.
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Have you got itchy feet?
The U.S. economy added 236,000 jobs in March, just shy of the 238,000 forecast by economists polled by the Wall Street Journal. The unemployment rate declined to 3.5% in March from 3.6% in February.
The latest data was calculated before the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank last month, an event that…
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London
CNN
—
One of the world’s largest alcoholic drinks companies has appointed its first female CEO.
Diageo, which makes Guinness beer and Johnnie Walker whisky, said Tuesday that chief operating officer Debra Crew would succeed Ivan Menezes, who will retire from the company after 10 years at the helm.
Crew is to take over on July 1, the company said in a statement. Her appointment means women will make up more than 50% of Diageo’s executive committee, it added.
Diageo is the seventh-largest member of the FTSE 100
(UKX) index and will now become the largest UK-listed company led by a woman. There are just nine other FTSE 100
(UKX) companies led by women, including pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline
(GLAXF) and bank NatWest.
Diageo is the world’s fourth biggest alcoholic drinks company by market value, after AB InBev
(BUD) and China’s Wuliangye Yibin and Kweichow Moutai. It is fifth biggest if French luxury goods group LVMH
(LVMHF), which sells Moët champagne and Hennessy cognac, is included.
Menezes is stepping down following a very successful tenure at Diageo, during which the company’s share price has almost doubled. It sells more Scotch whisky, tequila, vodka and gin by net sales value than any other business in the world.
“Ivan has transformed Diageo’s global footprint, brand portfolio and strategic focus, positioning our business as a clear leader in premium drinks,” chairman Javier Ferrán said in the statement.
“The Board has diligently planned for Ivan’s successor, and we are delighted to have appointed a leader of Debra’s calibre to the role,” he added. “I have no doubt that Diageo is in the right hands for the next phase of its growth.”
Crew joined Diageo in 2020 from Pepsi
(PEP)Co. She is the former CEO of tobacco company Reynolds American and has worked at Kraft Foods, Nestle
(NSRGF) and Mars.
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Washington
CNN
—
The Supreme Court on Wednesday delved into the complexities of federal trademark law in a case concerning a poop-themed dog toy that resembles a Jack Daniel’s bottle, at times erupting into laughter as the justices explored how much protection should be given to parodists that rip off trademarks they don’t own.
At the center of the case is a “Bad Spaniels Silly Squeaker” toy created by VIP Products that is strikingly similar to Jack Daniel’s bottles. The distiller sued the company over the toy – which is replete with scatological humor – claiming it violated federal trademark law, which usually centers around how likely a consumer is to confuse an alleged infringement with something produced by the true owner of the mark.
But at oral arguments, at least one justice admitted she didn’t understand the joke being sold by VIP Products.
“What is there to it? What is the parody here?” Justice Elena Kagan asked an attorney for the toy company, leading the courtroom to burst into laughter. “Because maybe I just have no sense of humor. But what’s the parody?”
Kagan went on to list a number of different marks the company pokes fun at, drawing laughter from Justice Clarence Thomas: “Doggie Walker, Dos Perros, Smella Arpaw, Canine Cola, Mountain Drool. Are all of these companies taking themselves too seriously?”
And a misunderstanding by Lisa Blatt, an attorney representing Jack Daniel’s, over a hypothetical posed by Justice Samuel Alito led to another round of giggles.
Alito was trying to ask how likely it was that a reasonable person would believe Jack Daniel’s approved the toy at hand or a similar theoretical toy that joked it contained “dog urine.”
“So a reasonable person would not believe Jack Daniel’s had approved this?” he asked Blatt.
“I think if you’re selling urine you’re probably going to win on a motion to (dismiss), but you’re probably also violating some state law,” she replied.
“Oh no, you’re not selling urine. It’s exactly this toy, which purportedly contains some sort of dog excrement or urine,” Alito said, humoring the courtroom as he attempted to clarify his hypothetical.
“Well, just showing how confused I was suggests that I would be your perfect consumer,” Blatt said.
Jokes – intentional or not – aside, some of the justices were skeptical of the distillery, whose attorneys want the court to toss out a heightened standard of review an appeals court used when it ruled in favor of the toy maker.
“I have some hesitation doing away with the Rogers Test,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in part, referring to a court-created test used to determine whether a potential trademark infringement in non-commercial instances enjoys constitutional protection.
Alito seemed to agree.
“Well, I’m concerned about the First Amendment implications of your position and you began by saying, by stressing that Rogers is atextual, it was made up.”
“You know, there is a text that says that Congress shall make no law infringing the freedom of speech. That’s a text that takes precedence over the Lanham Act and you said there are no constitutional issues,” he added, referring to the trademark law at the center of the dispute.
Joining the dog pile, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said she was “concerned about impairing artists” if the court sided with Jack Daniel’s and issued a decision that effectively prevents the unauthorized use of marks in artistic works.
The case pits the rights of a famous trademark holder against the First Amendment rights of a company that wants to use those marks to sell a humorous product.
VIP’s “Bad Spaniels Silly Squeaker” toy has the same general shape of a Jack Daniel’s bottle. The plastic bottle, like its glass counterpart, has a similar font style and uses a black label.
VIP borrows Jack Daniel’s “Old No. 7 Brand Tennessee Sour Mash Whiskey” to sell “The Old No. 2 On Your Tennessee Carpet,” a reference to dog excrement. And it changes the liquor bottle’s “40% ALC. BY VOL. (80 PROOF)” with “43% POO BY VOL.” and “100% SMELLY.”
A tag affixed to the toy notes that it’s “not affiliated with Jack Daniel Distillery.”
That, however, was not enough to keep Jack Daniel’s from suing the company to take the toy off the market. The distiller argues VIP violates federal trademark law and that the toy, especially the references to dog excrement, damage its reputation because it could confuse consumers into thinking the product belongs to the “oldest registered distillery in the United States.”
“To be sure, everyone likes a good joke,” lawyers for Jack Daniel’s wrote in court papers. “But VIP’s profit-motivated ‘joke’ confuses consumers by taking advantage of Jack Daniel’s hard-earned goodwill.”
Depending on how they rule, the justices could strip away some trademark protections by giving entities cover to legally use registered marks not belonging to them so long as they do so in a way that expresses humor.
A district court ruled in favor of Jack Daniel’s, finding that the toy infringed on the distiller’s trademark. But an appeals court later sided with VIP Products, invoking the so-called Rogers Test.
The court said VIP’s use of Jack Daniel’s trademark was non-commercial and that because it was done humorously for an “expressive work,” it’s protected by the First Amendment.
The case “deals with a very common thing of pitting somebody who has trademark rights … against another who is saying, ‘I’m entitled to (use those marks) under the First Amendment because it is parody. And I need to take enough of the mark in order to make it funny. People have to get the joke,’” said Mark Sommers, a trademark attorney based in Washington, DC.
Sommers added that the justices’ decision in the matter has the potential to be a landmark ruling if they “help define that line that exists between the First Amendment right of expression – be that parody, be that art, whatever you want to express – versus the important trademark issues that are here where brand owners who have invested a tremendous amount of goodwill don’t want their trademarks used in a manner which could result in potential confusion among the consuming public.”
Attorneys for Jack Daniel’s told the justices in court papers that the appeals court ruling “gives copycats free license to prey on unsuspecting consumers and mark holders,” and warned that if it wasn’t reversed, companies could use trademarks they don’t own to flood the markets with allegedly unserious products.
Santa Claus, the KKK, and other bizarre hypotheticals raised by Supreme Court in LGBTQ rights case
“No one disputes that VIP is trying to be funny. But alcohol and toys don’t mix well, and the same is true for beverages and excrement,” they wrote. “The next case could involve more troubling combinations – food and poison, cartoon characters and pornography, children’s toys and illegal drugs, and so on.”
VIP argues consumers can easily distinguish between the two products, with lawyers for the Arizona-based company writing in court papers that it “has never sold whiskey or other comestibles, nor has it used ‘Jack Daniel’s’ in any way (humorously or not). It merely mimicked enough of the iconic bottle that people would get the joke.”
“This is a case about speech, and a popular brand’s attempts to control that speech by weaponizing the Lanham Act,” they wrote, referring to the federal trademark law at the center of the dispute.
“It is ironic that America’s leading distiller of whiskey both lacks a sense of humor and does not recognize when it – and everyone else – has had enough,” the toy company told the court.
The Biden administration had urged the justices to take the case, with the Justice Department siding with Jack Daniel’s in the dispute.
“The First Amendment does not confer any right to use another person’s trademark, or a confusingly similar mark, as a source identifier for goods sold in commerce,” the department wrote in court papers. “Indeed, the absence of any such right is a basic animating premise of trademark-infringement law. If such a right existed, states and the federal government might lack authority to prohibit trademark infringement.”
Several major companies also filed briefs to the court in support of Jack Daniel’s, including Nike and Levi Strauss & Co.
“Though defendants will often have an incentive to label it as such, not every humorous use of another’s trademark is a parody,” Nike wrote in its brief. “Courts therefore should take a disciplined approach to this important classification in cases where ‘parody’ is claimed.”
The Supreme Court is expected to rule later this term in another high-profile intellectual property law case, with the justices having heard arguments last year in a copyright infringement case concerning the late Andy Warhol and the late musician Prince. During those arguments, the justices attempted to determine when a new work based on a prior piece is substantially transformative, and when it simply amounts to a copycat version of an existing work subject to copyright rules.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
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Shares of Nike Inc. rallied after hours on Tuesday after the athletic-gear giant reported third-quarter results that topped expectations.
The maker of sneakers and sports apparel reported third-quarter net income of $1.24 billion, or 79 cents a share, compared with $1.4 billion, or 87 cents a share, in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue increased 14% to $12.39 billion, compared with $10.87 billion in the prior-year quarter.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings per share of 56 cents, on sales of $11.48 billion.
Nike’s
NKE,
gross margin fell 330 basis points to 43.4%. Inventories stood at $8.9 billion, up 16%, amid “higher product input costs and elevated freight costs.”
For Nike’s fourth quarter, FactSet estimates called for earnings per share of 81 cents, on revenue of $12.55 billion. For the full year, those analysts expected earnings of $3.15 a share, on sales of $50.11 billion.
Shares rose 3.5% after hours. The stock also jumped after Nike’s last earnings report, in December, which also topped estimates.
Nike reported earnings after it cut prices in an effort to clear clothing and other items from its warehouses, following supply-chain hiccups that led to an excess of off-season goods and rising prices for basics. Those higher prices made customers less interested in dropping money on a new pair of sneakers.
However, Jefferies analyst Randal Konik, in a research note last week, suggested that rival Adidas AG’s struggles could become Nike’s gains, as Adidas
ADDYY,
finds itself stuck with a bunch of Kanye West-branded shoes. West’s antisemitic remarks last year led to the termination of a collaboration between the two.
“The athletic footwear space is highly fragmented, and we believe that NKE will likely continue to benefit as Adidas regroups,” he said in a note.
Konik said that Jefferies’ own data suggested that holiday-season interest in sneakers was still strong, despite inflation. And he said trends in China were getting better, as that nation’s economy reopens.
Foot Locker Inc.
FL,
on Monday said that it had “revitalized” its relationship with Nike — to focus on data-sharing and sneaker culture — after Nike began focusing on selling products online and through its own retail stores. And after weaker sales of Nike products in the past, Foot Locker Chief Executive Mary Dillon said the new arrangement with Nike would return both to growth in 2024.
Shares of Nike are down 4.4% over the past 12 months. By comparison, the S&P 500 Index
SPX,
is down 10.4% over that period.
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Hong Kong
CNN
—
Rapper and entrepreneur Snoop Dogg is expanding his business empire yet again, this time branching out into a line of premium coffee products with beans sourced locally from Indonesia.
He has partnered with Indonesian coffee entrepreneur Michael Riady to launch INDOxyz: “a premium lifestyle coffee brand created for and inspired by the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators,” according to a press release sent to CNN.
“My relationship with coffee goes way back,” Snoop Dogg, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, said in the statement. “The many long nights in the studio making hit after hit, coffee provided the fuel which kept us going. Today marks the launch of a new company I created along with my partner Michael, who introduced me to the best tasting Indonesian coffee,” he said. “All it took was one sip and Snoop was hooked.”
Snoop added: “Indo is going to change the industry, I can promise you that,” referring to his coffee brand, which is also a common abbreviation for Indonesia. The country is a top global producer of coffee.
Coffee cultivation began in the late 1600s during the Dutch colonial period. Indonesia produces both Arabica and Robusta beans as well as Kopi Luwak, or civet coffee, a historic yet controversial brew which consists of partially digested coffee berries from civet cats.
Snoop’s coffee beans will be sourced from Gayo, a region in Aceh on the island of Sumatra.
“The Gayo region is renown for producing a high quality Arabica, grown in the lovely mountain basin surrounding Lake Tawar and the town of Takengon,” the statement said.
In addition to releasing more than a dozen studio albums and receiving multiple Grammy nominations as a rapper, Snoop Dogg has been expanding his business empire. The rapper has expanded into pet accessories and a gluten-free cereal called Snoop Loopz.
In 2020, he launched his own wine label. As a vocal cannabis advocate, he has his own line of cannabis products.
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Shares of regional banks posted big gains on Tuesday as they regained their footing after huge losses in the previous session, but volatility continued in the sector following the demise of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and Silvergate Capital in the past week.
While the rise in some cases is eye-popping, most stocks have yet to recover fully from losses in the past few days. Most stocks are trading well below their levels from a week ago, even with Tuesday’s gains.
Among…
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Trading in shares of First Republic Bank and Western Alliance Bancorp ended sharply lower in a tough day of trading for regional banks as fears over bank solvency persisted following the failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and Silvergate Capital.
Stocks were periodically halted or paused for trading amid the bank stock bloodbath, which saw many suffering percentage declines well into the double digits. Typically, bank stocks are stable compared with sectors such as technology, with daily moves above 5% being relatively…
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