Tag: Consumer Goods

This Barbie ‘holy grail’ doll is on sale for $25,000 — but one rare Barbie collectible could fetch $1 million

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With the release this weekend of the new “Barbie” movie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, there’s growing attention being paid to the world of Barbie collectibles. As in the hundreds of dolls that have been released over the years, to say nothing of such accessories as Barbie outfits and furniture.

But there’s one collectible above all — the holy grail of Barbies, if you will. We’re referring to Barbie No. 1, the first doll ever released by Mattel to bear the Barbie name, dating from 1959.

Barbie fanatics speak of it in reverent terms. “I lost sleep over this doll,” one collector said in a YouTube
GOOGL,
+0.69%
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+0.65%
video that documented the arrival and unboxing of a Barbie No. 1.

Needless to say, collectors will pay a pretty penny for a Barbie No. 1. Prices can easily reach $10,000-plus, according to Barbie experts. The original doll sold for about $3, but there’s a Barbie No. 1 doll on eBay
EBAY,
-1.02%
currently going for $25,000.

But before you plunk down five figures for an investment-grade doll, we figured you might want to know a little more about this one-of-a-kind Barbie. Here goes:

What makes the ‘Holy Grail’ Barbie so special?

Obviously, it’s all about being the first of its kind, not unlike a baseball player’s rookie card (the 1952 Mickey Mantle card is often considered the holy grail of sports collectibles, though that can sell for millions of dollars). It’s also about rarity. Experts say around 300,000 to 350,000 of those debut Barbies were sold in 1959, but the number of Barbie No. 1s that survived throughout the years — dolls are sold as toys, after all, not necessarily collectibles — is considerably less.

(Mattel
MAT,
-0.42%
reportedly now releases about 60 million Barbies annually, but the company didn’t respond to a MarketWatch request for comment and information.)

There’s also something to be said for No. 1’s distinct look, marked by what veteran Barbie appraiser Dr. Lori Verderame describes as its “deep profile” with a protruding nose and high forehead. It’s a design very much inspired by the German-made Bild Lilli dolls that intrigued Barbie creator Ruth Handler.

Are there any really rare examples of the original Barbie?

Red-headed Barbie No. 1s are known to exist. Marl Davidson, a Barbie dealer based in Bradenton, Fla., says she once sold one for $50,000, and perhaps the holiest of holy grails is a salesman’s Barbie sample case dating from the doll’s early years. Davidson says she believes only two or three are around. And one surfaced? “It could go for $1 million,” she says.

And what makes some Barbie No. 1s more valuable than others?

As with almost any collectible category, it’s all about condition. Barbie buyers are looking for a No. 1 that’s as close to mint condition as possible, with all the original items — namely, the box, black stand, sunglasses, shoes, brochure and zebra-striped swimsuit. (There are also outfits and accessories dating from Barbie’s early years, but these were sold separately; Verderame says a popular outfit from this period can sell for $150 to $200.)

Ironically, if the Barbie has stayed in the original box, it may affect the condition — Verderame explains that the packaging is acidic so it can “damage the piece over time,” but she says collectors still “want it in the box.”

Then, there’s the hair color. The original Barbie came in both blonde and brunette versions. Verderame says the blondes are generally more sought after since that’s what most people think of as the Barbie classic. But Davidson says brunettes can actually have value since there were fewer made of them. Then again, she says, the collectors “who can afford it will have one of everything.”

How can you tell if a first-edition 1959 Barbie is a fake?

There are various elements that will signify an original Barbie — most notably, a marking on the doll’s, um, right buttock (this also applies to later Barbies, though). Also look for holes in the feet and what the Doll Reference site describes as “tight curly bangs,” among other identifiers. It’s worth keeping in mind that you might find an original No. 1 doll, but with other parts that are not original — say, a replacement stand.

What’s the current market for the original Barbie?

It’s soaring because of the movie, Verderame says. She notes that Barbie No. 1s that went for $10,000 as recently as three months ago are now selling in the $15,000-$25,000 range. Verderame anticipates the market will cool off after the fervor for the Warner Bros.
WBD,
-1.37%
film dies down. But Davidson remains bullish on Barbie’s longer-term prospects because of the doll’s iconic appeal: “The price can only go up,” she says.

Are there any affordable alternatives to a first-edition Barbie?

Davidson says collectors can also consider Barbie No. 3 as a collectible. It’s a very early model, but it has a far more approachable price — Davidson says collectors can find one between $1,000 and $3,000.

If you want something way more affordable that still has potential to appreciate, Verderame says to consider iconic Barbies from the 1990s and 2000s that are currently selling for between $50 and $150.

But if you insist on a Barbie No. 1, Davidson says you can always buy one in lesser condition for a lesser price. Still, even a bald Barbie No. 1 won’t come cheap, she warns. “It’s going to go for a couple of grand,” she says.

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July 21, 2023
Bud Light sales are still falling, but investors get it at this point. Here’s what Morgan Stanley says they might be missing.

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Bud Light sales are still falling, as the impact of a boycott against the beer continues to stick. But Morgan Stanley analysts on Thursday said that impact was already reflected into shares of its parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, and that AB-InBev’s global footprint and the falling costs of beer ingredients would help sales and margins up ahead even if struggles in the U.S. spill over into next year.

Morgan Stanley assumed coverage of AB-InBev
BUD,
+0.51%
with an overweight rating, a step up from its prior equal-weight rating. The firm bumped its price target on the stock higher, to $68.50 from $64. Shares of AB-InBev were up 0.4% on Thursday.

The analysts also said that AB-InBev’s second-quarter results, set for Aug. 2, could be a clarifying moment for investors.

“While investors are currently sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the company to fully quantify the impact of the Bud Light situation, we see upcoming H1 results as likely timing for such clarification,” the analysts said in a research note.

“We think ABI shares now price in the U.S. Bud Light challenges, which have stabilised, but not the gross margin recovery and de-leveraging upside into next year,” they added later.

The conservative-led boycott against Bud Light began in April, after the brand briefly partnered with Dylan Mulvaney, a trans influencer. That anti-trans anger has translated into weeks of sharp declines, generally above 20%, for Bud Light sales. Mulvaney said Bud Light never reached out to her, despite what she said was “more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined” as a result of the partnership and calls for a boycott.

The fall-off has spread to some of other AB-InBev’s other beer brands, and benefited its rivals. Modelo Especial has recently dethroned Bud Light as the best-selling beer in the U.S.. Constellation Brands Inc.
STZ,
+0.47%
sells Modelo beer in the U.S., after a deal a decade ago to acquire Grupo Modelo’s U.S. beer business from AB-InBev.

Still, the Morgan Stanley analysts emphasized Anheuser-Busch’s worldwide reach, and said that even a 13.5% drop in U.S. yearly sales — broadly, where things stand in the U.S. now — would only mean a 4% drop for the company’s sales overall. And they said double-digit growth expected elsewhere, in regions like South America and the Asia-Pacific, would drive organic sales growth of 6% for the company overall in its fiscal 2023. They also said a “wind-back” on commodity costs and sales incentives to U.S. beer sellers would help margins up ahead.

Still, they didn’t expect much of a break for sales trends in the U.S. They said they expected the 13.5% drop in U.S. sales to ease to a 12% drop in AB-InBev’s fiscal 2024.

Overall, however, the analysts were upbeat on beer sales and profits for next year. Falling ingredient costs would help brewers overall. A pandemic-era jump in U.S. demand for spirits — or hard liquor like gin, Scotch and vodka — had now “normalized,” they said.

Shares of Anhueser-Busch InBev are down 1.4% so far this year. By comparison, the S&P 500 Index
SPX,
-0.68%
is up 18.9% over that period.

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July 20, 2023

Electrolux Starts Preparations For Potential Divestment of Zanussi and Other Non-Core Brands During Coming Yrs

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By Dominic Chopping

STOCKHOLM–Electrolux on Thursday swung to an unexpected second-quarter net loss and said it is considering selling its Zanussi brand and other non-core assets during the coming years that together could raise around 10 billion Swedish kronor ($973.3 million).

The Swedish home-appliance manufacturer posted a second-quarter net loss of SEK648 million from a profit of SEK257 million as earnings were weighed by SEK643 million provision, significantly lower volumes due to weaker market demand, currency headwinds, labor cost and energy inflation.

A FactSet analyst poll had expected a net profit of SEK350 million.

Sales fell 3.2% to SEK32.65 billion, versus the SEK34.05 billion expected in a company-compiled consensus.

The weak demand environment, with lower consumer purchasing power resulting in more consumers shifting to lower price points, continued in the second quarter, it said.

Although price increases contributed somewhat positively in the quarter, earnings promotions also increased significantly and Electrolux now expects the net price effect to turn negative from the third quarter.

“In the challenging times we are now experiencing, it is vital to continue with strategic portfolio management,” Chief Executive Jonas Samuelson said.

“Further structural simplification and complexity reduction are thus being evaluated.”

Demand in 2023 is now expected to be negative in all regions.

Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com

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July 20, 2023

Pinterest stock advances, Masimo shares slump on outlook and other stocks on the move

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Here are some of the biggest movers of the day:

Stock gainers:

Shares of Pinterest Inc.
PINS,
+3.64%
were gaining 4% after an Evercore ISI analyst moved to a bullish stance, cheering better advertising-market conditions and improvements made by Chief Executive Bill Ready, who is about a year into his stint.

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July 18, 2023
‘I was outraged’: Our restaurant bill was $35 each, but our friend wanted to pay $22 for a gluten-free dish. Who’s right?

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Dear Quentin,

I went for dinner with six friends last weekend, and we each ordered entrees and desserts, and some side orders. One of our group only eats gluten-free food, so he ordered two starters. We split the bill, and it worked out at $36 each. But our gluten-free friend cried foul, and asked for a separate check to pay $22 for his gluten-free dish. I was outraged — and almost felt physically sick. I kicked my husband under the table, and said under my breath, “Can you believe that?’

Can you believe it? Do you think he should have just paid the $35 instead of asking for a separate check? Adding insult to injury, he left the waiter a $10 tip. Why not just pay $35 like everyone else? I told my husband I was never going for dinner with him again. Don’t you think he should have just paid $35 like everyone else? It was a big crowd. If everyone did that, you’d need a forensic accountant to figure out how many breadsticks someone ate.

We otherwise had a nice evening, and it was a bring-your-own-bottle restaurant. I work as a teacher and my husband works in tech. We own a home together and have three kids. Our gluten-free friend is a freelance consultant, and is divorced with two kids. He had a very privileged upbringing. I worked hard for everything I have. I’m not saying any of us are rich, but when we go out to eat, we like to share and share alike, and split the bill down the middle.

When did eating out become so full of these cringeworthy moments?

Equal Bill Splitter

Dear Equal,

I’m sorry to say that the most cringeworthy moment here happened when you kicked your husband under the table. I’m not a big fan of under-table communication in a group, and while we could debate the pros and cons of asking for a separate check for a $13 difference, I don’t think there’s much of a gray area when it comes to calling someone out at the dinner table, especially when your eye-rolling and disapproval could be picked up by the other guests.

As far as your friend is concerned, $13 is a lot of money to pay when you did not eat all the food that was ordered by the table. Maybe it doesn’t seem like it to you or anyone reading this column, but your friend is divorced with two kids, and works as a freelancer — so let’s assume his income is not always stable. Could he have just split it down the middle and paid $35 and another 15% or 20% for a tip? Sure. But he has good financial boundaries. I applaud him.

The real issue here may go back to your respective upbringings, and could explain your dramatic — and I would argue disproportionate reaction — to your friend asking for a separate $22 check. You’ve worked hard, and maybe your friend had an easier start in life, but that doesn’t mean he’s not entitled to pay for what he ate, and watch every dollar. Divorce is like a recession. You can end up struggling to get back on your financial feet for years.

Perhaps your friend had always intended to pay $22 for his gluten-free dish, and tip the server 50%, or perhaps he has a well-trained side eye and caught your reaction to his paying for his own order, and he decided to pay closer to what everyone else had paid. But ordering separate checks, I suspect, will become more common as prices continue to rise, even at a slower pace, and people feel uncertain about spending money in restaurants.

You believe in equality of bill splitting. I suggest you apply that equality to all dinner guests, regardless of upbringing and dietary restrictions, and allow them to make their own choices about what they pay for at dinner. People often have problems — financial or otherwise — that we are not aware of, so try to leave space for that. And if your friend did see your eye-rolling and under-the-table antics? I’d like to think he made space for your behavior too.

Readers write to me with all sorts of dilemmas.

By emailing your questions, you agree to have them published anonymously on MarketWatch. By submitting your story to Dow Jones & Co., the publisher of MarketWatch, you understand and agree that we may use your story, or versions of it, in all media and platforms, including via third parties.

The Moneyist regrets he cannot reply to questions individually.

More from Quentin Fottrell:

I had a date with a great guy. I didn’t drink, but his wine added $36 to our bill. We split the check evenly. Should I have spoken up?

‘I’m living paycheck to paycheck and I feel drained’: My fiancé said he would pay half of the mortgage. Guess what happened next?

‘We live in purgatory’: My wife has a multimillion-dollar trust fund, but my mother-in-law controls it. We earn $400,000 and spend beyond our means.

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July 18, 2023
Here’s how many Diet Cokes you’d have to drink daily to get too much aspartame

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A leading global health body has declared that the artificial sweetener aspartame, commonly used as an ingredient in diet soda, chewing gum and vitamins, may cause cancer.

But the World Health Organization’s report late Thursday also noted that people would have to be exposed to extreme amounts of aspartame — whether through diet, occupational exposure or other means — to be at risk.

So how much aspartame is too much?

It’s safe to consume up to 40 milligrams of aspartame per kilogram, or 2.2 pounds, of body weight per day, a WHO and Food and Agriculture Organizations joint committee of experts on food additives said. So, a person who weighs 154 pounds would need to drink nine to 14 cans of, say, Diet Pepsi or Diet Coke per day to exceed that level, assuming there are 200 to 300 milligrams of aspartame in each can.

“We’re not advising consumers to stop consuming [aspartame] altogether,” said WHO’s nutrition director, Dr. Francesco Branca. “We’re just advising a bit of moderation.”

The Food and Drug Administration has an even higher daily aspartame-exposure limit: 50 milligrams per kilo of body weight.

Even heavy aspartame users — Donald Trump, the former U.S. president, for example, drank a reported 12 cans of Diet Coke a day in his White House years — would struggle to consume that much of the sweetener in an average day.

But consumers should also note that a food being labeled “safe” is not equivalent to its being healthy. There has been plenty of research to suggest that sipping too many sweetened beverages, including diet drinks with artificial sweeteners, may be linked to health problems and elevated risk of death.

Aspartame is used in products that millions of people use every day, including Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Zero Sugar and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, the Mars Wrigley chewing gum Extra and some Snapple drinks, as well as some protein drinks, among thousands of others, by the Calorie Control Council’s count.

Aspartame was developed beginning in the mid-1960s by Skokie, Ill.–based G.D. Searle & Co., now a Pfizer
PFE,
+0.72%
subsidiary, which branded the sweetener NutraSweet. It secured ultimate FDA approval, after initial hiccups, for use in dry goods and then in carbonated soft drinks in 1981 and 1983, according to the Calorie Control Council.

The organization that this week labeled aspartame possibly carcinogenic was the World Health Organization’s cancer-research arm, the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The IARC said its aspartame declaration is based on “limited evidence” of cancer in humans, specifically a type of liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma.

What should consumers do with this aspartame news? “At least when it comes to beverages, our message is your best choice is to drink water or an unsweetened beverage,” said Dr. Peter Lurie, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which previously nominated aspartame for IARC review.

More aspartame news on MarketWatch:

What is aspartame, and is it bad for you? Here’s what health experts say

Aspartame is possibly carcinogenic, according to WHO’s cancer-research agency

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July 14, 2023
Here’s how many Diet Cokes you’d have to drink daily to get too much aspartame

[ad_1]

A leading global health body has declared that the artificial sweetener aspartame, commonly used as an ingredient in diet soda, chewing gum and vitamins, may cause cancer.

But the World Health Organization’s report late Thursday also noted that people would have to be exposed to extreme amounts of aspartame — whether through diet, occupational exposure or other means — to be at risk.

So how much aspartame is too much?

It’s safe to consume up to 40 milligrams of aspartame per kilogram, or 2.2 pounds, of body weight per day, a WHO and Food and Agriculture Organizations joint committee of experts on food additives said. So, a person who weighs 154 pounds would need to drink nine to 14 cans of, say, Diet Pepsi or Diet Coke per day to exceed that level, assuming there are 200 to 300 milligrams of aspartame in each can.

“We’re not advising consumers to stop consuming [aspartame] altogether,” said WHO’s nutrition director, Dr. Francesco Branca. “We’re just advising a bit of moderation.”

The Food and Drug Administration has an even higher daily aspartame-exposure limit: 50 milligrams per kilo of body weight.

Even heavy aspartame users — Donald Trump, the former U.S. president, for example, drank a reported 12 cans of Diet Coke a day in his White House years — would struggle to consume that much of the sweetener in an average day.

But consumers should also note that a food being labeled “safe” is not equivalent to its being healthy. There has been plenty of research to suggest that sipping too many sweetened beverages, including diet drinks with artificial sweeteners, may be linked to health problems and elevated risk of death.

Aspartame is used in products that millions of people use every day, including Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Zero Sugar and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, the Mars Wrigley chewing gum Extra and some Snapple drinks, as well as some protein drinks, among thousands of others, by the Calorie Control Council’s count.

Aspartame was developed beginning in the mid-1960s by Skokie, Ill.–based G.D. Searle & Co., now a Pfizer
PFE,
+0.72%
subsidiary, which branded the sweetener NutraSweet. It secured ultimate FDA approval, after initial hiccups, for use in dry goods and then in carbonated soft drinks in 1981 and 1983, according to the Calorie Control Council.

The organization that this week labeled aspartame possibly carcinogenic was the World Health Organization’s cancer-research arm, the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The IARC said its aspartame declaration is based on “limited evidence” of cancer in humans, specifically a type of liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma.

What should consumers do with this aspartame news? “At least when it comes to beverages, our message is your best choice is to drink water or an unsweetened beverage,” said Dr. Peter Lurie, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which previously nominated aspartame for IARC review.

More aspartame news on MarketWatch:

What is aspartame, and is it bad for you? Here’s what health experts say

Aspartame is possibly carcinogenic, according to WHO’s cancer-research agency

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July 14, 2023
FTC files appeal, again seeks to block Microsoft-Activision deal

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The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday asked an appeals court to temporarily block Microsoft Corp.’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc. while it challenges a ruling earlier this week green-lighting the deal.

The FTC on Thursday asked U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley to postpone her ruling — which she promptly denied — and also appealed to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to pause the acquisition “to preserve the status quo” while the case is reviewed, claiming it is likely to succeed in its appeal.

According to the filing, the FTC claims the judge applied the wrong legal standard to its request for a preliminary injunction, and erred in a number of other matters.

The deal is set to close in the coming days, and letting it happen will “irreparably harm the public interest and the FTC,” regulators said.

Also see: GOP blasts FTC Chair Khan as a ‘bully’ after agency’s loss in Microsoft case

In a response filed with the court, Microsoft said the FTC “failed to carry its burden on independent, fact-based grounds” and “dragged its heels” before appealing.

“The court has already found that it would be inequitable” to order an injunction that could lead to “the potential scuttling of the merger,” Microsoft said, in asking for the FTC’s request to be denied.

The FTC has claimed the tie-up of a major videogame platform — Microsoft’s
MSFT,
+1.62%
Xbox — with a major videogame publisher — Activision
ATVI,
-0.51%
makes the wildly popular “Call of Duty,” among other titles — would be harmful to the videogame industry and consumers.

Microsoft has pledged to keep “Call of Duty” available to Sony’s
SONY,
+2.82%
PlayStation console for 10 years, and will make it available for Nintendo’s
7974,
-0.36%
Switch and some cloud-gaming platforms.

In her ruling clearing the deal Tuesday, Corley said the FTC did not show “this particular vertical merger in this specific industry may substantially lessen competition.”

Bloomberg News reported late Thursday that Microsoft and Activision are considering giving up some control of their cloud-gaming business in the U.K. to win approval of British regulators, who — if the U.S. appeals court does not act — are the final hurdle to the deal closing on time.

FTC Chair Lina Khan testified on Capitol Hill on Thursday, where Republican lawmakers assailed her actions and sharply criticized her agency’s court losses in trying to block the Microsoft-Activision deal and Meta’s
META,
+1.32%
acquisition of a virtual-reality gaming company earlier this year.

Read more: After Microsoft defeat, ‘toothless’ FTC needs to pick better battles if it wants to rein in Big Tech

Also: FTC’s probe of OpenAI marks key moment in Khan’s push to rein in Big Tech

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July 13, 2023
Consumers are shopping in more stores than ever before to save money

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Consumers are still showing signs of being highly sensitive to inflationary pressures and are shopping around to maximize their budgets, according to PepsiCo Inc. Chief Executive Ramon Laguarta.

“ ‘We’re seeing consumers shopping in more stores than before. They’re looking for better deals. They’re starting to look for optimization. They are going to channels that have better perceived value.’”

— Ramon Laguarta, CEO, PepsiCo Inc.

Laguarta told analysts on the company’s second-quarter earnings call on Tuesday that consumers are buying more in dollar stores or buying more in bulk or at wholesale clubs.

“So every segment of the consumer is making adjustments,” he said, according to a FactSet transcript.

Still, PepsiCo
PEP,
+1.89%
saw better elasticities in the three-month period, he said, referring to consumers’ sensitivity and response to higher prices.

Like many consumer companies, the snacks and beverages giant has been raising prices to combat its own higher costs in the current inflationary period. But, “we’ve been able to raise prices and consumers stay within our brands,’ he said.

See: U.S. inflation slows again, CPI shows, as Fed weighs another rate hike

One supportive factor is low unemployment, said Laguarta. Unemployment is currently low in developed and developing markets and is trending at a record low in Mexico and certain Asian markets, he said.

“So we’re seeing overall very good consumer behavior, especially when it refers to our categories, and that’s why we raised guidance on our top line and because of the first factor we raised guidance on the bottom line as well,” he said.

See also: ‘Greedflation’ is replacing inflation as companies raise prices for bigger profits, report finds

PepsiCo earlier posted better-than-expected earnings for the latest quarter and raised its fiscal 2023 guidance.

Some of PepsiCo’s more popular brands, including Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos, and Ruffles, generated double-digit net revenue growth, along with smaller, emerging brands aimed at consumers seeking healthier choices, such as PopCorners, SunChips, Bare, and Off The Eaten Path, said the company.

The stock was up about 1% Thursday and has gained 2.4% in the year to date, while the S&P 500
SPX,
+0.65%
has gained 16%.

For more, see: PepsiCo’s stock gains after beating estimates in latest quarter and raising guidance again

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July 13, 2023
As food prices rise in June, analysts warn of a ‘tipping point’ for Americans

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Food prices grew at a slower pace in June, but economists remain concerned that prices will reach a level where consumers will make dramatic changes in their behavior.

Food prices rose 3% in June compared to a year ago, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. After a year of price hikes, consumers continued to see food prices rise, but at a slower rate.

Grocery prices were 5.7% higher in June compared to a year ago, and dining out was 7.7% more expensive. That’s significantly lower than the 13.5% peak inflation for grocery prices last August and the 8.8% peak inflation for dining out.

“Overall, there continues to be a similar narrative of extended upward pressure on food prices as we try to discern whether this stress has led to a tipping point where consumers are struggling to buy the foods that they want,” said Jayson Lusk, the head and distinguished professor of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University.

Reported food insecurity across households of different income levels reached 17% in June, the highest level since March 2022, according to the monthly Consumer Food Insights Report from Purdue University. Although it didn’t deviate too much from the normal range — food insecurity hovered at 14% two months ago — Lusk said the increase is concerning given the amount of pressure on more financially vulnerable consumers.

“Reported food insecurity across households of different income levels reached 17% in June, the highest level since March 2022, according to Purdue University. ”

The pandemic-era expansion of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ended in March, meaning SNAP recipients are now receiving $90 less on average every month, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive policy think tank based in Washington, D.C.

The recent rise in food insecurity could be a lag from households adjusting to the policy change, Lusk said. On average, consumers are spending about $120 per week on groceries and $70 per week on dining out or takeout, the report found.

Middle-income households earning $50,000 to $100,000 a year and low-income households earning less than $50,000 a year cut weekly spending on groceries and dining out by about $10 a week, Purdue found. The average weekly grocery expenditure for low-income households was $103 in June; for middle-income households, it was $118. Households earning more than $100,000 a year spent $141 a week on groceries in June.

Around 47% of low-income households — those earning less than $50,000 a year — said they relied on SNAP benefits in May, up from roughly 40% in February, according to a recent Morning Consult report.

For low-income households, rising food insecurity is often coupled with juggling bills such as utilities and rent, which has also led to rising eviction rates in recent months, according to Propel, an app that aims to help low-income Americans improve their financial health. Propel surveys SNAP users on insecurity around food, finance and their housing situation.

Nearly half of the survey respondents said they cannot afford the food they want. “We were unable to pay bills because we had to buy food. We’re about to lose our home,” a South Carolina user named Anna told the Propel survey.

The share of surveyed households that paid their utilities late rose 11% from May to June, and only 27% of respondents paid their utility bills on time and in full, according to Propel’s June survey.

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July 12, 2023
FTC will appeal judge’s ruling clearing Microsoft-Activision deal

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The Federal Trade Commission late Wednesday filed notice that it will appeal a judge’s ruling this week that gave Microsoft Corp. the green light to proceed with its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc.

In a filing with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, the FTC is seeking to overturn U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley’s ruling Tuesday, which said the deal would not hurt competition.

“The District Court’s ruling makes crystal clear that this acquisition is good for both competition and consumers,” Brad Smith, Microsoft’s vice chair and president, said in a statement.” We’re disappointed that the FTC is continuing to pursue what has become a demonstrably weak case, and we will oppose further efforts to delay the ability to move forward.”

The FTC has claimed the tie-up of a major videogame platform — Microsoft’s
MSFT,
+1.42%
Xbox — with a major videogame publisher — Activision
ATVI,
-1.09%
makes the wildly popular “Call of Duty,” among other titles — would be harmful to the videogame industry and consumers.

“The facts haven’t changed,” an Activision spokesperson said Wednesday. “We’re confident the U.S. will remain among the 39 countries where the merger can close. We look forward to reinforcing the strength of our case in court, again.”

Microsoft has pledged to keep “Call of Duty” available to Sony’s
SONY,
+1.78%
PlayStation console for 10 years, and will make it available for Nintendo’s
7974,
+1.63%
Switch and some cloud-gaming platforms.

The deal faces a July 18 deadline, and still must gain regulatory approval in the U.K.

Tuesday’s ruling was yet another antitrust setback for the FTC, which has failed to do much to rein in Big Tech, and one analyst told MarketWatch on Tuesday that the regulators need to do ” a much better job of picking their battles,”

Read more: After Microsoft defeat, ‘toothless’ FTC needs to pick better battles if it wants to rein in Big Tech

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July 12, 2023
After Microsoft defeat, ‘toothless’ FTC needs to pick better battles if it wants to rein in Big Tech

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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s defeat as it sought to block Microsoft Corp.’s acquisition of videogame maker Activision Blizzard is yet another setback for an increasingly toothless regulator that needs to pick better battles with Big Tech.

On Tuesday morning, a federal judge denied the FTC’s injunction that was seeking to block the software giant’s proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision
ATVI,
+10.02%,
best known for its hit videogame “Call of Duty.” The FTC argued that Microsoft
MSFT,
+0.19%
could withhold “Call of Duty” and other Activision games from rival console platforms such as Sony’s PlayStation, and keep the games on its Xbox only.

Microsoft, in a show of faith, committed in writing to keep “Call of Duty” on PlayStation on parity with Xbox for 10 years, agreed with Nintendo
7974,
+1.10%
to bring “Call of Duty” to Switch and entered into several pacts to bring Activision content to several cloud gaming services, U.S. District Court Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley noted in her decision.

“With these 10-year contracts that Microsoft made across the board with so many vendors, Nvidia
NVDA,
+0.53%,
Nintendo and others, 10 years is a really long time, in my opinion,” said Sarah Hindlian-Bowler, an analyst at Macquarie Equity Research, in an interview Tuesday. “It is long enough to cover the arrival and maturity of the cloud gaming market….She understands that 10 years is a very long long time to make a guarantee of this kind.”

Also read: Regulators face an antitrust dilemma after Meta launches Threads

Hindlian-Bowler said that she had been in the minority of Wall Street analysts in not believing the U.S. government would be able to block this deal.

“The assumption that this somehow decreases the market is going to prove to be wildly incorrect,” she said, adding that she does not believe that the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority will be able to block the deal either.

The latest upset at the FTC was also not too surprising to other Capitol Hill watchers, especially in the light of other high-profile setbacks by the agency and its once-heralded commissioner, Lina Khan. When she was sworn in as chair of the FTC in mid-2021, Khan was hailed as the sheriff who would rein in Big Tech.

“It’s hard to say I am surprised by the ruling because Khan has had a fairly unsuccessful track record,” said Owen Tedford, a senior research analyst at Beacon Policy Advisors. “The regulators are pushing the boundaries, deals that previously would have gone unchallenged have now gone challenged. And they are breaking precedent because Khan and company have expressed a dislike of settlements.”

The FTC’s attempts to sue Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
+1.42%
have had some defeats so far. In February, a California judge denied the FTC’s attempts to block Meta from buying a virtual-reality startup called Within Unlimited. The FTC’s suit to reverse Meta’s acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram, filed in 2021, is still plodding along.

Additionally, the FTC recently filed a suit against Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
+1.30%,
alleging that it is too difficult for consumers to cancel their Prime accounts, and the agency is reportedly also mulling another far-reaching suit against Amazon alleging that the e-commerce giant punishes merchants who do not use its logistics services. One analyst has already made a case that the FTC will lose that fight too.

“I think that the FTC is in need of some change, in need of some refreshing and in need of doing a much better job of picking their battles,” said Hindlian-Bowler. “This does feel toothless, a lot of the fights they are picking are toothless. And unfortunately, they are missing the real battle. They are missing TikTok, they are missing the real fights where we actually have national security at risk.”

In February, one of the Republican commissioners on the FTC resigned, and wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal accusing Khan of disregarding the rule of law and due process.

Compared to the European Union, which has had far more success implementing regulation to rein in Big Tech, the U.S. is still much weaker. “The EU seems to be having somewhat more success, levying big fines, getting these companies to change,” said Beacon’s Tedford. “The EU has passed these bills, but the U.S., despite these efforts, has not gotten there and is not going to get there for the next two years.”

Money spent by Big Tech to lobby Congress in a huge part of the problem, whereas in Europe, “those lawmakers feel less beholden,” he added.

More than a century ago, President Teddy Roosevelt, known for his “speak softly and carry a big stick” foreign policy, also used his bully pulpit to bust industrial monopolies.

If Khan and her staff want to follow his lead and rein in Big Tech, they need to start picking their future battles more carefully — and carry bigger sticks.

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July 11, 2023
FTC Loses First Bid to Block Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision Blizzard

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FTC Loses First Bid to Block Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The Focus Turns to U.K. Regulators.

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July 11, 2023
Meta launches Threads, its app to rival Twitter, a day early

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Meta Platforms Inc. launched Threads, its rival to Twitter, a day early Wednesday.

“Let’s do this. Welcome to Threads,” Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg posted on the new app.

The text-based app, a spinoff of Meta’s META Instagram, had been set to launch Thursday morning, but instead went live for users in the U.S. and more than 100 other…

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July 5, 2023
Meta’s Twitter-rival Threads: How to sign up, what it costs and what we know so far

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Meta’s Twitter-rival Threads launches tomorrow: What we know so far

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July 5, 2023
Like choosy shoppers at a retail store, IPO investors are demanding discounts and displaying price sensitivity

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IPO investors, much like retail shoppers in recent years’ inflationary environment, are demanding clear discounts and demonstrating sensitivity to price and valuations, according to Renaissance Capital.

The provider of IPO exchange-traded funds and institutional research said that’s a positive — even if tech unicorns in the pipeline would prefer it were not the case.

“Quality consumer names are working,” said Matthew Kennedy, senior strategist at Renaissance, listing Kenvue, Cava Group Inc., Gen Restaurant Group Inc. and Savers Value Village Inc. as examples of recent new issues that enjoyed strong debuts.

Kenvue
KVUE,
+1.65%,
the former consumer arm of Johnson & Johnson
JNJ,
+0.87%
and parent of household-name products such as Tylenol and Band-Aid, raised $3.8 billion in its May IPO at a valuation of $41.08 billion, making it the biggest deal of the year to date.

Cava Group
CAVA,
-5.93%,
the loss-making Mediterranean-style fast-casual restaurant group, raised $317 million in its mid-June deal at a valuation of $2.5 billion. The stock popped more than 99% on its first day of trade.

For more: Cava Group CFO is confident restaurant chain will be profitable — but she won’t say when

Gen Restaurant Group
GENK,
+13.95%
is a profitable Korean barbecue chain that made its debut Wednesday with a more than 50% pop in early trade.

“But broadly investors are still demanding clear discounts to public peers, especially if they take issue with certain aspects of a deal. So it’s good to see that valuation sensitivity,” said Kennedy.

Savers Value Village
SVV,
+3.45%
went public Thursday with some fanfare, closing 27% above its $18 issue price. The company is the biggest for-profit thrift-store chain in North America, with 317 stores that operate under multiple names.

The company is profitable, with net income of $11.9 million in the quarter through April 2, after a loss of $10.2 million in the same period a year earlier. For all of 2022, it had net income of $84.7 million, up from $83.4 million in 2021.

Revenue for the quarter came to $327.5 million, down from $345.7 million in the year-ago period. Revenue totaled $1.4 billion for 2022, up from $1.2 billion in 2021.

See: Money-losing food chain Cava showed IPO success. Is it finally time for some tech deals?

Two other deals that made their debut on Thursday fared less well, however.

Texas-based Kodiak Gas Services Inc.
KGS,
+3.44%
and Fidelis Insurance Holdings Ltd. closed lower after pricing below their estimated ranges and making other accommodations to get their deals through.

Bermuda-based Fidelis, a reinsurer, downsized its deal to 15 million shares from a previous expectation that it would offer 17 million. The initial public offering was priced at $14 a share, below the proposed $16-to-$19 range.

Maker of oil- and gas-production equipment Kodiak opened almost 3% below its issue price of $16, which was well below its proposed price range of $19 to $22.

Fidelis has an unusual structure, in that it uses a third party for origination, underwriting and claims management, said Kennedy.

“We think insurance investors wanted a discount for a company that didn’t own the underwriting group,” he said. “It has an experienced management team, though, so now they’ll just need to execute.”

Kodiak, meanwhile, carries substantial debt and will need to undertake significant capital spendig in the coming years, just as gas prices have fallen back.

It’s also worth noting that the last big oil and gas IPO, Atlas, “is slightly below its offer price,” Kennedy said.

Atlas Energy Solutions Inc.
AESI,
-2.75%
went public in March at an issue price of $18 a share. The stock was last quoted at $17.52.

Still, Renaissance is expecting a gradual reopening of the IPO market in the second half, said Kennedy, who noted that the IPO ETF
IPO,
+1.38%
has gained about 30% in to date in 2023, outperforming the S&P 500’s
SPX,
+1.23%
14% gain.

To date, there have been 52 IPOs this year, up 33% from the same time last year, when the market was effectively frozen. Almost $9 billion in proceeds have been raised, up 115% from last year but well below levels seen in frothier times.

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June 30, 2023
Activision’s Microsoft Saga Is Almost Over. It May Be Time to Sell the Stock.

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The fate of

Microsoft

$69 billion purchase of

Activision

Blizzard will finally be known in the coming weeks—and investors may want to consider taking profits on the videogame maker’s stock before then.

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June 30, 2023
Constellation Beer Sales Get a Lift From Bud Light’s Trouble. Why the Stock Is Falling.
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https://www.barrons.com/articles/constellation-stock-price-earnings-bud-light-a7957686
Updated June 30, 2023 9:57 am ET / Original June 30, 2023 8:29 am ET

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Constellation Brands‘ earnings beat Wall Street’s expectations as the company reported strong beer sales for the latest quarter on Friday. The stock fell anyway.
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June 30, 2023
Nike profit misses expectations, as ‘higher markdowns’ endure amid weaker demand

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Nike Inc. on Thursday reported fourth-quarter profit that came up short of Wall Street’s expectations, with price cuts weighing on results amid weaker demand for sneakers and clothing.

Nike
NKE,
+0.30%
reported fourth-quarter net income of $1.03 billion, or 66 cents a share, down from $1.44 billion, or 90 cents a share, in the same quarter last year. Revenue rose 5% to $12.83 billion, compared with $12.23 billion in the prior-year quarter.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected Nike to report adjusted earnings of 68 cents a share, on $12.58 billion in sales.

Nike said gross margins slipped 140 basis points to 43.6%, dragged by “higher product input costs and elevated freight and logistics costs, higher markdowns and continued unfavorable changes in net foreign currency exchange rates.”

Shares were up 0.3% after hours on Thursday.

Heading into the earnings, Wall Street had questions about Nike’s stockpiles of unsold shoes and clothing, and what it might take to clear them, as consumers still find themselves stretching their budgets to buy more essential goods like groceries.

Nike’s broader plans to sell more shoes and clothes directly — either through its own e-commerce platform or its own physical stores. But recent plans to start selling again in Macy’s Inc.
M,
+3.35%
and Designer Brands Inc.’s
DBI,
+4.01%
DSW shoe stores have raised questions over whether the athletic-gear maker is rethinking that strategy. Analysts were also focused on demand in China, whose re-opening from COVID-19 shutdowns remains in flux.

Shares of Nike have risen 9.6% over the past 12 months. By comparison, the S&P 500 Index
SPX,
+0.45%
has risen 15% over that period.

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June 29, 2023
Does Nike have too many sneakers? Its financial results could tell us whether shoes will get cheaper.

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Are stores getting more desperate to sell sneakers? Fourth-quarter results from Nike Inc. on Thursday will probably provide part of the answer.

Even as its some of its basketball shoes still put up double-digit sales gains — like those named after NBA icons LeBron James, Luka Doncic and Giannis Antetokounmpo — the athletic-gear maker, like its rivals, has faced weaker consumer demand overall. With customers forced to spend more money on necessities over the past year, they’ve had less to spend on new shoes.

In March, Nike
NKE,
+0.19%
executives said that the demand backdrop remained “promotional” — one in which anyone selling sneakers and clothing was cutting prices more aggressively to attract customers. But ahead of Thursday’s results, some analysts also wondered whether the stalling demand has forced bigger changes to the way management thinks about its broader turn away from retailers — a core piece of its sales strategy.

Nike over recent years has embarked on a plan to rely less on shoe retailers for sales and more on sales made directly to customers through its own stores and online. But recently, it decided to start selling clothing again at Macy’s
M,
+3.58%
and shoes again at DSW, the shoe-store chain run by Designer Brands Inc.
DBI,
+4.32%
— this after ending partnerships with both retailers over the past two years.

The return to traditional retail has raised questions about whether Nike is looking to more aggressively clear product it’s had trouble selling, and whether management is re-evaluating the company’s go-it-alone sales strategy overall.

“The big question on our minds heading into [Nike’s] quarter is what is going on with the [direct-to-consumer] pivot?” Quo Vadis analyst John Zolidis said in a note on Monday. “Reopening Macy’s and DSW seems odd in context of previous dismissive statements about undifferentiated retail.”

He continued: “Further, neither of these retailers has a customer that correlates strongly with [Nike’s] highest-value segments. The easiest explanation is that [Nike] overestimated the dollars it could recapture from closed wholesale accounts and now has too much inventory it needs to clear.”

What to expect

Earnings: Analysts polled by FactSet expect Nike to earn 68 cents a share, down from 90 cents in the same quarter a year ago. Contributors to Estimize — a crowdsourcing platform that gathers estimates from Wall Street analysts as well as buy-side analysts, fund managers, company executives, academics and others — expect earnings per share of 75 cents.

Revenue: Analysts polled by FactSet expect $12.58 billion in sales for Nike. Forecasts from Estimize call for sales of $12.72 billion.

Stock price: Nike’s stock is only up 1.3% over the past 12 months. Shares got hit in September, after company executives warned of further price-cutting from rivals due to weaker demand. The stock rebounded later but gave up some gains in May. The stock was up 2% on Monday.

What analysts are saying

Nike in March said demand for product sold at full pricing remained solid. Still, sneaker chain Foot Locker Inc.
FL,
+2.09%
recently cut its outlook. Lots of Vans shoes are running at a discount, one analyst said last month, as the skater-centric brand competes with casual fare from the likes of Adidas
ADS,
+0.61%
and others.

Other analysts were also wondering about Nike’s return to Macy’s and DSW. But not everyone believed the move was a sign of deeper problems.

“Investors are worried that this is a reversal in Nike’s shift from wholesale to [direct-to-consumer], but we don’t think the strategy is broken,” BofA analyst Lorraine Hutchinson said in a research note on Wednesday. “We expect to hear an explanation of these moves on the [conference] call rather than an about-face on its focus on reducing undifferentiated wholesale.”

Still, the company faced concerns about sales abroad. Zolidis also said markets were increasingly worried about growth in China, whose recovery from pandemic lockdowns has stumbled.

“Our recent conversations with companies in China suggest that trends are mixed,” Zolidis said. “The consumer is more value oriented, and job uncertainty is higher.”

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June 29, 2023