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Shopping online has just gotten safer.
The INFORM Consumers Act, which went into effect Tuesday, aims to limit the sales of stolen and counterfeit products on e-commerce platforms.
The measure, which requires e-commerce sites to verify and disclose information about their high-volume third-party sellers, was passed into law following a lobbying campaign to address counterfeit products after being left out of the bipartisan Chips and Science Act last year.
All online marketplaces, including eBay, Etsy, Poshmark and Amazon’s third-party sales platform, will now be required to collect information from high-volume sellers, defined as those selling 200 items or more totaling at least $5,000 over the previous 12 months. These third-party sellers must submit information such as a government-issued ID, a bank-account number, a working email address and phone number, and a taxpayer identification number.
Customers will also be able to find the verified contact information for bigger third-party sellers — those with sales of over $20,000 a year — and to get in touch with them outside of the e-commerce platform. In the past, consumers often had to engage within the platform operator in order to communicate with a seller.
Those bigger sellers will also have their full names and physical addresses listed on their product pages in addition to their contact information, according to the Federal Trade Commission’s business guide.
“This is a game changer,” said Teresa Murray, director of the consumer watchdog office at U.S. PIRG, a nonprofit that lobbies on behalf of the public interest. “For bad guys, stealing items has generally been the difficult part. Selling things online once you’ve stolen them is easy. We hope that with the INFORM Act, it’s not nearly as easy in the future.”
“‘The only people opposing this may be thieves.’”
The act goes into effect just weeks before Amazon Prime Day, when the world’s biggest e-commerce site rolls out discounts for Prime members. This year, Prime Day will be held over two days, on July 11 and 12.
Also see: Amazon sued by FTC, which alleges people were ‘tricked and trapped’ into Prime subscriptions
Several e-commerce platforms, including Amazon and eBay, supported the INFORM Consumers Act. TechNet, a national network of technology CEOs and senior executives representing what it calls the innovation economy, wrote to leaders in Congress last December, saying the law would improve consumer safety and increase transparency.
In a statement provided to MarketWatch, eBay
EBAY,
said it “fully supports transparency and is committed to a safe selling and buying experience for our customers. We were proud to support” the law “to protect consumers from bad actors who seek to misuse online marketplaces, while also ensuring important protections for sellers. We are fully prepared to comply with the new law.”
Etsy
ETSY,
said it “has long been supportive of the INFORM Act passing into law, as a balanced and thoughtful approach to make the ecommerce landscape safer for both consumers and sellers.” In a statement provided to MarketWatch, the company said, “We are taking appropriate steps to comply with the INFORM Act requirements.”
Amazon
AMZN,
and Poshmark, owned by South Korea–based Naver Corp.
035420,
did not immediately respond to MarketWatch requests for comment.
Some analysts, however, said the new law lacks stronger protections that were included the SHOP SAFE Act, an earlier bill that did not get passed by Congress. The INFORM Act, they noted, does not hold online platforms liable when a third party sells harmful counterfeit products or when the platform has not followed certain best practices.
“Notably, the legislation is supported by Amazon and other marketplaces as it’s seen as a watered-down bill that would head off more stringent legislation like the SHOP SAFE Act,” Ben Koltun, director of research at Beacon Policy Advisors, wrote in a note last year.
So how can consumers spot counterfeit or stolen items? A guide from PIRG has tips, such as keeping an eye out for products with suspiciously low prices or featuring misspellings or mislabeling or low-quality, photoshopped photos in their listings.
PIRG also cautions consumers about purchasing medications online. Always check the legitimacy of online pharmacies, it says.
“Many online marketplaces haven’t been doing enough to protect consumers from sellers who appear to be peddling stolen or counterfeit goods,” Murray said. “The only people opposing this [new law] may be thieves.”
Victor Reklaitis contributed.
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This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers visit http://www.djreprints.com.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/nvidia-stock-price-ai-tesla-5af5041c
Shares of newly minted $1 trillion company
Nvidia
were taking it on the chin Monday, and investors searching for a reason should look to
Tesla
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Offshore oil drillers were about the worst place to be in 2020 as oil prices were falling and demand for crude seemed to be seeping away. Now, the stocks may be the ones to own as investors realize that oil will be needed to make the world go around for decades.
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Trading in U.S. stock option contracts has surged in 2023 as retail and institutional traders have harnessed bullish call options to chase a runaway rally in U.S. stocks, market analysts told MarketWatch.
As of Friday, 46 million option contracts linked to U.S. equity indexes, individual stocks and exchange-traded funds have traded hands every trading session on average this month, according to an analysis by Callie Cox, a U.S. equity strategist at eToro.
This means that, barring a sudden drop-off in trading activity, June is on track to be the busiest month for option traders ever, Cox said. That is particularly notable given that the summer months are typically more placid on Wall Street.
“It’s pretty incredible for a summer month. It shows how engaged investors are after such a strong rally,” said Callie Cox, a U.S. equity strategist at eToro, during an interview with MarketWatch.
Much of the demand has centered on call options: trading volume in these contracts has averaged 26 million a day so far, leaving June on track for the heaviest month of call buying since November 2021, Cox said.
Several overlapping trends have contributed to the surge in option demand, market analysts said.
Investors wary about a rally that recently carried the S&P 500 index to its highest level in 14 months have opted to buy short-dated calls. Often these are contracts tied to the S&P 500 or the index-tracking SPDR S&P 500 exchange-traded fund with less than 24 hours left until expiration, a class of options referred to as “0DTEs” for “zero days to expiration.”
Some traders see these cheap short-term bets as a particularly affordable, if risky, strategy for reaping gains as the market marches higher, according to market analysts and portfolio managers who spoke with MarketWatch.
And when stocks pull back, investors often change their strategy and instead of buying calls, opt to take advantage by buying or selling put options.
While a call represents a bet that a given index, stock or currency will rise, a put represents the opposite.
In addition to betting on calls tied to popular equity indexes and exchange-traded funds like the S&P 500 or the Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 ETF
QQQ,
investors are also scooping up bullish options tied to Nvidia Corp. and other market leaders, hoping to maximize any returns from the artificial intelligence boom.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that trading in call options tied to shares of Nvidia Corp.
NVDA,
and two other chip stocks, Advanced Micro Devices
AMD,
and Intel Corp.,
INTC,
has surged fivefold since the beginning of the year, citing data from Cboe Global Markets, owner of the world’s largest options exchange.
But demand for calls has expanded beyond megacap technology names into areas of the market that have trailed since the start of the year, including small-cap stocks and others, which have rallied in June.
The Russell 2000
RUT,
an index that tracks small-cap stocks traded in the U.S., is up nearly 5% year-to-date. As of the end of May, it was marginally negative for the year, options experts said.
“With mega cap technology leading the indexes higher, investors started to play catch-up by trying to buy the second-tier and heavily shorted companies,” said Alon Rosin, head of equity derivatives at Oppenheimer, in emailed commentary shared with MarketWatch.
This means that investors’ rush to try to keep up with the market hasn’t only benefited hot AI-stocks.
Amy Wu Silverman, head of derivatives strategy at RBC Capital Markets, made a similar observation in a recent note to clients where she pointed out that call buying has surged for both companies expected to benefit from the AI boom, as well as stocks in an RBC basket of companies that are threatened by it — stocks like Robert Half International
RHI,
Chegg Inc.
CHGG,
and Yext Inc.
YEXT,
she said.
Silverman said heavy call buying in this group is indicative of the market’s “extreme call exuberance.”
Call buying has helped send popular indicators of positioning like the put-call ratio and skew, which measures the cost of downside protection via puts vs. demand for upside exposure via calls, to their lowest levels of the year earlier this month.
“People are reaching for upside via calls, and you’re seeing skew falling due to the fact that everybody has been buying calls,” said Mark Callahan, head of trading and a portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors, during a phone interview with MarketWatch.
Callahan manages several active exchange-traded funds that require heavy option trading.
U.S. stocks have marched higher this year, with the S&P 500 rising for five straight weeks through June 16, its longest streak of weekly gains since November 2021. The Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
has seen even stronger performance, and its eight-week win streak has been heralded as the tech-heavy index’s longest rally since 2019, according to FactSet data.
The S&P 500 has risen more than 13% so far this year, while the Nasdaq has gained more than 30%. Both have erased much of their losses from 2022, which was the worst year for stocks since 2008. Last week, both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit their highest levels since April 2022.
However, there are some signs that the torrid rally might be in the midst of a pullback as the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
are all on track to finish the week lower on Friday.
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The summer haze settling over stocks doesn’t look ready to budge Thursday, with the S&P 500 index
SPX,
in the throes of its longest losing streak since May.
On the bright side, the index is looking at a 6% gain for the June quarter, whose end is just a few days away.
In other corners of the market, the quarter has been less forgiving. Consumer staples, those things you can’t live without, have lost over 1%, perhaps reflecting the tougher economic times we are living in. Within that sector, though, is beer and one name that has indeed had a quartarius horriblis.
Anheuser-Busch InBev’s
ABI,
BUD,
U.S.-listed shares are down about 15%, as Bud Light sales have tumbled following consumer backlash to a social-media campaign featuring trans activist Dylan Mulvaney in April.
But our call of the day from Deutsche Bank says it’s time to buy this unloved stock, even if those Bud Light sales never recover. A team of analysts led by Mitch Collett have upgraded Anheuser-Busch shares to buy from hold and lifted their price target to €60 euros from €59 euros (they didn’t offer an ADR price target).
Recent underperformance of the stock “implies a permanent reduction in ABI’s U.S. business. Our proprietary survey data suggests these headwinds are likely to fade even if we do not expect the U.S. business ever to fully recover from its current challenges,” said Collett.
The analysts pointed to recent Nielson data that showed ABI’s U.S. business currently down 12%, with Bud Light sales off 24% and the rest of its portfolio down 7%. But an analysis of distribution data shows ABI itself isn’t “losing shelf presence” as sales velocity is the primary driver of the decline, which bodes well if consumer sentiment improves, said Deutsche Bank.
Those declines are about a 12% headwind to ABI’s annual net income, which is in line with European underperformance seen by the stock, added Collett and the team.
Read: Bud Light dethroned as top-selling beer by Modelo, as boycott cuts into sales
Deutsche Bank conducted its own survey that showed 24% of Bud Light consumers are no longer buying that brand, with 18% buying less, but 21% buying more and 37% buying the same amount. Those findings are largely consistent with Nielson;s, said the analysts.
Deutsche Bank’s own survey also showed that 42% of Bud Light drinkers expect to be buying Bud Light again in three to six months, versus 29% who see that as unlikely. And 50% expect that battered beer’s reputation will recover in time, versus 30% who says it won’t. “We believe this bodes well for the brand, recapturing some of its lost share,” said Collett and the team.
Analysts at RBC Capital also recently pushed back on the selloff for the stock, saying the hit to the shares and forecasts for the stock are “excessive,” as they don’t see Bud Light’s troubles hurting AB InBev outside the U.S.. They said AB InBev is a “nerve-racking buying opportunity.”
Ahead of Thursday’s open, U.S.-listed Bud shares were up about 1.3%, tracking gains from its Belgian shares.
U.S. stock index futures
ES00,
NQ00,
are drifting lower, with bond yields
TMUBMUSD02Y,
TMUBMUSD10Y,
on the rise and oil prices
CL.1,
also weaker. The Norwegian krone
USDNOK,
is up 1.5% against the dollar after the country’s central bank hiked interest rates 50 basis points. Switzerland also hiked rates, but the Swiss franc is steady
USDCHF,
The British pound
GBPUSD,
is higher after the Bank of England also hiked interest rates by 50 basis points. The Turkish lira was falling slightly after the central bank, under new management, hiked interest rate to 15% from 8.5%, against forecasts for a hike to 20%.
China markets were closed for a holiday, with losses elsewhere, such as Japan
NIK,
and Australia
XJO,
For more market updates plus actionable trade ideas for stocks, options and crypto, subscribe to MarketDiem by Investor’s Business Daily.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s second day of testimony on Capitol Hill kicks off at 10 a.m. Eastern. On Wednesday, he said higher interest rates should be expected , but didn’t offer any clues on timing. U.S. weekly jobless benefit claims and current account data are due at 8:30 a.,m. ET, with leading indicators also at 10 a.m., alongside a speech from Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester. Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin will speak at 4:30 p.m.
The Bank of England will announce an interest-rate decision at 7 a.m. ET and after worse-than-expected inflation data on Wednesday, a 50 basis-point hike hasn’t been ruled out.
Darden Restaurants
DRI,
will report ahead of the open, with Smith & Wesson
SWBI,
due after the close.
Tesla stock
TSLA,
is down 2% in premarket trading on the heels of the EV maker’s worst loss in two months.
Joining recent actions by other big stakeholders cashing in on big gains for Nvidia
NVDA,
a board member just sold $51 million in stock.
A giant drilling machine is moving Stockholm toward an emissions-free future
These were the top searched tickers on MarketWatch as of 6 a.m. :
| Ticker | Security name |
|
TSLA, |
Tesla |
|
MULN, |
Mullen Automotive |
|
NVDA, |
Nvidia |
|
AMC, |
AMC Entertainment |
|
APE, |
AMC Entertainment preferred holdings |
|
NIO, |
Nio |
|
PLTR, |
Palantir Technologies |
|
MANU, |
Manchester United |
|
SPCE, |
Virgin Galactic Holdings |
|
AAPL, |
Apple |
Are Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg ready for a cage match?
It’s summertime. Let your kids get bored.
Tokyo streets now offer the chance to snuggle an alpaca
Need to Know starts early and is updated until the opening bell, but sign up here to get it delivered once to your email box. The emailed version will be sent out at about 7:30 a.m. Eastern.
Listen to the Best New Ideas in Money podcast with MarketWatch reporter Charles Passy and economist Stephanie Kelton.
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Stock futures were falling following three straight days of losses for Wall Street. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell again will be delivering testimony before Congress. His comments on Wednesday that the central bank likely would be raising rates further this year pushed markets lower.
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Chip maker
Intel
offered positive news on its foundry business Wednesday as it continues to build out new facilities to expand the custom chip-making service. Investors sold the stock anyway.
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U.S.-listed shares of Logitech International SA, a Swiss maker of computer peripherals and software, were down about 3.6% Monday, amid reports that one of the company’s gamepads was being used to steer the submersible that went missing while taking five people down to the wreck of the Titanic.
Logitech’s $30 F710 gamepad was the controller of the OceanGate submarine vessel that is the subject of a massive sea-and-air search, according to a segment on the “CBS News Sunday Morning Show” by reporter David Pogue that aired last November.
In the segment, OceanGate Chief Executive Stockton Rush, one of the five people currently onboard the submersible, showed Pogue the game controller that he said “runs the whole thing,” causing the reporter to burst out laughing.
Pogue later describes the “MacGyver jerry-riggedness” of the whole thing, which included off-the-shelf components such as lights from Camper World and construction pipes as ballast. Rush explained that other parts of the vessel were made in cooperation with Boeing, NASA and the University of Washington.
As The Verge pointed out, game controllers are used in other instances to control submarine periscopes, including by the U.S. Navy and Elon Musk’s The Boring Company.
On Monday, Pogue tweeted that during his report which was filmed last summer, the submersible got lost for a period — while he was on the surface.
In that instance, the vessel still had contact with the surface. This time, there are no communications, although a Canadian military surveillance aircraft detected underwater noises early Wednesday, as the Associated Press reported.
A statement from the U.S. Coast Guard did not elaborate on what rescuers believed the noises could be, though it offered a glimmer of hope for those lost aboard the Titan. Estimates suggested as little as a day’s worth of oxygen could be left if the vessel is still functioning.
Also on the vessel with Rush are a British adventurer, two members of a Pakistani business family and a Titanic expert.
Authorities reported the carbon-fiber vessel overdue Sunday night, setting off the search in waters about 435 miles (700 kilometers) off the coast of of St. John’s.
The submersible had a four-day oxygen supply when it was put to sea around 6 a.m. Sunday, according to David Concannon, an adviser to OceanGate Expeditions, which oversaw the mission.
Questions remain about how teams could reach the lost submersible, which could be as deep as about 12,500 feet (3,800 meters) below the surface near the watery tomb of the historic ocean liner. Newly uncovered allegations also suggested there had been significant warnings made about the vessel’s safety prior to its disappearance.
Read: Missing Titanic submersible: Here’s what we know so far
Logitech’s stock
LOGI,
is down about 18% in the month to date.
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This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers visit http://www.djreprints.com.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/stock-market-movers-fb3791aa
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Intel Corp. plans to build a “huge and unprecedented” $25 billion advanced chip manufacturing plant in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday.
The agreement in principle would see a factory in Kiryat Gat open by 2027, according to a statement from Israel’s Finance Ministry.
“This is the largest investment ever in the State of Israel,” Netanyahu’s office said in a tweet Sunday. “It is an expression of great confidence in the Israeli economy and reflects the strength of the free economy we have built, and the technological economy we’re developing here.”
Intel has operated in Israel since 1974, and has a number of facilities there.
An Intel
INTC,
spokesperson confirmed the company’s “intention to expand manufacturing capacity in Israel” in support of Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger’s “IDM 2.0” strategy, which includes expanding manufacturing capabilities around the world.
Intel is looking to reduce its reliance on Asian chip manufacturing to avoid potential snags in the global supply chain. Last week, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company announced a $4.6 billion semiconductor assembly and test facility in Poland.
Intel shares rallied to their best week in 14 years Friday, as analysts and investors expressed excitement about opportunities for AI to drive stronger growth.
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By Joe Hoppe
The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority on Friday said it has cleared Amazon.com’s proposed $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot Corp.
The regulator, which had launched an initial formal investigation in April into the takeover of the Roomba maker, concluded that the deal wouldn’t lead to competition concerns in the U.K.
The deal remains under regulatory review in other jurisdictions. In September, iRobot said the U.S. Federal Trade Commission formally requested documents from both companies explaining the deal’s purpose and rationale. A securities filing by iRobot said both companies would cooperate with the FTC’s investigation.
After an investigation, which typically takes up to a year, the FTC can sue to block a merger, seek concessions such as divestitures or decline to take action, allowing a deal to close.
“We’re working cooperatively with the relevant regulators in their review of the merger,” an Amazon spokesperson said at the time.
Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com
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Rick Diamond/Getty Images
Modelo Especial has quietly overtaken
Anheuser-Busch InBev
Bud Light as the nation’s top-selling beer, punctuating the impact of a boycott that followed the brand’s controversial promotion by a transgender activist.
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A federal judge late Tuesday approved a request by the Federal Trade Commission to temporarily block Microsoft Corp.’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc.
U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Francisco issued a temporary restraining order in order to “maintain the status quo,” and set a evidentiary hearing to be held June 22-23 on whether a preliminary injunction should be issued.
The deal was set to be finalized as soon as this Friday. Tuesday’s order said the deal may not close until at least five days after the court’s preliminary injunction ruling.
The acquisition has raised antitrust concerns that Microsoft
MSFT,
with its Xbox gaming console, could withhold hit Activision Blizzard
ATVI,
videogame franchises such as “Call of Duty” and “Overwatch” from competing console platforms.
On Monday, the FTC filed for a restraining order and injunction to block the deal, arguing “a preliminary injunction is necessary to maintain the status quo and prevent interim harm to competition.”
“This loss of competition would likely result in significant harm to consumers in multiple markets at a pivotal time for the industry,” the FTC said in its filing Monday.
In a statement Tuesday evening, a Microsoft spokesperson said: “Accelerating the legal process in the U.S will ultimately bring more choice and competition to the gaming market. A temporary restraining order makes sense until we can receive a decision from the court, which is moving swiftly.”
While EU regulators approved the deal in May, British regulators have tentatively scheduled appeal hearings after saying in April they would prohibit the purchase.
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By Joe Hoppe
Diageo said Friday that interim Chief Executive Officer Debra Crew has been appointed CEO, effective as of Thursday.
The London-based maker of Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky, Guinness stout and Smirnoff vodka had named Crew interim CEO on Monday, ahead of her planned joining date as CEO in July 1.
On Wednesday, Diageo said that longtime chief executive, Ivan Menezes, died after a short illness. He was 63.
Crew first joined the liquor giant as a nonexecutive director in 2019 before stepping down from the board the following year to lead the company’s business in North America, its largest market. She was promoted to chief operating officer in October 2022.
Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com
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Apple Inc.’s $3,499 Vision Pro headset stole the show Monday as Apple kicked off its annual WWDC event.
Chief Executive Tim Cook and other executives showed off the next chapter of Apple
AAPL,
technology — “spatial computing” — during a keynote event that failed to maintain Apple’s record stock price. Shares had been on track to close at an all-time high before the event began, but were trading in the red once the event wrapped.
While the Vision Pro and its eye-popping price tag was the biggest news from the presentation, Apple also teased forthcoming software enhancements and new Mac computers.
Here’s everything that was announced Monday.
Apple was widely expected to roll out a mixed-reality headset at Monday’s event, but the announcement still brought a few surprises.
While Apple was rumored to be planning a price tag in the range of $3,000 for its new Vision Pro headset, the actual price of $3,499 was higher. Also, Apple won’t be selling the device until early next year, later than expected, in a move that means the company will miss the holiday season.
The company spent ample time during Monday’s presentation showing off what the Vision Pro can do in terms of bringing photographs, movies and everyday web browsing into physical spaces. Though the company discussed some gaming applications, and a partnership with Unity Software Inc.
U,
executives didn’t dwell on gaming and focused the immersive experience more fully.
See MarketWatch’s enhanced coverage of the Vision Pro launch here.
Apple’s iPhone software enhancements are typically a focus of WWDC, an event aimed at developers who create apps for that and other Apple platforms. This year’s update — iOS 17 — will feature new ways to share contact information, journal and make use of the iPhone while it’s locked.
With iOS 17 this fall, Apple users will also be able to set up contact “posters” for themselves, which will appear in full screen when they call others. They’ll be able to see live transcriptions of voice mails so they can determine whether to pick up calls they initially ignored.
See MarketWatch’s full guide to the new iOS 17 features here.
Apple is making the MacBook Air bigger with a new 15-inch model that features the company’s M2 chip. This version will start at $1,299 and become officially available next week, though preorders begin today. The device gets 18 hours of battery life, is 11.5-millimeters thin and weighs just over 3 pounds.
Apple had set out to infuse its personal-computer lineup with custom chips, and the company rounded that out Monday with new Mac Pro and Mac Studio devices that feature Apple Silicon processing. The Mac Studio will start at $1,999, and the Mac Pro will begin at $6,999.
Don’t miss: AI could give a big boost to profit margins — but there’s one key unknown, Goldman Sachs says
Apple will refresh its iPad software as well, with a new custom lock screen, widget enhancements, machine-learning tools that help with PDF editing and better annotation functions for PDFs. Plus, users will be able to at last set multiple timers.
Apple plans to upgrade its Mac operating system as well with a new version that will be called Sonoma. A key feature of this update is a redesign of the widgets function, giving users the ability to place widgets on their home screens and see these automatically fade when necessary so they don’t become distracting.
The new Sonoma operating system will add various tools for web presentations, including a feature that lets people appear as overlays on top of their presentation content and new reaction animations that can show balloons and confetti in response to meeting content.
Within Safari, family members will be more easily able to share passwords. The company will also let people create separate profiles for home, work, and school use of a Mac.
Apple is adding Adaptive Audio to help AirPods users drown out distracting sounds when appropriate. The technology will proactively lower outside volume when someone is on a call and detect when someone is talking to a real-life companion in order to lower music volume for the duration of the conversation.
Within video, Apple will let people use their phone cameras to engage in FaceTime conversations shown on an Apple TV. The company will also support AirPlay connectivity at hotels.
WatchOS 10, the new Apple Watch operating system, will let users retain their aesthetic watch faces but twist the digital crown to see widgets for information like weather, timers and events. The company is also looking to make the Apple Watch more useful for cyclists with advanced tracking features. One part of this allows users to pair an iPhone and see cycling data on the phone’s lock screen, which can be useful for those who dock their phones on a bike while also wearing the watch.
Watch owners will receive a new hiking app as well, which will let users see elevation data and topographical information.
Read: Apple could be cooking up 3 more $10 billion-plus businesses, one analyst says
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Apple Inc. officially showed off its mixed-reality headset Monday, with the new Vision Pro device supporting 3-D content and featuring a price tag of $3,499.
The Vision Pro, Apple’s
AAPL,
first major new product category in eight years, will be available early next year and feature the ability for users to control the device with their hands, eyes and voice, a distinguishing feature of the headset in the current market. Chief Executive Tim Cook previewed the widely anticipated device during the keynote address of Apple’s WWDC developer event Monday.
See also: Here are all the new software features coming to Apple’s iPhone this year
Apple had been rumored for years to be developing a mixed-reality headset, which merges immersive augmented reality with real-life surroundings. Cook has long been excited about AR technology, and Monday’s event gave a sense for how he sees the theme playing into the business going forward as he announced WWDC’s “one more thing.”
“It’s the first Apple product you look through and not at,” he said, adding that Vision Pro represents “spatial computing” and brings “a new dimension to powerful personal technology.”
Users will be “no longer limited by a display,” Cook claimed.
See also: Apple CEO Tim Cook explains why consumers would want a mixed-reality headset
One key feature of the Vision Pro is the ability to see apps overlaid across real-world surroundings. Users will be able to determine how immersed they want to be by tweaking settings on a digital crown.
The device will also allow users to rely only on their eyes, hands and voice to control content. Users can flick to scroll through options and tap their fingers together to select something with gestures that Apple says are subtle. Apple showed off how users will be able to arrange apps like FaceTime and Safari and then turn to the side to switch from one app to another. Their eyes will still be visible to people engaging with them in the real world.
The company highlighted panoramic photos and noted that users will be able to capture “spatial” 3-D videos and photos using the headset. Apple teased that people would be able to make the surroundings of a plane disappear if they opted to watch 3-D video while flying.
Robert Iger, Walt Disney Co.’s
DIS,
CEO, appeared onstage to call the launch a “momentous event” that could help make Disney’s vision “a reality” through the advent of deeply immersive and personal stories. The Disney+ app will be available “on day one” through Vision Pro.
Apple explained that users can either plug the Vision Pro in or use an external battery that will provide roughly two hours of use. The display has “more panels than a 4K TV for each eye.” The Vision Pro relies on Apple’s custom processing, including a new R1 chip that the company says helps reduce latency issues, which have plagued other devices.
Users will be able to set up digital personas as part of the new visionOS operating system for the device.
With the Vision Pro, Apple is wading into a market for augmented- and virtual-reality devices that has been underwhelming thus far as products from Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
and others have failed to pick up meaningful traction with consumers. VR devices dominate the market, according to third-party data from IDC, but overall shipments plunged more than 50% in the latest quarter amid economic pressures and a general cooling of interest.
Read: Apple debuts new 15-inch MacBook Air for $1,299, adds new Mac Pro and Studio PCs
While Apple is sitting on a number of multibillion-dollar businesses now, the company’s current big moneymakers weren’t seen as slam dunks when they launched. Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani noted that critics dinged the early iPhone for a lack of third-party apps and keyboard and pointed to fading interest in watch-wearing more generally at the time the Apple Watch debuted.
Whether Apple can succeed again in making a once-questioned product category mainstream remains to be seen with the Vision Pro. The company could sell over 10 million units in the first five years, according to Daryanani, but that would make the device Apple’s slowest to ramp in the 21st century.
See more: Apple could be cooking up 3 more $10 billion-plus businesses, one analyst says
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Bud Light’s recent troubles should worsen in the summer, to the benefit of its competition’s brands, enough to turn Roth MKM analyst Bill Kirk bullish on the stocks of Constellation Brands Inc. and Boston Beer Co. Inc.
Kirk raised on Tuesday his rating on Modelo, Corona, Pacifico beer parent Constellation Brands to buy, after being at neutral since January 2021, while boosting his stock price target to $270 from $216.
Kirk said a lot of the market share Anheuser-Busch InBev SA’s Bud Light lost, amid backlash from the beer brand’s partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, went to other premium light products, but he expects that to shift to Constellation’s favor.
“As the weather warms, we expect the share gains for Modelo Especial and Corona to accelerate,” Kirk wrote in a note to clients.
Constellation Brands’ stock
STZ,
rose 1.5% in afternoon trading Tuesday toward the highest close since Dec. 12, 2022, while Anheuser-Busch shares
BUD,
slumped 4.5% toward the lowest close since Nov. 10.
He noted that weekly scanner data has shown that Constellation’s beer portfolio outperformed the broader beer market by seven percentage points in early 2023, and that outperformance improved to 10 percentage points at the beginning of Bud Light’s market-share losses in April.
“With temperatures warming and substitutability with Bud Light increasing, recent weeks have seen 13 [percentage points] of outperformance,” Kirk wrote. “This trend should continue as Bud Light [declines/peak] over summer holidays.”
For Samuel Adams, Truly, Twisted Tea parent Boston Beer, Kirk raised his rating to buy, after being at neutral for at least the past three years. He raised his stock price target to $386 from $274.
Boston Beer’s stock
SAM,
jumped 6.8% toward the highest close since Feb. 15.
Earlier this year, Kirk was concerned that Truly hard seltzer’s weakness continued, offsetting Twisted Tea’s success, and that gross margins weren’t improving even after moving more production in-house.
Read more: Bud Light crisis: It’s unclear how U.S. volume drop will end, analysts say
“Now, we believe seltzer and Truly will benefit in the summer from Bud Light share losses (occasion overlap increases with warmer weather) and gross margin lift from production shift will be realized in 2Q (given inventory days timing),” Kirk wrote.
He believes that will shift investor focus away from Truly’s weakness and toward Boston Beer’s brands that are growing.
And while Wall Street expects the trends Boston Beer saw in the first quarter to continue throughout 2023, Kirk now believes the company will beat expectations for shipments and depletions, and sees opportunities for margins to also beat forecasts.
“While we had written at 1Q that the ‘timing of upside surprises remains unclear,’ we now believe the timing is Summer 2023,” Kirk wrote.
Constellation Brands’ stock has gained 5.7% over the past three months and Boston Beer shares have advanced 4.8%, while Anheuser-Busch’s stock has dropped 10.1% and the S&P 500 index
SPX,
has gained 5.9%.
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By Mauro Orru
Nestle appointed Anna Manz from the London Stock Exchange Group to succeed Francois-Xavier Roger as chief financial officer after he decided to step down in pursuit of new professional challenges.
The Swiss packaged-foods giant said Tuesday that Manz would take over as soon as she is released from her present duties as chief financial officer and board member at the London Stock Exchange Group. Roger will remain in place until then, Nestle said.
“Anna has spent her career growing businesses and improving operational efficiencies,” said Chief Executive Mark Schneider. “Her deep knowledge of the consumer goods industry, combined with her extensive experience across many corporate functions, make her uniquely positioned to help lead Nestle into its next phase of value creation.”
Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com; @MauroOrru94
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