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Tag: Consumer Products

  • 5 things not to buy in 2023

    5 things not to buy in 2023

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    It’s been a year of contradictions.

    The recession drum beats on, interest rates are rising, and the stock market has taken a tumble, and yet retail sales have risen 6.5% in the last 12 months, trailing a 7.1% increase in the cost of living.

    There are other reasons people should consider cutting back on spending in 2023. The personal saving rate — meaning personal saving as a percentage of disposable income, or the share of income left after paying taxes and spending money — hit 2.4% in the third quarter from 3.4% in the prior quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said.

    “There are signs that people are pulling back on certain expenditures. ”

    That is the lowest level since the Great Recession and the eighth-lowest quarterly rate on record (since 1947). Adjusted for inflation, savings are down 88% from their 2020 peak and 61% lower than before the pandemic, according to government data. The personal saving rate hit 2.4% in November vs. 2.2% in October. 

    Are people buying stocks during a bearish market, and/or have they run out of their pandemic-era savings? Whatever the reasons, more judicious investing and spending decisions seem to be the most prudent approach — especially given the uncertain economic outlook for 2023.

    There are signs that people are already pulling back on certain expenditures. Although retail sales are up on the year, they did decline 0.6% month-on-month in November to mark their biggest decline in almost a year, largely because of weak car sales.

    About those new cars: New-vehicle total sales for 2022 are projected to reach 13,687,000 units, down 8.4% on the year, according to a joint forecast from J.D. Power and LMC Automotive. MarketWatch reporter Philip van Doorn explains all the reasons why you may wish to skip buying a new car in 2023, in addition to their rising prices.

    So what else should you save your money on in 2023? MarketWatch writers give their verdict below.

    SPACs

    During the pandemic, people loved to buy special purpose acquisitions companies, known as SPACs. In 2021, 613 SPACs listed on U.S. stock exchanges through initial public offerings, according to SPAC Insider. The year before, there were 248 SPAC IPOs. There had never been more than 100 of these before in a single year. There were SPACs associated with Donald Trump and Serena Williams. There were so many, that one was called Just Another Acquisition Corp. 

    SPACs exist as a means to take private companies public, and theoretically give these shell companies a faster and less regulatory burdensome means to access public capital. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission warned investors last April that so-called advantages of the SPAC process, such as reduced legal liability, may not prove to be so solid if tested in court.

    The SPACs raised money even though they had no commercial operations or business, and tried to use the cash to buy something that did exist. But investors who bought SPACs that merged with private companies since 2015 have suffered losses of 37%, on average, a year after the merger, according to a recent study.  The SPAC and New Issue ETF 
    SPCX,
    +0.37%
    has slipped 12% this year. The frenzy for SPACs has predictably gone bust. But if you see one, just stay away from it.

    — Nathan Vardi

    Crypto 

    There are two main reasons not to invest in cryptocurrency in 2023, and neither has to do with the precipitous drop in value for most of the major coins in the last year, including but not limited to bitcoin
    BTCUSD,
    -1.11%    ,
    ethereum
    ETHE,
    -2.71%
    and tether
    USDTUSD,
    -0.02%    .
    Investors have long been conditioned to buy the dip and find value where others fear to tread, and then make money on the upswing. 

    Crypto is different because there’s no correlation to long-held market theories, and buying it amounts more to speculation than to investing. That might seem semantic, but if you look at financial planning holistically, then you treat investing as an exercise in risk tolerance — and crypto is all risk. 

    Which leads to the other main reason to avoid crypto in the next year: If you do buy it, there’s really no safe way to store it. There’s no federal insurance covering exchange failures and little cyber-theft protection for individuals. That leaves you on your own, which is not a good place to be with your money.

    — Beth Pinsker

    Meta Quest headsets

    On the consumer front, if you’re really into virtual reality, there is nothing wrong with jumping on the new Meta Quest two and Meta Quest Pro headsets that were introduced in 2022 by Meta Platforms Inc. 
    META,
    -0.78%    .

    The problem is that you might feel like you bought a BlackBerry
    BB,
    -3.42%
    phone in early 2007. Apple Inc.
    AAPL,
    -1.40%
    is expected to finally show off what engineers at the Silicon Valley giant have been cooking up in a years-long project to jump into augmented and virtual reality, and consumers are expected to at least get a glimpse at Apple’s attempt this year, if not a chance to buy whatever the company produces. 

    The headsets don’t come cheap: Meta said earlier this year it was raising the price of Meta Quest 2 headsets by $100 to $399.99 (128GB) and $499.99 (256GB). The iPhone’s introduction 15 years ago changed the way people look at smartphones, and Apple’s expected jump into this field in 2023 could leave anyone who spent their money on a Meta Quest headset wishing for a new reality.

    — Jeremy Owens

    Meme stocks 

    Struggling companies with business models that appear to some to be dying and/or struggling do not generally perform well in the stock market. But during the pandemic these companies often had stocks that soared. What drove them was social media sentiment, driven on platforms like Reddit, by a swarm of retail investors. 

    There was video game retailer GameStop
    GME,
    -7.42%    ,
    movie theater chain AMC
    AMC,
    -8.43%    ,
    and smartphone dinosaur Blackberry. AMC recently announced the sale of another $110 million in stock, adding to a total that has already exceeded $2 billion since the theater chain got swept up into meme-stock madness. CEO Adam Aron wrote on Twitter that the move put the company “in a much stronger cash position.”

    GameStop recently reported its seventh consecutive quarterly loss and reiterated its goal of returning to profitability in the near term, but analysts have signaled that many challenges lie ahead. During the company’s recent third-quarter conference call, Chief Executive Officer Matt Furlong said that GameStop would be open to exploring acquisitions of a strategic asset or complimentary business if they were available “in the right price range.”

    Buying meme companies like this worked for some in a booming stock market fueled by ultra-low interest rates. But we are now in a bear market with interest rates that are elevated. Corporate fundamentals are back in vogue. So are quaint investment ideas like cashflow. More likely than not, the days of buying meme stocks are over.

    — Nathan Vardi

    Tesla cars

    In recent years, Tesla Inc.
    TSLA,
    -8.25%
    has stood alone as the best option for electric vehicles, while other manufacturers struggled to get production running. But in 2023, there should be many more types of electric cars available, at prices that are expected to trend downward as the year goes along. Teslas range in price from $46,990 for the Tesla Model 3 to $138,880 for the Tesla Model X Plaid. 

    With major manufacturers such as General Motors Co.
    GM,
    -0.73%    ,
    Ford Motor Co.
    FORD,
    -2.68%    ,
    Toyota Corp. and Volkswagen
    VOW,
    -0.77%
    VLKAF,
    -1.15%
    jumping into the fray, and young Tesla wannabes like Rivian Automotive Inc.
    RIVN,
    -7.11%    ,
    Lucid Group Inc.
    LCID,
    -7.24%
    and FIsker Inc.
    FSR,
    -6.19%
     expected to start producing cars, consumers will have many more options for EVs. 

    Meanwhile, Tesla has done little to update the Model 3 since it was introduced in 2017, and has increased prices at a level that Chief Executive Elon Musk has admitted is “embarrassing” for a company that claimed to have a goal of mass-market pricing for EVs. 

    The average price of a new EV is $64,249, while a new gas car is $48,281, according to​​ Liz Najman, a climate scientist and communications and research manager at Recurrent Auto, an EV research and analytics firm focused on the used-vehicle market. After years of not having much choice beyond Tesla for EVs, 2023 appears to be the year that changes.

    — Jeremy Owens

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  • No directive: FBI agents, tech executives deny government ordered Twitter to suppress Hunter Biden story | CNN Politics

    No directive: FBI agents, tech executives deny government ordered Twitter to suppress Hunter Biden story | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Internal Twitter communications released by the company’s new owner and CEO, Elon Musk, are fueling intense scrutiny of the FBI’s efforts alongside social media companies to thwart foreign disinformation in the run-up to the 2020 election.

    At the heart of the controversy is Twitter’s decision in October 2020 to block users from sharing a New York Post story containing material from a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden. Conservative critics have accused Twitter of suppressing the story at the behest of the FBI, something they claim the released communications, dubbed the “Twitter Files,” demonstrate.

    Musk himself has alleged the communications show government censorship, suggesting Twitter acted “under orders from the government” when it suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story.

    But so far, none of the released messages explicitly show the FBI telling Twitter to suppress the story. In fact, the opposite view emerges from sworn testimony by an FBI agent at the center of the controversy. And in interviews with CNN, half a dozen tech executives and senior staff, along with multiple federal officials familiar with the matter, all deny any such directive was given.

    “We would never go to a company to say you need to squelch this story,” said one former FBI official who helped oversee the government’s cooperation with companies including Twitter, Google and Facebook.

    Musk and his conservative allies have insinuated the released messages provide evidence of illicit behavior by the FBI, suggesting the exchange of secret files pertaining to Hunter Biden, and improper payments made to Twitter. But CNN’s interviews with people directly involved with the interactions and with those who have reviewed the documents disprove those claims.

    Matt Taibbi, one of the journalists Musk tapped this month to comb through Twitter internal messages for evidence of free speech violations, said himself on December 2 that “there is no evidence – that I’ve seen – of any government involvement in the laptop story.”

    What is clear, however, is that following Russia’s meddling campaign in 2016, plus after years of interactions with federal agents about how to spot foreign disinformation efforts, Twitter executives were hyper suspicious of anything that looked like foreign influence and were primed to act, even without direction from the government.

    By the time the New York Post published its laptop story on October 14, 2020, Yoel Roth, Twitter’s then head of site integrity, had spent two years meeting with the FBI and other government officials. He was prepared for some kind of hack and leak operation.

    “There were lots of reasons why the entire industry was on alert,” Roth said at a conference in November, not long after he resigned from Twitter. Roth insists he was not in favor of blocking the story and thought the company’s decision was a mistake.

    As the released communications show, Twitter initially acted to suppress the story for a few days in part out of concerns that Hunter Biden, the son of the then-Democratic presidential candidate, was being targeted as part of a foreign election interference operation similar to the one Russia carried out in 2016.

    What Twitter did not know at the time was that Hunter Biden was the subject of a federal criminal investigation. Since as early as 2018, the Justice Department has been investigating Hunter Biden for his business activities in foreign countries. In late 2019, nearly a year before the story first emerged in the New York Post, the FBI had used a subpoena to obtain a laptop that Biden allegedly left behind at a Delaware computer repair store.

    According to sources at the FBI and at Twitter who spoke to CNN, none of that information was disclosed to Twitter executives trying to decide how to treat the laptop story, nor to anyone else for that matter.

    “It was an ongoing investigation, so I would never approve of talking about it,” said the former FBI official.

    While the released Twitter messages have yet to reveal a smoking gun showing the government ordered a social media company to suppress a story, Republicans on Capitol Hill say there are enough questions raised by the internal communications to merit calling tech executives to testify.

    Scrutiny is building around the role of Twitter’s recently-fired deputy general counsel James Baker, a former top FBI official who joined Twitter in the summer of 2020. The released documents show Baker was in regular contact with his former colleagues at the FBI, giving rise to rampant accusations from conservatives that he was the conduit for the government to pressure Twitter.

    In some of the material released by Twitter, an email shows Baker setting up a meeting – in the midst of Twitter’s internal deliberations about how to handle the New York Post story – with Matthew Perry, an attorney in the FBI’s Office of General Counsel. It is not clear what the two discussed.

    The FBI declined to discuss any communications Baker had with FBI officials once he arrived at Twitter.

    Baker is among a number of former Twitter executives called to testify this month by Republican Rep. James Comer, the incoming chair of the House Oversight Committee. Baker declined to comment for this story.

    Rep. James Comer (R-KY) attends a House Oversight Committee hearing on July 27, 2022

    Comer also wants to hear from several former US intelligence officials who, days after the laptop story broke, wrote an open letter saying it had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” The group of former officials who signed the letter included former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who, as a CNN contributor, appeared on the network to express his view.

    Though the former officials admitted, “we do not have evidence of Russian involvement,” their letter set the tone for much of the early discussion and coverage of the laptop.

    In a statement to CNN, the FBI said, “The correspondence between the FBI and Twitter show nothing more than examples of our traditional, longstanding and ongoing federal government and private sector engagements, which involve numerous companies over multiple sectors and industries. As evidenced in the correspondence, the FBI provides critical information to the private sector in an effort to allow them to protect themselves and their customers.

    “The men and women of the FBI work every day to protect the American public. It is unfortunate that conspiracy theorists and others are feeding the American public misinformation with the sole purpose of attempting to discredit the agency.”

    Among the messages given the most attention from Musk and other critics are a series of emails between Roth and Elvis Chan, an FBI special agent based in San Francisco, where he focuses on cybersecurity and foreign influence on social media. On October 13, the day before New York Post story published, Chan instructed Roth to download ten documents on a secure portal.

    Roth responded, “received and downloaded – thanks!”

    Michael Shellenberger, who is among those Musk has entrusted with access to the internal messages, wrote about the Chan communication with Roth. Shellenberger does not describe the contents of the files, but he does insinuate that the timing of the message suggests Chan was secretly providing Roth information about the Hunter laptop.

    At the FBI’s headquarters in Washington, a team reviewing the internal communications released by Musk says it has identified the 10 documents Chan sent to Roth. “I reviewed all 10 of these documents personally and I can say explicitly there is nothing in these 10 documents about Hunter Biden’s laptop or about any related story to that,” an FBI official involved in the review told CNN.

    The official said eight of the documents pertained to “malign foreign influence actors and activities,” the FBI’s terminology for foreign government election meddling. The official said the other two documents were posts on Twitter the FBI flagged as potential evidence of election-related crimes, such as voter suppression activities.

    Another interaction that has drawn suspicion is an internal message from early 2021 that Shellenberger cites showing that the FBI paid Twitter $3.4 million beginning October 2019. In the message, an unnamed associate emails Baker saying, “I am happy to report we have collected $3,415,323 since October 2019!”

    The FBI says the bureau is obligated under federal law to reimburse companies for the cost they incur to satisfy subpoenas and other legal requests as part of the FBI’s investigative work.

    The FBI describes its discussions with Twitter as the type of information-sharing that Congress and both the Trump and Biden administrations encouraged to help tech companies and social media platforms protect themselves and their users. The released messages appear to show that FBI officials repeatedly noted that it was up to the content moderators at the company to take action if a post violated their rules.

    “All the information exchanged is about the actors and their activity,” a second FBI official who reviewed the communications told CNN. “What we are not providing is specifics about the content and the narrative. We are also not directing the platforms to do anything. We are just providing it for them to do as they see fit under their own terms of service to protect their platforms and customers.”

    After the 2016 election, social media executives knew they had a problem. Russian operatives had used their platforms to run a massive covert influence campaign to help elect Donald Trump, using bots to spread disinformation and sow division among Americans.

    To prepare for the next election, the executives set about bolstering their internal controls, including hiring former law enforcement and intelligence officials. But they also knew they had to forge a closer relationship with the US government to help root out foreign trolls and sources of disinformation.

    President Donald Trump chats with Russia's President Vladimir Putin at a summit in 2017.

    What followed were a series of regular meetings with federal agents that began in May 2018.

    The released communications as well as interviews with people involved in the meetings portray routine, friendly and sometimes tense contacts between company executives and the government officials with whom they regularly interacted. Among the released communications are lively exchanges between Twitter and the FBI, revealing some of the sensitivities — and tensions — at play as the government and Silicon Valley slowly figured out how to work together.

    One former FBI official who spoke to CNN recalls that tech executives would insist on meetings away from their campuses, in part because government agents weren’t welcome. Feelings in Silicon Valley toward the intelligence community were still raw since the Edward Snowden leaks detailed a vast data collection apparatus that targeted the tech companies.

    “Early on, who hosted the meeting was also a political football,” said a person familiar with the meetings between the government and Silicon Valley. “Each company wanted someone else to. There were worries about employees seeing a bunch of feds and leaking it in an inaccurate way.”

    One tech source, however, dismissed this and said companies offered their offices for the meetings out of a shared sense of responsibility.

    Nevertheless, the meetings went ahead. The first one took place at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park. Later meetings were held at Twitter and LinkedIn’s offices, a person familiar with the meetings told CNN.

    Some of the early interactions were terse. Reports published by CNN and other news organizations described complaints from some tech executives that the FBI was sharing only limited information, useless to help the companies protect their platforms.

    A telling moment came early on when a government lawyer lectured tech executives about the limits on what the government can do to help, multiple people who attended the meeting told CNN. One Silicon Valley executive described how the lawyer gave a 20-minute speech about the First Amendment and insisted that “government representatives can’t tell the companies to take any content down.”

    Former Twitter employees and FBI officials involved say that by 2020, their discussions had become better coordinated and useful to both sides. One indicator of how advantageous the relationship had become: By 2020, Facebook was issuing press releases about some of the discussions.

    Musk and other critics of the interactions point to released messages that they claim show a cozy relationship between the government and Twitter. But the messages also show Roth, Twitter’s then head of site integrity, repeatedly pushing back against asks from the FBI.

    At various points, the Twitter communications show Roth resisting pressure to reveal certain information about users absent a formal legal request, such as which third-party VPN services were used by some account-holders to access Twitter.

    Yoel Roth

    Roth also shut down a request that the company share more of its data with intelligence officials.

    Others within Twitter noted the US government’s interest in Twitter’s data and urged colleagues to “stay connected and keep a solid front against these efforts.”

    Conservative critics continue to blame Roth for Twitter’s suppression of the laptop story, but he insists he didn’t make the final call and says he thought it was a mistake. “It is widely reported that I personally directed the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story,” Roth said last month. “It is absolutely, unequivocally untrue.”

    Exactly who in Twitter’s leadership ultimately made the call to block the story remains unclear.

    In December 2020, Roth gave a sworn declaration to the Federal Election Commission saying the government had warned of expected hack-and-leak incidents targeting people associated with political campaigns. Roth said that he learned in the meetings with government agencies there were “rumors that a hack-and-leak operation would involve Hunter Biden.”

    Roth did not point to the government as the source of the rumor, but his claim that law enforcement agencies gave general warnings about disinformation campaigns dovetails with recent testimony from Chan, the FBI agent who played a key role in the meetings.

    Chan was deposed this year as part of a lawsuit brought by the Missouri attorney general alleging government censorship of social media. Chan disputed that the government told social media companies to “expect” hack-and-leak campaigns, saying that it would have only warned companies it was a possibility.

    That Hunter Biden might be the target of a hack-and-leak operation was being publicly discussed at the time, after it emerged that Burisma Holdings, a company he worked with in Ukraine had reportedly been hacked by Russian military intelligence early in 2020.

    Chan also testified that government agents never raised Hunter Biden specifically, and that his name came up only when a Facebook analyst asked specifically for relevant information. An FBI agent in the meeting declined to answer, Chan recalled, adding that she was likely not authorized to address the question because at the time the FBI had not publicly confirmed its Hunter Biden investigation.

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  • Consumer sentiment creeps up at year end as worries about inflation ease

    Consumer sentiment creeps up at year end as worries about inflation ease

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    The numbers: A survey of consumer sentiment rose to 59.7 in December, buoyed by falling gas prices and a rebound in stocks earlier in the month. Yet Americans are generally pessimistic about the economy.

    The final reading in the sentiment poll marked a small increase from the initial 59.1 result earlier in the month, the University of Michigan reported.

    The index increased from 56.8 in November.

    Consumer sentiment is still extremely weak, however. The index fell to a record low of 50 in June, just half as much as the 101 reading in the last month before the pandemic in 2020.

    Key details: A gauge that measures what consumers think about their financial situation — and the current health of the economy — rose slightly to 59.4 last month. One year ago, the index stood much higher at 74.2.

    Another measure that asks about expectations for the next six months registered 59.9, up from 55.6 in November. It was also well below year-ago levels, though.

    Americans view inflation as somewhat less of a threat. They expect the inflation rate in the next year to average about 4.4%, compared to 4.9% in the prior month.

    In the longer run, consumers see inflation falling toward 2.9%.

    Top Federal Reserve officials pay close attention to inflation expectations because it could be a harbinger of future price trends.

    The current 12-month rate of inflation is 7.1%, based on the consumer-price index. It’s fallen from a peak of 9.1% last summer.

    Big picture: Falling gas prices and a slowdown in inflation have given consumers something to cheer about during the holidays. But they consumers are worried about what the future will bring.

    The Federal Reserve is rapidly raising interest rates to slow inflation even further, but higher borrowing costs are weakening the economy. That’s likely to result in rising unemployment in 2023 — and perhaps even a recession.

    Looking ahead: “While the sizable decline in short-run inflation expectations may be welcome news, consumers continued to exhibit substantial uncertainty over the future path of prices,” said survey director Joanne Hsu.

    Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA,
    +0.53%
    and S&P 500
    SPX,
    +0.59%
    XXX in Friday trades.

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  • High U.S. inflation is on the wane, PCE price gauge shows

    High U.S. inflation is on the wane, PCE price gauge shows

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    The numbers: A key gauge of U.S. prices rose just 0.1% in November, marking the fifth month in a row in which inflation eased after peaking at a 40-year high over the summer.

    The yearly rate of inflation, meanwhile, slowed to 5.5% in November from 6.1% in the prior month, based on the personal consumption expenditures index. That’s the smallest increase since October 2021.

    Key details: The PCE index is viewed by the Federal Reserve as the best measure of inflation, especially the core gauge that strips out volatile food and energy costs.

    The core index rose 0.2% last month, matching Wall Street’s forecast.

    The increase in the core rate of inflation in the past 12 months relaxed to 4.7% from 5%. That’s also the lowest level since October 2021..

    Unlike it’s better-known cousin, the consumer price index, the PCE gauge takes into account how consumers change their buying habits due to rising prices.

    They might substitute cheaper goods such as ground beef for more expensive ones like ribeye to keep costs down. Or buy no-name denims instead of more fashionable jeans.

    The CPI showed inflation rising at a 7.1% yearly rate in November.

    Big picture: The rate of inflation is coming down, but not fast enough for the Fed.

    The central bank is worried a prolonged bout of high inflation could spur workers to keep asking for higher and higher wages, making it harder to get prices back under control. The cost of labor is the biggest expense for most companies.

    The Fed plans to raise interest rates even higher to slow the economy enough to alleviate upward wage pressures, a strategy that’s bound to raise unemployment and potentially trigger a recession.

    Looking ahead: “The economy is moving in the right direction from the Federal Reserve’s perspective at the end of 2022, but not quickly enough,” said chief economist Gus Faucher of PNC Financial Services. “The Fed is concerned that strong wage growth will lead to persistent increases in services prices and high overall inflation.”

    Read: Inflation appears to be slowing, but the Fed isn’t turning down the heat

    Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA,
    +0.53%
    and S&P 500
    SPX,
    +0.59%
    were set to open higher in Friday trades.

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  • Consumer spending barely rose at start of U.S. holiday shopping season

    Consumer spending barely rose at start of U.S. holiday shopping season

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    The numbers: Consumer spending rose a tepid 0.1% in November, suggesting greater caution by households and heavy discounting in the holiday shopping season.

    Analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a 0.2% increase.

    Incomes climbed 0.4% last month, the government said Friday, a bit faster than the rate of inflation.

    Key details: Americans spent less on goods in November, especially new cars and trucks. Higher interest rates have put a dent in car sales while excess inventories forced companies to cut the prices of other products.

    Consumers may have also started their holiday shopping early, economists say. Spending rose a sharper 0.9% in October.

    Spending on services, meanwhile, increased again. Americans are spending more on things like recreation and travel and not buying as many goods as they were during the pandemic when they were cooped up at home.

    The U.S. savings rate rate edged up to 2.4% last month from 2.2%, which was the second lowest savings rate on record going back to 1959.

    Households have dipped into their savings to support their spending habits because incomes are not rising as fast as inflation.

    The so-called PCE price index is up 5.5% in the past year. And the better known consumer price index has risen 7.1% in the same span.

    Big picture:  Consumer spending is the main engine of the economy, but it might be starting to sputter in the face of rising interest rates. The Federal Reserve has jacked up rates to try to tame inflation.

    What’s likely to keep spending going up for the time being is a strong jobs market. If layoffs increase and unemployment rises, however, the economy is bound to suffer.

    Higher borrowing costs depress the economy by making it more expensive to buy a home or car or take out a loan.

    Looking ahead: “It seems reasonable to expect people to become more cautious, now that they have run down about half of their accumulated pandemic savings, and labor market conditions are softening,” said chief economist Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics.

    Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA,
    +0.53%
    and S&P 500
    SPX,
    +0.59%
    were set to open higher in Friday trades.

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  • The best food marketing stunts of the year | CNN Business

    The best food marketing stunts of the year | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Comically oversized snack foods. A cocktail infused with processed cheese. And a fine dining establishment for feline lovers.

    In 2022, there were plenty of restaurants, food manufacturers and at least one artist collective that tried to break through with their shenanigans.

    These food stunts were often outrageous and sometimes regrettable. But only a few unleashed items that made us say, “wait, what? Why would you do that? Who would eat that?” And, occasionally: “that actually sounds pretty good.”

    Here’s what caught our attention this year.

    Over the summer, Kraft Heinz

    (KHC)     introduced a new cocktail: The Veltini, a martini made with Velveeta-infused vodka, olive brine and vermouth, garnished with Velveeta-stuffed olives and Velveeta-stuffed shells. The concoction was available for a limited time at BLT steakhouses in New York, Washington, D.C., Charlotte and elsewhere.

    The drink was part of Kraft Heinz’s broader efforts to reinvigorate the Velveeta brand after it saw sales of the processed cheese jump during the pandemic. To help Velveeta stage a comeback, the brand launched a new ad campaign, made tweaks to its logo and sold a cheese-scented nail polish.

    The Veltini made a splash, even though (or perhaps because) those brave enough to try it were unenthused.

    One Washington Post writer said it looked “like a deranged cheese monster, with olives as beady eyes and a dripping Velveeta cheese rim as a lopsided mouth.” The Today Show’s Hoda Kotb tried it on air, reluctantly, and was not a fan. “Yuck,” she said, “No, girl, no.” Her co-host, Jenna Bush Hager, said it wasn’t bad.

    This cereal is supposed to be eaten with orange juice.

    To be clear, this isn’t orange juice cereal: It’s cereal designed to be eaten with orange juice instead of milk. OJ-maker Tropicana sold the honey almond cereal for a limited time in May in honor of National Orange Juice Day.

    The brand acknowledged that people might not be into the combination. “Whether you hate it or love it, you won’t know until you try it,” Tropicana said. “It may not be for everyone.”

    One reviewer who gave the franken-breakfast a shot described it as “​​not bad,” adding “I can’t imagine eating a bowl of this every day.”

    Plus, she said, it didn’t taste like it was supposed to go with orange juice specifically. “There’s absolutely nothing different from other cereals.”

    Oscar Maye's

    In August, Oscar Mayer, also owned by Kraft Heinz, introduced the “Cold Dog”: A hot-dog flavored popsicle. The item was sold for a limited time at Popbar locations in New York City, New Orleans and elsewhere.

    The idea came from a June Instagram post by Oscar Mayer which asked followers whether the idea was “genius” or “stupid.” Comments on the post range from horrified to intrigued. Enough people were interested to give Oscar Mayer the green light.

    “After the overwhelming fan excitement for our beloved Cold Dog, it was a no-brainer to make this hot dog-inspired frozen pop a reality,” Anne Field, an Oscar Mayer spokesperson, said in a press release at the time.

    So how did it taste? In at least one reviewer’s opinion, pretty good.

    “I was beyond skeptical of how they could make a hot dog popsicle taste good. And somehow, they managed to do it!” according to a writer at Delish, who noted that Popbar uses gelato as the base for its pops. “The gelato is extremely creamy and has a strong smokey flavor that balances out the popsicle’s delicate sweetness. The sweet ‘mustard’ drizzle makes it taste more like a proper ice cream.”

    A Big Cheez-It is 16 times larger than a regular Cheez-It.

    In late June, Taco Bell tested out an item called a “Big Cheez-It Tostada.” As the name implies, it’s a tostada which used a Big Cheez-It — specifically, a Cheez-It 16 times larger than a regular one — as its base. The chain also tested out a “Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap Supreme,” which included the giant Cheez-It within the wrap.

    The items were available for a limited-time at one Taco Bell location. On July 3, within a week of the launch, Taco Bell reported that the items had already sold out. “The Big Cheez-It Tostada and Big Cheez-It Crunchwrap are in such Big demand that our limited offer is no longer available,” the chain said.

    Reviewers who tried the item were mixed. “Very cheesy, mmm” said one. Another concluded that “it’s not bad, it’s just weird.” Some noted that the Cheez-It, big though it may be, was not strong enough to maintain the weight of the toppings.

    A large Cheez-It was also utilized by Pizza Hut in 2019, when the pizza chain introduced its stuffed Cheez-It pizza. The limited-time item included “four baked jumbo squares” stuffed with cheese or pepperoni and cheese, and came with a side of marinara sauce for dipping.

    We're gonna need a bigger boat.

    Unlike the Big Cheez-It Tostada, the Big Froot Loop is an unauthorized creation, made by the artist collective MSCHF.

    The loop weighs nearly half a pound, is 930 calories and recently went on sale for $19.99. MSCHF tried to make the big loop taste as much as possible like the real thing, according to MSCHF’s co-founder Daniel Greenberg.

    “We look at things in culture and figure out how to make a twist on it,” Greenberg previously told CNN. The thinking behind the project was straightforward: “Let’s make a big f—ing fruit loop and that was it.” According to the MSCHF site, the item, which went on sale December 19, is already sold out.

    Kellogg’s, which makes actual Froot Loops, was not into it.

    “Kellogg Company does not have a relationship with MSCHF and we were not involved in the creation of the Big Fruit Loop,” Kellogg spokesperson Kris Bahner previously told CNN in a statement. “The campaign does not accurately depict the Kellogg’s brand.”

    Bahner added that “given the trademark infringement and unauthorized use of our brand, we have reached out to the company seeking an amicable resolution.”

    A dish at

    Over the summer, Fancy Feast invited people to answer the question: What does cat food taste like? Well, sort of.

    The cat food maker briefly opened a restaurant called “Gatto Bianco by Fancy Feast” in New York City in August. Gatto Bianco was open for just two nights, with four seatings per night.

    The restaurant dishes drew inspiration from Fancy Feast Medleys, cat food that is itself inspired by human food like salmon primavera and turkey florentine. The restaurant’s menu was created by Amanda Hassner, in-house chef for Fancy Feast, as well as restaurateur Cesare Casella, a Michelin star winner, according to a Fancy Feast press release.

    “Food has the power to connect us to others in meaningful ways and take us to places we have never been,” Hassner said in a statement at the time. “The same is true for our cats.”

    Hassner added that “the dishes at Gatto Bianco are prepared in ways that help cat owners understand how their cats experience food — from flavor, to texture, to form.” On the menu, according to OpenTable, were baked sea bass, spare ribs, salmon, braised beef and for dessert, panna cotta, almond cake and affogato.

    A Mashable reporter dined at the exclusive restaurant and reported that “the food is tasty,” and the atmosphere feline. “The design of the restaurant itself is practically an Instagram installation for the cat-obsessed, complete with ornate cat wallpaper, gold-embellished Fancy Feast cloth napkins, and cat art (as in, artwork of cats, not art made by cats).”

    Papa Bowls are all topping, no crust.

    As a permanent addition to the Papa Johns menu, the no-crust, toppings-only Papa Bowls are technically not a stunt.

    But the menu offering was so polarizing when it launched in August that we had to give it a nod.

    The bowls were devised to help combat pandemic-induced pizza fatigue by giving Papa Johns customers an option that was, let’s say, pizza adjacent. The company also hoped that the bowls would eliminate the “veto vote,” when a restaurant is ruled out because it doesn’t have enough options for everyone in the dining party.

    The bowls come in three varieties: Chicken Alfredo; Italian Meats Trio with pepperoni, sausage and meatballs; and Garden Veggie. There’s also a build-your-own option.

    The announcement made quite a splash. Comedian Jon Stewart, who has made repeated jabs at Arby’s, said he owed an apology to the chain upon seeing news of the Papa Bowl. At least one YouTube reviewer panned the bowls, saying it was gross and slimy. But some people thought it was a good idea.

    And during a November analyst call, Papa Johns CEO Rob Lynch said the bowls are “performing well and in line with our expectations.”

    — Zoe Sottile and CNN’s Jordan Valinsky contributed to this report.

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  • Japan’s consumer inflation hits fresh 40-year high | CNN Business

    Japan’s consumer inflation hits fresh 40-year high | CNN Business

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    Japan’s core consumer inflation hit a fresh four-decade high as companies continued to pass on rising costs to households, data showed, a sign price hikes were broadening and could keep the central bank under pressure to whittle down massive stimulus.

    Months before Tuesday’s surprise tweak to its yield control policy, Bank of Japan (BOJ) policymakers had discussed the potential market impact of a future exit from ultra-low interest rates, minutes of their October meeting showed Friday.

    While many retailers plan further hikes for food products next year, the outlook for inflation and the timing of any further BOJ policy tweaks are muddled by the risk of global recession and uncertainty over the pace of wage hikes, analysts say.

    “The hurdle for policy normalization isn’t low. The global economy may worsen in the first half of next year, making it hard for the BOJ to take steps that can be interpreted as monetary tightening,” said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.

    Japan’s core consumer price index (CPI), which excludes volatile fresh food but includes energy costs, rose 3.7% in November from a year earlier, data showed Friday, matching market forecasts and perking up from a 3.6% gain in October.

    It was the biggest rise since a 4.0% jump seen in December 1981, when inflation was still high from the impact of the 1979 oil shock and a booming economy.

    Aside from utility bills, prices rose for a broad range of goods from fried chicken, smartphones to air conditioners, in a sign of mounting inflationary pressure, the data showed.

    Many analysts expect core consumer inflation to slow back near the BOJ’s 2% target next year, as the base effect of past fuel price spikes dissipates and the impact of government subsidies to curb electricity prices take effect from February.

    But an index stripping away such one-off factors may remain elevated and keep pressure on the BOJ to remain vigilant to the chance of a demand-driven rise in inflation.

    The so-called “core-core” index, which excludes both fresh food and energy prices, rose 2.8% in November from a year earlier, accelerating from a 2.5% increase in October.

    The rise in the core-core index, which the BOJ closely watches as a gauge of demand-driven inflation, highlights how inflationary pressure is building in once deflation-prone Japan and could persist well into next year.

    Already, companies expect to hike prices for 7,152 food products in the first four months of 2023, more than double the number of the same period this year, research firm Teikoku Data Bank said in a report.

    “We’ll likely see a rush in price hikes next year that could be more intense than this year,” as companies face rising labor and distribution costs, Teikoku Data Bank said.

    The BOJ stunned markets on Tuesday by tweaking its yield control and allowing long-term interest rates to rise more, a move market players see as a prelude to a further withdrawal of its massive stimulus program.

    BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, who will see his term end in April, has said the bank had no intention to roll back stimulus as inflation was set to slow below 2% next year.

    But the October minutes showed how many of his fellow board members are shifting their attention to the risk of an inflation overshoot and prospects of a stimulus withdrawal.

    “Given structural changes such as a shift away from globalization, past experiences in Japan may not necessarily apply. We can’t rule out the chance of a big overshoot in inflation,” one member was quoted as saying in the October minutes.

    The CPI data will likely be among key factors the BOJ will scrutinize when it produces fresh quarterly inflation forecasts at a two-day policy meeting ending on January 18.

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  • Best portable chargers in 2022 | CNN Underscored

    Best portable chargers in 2022 | CNN Underscored

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    CNN
     — 

    Even when working from home, a power supply can be hard to come by, what with your computer, monitor, WiFi hub and other gadgets and gizmos and their wall chargers hogging those sparse outlets. And when you’re on the go, a solid power source is especially a necessity. The solution: a portable charger to keep your phone, tablet and more juiced to the max.

    So to help identify the best options for avoiding that dreaded “low battery” notification, we spent several weeks testing portable chargers — draining devices, charging them up and calculating capacities. Ultimately, we found three winners that each stole the show in their own way.

    Best portable charger overall

    Where the Anker PowerCore 13000 shone most was in charging capacity. It boasts 13,000mAh, which is enough to fully charge an iPhone 11 two and a half times. Plus, it has two fast-charging USB Type-A ports so you can juice a pair of devices simultaneously.

    The most portable

    CNN Underscored_best portable chargers_Belkin Pocket

    The ultraportable Belkin Power Pocket 5K is almost the exact same size as an iPhone SE, but weighs even less. And, proving the old adage “big things come in small packages” correct, it packs enough power to fully charge an iPhone 11 from its singular USB Type-A port.

    Best portable charger for iPhone

    CNN Underscored_best portable chargers_belkin boost

    The Belkin Boost Power Pocket 5K goes hand-in-hand with iPhones thanks to the inclusion of a Lightning port along with the USB Type A port. That means you can use the same cord to charge your phone and refill the battery.

    underscored anker powercore 13000

    Benjamin Levin/CNN

    Simply put, the Anker PowerCore 13000 packs a ton of value.

    You can charge a lot with this thing — and quickly. The PowerCore 13000 has enough capacity to bring an iPhone 11 to full charge two and a half times, or two Samsung Galaxy S20s from empty to more than 90%. And you won’t be sitting by idly for too long, either, as the PowerCore 13000 takes just 41 minutes to charge an iPhone 11 to 50%, tied for fastest charging in our testing.

    While the PowerCore 13000 doesn’t fully live up to its promise of 13,000mAh (we found it delivers 7918mAh), it hit a respectable 61% of what’s advertised — a percentage that put it about average among all the batteries we tested. In other words: None of the portable chargers we tested fully lived up to their claims, and the PowerCore 13000 still has more charging capacity than most others we tested. (You can read more about how we measured mAhs by scrolling down.) Plus, it’s just a few more bucks than the Belkin Pocket Power 5K for more than double the mAhs.

    The side of the battery houses three ports: dual USB Type-A ports (which are fast-charging) and a micro-USB port to charge the battery itself — allowing you to run several USB-C cables to different devices all at once. When we charged an iPhone 11 and a Nintendo Switch simultaneously, the battery barely heated up. Four LED lights alert you to the charger’s remaining battery life, with a button on the edge to turn the lights on.

    The charger’s matte plastic design feels nice to the touch and resists smudging surprisingly well. It’s about the size of a full wallet, so it’s easy to carry around. And it’s durable: The charger survived our drop tests, which included a 3-foot drop onto grass and a 1.5-foot drop onto carpet, with neither external nor internal damage. (You can read more about our durability testing below.)

    Overall, not only does the Anker PowerCore 13000 pack major mAhs, but it’s got two ports for your USB cables and is fairly small and durable.

    underscored belkin pocket 5k

    Benjamin Levin/CNN

    When we first encountered the Belkin Power Pocket 5K, it was hard to believe its size: just 5 inches long, 2.5 inches wide and a half-inch thick. There are few places this battery won’t fit, yet many devices it’ll charge.

    It was the smallest and the lightest charger we tested; you might even mistake it for the phone in your pocket. This portable charger is really the definition of a personal power bank, easily whipped out of a pocket and held alongside your mobile device.

    The charging capacity of the Power Pocket 5k is modest, but it did come closest to living up to its claimed output out of all the models we tested. While its maximum capacity is stated to be 5,000mAh, we measured it at about 3,655mAh. That’s 73% of the expected value, which is 12% better than average in our testing. While its capacity isn’t huge, it’s more than enough to bring an iPhone 11 or Samsung Galaxy S10 battery back to full life. The only significant downside we could find was the charging speed: It takes a little more than 51 minutes to charge an iPhone 11 to 50%.

    The Anker PowerCore 13000 features four battery-indicating LEDs on its side alongside a button to turn them on. Around the corner are the ports: a single USB-C input along with a micro-USB port to charge the battery with the included charging cable. Like the PowerCore 13000, the Pocket Power 5K received no superficial or internal damage during our drop testing. And you can rest assured that even if you do break it, it comes with a two-year warranty along with a generous $2,500 connected equipment warranty (which covers unlikely electrical damage to tech that was properly plugged into the Pocket Power 5K).

    The wee-as-can-be Belkin Pocket Power 5K is impressive for its size. Although the capacity isn’t huge, it’s more than enough to fulfill the needs of most personal devices and small enough to keep in your pocket everywhere you go — and a bit lighter on the wallet for those on a budget.

    underscored belkin pocket boost 5k

    Benjamin Levin/CNN

    The Belkin Boost Charge Power Pocket 5K offers a bit less capacity than the Belkin Power Pocket 5K, but it’s a match made in heaven for iPhones — and it charges faster, too.

    Along one side of the Belkin Boost Charge resides a USB Type-A port and a Lightning port (MFi-approved) to charge the battery. This is the big deal here — that’s the very same kind of port that your iPhone and iPad has. In other words, as long as you have a Lightning cable to charge your iPhone (we’re going to assume you do), you have a cable to recharge your battery, too. Consolidating cables is a big win in our book. This charger also pairs better alongside a smartphone because it’s lighter than the Anker 13000 and sports more of a rectangular shape, so it fits a bit more snug in the hand.

    The Boost Power Pocket 5K has more than enough juice to fully charge an iPhone 11. It also took a little more than 45 minutes to charge an iPhone 11 to 50%, which is faster than the Belkin Pocket Power 5K by six minutes. The capacity of the BOOST Power Pocket 5K is advertised as 5,000mAh and, during our testing, we measured about 3,415mAh. That’s nearly 70% of the advertised value, making it one of the top three batteries we tested in terms of living up to its promise (the average was about 61%).

    All in all, the Belkin Boost Charge Power Pocket 5K is a terrific personal charger for your iPhone. With both MFi certification and cable consolidation thanks to the Lightning port, it should really stand out to iPhone users.

    We ran each and every portable charger through a series of tests. We charged each battery to full, ran it dry juicing up one or several devices, calculated its capacity and compared charging speeds. At the same time, we took a look at properties like weight, size, build quality and visual design. Whether it was a chunky battery that could charge all our tech, or a slim, sleek battery with enough to fill an iPhone, we put these things through the ringer.

    Read on to see the breakdowns of all our testing categories.

    • Battery Size: We noted how many milliamp Hours (mAh) each battery promised.
    • Meets Estimation: This is where we measured how much each battery could actually provide in mAhs. To do so, we charged a variety of devices with each battery, recording how much battery life (aka what percentage) each device gained. When a device was at about 95%, but the battery was not empty, we immediately swapped it for a different device. Once a battery was empty, we calculated how many mAhs it provided in total across all the devices it charged and then divided the promised total by the recorded value. This allowed us to figure out what percentage of its promised total each battery provided. We used a 0.3M Nomad Universal Cable, plugged into a battery’s USB-A port (fast charging if available), to charge each device. The device pool we chose from for charging was: iPhone 11, iPhone 8, Fire HD 10 tablet, Nintendo Switch and Bose QuietComfort 35 II.
    • Design and materials: We researched what materials each battery was made of, as well as how many color options are available. We also felt out the quality of each battery’s build. Visually, we checked out how each device looked alongside a variety of tech, noting if it appeared too big or small beside it, as well as if you could hold a battery and a phone in the same hand or pocket. The device pool we chose from for this was: iPhone 11, Fire HD 10 tablet and Nintendo Switch.
    • Size and weight: We checked each battery’s dimensions, volume and weight. In our scoring, we favored smaller, lighter devices.
    • Dust resistance: We checked whether the product is rated to resist dust, and to what extent it does so. This test was incorporated into our drop test below. After dropping a device onto grass, we checked how much dust and dirt it picked up. We also look into whether these particles could be dislodged from the ports via shaking the device or using compressed air.
    • Drop Test: We performed two drop tests: 3 feet onto grass and 1.5 feet onto carpet. The former was to simulate a likely drop scenario outdoors, and the latter indoors. After each test, we examined the battery for superficial damage and checked whether it still functioned.
    • Number of ports: We counted the number of ports on each device that could output power. We noted each port type, which could be one of the following: USB Type-A, USB Type-C, micro USB or Lightning. We also noted how many, if any, USB Type-A ports supported fast charging.
    • Wireless charging: We noted whether a device supported wireless charging.
    • Speed of charge: We charged an iPhone 11 from about 5% until it received 50% battery, recording how long the process took.
    • Warranty: We researched the duration of each device’s warranty.

    The Otterbox Otterspot is unlike any portable charger we’ve seen before. The system works as follows: A disk-shaped charging pad can charge mobile devices wirelessly, as well as the included disk-shaped battery via charging pins. The battery, which can be stacked up to three on the pad, can charge devices wirelessly or with a cable and then be recharged upon the pad. Wirelessly, it only delivered 2,519mAh to an iPhone 11. With a wired connection, it provided 3,134mAh. This is significantly less than, say, the 3,655mAh from the Belkin Pocket Power 5K with the same 5,000mAh promise. Overall, the Otterbox Otterspot is an awesome concept that may need some work on the capacity end.

    TheAnker PowerCore III Sense 10K is a beautiful charger. It comes in multiple vibrant colors and features a woven yarn surface on top and matte plastic below. Unfortunately, it only provided 4,189mAh of its expected 10,000mAh capacity. This is 42% of the expected value, compared with the 61% the Anker PowerCore 13,000 was able to achieve. Despite its aesthetic beauty and quality build, this battery dropped the ball on capacity.

    The Anker PowerCore II 20000 is the same price as the Anker PowerCore III Sense 10K, but provides 12,300mAh of its promised 20,000mAh. This is a more respectable 61.5% of what’s expected. The battery is pretty hefty and large, but it feels very durable and has a unique texture that eliminates most smudging. Compared to its 20,000mAh counterpart, the Elecjet PowerPie Power Bank, it weighs way less and provides more mAhs.

    The Aukey 8,000mAh Power Bank was a favorite among those we tested. It’s quite slim, and a little lighter than the Anker PowerCore 13000. Out of the 8,000mAh expectation, it delivered 5509mAhs, which is almost 70%. That’s impressive, made better by three functional output ports and wireless charging (a feature that didn’t end up working on our unit). But despite this battery’s promising properties, it fell short of the PowerCore 13000’s capacity at a higher price, and it didn’t charge an iPhone 11 nearly as fast.

    The Elecjet PowerPie Power Bank lists the same 20,000mAh capacity as the Anker PowerCore II 20000, except it reached just 11,969mAh, or about 60% of what we expected. It also weighs more and has a less sleek design, which didn’t help it score-wise. Overall, it’s got a lot of juice to provide, but it didn’t find a place among the winners.

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  • How virtual clothes could help solve fashion’s waste problem | CNN Business

    How virtual clothes could help solve fashion’s waste problem | CNN Business

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    London
    CNN
     — 

    Fashion’s ephemeral nature might seem an odd bedfellow for the blockchain, an online ledger that’s designed to be permanent. But the industry is finding ways to harness it and other digital tools to reduce waste and push fashion into the future.

    Italian company Lablaco is working with fashion houses and brands to digitize their collections in the burgeoning “phygital” fashion market — when customers buy both a physical fashion item and its digital “twin,” designed to be collected or worn by avatars in virtual environments like the metaverse.

    Lablaco was founded in 2016 by Lorenzo Albrighi and Eliana Kuo. Both had backgrounds in luxury fashion, but were looking to improve the industry’s sustainability credentials and promote circular fashion — the practice of designing and producing clothes in a way that reduces waste.

    The pair launched the Circular Fashion Summit in 2019 and Lablaco worked with retailer H&M to introduce a blockchain-based clothes rental service in 2021.

    Pushing fashion into digital spaces helps generate data that is vital in efforts to move toward circular fashion, they argue. With Lablaco’s model, physical and digital items remain paired even after sale, so if a physical item is resold, the digital equivalent is transferred to the new owner’s digital wallet. The transparency of blockchain technology means the new owner can be assured of its authenticity and the item’s creator can follow its aftersales journey.

    “If you don’t digitize the product itself, you cannot have any data to measure, and you don’t know what’s the impact of the fashion,” Albrighi tells CNN Business.

    The textile and fashion industry creates roughly 92 million tons of waste annually, and digital fashion could have a role in reducing that figure.

    Kuo says digital spaces could be used as a testbed for the physical world. For example, a designer could release an item of digital clothing in 10 colors in the metaverse, and use the sales data to inform which colors to use for the real-world version. “It becomes automatically an on-demand model, which really can reduce the fashion waste,” she says.

    Trying on virtual clothes could also reduce the amount of clothes that are returned in the physical world, says Albrighi. He adds that staging fashion shows in virtual spaces reduces the need for the fashion world to travel. Both interventions have the potential to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint.

    But for these innovations to become widespread, Albrighi says incentivizing designers is key. With the phygital model, the transparency of the blockchain could allow brands to receive royalties when an item is resold throughout its lifetime — a way to “produce less and actually earn more.”

    “It’s the beginning of a brand new industry,” he says.

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  • Nike stock jumps more than 10% as earnings, sales destroy expectations

    Nike stock jumps more than 10% as earnings, sales destroy expectations

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    Nike Inc.’s stock spiked more than 13% in extended trading Tuesday after the sporting-goods retailer reported early holiday earnings and sales are tracking solidly higher than Wall Street expected, though inventories remain high and a forecast could still loom.

    Nike
    NKE,
    +0.16%
    reported fiscal second-quarter net earnings of $1.33 billion, or 85 cents a share, compared with net earnings of 83 cents a share in the year-ago quarter. Revenue was $13.32 billion, up 17% from $11.36 billion a year ago for the sneaker maker in the quarter, which ended Nov. 30.

    Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected on average net earnings of 64 cents a share on revenue of $12.58 billion.

    Nike executives did not provide a third-quarter forecast in their announcement, though Chief Financial Officer Matthew Friend said in a conference call he expects annual revenue grow in the the “low teens.” In an earlier statement, Chief Executive John Donahoe said the results “give us confidence in delivering the year as our competitive advantages continue to fuel our momentum,” while Friend added, “We are on track to deliver on our operational and financial goals.”

    In a conference call late Tuesday, Donahoe noted a rebound of business in China and improving inventory levels because of strong consumer demand.

    Nike announced the results amid a daunting confluence of slackening consumer spending, foreign-exchange headwinds and an elevated promotional environment, Jefferies says in a research note. In September, Nike shares tumbled after executives said markdowns on the retailer’s products would squeeze margins, and they expected clothing competitors to keep slicing prices through at least the end of the year.

    Read more: Inventory concerns are pounding Nike’s stock

    With consumers buying fewer clothes, Nike and other retailers have shouldered swelling inventories, though executives at Nike insist the level of excess goods likely peaked in North America this summer. In Tuesday’s report, Nike reported inventories of $9.3 billion, up 43% from the same quarter a year ago. Analysts on average were projecting inventories of $8.83 billion, according to FactSet.

    “The market is focused on progress to resolution of FY23 inventory issues as a set up to a strong margin recovery” in fiscal 2024, Stifel analysts said in a note last week.

    Shares of Nike have declined 38% this year, while the broader S&P 500 index
    SPX,
    +0.10%
    is down 20%.

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  • Brooklyn pastor who was robbed while preaching charged with wire fraud and lying to FBI in unrelated case | CNN

    Brooklyn pastor who was robbed while preaching charged with wire fraud and lying to FBI in unrelated case | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The flashy, jewelry-flaunting Brooklyn pastor who reported being robbed while preaching at his church this past summer was arrested on federal charges Monday – unrelated to the July incident – for allegedly defrauding a parishioner, trying to extort a businessman and lying to the FBI, according to a federal indictment.

    Lamor Whitehead, the 45-year-old pastor who goes by “Bishop,” was charged with wire fraud, attempted wire fraud, attempted extortion and making a material false statement, the US Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York announced. He faces up to 65 years in prison for his alleged crimes.

    As the pastor of Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministry, Whitehead allegedly defrauded one of his parishioners out of about $90,000 from her retirement savings over the course of at least 14 months beginning around April 2020, according to the indictment. The document said Whitehead told the parishioner he would use her money to help her buy a home and invest the rest of the money, but instead used it “to purchase thousands of dollars of luxury goods and clothing” and “for his own purposes.”

    Whitehead never helped her buy a home, the court document says, and never returned her money despite her request.

    This spring, Whitehead allegedly attempted to convince a businessman to loan him about $500,000 and grant him a stake in real estate transactions in exchange for obtaining “favorable actions by the New York City government” that would make them “millions” – something the pastor knew he could not obtain, the indictment says. Earlier this year, he also allegedly used “threats of force” against that same businessman to extort $5,000 from him.

    Further, Whitehead allegedly told FBI agents who were executing a search warrant that he had only one phone. But the indictment states he had a second phone that he used – including to text a message in which he described it as “my other phone,” the indictment states.

    Whitehead appeared in court Monday and was released on a $500,000 personal recognizance bond, according to Attorney’s Office spokesman Nicholas Biase.

    “As we allege today, Lamor Whitehead abused the trust placed in him by a parishioner, bullied a businessman for $5,000, then tried to defraud him of far more than that, and lied to federal agents,” US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “His campaign of fraud and deceit stops now.”

    Whitehead’s attorney, Dawn Florio, denied the accusations against Whitehead.

    “Bishop Lamor Whitehead is not guilty of these charges,” Florio told CNN. “We are vigorously defending these accusations and we feel he is being targeted and being turned into a villain from a victim.”

    Back in July, Whitehead said he was the victim of a robbery in which at least one masked and armed man entered Whitehead’s church and took jewelry from him and his wife, according to a separate federal indictment. Part of the incident was captured on a livestream video from inside the church that showed Whitehead put his hands up and complied with the gunmen’s demands.

    He reported that the stolen jewelry was worth more than $1 million, raising questions as to how and why the pastor obtained and flaunted such displays of wealth.

    In September, two men were indicted on federal charges for their alleged roles in the armed robbery, while a third defendant remains at large, according to the Department of Justice. Juwan Anderson, 23, and Say-Quan Pollack, 24, pleaded not guilty to the charges, and a trial date is set for July, according to federal court records.

    Whitehead’s verified Instagram account details his extravagant shows of wealth, including Louis Vuitton-emblazoned suits, large jewelry and brightly colored sports cars. In a video posted shortly after the robbery, he pushed back against the media headlines referring to him as “flashy.”

    “It’s not about me being flashy. It’s about me purchasing what I want to purchase,” he said. “It’s my prerogative to purchase what I want to purchase. If I worked hard for it, I can purchase what I want to purchase.”

    According to his bio on the Leaders of Tomorrow website, Whitehead attended the New York Theological Seminary and completed his studies with a certificate in Ministry in Human Services from the Theological Institution of Rising Hope Inc. It touts him as a licensed New York state chaplain and a certified marriage and funeral officiant. In 2013, he founded Leaders of Tomorrow Ministry in Brooklyn, his bio states.

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  • You may be seeing a more ‘woke’ Santa this Christmas | CNN

    You may be seeing a more ‘woke’ Santa this Christmas | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    On a frigid December night outside a suburban Chicago church, a group of parents and wide-eyed children line up to see Santa Claus.

    He awaits them with the classic St. Nick look: pink, cherubic cheeks, twinkling eyes, a gray beard and a plump belly – squeezed into a red suit with white fur trim – that shakes “like a bowl full of jelly” when he laughs.

    But when a thin teenager with ripped jeans, tousled hair and a gray hoodie sits down next to him, it soon becomes clear that this is no ordinary Santa.

    “Nice to meet you. I’m Trans Santa,” he says. He looks at the teenager and asks: “Pronouns?”

    “They, them,” the teen answers, looking up with surprise.

    What follows is not a kid asking for toys or dolls, but a young person asking for help. They tell Santa their Christmas wish is to come out fully to their parents and dress in a way that conforms to their gender identity.

    Later, Santa sighs as if he was the one who was handed a gift.

    “That definitely was an emotional moment for me,” Levi Truax, the man in the Santa suit, told CNN. Truax lives in Chicago, works at Starbucks and himself transitioned in his late 30s. “That would have made a difference for me when I was a kid. Just having the knowledge to put a name to what I felt as a kid would have been really empowering.”

    This scene comes from “Santa Camp,” a moving new documentary film about this push for diversity. The film airs on HBO Max, which like CNN is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.

    Santa Claus has traditionally been portrayed as a jolly, white guy, but Truax represents a push for diversity in the Santa industry that has accelerated in recent years. In some parts of the US, the traditional definition of Santa as a straight White guy who heads out to work while Mrs. Claus stays at home baking cookies just won’t fly anymore.

    Just as there’s been a campaign to include more characters of color and LGBTQ characters in comic books and fantasy television series, there’s also been a drive to broaden traditional representations of Santa. These efforts include a Tex-Mex Santa named Pancho Claus, Asian Santas, a “Sensory Santa” for kids with special needs, and a recent ad depicting Santa Claus in a gay relationship.

    And, of course, there are Black Santas, who are in such high demand that one such Santa said he earns up to $60,000 each holiday season.

    These nontraditional Saint Nicks represent a new type of Santa who, as one T-shirt proclaims, “knows when you aren’t sleeping and knows when you aren’t woke.”

    “Santa Camp” follows a group of professional and apprentice Santas and Mrs. Clauses as they attend a summer camp organized by the New England Santa Society. The group said they invited Trans Santa, a Black Santa, and a Santa with special needs in part because of market demand — some parents these days are looking for Santas their kids will relate to.

    “How can one of the most beloved traditions in the world find its place in a changing America, and can it adapt?” said Nick Sweeney, the film’s director. “I think what we see in the film is that the answer is yes.”

    What others see, though, is something more disturbing. They see diverse Santas as something that could harm and confuse kids while ruining a cherished holiday tradition. The Mall of America in Minnesota faced a backlash on social media after it featured a Black Santa at a holiday event in 2016.

    Some started using the term “woke Santa” after a mall Santa in Illinois two years ago refused a boy’s request for a toy gun for Christmas.

    Their defense of a White Santa is part of a larger backlash against what some call “wokeism.” Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “woke” as being “aware and actively attentive” to systemic racial injustice and prejudice. Some critics, though, have redefined the term to mean a silly, overindulgent bow to political correctness.

    Some of those critics staged a counter demonstration against Trans Santa’s appearance at the Chicago church, chanting, “Save Santa!” and yelling, “You sit on a throne of lies.” Others left messages on the church’s voicemail, saying transgender people have mental issues and threaten the safety of children.

    A Santa Claus attending a Toys For Tots program on December 15, 2021 in New York City.

    Resistance to a more diverse Santa has been simmering for years alongside some conservatives’ complaints about the so-called secular “War on Christmas.” In 2013 former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly declared that Santa, and Jesus, were white. One conservative blogger dismissed calls for a Black Santa, saying Santa should remain White because the origins of his legend reside in Northern Europe.

    “The real reason why black left-wingers object to a white Santa is that they are determined to condition black children to distrust white people and they cannot live with the image of our kids – especially the black ones – receiving gifts from a white man,” wrote Graham J. Noble.

    Another critic, responding to the mall Santa who declined to give a kid a toy gun, said the push for a diverse Santa is becoming absurd. Larry Keane, an advocate for the firearms industry, wrote in an essay that “all I want for Christmas is the real Santa, not a woke Santa.”

    Keane, who did not respond to an interview request, wrote:

    “Political correctness is has gone too far. It’s traveled from the Washington D.C. swamps to the frigid Arctic air of the North Pole. It’s infected Kris Kringle and next thing you know, Santa will be demanding the kids leave out nonfat soy milk and vegan snack bites in lieu of milk-and-cookies.”

    Some may find it curious that a jolly character like Santa inspires such sarcasm and anger. But the stories we tell children have long been a source of bitter debate. Some critics recently complained that the main character in a remake of “The Little Mermaid” shouldn’t be Black. The casting of a Black girl in an “Annie” remake drew similar controversy.

    Robin DiAngelo, author of the bestseller “White Fragility,” said in a recent interview that the debates over the color of fictional characters represents a larger issue: White supremacy insists that white people should be “the center” and “ultimate representation” of what it means to be human.

    “The irony,” DiAngelo told Yahoo News, is that “on the one hand, white people insist that ‘we don’t see color’ — and then we lose our minds when Santa is not the color that he’s ‘supposed’ to be.”

    Allan Siu, dressed as Santa Claus, emerges from his dressing room on December 8, 2022, at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. Siu is the first Asian Santa the mall has ever had.

    She added, “Given that most white people live segregated lives, I think it’s really important — not just for Black children to see themselves reflected in valuable symbols, but it’s really important for white children to see it too.”

    One character in “Santa Camp” discovered firsthand how fraught the journey can be for a nontraditional Santa.

    Chris Kennedy made headlines several years back when he received a racist and threatening note for erecting a Black Santa on his lawn in Little Rock, Arkansas. The incident inspired him to don a Santa suit over his imposing frame and attend Santa Camp.

    The documentary shows Kennedy at a Christmas festival in Arkansas as a Black Santa, where his appearance sparks some strong reactions. In the film, the festival’s organizer says some White families refused to take their kids to see Kennedy because they believe Santa should be white.

    Yet the film also shows both Black and White families who say they brought their kids specifically to see a Black Santa. Black kids, in particular, jump for joy when they see him. So do some of their parents.

    “When I was little, Santa was white,” one Black mother tells a smiling Kennedy after he greets her with, “Bro, ho, ho.”

    “He was whatever someone else decided Santa to be,” she adds.

    In the film, Kennedy shakes his head after meeting the kids and their parents.

    “There were families that traveled over 300 miles to be here,” he says. “That was very rewarding. But it … also gave me a sense of sadness, that there are not Black Santas closer.”

    Some White parents who refused to see Kennedy might have changed their minds if they knew Santa’s history. The first Santa – or at least the man he was modeled after – was probably brown. The Santa legend can be traced back to a monk named St. Nicholas, who lived in modern-day Turkey and was known for his generosity and as a protector of children.

    An undated Coca-Cola advertising poster shows a young boy surprising Santa Claus.

    Santa has evolved in other ways. The name Santa Claus comes from a shortened version of Saint Nicholas in Dutch, “Sinterklaas.” Dutch immigrants later brought that tradition to America. The 19th-century authors Clement Moore and Washington Irving popularized Saint Nicholas stories.

    But it’s the Coca-Cola company which is widely credited with spreading the modern image of the twinkly-eyed, White Santa. In the 1930s, Coca-Cola hired an illustrator to create portraits of a cuddly Santa Claus in a red and white suit to boost sales during its slow winter season.

    The push for a more diverse Christmas, though, isn’t restricted to Santa. There’s also a campaign to “sleigh the patriarchy” by transforming Mrs. Claus into a feminist icon.

    Mrs. Claus plays a prominent role in “Santa Camp.” Trans Santa is accompanied by his wife, Heidi Truax, who goes by the name Dr. Claus (she has a doctorate) and has co-written a book for kids called “You Can Be a Claus Too: Lessons from Santa Camp.”

    The film also illuminates a growing wish by women to show their daughters more assertive representations of the traditional Mrs. Claus. More Mrs. Clauses are demanding equal pay and billing when they appear with Santa at events, the documentary shows.

    Levi Truax, known as Trans Santa, and his wife Heidi Truax, known as Dr. Claus, in a scene from

    One scene in “Santa Camp” shows a mother steering her daughters to Mrs. Claus and asking her to teach them that it’s okay to be assertive.

    “Young girls need to speak up and say what’s on their mind,” Dianne Grenier, who goes by Mrs. Merry Claus, tells the wide-eyed girls. “That’s why I spoke up to Santa and said, ‘You know I’ve been quiet all these years and being a good little wife, but now it’s my turn. See how you like sitting at home.’”

    The scene ends with a little boy looking on in silence, his brow bunched in confusion.

    The campaign for a more diverse Santa is also a push to remove sexism from the holidays, others say.

    Maureen Shaw, founder of sherights.com, an online magazine devoted to women’s rights, wrote an essay stating that sexism at Christmas “is as American as Santa, sugar cookies and caroling.”

    Women, for example, are expected to bear the brunt of holiday preparations, she said. Retailers “perpetuate gender binaries” by filling girls’ sections with frilly dresses and princess castles and boys’ sections with pants and electronic toys.

    “To assume that my daughter wants a doll or that my son wouldn’t be interested in a princess toy because of their sexes is problematic,” Shaw tells CNN. “It reinforces gender stereotypes, which implicitly sets limits on what they can or should take an interest in. It may seem silly to skeptics, but consistently gifting girls kitchen sets, dolls and princess toys lays the foundation for what’s expected of them as they grow up.”

    Those who say the more diverse representations of Santa betray the values of the holiday season may be forgetting about another iconic Christmas character: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

    Rudolph, if you recall, was mocked by his peers because his bulbous red nose made him different. But Santa Claus saw the value in Rudolph’s luminous nose and asked him to lead his sleigh that night, transforming him into a Christmas hero.

    The story of Rudolph was written in 1939 by a Jewish Chicago copywriter named Robert May, and was adapted into a stop-motion TV special that first aired in 1964. It has become one of the longest-running Christmas TV events in history. Paul Soles, who provided one of the voices in the television special, once explained why Rudolph’s story is so enduring.

    “Everybody’s been to some degree separated out, found wanting, not quite fully fitting in,” said Soles, who also grew up Jewish.

    Not fitting in is something that the Trans Santa outside the Chicago church can relate to. Truax said he grew up isolated and confused in suburban Detroit because he felt like he was in the wrong body. When he finally came out as transgender, he said his father was supportive.

    Others in his situation aren’t as lucky. Just over half of all transgender and nonbinary young people in the US contemplated taking their lives in 2020, according to The Trevor Project’s third annual National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health.

    Santa Claus waits for visitors at the King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania on November 22, 2019. One expert on race says White people can become upset

    The teenager who greets Trans Santa in the film hints at some of that struggle. They tell Santa they want to get a binder, a compression undergarment to flatten breasts for teens who identify as gender-nonconforming or transgender.

    Truax smiles and nods knowingly. As he talks, a string of Christmas lights on four evergreen trees behind them illuminate the December sky.

    “I know when I got my first binder, it changed me,” Truax tells his visitor. “It empowered me to have the body of the person I wanted to be.”

    The teenager looks up to Santa, their face brightening in a smile.

    “It’s very empowering being in your presence,” they say.

    They then stand up and pump their left fist in triumph, a new bounce in their step.

    For some, such a scene has nothing to do with the holiday. But for this kid, meeting a Santa who understands their journey might be one of best Christmas gifts ever.

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  • New York City’s ban on foie gras violates law, New York state says | CNN

    New York City’s ban on foie gras violates law, New York state says | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The State of New York has determined that New York City’s ban on foie gras, stuffed goose or duck liver, violates state law, according to documents filed in New York City Superior Court.

    The state Department of Agriculture and Markets informed city officials Wednesday that the ban “unreasonably restricts” the operations of two farms that sued the city over the ban, La Belle Farm and Hudson Valley Foie Gras.

    New York City had originally passed a bill in 2019 to ban restaurants and retailers from selling the fatty duck or goose liver, considered a delicacy by some.

    In a letter to New York Mayor Eric Adams and Division of Legal Counsel Chief Stephen Louis, the department requested that the “City confirm that it will not enforce its ban on the sale of force-fed products” marketed by Hudson Valley Foie Gras and La Belle Farm.

    The city ban on foie gras was to go into effect November 25. However, a state Supreme Court judge in September put the ban on hold as the lawsuit by the two Upstate New York Farms proceeded through the courts.

    The original bill to ban foie gras called the luxury good a “force-fed product” and, in a statement to CNN in 2019, city Councilwoman Carlina Rivera – the prime sponsor of the bill – called force-feeding an “inhumane practice.”

    What makes foie gras so contentious is the method of preparation. Foie gras is made of fattened duck or goose liver, and it has long been considered a French delicacy – so much that France has protected it as part of its cultural heritage.

    But the product is made by force-feeding ducks or geese, a practice that many people, like Rivera, have found troubling.

    “As a lifelong advocate for animal rights, I am excited that the Council has voted to pass this historic legislation to ban the sale of these specific force-fed animal products,” Rivera said in 2019.

    Foie gras has long been a point of contention.

    In 2012, California’s foie gras ban went into effect, only to have the ban overturned in 2015. Then, in 2017, the ban was upheld by a circuit court judge – a decision that was backed by the US Supreme Court in January 2019.

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  • The hottest holiday gift is a massive, half pound Fruit Loop | CNN Business

    The hottest holiday gift is a massive, half pound Fruit Loop | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Just in time for the holidays, artist collective MSCHF is releasing its newest playful art piece: a giant, 930-calorie, $19.99 fruit loop.

    MSCHF, a Brooklyn-based group of artists, is no stranger to headlines documenting their provocative, irreverent releases. Most recently, they operated an ATM at Art Basel Miami Beach that displayed a public leaderboard of users’ bank balances, ranked from highest to lowest.

    Their previous projects have also played with modifications of “ready-made” items – like the unofficial Nike shoes they released in collaboration with Lil Nas X, which triggered a lawsuit and recall.

    The unauthorized massive fruit loop is the group’s latest lighthearted experiment with consumerism. As the name suggests, it’s a single loop of the classic cereal that’s big enough to fill the whole box. The giant cereal pieces will go on sale on December 19th for $19.99. Each one weighs “almost half a pound,” according to MSCHF’s website for the product.

    Daniel Greenberg, MSCHF’s co-founder, told CNN that an extremely limited number of the huge loops will be released – and he expects they’ll sell out quickly.

    The project was a natural extension of the group’s ethos, according to Greenberg. “We look at things in culture and figure out how to make a twist on it,” he said. “Cereal was definitely, you know, one of these cultural readymades in our mind. You could go anywhere in the world and show it to someone and they would know what it is.”

    But fans looking for a deeper meaning might be out of luck. The intent, said Greenberg, was, “‘Just like, let’s make a big f—ing fruit loop and that was it.”

    Developing the cereal, which the website specifies was not affiliated with or endorsed by Kellogg’s, required a months-long process of reverse engineering.

    “We take everything we do extremely seriously,” Greenberg said. “The easy solution would have been like, basically making a cake or a doughnut.”

    But instead of just making a doughnut or cake in the shape of the classic cereal loop, MSCHF worked to replicate the exact texture and taste of the real Kellogg’s cereal – and Greenberg says the final result is almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

    Greenberg emphasized that MSCHF is fundamentally an art project that caters to collectors. They’re not trying to compete with Kellogg’s – and although the product packaging shown on the website is clearly riffing a real box of Fruit Loops, it also includes MSCHF’s logo and states the product is not associated with Kellogg’s.

    That may be so but the cereal company doesn’t quite see it that way. In an emailed statement, Kellogg spokesperson Kris Bahner told CNN that the “Big Fruit Loop” constitutes copyright infringement.

    “Kellogg Company does not have a relationship with MSCHF and we were not involved in the creation of the Big Fruit Loop. The campaign does not accurately depict the Kellogg’s brand,” said Bahner in the statement. “Given the trademark infringement and unauthorized use of our brand, we have reached out to the company seeking an amicable resolution.”

    Because of MSCHF’s “robust fan base,” Greenberg thinks most buyers probably won’t actually be eating anything out of the boxes. “The majority of people will want to put it on their shelves and keep it,” he said.

    MSCHF fans can expect more Alice-in-Wonderland-esque drops in the future. Next year, the collective plans to introduce another familiar product made “microscopic,” although Greenberg wouldn’t specify what it was.

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  • Taiwan’s military has a problem: As China fears grow, recruitment pool shrinks | CNN

    Taiwan’s military has a problem: As China fears grow, recruitment pool shrinks | CNN

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    Taipei, Taiwan
    CNN
     — 

    Taiwan has noticed a hole in its defense plans that is steadily getting bigger. And it’s not one easily plugged by boosting the budget or buying more weapons.

    The island democracy of 23.5 million is facing an increasing challenge in recruiting enough young men to meet its military targets and its Interior Ministry has suggested the problem is – at least in part – due to its stubbornly low birth rate.

    Taiwan’s population fell for the first time in 2020, according to the ministry, which warned earlier this year that the 2022 military intake would be the lowest in a decade and that a continued drop in the youth population would pose a “huge challenge” for the future.

    That’s bad news at a time when Taiwan is trying to bolster its forces to deter any potential invasion by China, whose ruling Communist Party has been making increasingly belligerent noises about its determination to “reunify” with the self-governed island – which it has never controlled – by force if necessary.

    And the outlook has darkened further with the release of a new report by Taiwan’s National Development Council projecting that by 2035 the island can expect roughly 20,000 fewer births per year than the 153,820 it recorded in 2021. By 2035, Taiwan will also overtake South Korea as the jurisdiction with the world’s lowest birth rate, the report added.

    Such projections are feeding into a debate over whether the government should increase the period of mandatory military service that eligible young men must serve. Currently, the island has a professional military force made up of 162,000 (as of June this year) – 7,000 fewer than the target, according to a report by the Legislative Yuan. In addition to that number, all eligible men must serve four months of training as reservists.

    Changing the mandatory service requirement would be a major U-turn for Taiwan, which had previously been trying to cut down on conscription and shortened the mandatory service from 12 months as recently as 2018. But on Wednesday, Taiwan’s Minister of National Defence Chiu Kuo-cheng said such plans would be made public before the end of the year.

    That news has met with opposition among some young students in Taiwan, who have voiced their frustrations on PTT, Taiwan’s version of Reddit, even if there is support for the move among the wider public.

    A poll by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation in March this year found that most Taiwanese agreed with a proposal to lengthen the service period. It found that 75.9% of respondents thought it reasonable to extend it to a year; only 17.8% were opposed.

    Many experts argue there is simply no other option.

    Su Tzu-yun, a director of Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that before 2016, the pool of men eligible to join the military – either as career soldiers or as reservists – was about 110,000. Since then, he said, the number had declined every year and the pool would likely be as low as 74,000 by 2025.

    And within the next decade, Su said, the number of young adults available for recruitment by the Taiwanese military could drop by as much as a third.

    “This is a national security issue for us,” he said. “The population pool is decreasing, so we are actively considering whether to resume conscription to meet our military needs.

    “We are now facing an increasing threat (from China), and we need to have more firepower and manpower.”

    Taiwan’s low birth rate – 0.98 – is far below the 2.1 needed to maintain a stable population, but it is no outlier in East Asia.

    In November, South Korea broke its own world record when its birth rate dropped to 0.79, while Japan’s fell to 1.3 and mainland China hit 1.15.

    Even so, experts say the trend poses a unique problem for Taiwan’s military, given the relative size of the island and the threats it faces.

    China has been making increasingly aggressive noises toward the island since August, when then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi controversially visited Taipei. Not long after she landed in Taiwan, Beijing also launched a series of unprecedented military exercises around the island.

    Since then, the temperature has remained high – particularly as Chinese leader Xi Jinping told a key Communist Party meeting in October that “reunification” was inevitable and that he reserves the option of taking “all measures necessary.”

    Chang Yan-ting, a former deputy commander of Taiwan’s air force, said that while low birth rates were common across East Asia, “the situation in Taiwan is very different” as the island was facing “more and more pressure (from China) and the situation will become more acute.”

    “The United States has military bases in Japan and South Korea, while Singapore does not face an acute military threat from its neighbors. Taiwan faces the greatest threat and declining birth rate will make the situation even more serious,” he added.

    Roy Lee, a deputy executive director at Taiwan’s Chung-hua Institution for Economic Research, agreed that the security threats facing Taiwan were greater than those in the rest of the region.

    “The situation is more challenging for Taiwan, because our population base is smaller than other countries facing similar problems,” he added.

    Taiwan’s population is 23.5 million, compared to South Korea’s 52 million, Japan’s 126 million and China’s 1.4 billion.

    Besides the shrinking recruitment pool, the decline in the youth population could also threaten the long-term performance of Taiwan’s economy – which is itself a pillar of the island’s defense.

    Taiwan is the world’s 21st largest economy, according to the London-based Centre for Economics and Business Research, and had a GDP of $668.51 billion last year.

    Much of its economic heft comes from its leading role in the supply of semiconductor chips, which play an indispensable role in everything from smartphones to computers.

    Taiwan’s homegrown semiconductor giant TSMC is perceived as being so valuable to the global economy – as well as to China – that it is sometimes referred to as forming part of a “silicon shield” against a potential military invasion by Beijing, as its presence would give a strong incentive to the West to intervene.

    Lee noted that population levels are closely intertwined with gross domestic product, a broad measure of economic activity. A population decline of 200,000 people could result in a 0.4% decline in GDP, all else being equal, he said.

    “It is very difficult to increase GDP by 0.4%, and would require a lot of effort. So the fact that a declining population can take away that much growth is big,” he said.

    Taiwan’s government has brought in a series of measures aimed at encouraging people to have babies, but with limited success.

    It pays parents a monthly stipend of 5,000 Taiwan dollars (US$161) for their first baby, and a higher amount for each additional one.

    Since last year, pregnant women have been eligible for seven days of leave for obstetrics checks prior to giving birth.

    Outside the military, in the wider economy, the island has been encouraging migrant workers to fill job vacancies.

    Statistics from the National Development Council showed that about 670,000 migrant workers were in Taiwan at the end of last year – comprising about 3% of the population.

    Most of the migrant workers are employed in the manufacturing sector, the council said, the vast majority of them from Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.

    Lee said in the long term the Taiwanese government would likely have to reform its immigration policies to bring in more migrant workers.

    Still, there are those who say Taiwan’s low birth rate is no reason to panic, just yet.

    Alice Cheng, an associate professor in sociology at Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, cautioned against reading too much into population trends as they were affected by so many factors.

    She pointed out that just a few decades ago, many demographers were warning of food shortages caused by a population explosion.

    And even if the low birth rate endured, that might be no bad thing if it were a reflection of an improvement in women’s rights, she said.

    “The educational expansion that took place in the 70s and 80s in East Asia dramatically changed women’s status. It really pushed women out of their homes because they had knowledge, education and career prospects,” she said.

    “The next thing you see globally is that once women’s education level improved, fertility rates started declining.”

    “All these East Asian countries are really scratching their head and trying to think about policies and interventions to boost fertility rates,” she added.

    “But if that’s something that really, (women) don’t want, can you push them to do that?”

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  • Why people in China are panic buying canned yellow peaches as Covid surges | CNN Business

    Why people in China are panic buying canned yellow peaches as Covid surges | CNN Business

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    Hong Kong
    CNN
     — 

    An unprecedented wave of Covid cases in China has sparked panic buying of fever medicines, pain killers, and even home remedies such as canned peaches, leading to shortages online and in stores.

    Authorities said Wednesday they had detected 2,249 symptomatic Covid-19 cases nationally through nucleic acid testing, 20% of which were detected in the capital Beijing. CNN reporting from the city indicates the case count in the Chinese capital could be much higher than recorded.

    Demand for fever and cold medicines, such as Tylenol and Advil, is surging nationally as people rush to stockpile drugs amid fears they may contract the virus.

    Canned yellow peaches, considered a particularly nutritious delicacy in many parts of China, have been snapped up by people looking for ways to fight Covid. The product is currently sold out on many online shops.

    Its sudden surge in popularity prompted Dalian Leasun Food, one of the country’s largest canned food manufacturers, to clarify in a Weibo post that canned yellow peaches don’t have any medicinal effect.

    “Canned yellow peaches ≠ medicines!” the company said in the post published Friday. “There is enough supply, so there is no need to panic. There is no rush to buy.”

    The People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party, also tried to set the record straight. It published a long Weibo post on Sunday urging the public not to stockpile the peaches, calling them “useless in alleviating symptoms of illness.”

    Authorities also pleaded with the public not to stockpile medical supplies. On Monday, the Beijing city government warned residents that it was facing “great pressure” to meet demand for drug and medical services because of panic buying and an influx of patients at clinics.

    It urged the public not to hoard drugs or call emergency services if they have no symptoms.

    The rising demand and shortage of supply of Covid remedies have fueled bets on drugmakers.

    Shares of Hong Kong-listed Xinhua Pharmaceutical, China’s largest manufacturer of ibuprofen, have gained 60% in the past five days. The stock has so far jumped by 147% in the first two weeks of this month.

    “Our company’s production lines are operating at full capacity, and we are working overtime to produce urgently needed medicines, such as ibuprofen tablets,” Xinhua Pharmaceutical said Monday.

    Ibuprofen is an anti-inflammatory drug used to treat pain and fever. It is also known as Advil, Brufen, or Fenbid.

    The drug shortage has spread from mainland China to Hong Kong, a special administrative region which has a separate system of local government. On Sunday, the city’s health chief urged the public to refrain from panic buying cold medicines they do not need and urged residents “not to overact.”

    In some Hong Kong drugstores, fever drugs such as Panadol, the local brand name for Tylenol, have sold out. Most of the buyers were sending the medicines to their families and friends in the mainland, sales representatives told CNN.

    Shares of Shenzhen-listed Guizhou Bailing Group Pharmaceuticals, known for making cough syrup, have gained 21% this week and risen 51% so far this month. Yiling Pharmaceutical, the sole producer of Lianhua Qingwen, a traditional Chinese medicine recommended by the government for treating Covid, has also jumped more than 30% in the past month.

    Even providers of funeral services and burial plots have gotten a huge boost. Shares in Hong Kong-traded Fu Shou Yuan International, China’s largest burial service company, have soared more than 50% since last month.

    There is “strong pent-up demand for burial plots” in 2023, analysts from Citi Group said in a recent research report, adding that they’ve noticed increasing investor interest in the sector.

    They cited the existence of hundreds of thousands of cremated remains, which are being temporarily stored in government facilities awaiting burial. Lockdowns across much of the country have halted funeral services, they said.

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  • Vanguard sees a recession in 2023 — and one ‘silver lining’ for investors

    Vanguard sees a recession in 2023 — and one ‘silver lining’ for investors

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    The last 12 months was a year of fast-rising inflation, fast-rising interest rates and fast-rising questions about a future recession.

    Prices went up while stock markets and savings account balances went down, leaving consumers and investors dizzy and their wallets hurting.

    There may be more financial pain, that’s pretty sure — but it might not be as bad as feared, according to Vanguard’s look ahead to 2023.

    The likely recession will not send jobless rates charging sharply higher, sticker shock will fade for the price of goods, and the rise in rent and mortgages will also ease, Vanguard said.

    “On Tuesday, inflation data for November showed prices are continuing to cool. Analysts say that makes a 50-basis point increase, rather than a 75-basis-point increase, more likely.”

    The good news: This opens up chances for stocks to rebound, the asset-manager added.

    The outlook, released this week, comes as Americans are trying to guess what 2023 holds for their finances while they manage their holiday shopping budgets, and 2022 investments.

    On Tuesday, inflation data for November showed prices are continuing to cool. From October to November, the cost of living nudged up 0.1%, lower than the 0.3% forecast, the Consumer Price Index showed. Year over year, the inflation rate receded to 7.1% from 7.7% in October, according to the CPI data.

    On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will announce its latest decision on interest rate increases. A 50-basis point increase is widely expected after four jumbo-sized 75-basis point hikes from the central bank.

    Here’s one roadmap for what’s next, as far as Vanguard’s researchers and experts can see.

    Hot inflation will cool

    Inflation rates during 2022 climbed to four-decade highs. There have been signs of easing, such as smaller-than-expected price increases in October.

    “As we step into 2023, early signs of a recovery in goods supply and softening demand could help balance supply and demand for consumption goods and bring prices lower,” the authors noted ahead of Tuesday’s CPI numbers.

    But the cost and demand of services are going to prevent a quick fall, they noted. Signs of slowing price increases are already emerging in rents and mortgages, but they will take longer to ease than prices of consumer goods, the authors said.

    That echoes the view from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who said Sunday there will be “much lower inflation,” absent any unanticipated shocks to the economy.

    But while hot inflation will cool, it will still be warm to the touch. The Fed says 2% inflation is its target goal; Vanguard sees 3% inflation by the end of 2023.

    A recession is very much on the cards

    As “generationally high inflation” slowed economies across the world, the Fed and other central banks have countered with interest-rate increases to tame price increases. That “will ultimately succeed, but at a cost of a global recession in 2023,” according to Vanguard’s report. Vanguard sees a 90% chance of a recession in the United States by the end of next year.

    Vanguard is hardly alone in the recession call, so the question is how bad could the big picture look?

    In Vanguard’s view, it’s not so bad. “Households, businesses, and financial institutions are in a much better position to handle the eventual downturn, such that drawing parallels with the 1970s, 1980s, 2008, or 2020 seems misplaced,” the authors wrote.

    Job losses may be clustered

    For now, the jobless rate in a tight labor market is 3.7%, which is just a little above the lowest levels in five decades. That stands against the headline-grabbing list of companies where layoffs are mounting, notably in the tech sector.

    When a recession, in all likelihood, lands next year, “unemployment may peak around 5%, a historically low rate for a recession,” the Vanguard outlook said. As interest rates climb, the job losses “should be most concentrated in the technology and real estate sectors, which were among the strongest beneficiaries of the zero-rate environment.”

    The unemployment rate going from 3.7% to the 5% vicinity is “a sizable move,” Roger Aliaga-Díaz, Americas chief economist for Vanguard, said in a Monday press conference on the report. “But it is less dramatic of a rise than compared to past recessions perhaps.”

    Spotting the opportunities

    When interest rates go up, bond prices go down. So it’s been difficult for bonds with lower returns and “near-term pain” for investors this year, the Vanguard outlook said.

    “However the bright side of higher rates is higher interest payments. These have led our return expectations for U.S. and international bonds to increase by more than twofold,” the report said.

    Vanguard said U.S. bond return projections could be 4.1% – 5.1% annually over the next year versus its 1.4% – 2.4% return estimate last year. For U.S. stocks, the forecast could be 4.7% – 6.7% annually, while returns in emerging market equities could be between 7% and 9%.

    On Tuesday morning, stock markets are soaring higher on the cooler than expected inflation data, igniting hopes of an end of year Santa Claus rally.

    “‘There’s one silver lining of our outlook for a modest global recession. And it’s the clear silver lining of higher expected returns for investors.’”


    — Joseph Davis, Vanguard’s chief global economist

    Still, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA,
    +0.30%
    is down nearly 5% year to date. The S&P 500
    SPX,
    +0.73%
    is off 14% in that time and for the Nasdaq Composite
    COMP,
    +0.38%
    is down more than 26%.

    When the market hits bottom is impossible to know, the outlook said — but it noted “valuations and yields are clearly more attractive than they were a year ago.”

    “There’s one silver lining of our outlook for a modest global recession. And it’s the clear silver lining of higher expected returns for investors,” said Joseph Davis, Vanguard’s chief global economist.

    “We’re long concerned that the low rate environment was both unsustainable and ultimately a tax and a headwind for savers and long term investors,” Davis said.

    But even with all the turbulence this year, “we certainly are starting to see the dividends to higher real interest rates around the world in the higher projected returns that we anticipate for investors over the coming decade.”

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  • Best stock picks for 2023: Here are Wall Street analysts’ most heavily favored choices

    Best stock picks for 2023: Here are Wall Street analysts’ most heavily favored choices

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    Following a sharp and sustained rise in interest rates, U.S. stocks have taken a broad beating this year.

    But 2023 may bring very different circumstances.

    Below are lists of analysts’ favorite stocks among the benchmark S&P 500
    SPX,
    the S&P 400 Mid Cap Index
    MID
    and the S&P Small Cap 600 Index
    SML
    that are expected to rise the most over the next year. Those lists are followed by a summary of opinions of all 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA.

    Stocks rallied on Dec. 13 when the November CPI report showed a much slower inflation pace than economists had expected. Investors were also anticipating the Federal Open Market Committee’s next monetary policy announcement on Dec. 14. The consensus among economists polled by FactSet is for the Federal Reserve to raise the federal funds rate by 0.50% to a target range of 4.50% to 4.75%.

    Read: 5 things to watch when the Fed makes its interest-rate decision

    A 0.50% increase would be a slowdown from the four previous increases of 0.75%. The rate began 2022 in a range of zero to 0.25%, where it had sat since March 2020.

    A pivot for the Fed Reserve and the possibility that the federal funds rate will reach its “terminal” rate (the highest for this cycle) in the near term could set the stage for a broad rally for stocks in 2023.

    Wall Street’s large-cap favorites

    Among the S&P 500, 92 stocks are rated “buy” or the equivalent by at least 75% of analysts working for brokerage firms. That number itself is interesting — at the end of 2021, 93 of the S&P 500 had this distinction. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 has declined 16% in 2022, with all sectors down except for energy, which has risen 53%, and the utilities sector, which his risen 1% (both excluding dividends).

    Here are the 20 stocks in the S&P 500 with at least 75% “buy” or equivalent ratings that analysts expect to rise the most over the next year, based on consensus price targets:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Industry

    		 Closing price – Dec. 12

    		 Consensus price target

    		 Implied 12-month upside potential

    		 Share “buy” ratings

    		 Price change – 2022 through Dec. 12
    EQT Corp.

    		 EQT Oil and Gas Production

    		 $36.91

    		 $59.70

    		 62%

    		 78%

    		 69%
    Catalent Inc.

    		 CTLT Pharmaceuticals

    		 $45.50

    		 $72.42

    		 59%

    		 75%

    		 -64%
    Amazon.com Inc.

    		 AMZN Internet Retail

    		 $90.55

    		 $136.02

    		 50%

    		 91%

    		 -46%
    Global Payments Inc.

    		 GPN Misc. Commercial Services

    		 $99.64

    		 $147.43

    		 48%

    		 75%

    		 -26%
    Signature Bank

    		 SBNY Regional Banks

    		 $122.73

    		 $180.44

    		 47%

    		 78%

    		 -62%
    Salesforce Inc.

    		 CRM Software

    		 $133.11

    		 $195.59

    		 47%

    		 80%

    		 -48%
    Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. Class A

    		 BIO Medical Specialties

    		 $418.28

    		 $591.00

    		 41%

    		 100%

    		 -45%
    Zoetis Inc. Class A

    		 ZTS Pharmaceuticals

    		 $152.86

    		 $212.80

    		 39%

    		 87%

    		 -37%
    Delta Air Lines Inc.

    		 DAL Airlines

    		 $34.77

    		 $48.31

    		 39%

    		 90%

    		 -11%
    Diamondback Energy Inc.

    		 FANG Oil and Gas Production

    		 $134.21

    		 $182.33

    		 36%

    		 84%

    		 24%
    Caesars Entertainment Inc

    		 CZR Casinos/ Gaming

    		 $50.27

    		 $67.79

    		 35%

    		 81%

    		 -46%
    Alphabet Inc. Class A

    		 GOOGL Internet Software/ Services

    		 $93.31

    		 $125.70

    		 35%

    		 92%

    		 -36%
    Halliburton Co.

    		 HAL Oilfield Services/ Equipment

    		 $34.30

    		 $45.95

    		 34%

    		 86%

    		 50%
    Alaska Air Group Inc.

    		 ALK Airlines

    		 $45.75

    		 $61.08

    		 34%

    		 93%

    		 -12%
    Targa Resources Corp.

    		 TRGP Gas Distributors

    		 $70.42

    		 $93.95

    		 33%

    		 95%

    		 35%
    Charles River Laboratories International Inc.

    		 CRL Misc. Commercial Services

    		 $201.94

    		 $269.25

    		 33%

    		 88%

    		 -46%
    ServiceNow Inc.

    		 NOW Information Technology Services

    		 $401.64

    		 $529.83

    		 32%

    		 92%

    		 -38%
    Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.

    		 TTWO Software

    		 $102.61

    		 $135.04

    		 32%

    		 79%

    		 -42%
    EOG Resources Inc.

    		 EOG Oil and Gas Production

    		 $124.06

    		 $158.24

    		 28%

    		 82%

    		 40%
    Southwest Airlines Co.

    		 LUV Airlines

    		 $38.94

    		 $49.56

    		 27%

    		 76%

    		 -9%
    Source: FactSet

    Most of the companies on the S&P 500 list expected to soar in 2023 have seen large declines in 2022. But the company at the top of the list, EQT Corp.
    EQT,
    is an exception. The stock has risen 69% in 2022 and is expected to add another 62% over the next 12 months. Analysts expect the company’s earnings per share to double during 2023 (in part from its expected acquisition of THQ), after nearly a four-fold EPS increase in 2022.

    Shares of Amazon.com Inc.
    AMZN
    are expected to soar 50% over the next year, following a decline of 46% so far in 2022. If the shares were to rise 50% from here to the price target of $136.02, they would still be 18% below their closing price of 166.72 at the end of 2021.

    Read: Here’s why Amazon is Citi’s top internet stock idea

    You can see the earnings estimates and more for any stock in this article by clicking on its ticker.

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

    Mid-cap stocks expected to rise the most

    The lists of favored stocks are limited to those covered by at least five analysts polled by FactSet.

    Among components of the S&P 400 Mid Cap Index, there are 84 stocks with at least 75% “buy” ratings. Here at the 20 expected to rise the most over the next year:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Industry

    		 Closing price – Dec. 12

    		 Consensus price target

    		 Implied 12-month upside potential

    		 Share “buy” ratings

    		 Price change – 2022 through Dec. 12
    Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc.

    		 ARWR Biotechnology

    		 $31.85

    		 $69.69

    		 119%

    		 83%

    		 -52%
    Lantheus Holdings Inc.

    		 LNTH Medical Specialties

    		 $54.92

    		 $102.00

    		 86%

    		 100%

    		 90%
    Progyny Inc.

    		 PGNY Misc. Commercial Services

    		 $31.21

    		 $55.57

    		 78%

    		 100%

    		 -38%
    Coherent Corp.

    		 COHR Electronic Equipment/ Instruments

    		 $35.41

    		 $60.56

    		 71%

    		 84%

    		 -48%
    Exelixis Inc.

    		 EXEL Biotechnology

    		 $16.08

    		 $26.07

    		 62%

    		 81%

    		 -12%
    Darling Ingredients Inc.

    		 DAR Food: Specialty/ Candy

    		 $61.17

    		 $97.36

    		 59%

    		 93%

    		 -12%
    Perrigo Co. PLC

    		 PRGO Pharmaceuticals

    		 $31.83

    		 $49.25

    		 55%

    		 100%

    		 -18%
    Mattel Inc.

    		 MAT Recreational Products

    		 $17.39

    		 $26.58

    		 53%

    		 87%

    		 -19%
    ACI Worldwide Inc.

    		 ACIW Software

    		 $20.75

    		 $31.40

    		 51%

    		 83%

    		 -40%
    Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp.

    		 MODG Recreational Products

    		 $21.99

    		 $32.91

    		 50%

    		 83%

    		 -20%
    Dycom Industries Inc.

    		 DY Engineering and Construction

    		 $86.03

    		 $128.13

    		 49%

    		 100%

    		 -8%
    Travel + Leisure Co.

    		 TNL Hotels/ Resorts/ Cruiselines

    		 $37.98

    		 $56.00

    		 47%

    		 75%

    		 -31%
    Frontier Communications Parent Inc.

    		 FYBR Telecommunications

    		 $25.21

    		 $36.18

    		 44%

    		 82%

    		 -15%
    Manhattan Associates Inc.

    		 MANH Software

    		 $120.06

    		 $171.80

    		 43%

    		 88%

    		 -23%
    MP Materials Corp Class A

    		 MP Other Metals/ Minerals

    		 $31.39

    		 $44.79

    		 43%

    		 92%

    		 -31%
    Lumentum Holdings Inc.

    		 LITE Electrical Products

    		 $54.45

    		 $76.44

    		 40%

    		 76%

    		 -49%
    Tenet Healthcare Corp.

    		 THC Hospital/ Nursing Management

    		 $44.22

    		 $62.00

    		 40%

    		 80%

    		 -46%
    Repligen Corp.

    		 RGEN Pharmaceuticals

    		 $166.88

    		 $233.10

    		 40%

    		 82%

    		 -37%
    STAAR Surgical Co.

    		 STAA Medical Specialties

    		 $59.57

    		 $82.67

    		 39%

    		 82%

    		 -35%
    Carlisle Cos. Inc.

    		 CSL Building Products

    		 $251.99

    		 $348.33

    		 38%

    		 75%

    		 2%
    Source: FactSet
    Wall Street’s favorite small-cap names

    Among companies in the S&P Small Cap 600 Index, 91 are rated “buy” or the equivalent by at least 75% of analysts. Here are the 20 with the highest 12-month upside potential indicated by consensus price targets:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Industry

    		 Closing price – Dec. 12

    		 Consensus price target

    		 Implied 12-month upside potential

    		 Share “buy” ratings

    		 Price change – 2022 through Dec. 12
    UniQure NV

    		 QURE Biotechnology

    		 $22.99

    		 $51.29

    		 123%

    		 95%

    		 11%
    Cara Therapeutics Inc.

    		 CARA Biotechnology

    		 $11.34

    		 $23.63

    		 108%

    		 88%

    		 -7%
    Vir Biotechnology Inc.

    		 VIR Biotechnology

    		 $25.50

    		 $53.00

    		 108%

    		 75%

    		 -39%
    Dynavax Technologies Corp.

    		 DVAX Biotechnology

    		 $11.22

    		 $23.20

    		 107%

    		 100%

    		 -20%
    Thryv Holdings Inc.

    		 THRY Advertising/ Marketing Services

    		 $18.40

    		 $36.75

    		 100%

    		 100%

    		 -55%
    Artivion Inc.

    		 AORT Medical Specialties

    		 $12.93

    		 $23.13

    		 79%

    		 83%

    		 -36%
    Cytokinetics Inc.

    		 CYTK Pharmaceuticals

    		 $38.33

    		 $67.43

    		 76%

    		 100%

    		 -16%
    Harsco Corp.

    		 HSC Environmental Services

    		 $7.17

    		 $12.30

    		 72%

    		 80%

    		 -57%
    Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc.

    		 LGND Pharmaceuticals

    		 $64.80

    		 $110.83

    		 71%

    		 100%

    		 -35%
    Corcept Therapeutics Inc.

    		 CORT Pharmaceuticals

    		 $20.84

    		 $34.20

    		 64%

    		 80%

    		 5%
    Payoneer Global Inc.

    		 PAYO Misc. Commercial Services

    		 $5.70

    		 $9.33

    		 64%

    		 100%

    		 -22%
    Xencor Inc.

    		 XNCR Biotechnology

    		 $28.69

    		 $46.71

    		 63%

    		 93%

    		 -28%
    Pacira Biosciences Inc.

    		 PCRX Pharmaceuticals

    		 $45.50

    		 $72.90

    		 60%

    		 80%

    		 -24%
    BioLife Solutions Inc.

    		 BLFS Chemicals

    		 $19.72

    		 $31.38

    		 59%

    		 89%

    		 -47%
    Customers Bancorp Inc.

    		 CUBI Regional Banks

    		 $30.00

    		 $47.63

    		 59%

    		 75%

    		 -54%
    ModivCare Inc.

    		 MODV Other Transportation

    		 $92.22

    		 $145.83

    		 58%

    		 100%

    		 -38%
    Stride Inc.

    		 LRN Consumer Services

    		 $32.56

    		 $51.25

    		 57%

    		 100%

    		 -2%
    Ranger Oil Corp. Class A

    		 ROCC Oil and Gas Production

    		 $36.98

    		 $58.00

    		 57%

    		 100%

    		 37%
    Outfront Media Inc.

    		 OUT Real Estate Investment Trusts

    		 $17.59

    		 $27.00

    		 53%

    		 83%

    		 -34%
    Walker & Dunlop Inc.

    		 WD Finance/ Rental/ Leasing

    		 $82.22

    		 $125.20

    		 52%

    		 100%

    		 -46%
    Source: FactSet
    The Dow

    Here are all 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average ranked by how much analysts expect their prices to rise over the next year:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Industry

    		 Closing price – Dec. 12

    		 Consensus price target

    		 Implied 12-month upside potential

    		 Share “buy” ratings

    		 Price change – 2022 through Dec. 12
    Salesforce Inc.

    		 CRM Software

    		 $133.11

    		 $195.59

    		 47%

    		 80%

    		 -48%
    Walt Disney Co.

    		 DIS Movies/ Entertainment

    		 $94.66

    		 $119.60

    		 26%

    		 82%

    		 -39%
    Apple Inc.

    		 AAPL Telecommunications Equipment

    		 $144.49

    		 $173.70

    		 20%

    		 74%

    		 -19%
    Verizon Communications Inc.

    		 VZ Telecommunications

    		 $37.95

    		 $44.60

    		 18%

    		 21%

    		 -27%
    Visa Inc. Class A

    		 V Misc.s Commercial Services

    		 $214.59

    		 $249.33

    		 16%

    		 86%

    		 -1%
    Microsoft Corp.

    		 MSFT Software

    		 $252.51

    		 $293.06

    		 16%

    		 91%

    		 -25%
    Chevron Corp.

    		 CVX Integrated Oil

    		 $169.75

    		 $191.20

    		 13%

    		 54%

    		 45%
    Cisco Systems Inc.

    		 CSCO Information Technology Services

    		 $49.30

    		 $53.76

    		 9%

    		 44%

    		 -22%
    UnitedHealth Group Inc.

    		 UNH Managed Health Care

    		 $545.86

    		 $593.30

    		 9%

    		 85%

    		 9%
    Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

    		 GS Investment Banks/ Brokers

    		 $363.18

    		 $392.63

    		 8%

    		 59%

    		 -5%
    Walmart Inc.

    		 WMT Specialty Stores

    		 $148.02

    		 $159.86

    		 8%

    		 72%

    		 2%
    JPMorgan Chase & Co.

    		 JPM Banks

    		 $134.21

    		 $143.84

    		 7%

    		 59%

    		 -15%
    Home Depot Inc.

    		 HD Home Improvement Chains

    		 $327.98

    		 $346.61

    		 6%

    		 61%

    		 -21%
    American Express Co.

    		 AXP Finance/ Rental/ Leasing

    		 $157.31

    		 $164.57

    		 5%

    		 43%

    		 -4%
    McDonald’s Corp.

    		 MCD Restaurants

    		 $276.62

    		 $288.67

    		 4%

    		 72%

    		 3%
    Johnson & Johnson

    		 JNJ Pharmaceuticals

    		 $177.84

    		 $185.35

    		 4%

    		 36%

    		 4%
    Coca-Cola Co.

    		 KO Beverages: Non-Alcoholic

    		 $63.97

    		 $66.62

    		 4%

    		 73%

    		 8%
    Boeing Co.

    		 BA Aerospace and Defense

    		 $186.27

    		 $192.69

    		 3%

    		 77%

    		 -7%
    Intel Corp.

    		 INTC Semiconductors

    		 $28.69

    		 $29.54

    		 3%

    		 13%

    		 -44%
    Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.

    		 WBA Drugstore Chains

    		 $41.06

    		 $42.24

    		 3%

    		 17%

    		 -21%
    Merck & Co. Inc.

    		 MRK Pharmaceuticals

    		 $108.97

    		 $110.62

    		 2%

    		 65%

    		 42%
    Caterpillar Inc.

    		 CAT Trucks/ Construction/ Farm Machinery

    		 $233.06

    		 $236.23

    		 1%

    		 41%

    		 13%
    Honeywell International Inc.

    		 HON Aerospace and Defense

    		 $214.50

    		 $217.35

    		 1%

    		 54%

    		 3%
    Nike Inc. Class B

    		 NKE Apparel/ Footwear

    		 $112.07

    		 $112.58

    		 0%

    		 64%

    		 -33%
    3M Co.

    		 MMM Industrial Conglomerates

    		 $126.85

    		 $127.30

    		 0%

    		 5%

    		 -29%
    Procter & Gamble Co.

    		 PG Household/ Personal Care

    		 $152.47

    		 $150.22

    		 -1%

    		 59%

    		 -7%
    Travelers Companies Inc.

    		 TRV Multi-Line Insurance

    		 $187.11

    		 $184.24

    		 -2%

    		 18%

    		 20%
    Amgen Inc.

    		 AMGN Biotechnology

    		 $276.78

    		 $264.79

    		 -4%

    		 24%

    		 23%
    Dow Inc.

    		 DOW Chemicals

    		 $51.11

    		 $48.73

    		 -5%

    		 15%

    		 -10%
    International Business Machines Corp.

    		 IBM Information Technology Services

    		 $149.21

    		 $140.29

    		 -6%

    		 33%

    		 12%
    Source: FactSet

    Don’t miss: 10 Dividend Aristocrat stocks expected by analysts to rise up to 54% in 2023

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  • China challenges US chip curbs at WTO, citing ‘trade protectionism’ | CNN Business

    China challenges US chip curbs at WTO, citing ‘trade protectionism’ | CNN Business

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    Hong Kong
    CNN
     — 

    China has challenged a move by the United States to block sales of advanced computer chips and chip-making equipment to Chinese companies by launching a trade dispute at the World Trade Organization, calling the measures “trade protectionism.”

    The country’s commerce ministry filed a formal complaint against the United States with the WTO on Monday, according to a statement. The two countries are both members of the trade body, which has a mechanism for resolving disputes.

    “China’s filing of a lawsuit at the WTO is to resolve China’s concerns through legal means and is a necessary way to defend its legitimate rights and interests,” the ministry said.

    On October 7, the Biden administration unveiled a sweeping set of export controls that ban Chinese companies from buying advanced chips and chip-making equipment without a license. The rules also restrict the ability of US citizens or green card holders to support the “development or production” of chips at certain manufacturing facilities in China.

    The commerce ministry blasted the US move as threatening global supply chain stability and called it “a typical practice of trade protectionism.” The complaint is the first action China has taken at the global trade body against the US chip sanctions.

    US officials say the export controls were intended to protect national security interests.

    Analysts widely consider the measures to be a major threat to China’s tech ambitions, as the global semiconductor industry is heavily dependent on the United States and countries aligned with it for chip design, the tools that make them, and fabrication. It also comes as the United States is looking to bolster its domestic chip manufacturing abilities, after chip shortages earlier in the pandemic highlighted the country’s dependence on imports from abroad.

    Washington has also pressured its security partners to comply with chip-related curbs on China. Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, said on Monday that Washington had spoken with its partners including Japan and the Netherlands to tighten chip-related exports to China, according to Reuters.

    Beijing has tried to push back against the sanctions. Last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with leaders from South Korea and the Netherlands, both key to the global chip-making supply chain, at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. He called for both countries to boost cooperation in high-tech manufacturing and avoid “the politicization of economic and trade issues.”

    Chips are a growing source of tension between the United States and China. In recent years, Washington has turned up the pressure on China’s tech sector by limiting access to cutting-edge chip components and machinery.

    Before the October sanctions, the US government had already banned sales of certain tech products to specific Chinese companies, such as Huawei. It also ordered top chipmakers Nvidia and AMD to halt their shipments to China.

    To secure its own chip supplies, Beijing has stepped up efforts to boost domestic semiconductor production in recent years.

    In November 2018, just months after Washington hit Chinese telecoms giant ZTE Corp with an export ban, the Chinese government set up an industry alliance of companies and research institutes as part of efforts to design advanced chips. The group’s focus is on developing Risc-V, an open-source chip design architecture that has increasingly become a rival to Softbank

    (SFTBF)    ’s Arm, the current global leader. Members of the consortium include the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Alibaba

    (BABA)    , Tencent

    (TCEHY)    , and Baidu

    (BIDU)    .

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  • What goes up… is starting to come down | CNN Business

    What goes up… is starting to come down | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    It’s too soon to declare victory over inflation, but from gas to chicken to big-screen TVs, there are, increasingly, signs that inflation’s grip on American pocketbooks may be loosening.

    Gas prices are back to last year’s levels, after spiking to a record high of just over $5 a gallon this summer. For perspective, a gallon of regular has fallen by almost 50 cents in just a month, making it about $10 cheaper to fill up an average SUV today than a month ago.

    Shoppers scored major deals over the Thanksgiving shopping period amid widespread price-cutting. Online inflation fell 1.9% in November, the largest year-over-year drop in 31 months, according to Adobe Analytics.

    “Falling prices in categories such as toys and electronics accelerated demand in November,” Adobe reported, noting that computers and electronics saw the biggest year-over-year price cuts since 2014. Toy prices fell 7.7% year over year and sporting goods prices dropped 5.7%.

    Retailers awash with excess inventory are expected to keep marking down goods into the end of the year, as consumers shift from buying couches and clothes to spending on travel and experiences — where prices are not coming down for now.

    In other areas, price increases are moderating, as global supply chains work themselves out and commodity and shipping costs decline. Skyrocketing rent and automobile prices are still rising, but more slowly. After hitting a record high this summer, chicken prices have dropped sharply. And according to real estate site RealPage, apartment rents have fallen for three consecutive months.

    Major inflation gauges, while stubbornly high, have shown signs of peaking. The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the PCE Price Index, rose 6% in October versus a year ago and notched the smallest monthly gain in more than a year. The final Consumer Price Index report of the year comes out on Tuesday, and the Producer Price Index also showed signs of cooling, at 7.4%, down from an 8.1% annual rate in October.

    Still, considering the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates six times this year, there is a long way to go and inflation is still issue number one for Americans. In CNN’s most recent poll, the current cost of living represents a near-universal worry, with 93% saying they’re at least somewhat concerned by this, including 63% who say they are very concerned.

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