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NEW YORK (AP) — The Department of Justice has informed former Vice President Mike Pence ‘s legal team that it will not pursue criminal charges related to the discovery of classified documents at his Indiana home.
The department sent a letter to Pence’s attorney on Thursday informing him that, after an investigation into the potential mishandling of classified information, no criminal charges will be sought.
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A spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Friday has confirmed statements on social media that some customers are seeing duplicate transactions and fees on their checking accounts.
“We’re sorry,” the spokesperson said in an email to MarketWatch. “We’re working to resolve the issue and will automatically reverse any duplicates and adjust any related fees.”
JPMorgan Chase
JPM,
customers on Twitter and other social-media outlets said payments made through Zelle were showing up twice.
“PSA!!!,” said Twitter user @haunteraIIA. “Anyone waking up to duplicate zelle charges from chase, my call just went through and was told the duplicate charge should be credited within 24hours. they’re having issues with this today. i was on hold for an hour, so just in case anyone else wakes up freaked out lol.”
Zelle is jointly owned by six banks: JPMorgan, Truist Financial Corp.
TFC,
Capital One
COF,
U.S. Bancorp
USB,
PNC Financial Services Group Inc.
PNC,
and Wells Fargo & Co.
WFC,
A spokesperson from Chase clarified that the problems are confined to its customers.
Also Read: Banks explore reimbursing customers who send money to scam Zelle accounts
Weston Blasi contributed to this report.
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Target Corp.’s stock is up 0.1% Friday after snapping its longest losing streak in 23 years amid an anti-LGBTQ+ backlash against the retail giant.
The stock ended Thursday’s session up 0.2% to snap the losing streak. Target
TGT,
shares had ended Wednesday’s session down 2.2%, marking their ninth consecutive decline, and the stock’s longest losing streak since an 11-day stretch that ended Feb. 24, 2000, according to Dow Jones data. Wednesday also marked the stock’s lowest close since Aug. 11, 2020.
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By Ed Frankl
French industrial production rebounded more than expected in April, suggesting that some pressures on output could be easing as supply bottlenecks loosen, despite the squeeze on spending caused by high inflation and rising interest rates.
Industrial output–comprising output in manufacturing, energy and construction–rose 0.8% on month in April, after falling by 1.1% in March, data from the country’s statistics office Insee showed Friday.
The reading is a little better than the 0.4% increase expected by economists in a poll by The Wall Street Journal
Manufacturing output–the biggest component of industrial production–rose by 0.7% on month in April, with production in the mining, energy and water industries increasing by 1.8%.
Food production, however, fell by 0.3%, while construction rebounded, rising 0.8% after falling in March.
Data from France’s purchasing managers survey on Thursday showed a declining manufacturing trend in May, albeit marginally less pronounced compared with April, as the sector struggles from the effects of inflation and rising interest rates in a gloomy economic climate for industrial production across much of Europe.
Write to Ed Frankl at edward.frankl@wsj.com
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Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Real estate investment trusts have had a tough couple of years, but opportunities abound—if you know where to look.
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The U.S. Senate voted 63-36 in favor of a crucial debt-ceiling bill on Thursday night, sending the measure to President Joe Biden to be signed into law.
The Fiscal Responsibility Act, which the Republican-run House of Representatives approved on Wednesday night in a 314-117 vote, raises the ceiling for federal borrowing and avoids a market-shaking government default while imposing some limits on spending.
Congress…
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Target Corp.’s stock, which is on its longest losing streak in 23 years, was downgraded to neutral from overweight Thursday by JPMorgan, which cited “too many concerns rising” in relation to the retail giant.
The stock ended Wednesday’s session down 2.2%, marking its ninth straight decline and the stock’s longest losing streak since an 11-day stretch that ended Feb. 24, 2000, according to Dow Jones data. Wednesday also marked the stock’s lowest close since Aug. 11, 2020.
Target…
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Macy’s Inc.’s stock slid 9% in premarket trading Thursday, after the department-store chain posted weaker-than-expected fiscal first-quarter sales and cut its full-year guidance to reflect a challenged consumer.
The New York-based company M posted net income of $155 million, or 56 cents a share, for the quarter to April 29, down from $286 million, or 98 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings were also 56 cents, ahead of the 45-cent FactSet consensus.
…
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By Anthony O. Goriainoff
AstraZeneca said Thursday that its and MSD’s Lynparza cancer treatment had been approved in the U.S. for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, or mCRPC.
The Anglo-Swedish pharma giant said Lynparza, in combination with abiraterone and prednisone, reduced the risk of disease progression or…
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The U.S. House of Representatives voted 314-117 in favor of a crucial debt-ceiling bill on Wednesday night, keeping Washington on track to meet the Treasury Department’s Monday deadline.
There were 149 Republicans and 165 Democrats voting for the measure, while 71 Republicans and 46 Democrats voted against it.
Those tallies show the extent…
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The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday voted 241-187 in favor of a procedural measure tied to a crucial debt-limit bill, keeping the Republican-run chamber on track to hold its actual vote on that bill around 8:30 p.m. Eastern.
There were 189 Republicans and 52 Democrats voting “yea” for the procedural measure, while 29 Republicans and 158 Democrats voted “nay.”
Those…
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Lawmakers and the White House appear set to avert a calamitous U.S. government default, but stock-market investors need to be aware that what comes next could still make for a bumpy ride.
“Some time in the next several days, markets will trade their last bit of angst over raising the debt ceiling for what was always going to be the real problem — handling the massive fundraise by Treasury,” said Steven Blitz, chief U.S. economist at TS Lombard, in a Wednesday note warning of a “potent liquidity squeeze” ahead.
For…
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BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets sank Wednesday ahead of a vote by Congress on a deal to avert a government debt default, while a downturn in Chinese factory activity deepened, adding to signs global economic activity is weakening.
Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney retreated. Oil prices declined.Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index edged up less than 0.1% on Tuesday as President Joe Biden and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy tried to line up votes in support of their deal to allow the government to borrow more. Without…
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Bud Light’s recent troubles should worsen in the summer, to the benefit of its competition’s brands, enough to turn Roth MKM analyst Bill Kirk bullish on the stocks of Constellation Brands Inc. and Boston Beer Co. Inc.
Kirk raised on Tuesday his rating on Modelo, Corona, Pacifico beer parent Constellation Brands to buy, after being at neutral since January 2021, while boosting his stock price target to $270 from $216.
Kirk said a lot of the market share Anheuser-Busch InBev SA’s Bud Light lost, amid backlash from the beer brand’s partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, went to other premium light products, but he expects that to shift to Constellation’s favor.
“As the weather warms, we expect the share gains for Modelo Especial and Corona to accelerate,” Kirk wrote in a note to clients.
Constellation Brands’ stock
STZ,
rose 1.5% in afternoon trading Tuesday toward the highest close since Dec. 12, 2022, while Anheuser-Busch shares
BUD,
slumped 4.5% toward the lowest close since Nov. 10.
He noted that weekly scanner data has shown that Constellation’s beer portfolio outperformed the broader beer market by seven percentage points in early 2023, and that outperformance improved to 10 percentage points at the beginning of Bud Light’s market-share losses in April.
“With temperatures warming and substitutability with Bud Light increasing, recent weeks have seen 13 [percentage points] of outperformance,” Kirk wrote. “This trend should continue as Bud Light [declines/peak] over summer holidays.”
For Samuel Adams, Truly, Twisted Tea parent Boston Beer, Kirk raised his rating to buy, after being at neutral for at least the past three years. He raised his stock price target to $386 from $274.
Boston Beer’s stock
SAM,
jumped 6.8% toward the highest close since Feb. 15.
Earlier this year, Kirk was concerned that Truly hard seltzer’s weakness continued, offsetting Twisted Tea’s success, and that gross margins weren’t improving even after moving more production in-house.
Read more: Bud Light crisis: It’s unclear how U.S. volume drop will end, analysts say
“Now, we believe seltzer and Truly will benefit in the summer from Bud Light share losses (occasion overlap increases with warmer weather) and gross margin lift from production shift will be realized in 2Q (given inventory days timing),” Kirk wrote.
He believes that will shift investor focus away from Truly’s weakness and toward Boston Beer’s brands that are growing.
And while Wall Street expects the trends Boston Beer saw in the first quarter to continue throughout 2023, Kirk now believes the company will beat expectations for shipments and depletions, and sees opportunities for margins to also beat forecasts.
“While we had written at 1Q that the ‘timing of upside surprises remains unclear,’ we now believe the timing is Summer 2023,” Kirk wrote.
Constellation Brands’ stock has gained 5.7% over the past three months and Boston Beer shares have advanced 4.8%, while Anheuser-Busch’s stock has dropped 10.1% and the S&P 500 index
SPX,
has gained 5.9%.
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This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers visit http://www.djreprints.com.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/ford-stock-analyst-buy-608f1c5c
Ford Motor
stock picked up an upgrade to Buy. Business execution is improving and Wall Street hasn’t caught up yet with what’s possible. That’s an opportunity.
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By Mauro Orru
Nestle appointed Anna Manz from the London Stock Exchange Group to succeed Francois-Xavier Roger as chief financial officer after he decided to step down in pursuit of new professional challenges.
The Swiss packaged-foods giant said Tuesday that Manz would take over as soon as she is released from her present duties as chief financial officer and board member at the London Stock Exchange Group. Roger will remain in place until then, Nestle said.
“Anna has spent her career growing businesses and improving operational efficiencies,” said Chief Executive Mark Schneider. “Her deep knowledge of the consumer goods industry, combined with her extensive experience across many corporate functions, make her uniquely positioned to help lead Nestle into its next phase of value creation.”
Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com; @MauroOrru94
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The Democratic president and Republican speaker spoke with each other Sunday evening as negotiators rushed to draft the bill text so lawmakers can review compromises that neither the hard-right or left flank is likely to support. Instead, the leaders are working to gather backing from the political middle as Congress hurries toward votes before a June 5 deadline to avert a damaging federal default.
“Good news,” Biden declared Sunday evening at the White House.
“The agreement prevents the worst possible crisis, a default, for the first time in our nation’s history,” he said. “Takes the threat of a catastrophic default off the table.”
The president urged both parties in Congress to come together for swift passage. “The speaker and I made clear from the start that the only way forward was a bipartisan agreement,” he said.
The compromise announced late Saturday includes spending cuts but risks angering some lawmakers as they take a closer look at the concessions. Biden told reporters at the White House upon his return from Delaware that he was confident the plan will make it to his desk.
McCarthy, too, was confident in remarks at the Capitol: “At the end of the day, people can look together to be able to pass this.”
The days ahead will determine whether Washington is again able to narrowly avoid a default on U.S. debt, as it has done many times before, or whether the global economy enters a potential crisis.
In the United States, a default could cause financial markets to freeze up and spark an international financial crisis. Analysts say millions of jobs would vanish, borrowing and unemployment rates would jump, and a stock-market plunge could erase trillions of dollars in household wealth. It would all but shatter the $24 trillion market for Treasury debt.
Anxious retirees and others were already making contingency plans for missed checks, with the next Social Security payments due soon as the world watches American leadership at stake.
McCarthy and his negotiators portrayed the deal as delivering for Republicans though it fell well short of the sweeping spending cuts they sought. Top White House officials were briefing Democratic lawmakers and phoning some directly to try to shore up support.
As Sunday dragged on, negotiators labored to write the bill text and lawmakers raised questions.
McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol on Sunday that the agreement “doesn’t get everything everybody wanted,” but that was to be expected in a divided government. Privately, he told lawmakers on a conference call that Democrats “got nothing” they wanted.
A White House statement from the president, issued after Biden and McCarthy spoke by phone Saturday evening and an agreement in principle followed, said the deal “prevents what could have been a catastrophic default.”
Support from both parties will be needed to win congressional approval before a projected June 5 government default on U.S. debts. Lawmakers are not expected to return to work from the Memorial Day weekend before Tuesday, at the earliest, and McCarthy has promised lawmakers he will abide by the rule to post any bill for 72 hours before voting.
Negotiators agreed to some Republican demands for increased work requirements for recipients of food stamps that House Democrats had called a nonstarter.
With the outlines of an agreement in place, the legislative package could be drafted and shared with lawmakers in time for House votes as soon as Wednesday, and later in the coming week in the Senate.
Central to the compromise is a two-year budget deal that would essentially hold spending flat for 2024, while boosting it for defense and veterans, and capping increases at 1% for 2025. That’s alongside raising the debt limit for two years, pushing the volatile political issue past the next presidential election.
Driving hard to impose tougher work requirements on government aid recipients, Republicans achieved some of what they wanted. It ensures people ages 49 to 54 with food stamp aid would have to meet work requirements if they are able-bodied and without dependents. Biden was able to secure waivers for veterans and homeless people.
The deal puts in place changes in the landmark National Environmental Policy Act designating “a single lead agency” to develop environmental reviews, in hopes of streamlining the process.
It halts some funds to hire new Internal Revenue Service agents as Republicans demanded, and rescinds some $30 billion for coronavirus relief, keeping $5 billion for developing the next generation of COVID-19 vaccines.
The deal came together after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress that the United States could default on its debt obligations by June 5 — four days later than previously estimated — if lawmakers did not act in time. Lifting the nation’s debt limit, now at $31 trillion, allows more borrowing to pay bills already insurred.
McCarthy commands only a slim Republican majority in the House, where hard-right conservatives may resist any deal as insufficient as they try to slash spending. By compromising with Democrats, he risks losing support from his own members, setting up a career-challenging moment for the new speaker.
“I think you’re going to get a majority of Republicans voting for this bill,” McCarthy said on “Fox News Sunday,” adding that because Biden backed it, “I think there’s going to be a lot of Democrats that will vote for it, too.”
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that he expected there will be Democratic support but he declined to provide a number. Asked whether he could guarantee there would not be a default, he said, “Yes.”
A 100-strong group of moderates in the New Democratic Coalition gave a crucial nod of support on Sunday, saying in a statement it was confident that Biden and his team “delivered a viable, bipartisan solution to end this crisis” and were working to ensure the agreement would receive support from both parties.
The coalition could provide enough support for McCarthy to make up for members in the right flank of his party who have expressed opposition before the bill’s wording was even released.
It also takes pressure off Biden, facing criticism from progressives for giving into what they call hostage-taking by Republicans.
Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state, who leads the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told CBS that the White House and Jeffries should worry about whether caucus members will support the agreement.
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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached an “agreement in principle” to raise the nation’s legal debt ceiling late Saturday as they raced to strike a deal to limit federal spending and avert a potentially disastrous U.S. default.
However, the agreement risks angering both Democratic and Republican sides with the concessions made to reach it. Negotiators agreed to some Republican demands for increased work requirements for recipients of food stamps that had sparked an uproar from House Democrats as a nonstarter.
Support from both parties will be needed to win congressional approval next week before a June 5 deadline.
The Democratic president and Republican speaker reached the agreement after the two spoke earlier Saturday evening by phone, said McCarthy. The country and the world have been watching and waiting for a resolution to a political standoff that threatened the U.S. and global economies.
“The agreement represents a compromise, which means not everyone gets what they want,” Biden said in a statement late Saturday night. “That’s the responsibility of governing,” he said.
Biden called the agreement “good news for the American people, because it prevents what could have been a catastrophic default and would have led to an economic recession, retirement accounts devastated, and millions of jobs lost.”
McCarthy in brief remarks at the Capitol, said that “we still have a lot of work to do.”
But the Republican speaker said: “I believe this is an agreement in principle that’s worthy of the American people.”
With the outlines of a deal in place, the legislative package could be drafted and shared with lawmakers in time for votes early next week in the House and later in the Senate.
Central to the package is a two-year budget deal that would hold spending flat for 2024 and impose limits for 2025 in exchange for raising the debt limit for two years, pushing the volatile political issue past the next presidential election.
The agreement would limit food stamp eligibility for able-bodied adults up to age 54, but Biden was able to secure waivers for veterans and the homeless.
The two sides had also reached for an ambitious overhaul of federal permitting to ease development of energy projects and transmission lines. Instead, the agreement puts in place changes in the the National Environmental Policy Act that will designate “a single lead agency” to develop economic reviews, in hopes of streamlining the process.
The deal came together after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress that the United States could default on its debt obligations by June 5 — four days later than previously estimated — if lawmakers did not act in time to raise the federal debt ceiling. The extended “X-date” gave the two sides a bit of extra time as they scrambled for a deal.
Biden also spoke earlier in the day with Democratic leaders in Congress to discuss the status of the talks.
The Republican House speaker had gathered top allies behind closed doors at the Capitol as negotiators pushed for a deal that would avoid a first-ever government default while also making spending cuts that House Republicans are demanding.
But as another day dragged on with financial disaster looming closer, it had appeared some of the problems over policy issues that dogged talks all week remained unresolved.
Both sides have suggested one of the main holdups was a GOP effort to expand work requirements for recipients of food stamps and other federal aid programs, a longtime Republican goal that Democrats have strenuously opposed. The White House said the Republican proposals were “cruel and senseless.”
Biden has said the work requirements for Medicaid would be a nonstarter. He seemed potentially open to negotiating minor changes on food stamps, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, despite objections from rank-and-file Democrats.
McCarthy, who dashed out before the lunch hour Saturday and arrived back at the Capitol with a big box of takeout, declined to elaborate on those discussions. One of his negotiators, Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves, said there was “not a chance” that Republicans might relent on the work requirements issue.
Americans and the world were uneasily watching the negotiating brinkmanship that could throw the U.S. economy into chaos and sap world confidence in the nation’s leadership.
Anxious retirees and others were already making contingency plans for missed checks, with the next Social Security payments due next week.
Yellen said failure to act by the new date would “cause severe hardship to American families, harm our global leadership position and raise questions about our ability to defend our national security interests.”
The president, spending part of the weekend at Camp David, continued to talk with his negotiating team multiple times a day, signing off on offers and counteroffers.
Any deal would need to be a political compromise in a divided Congress. Many of the hard-right Trump-aligned Republicans in Congress have long been skeptical of the Treasury’s projections, and they are pressing McCarthy to hold out.
Lawmakers are not expected to return to work from the Memorial Day weekend before Tuesday, at the earliest, and McCarthy has promised lawmakers he will abide by the rule to post any bill for 72 hours before voting.
The Democratic-held Senate has largely stayed out of the negotiations, leaving the talks to Biden and McCarthy. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has pledged to move quickly to send a compromise package to Biden’s desk.
Weeks of talks have failed to produce a deal in part because the Biden administration resisted for months on negotiating with McCarthy, arguing that the country’s full faith and credit should not be used as leverage to extract other partisan priorities.
But House Republicans united behind a plan to cut spending, narrowly passing legislation in late April that would raise the debt ceiling in exchange for the spending reductions.
With the outlines of a deal in place, the legislative package could be drafted and shared with lawmakers in time for votes early next week in the House and later in the Senate.
Central to the package is a two-year budget deal that would hold spending flat for 2024 and impose limits for 2025 in exchange for raising the debt limit for two years, pushing the volatile political issue past the next presidential election.
Background: What’s in the emerging debt-ceiling deal? A cut to IRS funding, among other items.
Negotiators agreed to some Republican demands for enhanced work requirements on recipients of food stamps that had sparked an uproar from House Democrats as a nonstarter.
Biden also spoke earlier in the day with Democratic leaders in Congress to discuss the status of the talks, according to three people familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The Republican House speaker had gathered top allies behind closed doors at the Capitol as negotiators pushed for a deal that would raise the nation’s borrowing limit and avoid a first-ever default on the federal debt, while also making spending cuts that House Republicans are demanding.
As he arrived at the Capitol early in the day, McCarthy said that Republican negotiators were “closer to an agreement.”
McCarthy’s comments had echoed the latest public assessment from Biden, who said Friday evening that bargainers were “very close.” Biden and McCarthy last met face-to-face on the matter Monday.
Their new discussion Saturday by phone came after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress that the United States could default on its debt obligations by June 5 — four days later than previously estimated — if lawmakers do not act in time to raise the federal debt ceiling. The extended “X-date” gives the two sides a bit of extra time as they scramble for a deal.
Americans and the world were uneasily watching the negotiating brinkmanship that could throw the U.S. economy into chaos and sap world confidence in the nation’s leadership. House negotiators left the Capitol at 2 a.m. the night before, only to return hours later.
Failure to lift the borrowing limit, now $31 trillion, to pay the nation’s incurred bills, would send shockwaves through the U.S. and global economy. Yellen said failure to act by the new date would “cause severe hardship to American families, harm our global leadership position and raise questions about our ability to defend our national security interests.”
Anxious retirees and others were already making contingency plans for missed checks, with the next Social Security payments due next week.
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