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KB Home shares declined in the extended session Wednesday even after the home builder reported results that topped Wall Street estimates, hiked its revenue forecast for the year and reported steady demand amid rising mortgage rates.
KB Home KBH shares slid more than 2% after hours, following a 0.7% decline in the regular session to close at $48.06.
The…
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday is set to come face-to-face with his most ardent critics as House Republicans prepare to use a routine oversight hearing to interrogate him about what they claim is the “weaponization” of the Justice Department under President Joe Biden.
Garland is appearing before the House Judiciary Committee for the first time in two years and at an unprecedented moment in the Justice Department’s history: He’s overseeing two cases against Donald Trump, the first former president to face criminal charges, and another against the sitting president’s son, Hunter Biden.
“Our job is not to take orders from the president, from Congress, or from anyone else, about who or what to criminally investigate,” Garland will say, according to prepared remarks.
“ ‘I am not the President’s lawyer. I will also add that I am not Congress’s prosecutor. The Justice Department works for the American people.’ ”
Republicans on the committee were tight-lipped about what they planned to ask Garland, telling the Associated Press on Tuesday that they wanted to keep lines of attack under wraps until the hearing.
But Garland will likely face tense and heated questions about the Trump and Hunter Biden criminal cases, forcing him to defend the country’s largest law enforcement agency at a time when political and physical threats against agents and their families are on the rise.
“All of us at the Justice Department recognize that with this work comes public scrutiny, criticism, and legitimate oversight. These are appropriate and important given the gravity of the matters before the department,” Garland will say, according to his prepared remarks. “But singling out individual career public servants who are just doing their jobs is dangerous — particularly at a time of increased threats to the safety of public servants and their families.”
Democrats say they plan to “act as kind of a truth squad” against what they see as Republican misinformation and their ongoing defense of Trump, who is now the Republican frontrunner to challenge Biden in next year’s election. They say Republicans are trying to detract attention from the indicted former president’s legal challenges and turn a negative spotlight on Biden.
“I’ll be using this opportunity to highlight just how destructive that is of our system of justice and how once again, it is the GOP willing to undermine our institutions in the defense of their indefensible candidate for president,” Rep. Adam Schiff, a senior Democrat on the committee, told the AP.
Garland’s testimony also comes just over a week after Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from inland south-central California, launched an impeachment inquiry into his boss, Biden, with a special focus on the Justice Department’s handling of Hunter Biden’s years-long case.
The White House has dismissed the impeachment inquiry as baseless and worked to focus the conversation on policy instead. Hunter Biden’s legal team, on the other hand, has gone on the offensive against GOP critics, most recently filing suit against the Internal Revenue Service after two of its agents raised whistleblower claims to Congress about the handling of the investigation.
Republicans contend that the Justice Department — both under Trump and now Biden — has failed to fully probe the allegations against the younger Biden, ranging from his work on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma to his tax filings in California and Washington, D.C.
“I am not the President’s lawyer. I will also add that I am not Congress’s prosecutor. The Justice Department works for the American people,” Garland is expected to say.
“ Democrats have said they plan to ‘act as kind of a truth squad’ at the House hearing. ”
An investigation into Hunter Biden had been run by the U.S. attorney for Delaware, Trump appointee David Weiss, who Garland had kept on to finish the probe and insulate it from claims of political interference. Garland granted Weiss special counsel status last month, giving him broad authority to investigate and report his findings. He oversees the day-to-day running of the probe and another special counsel, Jack Smith, is in charge of the Trump investigation, though Garland retains final say on both as attorney general.
Last week, Weiss used that new authority to indict Hunter Biden on federal firearms charges, putting the case on track toward a possible trial as the 2024 election looms.
The Republican chairmen of the Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees launched an investigation into Weiss’ handling of the case, which was first opened in 2018 after two IRS agents claimed in congressional testimony in May that the Justice Department improperly interfered with their work.
Gary Shapley, a veteran IRS agent assigned to the case, testified to Congress that Weiss indicated in October 2022 that he was not the “deciding person whether charges are filed” against Hunter Biden.
That testimony has been disputed by two FBI agents who were also in the room for that meeting.
Hunter Biden has since sued the IRS, alleging that the episode has breached his right to privacy.
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This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers visit http://www.djreprints.com.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/stock-market-movers-457cee3b
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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
In the world of search results and social media, just one misstep or unfortunate event can quickly escalate into a full-blown public relations (PR) crisis, posing a real threat to your company’s reputation and bottom line.
That makes it essential to be prepared for potential PR problems and have a well-thought-out strategy to mitigate the fallout and protect brand integrity.
Below, I look at several high-profile PR cases that captured global attention and provide crucial lessons on how business leaders and entrepreneurs can navigate PR challenges without letting things spin out of control.
Related: 5 Key Things You Need Before Launching a PR Campaign
Over 40 years ago, Johnson & Johnson faced one of the most infamous PR crises in history, feeling the heat after seven people died from consuming cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules. The company’s response to this PR nightmare set the gold standard for crisis management.
Rather than downplaying the issue, Johnson & Johnson acted swiftly, recalling 31 million bottles of Tylenol and working closely with law enforcement and the media. By putting public safety first, the company demonstrated transparency and authenticity, rebuilding trust and restoring its reputation in the process.
Johnson & Johnson’s swift action and crisis response show the importance of prioritizing public safety, acting quickly, and communicating openly throughout a PR issue, particularly when mitigating reputation damage and regaining public trust.
In 2017, United Airlines faced a PR disaster following the release of a video depicting a passenger being forcibly removed from an overbooked United flight. The viral incident quickly led to widespread public outrage and criticism of the airline’s handling of the situation. At first, United not only appeared to lack empathy but failed to address the situation appropriately, creating an even bigger problem for the leading airline and its carefully cultivated image.
Blowback from United’s initial response to this crisis helps illustrate the importance of tact, empathy, and genuine concern in the crisis management process, especially at the outset of the problem. Whether your brand is in the right or not, taking responsibility, apologizing sincerely, and outlining preventive measures you’ll take to avoid future issues is paramount.
Related: How to Turn a Crisis into an Opportunity by Managing Negative Publicity
BP’s response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion and subsequent oil spill significantly damaged the global energy brand’s image, quickly spiraling into a major reputational crisis with years-long impact. BP’s initial response was generally regarded as slow and defensive, leading to public outrage and accusations of negligence. The company struggled to contain the environmental damage and faced significant legal and financial repercussions well after the incident.
While the Deepwater Horizon disaster was unique in scale and scope, it helps show the need to proactively address crises, respond quickly and transparently, and collaborate with experts whenever needed to mitigate brand erosion and demonstrate accountability.
Related: A 3-Step Plan for Handling Any PR Crisis
Major credit reporting agency Equifax suffered a massive data breach in 2017, exposing the sensitive personal data of millions of consumers across the country. A slow response to the crisis, coupled with inadequate communication and mishandling of the situation, resulted in severe damage to the company’s reputation, eventually leading to congressional hearings.
While the Equifax breach was significant in scale, data breaches at any level can create a PR nightmare for a business, sparking negative headlines that put the agency’s credibility on the hot seat. Combatting that lousy news and restoring trust with customers requires a careful and comprehensive crisis response effort that includes swiftly informing all affected parties and zeroing in on transparency, prompt communication, and clearly outlined remediation efforts and measures designed to prevent future breaches.
Two deadly crashes between 2018 and 2019 involved Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft, shining an unwanted spotlight on the aircraft manufacturer and its product development and oversight process. Unfortunately, the company’s initial response only seemed to make things worse, receiving significant criticism for lacking adequate transparency and accountability. The crisis led to a global grounding of the aircraft, a halt in production, and a loss of public confidence in the company.
Though extreme, Boeing’s 737 Max crisis serves as an object lesson to any brand coping with product-related issues, demonstrating the importance of prioritizing safety, cooperating with regulatory authorities, and communicating openly and honestly about the steps you’re taking to resolve the problem.
High-profile PR crises offer invaluable lessons not just on managing your brand during challenging times but also on building a reputation management plan that limits the damage and keeps you in firm control throughout the process. Engaging in swift and transparent crisis management that prioritizes public safety, demonstrates empathy, and takes responsibility are all fundamental principles of crisis response that can help protect your brand while preventing things from worsening down the line.
Additionally, fostering a culture of integrity, implementing robust compliance and ethics programs, and prioritizing the well-being of employees and customers will contribute to building a resilient and trustworthy reputation.
By learning from the mistakes and successes of these high-profile cases, you can position your business to navigate crises gracefully, safeguarding your reputation and securing long-term success in a competitive business landscape.
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Adam Petrilli
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Klaviyo Inc. is reportedly raising the target of its upcoming initial public offering to more than $550 million.
Bloomberg News reported late Sunday that Klaviyo has decided to raise the target range for its shares to $27 to $29, up from its previously stated range of $25 to $27 a share. At the top of that new range, the IPO would raise $557 million, with the company valued at about $8.7 billion, according to Bloomberg.
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The U.S. stock market, as measured by the S&P 500 Index SPX, is trapped in a trading range, and volatility seems to be damping down considerably. The significant edges of the trading range are support at 4330 and resistance at 4540. Both of those levels were touched in the latter half of August. A breakout from this range should give the market some strong directional momentum.
Since Labor Day, prices have hunkered down into an even narrower range. Typically, the latter half of September through the early part of October…
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The second week of September, as in the NFL, marks a kickoff of sorts for the tech year.
Headlined by Apple Inc.’s
AAPL,
seminal iPhone event on the second Tuesday of the month at Apple Park, and anchored by Salesforce Inc.’s
CRM,
wildly popular Dreamforce conference up the road in San Francisco, these several days set a tempo as well as establish a road map for the industry over the next 12 months. They also open the floodgates on tech conference season, with shows stacked up over the next several weeks for Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
and Oracle Corp.
ORCL,
Oh, and there’s that initial public offering from Arm Holdings Plc, the chip designer owned by SoftBank Group Corp.
9984,
that is expected to value Arm at $50 billion to $54.5 billion on a fully diluted basis. Another IPO candidate, delivery startup Instacart, also plans a public offering that would value it at $7.5 billion. Both deals could jump-start what has been a somnolent tech IPO market the past few years.
For that reason alone, this jam-packed tech week might hold even more import, and consequences, than previous years. A confluence of legal tussles, macroeconomic conditions, a trade war with China, and regulatory bluster have raised the stakes.
“It’s a tale of two cities with this week’s events highlighting both the issues and opportunities in tech,” Silicon Valley analyst Maribel Lopez said in an interview, assessing the week. “Arm’s IPO showcases the strength of tech and AI at a time when the AI forum and Google-DoJ shine a light on the concern that a few companies are wielding tremendous power for the future of the world.”
Consider: Hours before Apple is expected to unveil a new crop of iPhones more noteworthy for pricing than features, Alphabet Inc.’s
GOOGL,
GOOG,
Google faces off with the Justice Department in a federal court in Washington, D.C.
Justice Department officials argue that Google illegally leveraged agreements with phone makers such as Apple and Samsung Electronics Co.
005930,
and with internet browsers like Mozilla to be the default search engine for their customers, thus preventing smaller rivals from gaining access to that business.
“This is a backwards-looking case at a time of unprecedented innovation, including breakthroughs in AI, new apps and new services, all of which are creating more competition and more options for people than ever before,” Google General Counsel Kent Walker said in a statement.
The following day, Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., convenes an all-star panel of CEOs from Meta, Microsoft, Google, OpenAI and Palantir Technologies Inc.
PLTR,
As lawmakers ruminate on how to harness AI responsibly, bipartisan legislation is in the works. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., are among those crafting a bill.
Even Apple and Salesforce aren’t immune from recent events: Apple has endured a relatively rough patch of disappointing (for them) revenue and iPhone sales while balancing risk/reward with its huge investment in China, and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has threatened to relocate Dreamforce to Las Vegas after more than two decades in his hometown of San Francisco if drug use and homelessness disrupt this year’s event.
The most pressing concern, when all is said and done, is AI — which hovers like the Death Star over the tech landscape.
“The biggest concern is the forum is behind closed doors, which could lead to regulatory capture, where dominant players in the industry help influence the regulations being imposed,” Kimberlee Josephson, associate professor of business administration at Lebanon Valley College (Pa.), said in an interview. “It’s almost as if it puts them in the hot while giving them a seat at the table at the same time.”
“At the very least, it sends the signal that something is being done,” she said. “Antitrust cases are so subjective. What constitutes barriers to entry? DoJ adds a level of seriousness.”
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Investors in index funds have been well rewarded by a high concentration in the largest technology companies over the past decade. But there are also continuing warnings about the risk of such heavy concentrations, even in index funds that track the S&P 500. Solutions are offered to limit this risk, but if you expect Big Tech to continue to drive the broad market returns over the coming years, why not make an even more focused bet?
Comparisons of three index-fund approaches highlight how successful concentration in the “Magnificent Seven” has been.
The Magnificent Seven are Apple Inc.
AAPL,
Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
Nvidia Corp.
NVDA,
Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
Alphabet Inc.
GOOGL,
GOOG,
Tesla Inc.
TSLA,
and Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
We have listed them in the order of their concentration within the Invesco S&P 500 ETF Trust
SPY,
which tracks the S&P 500
SPX.
The U.S. benchmark index is weighted by market capitalization, as is the Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP
and the Russell indexes.
SPY is 27.6% concentrated in the Magnificent Seven. One way to play the same group of 500 stocks but eliminate concentration risk is to take an equal-weighted approach to the index, which has worked well for certain long periods. But here, we’re focusing on how well the concentrated strategy has worked.
Let’s take a look at the group’s concentration in three popular index approaches, then look at long-term performance and consider what happened in 2022 as rising interest rates helped crush the tech sector.
Here are the portfolio weightings for the Magnificent Seven in SPY, along with those of the Invesco QQQ Trust
QQQ,
which tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index
NDX
and the Invesco S&P 500 Top 50 ETF
XLG
:
| Company | Ticker | % of SPY | % of QQQ | % of XLG |
| Apple Inc. |
AAPL, |
7.05% | 10.85% | 12.46% |
| Microsoft Cor. |
MSFT, |
6.65% | 9.53% | 11.76% |
| Amazon.com Inc. |
AMZN, |
3.30% | 5.50% | 5.84% |
| Nvidia Corp. |
NVDA, |
3.02% | 4.44% | 5.33% |
| Alphabet Inc. Class A |
GOOGL, |
2.17% | 3.12% | 3.83% |
| Alphabet Inc. Class C |
GOOG, |
1.88% | 3.11% | 3.32% |
| Tesla Inc. |
TSLA, |
1.79% | 3.10% | 3.17% |
| Meta Platforms Inc. Class A |
META, |
1.77% | 3.60% | 3.12% |
| Totals | 27.63% | 43.25% | 48.83% | |
| Sources: Invesco Ltd., State Street Corp. | ||||
The same group of seven companies (eight stocks with two common share classes for Alphabet) is at the top of each exchange-traded fund’s portfolio, although the top seven for QQQ aren’t in the same order as those for SPY and XLG. QQQ’s weighting was changed recently as the underlying Nasdaq-100 underwent a “special rebalancing” last month.
Here’s a five-year chart comparing the performance of the three approaches. All returns in this article include reinvested dividends.
QQQ has been the clear winner for five years, but it is also worth noting how well XLG has performed when compared with SPY. This “top 50” approach to the S&P 500 incorporates many stocks that aren’t listed on the Nasdaq and therefore cannot be included in QQQ, which itself is made up of the largest 100 nonfinancial companies in the full Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
Examples of stocks held by XLG that aren’t held by QQQ include such non-tech stalwarts as Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
BRK.B,
Johnson & Johnson
JNJ,
Procter & Gamble Co.
PG,
Home Depot Inc.
HD,
and Nike Inc.
NKE,
Now let’s go deeper into long-term performance. First, here are the total returns for various time periods:
| ETF | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years | 15 Years | 20 Years |
|
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY |
40% | 69% | 223% | 370% | 531% |
|
Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ |
41% | 113% | 430% | 882% | 1,158% |
|
Invesco S&P 500 Top 50 ETF XLG |
41% | 85% | 262% | 404% | N/A |
| Source: FactSet | |||||
Click on the tickers for more about each ETF, company or index.
There is no 20-year return for XLG because this ETF was established in 2005.
For five years and longer, QQQ has been the runaway leader, but for 5, 10 and 15 years, XLG has also beaten SPY handily, with broader industry exposure.
Something else to consider is that during 2022, when SPY was down 18.2%, XLG fell 24.3% and QQQ dropped 32.6%.
For disciplined long-term investors, the tech pain of 2022 may not seem to have been a small price to pay for outperformance. And it may have been easier to take the pounding when holding SPY or even XLG that year.
Here’s a look at the average annual returns for the three ETFs:
| ETF | 3 years | 5 years | 10 years | 15 years | 20 years |
|
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY |
11.8% | 11.0% | 12.4% | 10.9% | 9.6% |
|
Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ |
12.0% | 16.3% | 18.2% | 16.4% | 13.5% |
|
Invesco S&P 500 Top 50 ETF XLG |
12.2% | 13.1% | 13.7% | 11.4% | N/A |
| Source: FactSet | |||||
So the question remains — do you believe that the largest technology companies will continue to lead the stock market for the next decade at least? If so, a more concentrated index approach may be for you, provided you can withstand the urge to sell into a declining market, such as the one we experienced last year.
Here is something else to keep in mind. In a note to clients on Monday, Doug Peta, the chief U.S. investment strategist at BCA, made a fascinating point: “The only novel development is that all the heaviest hitters now hail from Tech and Tech-adjacent sectors and are therefore more prone to move together than they were at the end of 2004, when the seven largest stocks came from six different sectors. “
Nothing lasts forever. Peta continued by suggesting that investors who are tired of big tech taking all the glory “need only wait.”
“[I]f history is any guide, their time at the top of the capitalization scale will be short,” he wrote.
Don’t miss: These four Dow stocks take top prizes for dividend growth
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Talking about AI alone has been pixie dust for big technology stocks this year. And as executives look for any way to shoehorn AI into their business plans, more S&P 500 index companies during their second quarter earnings calls mentioned “AI” than at any point since at least 2010, according to a report published on Friday.
What’s more, according to the report from FactSet, the companies talking about AI — even the ones that aren’t the big, obvious tech names — have seen their stocks fare better than shares of companies that haven’t.
For S&P 500 companies that mentioned “AI” on their second-quarter earnings calls, shares on average since June 30 dipped 0.8%, while rising 13.3% since Dec. 31, FactSet said. For companies that didn’t talk about AI on those calls, shares on average fell a bit more since the end of June — 2.3% — while inching only 1.5% higher since the end of last year.
“Even excluding the ‘Magnificent Seven’ (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla), the S&P 500 companies that cited ‘AI’ still outperformed the S&P 500 companies that did not cite ‘AI’ on average during these periods,” FactSet Senior Earnings Analyst John Butters said in the report.
Meanwhile, Wall Street has long believed corporate America’s profits would rebound for the second half of 2023, after a year ruled by anxieties over inflation’s impact on the economy. Still, that collective bounce-back, as it has through this year, will hinge on strong results from the world’s biggest tech players.
Wall Street analysts expect S&P 500 companies to eke out a 0.5% gain in per-share profit growth during the third quarter, according to the FactSet report. If that number holds, it would be the first quarter of earnings growth since the third quarter of last year.
Those potential gains, however, will largely depend on results from Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
and Alphabet Inc.
GOOG,
GOOGL,
— outsized companies with outsized influence on markets and S&P 500 company financials overall. Financials for those companies have rebounded this year, after big tech retrenched amid a drop-off in pandemic-related digital demand from people spending more time at home and online.
Three years of supply disruptions have upended the economy and driven prices higher, forcing the Federal Reserve to embark on a delicate effort to bring them lower by discouraging borrowing and spending through a series of interest-rate hikes. But what about the impact on bowling? For answers, we turn to results this week from bowling-alley chain Bowlero Corp.
BOWL,
which saw a jump in demand following the economy’s reopening but now faces questions about that demand as it shows signs of returning to Earth. Convenience-store chain Casey’s General Stores Inc.
CASY,
and homebuilder Lennar Corp.
LEN,
also report.
Adobe results: Digital-media, analytics and design firm Adobe Inc. reports quarterly results on Thursday. But Mizuho analyst Gregg Moskowitz said his focus was on the company’s broader digital transformation.
He cited stronger Web traffic, the potential for more deals with bigger customers, signs of improving trends in Adobe’s
ADBE,
analytics segment, as well as the segment that includes design tools like Photoshop. But he said the company’s moves in generative AI could be “a significant growth driver.” Adobe this year unveiled Firefly, an AI image and text-enhancement model that can be incorporated into Adobe’s software. Moskowitz said that “while very early, our checks indicate an already high level of large customer interest in GenAI projects, including Firefly for Enterprise.” However, he said the company’s $20 billion acquisition of online design platform Figma was still “a big question mark,” as costs and regulatory scrutiny accumulate.
Oracle results, supply situation: Cloud and IT-network developer Oracle Corp.
ORCL,
reports results on Monday. Like much of the tech world, Wall Street sees the company as an AI play. But UBS analysts said that as businesses race to secure the components that power AI, Oracle could have an “underappreciated edge” over rivals.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday she will run for reelection to another term in Congress as Democrats work to win back the majority in 2024.
Pelosi, 83, made the announcement before labor allies in the San Francisco area district she has represented for more than 35 years.
From the archives (November 2022): House Democratic caucus confers ‘speaker emerita’ title on Pelosi as Jeffries takes up party leadership reins
Also see (November 2022): Nancy Pelosi steps down as leader of House Democrats after two decades
“Now more than ever our City needs us to advance San Francisco values and further our recovery,” Pelosi said in a tweet. “Our country needs America to show the world that our flag is still there, with liberty and justice for ALL. That is why I am running for reelection — and respectfully ask for your vote.”
First elected to Congress in 1987, the Democratic leader made history becoming the first female speaker in 2007, and in 2019 she regained the speaker’s gavel.
Pelosi led the party through substantial legislative achievements, including passage of the Affordable Care Act, as well as turbulent times with two impeachments of former President Donald Trump.
The announcement quells any talk of retirement for the long-serving leader who, with the honorific title of speaker emeritus, remains an influential leader, pivotal party figure and vast fundraiser for Democrats.
Read on:
Nancy Pelosi: Love or hate her, her senior work ethic is admirable
Nancy Pelosi portrait unveiling at Capitol reduces John Boehner to tears
State of the Union guests include Bono, Paul Pelosi and Tyre Nichols’s parents
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“Super apps” have never truly existed in the United States, and it is apparent at this point that they never will.
That isn’t stopping some executives and investment analysts from still dreaming of becoming one-stop shops for their users’ needs, something only a small handful of apps in Asia have managed to do. The most prominent is Elon Musk, the Tesla Inc. TSLAchief executive who purchased Twitter last year and has proclaimed that he will turn it into an “everything app” called X that resembles super apps in China.
“I…
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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
As a 15-year publicist, I can tell you that simplistic, feel-good adages don’t always hold true. Not all press is good press; in fact, in our current culture of basically everything going online instantaneously — whether it’s true or not, confirmed or not — bad press can be quite damaging, running the gamut from words that wound, at the least, to total ruination, at the worst.
To take just one timely example: In the late summer of 2023, popular entertainer Lizzo was sued by three of her former dancers for creating a hostile work environment and for sexual harassment. The damage was immediate (including the cancelation of the Made in America festival she was headlining, omission of her name from a song Beyoncé performed only hours after the case was announced, others coming out of the woodwork with similar allegations) and the backlash is ongoing: criticisms of her lack of accountability, haters predicting her doom, the press having a field day with the negativity surrounding a pop sensation known for her stance on body positivity.
Basically, bad press can transform into a bad reputation in a New York minute, so you have to take it seriously. If you don’t grab the reins of the narrative, someone else will — and then they’ll be in charge of the direction in which the subsequent news goes, not you.
Though most of us don’t have to deal with the immense notoriety that can come with immense fame, we all live in the same world at the same time. If you’re in business for yourself in the digital age of the early 21st century, here are three types of bad press you’re likely to encounter and starting points on how to handle them.
Everyone’s a critic these days, right? Customer comment sections of websites are free and virtually anonymous to access, not just allowing bad reviews but almost inviting them. Let’s face it: Are you more likely to post about a positive experience you had or to wield the power of a negative testimonial when you’re unhappy with an experience? The point being: if there’s a forum to publish a bad review of your company, your service, or your product, you’d be a unicorn not to get at least some bad reviews at least some of the time.
What can you do about it?
Related: 3 Tips for Dealing With Negative Reviews Like a True Entrepreneur
Like it or not, trolling is another thing that’s not going away in modern society. Many faceless, nameless lurkers on the internet (hello, Reddit) and especially on social media are only too eager to initiate potentially inflammatory conversations or instigate conflict, usually just for a sense of self-importance. Trolls love to weigh in on comments that have gone viral or well-noticed posts — the more eyes that see their contributions, the better. Sometimes troll comments are just ridiculous and can be ignored … but sometimes, especially when there’s a lot of them on a related theme, it’s time to look at how to respond.
What can you do about it?
An article critical of your brand just got published. Ouch. A food critic didn’t like your new tasting menu. A fashion blog panned your new yoga pants. Your customer service department got three thumbs-downs in a row. Professional criticism can feel like a personal attack when you’re the one ultimately responsible for quality control, and your natural first impulse is to get upset, followed by a desire to sling some mud back at the source. Don’t.
What can you do about it?
Yep. Negative press is a reality of doing business. The bad news? The situations discussed above are becoming more widespread by the day. The good news? Because they’re so ubiquitous, you’re not alone in learning how to navigate them with tact and finesse. When you see red flags waving on your business landscape, view them as an opportunity to forge ahead smarter and stronger, and you’ll be better equipped to act rather than react.
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Emily Reynolds Bergh
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Is the Stock Market Open Today? These Are the Trading Hours for Labor Day.
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Ever since my daughters entered high school, I was preparing myself for the dreaded “empty nest.” While it was years away, I worried about how I would adjust to the reality of kids in college and no more time-sucking chores to do.
Even though I have been a working mother in a two-income household, family always was a priority, and I was devoted to caring for our daughters. So, I did wonder how I would adjust to the hole left in my daily calendar when our girls went off to school, graduated or moved on and launched their own lives.
But here’s the dirty little secret that no one talks about until it happens. After decades of marriage and three years of COVID quarantine, I’ve got a different problem: I can’t get my husband to leave the house.
It’s a topic of conversation among my girlfriends, all of us looking for some solitude but instead faced with our husbands, always in their sweatpants, happily hanging out around the house.
Of course, COVID was the trial run, the big disrupter, for being at home. My husband, pre-COVID, was a human tourism brochure, constantly digging up great activities we could go to. Most of them were things we did together but since we weren’t holed up together at home, it didn’t feel stifling.
But once COVID hit, all those activities came to a screeching halt and my husband proclaimed that with all the books, CDs and vinyl from his youth along with tchotchkes he’s collected over decades, he could be more than happy to stay home forever and read, listen to music and peruse his collections.
Maybe I have done such a good job of creating a comfortable nest that my husband just doesn’t feel the need to leave. Perhaps COVID caused him to re-evaluate just how important it was to get some fresh — and possibly contaminated — air.
Maybe, like so many men his age, he doesn’t have enough friends — Jane Fonda has expounded on that of late, explaining to anyone who will listen how vital her women friends are to her well-being, while all men want to do is sit next to each other and watch sports or cars or women from afar. And she’s right, women have friends that are soul mates, advisers, co-conspirators. Most men haven’t thrown each other that emotional lifeline.
The timing is unfortunate. I’m working less than full time at this stage of life. Now that I’ve gotten accustomed to my children being gone and look forward to some time to myself, my husband has had to rethink his motivation to get out of the house every day.
The fact that he continues to work, but now fully from home, hasn’t helped. After stressful workdays I understand that he also needs some downtime.
Many men are at the stage of life where a decision about whether to retire is also on the table. But here is a word of warning to husbands considering that as their next chapter: Check your Rolodex for friends you want to spend time with because we can’t be your constant companions.
Maybe it’s a “Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus” kind of thing. But after watching all the episodes of “The Sopranos” for the first time recently, I feel that if only there was a Bada Bing club — without the Bada Bing. Maybe someone should start a Daddy Daycare to literally take care of Daddy.
Guys of a certain age need a place to meet and schmooze, a clubhouse where someone can make them a plate and just create an inviting space to shoot the breeze. I have no idea what they would talk about, though.
See: ‘It’s just a nice place for an old guy to go, I guess’: Men’s Sheds offer camaraderie and connection
Women know that building deep friendships has paid huge dividends as we all have gotten older. Long-married spouses need more time with their friends — a respite from too much togetherness at home and an opportunity to discuss something beyond what’s for dinner.
I did gently mention a few weeks ago to my husband that he rarely leaves the house these days and maybe he could take an outing one afternoon a week that didn’t include me.
“What do you mean I never leave the house?” he said, incredulous. “I went to Ralph’s just the other day.” And proud hunter-gatherer that he is, we’ve got the boxes and cans of unheard-of sale items we will probably never use to prove it.
Also see: Am I lonesome? ‘I’m fine. I’m fine.’ How single men can prepare to age alone.
I have found women are often more adventurous, even as we age. We are less willing to just hang back and “relax.” For an increasing number of women, gray divorce has become a term that sociologists are noticing, as more older women have chosen to approach their senior years alone.
See: Gray divorce can be financially devastating — especially for women
For others, independent travel is an answer. There are so many blogs, Instagram and Facebook
META,
accounts by women traveling alone that we are practically our own demographic. In my independent solo travels, I have encountered many women who got tired of asking their reluctant husbands to come along and have happily set out on their own.
Once you arrive in a strange city, it is totally liberating to explore when you don’t have to check in with anyone else about what to do when, how to get wherever, or what time or what to eat each day. And it’s easier to engage in conversations with strangers when you are by yourself. I find I’m more open to those encounters when I’m on my own.
I heard a story recently from a photographer who was photographing Dolly Parton. The soon-to-be-married photographer asked the performer her secret to her long marriage. Parton’s answer: “Travel a lot. Separately.”
While it’s important to get away, for me, who never described myself as a homebody, it’s essential to have some alone time that doesn’t involve leaving the house. As we age, the one thing that is certain is that the future is unpredictable.
There may come a time when leaving the house is not a safe or viable option. While we are healthy and active enough, let’s give each other the space to enjoy one of life’s guilty pleasures — moments of solitude at home where you have a chance to think, regroup, dream and sometimes to just do absolutely nothing.
The added bonus will be that the time we do spend together will be all the more interesting, with new adventures to hear about.
Iris Schneider has been a journalist and photographer since the 1970s, starting in New York City while teaching at PS 97 on the Lower East Side. She became a staff photographer at the Los Angeles Times in 1980. Her work can be seen on her website or on Instagram (@schneidereye).
This article is reprinted by permission from NextAvenue.org, ©2023 Twin Cities Public Television, Inc. All rights reserved.
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More than a year ago, the Federal Trade Commission sued Intuit Inc., the maker of TurboTax, for allegedly tricking people into thinking they could file their income taxes for free with the tax-preparation giant.
Now, an administrative judge inside the agency has ruled against Intuit — and the company said in a Friday afternoon SEC filing that it’s going to keep fighting the case, even if that means incurring “significant costs.”
“We expect to appeal this decision to the FTC Commissioners and, if necessary, then to a federal court of appeals. We intend to continue to defend our position on the merits of this case,” the company said in its 10-K filing.
“There is no monetary penalty, and Intuit expects no significant impact to its business,” Intuit spokesman Rick Heineman said in a statement. The company will appeal “this groundless and seemingly predetermined decision by the FTC to rule in its own favor,” he said.
Intuit already reached a $141 million settlement with state attorneys general about the allegations of deceptive advertising. The company says it has been clear and upfront with customers about costs. It did not admit liability in the settlement.
The FTC could not be immediately reached for comment Friday afternoon.
In March 2022, the regulator sued Intuit in federal court to immediately stop commercials that repeated “free” over and over. Intuit pulled some of the advertising and after filing season ended, a San Francisco federal judge said the FTC bid for emergency halts didn’t need to happen under the circumstances.
FTC lawyers also lodged an internal administrative complaint. “Intuit widely disseminated ads on television, on the radio, and online that gave consumers the impression that they could use TurboTax for free, even though two-thirds of taxpayers don’t qualify for Intuit’s free TurboTax offerings,” they wrote in administrative complaint proceedings.
The ongoing legal fight is happening while the broader fight over of free tax preparation is heating up. The Internal Revenue Service is planning to test its own pilot program in the upcoming filing season where taxpayers can file their taxes directly with the IRS instead of through tax preparation companies or individual preparers.
TurboTax and the tax software industry oppose the proposed IRS direct file system. So do Congressional Republicans.
One sticking point in the looming government shutdown is how much money the IRS should be getting in its budget. The House appropriations bill would forbid the IRS from using any money to build the direct file system.
Intuit Inc.
INTU,
shares closed 1.4% higher Friday, at $549.60, and the disclosure didn’t seem to be having much effect on the shares in after-hours trading. Shares are up 41% year to date, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA
is up 5% and the S&P 500
SPX
is up 17.6%.
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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
In order for brands to succeed in today’s cutthroat and highly competitive digital environment, sharing the right message at the right place at the right time is paramount not just to survive but also to thrive.
The biggest gamble that brands can make is to overestimate their own capabilities, thinking that they can accomplish PR independently. To efficiently and effectively navigate the deep nuances and growing complexities of today’s global business ecosystem, the key is to hire a team of experts to construct a narrative, manage and control crises, target relevant audiences and help them own their categories.
Think of it this way: Existing is not enough. Whether your organization’s mission is to disrupt an industry or you offer a range of game-changing, cutting-edge solutions, your brand will slowly but surely dwindle down if you don’t have the professional expertise to strategically place your offerings in the market, find your demographic and build a network of clients.
This article will dive into the primary reasons why modern PR should be treated as a crucial business driver for growth, revenue generation, brand awareness and legacy building.
The difference between modern PR and traditional PR is the dramatic expansion in the number of touchpoints available for communication. Before the internet and digital platforms took center stage, marketers only had a limited selection of channels through which they could disseminate their messages — including newspapers, television, billboards, flyers and a few others.
The current PR landscape tells a vastly different story that calls for a modern, out-of-the-box approach. In a digitally interconnected world, there exists an avalanche of distribution opportunities, each offering unique ways to reach and engage with audiences. These touchpoints provide PR professionals with an unprecedented array of options to craft and deliver their narratives effectively.
Today, consumers make decisions influenced by a multitude of channels. While it’s true that certain touchpoints weigh greater importance than others, every PR pit stop offers a unique role in shaping a brand’s identity, establishing its position in the market and fostering awareness of its products or services.
Digital publications, where news and content are disseminated through online platforms, are the primary target of all PR professionals, serving as the communication epicenter of all things business. On the other hand, blogs allow for in-depth storytelling and personal engagement with readers, stripping all the stiff formalities and connecting with the audience on a granular level that’s equally relatable and informative.
Moreover, forums provide a space for community-driven conversations, where public discussions are raw, unfiltered and candid. This touchpoint gives audiences a POV through the public lens — a value that brands don’t often get from any other channels.
Naturally, social media reigns supreme in the digital age, facilitating direct and real-time interactions with a global audience. B2B brands also take this opportunity to instill excitement and ferocity in their messaging, similar to how B2C does it.
Other important touchpoints include newsletters, digital magazines, online media outlets, podcasts and video platforms — all offering innovative formats for storytelling, combining visual appeal and long-form audio content that’s accessible on-demand.
Related: 5 Ways To Tune Into The Modern PR Mindset
In a sea of communication channels and a myriad of touchpoints, one of the biggest challenges every brand faces is standing out in each one of them. For one, consumers face a downpour of information regularly, creating a storm of noise left and right. As a result, they filter the junk and get rid of the unnecessary data that comes their way.
Now, it’s important to understand the headspace of audiences when it comes to information overload. What do they choose to consume? What do they disregard? What catches their attention? What makes them stop whatever they’re doing and want to learn more about? These questions are imperative in order for organizations to milk every opportunity at every touchpoint.
It starts and ends with value. Remember, modern audiences are smart and efficient. They can read through pretense and discern which content matters and which content simply wastes their time. Provide value to reap value — ensure that your messaging not only captures their attention but also lives up to its hype through insightful and high-quality content.
Yes, the jumping point of modern PR is quantity, but it’s quality that will enable brands to skyrocket to greater heights and unprecedented territories.
Modern PR serves as a protective shield for your brand, especially in the age of reputation and image. Brands can find themselves in challenging circumstances, especially with the proliferation of digital platforms — from a marketing campaign that misses the mark to a simple misstep on social media. In these critical moments, a well-thought-out PR strategy acts as a safety net, implementing crisis communication to minimize damage and safeguard the brand’s image.
Moreover, modern PR is a strategic tool for building and nurturing essential networks. A thriving organization relies on a robust network, and modern PR plays a pivotal role in fostering enduring connections. Through various means, PR professionals cultivate relationships with media outlets, stakeholders, industry leaders and journalists.
Related: 2 Keys to Gain Brand Awareness With Modern PR
Furthermore, modern PR is beyond short-term brand building; rather, it establishes a bulletproof legacy that serves as the building block for a brand’s longevity. What’s more, modern PR humanizes brands, acquainting audiences with the inspiring journeys of company founders.
From brand awareness, addressing pain points and value promotion, to legacy building, modern PR helps companies unlock doors to achieve a wider reach, better opportunities and a competitive advantage. It’s high time for businesses, big or small, to start thinking about their long-term growth and success, get rid of band-aid solutions and invest in experts to leverage their vast network of media relationships and solid PR strategies.
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Omri Hurwitz
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The U.S. Labor Day holiday will mark another milestone in the marathon to bring workers back to the office, but it won’t be a quick fix for landlords, according to Thomas LaSalvia, head of commercial real estate economics at Moody’s Analytics.
Employers from Facebook parent Meta
META,
to Goldman Sachs
GS,
recently laid out mandates for staff to return to the office more frequently, starting this fall, including the big one — the federal government.
“A lot of companies are saying that after Labor Day, ‘We expect more out of you,” LaSalvia said, referring to days in the office. Still, office attendance, he argues, likely only stages a fuller comeback if a job or promotion is on the line.
Amazon.com Inc.’s
AMZN,
Chief Executive Andy Jassy has been trying to drive home the point by warning staff to return at least three days a week, or face the consequences.
That could prove difficult, with Friday’s U.S. jobs report for August expected to show U.S. unemployment at a scant 3.5%, near the lowest levels since the late 1960s, even if hiring has been slowing. The labor market, so far, appears unfazed by the Federal Reserve’s benchmark rate reaching a 22-year high.
It has been a different story for landlords facing a roughly 19% vacancy rate nationally and piles of debt coming due, especially for owners of older Class B and C office buildings with a bleak outlook or properties in cities with wobbling business centers.
See: San Francisco’s office market erases all gains since 2017 as prices sag nationally
As with shopping malls, LaSalvia said it’s largely a problem of oversupply, with many office properties at risk of becoming obsolete as tenants flock to better buildings and locations staging a rebirth. The trend can be traced in leasing data since 2021, with Class A properties in central business districts (blue line) showing a big advantage over less desirable buildings in the heart of cities (orange line).
Moody’s Analytics
“Little by little, we are finding the office isn’t dead,” LaSalvia said, but he also sees more promise in neighborhoods with a new purpose, those catering to hybrid work and communities that bring people together.
Another way to look at the trend is through rents. Manhattan’s Penn Station submarket, with its estimated $13 billion overhaul and neighboring Hudson Yards development, has seen asking rents jump 32% to $74.87 a square foot in the second quarter since the fourth quarter of 2019, according to Moody’s Analytics. That compares with a 2% bump in asking rents in downtown New York City to $61.39 a square foot for the same period.
The push for a return to the office also doesn’t mean a repeat of prepandemic ways. Goldman Sachs analysts estimate that part-time remote work in the U.S. has stabilized around 20%-25%, in a late August report, but that’s still up from 2.6% before the 2020 lockdowns.
Furthermore, the persistence of remote work will likely add another 171 million square feet of vacant U.S. office space through 2029, a period that also will see tenants’ long-term leases expire and many companies opting for less space. The additional vacancies would roughly translate to 57% of Los Angeles roughly 300 million square feet of office space sitting empty.
“The fundamental reason why we had offices in the first place have not completely disintegrated,” LaSalvia said. “But for some of those Class B and C offices, the writing was on the wall before the pandemic.”
U.S. stocks were mixed Thursday, but headed for losses in a tough August for stocks, with the S&P 500 index
SPX
off about 1.5% for the month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA
2.1% lower and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP
down 2% in August, according to FactSet.
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Beer giant Heineken N.V. is the latest Western company to exit Russia, announcing Friday the sale of its Russian operations to Arnest Group for one euro.
Under the terms of the deal, all of Heineken’s
HEIA,
remaining assets, including seven breweries in Russia, will transfer to the new owners, the beer giant said in a statement. The Russian Arnest Group has also taken over responsibility for Heineken’s 1,800 employees in Russia.
Heineken began the process of exiting Russia in March 2022, following that country’s invasion of Ukraine. The company said it expects to incur a total cumulative loss of €300 million ($324.1 million) as a result of its exit.
“We have now completed our exit from Russia. Recent developments demonstrate the significant challenges faced by large manufacturing companies in exiting Russia,” Heineken CEO Dolf van den Brink said in a statement. “While it took much longer than we had hoped, this transaction secures the livelihoods of our employees and allows us to exit the country in a responsible manner.”
A number of major Western corporations, including U.S. giants Apple Inc.
AAPL,
Alphabet Inc.
GOOGL,
GOOG,
Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
International Business Machines Corp.
IBM,
and McDonald’s Corp.
MCD,
have left Russia in response to Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier this week, DP Eurasia, the master franchiser of the Domino’s Pizza Inc.
DPZ,
brand in Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, also announced its exit from Russia.
But Heineken is “no hero,” according to Mark Dixon, the founder of the Moral Rating Agency, an organization set up after the invasion of Ukraine to examine whether companies were carrying out their promises of exiting Russia. “It failed to leave Russia for a year and a half,” he told MarketWatch via email. “The explanation that it took longer than expected doesn’t hold water, because of course it’s difficult to find a buyer if you remain so long a pariah state.”
The Ukraine Solidarity Project said that Heineken’s move should increase the pressure on companies that remain in Russia, such as consumer-goods giant Unilever PLC
ULVR,
“The point here is that major companies, like @Heineken, are and have taken loses of hundreds of millions and billions in leaving the Russian market. It is possible,” the Ukraine Solidarity Project tweeted Friday. “We’re sure @Unilever can do it, too.”
Related: WeWork, Carl’s Jr., Unilever and Shell among companies slammed by Yale over operations in Russia
The Ukraine Solidarity Project recently launched a high-profile campaign urging Unilever to get out of Russia, using images of Ukrainian veterans injured in the war with Russia. Last month, activists from the Ukraine Solidarity Project held up a giant poster featuring the veterans outside Unilever’s London headquarters.
The Moral Rating Agency has also reiterated its calls for Unilever to end its Russian operations.
“We have always said we would keep our position in Russia under close review,” a Unilever spokesperson told MarketWatch earlier this month. The spokesperson also directed MarketWatch to a statement on the war in Ukraine that the company released in February 2023.
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Wall Street looks ready to build on Monday’s gains, the first in five sessions for the S&P 500
SPX
and Nasdaq Composite
COMP.
That’s as expectations build around Nvidia, which has had a lackluster August, to knock it out of the park with earnings on Wednesday.
Investors have had months to focus on AI darlings such as Nvidia. In our call of the day, Goldman Sachs takes a look at stocks to trade after the big AI trade. A team led by strategists Ryan Hammond and David Kostin complied a basket of companies with the biggest potential long-term earnings per share boost from the impact of AI adoption on labor productivity.
Their analysis indicates that following widespread AI adoption, EPS for the median stock in that basket could be 72% higher than the baseline, versus 19% for the median Russell 1000 stock.
“We estimate the potential productivity-related EPS boost from increased revenues or increased margins, using a combination of company-level estimates of the share of the wage bill exposed to AI automation and the labor cost to revenue ratio,” said the Goldman team.
Since early 2023, when AI emerged as a theme for investors, they note their long-term basket of stocks has outperformed the equal-weight S&P 500 by just 6 percentage points, far less than near-term beneficiaries such as Nvidia
NVDA,
Microsoft
MSFT,
or Meta
META,
“The estimated AI-driven earnings boost is likely to occur over the next few years, but should be reflected in stock valuations sooner. However, the eventual share price impact will depend on the ability of companies to use AI to enhance earnings,” said Goldman.
While unable to pin it exactly, Goldman expects AI adoption will start to a have a “meaningful macro impact” between 2025 and 2030, with regulatory constraints and data privacy concerns likely to slow widespread adoption. Nearly 75% of CEOs see AI take-up impacting companies or cutting labor needs within the next five years, even if they don’t right now.
Firms with the biggest workforce exposure to AI and larger and more innovative ones, will likely adopt generative AI earlier than others, say the strategists. They say to “expect valuation multiples for these companies to increase first as the adoption timeline crystallizes, even if actual adoption and the associated EPS boost is occur later.”
Goldman’s estimates on the potential earnings boost for those long-term AI beneficiaries consist of several factors: the share of each company’s wage bill exposed to AI automation, how much of a company’s wage bill is exposed to AI automation and labor cost as a share of revenue.
“For the typical Russell 1000 stock, 33% of the wage bill is potentially exposed to AI automation and labor costs currently represent 14% of total sales. The potential boost from higher sales would increase earnings by 11% and reduced labor costs would increase earnings by 26%, all else equal,” say the strategists.
Here is a taster of their long-term AI beneficiaries basket:
And a few more:
Read: U.S. stocks may bounce this week, but summer selloff is only halfway done, analysts warn
U.S. stocks
SPX
COMP
are trading mixed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury
BX:TMUBMUSD10Y
is steady at 4.33%.
For more market updates plus actionable trade ideas for stocks, options and crypto, subscribe to MarketDiem by Investor’s Business Daily.
Microsoft
MSFT,
has proposed a Ubisoft license to win U.K. regulatory approval for its Activision Blizzard
ATVI,
buyout. Activision shares and Ubisoft
UBI,
surged in Paris.
On the heels of a 7% surge, EV-maker Tesla
TSLA,
is up 1.8%.
Opinion: SoftBank’s Arm is going public, but it faces a rapidly growing threat
Lowe’s shares
LOW,
are up after the DIY retailer’s earnings topped expectations, though it notes lower discretionary demand.
Among Monday’s late earnings news: Fabrinet
FN,
is up 18% after the high-tech manufacturing services company upbeat forecast, with new AI products helping drive results. Videoconferencing group Zoom Video Communications
ZM,
is up 4% after reporting an earnings jump and guidance.
Read: Why Amazon is this analyst’s top internet stock pick
The world’s biggest miner BHP
BHP,
reported a 58% slump in annual profit amid tumbling commodity prices in part due to China’s economic troubles. U.S.-listed shares are up 4%.
Arm Holdings filed its long-awaited IPO, which could be the year’s biggest. The chip designer aims to raise up to $10 billion with a valuation of $60 billion to $70 billion.
Existing home sales for July are due at 10 a.m., with several Fed speakers throughout the day: Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin at 7:30 a.m. and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee and Fed. Gov. Michelle Bowman both at 2:30 p.m.
New video shows the day police raided 98-year old Kansas newspaper owner’s home.
Hitler’s birth house in Austria will be turned into a police station with a human rights training center.
These were the top tickers on MarketWatch as of 6 a.m.:
| Ticker | Security name |
|
TSLA, |
Tesla |
|
NVDA, |
Nvidia |
|
AMC, |
AMC Entertainment |
|
NIO, |
Nio |
|
APE, |
AMC Entertainment Holdings preferred shares |
|
TTOO, |
T2 Biosystems |
|
GME, |
GameStop |
|
AAPL, |
Apple |
|
MULN, |
Mullen Automotive |
|
AMZN, |
Amazon.com |
Is tech dancing to the beat of its own drum? The Chart Report flagged this one from Scott Brown, founder of Brown Technical Insights, showing performance of the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF
XLK
:
“It’s only been a week, but consensus and conventional wisdom suggest higher yields are bad for Growth/Tech stocks. Meanwhile, Tech is acting like it never got the memo. It’s still too early to tell if Tech is trying to tell us something, but Scott points out that the sector is facing a crucial test this week at the March 2022 highs (around $163). $XLK is solidly above $163 after today’s bounce, but where it ends the week will likely hinge on $NVDA, as the company releases earnings on Wednesday evening,” says Patrick Dunuwila, editor and co-founder of The Chart Report.
“We are the champions.” Spain erupted in celebrations to welcome its Women’s World Cup victors. And England’s Lionesses got a 1,000 soccer-ball tribute.
No, Tropical Storm Hilary didn’t flood Dodger Stadium.
These thirsty beer-drinking thieves are raccoons.
Need to Know starts early and is updated until the opening bell, but sign up here to get it delivered once to your email box. The emailed version will be sent out at about 7:30 a.m. Eastern.
Listen to the Best New Ideas in Money podcast with MarketWatch financial columnist James Rogers and economist Stephanie Kelton.
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Arm Holdings Ltd. filed its long-awaited initial public offering late Monday, following last year’s failed bid by Nvidia Corp. to acquire the U.K.-based chip architecture company.
Arm has reportedly been seeking to raise $8 billion to $10 billion at a valuation of $60 billion to $70 billion, making its IPO the biggest of the year so far, and a number of large tech companies, including Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
Intel Corp.
INTC,
and Nvidia
NVDA,
are reportedly in the mix to be anchor investors.
In a late Monday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Arm said it was offering to list its U.S. traded shares on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “ARM.”
Arm, which is owned by Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp.
9984,
was the target of an unsuccessful $40 billion acquisition by Nvidia last year. After Nvidia scrubbed the deal and paid a $1.36 billion breakup charge following the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s unanimous decision to block it, Nvidia disclosed it paid Arm $750 million for a 20-year license to its technology.
At the time of the breakup, chips sales had hit record highs in 2021, surging 26.2% to a record $555.9 billion, fueled by pandemic-triggered shortages. But the chip industry has since swung to a glut.
Arm listed Barclays, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Mizuho, BofA Securities, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank Securities among the IPO’s underwriters.
Recent reports said SoftBank was in discussions to purchase the 25% stake in Arm that it does not outright own, which is held by its Vision Fund 1, ahead of the IPO.
Read from Feb. 2022: Wall Street’s reaction to death of Nvidia-Arm deal: No duh
Arm reported net income of $524 million, or 51 cents a share, on revenue of $2.68 billion for fiscal 2023, which ended March 31, compared with net income of $549 million, or 54 cents a share, on revenue of $2.7 billion, in fiscal 2022, and $388 million, or 38 cents a share, on revenue of $2.03 billion in fiscal 2021.
Arm uses an architecture that is different from the once-standard x86 one built by Intel in the early days of computing.
The company said it has shipped more than 250 billion Arm-based chips since its started in 1990 as a joint venture between Acorn Computers, Apple
AAPL,
and VLSI Technology. In fiscal 2023, Arm said it shipped 30.6 billion chips.
The company said it is going public as the “resources required to develop leading-edge products are significant and continue to increase exponentially as manufacturing process nodes shrink.” Transistors are expressed in scales of nanometers, with design costs running about $249 million for a 7-nanometer chip and about $725 million for a 2-nm chip.
“As the world moves increasingly towards AI- and [machine language]-enabled computing, Arm will be central to this transition,” the company said in the filing. “Arm CPUs already run AI and ML workloads in billions of devices, including smartphones, cameras, digital TVs, cars and cloud data centers.”
Arm said it is working with Alphabet Inc.
GOOG,
GOOGL,
GM’s
GM,
Cruise, Mercedes-Benz
MBG,
Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
and Nvidia “to deploy Arm technology to run AI workloads.”
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