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Trump says business executives should be 'fired for incompetence' if they don't support him 2024-06-18 20:27:00+00:00 - Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that business executives and shareholder representatives should "be 100% behind" him or face termination. “Business Executives and Shareholder Representatives should be 100% behind Donald Trump! Anybody that’s not should be FIRED for incompetence!," the former president wrote in a post on his social media website, Truth Social. His post referred to an article from The Wall Street Journal on Monday comparing corporate tax rates between the Biden and Trump administrations. In another post, Trump quoted the article as saying, "Corporations won tax cuts during Trump’s first term, and they would benefit if he wins again." A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Trump attempted to court business executives in a roundtable meeting in Washington, D.C., last week but several of the CEOs in the room told CNBC that they were underwhelmed by Trump's "meandering" policy proposals. Two people in the room said Trump offered few details on his plans to cut corporate taxes and regulations. Biden has repeatedly pointed to Trump's appetite for cutting taxes for the wealthy on the campaign trail. “If Trump gets elected, he’ll cut taxes for him and his rich friends at the expense of working families. We can’t let that happen,” Biden wrote on X last week. In response to Trump's Truth Social post, Biden campaign spokesperson James Singer said, “We know Donald likes pretending to fire people on TV, but the American people already fired him for having the worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover. The choice in 2024 is between Joe Biden who is lowering costs for working families and white collar crook Donald Trump, who will do nothing but return us to the mess he left us with by giving handouts to rich people like himself on the backs of the middle class.” Biden also ramped up his effort to end Trump's tax breaks in a recent budget and a memo Thursday by top Biden economic adviser Lael Brainard that previewed Biden’s vision for raking in new revenue that included raising the corporate tax from 21% to 28%, imposing a 25% minimum income tax on billionaires, raising the marginal tax rates on the highest incomes from 37% to 39.6% and increasing taxes on capital gains for the very wealthy.
Did you fall for this fake video of Joe Biden at the G7 in Italy? 2024-06-18 20:23:36+00:00 - Before there were deepfakes, there were cheapfakes; now there are both. Last week, social media was suddenly awash in videos pushed by unscrupulous Republican accounts edited to play up stereotypes about President Joe Biden's age. Media outlets, too, promoted the clips, with the New York Post recently claiming to have footage showing Biden wandering off in a daze during the G7 summit in Italy. In reality, Biden was congratulating a skydiver who had just landed but was not visible in the frame. A week later, the Post published a similarly deceptively edited video claiming to show Biden frozen onstage at a fundraiser. The full video shows this did not happen. All forms of fakes are being used to influence elections both here in the U.S. and abroad. But while some rules and regulations are being developed to fight deepfakes, we may be less prepared to mitigate the risks of their easier-to-create and harder-to-detect cousins. Deepfakes encompass images and videos that are created or modified almost entirely by AI-powered technologies. Cheapfakes are real images or videos that are simply misattributed or deceptively edited. Their power is in their simplicity. As rumors swirled that former President Donald Trump was falling asleep at his criminal trial in New York City, photos circulated purportedly showing him asleep in the courtroom. Many of those images appeared repurposed from a different setting. Although second-hand reports confirm that Trump had looked sleepy at his trial, the photo was still deceptive, and highlights why cheapfakes can pose a larger challenge than deepfakes. I have spent the past 25 years as an academic researcher developing techniques to detect all forms of deceptive content, from Photoshop manipulation to AI generation. I subjected the Trump courtroom photo to several forensic techniques to determine if it was authentic or not. Each technique confidently classified the image as real. I only realized this was likely a cheapfake after an observant member of my team noticed that Trump’s chair didn’t match the shape or color of contemporaneous photos we knew to have come from the courtroom. The first challenge of cheapfakes is that they are more difficult to detect as obviously deceptive, since there are no misshapen hands or gravity-defying background objects. The first challenge of cheapfakes is that they are more difficult to detect as obviously deceptive, since there are no misshapen hands or gravity-defying background objects — telltale signs often found in deepfakes. The second challenge is that cheapfakes can be easier to create: In the case of the G7 photos and videos of Biden, a simple crop can make it appear as if Biden is staring off into a void. And the third challenge is that social media platforms have what can, at best, be described as incoherent policies when it comes to these types of deceptive posts. After a deceptive cheapfake video circulated on Facebook claiming to show Biden inappropriately touching his adult granddaughter, Facebook refused to take the video down claiming it didn’t violate their “manipulated media” policy which placed limits on deepfakes but not cheapfakes. In February of this year, Meta’s oversight board stated that this media policy “is lacking in persuasive justification, is incoherent and confusing to users, and fails to clearly specify the harms it is seeking to prevent,” and suggested that Meta update its policies to be consistent regardless of how deceptive content was created. Meta said “it will respond publicly to their recommendations within 60 days in accordance with the bylaws,” but Mark Zuckerberg’s company is under no obligation to follow the board’s recommendations. How do we move forward when lies and distortions of all forms are so easy to create, when some media outlets are less than scrupulous, and when social media platforms continue to turn a blind eye to the harms caused by their services? To begin, we are going to need more coherent policies from social media companies. New technologies can also play a role, and help readers sort out the truth from the lies. Earlier this year, BBC News announced a new “content credentials” feature that lets readers know the source of an image or video, how it was authenticated and what, if any, modifications the content has undergone. These credentials are embedded into the content, regardless of where it is shared online. Coherent policies and content credentials will not, of course, eliminate deception but they will help. Policies only work if they are enforced, and no technology will be able to protect us from a photographer who frames a shot to exclude important context (a trick as old as photography). The internet delivered on its promise to democratize access to information, but it did so without discriminating between truthful information and deceptive information. Unfortunately, that means readers will have to remain ever more vigilant as we consume information online. Jordan Peele, as a (transparently) deepfake President Obama, may have said it best all the way back in 2018: “How we move forward in the age of information is gonna be the difference between whether we survive or whether we become some kind of f--- up dystopia.” The jury’s still out.
Electric car company Fisker files for bankruptcy protection 2024-06-18 20:20:00+00:00 - Fisker on Monday became the latest all-electric vehicle startup to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amid lackluster consumer demand, significant cash burn and operational and product issues. For investors, the writing’s been on the wall for some time as Fisker issued a going concern warning about its ability to continue as a company in February, leading its charismatic founder and CEO Henrik Fisker to disappear from social media and the limelight. It’s the latest in a series of EV companies to collapse. Other companies backed by special purpose acquisition companies, or SPAC, have also filed for bankruptcy protection. That list includes companies such as Proterra, Lordstown Motors and Electric Last Mile Solutions. Others such as Nikola and Faraday Future remain in business but trade for under $1 per share amid operational challenges, missed targets and broader industry headwinds. It’s also a bit of déjà vu, as it marks Henrik Fisker’s second car company, both branded under his last name, to file for bankruptcy protection. The new filing comes after the Fisker company failed to secure an investment from a big automaker to keep afloat. Nearly four years ago, Fisker announced plans to go public through a reverse merger with an Apollo-backed SPAC that valued the company at $2.9 billion. The deal infused Fisker with more than $1 billion in cash. Fisker, like many other companies at the time, was fueled by low interest rates and a bullishness on Wall Street around EVs following the rise of U.S. electric vehicle leader Tesla. “They looked at Tesla’s success, and Tesla was more of an anomaly than an example,” said Sam Abuelsamid, principal research analyst at Guidehouse Insights. But consumer adoption for EVs has grown slower than expected, costs have risen and investor interest in EVs other than Tesla has dried up. The company also faced significant issues with its operations as well as the launch of its first product, called the Ocean SUV EV. Software focus When going public through a SPAC in 2020, Henrik Fisker compared the company with U.S. EV leader Tesla. He also touted its production relationship with Canadian auto supplier Magna, comparing it with the relationship between Apple and Foxconn. The automaker, unlike most of its peers, contracted a third-party manufacturer to build the Fisker Ocean crossover. The partnership with Magna was supposed to be an “asset-light” strategy, as Fisker described it, to allow the company to save cash and focus on differentiating technologies, such as software. Abuelsamid said such a strategy isn’t inherently bad, but he called the management of the company inept and pointed the finger at Geeta Gupta-Fisker, the company’s chief financial officer and chief operating officer. Gupta-Fisker is also Henrik Fisker’s wife. “That approach can be made to work,” he said. “The problem in the case of Fisker that I underestimated was … the incompetency of the senior management.” The company burned through cash and last month recalled thousands of Ocean SUVs in North America and Europe due to issues with vehicle software. According to the company’s Chapter 11 filing, it owes millions to software and engineering companies, such as Adobe, SAP America, Manpower Group and Prelude Systems, among others. CNBC parent company NBCUniversal is also listed as a top creditor. ″[The auto industry is] capital intensive. You’re trying to match production, consumer demand and when they have any kind of issue with the vehicle, money has to be allocated to that,” said Stephanie Valdez Streaty, Cox Automotive Director of Industry Insights. “Also when they don’t have other revenues like [internal combustion engines] to fund it ... it makes it very challenging.” Its operating unit, Fisker Group Inc., estimated assets of $500 million to $1 billion and liabilities of $100 million to $500 million. At the end of last year, Fisker had $530 million in inventory, as it only sold 4,700 of the more than 10,000 Ocean EVs it had produced in 2023. Déjà vu For Henrik Fisker, a renowned automotive designer credited with designing the BMW Z8 and Aston Martin DB9, it’s déjà vu. His first namesake company — Fisker Automotive — filed for bankruptcy protection in 2013, shortly after he left the company. It later sold its assets to China’s Wanxiang Group for $150 million. It was supposed to be better the second time around for the founder, who said he had learned from his past mistakes with his former bankrupt company. “Having done this before, I’m in a unique position to kind of almost take lessons learned, which is very rare especially in the car industry,” he said in 2017, a year after launching the new company. But the parallels between the two failed companies are hard to ignore. Both companies were much-hyped, largely by Fisker himself claiming they would revolutionize the industry. They were fueled by “free” money — first federal funds, more recently Wall Street — on the premise that “green,” or electrified, vehicles were the future of the auto industry. Both also faced significant quality problems that led to recalls. The first Karmas produced by Fisker were recalled for a battery safety issue and fire risk in 2011. Both companies also changed direction and priorities many times. After delivering less than half of the more than 10,000 vehicles it produced through a direct-to-consumer approach that resembled Tesla’s model, the second Fisker turned to a dealership-based distribution model in January. But there was one key difference this time. With the failure of the second Fisker, its investors were left out to dry instead of American taxpayers. While Henrik Fisker’s first company was boosted by a $529 million federal loan — $139 million of which the government lost — the second was funded through Wall Street’s bullishness on SPACs and EVs. Its stock was delisted in April. A Fisker spokesperson said in a statement early Tuesday that the company is “proud of our achievements” but determined that Chapter 11 was the best option. “Like other companies in the electric vehicle industry, we have faced various market and macroeconomic headwinds that have impacted our ability to operate efficiently,” the spokesperson said in a release. “After evaluating all options for our business, we determined that proceeding with a sale of our assets under Chapter 11 is the most viable path forward for the company.”
Top BofA auto analyst says Detroit automakers need to exit China as soon as possible 2024-06-18 20:20:00+00:00 - The traditional Detroit automakers — General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis — should exit the Chinese market “as soon as they possibly can,” Bank of America’s top automotive analyst said Tuesday. The warning from BofA Securities research analyst John Murphy comes amid unprecedented competition in China — the world’s largest auto market — and as the country significantly increases vehicle production for Chinese consumers as well as for global exports. Murphy, who has previously asked General Motors about exiting the market, said the “D3” automakers need to focus on their core products and more profitable regions. “I think you have to see the D3 exit China as soon as they possibly can,” he said Tuesday during an Automotive Press Association event to discuss BofA’s annual “Car Wars” report in suburban Detroit. He said, “China is no longer core to GM, Ford or Stellantis.” It’s a prospect that would have been unthinkable for the automakers, specifically GM, just a few years ago, but the rise of local Chinese automakers, such as BYD and Geely, has put growing pressure on the companies. GM’s market share in China, including its joint ventures, has plummeted from roughly 15% as recently as 2015 to 8.6% last year — the first time it has dropped below 9% since 2003. GM’s earnings from the operations have also fallen, down 78.5% since peaking in 2014, according to regulatory filings. GM executives have said they believe they can turn around the operations and regain market share in China, largely with the help of new electric vehicles. There’s also geopolitical risks and uncertainty for U.S. companies operating in China. President Joe Biden announced last month that his administration would quadruple tariffs on China-made electric vehicles. While the Detroit automakers need to rethink the way their doing business in China, Murphy said it’s slightly different for U.S. electric vehicle leader Tesla. Murphy said Tesla has a roughly $17,000 cost advantage in EV components compared with the traditional Detroit automakers to assist the company in the Chinese market, allowing it to have “more room to run.”
Texas man sentenced to prison for threatening to kill Rep. Maxine Waters 2024-06-18 20:16:01+00:00 - A 61-year-old Texas man who threatened to kill Rep. Maxine Waters has been sentenced to 33 months in prison. Brian Michael Gaherty of Houston was sentenced Monday and fined $10,000 by a federal judge. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner applied a hate crime enhancement to Gaherty's sentence after finding that he targeted Waters, who is Black, because of her race. At the sentencing hearing, the California Democrat told the judge that her family members live in fear because of the threats that Gaherty made against her. “This growing effort to target people of color and women of color ... has given me nightmares. I am in fear of my life,” Waters said. Gaherty pleaded guilty to one count of threatening a U.S. official in January and admitted to threatening assault and murder against Waters in four separate voicemails, "each of which contained a violent threat, profanity, and racist and misogynistic language," the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Gaherty first threatened to kill Waters in August 2022, warning her to "move" because he had a "contract" on her life. After authorities told Gaherty to stop, he again threatened Waters in November of that year for having contacted law enforcement. He was indicted in April 2023 on four counts of making threats in interstate communications and four counts of threatening a U.S. official. Violent threats against public officials have escalated in the past few years. Studies have shown that women of color who run for office face disproportionate rates of violent threats and that such hostility has turned many away from seeking office. Gaherty's lawyer, Joseph Vinas, told NBC News that his client has apologized to Waters. Vinas added that, if not for his client's "mental health condition he currently suffers as a result of being a victim of violent crime himself, this never would have occurred.”
Trump's ex-national security advisor wants to restart US nuke testing. Nuclear experts warn that's not a good idea. 2024-06-18 20:14:45+00:00 - By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time by visiting our Preferences page or by clicking "unsubscribe" at the bottom of the email. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Donald Trump's former White House national security advisor is arguing that a second term in office should involve restarting US nuclear testing for the first time in over 30 years. That's a bad idea, nuclear weapons experts say, as the US, Russia, and China could quickly find themselves in an arms race if the ban on that kind of testing isn't maintained. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Robert O'Brien, ex-adviser to former President Trump, wrote in Foreign Affairs Tuesday that in order to counter China and Russia's continued investments in their nuclear arsenals, the US should test new nukes. "China has doubled the size of its arsenal since 2020: a massive, unexplained, and unwarranted expansion. The United States has to maintain technical and numerical superiority to the combined Chinese and Russian nuclear stockpiles," O'Brien wrote. "To do so, Washington must test new nuclear weapons for reliability and safety in the real world for the first time since 1992 — not just by using computer models." Advertisement O'Brien added that the US should also resume production of uranium-235 and plutonium-239, the primary isotopes of nuclear weapons. While it's unclear if such actions would be Trump's priorities in a potential second term, O'Brien's recommendations were swiftly condemned by nuclear weapons and arms control experts. "The ignorance of Trump advisors continues to stun," Jon B. Wolfsthal, a nuclear arms control and nonproliferation expert and an Obama administration official for national security affairs, posted on X, saying that the "US has the world's most reliable and advanced nuclear weapons." Former US President Donald Trump (left) and Chinese leader Xi Jinping (right) during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in 2019. Trump had been in office from 2017 to 2020. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images Wolfsthal said that if the US resumed testing, it "would only make it easier for RF [Russian Federation] and PRC [People's Republic of China] to resume nuclear testing and catch up." He added that new nuclear materials also weren't needed, as the US has stockpiles available from the Cold War. Advertisement "Nuclear bullying doesn't work and leads to arms racing," Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, wrote, calling O'Brien's opinion "dangerous, counterproductive Dr. Strangelove thinking." Related stories No one wins a nuclear arms race, he said. Kimball called out the difference between O'Brien's argument for the resumption of nuclear testing with the Biden administration's current policy, which remains dedicated to the status quo. In 2023, US President Joe Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said: "The United States does not need to increase our nuclear forces to outnumber the combined total of our competitors in order to successfully deter them. We've been there. We've learned that lesson," adding that truly effective nuclear deterrence comes with a "better" approach, not a "more" approach. Advertisement The US repeatedly detonated nuclear weapons during the Cold War, most often at the remote Nevada Test Site, where the explosions could be seen in Las Vegas. The nuclear surface explosions shifted deep underground in 1962 and continued until 1992. Shell, which is the replica of the biggest detonated Soviet nuclear bomb AN-602 (Tsar-Bomb), on display in Moscow, Russia. Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and a nuclear proliferation expert, said in a thread on X that the number of US nuke tests — 1,149 — is more than that of Russia, 969, and China, 45, combined. "Resuming nuclear testing would reduce US technical superiority over Russia and China because they would immediately follow and have much more to learn," he said. China has been expanding its arsenal, stockpiling more than 500 operational nuclear warheads as of May 2023, the Pentagon said last fall in its annual China Military Power Report. But even if that doubles to 1,000 by 2030, as the Pentagon estimates, it'll still pale in comparison to the US and Russia's numbers: 5,044 and 5,580, respectively. Advertisement In his Foreign Affairs story, O'Brien suggests that increased US development and testing will help deter China, rather than compel it to counter the growing US capabilities in an arms race. Hans Kristensen, the director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, said in a social media post that "there are some 'advisors' you just shouldn't take advice from." O'Brien's push for resumed testing shouldn't necessarily come as a surprise. Back in June 2020, in the final months of Trump's presidency, the US State Department told Congress it suspected Russia and China had defied testing moratoriums, raising concerns the US would follow. Just a month prior, US officials considered conducting a so-called "rapid test" just to demonstrate readiness to America's adversaries. At the time, experts pushed back on both the State Department's accusations and the potential for resumed testing, noting that the US does many of the same activities as Russia and China without conducting full tests. Advertisement It remained unclear if Trump would have been game for resumed nuclear testing or breaking the longstanding Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, but his first-term advisors, such as O'Brien's predecessor John Bolton, believed "unsigning" the treaty should be a top priority for the US. Now, the discussion is back again.
Nvidia Becomes Most Valuable Public Company, Topping Microsoft 2024-06-18 20:12:08+00:00 - Move over, Microsoft and Apple. The stock market has a new king. On Tuesday, Nvidia leapfrogged two of tech’s most storied names to become the world’s most valuable public company, according to data from S&P Global. Its ascent has been powered by the boom in generative artificial intelligence and surging demand for the company’s chips — known as graphics processing units, or GPUs — which have made it possible to create A.I. systems. Nvidia’s rise is among the fastest in market history. Just two years ago, the company’s market valuation was over $400 million. Now, in the span of a year, it has gone from $1 trillion to more than $3 trillion. On Tuesday, Nvidia’s share price rose 3.6 percent, lifting its value to $3.34 trillion. Microsoft and Apple both fell, ending the day trailing the Silicon Valley chip maker. Nvidia’s ascent is a testament to how much artificial intelligence has upended the world’s biggest companies. The rise of the powerful technology first elevated Microsoft to the biggest market capitalization in January, dethroning Apple, before pushing Nvidia to take the crown. Last week, Apple said it, too, was getting into the A.I. game and will add the technology to its products, including the iPhone, this fall.
Pastor Robert Morris resigns from Gateway Church after child sex abuse allegation 2024-06-18 20:10:00+00:00 - Robert Morris has resigned as senior pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, three days after confessing to engaging in “sexual behavior” with a child in the 1980s. The board of elders at Gateway made the announcement Tuesday in a statement to NBC News. “The elders’ prior understanding was that Morris’s extramarital relationship, which he had discussed many times throughout his ministry, was with 'a young lady' and not abuse of a 12-year-old child,” the church leaders said in their statement, adding that they had not known the victim’s age or the length of the alleged abuse. “Even though it occurred many years before Gateway was established, as leaders of the church, we regret that we did not have the information that we now have.” The church also announced it had hired the law firm Haynes & Boone to conduct an independent review of the allegations to ensure it had a complete understanding of what happened. Morris, known nationally as a member of former President Donald Trump’s spiritual advisory committee, had long told a story to his congregation and church leaders about a “moral failure” involving sexual sin when he was in his 20s. He did not describe the person involved other than to call her a “young lady.” But last week, Cindy Clemishire, now 54, alleged in a post on the church watchdog site The Wartburg Watch that she was 12 when Morris began sexually abusing her in 1982. The alleged abuse continued for more than four years, Clemishire told NBC News on Monday. “I don’t know if anybody deserves restoration to a position when they were doing criminal acts to a child,” Clemishire said before Morris’ resignation. “I believe that people can be restored when caught doing something if there’s true repentance, but when you lie about it, I don’t believe that’s true repentance.” In their statement, Gateway Church elders expressed remorse. “For the sake of the victim, we are thankful this situation has been exposed,” the statement said. “We know many have been affected by this, we understand that you are hurting, and we are very sorry. It is our prayer that, in time, healing for all those affected can occur.” Morris did not immediately respond to a message requesting comment.
The Fed is 'playing with fire' by not cutting rates, says creator of 'Sahm Rule' recession indicator 2024-06-18 20:01:00+00:00 - Economist Claudia Sahm on CNBC's The Exchange. CNBC The Federal Reserve is risking tipping the economy into contraction by not cutting interest rates now, according to the author of a time-tested rule for when recessions happen. Economist Claudia Sahm has shown that when the unemployment rate's three-month average is half a percentage point higher than its 12-month low, the economy is in recession. As the jobless level has ticked up in recent months, the "Sahm Rule" has generated increasing talk on Wall Street that what has been a strong labor market is showing cracks and pointing to potential trouble ahead. That in turn has generated speculation over when the Fed finally will start reducing interest rates. Sahm, chief economist at New Century Advisors, said the central bank is taking a big risk by not moving now with gradual cuts: By not taking action, the Fed risks the Sahm Rule kicking in and, with it, a recession that potentially could force policymakers to take more drastic action. "My baseline is not recession," Sahm said. "But it's a real risk, and I do not understand why the Fed is pushing that risk. I'm not sure what they're waiting for." "The worst possible outcome at this point is for the Fed to cause an unnecessary recession," she added. Flashing a warning sign As a numeric reading, the Sahm Rule stood at 0.37 following the May employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that showed the unemployment rate rising to 4% for the first time since January 2022. That's the highest the Sahm reading has been on an ascending basis since the early days of the Covid pandemic. The value essentially represents the percentage point difference from the three-month unemployment rate average compared to its 12-month low, which in this case is 3.5%. A reading of 0.5 would represent an official trigger for the rule; a couple more months of 4% or better readings on the unemployment rate would make that happen. The rule has applied for every recession dating back to at least 1948 and thus works as an effective warning sign when the value starts to increase. Even with the rising jobless level, Fed officials have expressed little concern about the labor market. Following its meeting last week, the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee labeled the jobs market as "strong," and Chair Jerome Powell at his press conference said conditions "have returned to about where they stood on the eve of the pandemic — relatively tight but not overheated." In fact, officials sharply lowered their individual forecasts for rate cuts this year, going from three expected reductions at the March meeting to one this time around. The move surprised markets, which still are pricing in two cuts this year, according to the CME Group's FedWatch measure of fed funds futures market contracts. "The bad outcomes here could be pretty bad," Sahm said. "From a risk management perspective, I have a hard time understanding the Fed's unwillingness to cut and their just ceaseless tough talk on inflation." 'Playing with fire'
Former CNBC analyst-turned-fugitive arrested by FBI after nearly 3 years on the run 2024-06-18 19:57:00+00:00 - A former CNBC analyst who ended up on the FBI's Most Wanted list for white-collar crimes was arrested over the weekend after being charged with defrauding investors, federal prosecutors announced Monday. James Arthur McDonald, 52, of California, was a frequent guest on CNBC and the CEO and chief investment officer of the companies Hercules Investments LLC and Index Strategy Advisors Inc. According to an indictment from a federal grand jury, McDonald allegedly lost tens of millions of dollars of Hercules client money after adopting a risky short position that "effectively bet against the health of the United States economy in the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election" in late 2020, Justice Department officials said in a news release. The predicted market decline did not happen, causing clients to lose between $30 and $40 million. McDonald's compensation from Hercules Investments was primarily based on a percentage of assets he was managing, prosecutors said, meaning that the company's losses in the light of McDonald's short positions "significantly decreased the fees" he was able to collect. In early 2021, McDonald allegedly solicited millions of dollars in funds from investors as part of a capital raise for Hercules Investments. He allegedly misrepresented how the funds would be used, telling investors he would launch a mutual fund, and failed to disclose the investment company's losses the previous year. James Arthur McDonald, Jr. Federal Bureau of Investigation He allegedly raised $675,000 from one victim group. McDonald spent $174,610 of that at a Porsche dealership; more than $100,000 was transferred to the landlord of a home McDonald was renting; and nearly another $7,000 was spent on a website selling designer menswear, prosecutors said. McDonald also allegedly falsely represented clients to Index Strategy Advisors, and sent clients there false account statements that misrepresented how much money was in their accounts. McDonald became a fugitive in late 2021 when he failed to appear before the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, prosecutors said. McDonald had been called before the commission to testify in response to allegations he had defrauded investors. In September 2022, the SEC filed a civil complaint charging McDonald and Hercules Investments with violating federal securities law. The filing found that McDonald was liable for $3,810,346 in net profits gained because of alleged misconduct. A federal arrest warrant was filed then, but McDonald remained on the run. McDonald allegedly told one person he planned to "vanish," according to court documents, and closed out his phone and email accounts. In January 2023, a federal grand jury in Los Angeles returned an indictment charging him with one count of securities fraud, one count of wire fraud, three counts of investment adviser fraud, and two counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from unlawful activity. Over the weekend, he was arrested by the FBI at a home in Port Orchard, Washington. McDonald made his first appearance in the United States District Court in Tacoma, Washington, but will be brought to Los Angeles to face federal charges in the coming weeks. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each count of securities fraud and wire fraud, up to 10 years on the monetary transactions derived from unlawful activity count, and up to another five years for the count of investment advisor fraud.
Google to invest another $2.3 billion into Ohio data centers 2024-06-18 19:50:17+00:00 - COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Google will invest an additional $2.3 billion to support three data center campuses in central Ohio, the company announced Tuesday. The tech giant has centers in New Albany and Lancaster and one under construction in Columbus to help power its services such as search, Gmail, maps, cloud and YouTube for users around the world. The latest investment is in addition to the $4.4 billion that Google has spent in central Ohio since 2019. The company has not disclosed how the investments will be made or how they will be divvied up among the data center operations Data centers have proliferated across the U.S. and become a welcome revenue source for local governments. They also require a large amount of electricity and high-voltage transmission lines.
Walmart Enhances Walmart+ To Compete With Amazon Prime: Key Differences Unveiled - Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Walmart (NYSE:WMT) 2024-06-18 19:43:00+00:00 - Loading... Loading... In a bid to compete with Amazon.com‘s AMZN Amazon Prime, Walmart WMT has announced Walmart+ Week, a membership program with a range of benefits. What Happened: Walmart+ offers a variety of perks, including free shipping, store delivery, fuel savings, and a Paramount+ streaming subscription. The program is priced at $98 per year, making it cheaper than Amazon Prime, which costs $139 annually, reported The Street. Walmart’s membership program also includes limited auto maintenance at Walmart Auto Care Centers, cashback on select travel expenses, and members-only prices during specific promotions, such as Black Friday. The program also allows for mobile shopping in-store. See Also: Donald Trump’s Planned Visit To Black Church In Detroit Draws Backlash From Critics Who Say He Didn’t Do Walmart’s program is an answer to Amazon Prime, which offers free shipping and returns, access to Prime Video streaming, savings at Whole Foods Market, and access to the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card, among other benefits. Why It Matters: The launch of Walmart+ Week comes amid a fierce competition between Walmart and Amazon. Both companies are vying for a larger share of the market and are employing innovative strategies to achieve this. During the week, Walmart+ members will be able to enjoy benefits such as free express delivery, three free months of Walmart+ InHome, a mystery offer available on June 20 and more. Walmart’s new program is likely to attract more customers, especially with its unique perks such as fuel savings and a Paramount+ streaming subscription. The program’s lower cost could also make it an appealing alternative to Amazon Prime. Read Next: Trump’s Niece Says Ex-President Wants To Be ‘Free And Clear’ To Go After His Political Enemies: ‘Our Best Photo: Shutterstock
Trump Media shares close nearly 10% lower as sell-off continues 2024-06-18 19:42:00+00:00 - Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group fell nearly 10% on Tuesday, continuing the stock's tumble following the conviction of former President Donald Trump, the company's majority shareholder. The stock closed at $31.31 Tuesday, on much higher than average trading volume of 7.52 million shares. Shares of Trump Media, which trades under the ticker "DJT," are down about 40% since May 30, when a New York jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Tuesday's sell-off coincided with a June 18 deadline that could see some of the company's investors exercise stock warrants. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 15, Trump Media disclosed its plans to offer nearly 21.5 million shares of common stock issuable "upon the exercise of warrants." Late Tuesday, the company announced that the SEC had declared its registration effective "TMTG's warrants covered by the Registration Statement have now become eligible for cash exercise," the company announced. Within minutes of the filing of the 8K announcement, Trump Media stock had fallen more than 15% in after hours trading. The company also amended its registration statement Tuesday to warn investors that there was little it could do to stop former President Donald Trump from using other social media platforms, beyond the company's signature Truth Social network. "If TMTG disagrees with President Donald J. Trump about the scope of his obligation to use, or first post on, Truth Social, TMTG lacks any meaningful remedy with respect to such disagreement," the amended lines read. Such a scenario, the company cautioned, "could have a material adverse effect on the business and/or operations of TMTG." The warning came just weeks after the former president — who uses Truth Social almost exclusively to make his public statements — joined the social media app TikTok. Truth Social, meanwhile, has struggled to maintain its small user base. The social media site's average number of monthly visits from May 2023 to April 2024 was 39% lower than the previous 12-month period, according to digital intelligence platform Similarweb. Trump Media shares also took a hit last week, falling more than 5% on June 10 when the company submitted its reaudited financial statement after its last auditor was charged with fraud. Trump Media & Technology Group disclosed a net loss of $327.6 million and total revenue of $770,500 in the first quarter of the year on its most recent earnings report, filed in May. The company had a market cap of about $5.5 billion at Tuesday's close.
Nvidia swipes the crown from Microsoft — plus, the fuel for Best Buy's latest move higher 2024-06-18 19:33:00+00:00 - Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. Nvidia takes the lead: Stocks are mostly higher Tuesday, but the action has been more muted compared to Monday's rally. There was a well-received auction of $13 billion in 20-year Treasury notes that kept bond yields down. Nvidia is rallying to another record high, pushing the leading artificial intelligence chipmaker's market capitalization above Microsoft's level to become the most valuable public company in the world. Both tech giants are worth more than $3.3 trillion as of Tuesday afternoon. However, the rest of the mega caps are pulling back, with Club holdings Apple , Amazon , Alphabet , Meta Platforms and Microsoft all lower. Is it time to add fellow portfolio name Broadcom to this anointed list? Sector leaders: After powering the market higher last week, the technology sector is the outperformer again Tuesday day. But overall there's slightly more of a balance in the session, albeit not quite as broad as Monday. The big banks are a bright spot; Club holding Wells Fargo is up more than 1%. Energy is another bright spot as U.S. oil benchmark WTI crude moves above $81 per barrel. Industrials fared better, especially those tied to power demands like Dover and Eaton — both Club holdings — but embattled plane maker Boeing remained a drag. We added to our Dover position earlier in Tuesday's session, using part of the proceeds from our Broadcom sale into its recent parabolic move higher. As much as Broadcom's long-term story is intact, we always look to take gains in parabolic moves because those rallies tend to be unsustainable. Struggling sectors: Communication services pulled back about 1%, while consumer discretionary was unsurprisingly weaker after the softer-than-expected May retail sales report. However, we found some solace in the sales report due to its electronics and appliance store figures. If consumers are starting to embrace new innovations within consumer electronics and showing signs of a willingness to upgrade their tech, it bodes well for Best Buy . The Club holding continued its recent run higher Tuesday, adding more than 2% on its way to another new 52-week high on the launch day of Microsoft's new AI-enabled PCs. That is a key part to our thesis in Best Buy, though, in an upgrade Monday, analysts at UBS wisely highlighted additional growth levers for the company . Over the past month, Best Buy shares are up more than 27%. Up next: There's not a whole lot expected to happen on Wall Street over the next 24 hours. Following Lennar's report Monday night, we'll get earnings from fellow homebuilder KB Home after Tuesday's close. U.S. markets are closed Wednesday in observance of the Juneteenth holiday. When we're back Thursday, we'll see earnings from the consulting company Accenture , grocery chain Kroger and Olive Garden parent Darden Restaurants . (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED. Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street.
Utah Hockey Club names agency veteran Chris Armstrong president of hockey operations 2024-06-18 19:32:30+00:00 - SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Utah Hockey Club named Chris Armstrong president of hockey operations Tuesday, making him the latest agency veteran to run an NHL team. Armstrong spent nearly 14 years at Wasserman, most recently serving as executive vice president of talent innovation and strategic development. He takes over control of the NHL team bought by Ryan Smith’s Smith Entertainment Group and relocated from Arizona to Salt Lake City. Smith said Armstrong “has cultivated strong relationships with top players, agents, and executives across the hockey world throughout his career, and his unique background and diverse skillset will be crucial as we establish the greatest possible hockey experience for our community, fans, players, coaches and front office.” The two teams in the Stanley Cup Final are each led by someone who went the agency route: Florida president of hockey operations Bill Zito and Edmonton CEO of hockey operations Jeff Jackson. Zito was assistant general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets before the Panthers hired him. Jackson went right into his job with the Oilers last year after being the longtime agent of Connor McDavid and several other players. Armstrong helped found Wasserman’s Canadian business in 2010 and was part of the company’s foray into hockey in 2018. He will oversee a department run on a day-to-day basis by Bill Armstrong — no relation — who is going into his fifth season as GM of the franchise formerly known as the Coyotes. ___ AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
18 million Americans are house poor, new study shows 2024-06-18 19:29:00+00:00 - More than 18 million Americans are living in homes that stretch their budgets far beyond what's considered financially healthy. That's the biggest takeaway from a LendingTree study released this week that found that 18.3 million homeowners are what the housing industry calls cost-burdened, or "house poor." That refers to homeowners who pay more than 30% of their monthly income on housing, including the mortgage, utilities and other costs. Anyone who spends more than half of their monthly income on housing is considered severely cost-burdened. High cost-of-living states California, Hawaii and New York have the largest share of house poor residents, while West Virginia, Indiana and Arkansas have the fewest, LendingTree said. To be sure, homeowners who spend more than 30% of their income on housing aren't necessarily struggling to make ends meet, according to Jacob Channel, LendingTree senior economist, noting that some people can spend more than 30% of their income on housing and remain comfortable financially. But for many Americans, keeping housing costs at a manageable level is difficult, particularly in an economy where inflation is still high, home prices have reached record highs and mortgage rates are hovering around 7%. The median U.S. home price hit an all-time high this month of $394,000, up 4.4% from a year ago, according to Redfin. LendingTree based its study on 2022 U.S. Census data on how much owner-occupied households spent on housing. The study suggests that the number of house-poor homeowners is falling. About 19 million homeowners were house poor or worse in 2023, according to a Harvard University estimate. Here is a breakdown of the states with the highest concentration of cost-burdened homes, according to LendingTree. California 2.2 million house poor 1 million severely housing cost-burdened Hawaii 88,000 house poor 39,000 severely housing cost-burdened New York 1.1 million house poor 550,000 severely housing cost-burdened Here's a breakdown of the states with the lowest concentration of cost-burdened homes, according to LendingTree. West Virginia 73,000 house poor 36,000 severely housing cost-burdened Indiana 314,000 house poor 132,000 severely housing cost-burdened Arkansas 132,000 house poor 60,000 severely housing cost-burdened
Labour would use part of NHS budget to buy beds in care homes 2024-06-18 19:28:00+00:00 - NHS money will be used to buy thousands of beds in care homes under Labour plans to reduce overcrowding in England’s hospitals, long waits in A&E and patients becoming trapped in ambulances. Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said the move would tackle the huge human and financial “waste” of beds being occupied by patients fit to leave but stuck there because a lack of care outside the hospital. There are 13,000 beds in England – enough to fill 26 hospitals – being occupied by such patients. If Labour wins the general election on 4 July it will funnel some of the NHS’s £165bn budget into the plan as one of a series of immediate changes intended to relieve the crisis in the health service. Streeting made clear in a speech that a Labour government would expect hospitals across England to follow the example of Leeds teaching hospitals NHS trust, which spends £9m a year buying up care home beds in order to cut delayed discharges and free up beds. That initiative – which it launched as a way of avoiding a “winter crisis” in 2022-23 – has freed up 165 beds, helped reduce the number of patients who are admitted avoidably and saved the trust between £17m and £23m, it has estimated. “We will learn from the great innovations already happening in the health service like this, and take the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS,” said Streeting, who cited the Leeds approach as a model to follow when speaking to members of the Medical Journalists’ Association. “I went to St Mary’s hospital in Paddington [in London] this month, where a patient had been stuck in hospital for 60 days despite being well enough to leave, because the care wasn’t available. Not only is that a waste of that patient’s time and life, it is a waste of taxpayers’ money. “The number of patients in hospital beds per day unable to be discharged because of a lack of care in the community could fill 26 hospitals. The price of that failure is £1.7bn a year. “Labour will get more hospitals doing what Leeds teaching hospitals are already doing, investing in local social care beds to discharge patients faster – better for patients and less expensive for taxpayers.” The 13,000 beds being occupied by patients who are fit to leave hospital represent one in seven of the health service’s entire bed stock. However, speaking anonymously, one senior NHS figure questioned how the NHS in England could afford to buy care home beds to emulate what Leeds has done given that it is on track to end 2024-25 with a £3bn deficit. A&E doctors welcomed the move. If the scheme is rolled out as Streeting hopes, it could unblock hospitals struggling with the sheer number of patients they are caring for and mean ambulances arrive more quickly after a 999 call and that people no longer end up stuck on trolleys or enduring “corridor care”, they said. “We are supportive of the plan for NHS hospitals to buy up social care beds,” said Dr Adrian Boyle, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine. “About 13,000 people are currently in our acute hospitals awaiting some form of social care. Anything that can reduce this terrible total can only be a good thing, for patients and the running of our hospitals. “If this works, this could be very helpful in tackling all of the problems in the urgent and emergency care pathway, from the first time someone calls 999, to them arriving at the hospital, being handed over to the emergency department and ending up in the main hospital.” skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Election Edition Free daily newsletter Make sense of the UK election campaign with Archie Bland's daily briefing, direct to your inbox at 5pm (BST). Jokes where available Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion The Leeds trust estimates that the proportion of inpatients it was able to discharge in less than 27 days rose from 21% to 38% as a direct result of spending millions on care home beds. Sally Warren, director of policy at the King’s Fund thinktank, said: “NHS and social care operate as part of one interconnected system. When one bit of the system is under pressure, the long waits can back up elsewhere. “Perhaps the most visible example is when a lack of community or social care support stops people from being discharged out of hospital, which in turn means there is no space for new patients to be admitted to hospital, and we all see the results with long queues of ambulances at A&E each winter. But, she added: “Let’s not confuse this approach [in Leeds] with a plan to solve all of the issues in social care. It’s primarily an initiative to improve patient flow through hospitals and will not solve the fundamental mismatch between demand for and supply of publicly funded social care in England.” Streeting’s idea is not new. The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England have made money available to health trusts in recent years to buy care home beds to head off the service’s annual “winter crisis”. Dr Tim Cooksley, the immediate past president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said that while it was “pleasing that Wes Streeting is recognising this issue and considering solutions … the focus should be on ensuring high-quality community care beds with expert rehabilitation teams as that would be a valuable addition to the care for older people. “Buying extra nursing home beds will, in isolation, not stop corridor care or improve outcomes for older people. Moving older people around the care system to the wrong place is simply like moving the deckchairs on the Titanic: it doesn’t help them and won’t stop the overcrowding that leaves so many languishing in emergency care corridors,” he added.
FEMA urged to add extreme heat, wildfire smoke to list of disasters 2024-06-18 19:22:00+00:00 - 21 states under excessive heat warnings, millions to see temperatures above 90 degrees A coalition of organizations is calling on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to add extreme heat and wildfire smoke to its list of scenarios worthy of being labeled a major disaster. Dozens of environmental, health and labor groups on Monday filed a petition with FEMA in a bid to unleash FEMA funds that historically have been used to respond to disasters such as floods, earthquakes and hurricanes that damage infrastructure. The groups including AFL-CIO, Friends of the Earth and the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments argue that the step would help areas be prepared for heat waves and wildfire smoke by helping finance cooling centers or air filtration systems in schools. As things stand, states and local communities have been largely on their own in dealing with extreme heat, which kills more Americans each year than hurricanes, floods and tornadoes combined, according to the National Weather Service. The death certificates of more than 2,300 people who died in the U.S. last year mention the effects of excessive heat. That's the highest number in 45 years of recordkeeping, according to an Associated Press analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Labor groups and the White House have advocated that the Labor Department publish a draft heat regulation, as millions of people work outside or without air conditioning. Major businesses and industry groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are against new rules. The impact of extreme heat on workers is particularly acute in states like Texas, according to one labor group behind the petition. "The impact of the climate crisis coupled with the fact that Texas is the most dangerous state to work in makes the detrimental impact of heat and wildfire smoke an increasing threat for all Texans," Margarita Del Cid, Workers Defense Dallas member-leader, said in a statement. "One construction worker dies every three days in Texas and a huge factor in these deaths is heat, whether it's heat stroke or hyperthermia or in some cases, prolonged illness." The 1988 Stafford Act permits the federal government to declare a disaster or emergency, but does not specifically include extreme heat on a list of 16 causes. FEMA can respond to requests for federal assistance when states and localities need the additional help, and there's nothing specific in the Stafford Act that precludes a declaration for extreme heat, according to the agency.
Teva Engages In Settlement Talks Over Medicare Kickback Allegations - Teva Pharmaceutical Indus (NYSE:TEVA) 2024-06-18 19:20:00+00:00 - Loading... Loading... Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd TEVA is reportedly in active discussions to settle a lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The lawsuit alleges Teva used charitable organizations to cover Medicare patients’ out-of-pocket costs, effectively paying kickbacks to boost sales of its multiple sclerosis drug, Copaxone. Citing a filing, Reuters noted the company is requesting the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to delay its upcoming appeal hearing. Also Read: Generics Player Teva Pharmaceutical Aces Late-Stage Schizophrenia Drug Study, Stock Shoots Higher. The appeal is against a ruling regarding the government’s burden of proof in establishing violations of the False Claims Act, which prohibits defrauding government programs and allows recovery of taxpayer money through civil cases. In the Reuters report, Teva’s lawyers stated, “The parties are actively engaged in settlement negotiations, and Teva is optimistic that the parties can reach a resolution, but additional time is needed to do so.” This case is part of a broader investigation into drugmakers’ financial support of patient assistance charities, which has led to over $1 billion in settlements involving 12 drugmakers, four charities and one pharmacy. The DOJ lawsuit against Teva, filed in 2020, alleges the company faces potential triple damages under the False Claims Act, amounting to as much as $10 billion. Teva has denied any wrongdoing. Pharmaceutical companies are prohibited from subsidizing co-payments for Medicare patients. However, they can donate to independent non-profits providing co-pay assistance. The government contends that Teva and other drugmakers used these charities to illegally pay Medicare patients’ co-pay obligations, violating the Anti-Kickback Statute. The lawsuit claims Teva paid over $350 million to the Chronic Disease Fund and The Assistance Fund between 2006 and 2017 to cover co-payments for Copaxone patients. The DOJ argues that the move transformed these charities into conduits for kickbacks, driving up the drug’s price from $17,000 to about $85,000 per year. In 2017 alone, Copaxone generated $3.8 billion in revenue for Teva. The investigation into these practices began amid increasing scrutiny of rising drug prices. Co-payments are partly designed to expose patients to the true cost of medicines, acting as a check on healthcare expenses. Read Next: Teva Pharma CEO Dismisses Split Speculations Expects Significant Interest For Its API Business Divestiture. Price Action: TEVA shares are down 0.67% at $17.02 at last check Tuesday.
Microsoft, Apple Step Aside: Nvidia Is Now The Most Valuable Public Company In The World - NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) 2024-06-18 19:06:00+00:00 - Loading... Loading... NVIDIA Corp NVDA stock has been a runaway freight train since the start of the year, outpacing a large majority of the market. The Jensen Huang-led company now has everyone else in its rearview mirror, as the chipmaker has claimed the title of most valuable public company in the world. What To Know: Nvidia has pretty clearly been the biggest beneficiary of the AI boom as its chips have seen remarkable demand as tech players race to train and build their own AI models. The stock is hitting all-time highs on Tuesday and is up more than 170% since the start of the year. Nvidia’s market cap climbed to $3.33 trillion on Tuesday, surpassing tech giant Microsoft Corp MSFT, making it the most valuable public company in the world, according to CNBC. Nvidia overtook Apple Inc AAPL in market cap earlier this month when the stock crossed the $3 trillion market cap level for the first time, buoyed by another strong earnings report in late May and a 10-for-1 stock split in early June. Nvidia revenues climbed to record levels last quarter, driven by strong growth in data centers, which made up about 86% of the company’s total sales. Nvidia reportedly has about 80% market share for AI chips used in data centers. Despite Nvidia’s unprecedented market cap surge to date, analysts remain bullish on the road ahead. Wells Fargo maintained Nvidia with an Overweight rating on Tuesday and raised the price target from $125 to $155. Rosenblatt maintained a Buy rating and lifted its price target from $140 to a new Street-high of $200. Microsoft and Apple have also been beneficiaries of the AI boom, but the impact on the companies’ stock prices pales in comparison to Nvidia. Microsoft shares were up about 19% year-to-date at last check, while Apple shares were up about 11%, according to Benzinga Pro. Don’t Miss: The ‘AI Big 10’: 10 AI Stocks Now Comprise 28% Of S&P 500, Up From 14% In 2023 NVDA Price Action: Nvidia shares were up 3.7% at $135.82 at the time of publication, per Benzinga Pro data. Photo: Shutterstock.