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Here are all the upcoming prequels and sequels that Disney hopes will turn its box-office struggles around 2024-08-11 16:57:12+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 Thanks for signing up! Go to newsletter preferences Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview After a series of theatrical misfires, Disney wants to turn misery into magic by doing what it does best: capitalizing on its already beloved franchises. Crowds gathered at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, this weekend to attend D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event. The biennial expo has become the ultimate fandom experience for enthusiasts who love Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, 20th Century Studios, and everything else Disney owns. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. On Friday, Disney CEO Bob Iger attended the expo, walking onto the main stage to thunderous applause from the audience. It was an uncharacteristic appearance from Iger, who hadn't attended the event since 2019 when Disney was aglow with praise for box-office hits like "Avengers: Endgame" and "Toy Story 4." An "Inside Out 2" booth appeared at D23 in Anaheim, California, on Friday. Jerod Harris/Getty Images But times have changed. Advertisement For years, Disney bolstered its reputation as an entertainment heavyweight that could deliver successful films over and over again. "Frozen" grossed $1.3 billion worldwide in 2013, while its sequel surpassed that at $1.4 billion. Other popular franchises like "Avatar" made more than $5 billion across two films, and Marvel Studios' last installment of the "Avengers" series made $2.7 billion. Then, Iger retired in 2021, and so did Disney's undeniable reign at the box office. Although films like "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" surpassed $845 million worldwide, others like "The Marvels" and "Wish" fell below expectations. Those films earned $206 million and $254 million worldwide, respectively. Disney began sliding away from its billion-dollar benchmark, prompting executives to pivot their strategy and coax Iger out of retirement to again helm the company in 2022. Advertisement Iger acknowledged the stark reality in a 2023 earnings call, saying the COVID-19 pandemic hurt the company's plan to ratchet up its project output. "And I've always felt that quantity can be actually a negative when it comes to quality. And I think that's exactly what happened. We lost some focus," Iger said. Iger then floated Disney's life raft: prequels and sequels. "I feel really optimistic about the slate going forward, which is going to be a balance between some really strong sequels to some very, very popular titles, as well as some good original content," he said. Advertisement Disney has already found success in 2024 by mining its existing stories. "Inside Out 2" was a success this summer, grossing $1.4 billion so far. "Deadpool & Wolverine," the third in the Marvel franchise, is nearing the $1 billion mark less than a month after its July release. Related stories At D23, fans were introduced to a slate of new projects based on Disney's old IP, including "Moana 2" and a "Lion King" prequel titled "Mufasa." Here are all the prequel and sequel films Disney has on its docket. Advertisement Walt Disney Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios "Moana 2" — November 27, 2024. "Mufasa: The Lion King" — December 20, 2024 "Tron: Ares " — October 10, 2025 "Zootopia 2" — November 26, 2025 "Freakier Friday" — 2025 "Frozen 3"— 2027 20th Century Fox "Avatar: Fire and Ash" — December 19, 2025 Pixar Animation Studios "Toy Story 5" — June 19, 2026 "Incredibles 3 " — currently in production Lucasfilm "The Mandalorian and Grogu" — May 22, 2026 Advertisement Marvel Studios
A guide to all of Taylor Sheridan's latest and upcoming 'Yellowstone' spinoffs, sequels, and other projects 2024-08-11 16:50:51+00:00 - Taylor Sheridan is one of Hollywood's most prolific creators. As it stands, he has 11 projects in various stages of production. This includes several stand-alone TV series and multiple "Yellowstone" spinoffs. Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Thanks for signing up! Go to newsletter preferences Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address Sign up 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. Advertisement There's no doubt that Taylor Sheridan is one of Paramount's star writers. Since pivoting away from acting, Sheridan has become one of the most prolific screenwriters in Hollywood and helped redefine the Western genre with his hit series "Yellowstone." He's so prolific that Paramount has been spending more than $500 million a year on his shows, The Wall Street Journal reported . This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in .
'Deadpool & Wolverine' tops $1 billion at the global box office 2024-08-11 16:24:00+00:00 - The "Merc with a Mouth" is breaking even more box office records. Over the weekend, Disney and Marvel's "Deadpool & Wolverine" became only the second R-rated film to top $1 billion at the global box office. And it's on its way to becoming the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. Currently, that record is held by Warner Bros.' "Joker," which tallied $1.078 billion during is theatrical run in 2019, according to data from Comscore. As of Sunday's estimated numbers, "Deadpool & Wolverine" has tallied $1.029 billion. "This film set the blueprint for how to create the perfect box office beast, from a novel marketing strategy that included a viral popcorn bucket to a perfect release date, Ryan Reynolds' tireless promotion of the film and, most importantly, a great movie that was embraced by critics and fans alike, led up to this moment a mere three weeks into the film's amazing run in theatres across the globe," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. "Another great moment for Disney after what was a rather slow post-pandemic period for the studio." This third stand-alone feature starring Ryan Reynolds as the regenerating degenerate has already posted the highest opening of any film released in 2024 and holds the record for the highest debut of an R-rated film ever. "Deadpool & Wolverine" is the first R-rated Marvel Cinematic Universe flick, as the previous two Deadpool films were produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Disney acquired that studio back in 2019. It is also the second Disney film to top $1 billion at the global box office this year. Pixar's "Inside Out 2" has generated more than $1.5 billion since its opening in June. Box office analysts expect "Deadpool & Wolverine" won't be the last for the company this year, either. "Moana 2" is set to hit theaters over the Thanksgiving holiday and forecasts suggest it could also reach the billion-dollar mark. These massive box office successes come after a string of misfires from Disney's traditionally bulletproof franchises, including the lowest opening and lowest haul for a Marvel film ever. As Disney seeks to rebuild its reputation and recapture magic at the box office, it is relying heavily on existing, and beloved, franchises. During the company's biannual D23 Expo, it shared details about upcoming titles from all of its studios. This includes major animated sequels like "Toy Story 5," "Zootopia 2," "Frozen III" and "Incredibles 3," as well as a slew of new Marvel titles like "Captain America: Brave New World," "Thunderbolts*," "The Fantastic 4: First Steps," "Blade," "Avengers: Doomsday" (previously titled "Avengers: Kang Dynasty) and "Avengers: Secret Wars." There was also footage shown of "The Mandalorian and Grogu," the first Star War film set to grace the big screen since "The Rise of Skywalker" in 2019. It's no surprise Disney is going back to the well with these films. The Toy Story franchise has generated $3.2 billion at the global box office, the two Frozen films surpassed $2.7 billion worldwide, the two Incredibles films tallied $1.8 billion globally, and "Zootopia" reached $1 billion worldwide during its run in 2016. As for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it is the highest-grossing film franchise of all time, topping $30 billion at the global box office since 2008. And Star Wars has a solid track record, too, generating more than $10 billion in ticket sales since "A New Hope" hit theaters in 1977. "The billion dollar box office club may not be the singular metric by which theatrical success is defined, but it is still emblematic of a film's ability to capture the global zeitgeist," said Shawn Robbins, founder and owner of Box Office Theory, a theatrical and box office consultation and analysis firm. "'Deadpool & Wolverine' has done that in a resounding way, making Disney and Marvel's return to the ten-digit summit worth celebrating."
What ‘It Ends With Us’ Says About the Blake Lively Brand 2024-08-11 15:59:29+00:00 - Blake Lively’s hair is like a character unto itself in the new romantic drama “It Ends With Us.” Her thick mane shapeshifts with her role, Lily Bloom, a flower shop owner who falls in and out of love with an abusive neurosurgeon. Lively’s hair, dyed a soft ginger, is artfully messy when she gets her hands dirty starting up the store. The camera follows a mass of buoyant curls when she struts into a party dressed to impress the man who will ultimately betray her. When she wakes up post-coitus, her hair is perfectly tousled. When she is sad, it droops as if by magic. You could say Blake Lively’s hair is a tool she uses to sell her performance, but her performance is also a tool she uses to sell her hair. Those who are impressed with her locks in “It Ends With Us” can learn from her Instagram that she recently debuted a line of hair-care products called Blake Brown. (Brown is her father’s last name.) In many ways “It Ends With Us” is a brand-building exercise for Lively. Yes, the film, directed by Justin Baldoni, is an adaptation of a popular novel, meant to lure fans of the best-selling author Colleen Hoover, but it also serves as an advertisement for the world of Lively — not just her talent but her celebrity and her other significant role, mogul, making the film a fascinating study in the various forms star power can take.
Who won at the box office this weekend? The Reynolds-Lively household 2024-08-11 15:59:26+00:00 - NEW YORK (AP) — In the Ryan Reynolds-Blake Lively box-office showdown, both husband and wife came out winners. Reynolds’ Marvel Studios smash “Deadpool & Wolverine” remained the top movie in North American theaters for the third straight week with $54.2 million in ticket sales according to studio estimates Sunday. Worldwide, it’s now surpassed $1 billion. “Deadpool & Wolverine,” though, was closely followed by “It Ends With Us,” the romance drama starring Lively, which surpassed expectations with a stellar $50 million debut. Together, the films created a kind of family edition of “Barbenheimer,” in which a pair of very different movies thrived in part due to counterprogramming. Only this time, the opposite movies were fronted by one of Hollywood’s most famous couples. The films’ one-two punch wasn’t entirely unprecedented. In 1990, Bruce Willis’ “Die Hard 2” led the box office while Demi Moore’s “Ghost” came in second. The weekend also featured a high-priced flop. “Borderlands,” the long-delayed $120-million videogame adaptation directed by Eli Roth, launched with a paltry $8.8 million for Lionsgate. The film, starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart and Jack Black, was shot all the way back in 2021. After delays and reshoots, it finally landed in theaters effectively dead-on-arrival; it scored just 10% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and seems likely contend for one of the worst movies of the year. Meanwhile, “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which co-stars Hugh Jackman, continued its march through box-office records. The film, directed by Shawn Levy, is only the second R-rated movie to reach $1 billion, following 2019’s “Joker.” In three weeks, it’s already one of the most lucrative Marvel releases and trails only Disney’s other 2024 smash, “Inside Out” ($1.6 billion worldwide) among movies released this year. Lively makes a cameo in “Deadpool & Wolverine” but she both stars in and produced “It Ends With Us.” Adapted from the bestselling romance novel by Colleen Hoover, Lively stars as Lily Bloom, a Boston florist torn between two men, one from her present life (Justin Baldoni, who also directed the film) and another who was her first love (Brandon Sklenar). “It Ends With Us” cost a modest $25 million to produce, so it will turn a significant profit for co-financers Columbia Pictures and Wayfarer Studios. Like another female-skewing summer-release book adaptation from Sony, “Where the Crawdads Sing,” “It Ends With Us” could hold well through the typically slower August box-office period. Audiences gave it an A- CinemaScore. Reynolds and Lively occasionally played up the convergence of their movies. Earlier this week, Reynolds posted a video of himself posing junket questions to Sklenar. The timing paid off especially for Lively, whose film doubled earlier opening-weekend forecasts. Neon’s “Cuckoo,” a German Alps-set horror film by filmmaker Tilman Singer, opened with $3 million on 1,503 screens. It stars Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens. Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday. 1. “Deadpool & Wolverine,” $54.2 million. 2. “It Ends With Us,” $50 million. 3. “Twisters,” $15 million. 4. “Borderlands,” $8.8 million. 5. “Despicable Me 4,” $8 million. 6. “Trap,” $6.7 million. 7. “Inside Out 2,” $5 million. 8. “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” $3.1 million. 9. “Cuckoo,” $3 million. 10. “Longlegs,” $2 million.
100-year-olds share what they always eat—and what they never do 2024-08-11 15:56:00+00:00 - The foods in your daily diet play a major role in how healthy you are and how long a life you live. In fact, one of the key practices of people living in blue zones is eating a diet of mostly plant-based foods of fruits, vegetables and nuts. In past interviews with CNBC Make It and other publications, many centenarians credited their diet for living a long, healthy life. Here's what four people, ages 99 and older say they always eat and also what they never do. Elizabeth Francis, 115 Elizabeth Francis, the oldest living person in the U.S. who is 115 years old, told ABC 13, that she eats "everything." But Francis "always grew her vegetables in the backyard. I never saw her go to a fast food restaurant as much like Chick-fil-A and all the places I liked to go. She never did that," her granddaughter, Ethel Harrison, told TODAY.com. Francis has also never smoked and doesn't drink alcohol, Harrison noted. Deborah Szekely, 102 At 102 years old, Deborah Szekely still helps to run her fitness resort and spa three times a week. Szekely has followed a mainly plant-based diet since her childhood. "I'm a pescatarian. And I actually have been fortunate of never eating meat because of my parents," she told Make It. Her typical breakfast, lunch and dinner looks like: Breakfast: Yogurt, a banana and whole grains. Yogurt, a banana and whole grains. Lunch: Salad at home, she said, or lunch at restaurants. Salad at home, she said, or lunch at restaurants. Dinner: A meal of fish, salad and a baked potato or she tries something new. Her diet is very similar to the Mediterranean diet, and it includes fish, whole grains and fruits and vegetables. Shirley Hodes, 106 Shirley Hodes, who was 106 years old when she spoke to Make It in March of last year, said she aims to limit the animal fat that she consumes and only drinks skim milk. "I did like to eat a simple, balanced diet without too much sweets," Hodes said. She was adhering to the guidelines she was taught in the Red Cross nutrition course she took during the Second World War. Daisy McFadden, 99
SEC Fines Investment Firm $430,000 For Misleading Ads About Performance 2024-08-11 15:11:00+00:00 - Given the spike in retirement plan trading after Monday’s market downturn, many investors are looking for help with what to do now that the markets are stabilizing. Advertising is key to that – but it’s important to remember that financial advisors have to be careful how they advertise their services, and to whom. A recent $430,000 fine imposed on The Pacific Financial Group by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is a good example. The advisory group was fined for violating the Marketing Rule by advertising hypothetical performance on its public website without proper safeguards, according to ThinkAdvisor. Here’s what happened. Pacific Financial published advertisements on its website offering investment advisory services. Those ads included a hypothetical performance derived from model portfolios and were disseminated to the general public rather than a specific intended audience. Because of that, the SEC ruled that the firm failed to adopt and implement policies ensuring the relevance of the performance data to the likely financial situation and investment objectives of the intended audience, as required by the Marketing Rule. Also Read: Dollar-Yen Volatility Sparks Debate Over Carry Trade Positioning: ‘We Maintain A Structurally Bearish Yen View,’ Analyst Says The SEC order states that Pacific Financial’s actions resulted in “disseminating hypothetical performance in advertisements to a mass audience” instead of tailoring it to a specific audience’s needs. As of March 27, Pacific Financial reported approximately $3.7 billion in regulatory assets under management. In addition to the fine, the SEC ordered Pacific to undertake certain compliance measures. This enforcement action highlights the importance of adhering to the Marketing Rule, which the SEC adopted in December 2020 with a compliance deadline of Nov. 4, 2022. The rule prohibits registered investment advisers (RIAs) from including hypothetical performance in ads unless they implement policies ensuring the relevance of the data to the intended audience. The case serves as a reminder for RIAs to carefully consider their marketing practices, especially when using hypothetical performance data. It underscores the need for tailored advertisements that align with the specific financial situations and investment objectives of intended audiences, rather than broad dissemination to the general public. As the SEC continues to enforce the Marketing Rule, RIAs should review their advertising practices and ensure compliance with the regulation to avoid similar penalties. Especially as advertising performance gets more tempting, the more volatile markets get. Of course, none of this is legal advice. Please get a professional opinion if you have any questions about your marketing strategy’s compliance with regulations. Read Next: Photo: Shutterstock
After a busy week of stock trades, we're looking ahead to some key inflation data 2024-08-11 14:56:00+00:00 - It was another volatile week for stocks, but Wall Street ultimately finished lower again. The market experienced a sharp sell-off Monday on recession concerns, which led the S & P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average to its worst single-day performances since 2022. The VIX index — Wall Street's fear gauge and a measure of expected volatility for U.S. equities — surged to its highest level in more than four years that same session. The market recouped some of its losses on Thursday after weekly jobless claims appeared to temporarily alleviate worries around the U.S. economy. The reversal continued through Friday as the stock benchmarks rose even further. But it wasn't quite enough: The S & P 500 and Dow closed Friday down 0.1% and 0.6%, respectively, for the week, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.3%. Looking back, quarterly earnings also played a key role in big stock moves for the portfolio. Eli Lilly posted a blowout quarter Thursday, sending shares 9% higher in a single session. Walt Disney shares fell nearly 5% on Wednesday as weakness in the theme park business overshadowed a strong quarter that checked all the boxes that matter most to us. Jim Cramer recommended taking advantage of the stock's dip. Speaking of buying opportunities, we took advantage of the market's convulsions with a flurry of trades. The Club picked up extra shares of seven solid names at a discount during the early week rout, while adding to positions that have long-term growth prospects like Microsoft for its generative artificial intelligence efforts. Meanwhile, we had to exit two stocks altogether to move cash into higher-quality holdings. Here's a recap of this week's trades. Monday, August 5 The Club exited Ford Motor and Wynn Resorts , and picked up shares of Microsoft, DuPont, Dover, Wells Fargo and Nextracker. Tuesday, August 6 We tapped our cash pile to buy more Eaton and Advanced Micro Devices , and trimmed our Procter & Gamble position. Wednesday, August 7 Again, the Club bought more Wells Fargo and Advanced Micro Devices. We also sold some Abbott Laboratories . Looking ahead, we'll see an update on some key inflation data, plus a closer look at the state of the housing and retail sectors. Inflation data: The July producer price index (PPI) is out on Tuesday morning, while last month's consumer price index (PPI) is due before Wednesday's opening bell. Both of these are important measures of the economy's health, which the Federal Reserve factors in when deciding whether or not to lower interest rates next. Traders are pricing in nearly 100% odds of a cut when central bankers gather for the next policy meeting in September, according to CME FedWatch data. As we've noted in the past, CPI typically carries more weight because it tracks how much consumers are paying for a basket of goods and services over time, helping the Fed gauge if inflation has come down enough to ease policy. But the PPI measures the change in selling prices received by producers over time, providing more insights on inflation at the wholesale level, which can impact future prices for the U.S. consumer as well. Though, the market's been especially sensitive to labor data recently, as we saw with Thursday's jobless claims, which led to the S & P 500's best day since November 2022 . Monday, August 12 Earnings: Monday.com (MNDY), Sun Life Financial (SLF) Tuesday, August 13 8:30 a.m. ET: Producer Price Index Earnings: Home Depot (HD), Pandora (PANDY), Nu Holdings (NU), Sea Limited (SE) Wednesday, August 14 8:30 a.m. ET: Consumer Price Index Earnings: Tencent Holdings (TCEHY), Cisco (CSCO), UBS (UBS), JD.com (JD) Thursday, August 15 8:30 a.m. ET: Initial jobless claims 8:30 a.m. ET: Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey 8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. retail sales Earnings: Walmart (WMT), Alibaba (BABA), Applied Materials (AMAT), Deere & Co (DE), Ross Stores (ROST), Lenovo Group (LNVGY), H & R Block (HRB) Friday, August 16 8:30 a.m. ET: Housing starts (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. Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on July 24, 2024. Spencer Platt | Getty Images
Majority in UK want new tax on makers of ultra-processed and junk food 2024-08-11 14:01:00+00:00 - A majority of people in Britain want new taxes imposed on companies that make either junk food or ultra-processed foodstuffs to help tackle the obesity crisis, polling suggests. The findings prompted calls for ministers to help people eat healthier diets by putting a sugar tax-style levy on sweets, cereals, pizzas and other products containing too much salt or sugar. In a survey by Ipsos for the Health Foundation thinktank, 58% of those questioned said they backed the introduction of a tax on organisations that produce foods high in sugar or salt, with some of the revenue to be used to buy fresh fruit and vegetables for poor families. Ipsos found that a smaller proportion of people, but still a majority (53%) favoured imposing a tax on companies that produce ultra-processed food, such as ham, biscuits and mass-produced bread, with some of the proceeds raised to be deployed to help low-income households eat better. On taxing junk food producers, only 19% of the representative sample of 2,136 UK adults were opposed to the idea and 20% said they did not know. A larger number (24%) were opposed to ultra-processed food manufacturers facing taxes while 21% did not know. Responding to the 58% backing for taxes on makers of sugary and salty products, Adam Briggs, a senior policy fellow and public health expert at the Health Foundation, said: “The new government should be emboldened by this type of polling and understand that this [idea] is something that does enjoy broad support and is likely to lead to important health benefits. The public are basically saying: it’s time for tough action.” Labour’s manifesto pledges on obesity – to ban the advertising of junk food to children before the 9pm TV watershed and the sale of energy drinks to the under-16s – were not enough given the huge damage being inflicted by the epidemic of excess weight, Briggs said. Obesity is costing the UK an estimated £98bn a year, including a £6.5bn bill for the NHS for treating illnesses linked to being overweight, such as heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and joint problems. A sugar tax-style levy should initially be imposed on confectionery, cakes and biscuits, sugary breakfast cereals, sweetened yogurts and crisps but then extended to ready meals and pizzas, Briggs said – the latter two because of their high salt content. The soft drinks industry levy, which was introduced by the Conservatives in 2018, has shown that taxing unhealthy products prompts many companies to reformulate them in order to avoid paying the tax and thus benefits public health. The support for taxing makers of ultra-processed foods reflects rising public concern about their impact on health, which include a raised risk of heart problems, cancer and poor mental health. Prof Carlos Monteiro, the scientist who first coined the term ultra-processed foods, recently suggested that they should carry tobacco-style warnings and also be taxed because of the danger they pose. But Dr Chris van Tulleken, the author of the book Ultra-Processed People, said taxing individual products rather than that entire category of food was the best approach. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to First Edition Free daily newsletter Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters 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 companies that make UPF [ultra-processed food] privatise the benefits and externalise all these costs so whether we like it or not we will have to pick up the bill. Taxing the corporations that create the problem is fair and necessary so long as it is done with great care not to increase health inequalities,” he said. “A blanket tax on UPF would be wrong and harmful. We can regulate individual products much more effectively.” Responding to Ipsos’s findings, the Food and Drink Federation, which represents most food producers, said companies should be allowed to develop healthier products – such as by removing salt, sugar and calories and adding fibre, fruit and vegetables – rather than face taxes. “Manufacturers are committed to continuing to work with government to tackle obesity and poor diets. How we do this hinges on how collectively we ensure that companies are investing in making food healthier,” a spokesperson said. “Rather than taxes, we believe that supporting all sizes of companies to innovate in healthier products would deliver more and at better value for money.” A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Prevention is better than cure, which is why this government will make it our mission to shift the focus of healthcare from simply treating ill-health to preventing it in the first place.”
Summer tourists flock to boardwalks and piers while sticking to their budgets 2024-08-11 14:00:08+00:00 - NEW YORK (AP) — Small businesses along popular vacation destinations like boardwalks and piers in the U.S. say the number of tourists flocking to the waterfront is back to normal, meaning pre-2020 levels. But while the affluent are spending freely, lower-income vacationers are sticking to carefully planned-out budgets. Sean Bailey, marketing manager of the SkyWheel observation wheel by the Myrtle Beach, S.C., Boardwalk and Promenade, said ticket sales for the 13-year-old attraction have exceeded 2019 levels since 2021, and so far this year are tracking slightly above 2023 levels. Bailey has noticed that tourists buying the cheaper tickets – which increased from $18 to $21 this year — are planning ahead and buying online instead of walking up to the 200-foot attraction. A regular ride, or “flight,” on the SkyWheel, which has glass enclosed gondolas that seat up to six, takes 10 to 15 minutes. On the other end of the spectrum, the costlier tickets have become more popular. There are $35 sunrise tickets and $109 VIP tickets which include up to four people and get the buyer a flight that lasts 30 minutes. SkyWheel also offers a $250 gender reveal package which includes a light show and a ride for up to six. “People are looking for more enhanced experiences beyond just the regular flight,” Bailey said. According to the U.S. Travel Association’s forecast, 2024 tourism volume is expected to top 2019’s numbers for the first time since the pandemic began, with 2.45 billion trips taken, up from 2.38 billion in 2023 and 2.40 billion in 2019. Domestic tourism is rebounding faster than international tourism. U.S. domestic travel spending, which includes general travel spending and passenger fares, is expected to be $975.6 billion in 2024, 98% of 2019 levels. International travel spending of $153.9 billion is about 83% of 2019 levels. Both are adjusted for inflation, per the USTA. Similar to the CEOs of large, consumer-focused companies, owners of small businesses say they see a divide in spending between affluent Americans, who have maintained their spending levels, and those in lower income brackets who are being more careful. Wall Street racked up double-digit gains last year and so far this year — even with some recent volatility — while wage increases have slowed and inflation remains a burden even though price pressures on consumers have eased. At Navy Pier, which juts out into Lake Michigan in Chicago, Robin Harris, owner of Confidence Apparel, which sells clothing with affirmations on it, says foot traffic and sales are up this year compared with last year. She says customers are being more conscious about their spending, picking things they can wear more than once and choosing quality over quantity. Her top sellers are a $30 T-shirt in a variety of colors that says “Inhale confidence, exhale doubt,” and a $75 jacket with a recipe-like list of ingredients including “Love, kindness, courage and resilience.” “(Customers) are starting to be a little bit more intentional about what they purchase instead of just purchasing anything and everything,” she said. Michelle Rutkowski, owner of Boardwalk Best and Five Mile Marketplace, shows her daughter Harriet, 9, a toy at her shop in Wildwood, N.J., Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Elsewhere on Navy Pier, Robert Gomez owns Beat Kitchen Cantina, a Mexican concession stand, and Bar Sol, a full restaurant with a patio. He says sales at the concession stand are up 30% compared with last year, with customers content to spend $8 on a taco, up $1 from last year. Gomez expanded his more upscale restaurant Bar Sol and made other improvements so sales aren’t comparable. Gomez also owns two live music venues that serve food, located away from the touristy areas. He said that while tourists on the Pier seem more than happy to pay $40 for an entrée at Bar Sol, those neighborhood restaurants, which mainly attract local Chicagoans, aren’t seeing the same level of spending. “Tourists come in (to Bar Sol), expecting to spend too big, whereas a local patron is looking for better deals,” he said. “It’s much more price sensitive, it’s almost the other extreme. And so, it’s been a struggle for me with the neighborhood businesses in comparison.” Dave Roach, owner of Laura's Fudge, poses for a photograph outside his store in Wildwood, N.J., Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Michelle Rutkowski, who owns Boardwalk Best and Five Mile Marketplace, poses outside her shop in Wildwood, N.J., Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) At Laura’s Fudge in Wildwood, N.J., which has been around since the 1920s, owner Dave Roach said sales of fudge, saltwater taffy and chocolate-covered turtles have risen each year since 2020. He said many customers, often families that have been going to the boardwalk for generations, save up all year to have money to spend at Wildwood. “They know what it’s going to cost them, and they don’t mind spending the money,” he said. Michelle Rutkowski, who owns Boardwalk Best and Five Mile Marketplace on the Wildwood, N.J., boardwalk, which sell beach goods and souvenirs, has seen business ebb and flow for decades since her family has had businesses there since the 1980s. Rainy weekends slowed business in April and May. But things have picked up since, particularly once school ended in mid-June. Rutkowski said she feels positive about sales momentum this year, with shoppers spending on souvenirs like keychains and magnets and T-shirts with the unofficial Wildwood, N.J., mascot, a seagull with a French fry in its mouth. “People have allotted a reasonable budget for vacation, and they’re spending it,” she said. “Maybe this won’t be the year for back to 100% of that where it was, but definitely we are on that trajectory.”
The US Navy’s warship production is in its worst state in 25 years. What’s behind it? 2024-08-11 13:02:32+00:00 - The Navy’s ability to build lower-cost warships that can shoot down Houthi rebel missiles in the Red Sea depends in part on a 25-year-old laborer who previously made parts for garbage trucks. Lucas Andreini, a welder at Fincantieri Marinette Marine, in Marinette, Wisconsin, is among thousands of young workers who’ve received employer-sponsored training nationwide as shipyards struggle to hire and retain employees. The labor shortage is one of myriad challenges that have led to backlogs in ship production and maintenance at a time when the Navy faces expanding global threats. Combined with shifting defense priorities, last-minute design changes and cost overruns, it has put the U.S. behind China in the number of ships at its disposal — and the gap is widening. Navy shipbuilding is currently in “a terrible state” — the worst in a quarter century, says Eric Labs, a longtime naval analyst at the Congressional Budget Office. “I feel alarmed,” he said. “I don’t see a fast, easy way to get out of this problem. It’s taken us a long time to get into it.” Marinette Marine is under contract to build six guided-missile frigates — the Navy’s newest surface warships — with options to build four more. But it only has enough workers to produce one frigate a year, according to Labs. Where have all the workers gone? One of the industry’s chief problems is the struggle to hire and retain laborers for the challenging work of building new ships as graying veterans retire, taking decades of experience with them. Shipyards across the country have created training academies and partnered with technical colleges to provide workers with the skills they need to construct high-tech warships. Submarine builders and the Navy formed an alliance to promote manufacturing careers, and shipyards are offering perks to retain workers once they’re hired. Andreini trained for his job at Marinette through a program at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. Prior to that, he spent several years as a production line welder, making components for garbage trucks. He said some of his buddies are held back by the stigma that shipbuilding is a “crappy work environment, and it’s unsafe.” Workers leave Fincantieri Marinette Marine Friday, July 12, 2024, in Marinette, Wis., after their shift. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer) But that’s not the reality, he said. His health benefits are better than at his previous job, he’ll be getting a pension for the first time, and there’s an opportunity to acquire skills even more advanced than what he received during his initial training. Plus, Andreini says, he feels like he’s serving his country. “It makes me happy to be able to do my part, and possibly make sure sailors and some of my friends in the service come home safely,” said Andreini, whose father was in the Navy in Vietnam. Alonie Lake, also a welder, fellow graduate of the technical college’s program and a single mom, is happy for a job with long-term stability — something Marinette’s backlog of Navy contracts virtually guarantees. Lake, 32, said she thinks a lot of younger people are interested in jobs in the trades “and the satisfaction of working with their hands to create tangible results.” Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro recently underscored the importance of training programs during commencement ceremonies at a community college in Maine. The college has partnered with nearby Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to teach workers the skills needed to repair nuclear submarines. “It is incumbent upon all of us to consider how we can best lend our talents and, in the case of the graduates, their newly developed skills, to build up our great nation for all Americans, and defend against the threats and challenges of today,” he said. Once workers are hired, will they stay? The Navy is trying to help shipyards ensure that once new workers are trained and hired, they stick around in a tight labor market. In Wisconsin, part of $100 million in Navy funding that’s being provided to Marinette Marine is being used for retention bonuses at the shipyard, whose past employee retention was described by Del Toro as “atrocious.” The shipyard, which employs more than 2,000 workers, is providing bonuses of up to $10,000 to keep workers, said spokesperson Eric Dent. “The workforce shortage is definitely a problem and it’s a problem across the board for all shipyards,” he said. A ship under construction sits docked at Fincantieri Marinette Marine Friday, July 12, 2024, in Marinette, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer) Retention is a concern even for shipyards that have met their goals, including Huntington Ingalls Industries, which makes destroyers and amphibious warships in Mississippi and aircraft carriers and submarines in Virginia. The company is creating training partnerships with colleges and public schools at all grade levels. Enhancements in Mississippi include more than a million square feet (92,900 square meters) of covered work area, cooldown and hydration stations, and a second dining area with a Chick-fil-A. Huntington Ingalls also collaborated with the Navy and the city of Newport News, Virginia, to build a new parking garage for workers and sailors. A problem decades in the making Much of the blame for U.S. shipbuilding’s current woes lies with the Navy, which frequently changes requirements, requests upgrades and tweaks designs after shipbuilders have begun construction. That’s seen in cost overruns, technological challenges and delays in the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, the USS Ford; the spiking of a gun system for a stealth destroyer program after its rocket-assisted projectiles became too costly; and the early retirement of some of the Navy’s lightly armored littoral combat ships, which were prone to breaking down. The Navy vowed to learn from those past lessons with the new frigates they are building at Marinette Marine. The frigates are prized because they’re less costly to produce than larger destroyers but have similar weapon systems. Ships under construction sit docked at Fincantieri Marinette Marine Friday, July 12, 2024, in Marinette, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer) The Navy chose a ship design already in use by navies in France and Italy instead of starting from scratch. The idea was that 15% of the vessel would be updated to meet U.S. Navy specifications, while 85% would remain unchanged, reducing costs and speeding construction. Instead, the opposite happened: The Navy redesigned 85% of the ship, resulting in cost increases and construction delays, said Bryan Clark, an analyst at the Washington-based think tank Hudson Institute. Construction of the first-in-class Constellation warship, which began in August 2022, is now three years behind schedule, with delivery pushed back to 2029. The final design still isn’t completed. Shifting threats and changing plans Complicating matters further is something out of the Navy’s control: the changing nature of global threats. Throughout its history, the Navy has had to adapt to varying perils, whether it be the Cold War of past decades or current threats including war in the Middle East, growing competition from Chinese and Russian navies, piracy off the coast of Somalia and persistent attacks on commercial ships by Houthi rebels in Yemen. And that’s not all. The consolidation of shipyards and funding uncertainties have disrupted the cadence of ship construction and stymied long-term investments and planning, says Matthew Paxton of the Shipbuilders Council of America, a national trade association. “We’ve been dealing with inconsistent shipbuilding plans for years,” Paxton said. “When we finally start ramping up, the Navy is shocked that we lost members of our workforce.” The Navy insists it’s taking the shipbuilding problems seriously. “The Navy’s role in defending our nation and promoting peace has never been more expansive or mattered more,” said Lt. Kyle Hanton, a spokesperson for Del Toro’s office. “We continue to work with our industry partners to identify creative solutions to solving our common challenges.”
China tied the U.S. on Olympic golds — here's how 2024-08-11 12:10:00+00:00 - PARIS — Everywhere you looked at the 2024 Paris Games, Americans dominated. Team USA sent by far the most athletes. Hordes of stars-and-stripes-clad tourists made the trip across the Atlantic. And celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Lady Gaga became the Games’ cultural icons. There is one crucial metric in which the United States did not smash the competition, however: gold medals. With all the events completed, China tied Team USA in the medal table, with 40 golds each. (While the American news media typically goes on total medals, most of the rest of the world, including Paris 2024’s official count, bases its table on golds won.) Whereas Team USA has focused on athletics and swimming, China majors in diving, table tennis, weightlifting, shooting and badminton. In fact, around a fifth of China’s 302 golds since 1984 have come in diving. This year was no different, with China winning every diving gold available. “I’m very proud of China and all the gold medals it has won,” said Fang Zheng, 30, a Chinese student studying in France who was lining up to watch breaking Friday. “When an athlete wins gold, it’s an honor for themselves and their families, but also the country.” Chen Yiwen was among those to sweep the board for China in diving. Oli Scarff / AFP - Getty Images This year, China is also making breakthroughs in disciplines typically dominated by the U.S., namely swimming. Its two golds here included the 4x100-meter medley, the first time in Olympic history that anyone had beaten the U.S. The star of the show was Pan Zhanle, who jetted away from American Hunter Armstrong in the anchor leg, having already set a world record in the 100-meter freestyle five days before. The losing U.S. team contained 10-time Olympic medalist Caeleb Dressel, who had to settle for silver. Meanwhile, Zheng Qinwen became the first Asian tennis player to win women’s gold, and China’s winning artistic swimming score blew the U.S. and Spain out of the water. The Chinese routine, “Light of Life,” wowed the judges by creating a physical representation of the “mountain” the team had to overcome to win gold. Though Russia, a longtime dominant force in the sport, was excluded from these Games, China still achieved a score that far outstripped any competitors. “Their execution is just out of this world,” Team USA’s Jacklyn Luu said. China has also been quick to embrace some of the newer Olympic sports including sport climbing, skateboarding, surfing and breaking. Deng Yawen won gold in women’s BMX freestyle in her Olympic debut. And China also has the youngest athlete at these Games, 11-year-old skater Zheng Haohao. China’s newfound prowess in the pool has not come without significant scrutiny, however, after it emerged that 23 swimmers — including 11 who went to Paris — had tested positive for banned heart medication in 2021 but were still allowed to compete. China’s doping agency said they had eaten contaminated food, an explanation accepted by the World Anti-Doping Agency, WADA, which did not make the incident public until it was revealed by a New York Times investigation earlier this year. China vehemently denies allegations of doping, with a foreign ministry spokesperson telling NBC News last month that “Chinese swimmers are clean and have never feared testing.” Table tennis has long been the domain of Chinese athletes such as Fan Zhendong, Ma Long and Wang Chuqin, on the podium after winning men's team gold in Paris. Lintao Zhang / Getty Images They also accused the U.S. anti-doping agency, USADA, of double standards after it was revealed that the Americans had allowed athletes who tested positive between 2011 and 2014 to continue competing if they went undercover to catch other dopers. China has also zeroed in on American sprinter Erriyon Knighton, who tested positive for the performance enhancer trenbolone in March but, like the Chinese athletes, was cleared after his own country’s agency said he had eaten contaminated meat. The current American-Chinese Olympic rivalry is part of a geopolitical sporting duopoly that has existed since around 2004. Though the U.S. tends to win, when Beijing hosted the Games in 2008 it swept the field with 51 golds to Team USA’s 36. How it does this is no secret and in many ways is similar to the U.S. and other countries. It has pumped ever more funding into the Games while focusing on specific sports that it knows will return a healthy number of honors. Having 1.4 billion people does not hurt, of course, although as India will attest (no golds, one silver and five bronzes in Paris this year), having a colossal potential talent pool does not guarantee success. The last time an opaque, one-party state accused of running a doping program rivalled the USA on the medal table, it was the Soviet Union. Back in those Cold War days, China’s Olympic program was still in its infancy. China's Sun Mengya and Xu Shixiao take gold in the women's canoe double 500-meter finals. Lindsey Wasson / AP After the 1949 communist revolution, Chinese leader Mao Zedong promoted exercise as not only an athletic imperative — building a strong, healthy working class and to defend the nation — but also as a cultural and political necessity. This would “serve the political purpose of building a class of citizens who were well-disciplined in both mind and body,” according to the Michigan-based nonprofit Association for Asian Studies in its journal Education About Asia. And at the Helsinki Games in 1952 that China saw just how potent a geopolitical weapon the Olympics could be. The Soviet Union achieved huge success, running the U.S. close in the medal table and showing “how a socialist country could defeat Western democratic countries on the international stage,” the essay in Education About Asia said. China wouldn’t win its first medals for another 30 years, however, after it withdrew from the International Olympic Committee in protest over the participation of Taiwan, which it sees as a rogue province that rightfully belongs to Beijing. The international sporting freeze began to thaw in the 1970s, first with the historic “pingpong diplomacy” of 1971, in which the U.S. table tennis team became the first international sporting delegation to tour China in decades, paving the way for a visit by then-President Richard Nixon a year later. This direction of travel was further expedited in the late 1970s with the “reform and opening up” policies enacted by Deng Xiaoping after Mao’s death. China finally returned to the Games at Los Angeles in 1984 following an IOC agreement that said Taiwan would compete under the name “Chinese Taipei.” Beijing soon became a medal machine, crescendoing at Beijing in 2008. This landmark event in the country’s modern history coincided with its meteoric economic rise as the West ailed under the financial crisis the same year. Li Fabin won gold in the men's 61kg weightlifting. Miguel Medina / AFP - Getty Images Amid heavy criticism, the IOC said these Games would help revolutionize politics and human rights in what was then the world’s most populous country. That never came. Under President Xi Jinping, who came to power four years later, China has become more authoritarian, according to Western governments and watchdogs, an assessment that Beijing rejects. Today, all countries see success in the Games as a way to project power internationally. But China takes this to a whole new level, where golds are not only seen as a totem of nationalistic pride, but silvers are often lambasted on Chinese social media. Meanwhile its State Council has vowed to make China “a modern leading sports socialist country by 2050” and its “global influence in sports should be ranked near the top globally.” And in this new era of Sino-Western rivalry, the Olympics are also used by more nationalistic elements of the Chinese media as a way to portray China in a positive light against the perfidious Americans and Europeans. The doping argument at these Games has only intensified this dynamic. “The U.S. using its hegemonic influence and power to contain China and other competitors in sports is truly a disgrace and unsportsmanlike,” sports commentator Li Xiang told the hawkish Global Times newspaper Friday. China, on the other hand, “has demonstrated charm and sportsmanship in Paris, as Chinese young athletes win friendship and respect from their rivals and foreign audiences,” Li said.
‘It legitimizes us’: the minority businesses still fighting for recognition 2024-08-11 12:01:00+00:00 - Since the 1970s, many minority business owners have been able to certify their businesses through organizations like the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) or the Small Business Administration (SBA). Until last July, one group of business owners was noticeably absent from the sea of certification options – those of Mena (Middle East and north Africa) heritage. Recognition as a minority business has its advantages. In the consumer goods sector, certified businesses let customers know who is making their simmer sauces or importing their coffee beans. But more crucially, especially for scrappy emerging brands, certifications can reduce the cost of doing business through diversity programs found in supermarkets and chains like Kroger or Target. Some Mena businesspeople say they feel the lack of recognition. “I tried to apply to some of the more established ‘minority certifying agencies’ and they told me that I was out of luck,” says Alexander Harik, the co-founder, along his mom, Lorraine George-Harik, of Zesty Z, a pita chip company based in Brooklyn, New York. Although Harik was born in the US, his lineage is 100% Lebanese, yet he recounts being told: “You’re Caucasian. We don’t recognize that as a minority.” Harik notes that he doesn’t feel white. “I’ve had people say very racist and discriminatory things towards me,” he says. “Our experience is definitely different,” he says of fellow Mena business owners, compared with white or Caucasian business owners who might be of European heritage. Harik is one of two dozen business owners of Mena heritage who are now certified through the nascent ADC Business Council’s minority certification program launched by the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in July 2023. View image in fullscreen Alexander Harik runs the Brooklyn-based pita chip company Zesty Z with his mom, Lorraine George-Harik. Photograph: Nina Roberts Yassin Sibai, born in Syria, also didn’t qualify for a minority certification prior to the ADC’s new program. Sibai is the co-founder of Afia, a frozen food company based in Austin, Texas, alongside his wife Farrah Moussallati Sibai. Afia makes falafel and kibbeh based on Syrian family recipes, which sell at supermarkets across the US. When Sibai had previously applied to various organizations to be certified, there was either no Mena box to check, or if he wrote “Middle Eastern” on a blank line option, he got rejected over and over. Sibai also tried a self-certifying option through the SBA website that he had to print out himself. But approaching supermarket buyers with printouts in hand was often met with confusion – some buyers accepted it, others did not. “Mena was a much-needed certification that legitimizes us with the retailers,” says Sibai. Brothers Mansour and Karim Arem tried explaining to the NMSDC that their Tunisian-rooted food company Zwïta, based in Houston, Texas, is a minority-owned brand. They were rejected. “Anybody from north Africa or the Middle East is just considered white under the categories that they had,” says Karim. “That was a bit frustrating.” Zwïta, known for its harissas and shakshukas, is now Mena-certified through the ADC. The mission is: let’s raise awareness. Let’s make sure in this industry we have proper representation Isabella 'Bella' Hughes, co-founder of Better Sour While it’s not necessary for minority-owned businesses in the US that sell goods or services to be certified (many aren’t), for small, independent CPG (consumer packaged goods) brands, certification can reduce the cost of doing business significantly – sometimes by thousands of dollars. Several supermarket chains charge a fee for products sold on their shelves and some will reduce or waive those fees for certified businesses as part of their diversity efforts. Raffi Vartanian is the co-founder of Ziba, a company that sells nuts and dried fruits from Afghanistan and employs Afghan women. The colorful Ziba pouches sell at chains like Erewhon and Ralph’s in California, and smaller shops like the Goods Mart in New York City. Shelving fees are “onerous” for small brands, says Vartanian: “You’re competing against huge conglomerates that can afford the shelf space.” In addition to possibly reducing or eliminating fees, some supermarkets allocate funds for promotions during Black history or Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage months. “April is a newly recognized Mena heritage month,” says Isabella “Bella” Hughes of Better Sour, a gummy candy brand. Better Sour features flavors that reflect Hughes and co-founder Semira Nikou’s Iranian American upbringings in Hawaii, like tangy pomegranate, apricot and plum. “So even if [stores aren’t] scaling the slotting fees,” says Hughes, “at least they’re highlighting us.” Perks offered by supermarkets are not just altruistic overtures to CPG companies – they also benefit consumers, especially members of gen Z, who tend to like global flavors and foods more than previous generations and purchase accordingly. View image in fullscreen Mansour and Karim Arem are two brothers who own Zwïta, a Tunisian-rooted food business based in Houston, Texas. Photograph: Nina Roberts So far, approximately two dozen Mena-owned brands have been certified through the ADC program during this early soft launch phase. Many more such as Yaza Labneh, a new tangy Lebanese-style labneh sold in Whole Foods, are in the pipeline. Abed Ayoub, the executive director of the ADC who spearheaded its Mena certification program, is preparing for the next phase: tapping into the 25,000 business owners in the community, from construction and beauty service providers to lawyers and restaurateurs. Ayoub began exploring Arab or Mena certification as far back as 2009. After a few dead ends, starts and stops, he was re-energized during the pandemic as he saw vast numbers of entrepreneurs launch new businesses, coupled with Zesty Z’s Harik reaching out and sharing his attempt at certification. Constance Jones, the NMSDC’s senior director of certification, notes that the council launched in the early 1970s. “At that time,” says Jones, Mena business owners “did not consider themselves to be minority, therefore we did not certify them as minority”. Jones concedes that anti-Arab and anti-Muslim discrimination followed after 9/11. “That wasn’t why NMSDC was created,” states Jones. “It wasn’t created to start adopting communities that had just now started to be discriminated [against]. It was always focused on the historical discrimination that happened in the United States for those populations that had been here.” The subject of expanding the definition of minorities to include Mena ethnicities has come up regularly at the NMSDC, Jones says. A strategy committee is slated to look at expanding the council’s definition in 2025 – not exactly a pressing matter. Parsing out who is considered eligible for a minority certification, and who is not, can get ridiculous verging on creepy – especially for regions with a history of migration and large immigrant populations. Is it based on DNA? Family tree? Appearance? Skin hue? Country of origin? The definitions for Hispanic, for example, vary among certifying organizations. For the NMSDC, certification requires at least one grandparent to be of a race that’s been discriminated against in the US. So far, Ayoub says the ADC criteria for Mena certification includes examining passports, where applicants were born and family trees. “As long as we have a way to prove that connection,” states Ayoub. So far, they’ve had “easy cases”, according to Ayoub, and they’re trying to avoid scenarios in which there is need to determine if someone is “Middle East enough”. He adds: “It’s in the very early stages; we are taking it case by case.” The new Mena certification is fairly unknown so there hasn’t been a chance for any of the activists looking to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs to slam it as unfair to other ethnic groups. “We know it’s coming,” says Ayoub. “A lot of people have made DEI the boogeyman at this point.” View image in fullscreen Isabella ‘Bella’ Hughes is the co-founder of Better Sour, a gummy candy brand based in Hawaii. Photograph: Nina Roberts Hughes, an investor who is on her third CPG company, says DEI initiatives are simply addressing past exclusions of minority groups. “On the back of our packaging, we say we’re Iranian American founders from Hawaii. When we were little girls in the late 80s, early 90s, there was virtually zero representation,” she adds. “Where does capital go? Who has access to capital?” asks Hughes rhetorically. “I mean, we do know.” She answers: “Women [founders, solely] get 2% of all venture capital, period. Mena [founders]: 0.7%,” referring to a March 2024 Carta report that polled those who identify as Middle Eastern/Arab. The Mena certification became official three months prior to Hamas’s attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent retaliation, which has caused political and cultural reverberations around the globe. Israel is a Mena country, so will Israeli-owned businesses be eligible for Mena certification through the ADC? “What I say is, have them apply,” says Ayoub, “and we’ll go through the process.” It’s early days, but so far, no Israeli-owned businesses have applied for Mena certification. “We don’t discuss politics,” says Ayoub of Mena businesses that have applied for certification, which he says is all about economic empowerment. “We are strictly looking at a set of standards they have to meet to get the certification.” While some Mena-certified business owners have one-on-one discussions about Gaza and Israel, they believe politics should be left out of the official process. “This is non-religious, not nationalistic” says Zesty Z’s Harik about the certification. “This is about making money.” “It’s a broad group of cultures, races, ethnicities, religions,” says Hughes of the Mena region. “So for us, the mission is really as narrow as: let’s raise awareness. Let’s make sure in this industry we have proper representation. It’s nothing related to the politics at play.” All Mena religions, ethnicities and races are welcome to apply. The ADC’s Mena certification information will eventually move to the Arab American Employee Resource Group website. “We want to separate the policy and politics from the business,” says Ayoub, as the ADC advocates for Arab civil rights in the US. “I don’t want a company, whether it’s Microsoft, to have to even think twice about teaming up with our organization because they disagree with our position.” There will be a Mena box to check on the next 2030 census for the first time, which Ayoub thinks will dovetail with wider-spread acceptance of the Mena business certification; eventually Mena-certified business owners should be eligible to bid on local and federal contracts, like other minority business enterprises. It remains to be seen if supermarkets will accept a Mena certification. Stores choose if they want diversity programs and how they should be run; there is no regulatory requirement. “Being Mena-certified is one thing,” says Sibai. “The retailers acknowledging it and accepting it as part of their diversity portfolio or education is a whole completely different kind of journey that we have to go through.” Harik thinks the new Mena certification is all about the spirit of entrepreneurship. “Opportunities were closed from us, so we got scrappy and intelligent and we just did our own thing. And it’s working.”
Why Wall Street Analysts Raised Price Targets for Suncor Stock 2024-08-11 11:19:00+00:00 - Wall Street analysts tend to hide whenever stock markets selloff, as the S&P 500 and NASDAQ did at the beginning of last week. Reiterating buy ratings or taking a premature bearish view on stocks could cost them their reputations and their careers, so investors need to place a heavier weight on whatever new rating is revealed recently. These analysts decided to pick Suncor Energy Inc. NYSE: SU as their top pick among the broader selloffs, so now investors know that due diligence must be done to justify better ratings when most market confidence is lost. But, before digging into the details behind Suncor's attractiveness, understanding the bigger picture can help investors follow the thread. Get XLE alerts: Sign Up Dealing with the exploration and refining of oil in Canadian markets can make Suncor a better bet in the coming quarters. The reasoning behind the new analysts' ratings can be attributed to Warren Buffett's also bullish view on the energy sector, so analysts may have hopped on his tail this time to ensure they landed on the right side of history. A Bet With Buffett Is a Good Bet Suncor Energy Today SU Suncor Energy $39.67 -0.12 (-0.30%) 52-Week Range $29.45 ▼ $41.50 Dividend Yield 3.96% P/E Ratio 8.84 Price Target $54.75 Add to Watchlist After a nine-day buying streak in shares of Occidental Petroleum Co. NYSE: OXY, Warren Buffett ended up owning up to 29% of the company to show the rest of the market his optimistic view toward the energy sector, particularly for oil prices. Now, why would a bullish bet on oil also be a bullish bet for a renewable energy company like Suncor? It’s all about macroeconomics and price preference, actually. The United States is having trouble keeping up with production currently, as oil inventories have seen a consecutive six-week decline due to rising demand and compressed production. In response, the U.S. needs to either start ramping up production or ramping up imports. The quick fix is, of course, found in imports, as waiting on production can cause bottlenecks and an unexpected rise in the price of oil. If Buffett is, as usual, right again on his oil view, then Suncor stands in the eye of the storm and is set up to provide needed oil to one of Canada’s biggest buyers. The stock reacted to these trends and the welcoming analyst ratings by trading higher despite a broader market selloff, this time reaching 93% of its 52-week high. Analysts at Goldman Sachs have predicted that oil prices could reach up to $100 a barrel this year. While that might hurt most consumers at the gas pump, it also creates an opportunity to offset these rising costs by adding Suncor to a watchlist. Who’s Betting on Suncor Stock to Trade Higher? Starting with the analysts who risked their careers and reputations on this call, Wolffe Research initiated coverage of the stock for the first time in July 2024. Their rating? “Outperform,” with a price target of $68 a share for Suncor stock. This price target is not only the highest among analysts but also directly calls for up to 71.7% upside from where the stock trades today, not to mention a 15-year high for the company. These analysts were alone in their valuations but weren’t on their ratings. Suncor Energy Stock Forecast Today 12-Month Stock Price Forecast: $54.75 38.01% Upside Moderate Buy Based on 10 Analyst Ratings High Forecast $68.00 Average Forecast $54.75 Low Forecast $45.00 Suncor Energy Stock Forecast Details TD Securities analysts followed suit on August 2024, upgrading the stock to “Buy” from a previous “Hold” rating, which says as much about their view as a price target. Joining the party, analysts working for BMO Markets also upgraded the stock in August 2024, this time claiming it as an “Outperform” stock. More than that, these analysts aren’t alone in their bullish bets for Suncor stock; others on Wall Street have taken a side bet on this company's future, a view that called for up to $3.1 billion of institutional capital to make its way into the stock over the past 12 months. Investors wonder if today’s level is attractive enough to consider still the stock a buy, mainly since it is so close to its 52-week high. They can look to other metrics to make their judgment. Namely, Suncor pays investors $1.6 a year per share through dividends. Making this an annualized dividend yield of 4% will let investors beat inflation and stay above most other peers in the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSEARCA: XLE and U.S. GDP growth rates. In face of all of this bullish evidence, even bears decided to bail out of Suncor stock. Short interest declined by as much as 15.7% over the past month in the company, showing signs of capitulation from the short side and opening the way for more bullish traders to come and take their place. Before you consider Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund wasn't on the list. While Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund currently has a "hold" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here
Threat to stock markets comes from China and Middle East, not the US | Larry Elliott 2024-08-11 11:13:00+00:00 - Back in the 1930s, the French government constructed what it thought was an impregnable defence system to prevent a repeat of the German invasion at the start of the first world war. The Maginot Line might have looked impressive but proved to be a white elephant because when the attack came in 1940 it was in a different place altogether. In the past week the financial markets have displayed something of a Maginot Line mentality. They are right to think there is a threat lurking out there but they are wrong to think the biggest danger is a recession in the US. The real threat comes from elsewhere. To be sure, the US economy is slowing down, but it is not remotely close to recession. Unemployment is rising but from historically low levels. The US central bank, the Federal Reserve, has left it a bit late to cut interest rates but it can make up for lost time over the coming months. The US economy has staying power and – as in the past – is likely to confound the pessimists. After an extreme bout of the jitters, by the end of last week Wall Street seemed to have come round to the idea that the US is on course for a soft landing. That looks by far the most plausible outcome. There are two other sources of potential trouble: the Middle East and China. Far too little attention is being paid to the risks that the war in Gaza escalates into a full-scale conflict between Israel and Iran. In the past, this kind of ratcheting up of tension would have led to a sharp increase in the cost of crude, but it hasn’t happened. A Middle East-induced oil shock has been the dog that hasn’t barked. For now. One reason rising tension in the Middle East has not been reflected in commodity markets is that China’s growth prospects have taken a turn for the worse. The belief in the financial markets is that policymakers in Beijing will take action to stimulate the economy and that the slowdown will be temporary. Again, this is a questionable assumption. China’s problems are structural and have big implications for the rest of the world. For decades it has relied on a growth model based on building up industrial capacity through massive state investment and cheap credit. The concentration on manufacturing has resulted in relatively weak levels of consumer spending coupled with a rapidly deflating property bubble. A recalibration of this model – shifting the balance away from investment and exports towards consumption – is long overdue. Social safety nets offer far less protection than they do in the west, and it has proved impossible for the domestic economy to absorb all the goods produced by China’s factories. The excess capacity has been sold as exports, leading to huge trade surpluses. The mismatch between supply and demand has meant Chinese companies have had to cut their prices. From time to time, China’s leaders flirt with the idea of changing tack but are wedded to the strategy that has resulted in the country becoming the world’s second-biggest economy. In the 1990s, it was this model of export-led growth that helped push down inflation in the west – and it is doing so again. Goods prices in the UK in June were 1.4% lower than a year earlier – partly the result of China flooding the market with cut-priced goods. Writing in Foreign Affairs magazine, Zongyuan Zoe Liu, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations thinktank, notes that China is producing twice as many solar panels as the rest of the world can put to use, while almost a third of car manufacturers are unprofitable. “China is producing far more output than it, or foreign markets, can sustainably absorb. As a result, the Chinese economy runs the risk of getting caught in a doom loop of falling prices, insolvency, factory closure, and, ultimately, job losses,” she says. The mismatch between supply and demand has meant Chinese companies have had to cut their prices, resulting in falling profits, and even deeper discounting as they struggle to pay off their debts and remain afloat. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Business Today Free daily newsletter Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning 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 There are already signs of stress. Growth looks as if it will undershoot this year’s 5% target set by officials in Beijing. Export figures released last week failed to meet market expectations. A measure of the money supply, which has a track record as a lead indicator of future growth, is flashing red. Two things differentiate the China now from the China of the 1990s. First, the problems of overcapacity and overproduction have intensified. Second, western governments are no longer prepared to sit back and allow their own industries to be wiped out. They have whacked tariffs on Chinese goods and – in the case of the US – offered generous subsidies to domestic producers. There are a number of ways this could play out. China might bow to western pressure, voluntarily limit its exports, and recast its whole economic model. This seems highly improbable. Far more likely is that tensions between the west and China intensify rather than ease. Beijing insists it is not guilty of dumping its excess production on global markets, while Washington and Brussels insist it is. China is already trying to divert exports through third countries in order to avoid western tariffs but has so far resisted the temptation to introduce tit-for-tat measures of its own. A short-term risk is that the west’s protectionist actions lead to higher prices, higher inflation and higher interest rates. A longer-term risk is of the west adding to the global glut goods by ramping up its own production. In that event, the rate of profit would fall and global capitalism would face of a crisis of its own making – just as Karl Marx predicted.
Last-minute summer travelers are finding the best deals in years 2024-08-11 11:00:00+00:00 - Held off on taking a summer vacation? You may still be able to squeeze in one on the cheap. Record numbers of travelers have been flooding airports since the pandemic, but U.S. airlines now face a surplus of empty seats after racing to add capacity. Many are slashing prices to fill them, making bargain flights more readily available than they have been in years, travel agents and industry experts say. “Deals are easier to find this summer since prices are already so low,” said Hayley Berg, lead economist at the travel booking site Hopper. Flights overall were at least 5% cheaper as of June than the year before, government inflation data shows. Hopper estimated domestic airfares for August are down about 6% since a year ago, and it flagged supercheap domestic round-trip deals this month — like $69 for Chicago to Baltimore and $82 for New York to Nashville. And it’s not just airfares — costs are cooling off for car rentals and hotel rooms too. They were down roughly 6% and 3% year over year, respectively, in the federal data and are now about flat in most cities on Priceline. For clients with a little flexibility in their travel dates, I’ve been able to get very low airfare for last-minute trips. Ashley D’Aristotile, owner of Flyaway Travel The discounts expand the map for late-season travelers and coincide with a broader value push this summer. Restaurant chains from McDonald’s to P.F. Chang’s are dangling promotions to hang on to frugal customers. The gambit is largely working, with major retailers’ recent sales helping prop up consumer spending and the economy as a whole. Vacation-planning procrastinators are having better luck this year. On July 26, Debra Banton, 61, and her 26-year-old daughter Rachel booked a trip overseas departing in two weeks. “We usually plan way in advance, never last minute,” said Banton, who lives in Charleston, South Carolina. But Rachel works full time while attending school, leaving little down time, and since she’s never been to Europe and is getting married next May, they figured now’s their best shot. “With just four weeks’ planning time, I was able to secure the last few rooms at some fabulous resorts in Greece and get them a great deal on business-class air to Athens,” said Kimberly Hilliard, their Annapolis, Maryland-based travel adviser with Front Porch Travel. While prices typically come down heading into the fall, the current end-of-summer season is a “unique window” for travelers who haven’t booked far in advance, said Jesse Neugarten, the CEO and founder of Dollar Flight Club. The flight alert site said the average international airfare from the U.S. over the next three months is $401, and the average domestic flight costs $212 — collectively down an average of 29% from the same period a year ago. “For clients with a little flexibility in their travel dates, I’ve been able to get very low airfare for last-minute trips,” said Ashley D’Aristotile, the owner of Orlando, Florida-based Flyaway Travel. Lousson Smith, a flight expert at the travel site Going, agrees: “At this point in the summer, if you’re flexible, you can find something really nice under $150 nonstop from major markets, but anything under $200 this late in the game is a decent deal.” While the costs of U.S. flights to Europe soared during the post-pandemic travel boom, Hopper estimates international airfares have fallen 9% since last summer. Round trips from Boston to Dublin, for example, have been going for as low as $415 this month, Hopper said, and there are $461 options between Chicago and Paris. Domestically, the Southeast is seeing some of the best bargains, according to Priceline, with both Miami and Nashville making its “most affordable” list for August.
Is Super Micro Computer a Buy After Shares Sink 20% on Earnings? 2024-08-11 11:00:00+00:00 - Super Micro Computer Today SMCI Super Micro Computer $508.76 -1.18 (-0.23%) 52-Week Range $226.59 ▼ $1,229.00 P/E Ratio 28.52 Price Target $911.85 Add to Watchlist Super Micro Computer NASDAQ: SMCI has been an extremely hot stock in 2024, with a total return of nearly 80%. The technology company has vastly outperformed the market and its sector. The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSEARCA: XLK has returned only 7%. The company made the news recently when it announced a 10-for-1 stock split, which will greatly reduce its share price while keeping its overall value the same. The stock split will take effect on Oct. 1, 2024. Get XLK alerts: Sign Up The company reported fiscal Q4 2024 financial results on Aug. 6, 2024. To provide more context around these earnings, let's review the firm's operations, review important aspects of the report, and examine an outlook on the stock. Super Micro: Servers and Liquid Cooling Racks Super Micro Computer’s principal business is making servers and server storage systems. Servers are home to key computer components such as the motherboard, central processing unit (CPU), and, in the case of high-performance AI computing, the graphics processing unit (GPU). These components together run applications and process data. Servers are closely housed together in racks in data centers. These racks provide essential needs like cooling and power to the servers. Super Micro also makes these racks. Super Micro’s partnership with NVIDIA NASDAQ: NVDA in using the company’s GPUs for its servers has contributed largely to its success. Super Micro’s server racks use liquid cooling, which is more efficient than air cooling in cooling servers. Data centers emit large amounts of heat and require maintaining optimal temperatures to operate efficiently. Super Micro Computer CEO Charles Liang says liquid cooling can reduce data center costs by as much as 40%. Super Micro Slashes Margins to Grow Market Share Super Micro missed dramatically on adjusted earnings per share (EPS) compared to analyst estimates, coming in at $6.25. This was an earnings surprise of -23% and an increase of 78% from last year. Revenue grew 143% from the previous year but barely exceeded analysts’ expectations. Super Micro Computer, Inc. (SMCI) Price Chart for Sunday, August, 11, 2024 Super Micro wants to grow liquid cooling’s industry market share from 1% to 15% over the next 12 months. To achieve this massive level of market share growth, Super Micro is sacrificing its margins. Its gross margin fell 580 basis points from the same quarter last year and 430 basis points from the most recent quarter. The adjusted EPS miss and margin contraction were the reason shares fell 20% on the day of the release. Super Micro had to cut its margins much more than expected to achieve the level of revenue that analysts projected. This margin cut likely came in the form of both lower prices and higher costs. The firm sold more to a hyperscale customer than expected, which has strong bargaining power due to its large size. It also paid higher prices on parts to get them quickly and grow its market share. It appears to be doing so, claiming that it grew five times faster than the industry average over the last 12+ months. It also believes it accounted for 70% to 80% of liquid cooling system shipments in June and July of 2024. The company also issued full-year fiscal 2025 revenue guidance at a midpoint of $28 billion, 16% higher than analysts expected. The question is how much more Super Micro will have to drop its prices to achieve this. However, it said it expects margins to “return to normal ranges by the end of 2025." Is Now a Buying Opportunity for Super Micro Stock? Super Micro Computer MarketRank™ Stock Analysis Overall MarketRank™ 4.94 out of 5 Analyst Rating Hold Upside/Downside 79.2% Upside Short Interest Healthy Dividend Strength N/A Sustainability -1.86 News Sentiment 0.30 Insider Trading Selling Shares Projected Earnings Growth 1.91% See Full Details With only a 15x forward P/E ratio, now could be a good buying opportunity for Super Micro. Based on the firm’s rapid sales growth for the quarter, investments in AI are clearly still strong. The strategy to acquire customers and get them entrenched in the firm’s systems has short-term costs but should be a long-term benefit. Server racks are large structures with high switching costs, so the company should be able to secure customers in the long run if it can get them initially and continue building relationships. It is also good to see that Super Micro is extremely committed to this strategy and is willing to have a bad quarter to pursue it. Several Wall Street analysts lowered their sentiment on the firm after the earnings release. These analysts lowered their price targets by an average of 25%. Among them, the average price target for Super Micro is $755, implying an upside of 48%. Before you consider Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund wasn't on the list. While Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund currently has a "Hold" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here
‘It Ends With Us,’ a Romance Based on a Best Seller, Soars at the Box Office 2024-08-11 09:04:47+00:00 - Colleen Hoover’s book “It Ends With Us” has been a fixture on the best-seller list for years. And now, the movie adaptation has become a smash at the box office. The $25 million film from Sony Pictures is on track to earn an estimated $50 million in the United States and Canada, box office analysts say. Starring Blake Lively, the romance is based on Ms. Hoover’s most popular book — one that was initially released in 2016 but reappeared on the best-seller list in the midst of the pandemic in 2021 and has since spent some 140 weeks there. Buoyed by TikTok, the book, about a complicated love triangle with undertones of domestic violence, has sold 8 million copies and found fans worldwide. The low-budget film comes at a time when there has been little in the marketplace geared to women, in contrast with last summer when “Barbie” earned $1.4 billion worldwide and became the highest-grossing film of the year. Sony took advantage of this dearth in the marketplace with a potent social media campaign that featured Ms. Lively, guest appearances by her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and the help of her friend Taylor Swift, who contributed the song “My Tears Ricochet” to the film and the trailer. On Friday alone, the PG-13 rated film earned more than $24 million as audiences tuned in to see Ms. Lively play a florist with a challenging past who falls for a sexy, abusive neurosurgeon played by Justin Baldoni, who also directed the film. It took in another $13.7 million on Saturday and is projected to earn about $12 million on Sunday.
How Has Tech Changed Your School Experience? We Want to Hear About It. 2024-08-11 09:03:15.838000+00:00 - How Has Tech Changed Your School Experience? We Want to Hear About It. Some states are banning phones in schools to reduce classroom distraction and cyberbullying. Tell us about your experience with tech in schools. Learn more Listen to this article · 1:28 min Share full article A sign outside Timber Creek High School in Orlando, Fla., reminds students about the district’s phone ban. Credit... Zack Wittman for The New York Times
Atop ABC, a Personal Connection to Kamala Harris 2024-08-11 09:02:12+00:00 - On paper, the potential for a conflict of interest seems obvious: ABC News, the host of next month’s high-stakes presidential debate, falls under the purview of a top corporate executive at Disney who happens to be longtime friends with the Democratic nominee. The executive, Dana Walden, first met Kamala Harris in 1994. Their husbands, Matt Walden and Doug Emhoff, have known each other since the 1980s. The Waldens — “extraordinary friends,” per the vice president — have donated money to Ms. Harris’s political campaigns since at least 2003, when she ran for district attorney in San Francisco. “In many ways, Dana and Matt are responsible for my marriage,” Ms. Harris joked at a fund-raiser in April 2022 at the Waldens’ home in Brentwood, a wealthy Los Angeles enclave where Ms. Harris and Mr. Emhoff also own a residence. The Waldens, Vice President Harris explained, set up a couple who in turn had set her up with Mr. Emhoff on a blind date. Ms. Harris’s Republican opponent, former President Donald J. Trump, recently sued ABC News for defamation, and he and his allies are often quick to accuse news organizations of bias when they are displeased by coverage.