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Senate Republicans derail bill to protect IVF access (again) 2024-06-13 19:24:15+00:00 - Congressional Republicans are well aware of the broad public support for in vitro fertilization. With one recent poll showing that a whopping 86% of Americans want IVF treatments to be legal, GOP officials realize that it’d be politically dangerous to oppose this popular, safe, and effective pro-family policy. With this in mind, every member of the Senate Republican conference — literally, all 49 members — signed onto a joint statement, issued this morning, expressing their collective support for IVF access. “We strongly support continued nationwide access to IVF, which has allowed millions of aspiring parents to start and grow their families,” the GOP senators said. But the phrase “watch what they do, not what they say” comes to mind. It’s one thing for Senate Republicans to express support for IVF in the abstract; it’s something else for them to actually vote for federal legislation that would protect IVF in practice. NBC News reported on the latest effort to govern on the issue, and the number of GOP officials who balked. Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic-led bill Thursday to codify broad federal protections for in vitro fertilization in the midst of a growing partisan clash over reproductive rights in the United States. ... The Right To IVF Act was brought up for a vote by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to put the GOP in a political predicament less than five months before the 2024 elections. The legislation was written by three Senate Democrats — Washington’s Patty Murray, Illinois’ Tammy Duckworth, and New Jersey’s Cory Booker — and it would prohibit states from imposing restrictions on the treatments, while also making IVF more affordable. Two Republican senators — Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Maine’s Susan Collins — voted with the Democratic majority in today’s procedural vote, but every other GOP member balked. The final tally was 48 to 47, with some senators missing the vote. To advance, proponents needed 60 votes, and they obviously didn’t come especially close. (Note: Schumer supported the bill, but ended up voting against for procedural reasons.) If these circumstances sound at all familiar, it’s not your imagination. In late February, Duckworth sought unanimous consent — a procedural move designed to help quickly advance uncontroversial measures — on the “Access to Family Building Act,” which would create legal protections for IVF at the national level. It also failed in response to Republican opposition. Two weeks later, Murray tried to pass a bill to expand access to in vitro fertilization for military service members and veterans. It, too, was derailed by Republican opposition. “Today, senators face a very simple question: Do you agree Americans should have access to IVF, yes or no? If yes, the only correct answer is to vote yes on the Right to IVF Act,” Schumer, the Senate majority leader, said shortly before the procedural vote. “Protecting IVF should be the easiest ‘yes’ vote senators have taken all year. All this bill does is establish a nationwide right to IVF and eliminates barriers for millions of Americans who seek IVF to have kids.” The New York Democrat added, “To my Republican colleagues who say they’re pro-family, today’s bill protecting IVF is as pro-family as it gets, and we should vote yes today. It is a contradiction to claim you are pro-family but then turn around and block protections for IVF.” Soon after, the vast majority of GOP senators opposed the measure anyway. The vote came one day after the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest and most politically powerful Protestant denomination, became the latest conservative institution to come out against in vitro fertilization. If you’re thinking this is shaping up to be an unexpected 2024 campaign issue, you’re not alone.
Toxic garlic should have prompted EPA to warn against gardening near Ohio derailment, watchdog says 2024-06-13 19:13:03+00:00 - The Environmental Protection Agency should conduct additional soil studies near the site of a toxic train derailment in Ohio and warn people it might not be safe to garden there after independent testing showed high levels of chemicals in locally grown garlic, a watchdog group said Thursday. In a petition filed with the federal agency, the nonprofit Government Accountability Project argues that the EPA should have already followed up on the tests of gardens and crops in the city where the Norfolk Southern derailment took place. “It is unconscionable that the EPA has not conducted its own testing on garden crops in East Palestine, nor have they sampled for dioxins in the home produce,” the nonprofit group’s senior environmental officer, Lesley Pacey, told The Associated Press in advance of the petition filing. “Yet, the EPA has told residents to garden and eat home produce as usual.” The Associated Press sent emails to EPA officials seeking comment about the petition Thursday. The agency has been telling people it’s safe to garden since nearly three months after the February 2023 derailment, based on tests conducted by state agriculture officials at 31 locations around town and on surrounding farms. The officials tested winter wheat, malting barley, pasture grasses and rye from area farms. “Residential soil sampling results are within typical ranges for the area, and garden plants are generally considered safe to eat,” the EPA said to the community. In the past, agency officials have dismissed the independent tests cited by the Government Accountability Project, pointing to their concerns with quality control. The tests were performed by Scott Smith, a businessman and inventor who, since his own factory was inundated by tainted floodwaters in 2006, has been on a crusade to help communities affected by chemical disasters. EPA officials say they can’t tell if his data is valid without reviewing all of the reports detailing his methodology and results. Smith offered last summer to share his files with the agency but only if it would share its information with him. They never reached an agreement. The EPA has said that previous testing conducted by contractors hired by the railroad did not show high levels of dioxins or other chemicals outside the train derailment site after the initial evacuation order was lifted, and therefore, additional tests in individual yards and gardens weren’t needed. The only place the EPA reported finding high levels of cancer-causing dioxins was in the area immediately around the derailment about two weeks after the crash. That soil was included in the nearly 179,000 tons (71,668 metric tons) of material dug up and disposed of last year. But some residents aren’t taking any chances. Marilyn Figley didn’t dare plant a garden last year after the derailment even though she and her husband do everything they can to be self-sufficient, including gardening and raising chickens for meat and eggs. She did harvest some garlic after the derailment that she had planted previously, however. Some of it had levels of dioxins more than 500 times higher than a sample of garlic grown and harvested from someone else’s yard the year before the derailment, according to Smith’s tests. Figley said they decided to plant a garden again this year after using one of her husband’s tractors to remove the top 3 inches (8 centimeters) of soil and replace that with fresh dirt. “I’d rather eat dioxins than die of starvation I guess,” Figley said. “I’m pretty worried, but what can you do?” Dioxins have been a key concern for East Palestine residents ever since officials decided to blow open five tank cars of the derailed train and burn the vinyl chloride contained within them. The chemical is used to make a variety of plastic products, including pipes, wire and packaging materials, and is found in polyvinyl chloride plastic, better known as PVC. Thousands of residents had to evacuate their homes temporarily after the derailment and during the venting and burning of the vinyl chloride, which sent an enormous toxic plume of black smoke over the town. Last summer, the local farmers market made a point of bringing in produce from several states away because of all the worries about anything grown in the area. “I certainly didn’t eat anybody’s tomatoes or cucumbers,” said Tamara Lynn Freeze, whose freshly grown garlic was also tested by Smith and showed dioxin levels five times higher than what was found in garlic she still had sitting in her garage from a year before the derailment. Freeze says she developed a chronic sinus infection and joint pain after the derailment — symptoms that seem to ease any time she’s away from the area for more than a few hours. Smith has visited East Palestine more than two dozen times since the derailment to test soil and water for dioxins and other chemicals. He is not a scientist by training but has traveled to chemical disaster sites for years. His testing is reviewed by a team of scientific advisers, including a former top Ohio EPA expert, and he sends all his samples to a laboratory that the EPA and others agree is reputable. Smith is also an inventor and holds 25 patents, including for a specialized foam that repels water and absorbs oil, which he developed at his former company, Cellect Technologies. He has offered to sell the product in some of the affected communities he has visited, but he says he isn’t making a profit on his work in East Palestine. Smith got his start with disasters when floodwater contaminated with chemicals swept into a Cellect factory, destroying equipment and forcing the business to shut down for months. Since then, he has conducted investigations of dozens of environmental and health emergencies, including the BP Gulf oil spill and the Flint, Michigan, lead water crisis. In Flint, some of Smith’s results were used by a nonprofit group affiliated with actor Mark Ruffalo that questioned whether it was safe to bathe in the city’s water. Smith’s actions put him in conflict with scientists who were conducting their own tests and with EPA Response Coordinator Mark Durno, the same agency representative overseeing the cleanup in East Palestine. Despite their disagreements, Durno did remark that Smith “certainly understands how to use appropriate laboratories both for the chemical work that he’s doing and the biological work that he is doing.” “From that perspective, he seems qualified to collect samples and collect and share data,” Durno said in a video interview he gave for an unfinished documentary about Smith’s work. But in East Palestine, Durno has consistently questioned the quality of Smith’s testing. Since last summer, he has refused to meet with him or test alongside him because he believes the EPA’s testing plan already gives an objective, valid sense of the level of contamination existing in the community. He added that testing in individual locations in town, as Smith is doing, won’t produce useful data if it isn’t part of a larger sampling plan. Smith said he has applied the lessons of Flint by making sure that his scientific advisers review all his data before he releases it himself directly to the public. He argues that even if his test results aren’t perfect, they should prompt additional investigation by the EPA. “I’m basically calling for more testing,” Smith said. “I’m not trying to incite more panic. My point is it’d be very easy for the EPA to just test the garlic and report it. We can find no evidence they ever tested garden crops from residents.”
The head of the FAA says his agency was too hands-off in its oversight of Boeing 2024-06-13 19:07:24+00:00 - The top U.S. aviation regulator said Thursday that the Federal Aviation Administration should have been more aware of manufacturing problems inside Boeing before a panel blew off a 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. “FAA’s approach was too hands-off — too focused on paperwork audits and not focused enough on inspections,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker told a Senate committee. Whitaker said that since the Jan. 5 blowout on the Alaska jetliner, the FAA has changed to “more active, comprehensive oversight” of Boeing. That includes, as he has said before, putting more inspectors in factories at Boeing and its chief supplier on the Max, Spirit AeroSystems. Whitaker made the comments while his agency, the Justice Department and the National Transportation Safety Board continue investigations into the giant aircraft manufacturer. The FAA has limited Boeing’s production of 737 Max jets to 38 per month, but the company is building far fewer than that while it tries to fix quality-control problems. Investigators say the door plug that blew out of the Alaska jet was missing four bolts that helped secure it in place. The plug was removed and reinstalled at a Boeing factory, and the company told federal officials it had no records of who performed the work and forgot to replace the bolts. “If Boeing is saying, ‘We don’t have the documentation, we don’t know who removed it,’ where was the (FAA) aviation safety inspector?” Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., asked Whitaker. “We would not have had them on the ground at that point,” he said. “And why not?” Cantwell responded. “Because at that point the agency was focusing on auditing the internal quality programs at Boeing,” Whitaker said. “We clearly did not have enough folks on the ground to see what was going on at that factory.” Whitaker said the FAA is hiring more air traffic controllers and safety inspectors but is competing with the aerospace industry for talent. He said the FAA has lost valuable experience in the ranks of its inspectors with its current, younger workforce.
Stellantis says it will ‘fight’ for electric car sales rather than hide behind tariffs 2024-06-13 18:56:00+00:00 - The owner of the Jeep, Fiat and Vauxhall brands has said it will not take a defensive stance in the battle for electric car sales, amid signs of an escalating trade war in the market between Europe and China. Stellantis’s chief executive, Carlos Tavares, has criticised the EU tariffs on imported Chinese cars announced on Wednesday and said the world’s fourth biggest carmaker preferred to “fight to stay competitive”. The European Commission intends to apply additional duties of up to 38.1% on imported China-made electric cars from July, a move that Beijing is likely to retaliate against. Europe’s car industry had been opposed to the tariffs, with German carmakers the most exposed to a trade war as almost a third of their sales came from China last year. “The German industry is very much exposed to Chinese business and this is the reason why Germany is expressing a negative option about those tariffs,” Tavares told journalists after an investor day. He added: “Correcting the tariff is correcting a lack of competitiveness… We prefer to race than to be told that we are going to be protected, because we do not believe that being protected is a long-lasting competitive position for a company like ours. “We are going to fight to be as competitive as we should be in the performance of the products, in the range, in the affordability; we’re going to compete because we are a global company.” Tavares said Stellantis would stick to its “asset-light” strategy in China, focused on exporting to the country rather than manufacturing there. Stellantis was created in 2021 from the €40bn merger between Italy’s Fiat Chrysler and the French owner of Peugeot, PSA. “What is clear is that we don’t want to be defensive,” he told investors in Michigan. “Our strategy, that remains an asset-light strategy, is about making sure that we are ourselves offensive and surfing the wave of the Chinese offensive. Our asset-light strategy in China is much more robust than that of many of our competitors.” Stellantis has bought a 21% stake in the Chinese carmaker Leapmotor and has formed a joint venture with it allowing the European company to sell and manufacture Leapmotor’s vehicles outside China. Stellantis leads the venture with a 51% stake and plans to export two electric vehicle models from China by the end of the year. The new EU tariffs come on top of the existing 10% levy on cars imported into the EU, meaning some Chinese-made electric cars face total tariffs of up to 48%. The tariffs are aimed at countering the alleged state support handed to China’s car manufacturing industry, which has allowed it to sell cars abroad at cheaper prices than those of global rivals. 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 China criticised the EU tariffs on Thursday as protectionist behaviour and said it hoped the European bloc would correct its “wrong practices”. Stellantis shares closed 2.8% lower, similar to other European carmakers, due to uncertainty over how Beijing would respond to the tariffs. Tavares said that at least two of Stellantis’s plants in the US needed “significant turnaround”. “We know what to do,” he said.
Why government debt is not like household borrowing 2024-06-13 18:41:00+00:00 - Politicians have often struggled to explain how governments borrow money to fund their spending. The implications of higher or lower borrowing are also difficult to assess when the figures run into hundreds of billions of pounds. The temptation is to simplify the arguments by comparing the nation’s finances to a household budget or a credit card. The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has talked about the Conservatives “maxing out the credit card”, and Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak have also used the analogy. But is it a fair comparison? A group of senior economists think not. They have complained to the BBC about one of its political journalists, Laura Kuenssberg, giving podcast listeners the wrong impression by using the household finance analogy when comparing day-to-day government spending with longer-term capital expenditure. What provoked the row? In a recent edition of the Newscast programme Kuenssberg, the broadcaster’s former political editor, suggested government borrowing was like a mortgage or taking out a credit card. She said: “One of the differences that is very important is the limit on borrowing for different kinds of spending. And just to give people some context, and I know some people object to trying to use metaphors to explain this stuff, I think actually it is quite important so you understand that borrowing for capital spending is a bit like if you took out a mortgage to buy a house or for day-to-day spending you buy loads of new frocks on your credit card: they are not the same kind of spending.” Who else has made the household finances comparison? Margaret Thatcher cited the family budget to defend limits on public spending during her three administrations in the 1980s. In 2008, the former leader of the Conservative party and now foreign secretary, David Cameron, said about Gordon Brown’s administration: “This government has maxed out our nation’s credit card – and they want to keep on spending by getting another.” Starmer said after the March budget that “the national credit card” was “maxed out”. Sunak and Reeves have also used the household analogy. What’s wrong with the comparison? Households have a limit on how much they can borrow because banks and other lenders put a cap on the amount. It means that once they have hit borrowing limits and can no longer afford to pay the interest bill, they tend to fall into arrears and before long creditors call in the debt. Thousands of households declare themselves bankrupt each year for this reason. A review of the BBC’s economics coverage by Andrew Dilnot, a former head of the UK Statistics Authority, said in 2022 that countries also do not “tend to retire or die, or pay off their debts entirely” like households, which is why comparisons with household debt – and suggestions the government must ‘pay off’ or ‘pay down’ the debt – “can cause intense debate”. How do governments borrow? A government has an income, mainly from tax receipts, but unlike a household, it can raise many billions of pounds more in the short term by increasing taxes. If this is not desirable or possible, it can borrow from domestic lenders and international investors. If that is not enough to cover the extra spending, there is another way it can generate income: it can print it. Unlike a UK household, the government has an independent central bank – the Bank of England – and its own currency. During the Covid-19 pandemic the Bank of England created £450bn of bonds and invited investors to buy them. These bonds funded about the same amount of spending by the government. The UK currently has a debt to GDP ratio – its total borrowings set against annual output – of 97%. However, it has been much higher, and hit 270% just after the second world war.
Senate Republicans block Democratic bill to establish nationwide IVF protections 2024-06-13 18:40:00+00:00 - WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic-led bill Thursday to codify broad federal protections for in vitro fertilization in the midst of a growing partisan clash over reproductive rights in the United States. The vote was 48-47, with just two Republicans voting for it: Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine. Others in the GOP said the legislation went too far, instead signing on to a scaled-back version that Democrats said was ineffectual. The Right To IVF Act was brought up for a vote by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to put the GOP in a political predicament less than five months before the 2024 elections. Democrats say the conservative-led Supreme Court’s decision in 2022 to eliminate federal abortion rights means that access to contraception and IVF are also at risk. Sarah Brown during a rally advocating for IVF rights outside the Alabama State House in Montgomery on Feb. 28, 2024. Stew Milne / AP for The National Infertility Association file Introduced by Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., it would establish a federal right for individuals to access IVF-assisted reproductive technology services, for providers to offer the procedure and for insurers to cover it. Those rights could not be hindered by states. At the heart of the tension is a belief among many social conservatives that life begins at conception. If written into law, that could mean that embryos discarded as part of the IVF process — a common occurrence — are treated as murder or manslaughter. Many Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have signed on to legislation that would give a fertilized egg the rights of a person. Ahead of the vote, Senate Republicans moved to express their support for IVF. They sought to advance a narrower bill that would cut off Medicaid funding for states if they banned IVF. All 49 GOP senators signed a statement by Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., accusing Democrats of waging “a partisan campaign of false fearmongering intended to mislead and confuse the American people.” “We strongly support continued nationwide access to IVF, which has allowed millions of aspiring parents to start and grow their families,” the senators said in the statement. Murray said the GOP rhetoric is hollow as “actions speak louder than words—and the record here tells a very different story.” “Republicans have introduced their own legislation so they can pretend to address the same problem they say doesn’t exist, but their bill has huge loopholes that would let states restrict IVF in all different kinds of ways,” she told reporters. “It purposefully ignores what happens to unused embryos, and it would do nothing to stop fetal personhood laws from totally upending IVF care.” In an interview before the vote, Murray argued that part of the goal is to convey to voters that the way to protect reproductive rights going forward is to elect more Democrats in the 2024 elections. “I think it’s pretty clear where the votes are in the current U.S. Senate,” she said. “And the next election makes all the difference.”
Fake News Still Has a Home on Facebook 2024-06-13 18:35:09+00:00 - On the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, Christopher Blair’s fake news empire was humming along. Mr. Blair had been earning as much as $15,000 in some months by posting false stories to Facebook about Democrats and the election, reaching millions of people each month. But after a mob of Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol, his growing enterprise came to an abrupt halt. Facebook seemed to recognize its own role in fomenting an insurrection and tweaked its algorithm to limit the spread of political content, fake and otherwise. Mr. Blair watched his engagement flatline. “It just kind of crashed — anything political crashed for about six months,” he said. Today, though, Mr. Blair has fully recovered, and then some. His false posts — which he insists are satire intended to mock conservatives — are receiving more interactions on Facebook than ever, surging to 7.2 million interactions already this year compared with one million in all of 2021.
Safety concerns arise over weighted baby sleeping products after commission's warning 2024-06-13 18:26:00+00:00 - Sleep-deprived new parents are increasingly turning to weighted sleep sacks and blankets to help their infants sleep better and longer. But the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Consumer Product Safety Commission have raised serious safety concerns. The AAP says these products are unsafe for infants, and the CPSC told CBS News investigating "multiple fatalities associated with" weighted infant products. Products from Dreamland Baby and Nested Bean are among those that major retailers, including Amazon and Walmart, have pulled from their shelves after a CPSC commissioner wrote letters to the companies warning about the potential dangers. But those two companies say their products were designed with safety in mind, that they consulted with experts and no deaths have resulted from their products and the the deaths being investigated are not associated with products made by those brands Nested Bean & Dreamland Baby CEOs defend products' safety Despite these warnings, Nested Bean CEO Manasi Gangan said there is no investigation related to her company's products and noted there have been no fatalities linked to the items. Gangan founded her company in 2011 after seeking sleep solutions for her own infant. She says the products, containing a pouch with small plastic beads, mimic a parent's comforting hand on a baby's chest and are safe. She also commissioned a study that she says shows the weight of the products did not affect a baby's breathing or heart rate. Gangan says the study proved "That our products have always been safe just as we had designed them, they were designed to be safe." However, the AAP noted that the study only measured the weights on five babies for two minutes and did not test the products in real-world conditions for babies sleeping for extended periods. Dreamland Baby CEO Tara Williams, also a mom who started her company after searching for sleep solutions, defended her company's products as well. She said that Dreamland Baby has a full medical board, that is led by a pediatrician. Safety had "always been the heart of what we did," said Williams. She said she relied on a study of babies using weighted products in hospitals and is conducting her own clinical trial now. However, she acknowledged that no study was conducted before the products hit the market in 2018. When asked whether it's the manufacturer's responsibility to ensure a product's safety before it reaches the market, Williams questioned whether any other businesses conduct extensive, peer-reviewed clinical trials, which can take years, prior to a product's release."We're a small business. How would we have innovation in America? I mean, this is how America works," said Williams. Health experts, parents caution against weighted sleep sacks Gloria Gamboa, a new mom of twin boys, initially hoped that Dreamland Baby's weighted sleep sack would help her babies sleep. But she found the sacks too heavy and was worried that her children wouldn't be able to move or breathe. She decided against using them due to her concerns about the safety of her babies. "My instincts told me, don't use this," Gamboa said. Dr. Ben Hoffman, president of the AAP, said that anything that limits a baby's movement or impacts their ability to breathe can put them at risk. The AAP advises against the use of any weighted blankets or swaddles for infants, citing risks such as lower oxygen levels and an increased chance of SIDS, or sudden infant death syndrome. "I cannot imagine a scenario in which [weighted products] are a good thing," said Hoffman. In a statement to CBS News, the CPSC said it advises parents against using weighted blankets and swaddles for sleep. "CPSC encourages parents to consult with their pediatrician before buying any product that claims to improve baby health or help with sleep." Regulatory gaps in products Dr. Hoffman explained that the current system permits products to enter the market without any proven safety record or requirement for safety demonstration. He said that products can be sold even if they contradict established medical knowledge and scientific evidence about safe sleep practices. "The proof of safety lies with the manufacturer," said Hoffman. "Show me the data that it's safe. If you can't show me that it's safe, I'm not going to be able to recommend it. Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut pointed out a broader regulatory issue, saying that the Consumer Product Safety Commission has no power to take products off the shelves. "No matter how egregious or severe the dangers from a particular product, the Consumer Product Safety Commission doesn't have any powers to mandate that companies stop producing or selling them," said Blumenthal. Both Dreamland Baby and Nested Bean told CBS News their sales dropped more than 50% following the retailers' decisions to remove their products. Dreamland Baby's CEO said she plans to sue the CPSC over the commissioner's letter to retailers, claiming the agency violated her constitutional rights.
Gamestop’s annual shareholder meeting disrupted after ‘unprecedented demand’ causes tech issue 2024-06-13 18:22:12+00:00 - NEW YORK (AP) — Gamestop’s highly-anticipated shareholder meeting ran into a technical problem Thursday — resulting in many eager investors being unable to log on to the livestream. A spokesperson for Computershare, the company hosting the webcast, confirmed that “unprecedented demand” from shareholders looking to access the meeting led to a “technical issue” that prevented some from getting through. The meeting was then adjourned. “We’re really sorry that this happened and are working with our supplier to ensure that it does not happen again,” the spokesperson said in a statement sent to The Associated Press Thursday afternoon. The meeting was originally slated to begin at 11 a.m. ET. Around that time, those attempting to use the link found that it wouldn’t load or received an error message. According to social media accounts of those who appeared to make it on the call, Gamestop briefly cited “technical difficulties” before adjourning the meeting. It was not immediately clear when the event would be rescheduled. The Grapevine, Texas-based video game retailer did not immediately respond to request for comment Thursday. Despite the fumble, Gamestop’s shares were still up for than 6% by Thursday afternoon. At the center of the meme stock craze, Gamestop saw a resurgence last month after Keith Gill, better known as “Roaring Kitty,” returned online for the first time in three years. All eyes have been on whether Gamestop can make a comeback. Roaring Kitty recently took to YouTube on Friday, to tell his hordes of followers that he still believes GameStop’s management team can turn the struggling company around following a disappointing earnings report. There’s a long way to go. Gamestop managed to narrow its losses in the first quarter, but its revenue fell as sales weakened for hardware and accessories, software and collectibles. GameStop also filed paperwork with securities regulators to sell up to 75 million shares of stock.
Pay $1 to Hear Wu-Tang Clan’s Secret Album (Eventually) 2024-06-13 18:14:31.550000+00:00 - Ten years ago, the most mysterious and expensive album of all time was announced by the Wu-Tang Clan as a protest against the devaluation of creativity in the age of the internet. “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” limited to one hyperdeluxe physical copy, was bought for a reported $2 million by the “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli and later acquired by an online art collective for $4 million. Now it can be yours for a dollar. Sort of. Pleasr, the online collective, began selling access to “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” on Thursday, charging fans $1 (plus fees) to be part of what it called an experiment to test a simple question: “Do people still value music in a digital era?” As befitting an album that has been wrapped in legal and public controversy for a decade, however, the transaction is anything but simple. For $1, fans will gain access to an encrypted digital version of “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.” But only a five-minute sampler of the album will be available now, Pleasr says.
Lawyer advised Post Office to adopt ‘cold’ approach and not apologise, inquiry hears 2024-06-13 18:04:00+00:00 - An external lawyer advised the Post Office to remove apologies from letters sent to post office operators and “maintain a more cold, procedural approach”, a public inquiry has heard. The inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal was told that Andrew Parsons, a partner at the law firm Womble Bond Dickinson who advised the Post Office for more than seven years, wrote that apologising to the operators would be “admitting some degree of culpability”. The inquiry is examining how hundreds of individuals were pursued and prosecuted for more than a decade by the Post Office over alleged financial shortfalls in their branch accounts. It has since emerged the issues were caused by bugs in the state-owned body’s Horizon IT system. The inquiry heard that, in 2013, Parsons had reviewed drafts of letters due to be sent out by the Post Office to several branch operators. The individuals had identified financial discrepancies in their branch accounts shown on the Horizon IT system that the Post Office had agreed to correct. In an email to Post Office executives sent in June 2013, Parsons wrote: “I don’t think we should apologise in the letters. I know this sounds hard but in apologising we are admitting some degree of culpability. I think we should maintain a more cold, procedural approach to correcting what is effectively an accounting irregularity.” On Thursday, Parsons was asked by Julian Blake, counsel to the inquiry, what the problem was legally in making an apology. “Sometimes apologies can be interpreted as admissions,” Parsons told the inquiry. “I think it’s pretty common for lawyers in letters to consider whether an apology is appropriate or not. In my view, it leads people to consider there was an admission of legal fault when in fact the Post Office’s view was, yes, there had been a problem, but it had been corrected.” View image in fullscreen Jo Hamilton was one of the post office operators whose case featured in a 2015 edition of Panorama. Photograph: Jeff Moore/PA Parsons was also questioned by the inquiry about another email, sent in 2016, in which his law firm had urged the Post Office to “try and suppress” disclosure of a key document for “as long as possible”. At that time, lawyers acting for the branch operators led by Alan Bates, whose campaign for justice was dramatised by ITV this year, were asking the Post Office for disclosure of its investigation guidelines in the early stages of their high court legal battle. The email was sent in October 2016 by a junior lawyer at Womble Bond Dickinson. Parsons agreed that he had checked her draft email and inserted a paragraph in which he spoke about “ultimately withholding a key document”. His addition read: “For now we’ll do what we can to avoid disclosure of these guidelines and try to do so in a way that looks legitimate. However, we are ultimately withholding a key document and this may attract some criticism … we’ll adopt this approach until such time as we sense the criticism is becoming serious.” Parsons told the inquiry it was a “very poorly worded email and I regret sending it”. He said the junior solicitor “had sent a draft for my approval earlier that day which did not contain this final paragraph. I responded to her adding it into her draft, though my purpose in doing so appears to have simply been to make clear what action we required from POL [Post Office Ltd] on this point.” He added there were “substantive legitimate reasons for resisting disclosure of the investigation guidelines at this early stage”. Parsons was also questioned about exchanges between himself and Rodric Williams, an internal Post Office lawyer, about possible responses to an episode of the BBC’s Panorama programme in 2015 which had raised questions about the Horizon IT system. The documentary featured the cases of the convicted post office operators Noel Thomas, Seema Misra and Jo Hamilton, who were all exonerated in 2021. At the time, Parsons wrote that his preferred option had been for the Post Office to do nothing and await the decision of the Criminal Cases Review Commission about possible miscarriages of justice – or alternatively it could go on “full attack.” He said in the email, which was read out to the inquiry, that the Post Office could “start attacking the postmasters’ credibility by calling out Thomas, Misra and Hamilton as the liars and criminals that they are”. Parsons told the inquiry: “On reflection that language is too strong.” Separately, on Thursday, a Scottish law that will automatically exonerate Scots wrongly convicted as part of the Post Office Horizon scandal received royal assent and will come into force on Friday.
Former Bank Bailout Watchdog Is Choice to Lead F.D.I.C. 2024-06-13 17:15:36+00:00 - Christy Goldsmith Romero, a lawyer who spent more than a decade rooting out fraud and other bad behavior at banks that received federal aid in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, has been chosen to be the next leader of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the White House announced on Thursday. Her pick is the first step in President Biden’s quest to quickly replace the current chair, Martin Gruenberg, the bank regulator’s longtime leader, who said last month that he would resign in response to reports of vast workplace abuse and harassment at the agency. If the Senate Banking Committee acts quickly to hold a hearing and a vote on Ms. Goldsmith Romero’s candidacy, she has a chance of assuming the role before the presidential election in November. In a statement emailed to reporters, the committee’s chairman, Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, said Ms. Goldsmith Romero “would bring to the F.D.I.C. decades of financial services experience, including valuable experience.” “She has proven herself to be a strong, independent and fair regulator who is not afraid to do what’s right,” he said.
Should you put $5,000 in a 3-year CD? Experts weigh in 2024-06-13 16:31:00+00:00 - We may receive commissions from some links to products on this page. Promotions are subject to availability and retailer terms. A 3-year CD may be a wise place to deposit $5,000 in today's unusual economic environment. Getty Images If you have $5,000 in savings outside of what you need for your emergency fund, you may be wondering where you can store that money and earn a meaningful return. In this case, a 3-year certificate of deposit (CD) could be what you're looking for. CDs are savings vehicles that typically pay competitive interest rates when compared to savings accounts and other options. And, the returns on CDs are fixed, so no matter what happens to interest rates in the future, you'll continue to earn the same rate for the entire account term. But the tradeoff is that you'll need to leave your money in the CD for the full term to access those competitive fixed returns. Otherwise, you could have to pay for an early withdrawal penalty that eats into your returns. But there are lots of good options to consider in today's high-rate environment, so is it really worth putting $5,000 into a 3-year CD right now? Here's what experts say about doing so. Compare some of the top CD rates on the market now. Should you put $5,000 in a 3-year CD? Experts weigh in Right now, First Internet Bank of Indiana, Popular Direct and Quontic Bank offer 3-year CDs with leading interest rates of 4.61%, 4.50% and 4.40% APYs, respectively. And, there are lots of other 3-year CD options with rates that rival these CD accounts. But, today's high rates aren't the only reason the experts say you should put $5,000 into a 3-year CD right now. Other reasons include: To lock in today's high rates "One of the direct benefits of locking in a 3-year CD at a fixed rate would be if rates decreased during the three years, then you would continue to enjoy a higher yield," says John Jones, an investment advisor representative at Heritage Financial, a financial planning firm. That's important to consider given the current state of the economy. As inflation continues to cool, the Federal Reserve grows more likely to cut its federal funds rate, which could lead to lower returns on CDs in the future. So, by opening a 3-year CD now, you're able to lock in today's high rates. "If you are a CD shopper or investor, this is at or very close to the time to lock in the longer-dated options as we will start to see rate regression very quickly," says Matt Willer, managing director of capital markets at Phoenix Capital Markets, an investment management firm. When you open a 3-year CD, Willer says, you may earn "more than if you had waited 'til future dates during the rate decrease cycle. So, you're preserving the elevated rate since the alternative will be measurably lower." Lock in a high rate on a CD today. To keep your money safe "CDs are amongst the safest places to deploy capital," says Willer. "So, for the risk-averse, the conservative, it's a disciplined and predictable way to grow capital with negligible risk exposure." So, what makes a 3-year CD a safe place to store your $5,000? Here are a few ways CDs can offer safety: Protection against rate volatility : CDs offer a fixed, predictable rate of return. This rate is locked in, so you won't have to worry about rate volatility for three years when you open a 3-year CD. : CDs offer a fixed, predictable rate of return. This rate is locked in, so you won't have to worry about rate volatility for three years when you open a 3-year CD. FDIC or NCUA insurance : Most CD accounts offer up to $250,000 in FDIC or NCUA insurance per depositor, per account. That means your money is safe even if the financial institution goes out of business or faces other major issues with liquidity. : Most CD accounts offer up to $250,000 in FDIC or NCUA insurance per depositor, per account. That means your money is safe even if the financial institution goes out of business or faces other major issues with liquidity. Protection against early withdrawals: If you tap into your CD early, you may have to pay an early withdrawal penalty, making it less likely that you'll do so. So, CDs can help keep your money safe from unnecessary withdrawals, as you'll have to carefully consider the pros and cons of tapping into it before your account matures. Simplified planning Ultimately, there are no surprises with a CD. Everything from the account term to the potential returns will be clear from the moment you open it. So, opening a 3-year CD now can help ensure that your money meets the financial goals you've set for three years from now. "Finally, there is no ambiguity, you know what you have, you know what you're getting, and you know how long your commitment is, which simplifies planning," says Willer. Use a CD to help you achieve your financial goals today. The bottom line If you have $5,000 and you're not sure where to store it, you may want to consider opening a 3-year CD. Experts say that doing so can preserve today's high interest rates while keeping your money safe. And, since the terms of the account are clear from the start, and the returns are fixed, these types of accounts can be a smart tool to help you achieve your financial goals. Compare today's leading CDs now.
Passports can now be renewed online. Here's how to apply. 2024-06-13 16:20:00+00:00 - U.S. travelers can now renew their passport online under a pilot program the U.S. Department of State launched on Thursday. The State Department's new online system will allow U.S. passport holders to start a renewal application for a short window of time every day, closing once the system has reached a designated number of new applications, officials said in a statement. The agency is preparing a full launch of the renewal system at some point after testing, but didn't provide an exact date. If successful, an online renewal system could shorten the sometimes monthslong process travelers experience when trying to update their passport. "During the next several months, we plan to continue to limit the number of applications accepted each day so we can monitor the system's performance in real time," the department said. "If you are unable to start your application, try again on another day." Processing passports has become a growing problem for the State Department ever since COVID-19 travel restrictions were lifted, with the agency bombarded with an overwhelming number of applications each week. The passport application backlog grew so heavy last year that federal lawmakers from California, Colorado and Oklahoma introduced separate proposals to the Senate to speed up the application process. Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma proposed legislation that would improve the online tracking of passport applications and allow the State Department to hire more staff. Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Ted Lieu of California introduced the PASSPORT Act to streamline the passport application and renewal process. The number of Americans holding valid U.S. passports has grown at roughly 10% faster than the population over the past three decades, said Jay Zagorsky, an economist at Boston University. Just 5% of Americans had a passport in 1990, according to the State Department. That number grew to 48% in December. The State Department issued a record setting 24 million passports in 2023. Wait times for passport applications and renewals returned to their normal 6-8 week time frame in December, the State Department said. Renewing your passport online involves a six-step process: Create a free MyTravelGov online account. After the account is created, log in and start a renewal application by clicking on the "Renew Your Passport" button. On the form that appears, fill in all the boxes with the information currently printed on your passport. Enter your plans to travel internationally if your departure is within the next eight weeks. Upload a jpeg photo of yourself. No selfies. Pay the passport renewal fee and digitally sign the application. Visit the State Department's online renewal website for more details.
Has Labour boxed itself in with promise of no tax rises for ‘working people’? 2024-06-13 16:13:00+00:00 - Labour’s manifesto has offered more money for schools and the NHS while pledging to avoid raising tax on “working people” and maintaining a firm grip on the nation’s finances. So do the party’s plans really stack up? What is Labour saying on tax? Labour plans to raise about £8.5bn from a range of relatively soft targets: energy companies, private schools, private equity, wealthy foreigners living in the UK, and tax avoiders and dodgers. It has pledged to leave income tax, national insurance (NI) and VAT rates unchanged. Has the party boxed itself in? Yes, up to a point, because income tax, NI contributions and VAT are the three biggest sources of tax revenue – accounting for about 60% of the total. But it has left itself some wriggle room. The manifesto commitments extend only to the rates of income tax, NICs and VAT so Labour could – in theory at least – raise more money by changes to allowances or by extending the scope of VAT. This would be high-risk, leaving Labour open to the charge that it had misled voters. An easier option would be to raise money from capital gains tax or inheritance tax, about which the manifesto is silent. Do Labour’s plans add up? They do, given its limited spending pledges. These total about £9.5bn – of which approximately half will be spent on greening the economy. But they are modest sums in the context of a £3tn economy that should be generating well over £1tn in tax revenue by the end of the decade. Paul Johnson, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank, describes them as “tiny going on trivial”. Why the need for such caution? There are two main reasons. First, Labour is committed to sticking to the same fiscal rule as the government, namely to have debt falling as a share of national income within five years. That limits the scope to pay for public spending by borrowing significantly more. Second, Labour is reluctant to raise taxes over and above the £8.5bn it is targeting. If borrowing and taxation are both ruled out, that inevitably limits Labour’s spending ambitions. So does that mean a fresh round of austerity? Keir Starmer was adamant at the manifesto launch that there would be no return to austerity if he becomes prime minister, but there will certainly be cuts if Labour sticks to the spending plans inherited from the Conservatives. These involve a 1% real-terms increase but only some parts of the public sector – such as the NHS and defence – will see their budgets rise. Non-protected departments, which include the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice, face cuts totalling £18bn, according to an assessment by the Resolution Foundation. Is there a way to avoid the cuts? Labour is relying on growth coming to the rescue, but can’t guarantee that it will. Stronger growth means higher tax revenues and these would allow Labour to spend more without breaking its debt rule. Growth has picked up since the start of 2024 but the economy remains fragile. Business and consumer confidence have been rising in anticipation of interest rate cuts from the Bank of England but if these fail to materialise, growth could easily weaken.
Kendall Toole, a Popular Peloton Instructor, Announces Her Departure 2024-06-13 15:59:09+00:00 - Kendall Toole, a well-known Peloton instructor, announced on Thursday that she was leaving the home workout company. Her departure comes amid financial challenges for the company. “I am choosing to close my chapter at Peloton,” she said in an Instagram reel on Thursday morning. In the video, she also offered thanks to Peloton and the community of members who took her classes. “I will see you in the next adventure.” Ms. Toole is known for leading riders in challenging workouts set to playlists with pop punk and metal music. She often spoke about the importance of mental health and her own struggles with mental illness in her classes and online posts. Her fans lamented her departure online on Thursday, with some posting on the Peloton subreddit that there would be a gap in the offerings of their favorite music genres.
Carlos Slim: who is the Mexican billionaire who has invested £400m in BT? 2024-06-13 15:57:00+00:00 - Carlos Slim, the Mexican billionaire who this week paid £400m for a 3% stake in BT, has traversed some of life’s highest peaks and lowest ebbs. He claims that in 1997, aged 57, he was briefly declared dead after suffering a massive haemorrhage on the operating table at the Texas Heart Institute during surgery to replace a faulty heart valve. Thirteen years later he was named the world’s wealthiest man by the American business magazine Forbes, his fortune estimated at $73bn. While Slim, the son of Lebanese immigrants, has fallen off the list of the top 10 richest people in the world amid the rise of tech bros such as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, his net worth has swollen to $93bn. What’s more, his investment in BT shows that at the age of 84 he has not lost his renowned appetite for opportunistic investment, swooping on the company’s shares at a time when many analysts are predicting a brighter future under the new chief executive Allison Kirkby. Investors appeared cheered by Slim’s latest move: BT’s shares rose 4% on Thursday. He’s not the only billionaire on the share register: Altice, the group controlled by Moroccan-born telecoms mogul Patrick Drahi, is its largest shareholder. BT and Slim seem a good fit. The Slim empire was founded on telecoms, in particular América Móvil, which secured a virtual monopoly on the telephone business in Mexico, a country of more than 100 million people. But Slim also has interests in a sprawling array of sectors, including manufacturing, retail, energy and aviation. Many of his investments are housed within Grupo Carso, a holding company whose title is a portmanteau of the first letters of his own name and that of his late wife, Soumaya Domit, with whom he had six children. Slim cuts a divisive figure in Mexico, according to his biographer, Diego Enrique Osorno, author of Slim: A Political Biography of the Richest Mexican in the World. “There are Mexicans who look at Slim with pride and see him as an aspirational figure … and there are those who consider him to be the symbol of our inequality,” said Osorno. Slim is known for taking a simple but effective approach to investing, swooping on undervalued assets in times of economic turmoil and picking up bargains amid market panic. Amid the global financial crisis that began in 2008 he snapped up a $150m stake in the Wall Street bank Citigroup and loaned $250m to the New York Times – saving it from bankruptcy, by some accounts. He is said to have picked up his shrewdness for a deal from his father, Julián Slim Haddad, who arrived in Mexico in 1902 in order to avoid conscription into the Ottoman army. The Lebanese immigrant is said to have given his children ledgers to help them understand how to interpret financial transactions. 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 The young Slim, who was a keen baseball player in Mexico City’s middle class Polanco suburb, would trade baseball cards in the playground, keeping a weather eye on his accounts. By 11 he had already bought his first government savings bonds. By 15 he had invested in Banco Nacional de México. Upon leaving university, he became part of a clique known as “los Casabolseros” – a group of slick young stock market players. According to Osorno and the political commentator Denise Dresser, the mathematical nous Slim gleaned during his childhood, together with his vision for a deal, have played a part in his success, but so too has an instinct to stay on the right side of political elites at opportune moments. Many of his business interests were picked up at rock-bottom prices during privatisations by a cash-strapped state. “Slim emerged as a Mexican prototype of the Russian oligarchs, as someone who multiplied their fortunes under the shadow of power,” said Dresser. Unlike some Russian oligarchs, though, Slim developed a reputation for maintaining a low profile, eschewing flamboyance or showy megamansions, with the possible exception of the Duke Semans mansion, an eight-storey home on New York’s Fifth Avenue which he bought for $44m in 2010. Slim does spend some of his vast fortune on art, though; his home has sculptures by Rodin, and paintings by Renoir and Van Gogh. In 1999, his wife died. Slim built an art museum and named it in her honour.
Celebrity Big Brother winner pleads not guilty in Instagram ‘finfluencers’ case 2024-06-13 15:54:00+00:00 - A Celebrity Big Brother winner has pleaded not guilty in a case brought against a group of social media influencers accused of promoting an unauthorised foreign exchange trading scheme on Instagram. Scott Timlin, 36, the former Geordie Shore star known as Scotty T, is one of nine people charged by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in a crackdown on “finfluencers”. The defendants include former Love Island contestants and cast members from The Only Way is Essex (Towie) and have 4.5 million Instagram followers between them. They could face a fine or up to two years in prison if convicted. Timlin and several others of the accused appeared at Westminster magistrates court in London on Thursday over charges that they were paid to promote the risky investments on the Meta-owned social media platform. The FCA alleges that, between 19 May 2018 and 13 April 2021, Emmanuel Nwanze, 30, and Holly Thompson, 34, used an Instagram account (@holly_fxtrends) to provide advice on buying and selling contracts for difference (CFDs) when they were not authorised to do so. CFDs are a high-risk investment product used to bet on the price of an asset, in this case the price of foreign currencies, and the financial watchdog says 80% of customers lose money when investing in CFDs. It has imposed restrictions on how they can be sold and marketed to retail customers. The FCA alleges that Nwanze paid seven reality TV stars – Timlin; the former Love Island contestants Biggs Chris, 32, Jamie Clayton, 32, Rebecca Gormley, 26, and Eva Zapico, 25; and the Towie stars Lauren Goodger, 37, and Yazmin Oukhellou, 30 – to promote the @holly_fxtrends Instagram account to their millions of followers on the platform. All nine face one count of issuing unauthorised communications of financial promotions, an offence under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 that is punishable by a fine and/or up to two years in jail. Timlin appeared in person at Westminster magistrates court alongside Oukhellou, Nwanze and Zapico. He pleaded not guilty to one count of unauthorised communications of financial promotions. Thompson, who appeared via video link alongside Goodger, also pleaded not guilty. Nwanze, who also faces one count of breaching the general prohibition under the 2000 act against running an unauthorised investment scheme, pleaded not guilty to both charges. The other defendants provided no indication of their pleas. The Sun reported that Love Island’s Chris, Clayton and Gormley had been due to appear on Thursday but their cases had been adjourned until 3 July. A trial preparation hearing has been set for 11 July at Southwark crown court and all nine have been granted unconditional bail until then. The FCA has asked people who believe they have suffered loss due to the scheme to get in touch with its consumer contact centre on the freephone number 0800 111 6768.
Former-SpaceX employees file suit alleging they were fired after complaining of sexual harassment 2024-06-13 15:06:00+00:00 - Eight former employees sued SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk, alleging that Musk ordered them fired after they challenged what they called rampant sexual harassment and a hostile "Animal House"-style work environment at the company. The employees, who filed suit in a California state court, detailed their complaints in a 2022 open letter to management they shared via a company intranet. The next day, four of the plaintiffs were fired, they alleged; others were terminated later after an internal investigation. In January, the federal National Labor Relations Board filed its own complaint against SpaceX based on issues raised by nine fired employees. Among other workplace concerns, the open letter called on executives to condemn Musk's public behavior on X — the platform then known as Twitter — and to hold all employees accountable for unacceptable conduct. Musk's actions included making light of sexual harassment allegations against him — charges that the billionaire denied. "As our CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon is seen as the face of SpaceX — every tweet that Elon sends is a de facto public statement by the company," the open letter said at the time. The letter also referred to Musk's actions as a "frequent source of distraction and embarrassment." The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified monetary damages. The complaint drew connections between Musk's behavior — in particular, his often lewd posts on Twitter — and the working environment at SpaceX. It states that one of the plaintiffs, Yaman Abdulhak, noted that many of the inappropriate examples cited in a 2021 "appropriate behavior" employee training "closely resembled the contents of Musk's tweets." Abdulhak sent examples of those tweets to the SpaceX human resources director, who took no action, the complaint stated. SpaceX did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment.
Dave & Buster’s Stock Offers a Prime Buying Opportunity 2024-06-13 14:42:00+00:00 - Dave & Buster’s Entertainment’s NASDAQ: PLAY Q1 report left something to be desired but did not give sufficient reason to sell off the way it did. While sales are sluggish and margins are weakened, mitigating factors include remodeling efforts, investments in efficiency and growth, and solid cash flow that drives shareholder value. Shareholder value is seen in the balance sheet and robust capital return, improving shareholder leverage in leaps and bounds. Get PLAY alerts: Sign Up Dave & Buster's Entertainment Falls On Weak Results Dave & Buster's Entertainment Today PLAY Dave & Buster's Entertainment $44.84 -5.51 (-10.94%) 52-Week Range $33.07 ▼ $69.82 P/E Ratio 15.96 Price Target $66.21 Add to Watchlist Dave & Buster’s struggled in Q1, with comps falling more than expected and business investment cutting the margin. The company reported $588.1 million in net revenue for a decline of 1.5% compared to last year, missing the consensus estimate by 450 basis points. However, the decline is small given the company’s growth over the past two years, which is over 30%. At the current level, Dave & Buster’s business is more than 60% larger than in 2019, while the stock price aligns with comparable levels, suggesting a deep value opportunity. Comps are down 5.6%, offset by adding six new stores, providing leverage as the year progresses. Margin news is mixed. The company’s margin shrank in all comparisons to leverage the decline in the bottom line. The adjusted $1.12 in earnings is down 22% compared to last year and missed consensus by $0.58, leading the market to fall. However, the contraction is largely due to $10 million in one-off spending to aid the company’s growth. Dave & Buster’s does not give specific guidance but is expecting to accelerate store openings as the year progresses and is advancing its international expansion. The company signed a new letter of intent for five stores in the Philippines, bringing the pipeline total to seven countries and thirty-eight stores, four of which are expected to open within the next twelve months. Regardless, execs affirmed their resolve to hit $1 billion in annual EBITDA within the next few years. Dave & Buster’s Had a Cash-Flow Negative Quarter Dave & Buster’s had a negative cash flow quarter due to its investments. However, the cash flow was positive when adjusting for the $10 million in labor and marketing costs associated with the new store roll-out. Even so, the impact on the balance sheet was minimal, allowing the company to sustain its fortress-like quality and aggressively repurchase shares. The company isn’t paying a dividend, but buybacks in Q1 totaled $50 million, worth 2.4% of the count and aided a 14.1% reduction in the average quarterly count. Because cash flow is solid, the company is on track to grow, margin improvement is expected, and the repurchase authorization has $150 remaining, investors should expect aggressive repurchasing to continue and possibly spike now that shares have been discounted. Undervalued Dave & Buster’s Has a Double-Digit Upside Potential Dave & Buster's Entertainment MarketRank™ Stock Analysis Overall MarketRank™ 4.66 out of 5 Analyst Rating Moderate Buy Upside/Downside 44.5% Upside Short Interest Bearish Dividend Strength N/A Sustainability -2.53 News Sentiment 0.43 Insider Trading Selling Shares Projected Earnings Growth 20.97% See Full Details Analysts' reaction to the news is tepid. The few revisions tracked by MarketBeat include lowered price targets but no downgrades. The takeaway is that the stock is pegged at a firm Moderate Buy and deeply undervalued relative to the consensus. The consensus estimate implies a 45% upside but is falling; the low target is among the freshly set and the more important figure to watch. It implies a 25% upside for this discretionary stock. The technical action in Dave & Buster’s stock is range-bound. The market has moved sideways within the range since mid-2019 and is now heading to test support at the mid-point. The mid-point provided significant resistance between 2021 and 2023 but was broken late last year. In this scenario, the market should continue to support the stock near this level, which will lead to a rebound later in the year, but there is a risk of a deeper pullback. If support fails to hold at $33, shares of PLAY could fall to the low-end range, where they would present an even deeper value for investors. Before you consider Dave & Buster's Entertainment, 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 Dave & Buster's Entertainment wasn't on the list. While Dave & Buster's Entertainment currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here