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Why pharmacy chains like Walgreens and CVS are shuttering locations 2024-08-04 16:56:00+00:00 - In its fiscal third-quarter earnings report to investors in late June, pharmacy chain Walgreens announced plans to close a "significant" number of its 8,600 U.S. stores. CEO Tim Wentworth said only 75% of the chain's locations were making a profit, and that the other one-quarter of them faced the chopping block by 2027. This was just the latest sign of weakness out of the retail pharmacy space following a slew of CVS closures through the end of this year and Rite Aid filing for bankruptcy in October. "Pharmacy chains used to really be the heart of communities," said GlobalData retail managing director Neil Saunders. "They're the place you went for prescriptions, but they're also the place that you went to buy general goods. And really over the past 20 or so years, that has changed dramatically." While citing macro issues, like a worsening consumer environment and pressure on pharmacy margins, as cause for the closures, Walgreens is also grappling with its own set of issues. The retail side of the business — or front of store — continues to see declines quarter after quarter, with the most recent year-over-year decline of 4% in the fiscal third quarter. "The front of store ... where the general merchandise is, the beauty products, isn't that good," Saunders said. "The brands that they have aren't very interesting. The prices are often much higher than other destinations." Walgreens leans heavily on its back-of-store pharmacy revenue to make up for weakness in retail, an arena which itself has struggled with shrinking margins. While representing nearly 60% of Walgreens' total sales, pharmacy revenue has largely fallen victim to shrinking reimbursement rates with the increasing importance of pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs. "Pharmacy benefit manager reimbursement has been in decline for years, and so every year they start with a headwind on reimbursement," said Raymond James managing director John Ransom. "CVS has sized this at about a billion dollars a year, and CVS and Walgreens have kind of similar-sized pharmacies." Watch the video above to learn more about what is leading U.S. pharmacy chains to close thousands of stores.

L&G warns housebuilding drive needs decade to tackle housing crisis at current pace 2024-08-04 16:34:00+00:00 - Bosses at the insurance and pensions group Legal & General, which invests in and builds homes, said it will take more than a decade to tackle the UK’s affordable housing crisis at the current pace of construction. L&G welcomed Labour’s housebuilding drive, but said the entire industry would need to move at a faster pace as it joined forces withthe Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF), the UK’s largest local government pension scheme, to boost funds available for low-cost homes. GMPF will invest £120m into the insurer’s affordable housing fund, launched a fortnight ago, taking the fund’s total to £280m. The fund will initially finance projects totalling 750 new affordable homes in areas from West Sussex to Cornwall, where some of the rented flats will be let at 30% to 50% of the market rent, or sold under shared ownership. The firm expects to raise “significantly” more money by the end of the year, to fund more housing. It added that GMPF’s investment meant there will be a number of projects in the north. View image in fullscreen L&G affordable housing in Horsham. Photograph: Legal & General An average of between 40,000 and 50,000 affordable homes a year have been built in the UK in the last two to three decades, roughly one-third of the 145,000 needed every year. Simon Century, head of housing at L&G, said this had led to a dire need for affordable housing across the whole of the UK. Since the council housing boom of the 1970s and 80s, the vast majority of new affordable homes have been constructed by housing associations but, faced with higher costs, interest rates, post-Grenfell regulation and zero carbon rules, they have focused on maintaining existing homes in recent years, leaving a large gap that some pension funds are willing to plug. Century said: “If you look at the level of house price or rental growth over the last 20 to 30 years, it has left a place where it’s become increasingly hard to buy your first home; it’s increasingly hard wherever you are in the country, to rent in the private rental sector.” View image in fullscreen The vast East River Wharf project in Silvertown, east London, in the foreground. Photograph: Legal & General There are 1.3m households on local authority waiting lists for social housing, the highest number since 2014 and up by 73,000 on last year, according to government figures. However, Century said the true number of those in need for this type of housing is “way beyond” and in the millions. “Those wait lists are in the thousands in every single local authority. And that’s the reality when you’ve got 30-plus years of under supply of housing, generally, and certainly affordable housing,” he said. “To reverse that is a decades-long-plus investment programme, which requires many different players and investors, to work hand in hand with local government and with housing associations as well.” The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has pledged a “big bang” for private pension funds, as the government wants to unlock billions of pounds to invest in UK infrastructure and housing. It has announced an ambitious goal to build 1.5m homes over the next five years, underpinned by reforms to the planning system proposed last week. It has made the delivery of more affordable homes a top priority, in particular for social rent. 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 View image in fullscreen Affordable homes in Horsham, southern England. Photograph: Legal & General Laura Mason, chief executive of private markets at L&G, said this shows the “important role pensions capital can play” in building back Britain. L&G’s new chief executive António Simões is building on the work of his predecessor, Sir Nigel Wilson, who talked of “inclusive capitalism”. L&G has spent £1bn on its affordable homes business, where it acts as a developer and operator of affordable housing backed by its asset management division, since its launch in 2018. It now comprises 8,000 homes: more than 5,500 existing ones and 3,000 in development. Last year, it built 1,304 homes, the highest annual total since its launch, and made a pre-tax profit of £1.3m, after a £7.5m loss in 2022. The firm is targeting a £4bn affordable housing portfolio by 2028. The revamp follows a slowdown in housebuilding over the last three years that contributed to L&G closing a factory manufacturing homes in prefabricated modules which are put together on site, and hailed as a possible solution to the housing shortage. L&G clocked up losses of £236m in the operation, based in Leeds, before shutting it down last year. L&G has also put its housebuilding arm, Cala Homes, up for sale.

Russia has a history of going after dissidents. One senior Kremlin official has now warned freed prisoners to 'disguise themselves.' 2024-08-04 16:13:37+00:00 - Dmitry Medvedev warned freed Russian dissidents to watch their backs after the recent prisoner exchange. Prisoners swapped in the deal with the West included Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin. Russia has a history of targeting dissidents and defectors. 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 Russian opposition figures and dissidents freed in Thursday's mass prisoner exchange should "adopt new names" and "disguise themselves," a senior Russian politician has said. Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of Russia's Security Council and a former Russian president, made the thinly veiled threat in a post on Telegram on Thursday. "I would like, of course, for Russia's traitors to rot in a penitentiary or die in prison, as has often happened. But it is more useful to get out our own people, who worked for the country, for the Fatherland, for all of us," he wrote. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in .

With a $97M second weekend, ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ sets a new high mark for R-rated films 2024-08-04 16:06:53+00:00 - NEW YORK (AP) — After 10 days in theaters, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is already the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever, not accounting for inflation. In its second weekend, the Marvel Studios blockbuster starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman continued to steamroll through movie theaters, collecting $97 million according to studio estimates Sunday. That raised its two-week total to $395.6 million, pushing it past the long-reigning top R-rated feature, “The Passion of the Christ,” which held that mark for 20 years with $370 million domestic. Worldwide, the Shawn Levy-directed “Deadpool & Wolverine” has quickly amassed $824.1 million in ticket sales, a total that already surpasses the global hauls of the first two “Deadpool” films. The 2016 original grossed $782.6 million worldwide; the 2018 sequel collected $734.5 million. The weekend’s primary challengers both struggled. M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller, “Trap,” managed a modest opening of $15.6 million at 3,181 theaters for Warner Bros. The film, starring Josh Hartnett as a serial killer hunted by police at a pop concert, didn’t screen for critics before opening day and scored lower in reviews (48% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) than Shyamalan’s films typically do. Audiences gave it a C+ CinemaScore. With a budget of about $35 million that Shyamalan largely finances himself, “Trap” didn’t need a huge opening. But it may struggle to break even. “This is a soft opening for an M. Night Shyamalan suspense crime thriller,” wrote David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter for Franchise Entertainment. “The writer/director’s movies out-earn other original thrillers by a wide margin, and that’s true here, but this start is not on the level of recent Shyamalan films.” The live-action “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” adapted from the classic kids book, also didn’t make much of a mark in theaters. Th,e Sony Pictures release debuted with $6 million. It, too, got dinged by critics (28% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), though audiences (an A- CinemaScore) liked it more. “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” which stars Zachary Levi, cost about $40 million to make. “Twisters,” the Universal Pictures disaster film, continues to kick up a storm at the box office. It held in second place with $22.7 million in its third weekend. Lee Isaac Chung’s sequel to the 1996 original, starring Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anthony Ramos, has racked up $195.6 million domestically. While it has made less of an impression overseas, “Twisters” is holding particularly well in North American theaters, down just 35% from the week prior. Hollywood closed July with its best month in a year and its first $1 billion month since July 2023. While comparisons to last year aren’t favorable — July was when “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” launched — a pair of Walt Disney Co. releases in “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine” (the two top films of the year) powered a banner month for the movie industry. There will still reminders, though, of harder times in cinemas earlier in the spring and early summer, when a sparse release calendar and a few notable flops put the box office at a deficit. On Friday, AMC Theatres, the largest North American chain, posted a $32.8 million loss for the second quarter of 2024. 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,” $97 million. 2. “Twisters,” $22.7 million. 3. “Trap,” $15.6 million. 4. “Despicable Me 2,” $11.3 million. 5. “Inside Out 2,” $6.7 million. 6. “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” $6 million. 7. “Longlegs,” $4.1 million. 8. “A Quiet Place: Day One,” $1.4 million. 9. “Daaru Na Peenda Hove,” $615,782. 10. “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” $600,000.

Ex-Trump White House officials, dozens of Republicans endorse Harris 2024-08-04 16:05:00+00:00 - US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a moderated conversation with former Trump administration national security official Olivia Troye and former Republican voter Amanda Stratton on July 17, 2024 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign on Sunday flaunted over two dozen presidential endorsements from Republican party members, including some who served in former President Donald Trump's administration. Nearly 30 GOP members were cited as part of the new "Republicans for Harris" initiative launched Sunday. These include Stephanie Grisham, former White House press secretary under Trump, and national security official Olivia Troye — who worked as Vice President Mike Pence's national security advisor. Chuck Hagel and Ray LaHood, Republican cabinet members under President Barack Obama, were also listed. By publicly defecting on the Republican presidential nominee, these officials leave a target on their back for attacks from Trump. "We have to purge the Party of people that go against our Candidates, and make it harder for a popular Republican President to beat the Radical Left Lunatics. Geoff Duncan is a loser who is disintegrating on his own." Trump posted on Truth Social on Saturday, referring to the former lieutenant governor of Georgia who has endorsed Harris. The Harris campaign's new initiative targeting Republican voters comes two weeks since President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Harris. Since then, the vice president has enjoyed a groundswell of early support in the form of record donations, volunteer sign-ups and a surge in the polls — closing the voter gap against Trump. Despite Harris' initial momentum, she and Trump are still in tight race that could be decided by just a slim margin of voters in November. That statistical dead-heat is why the Harris campaign is targeting undecided Republicans within who may be persuadable against their party's nominee. "Donald Trump's MAGA extremism is toxic to the millions of Republicans who no longer believe the party of Donald Trump represents their values and will vote against him again in November," said Austin Weatherford, the Harris campaign's national director of Republican outreach, in a memo. "Vice President Harris and our campaign are working overtime to earn the support of my fellow Republicans who care about defending democracy and restoring decency," he added. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Harris’s Brother-in-Law, a Corporate Executive, Emerges as a Close Adviser 2024-08-04 15:28:21+00:00 - Vice President Kamala Harris had a secret weapon on hand as she worked the phones in the hours after President Biden dropped his re-election bid and endorsed her. Tony West, her brother-in-law and the chief legal officer at Uber, was with Ms. Harris in the vice president’s residence when she received the news, and he spent the afternoon helping her reach out to would-be supporters. At various points he peeled away to a nearby anteroom to call his own network of donors and business contacts, after which the two relatives compared notes, someone familiar with the matter said. Since that Sunday, Mr. West has emerged as a major force behind Ms. Harris’s campaign and its record-setting fund-raising, but also as a concern for some progressives who want her to take a hard line against big business. He is expected to remain involved in the final 92 days of the race, with Uber announcing on Friday that Mr. West would soon take an unpaid leave of absence to focus on the White House run. Ms. Harris’s campaign brought on several senior political operatives on Friday, some of whom worked on former President Barack Obama’s campaigns, to add to the team that had been assembled to re-elect Mr. Biden. But none has the advantage of family ties like her brother-in-law, who has held top positions in the Justice Department and corporate America while advising Ms. Harris’s campaigns since she ran for San Francisco district attorney in 2003.

7 of the 10 most expensive cities to live in the world are in the United States—see the full list 2024-08-04 14:56:00+00:00 - San Francisco ranked as one of the most expensive cities to live in, according to Numbeo. Last month, data company Numbeo released its annual Cost of Living Index by City. The final ranking was determined using data from January 2024 through mid-year. The index is historical and will be updated periodically. Number used the cost of living in New York City as a baseline and gave it a score of 100. Every other city was scored based on how much more or less expensive it was compared to the Big Apple. Cities were scored across the following indexes: Cost of living Rent Cost of living plus rent Groceries Restaurant price Local purchasing power The United States has the highest number of cities ranked, claiming seven of the top 10 spots. Don't miss: Go on this many dates each week if your goal is a long-term relationship: ‘It’s a numbers game,’ therapist says No. 1 most expensive city to live in: Geneva, Switzerland Cost of Living Index Score: 101.7 Geneva, Switzerland, is the most expensive city in the world to live in, according to the Cost of Living Index. The city was found to be 1.7% more expensive than New York. Geneva, Switzerland Alberto Mazza | Moment | Getty Images Known as the capital of peace, Geneva is home to the European headquarters of the United Nations. A single person's estimated monthly costs are about $1,715 without rent, while a family of four's estimated monthly costs are around $6,300, according to Numbeo. The city continuously ranks as one of the best places to live based on quality of life because it offers a low crime rate and a range of jobs. 10 most expensive cities in the world Geneva, Switzerland Zurich, Switzerland New York, New York San Francisco, California, United States Boston, Massachusetts, United States Reykjavik, Iceland Washington D.C., United States Seattle, Washington, United States Los Angeles, California, United States Chicago, Illinois, United States Zurich is the No. 2 most expensive city to live in the world. It is 0.4% more expensive than New York City. Zurich, Switzerland Didier Marti | Moment | Getty Images For years, Zurich has ranked as one of the most liveable cities in the world. This is due in part to its cleanliness, political stability, and infrastructure. The cost of living for a family of four is estimated to be $6,184 a month, not including rent, while a single person's estimated monthly costs are $1,689, excluding rent as well, according to Numbeo. Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and one of the country's financial centers. New York City, New York, United States Alexander Spatari | Moment | Getty Images

Here are 4 things we're watching closely in the stock market this week 2024-08-04 14:55:00+00:00 - Stocks had a rough week, topped off with a pummeling Friday after the July jobs data came in weaker than expected. The Nasdaq led the way down, losing 3.35% on the week, followed by the Dow Jones Industrial's decline of 2.1%, and the S & P 500's 2.06% drop. It was a dramatic shift in sentiment that began Thursday. Until then, bad economic news was good news for the stock market, because it meant the Federal Reserve would start cutting interest rates sooner. Now it appears bad economic news is, in fact, bad news for stocks. On Thursday, a drop in U.S. manufacturing activity for July and a jump in initial jobless claims dragged down the market. Then came Friday's payroll report, which also showed an uptick in unemployment and lower-than-expected wage inflation. The fear is that the central bank, which has been criticized for waiting too long to raise rates, is now moving too slow to lower them. Before Friday's employment data, three quarter-percentage point cuts were expected this year, starting in September. Now the market odds that September might see a half-percentage point rate cut are rising. Jim Cramer said Friday the Fed should have cut at this week's meeting. However, he was calling for calm all day long, saying the flight from stocks, especially mega-cap tech companies, was overdone. Indeed, we used the market drop as an opportunity to pick up shares of high-quality companies. On Friday morning, we picked up more Broadcom , and would've added Advanced Micro Devices were we not restricted. Later, we purchased Palo Alto and revealed six stocks we're eyeing in the coming week. Looking under the hood of the S & P 500, utilities led to the upside, followed by real estate and communication services sectors. Consumer discretionary led to the downside, followed by technology and energy. Next week is light on economic data, so expect earnings reports and CEO commentaries to drive the market action. State of the service economy: The release of the July ISM Services PMI — which is based on surveys sent to purchasing and supply companies of more than 400 services firms — kicks off the trading week. As of Friday, economists are looking to a reading of 51.5, according to FactSet. That would indicate a slight expansion after contracting in June. In addition to the headline number, it's always helpful to take a look at the "what respondents are saying" section of the report, which is filled with qualitative information from different industry sources. Earnings : About 75% of the S & P 500 has now reported earnings. Of those, 78% exceeded earnings expectations while 59% reported better-than-expected revenue results, according to FactSet. In our portfolio, more than 60% of the companies have now delivered results, including 14 firms in the past week alone. Three more come out in the coming week. Wynn Resorts : Investors are expecting to see sequential pullbacks in all three major geographic regions (Macau, Las Vegas, and Boston). However, while a 3% year-over-year revenue decline is expected in Boston, we still want to see 2% growth in Vegas and consolidated growth of nearly 23% in Macau (Wynn Macau up 28% and Wynn Palace up about 19%). Occupancy commentary is important given the prolonged weakness in China and signs of further slowing here in the U.S. Disney : Management told us last quarter that the direct-to-consumer segment would see losses one more time in the third quarter, due to weakness at Disney+ Hotstar, before returning back to profitability by September. Is that still the case? What else is management seeing in terms of demand for experiences for its parks and cruises? That takes on extra salience with the market suddenly concerned about a recession. Eli Lilly : Outside of sales and earnings, diabetes and weight-loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound remain the two most important line items in the report since they are key to the long-term growth thesis that the stock is trading on. Demand for the drugs is obviously important, but lack of supply has been the bigger issue. How are management's efforts to boost supply coming along? Also welcome: An update on the Kisnula (donanemab) opportunity now that the Food and Drug Administration has approved the drug for some patients with early Alzheimer's symptoms. Monday, August 5 10:00 a.m. ET: ISM Services PMI Before the bell: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), Carlyle Group (CG), Krystal Biotech (KRYS), Tyson Foods (TSN), Alpha Metallurgical Resources (AMR), BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX), Freshpet (FRPT), Axsome Therapeutics (AXSM), BioNTech SE (BNTX) After the bell: Palantir Technologies (PLTR), Hims & Hers Health (HIMS), Clover Health (CLOV), Lucid Group (LCID), Realty Income Corp. (O), Avis Budget Group (CAR), CSX Corp. (CSX), Simon Property Group (SPG), Sterling Construction Company (STRL), Teradata Corp (TDC), Yum China Holdings (YUMC), ZoomInfo Technologies (ZI) Tuesday, August 6 Before the bell: Uber Technologies (UBER), Celsius Holdings (CELH), fuboTV (FUBO), Caterpillar (CAT), Baxter International (BAX), Vulcan Materials Company (VMC), Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI), Constellation Energy Group (CEG), Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC), Owens Corning Inc (OC), CLEAR Secure (YOU), Organon (OGN), Duke Energy Corp. (DUK), Zoetis (ZTS), GXO Logistics (GXO), Yum! Brands (YUM), Planet Fitness (PLNT), Kenvue (KVUE), Builders FirstSource (BLDR) After the bell: Wynn Resorts Ltd (WYNN) , Supermicro (SMCI), Rivian Automotive (RIVN), Airbnb (ABNB), Devon Energy Corp. (DVN), Reddit (RDDT), GigaCloud Technology Inc (GCT), Upstart Holdings (UPST), Amgen (AMGN), Axon Enterprise (AXON), AMSC (AMSC), Fortinet (FTNT), Lumen Technologies (LUMN), Illumina (ILMN), VF Corp (VFC), Coupang (CPNG) Wednesday, August 7 Before the bell: Walt Disney Co (DIS) , Shopify (SHOP), Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO), CVS Health (CVS), Global Payments (GPN), Aurora Cannabis Inc (ACB), Emerson Electric Co. (EMR), Sony Group Corporation (SONY), Lyft (LYFT), Dynatrace, Inc (DT), ODP Corporation (ODP), NOW (DNOW), Icahn Enterprises L.P. (IEP), MannKind Corp (MNKD), Oscar Health (OSCR), ACM Research (ACMR), Brink's Company (BCO) After the bell: Robinhood Markets (HOOD), Magnite (MGNI), AppLovin Corporation (APP), Digital Turbine (APPS), Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT), HubSpot (HUBS), Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY), Energy Transfer LP (ET), Dutch Bros (BROS), Fastly (FSLY), SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG), Aspen Aerogels (ASPN), Coeur D'Alene Mines Corp. (CDE) Thursday, August 8 8:30 a.m. ET: Initial Jobless Claims Before the bell: Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) , Vistra Energy (VST), Datadog (DDOG), Plug Power (PLUG), Cheniere Energy (LNG), Novavax (NVAX), Cronos Group (CRON), CyberArk (CYBR), Himax Technologies (HIMX), Medical Properties Trust Inc (MPW), SharkNinja (SN), Krispy Kreme (DNUT), Papa John's International (PZZA) After the bell: SoundHound AI (SOUN), e.l.f. Beauty (ELF), Unity (U), Paramount Global (PARA), Trade Desk (TTD), Rocket Lab USA (RKLB), CleanSpark (CLSK), Array Technologies Inc (ARRY), B2Gold Corp. (BTG), Sweetgreen (SG), Honest Company (HNST), Gilead Sciences (GILD), TaskUs (TASK), Five9 (FIVN) Friday, August 9 Before the bell: Canopy Growth Corporation (CGC), Nikola Corporation (NKLA), Embraer (ERJ), New Fortress Energy LLC (NFE), Construction Partners (ROAD) (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. In Disney and Pixar's "Inside Out 2," Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust meet new emotions. Disney | Pixar

Metro Bank returns from the brink but tough road lies ahead 2024-08-04 14:25:00+00:00 - Metro Bank bosses are breathing a sigh of relief. Less than a year after the bank was forced into the arms of a Colombian billionaire as part of a £925m rescue deal, it is coming back from the brink. A forecast by the bank last week that it would return to profitability by the end of the year sent shares up more than 35% to 55p, marking their strongest weekly gain since the bank’s IPO in 2016. But it has not been an easy road. Over the past 10 months, Metro Bank has had to shed more than 1,000 staff and cut back on its famous seven-day openings to slash costs. And under the direction of its new wealthy majority shareholder, it is about to completely change its business model with a brand new blueprint untried on UK shores. Whether this will help it rise like a phoenix from its near-failure, or fuel an identity crisis, remains to be seen. But Metro Bank has always taken chances. When it burst on to the scene as the UK’s first new high street bank in a century in 2010, its Trump-supporting billionaire founder Vernon Hill pitched the bank as a rebel among stingy rivals, pumping cash into seven-day openings and extravagant dog-friendly branches. It held massive launch parties for its new sites, and welcomed new staff with American-style exuberance that ended in team-building conga lines – all at a time when competitors such as Lloyds, Barclays and NatWest were cutting back. But tumultuous times were ahead. Over the subsequent 14 years, Metro managed to miss out on a digital banking boom and fuel controversy over financial ties to the founder’s family business. In 2019, it breached UK regulations with a major accounting blunder that led to a mini-bank run and forced Hill to resign as chair. It also dashed hopes of more lenient capital rules that might have helped Metro compete with larger rivals, prompting panic last autumn that led to the bank being scooped up by Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal, who now owns 53% of the lender. Bacal, who made his fortune flipping assets of struggling lenders in Latin America, is pushing Metro on to an untrodden business path, albeit a path that positions Metro as an opportunist rather than a rebel. For one, Metro is ditching its former identity as feisty rival to high street lenders such as HSBC, Nationwide and TSB, competing for a share of the retail mortgage market. That decision was punctuated last month by the sale of £2.5bn of its £7.5bn mortgage portfolio to NatWest, with the rest scheduled to be run off over the next five years, by borrowers either paying off their mortgages or remortgaging with another provider. Instead, Metro’s chief executive, Daniel Frumkin, said it would be running in a pack of UK specialist lenders. “We compete a little bit with the high street banks today. And in the future, we need to compete more with the Paragons, the OSBs, the Shawbrooks, Hampshire Trusts … We need to start to do a little bit less volume and a little bit more margin.” That means shifting out of run-of-the mill lending, and aiming for a new mix: with 70% of its loans aimed at small and medium-size businesses, and 30% at specialist mortgages involved in shared ownership, buy-to-let, and high-net-worth individuals paid in bonuses rather than salaries. Unlike the specialists, however, Metro will keep its network of expensive high street branches, decked out in imported Canadian wood and Italian marble. When asked how this could possibly succeed, when no other model like it existed, Frumkin said: “That’s why it’ll be a success. I’m not copying anybody else. This is this is clear blue water for us.” 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 Part of that strategy is undoubtedly due to long and expensive leases on those high street properties, which have left it with £234m in liabilities on its balance sheet. Yet Frumkin insisted it would give Metro the upper hand, particularly in attracting small businesses in the north of England. Casting around for analogies, Frumkin said: “The reality is a lot of the specialists are rugby sevens … Whereas Metro is a full-size England rugby team. And that is our difference … We can do the niche stuff like the specialists, but we can also compete across the whole pitch. “We can do corporate, we can do commercial, we can do asset finance, invoice finance. We can do retail, we can compete across the whole pitch, and we’re the only mid-tier [firm] that can do that.” Metro will still have to prove its strategy can deliver results. As the RBC analyst Benjamin Toms put it: “Execution on the plan from here is key.”

Apple's Earnings Beat, AI Excitement, App Store Crackdown, And More: This Week In Appleverse - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) 2024-08-04 14:22:00+00:00 - The past week was a whirlwind for Apple Inc. AAPL, with a mix of highs and lows. From exceeding Q3 earnings expectations to a slight dip in China’s revenue, the tech giant made headlines. Let’s delve into the key stories that shaped Apple’s week. Apple’s Q3 Earnings Surpass Expectations Apple’s Q3 earnings report, released on Thursday, surpassed market expectations. The company’s revenue grew year-over-year, with all product categories contributing to the strong performance. However, the company’s shares fell by 1.08% to $216 in after-hours trading, largely due to modest performances in China and the Mac sector. Read the full article here. Tim Cook Enthused by Apple Intelligence’s ‘Transformative’ Capabilities Despite a 1% year-over-year decline in iPhone revenue, CEO Tim Cook expressed excitement over the company’s innovations. He highlighted the transformative potential of Apple Intelligence in unlocking new ways of working and learning. Read the full article here. See Also: Elon Musk Blocked ‘Vampires’ Fame James Woods For Slamming His Blocking Ban Apple Tightens Grip on Tencent and ByteDance Over App Store Fees Apple has ramped up efforts to ensure Tencent Holdings Ltd. and ByteDance Ltd. comply with its 30% commission policy. The company has demanded that these firms close loopholes that allow in-app creators to bypass Apple’s commission. Read the full article here. Apple Patents Novel Camera System for Vehicles Despite shelving its Apple Car project earlier this year, Apple has patented a unique camera system for vehicles. The system uses cameras instead of rearview mirrors to capture external surroundings and projects the feed onto the car’s windshield. Read the full article here. First iPhone 16 Models to Miss Out on AI Features Apple’s first iPhone 16 models may not include the new AI features, requiring a software update weeks later. The company plans to introduce Apple Intelligence to customers as part of software updates by October. Read the full article here. This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Rounak Jain Read Next: Amid Nvidia And Other Chip Stock Surge, Expert Warns ‘If Excitement And Investment In AI Slow, Chip Industry Growth Will Slow Too’ Photo courtesy: Shutterstock

UK food industry says lack of testing capacity forcing imports back to EU for checks 2024-08-04 14:01:00+00:00 - Imported food coming into the UK through Brexit border posts is being sent back to Europe to be tested due to a lack of laboratory capacity in Britain, food bodies have said. The SPS Certification Working Group, which represents 30 trade bodies covering £100bn worth of the UK’s food supply, has written to the government warning that members are being advised that some samples of imported foods are being sent to countries such as Germany to be tested before they can be released at the border. It has said the lack of lab facilities was causing extra costs, longer delays and a shorter shelf life for food coming into the UK. The letter, which was sent to the new environment secretary, Steve Reed, last week, comes three months after the government introduced new post-Brexit checks on animal and plant products coming into Britain. The checks at border control posts situated near UK ports, which were brought in on 30 April, aim to enhance Britain’s biosecurity and stop the introduction of diseases into the UK from the continent. In some cases, these checks require samples of food being taken to be tested in labs for microbial or chemical analysis, or to check the authenticity of a product. However, the UK is now facing a shortage in laboratory capabilities and is more reliant on international partners for help with sample testing. In a separate circular put out this month, Robin May, the Food Standard Agency’s chief scientific adviser, said he had concerns about the UK’s diminishing official laboratory capability. The SPS Working Group letter states that in some cases samples are being sent to UK laboratories and then forwarded on to facilities in Europe, without knowledge or consent of the originating food business. The body added: “This requires raising an export health certificate to export the sample to the EU laboratory, representing additional cost, delay, loss of shelf life, and viability of the use of the foodstuff, as particularly if short shelf life, results can also be too late to be of any practical value.” The SPS Working Group was formed three years ago and includes a number of food businesses, from farmers to food producers and hauliers. Members include the Fresh Produce Consortium, Chilled Food Association, Dairy UK and the Road Haulage Association. Their letter also highlights 18 other issues with the border process which it says are disrupting trade between the EU and Britain. These include complaints that the opening times of most border control posts are too restricted and not conducive to 24/7 trade, while there is also a lack of 24-hour helplines for importers needing help. The government’s Sevington border control post in Ashford, Kent, which serves imports coming through the Port of Dover, is the only 24/7 border post. The letter also took aim at the costs being levied on importers bringing animal products from the continent, arguing that in some cases the high charges render some imports commercially unviable. Importers of food and plants have been hit by the charges on new border checks, with some logistics firms saying the changes have added up to 60% to transport costs. 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 It said: “EU exporters have stated that on expiry of current supply contracts they will review whether to continue to supply Great Britain given the new regime and associated issues.” The letter also included analysis that revealed that UK food companies had forked out more than £205m on export health certificates since it left the single market. After the UK officially left the single market at the start of 2021, the EU made it a requirement for exporters of foods of animal origin to have vets check consignments and sign export health certificates (EHCs) before they could be sent. The SPS analysis, which is based on freedom of information requests to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), found that more than 1m EHCs had been requested by exporters. The UK brought in reciprocal measures in January, raising fears that some EU firms may abandon exporting to the UK owing to the extra costs and bureaucracy. The UK government said it was confident it had testing laboratory capacity and it was common for laboratories to subcontract to other laboratories in instances where specialist testing was needed. It added: “Protecting UK biosecurity remains one of our key priorities, and we are working with border control posts to ensure they operate effectively and with traders to ensure checks are completed efficiently, swiftly, and without significant delays. “We’re looking to improve the UK’s trade and investment relationship with the EU and will take a pragmatic approach to support businesses.”

'Never quit your job,' says early retiree and self-made multimillionaire: Do this instead 2024-08-04 13:56:00+00:00 - If you're considering leaving your job, here's Dogen's best advice to follow in his footsteps. That's what Dogen did more than a decade ago. Rather than leaving, he engineered a layoff that netted him three months of his base salary plus a low six-figure severance check. That money, combined with the $80,000 a year he was earning in passive income at the time, allowed him to transition into early retirement. That he stayed only four months at the new gig is its own story — but it's also worth noting that by leaving so abruptly, he bucked a piece of his own advice: "Never quit your job," Dogen says. "Get laid off." Dogen, 47, has lived as a retired, stay-at-home dad since 2012, boosting his annual passive income to about $380,000 by 2023 through a mix of stocks, bonds, real estate and other investments. He returned to work late last year after selling a big chunk of his portfolio to fund the purchase of a new home. For one, it was his first gig since 2012. For most people, that wouldn't be much of a story, but for the millionaire founder of Financial Samurai, a couple of details stand out. How you manage leaving your job is going to depend on your specific circumstances. For Dogen, 2012 marked the end of his rope after 13 years in the investment banking industry. He'd built enough passive income outside the office to feel comfortable leaving, and he knew he wanted to go. DON'T MISS: Achieve Financial Wellness: Be Happier, Wealthier & More Financially Secure He also knew the kind of power he wielded as an employee on his way out the door. "As a previous boss myself, the worst thing that can happen is when an employee of value quits and gives you two weeks notice or less," he says. Here's how to leverage that power into the job departure you want. Communicate your unhappiness Get the ball rolling by letting the right people know that you are unhappy with your current role, Dogen says. "You basically have to talk to HR or talk to your direct supervisor, say, 'I'm not happy here, I'd like to make some changes,'" he says. "Ultimately, I'd like to leave if these changes are not met." In doing so, you create a win-win situation, Dogen says, because there's a chance that your superiors are willing to meet your needs. "They might give you a raise. They might give you more flexible hours. Sweet!" he says. "No employer wants someone whose heart is not in it anymore." Offer to ease the transition If your company can't meet your demands, pivot the conversation toward the possibility of you leaving while making life easy on your employer. "Let's figure something out," Dogen says you might say. "I'm willing to stay as long as possible to help make the transition. But in light of that, let's talk about a severance package." Dogen stayed on for two months after having this conversation with his boss in 2012, spending that time training his junior hire and introducing him to his clients. If you're willing to do something similar, "more often than not, your employer will work with you — especially if you're a better than average employee," Dogen says. Negotiate a layoff Ask if your company is planning on doing a round of layoffs, and if you can be included. Under the WARN Act, companies with 100 or more employees (fewer in some states) must provide 60 days warning before conducting a mass layoff. In lieu of that warning, firms owe compensation to the affected employees, generally equivalent to 60 days of base pay. On top of any WARN Act pay you may receive, Dogen suggests negotiating further for a severance payment. "The standard is one to three weeks of pay for every year served," he says. And negotiating a layoff, rather than quitting, goes beyond a cash payout, Dogen says. "If you get laid off, you get unemployment benefits. You get a severance package, deferred comp, subsidized health care. You get tons of stuff that gives you a huge financial runway for your next endeavor." Want to stop worrying about money? Sign up for CNBC's new online course Achieve Financial Wellness: Be Happier, Wealthier & More Financially Secure. We'll teach you the psychology of money, how to manage stress and create healthy habits, and simple ways to boost your savings, get out of debt and invest for the future. Start today and use code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off through September 2, 2024. Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It's newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.

Retiring Corvette 'godfather' on EVs, spinoff and a performance SUV 2024-08-04 13:56:00+00:00 - In this article GM Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 Coupe with ZTK Performance Package. DETROIT — Tadge Juechter's first "taste" of Corvette working at General Motors was to research whether there were enough Americans who could afford a new high-performance model of the famed sports car, known as the ZR1, back in 1985. Nearly 40 years later, not only are there enough people to afford such a vehicle, but GM's new 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 stands as something of a coup de grace for Juechter, who retired Wednesday after roughly 47 years with the Detroit automaker. The so-called "godfather" of the modern Corvette retired roughly a week after helping to introduce the new 2025 Corvette ZR1 — the most powerful and fastest version of the car ever produced. "One thing all the great Corvettes of recent years and decades have had in common is you. Your knowledge, your skills, your hard work, your passion," GM President Mark Reuss told Juechter when revealing the vehicle. "Thank you for making Corvette the glorious American sports car it remains. Thank you for making our company better." GM President Mark Reuss (left) on stage with Tadge Juechter, retiring Corvette executive chief engineer, during the reveal of the 2025 Chevy Corvette ZR1 on July 25, 2024. Screenshot Reuss announced last month that all 2025 Corvettes and beyond will feature a silhouette profile of Juechter's head etched in window locations and the front tunnel reinforcement panel beneath every Corvette CNBC interviewed Juechter, 67, ahead of his retirement, touching on his career as well as the business of Corvette, including plans for an all-electric version and the potential of spinning off the brand and for an SUV. Electric Corvette GM has said an all-electric Corvette is coming, but it hasn't given a time frame. Last year, the automaker introduced a hybrid version of the car called the E-Ray. Juechter wasn't inclined to disclose any details of an upcoming Corvette EV, but he believes the E-Ray proves GM can successfully electrify Corvette. "Electrification can be a wonderful contributor to cars. I embrace efficiency. … We're passionate about efficiency in everything that we do," he said. "Efficiency makes a good sports car, too. So, I think electrification is just another technology, and we have to figure out how to play that technology in a way that resonates with our customers. 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray hybrid sports car GM "E-Ray is the first step. We think long term, you know, decades long term. Yes, General Motors committed to 100% electrification, and it's our job as engineers to figure out what's the way to get there. We're businesspeople, too. We have to bring our customers with us." Juechter said there's been some "natural push back" to electrified Corvettes from the sports car's fan base. "We're hoping maybe the E-Ray warms them to maybe this electrification thing's not so bad," he said. Corvette spinoff and SUV Wall Street analysts have said GM could better leverage the Corvette brand by expanding models and, to an extent, sales. In late 2019, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said a Corvette sub-brand could be worth between $7 billion and $12 billion. That has raised questions around whether Corvette would be better spun off from parent GM. But Juechter doesn't necessarily believe that's the way to go. "I don't know if we need to spin off. I mean, Corvette's at the heart of Chevrolet. It's a pure business play. If you've got this brand equity, you can just keep it at home or you can choose to try to monetize it and put it outside. "General Motors historically hasn't done that. We embrace our important franchises, and this is a really important franchise," he said. Tadge Juechter, retiring Corvette executive chief engineer, during the reveal of the 2025 Chevy Corvette ZR1 on July 25, 2024. Screenshot Regarding leveraging the brand for future products such as an SUV, which has been under consideration for several years, that's a little different, Juechter said, declining to confirm that any such plans or considerations exist. "How you leverage it. That's a question for the future. You see the models we're rolling out. We're making the maximum of this mid-engine architecture. And, you know, I've made no secret I work on EVs, too, and trying to bring some of the performance spirit into the EV space. How that gets applied in the future and how it gets branded, that's a story for another day," he said. The concept of a performance car brand producing a SUV or crossover would have been blasphemous years ago, but several brands such as Porsche, Lamborghini and even Ferrari have done so as consumer preference has moved away from the traditional car model. Favorite Corvette Juechter has been a part of four separate generations of Corvette – from the fourth-generation ZR1 to the new mid-engine, eighth-generation of the sports car. The first Corvette he purchased for himself was the sixth-generation 2006 Corvette Z06. "It's hard to pick a favorite. It's like what's your favorite child. Actually, it's harder than who's your favorite child. Anyway, I won't get into parenting, but every one of these cars we pour our heart and soul into and they all have their specialness about them. "I don't know. I can't pick one. If I'm forced to pick one, I say money talks. I bought that Z06. I put my own money down on that car. … That car was very special to me," Juechter said. Juechter said he wasn't planning on purchasing the Corvette, but he saw a "fully decked out one" coming off the line at the Corvette plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and said that he had to have it. 2020 Chevrolet Corvette GM

Drugstores tinker with new looks as their usual way of doing business faces challenges 2024-08-04 12:27:30+00:00 - America’s drugstores are testing smaller locations and more ways to offer care as price-sensitive shoppers look elsewhere. Customers may see Walgreens stores that are one-fourth the size of a regular location or CVS drugstores with entire primary clinics stuffed inside. If these experiments succeed, the new stores might improve access to care and create a more lasting connection with customers, analysts say. “Everyone looks at health care and says, ‘Oh yeah, it’s a market that’s ripe for disruption,’” said Neil Saunders, managing director of consulting and data analysis firm GlobalData. “But it isn’t easy to disrupt.” Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth said recently that his company could close a “significant portion” of underperforming stores in the next few years. CVS Health is going through a round of closings. Rite Aid has filed for bankruptcy. Thousands of independent drugstores have closed over the past five years. The closures can leave gaps: An Associated Press analysis published in June found that urban neighborhoods that are majority Black and Latino have fewer pharmacies per capita than white majority neighborhoods. There are still more than 30,000 drugstores scattered around the country, but even Walgreens executives admit that the market is overbuilt. The stores have struggled with increased competition from Amazon and lower-price options like Walmart or Dollar Tree. They’re also dealing with theft, growing costs and thinner prescription reimbursement. Some are responding with new looks. Walgreens is testing a store in Chicago that has digital kiosks where customers place orders. A separate desk offers pickup of items ordered at the kiosks or online. The company also has opened about 100 mini drugstores focused on health and wellness and featuring store-brand merchandise. Walgreens started testing these stores in 2019 and plans to add more this year. Walgreens spokesman Jim Cohn said shopper preferences are shifting, and the company aims “to meet them where, when and how they want to shop.” Saunders notes these stores are less expensive to run and allow the company to serve areas without enough people to support a bigger store. At one of these locations in Indianapolis, only four short aisles separate the front door and the pharmacy counter in the back. Healthy snacks, vitamins, first aid supplies, and the usual mix of antacids and Advil fill its shelves. But there are no magazines and only small selections of greeting cards and beauty products at the store, which is closed on Sundays and sits about a half mile from a vacant Walgreens. Customer Leonard King has visited several times. He says his prescriptions are ready on time, and the store seems to have decent supplies. “Being a diabetic, sometimes medicines are hard to get,” the 67-year-old Indianapolis resident said. But King also said he misses being able to shop for things like toiletry items that can be found at bigger stores. The selection of retail items also is smaller at some CVS Health stores that include Oak Street Health primary care clinics. The company plans to open about 25 of these combinations this year and 11 more next year, with either full-sized or smaller clinics n the stores. The clinics can have primary care doctors, social workers and people to help with insurance coverage. They specialize in treating patients with Medicare Advantage plans, which are privately run versions of the government’s coverage program mostly for people age 65 and older. CVS Health says it is putting the clinics in areas that need primary care. It is targeting big cities like Chicago, New York and Dallas with its initial rollout. “If we can invest more upfront for the patients who need it, by increasing access, improving quality of care, we can keep patients healthier,” company executive Mike Pykosz said. Making things easier for patients helps build relationships between store staff and customers and can lead to repeat business, noted Arielle Trzcinski, a principal analyst at Forrester who covers health care. Independent drugstores also have been polishing their health care reputations. They are expanding immunizations and testing, spurred partly by increased business they saw during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Kurt Proctor of the National Community Pharmacists Association. Some also are adding doctor’s offices or specializing in diabetes care. Proctor said they are doing what they have always done: adapting to community needs. “There are 19,000 (independent) stores across the country and no two of them are exactly alike,” he said. Diving into health care isn’t new for drugstores. They started adding small clinics more than 20 years ago. CVS Health has been on a health kick since it quit selling tobacco in 2014. As many as a quarter of drugstores could eventually wind up with big health clinics, especially those located in densely populated areas, said Jeff Jonas, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds who follows the industry. But he cautioned that the idea is still unproven. Walgreens has closed VillageMD primary care clinics just a few years after it launched plans to add hundreds to its stores. Analysts say companies are still learning what makes money and resonates with customers. One thing they know for certain: Drugstores are no longer “America’s convenience destination” like they used to be, Saunders said. “That really, over the past 10 to 15 years, has unwound,” he said. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

A simple solution to Rachel Reeves’ spending cuts? Stop subsidising the banks 2024-08-04 12:03:00+00:00 - Well that didn’t take long. Less than a month after becoming chancellor Rachel Reeves has gone native at the Treasury, putting a red pencil to plans for new hospitals, roads and rail projects that the government says it can’t afford. The latest to bite the dust is the £800m for an exascale supercomputer at the University of Edinburgh and a further £500m for the AI Research Resource, which funds computing power for AI. This is beyond depressing. Britain is good at cutting edge science and is third only to the US and China when it comes to the development of AI. We are talking here about the growth industries of the future and if Labour wants the UK to break out of its low-productivity trap – as it claims it does – then these are precisely the sorts of initiatives that should be backed rather than canned. However Reeves seeks to dress it up, her cuts to investment spending are in direct conflict with the government’s aim of improving the economy’s growth performance. It is austerity by any other name. Reeves says “if we can’t afford it, we can’t do it”, making it clear that as far as she is concerned that is the end of the matter. Her definition of what can and can’t be afforded is determined by whether or not arbitrary rules governing the conduct of the state’s finances are met or not. In essence, there are two main rules: that debt should be falling as a percentage of national income between the fourth and fifth year according to forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility. The second is that the government’s spending should not exceed its revenue by more than 3% of GDP five years ahead. Taken together, the rules favour short-term decisions over longer-term assessments of what might be good for the economy, and make no distinction between capital spending and current spending on the day-to-day running of the state. It is a lot easier to scrap future investment spending than it is to cut current spending, which is why chancellors – Reeves being the latest – invariably go for that option. Let’s be clear. There is nothing stopping the government finding £1.3bn for a new supercomputer and AI research, just as it is perfectly feasible to abolish the two-child benefit limit and to raise the social care cap. It could even do so without changing the fiscal rules provided it is prepared to stop paying banks interest in full on the balances they hold at the Bank of England. Here’s what going on. Since 2006, the Bank of England has paid interest on the reserve balances of commercial banks as a way of setting interest rates for the whole economy. The idea is that the banks won’t be inclined to lend to their customers at a lower rate of interest than they get from the Bank of England. Initially, this had little impact because the reserve balances of the commercial banks were small. But the balances ballooned as a result of two big waves of bond-buying by the Bank of England, firstly during the global financial crisis of 2008-09 and again in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Under these two bouts of quantitative easing, totalling almost £900bn, the Bank of England bought bonds from the banks in return for cash. This cash was parked at the Bank of England. For more than a decade, the potential costs of remunerating reserves were hidden by low interest rates. Official borrowing costs were reduced to 0.5% in early 2009 and stayed pretty much at that level for the next 12 years. For a £2.5tn economy, paying £4bn-5bn a year interest on the commercial banks reserves was chicken feed. But as the economist Gerry Holtham pointed out in 2021, it would be a different story if, for any reason, the Bank of England found it necessary to raise interest rates back to more normal levels. 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 This is, of course, precisely what happened. Between December 2021 and August 2023 the Bank of England raised interest rates 14 times, taking them to 5.25%. Threadneedle Street is now paying 5% interest on £700bn of bank reserves at cost to the exchequer of £35bn a year. Holtham and others – including Paul Tucker, a former deputy governor at the Bank of England – say it is not necessary to continue bunging the banks such a massive subsidy. Interest rates could still be controlled by remunerating a fraction of the reserves of the commercial banks. For example, if Reeves decided to pay interest on only one-third of the reserves it would save her just over £22bn a year and fill the “black hole” in the government’s finances without the need for spending cuts or tax rises. She could also reduce the national debt by about £400bn at a stroke. Other central banks – including the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan – operate a system of tiered rates so it is perfectly feasible for the Bank of England to do the same. Labour’s fear of upsetting the City of London – heightened by the punishment meted out by the financial markets to Liz Truss during her ill-fated premiership – means the banks are likely to continue to get their colossal handouts from the taxpayer. Reeves would have to face down criticism that she was imposing a tax on the banks by the back door which the banks would claw back from their customers. This is not the easiest thing in the world for an incoming Labour government to do. But if the choice is between paying the banks 5% interest on their Bank of England current accounts or investing in the future it really should be no contest.

Chevrolet dealership’s The Office-inspired TikTok series goes viral 2024-08-04 12:01:00+00:00 - A mysterious person leaving miniature ducks around the office. An employee who eats the food at a potluck lunch without making his own contribution. An award that goes to a worker’s head. A throwback to paperwork when the computers go down. Or my favorite: a visit to another showroom in “disguise” to check out the competition. It’s The Dealership, a weekly TikTok series brought to you by Mohawk Chevrolet. It’s filmed just like the popular TV show The Office. And it’s a hit, gaining close to 6m views in just the past couple of months. Mohawk may be selling Chevrolets. But its marketing team is producing a Ferrari. The Dealership is the brainchild of the recent college grad Grace Kerber, who handles the scripting, directing, graphic design, strategy and planning of the show’s content. According to one episode, Kerber is also a choreographer, but pay that no mind. Viewers just know her as Grace, the protagonist of the series who coincidentally looks like Dawn, the original receptionist from Ricky Gervais’s UK show. “Me and my teammate Ben Bushen make the episodes,” Kerber told the social media strategist Rachel Karten in a blog profiling the series. “We will have an idea (sometimes inspired from real life events at Mohawk) and think it through to get a loose storyboard of what the episode will be about.” Kerber says she helps direct everyone, “but they’re all so naturally hilarious they don’t even need it”. What makes the series so special? Kerber is endearing. Jasmine, Lukas, Michael, Ben, Justin, George and the other employees whose day jobs are selling and servicing cars are actually not so bad at play-acting, particularly when you realize that they’re doing it all by improvisation. Ben’s shaky camera and realistic lighting (no small feat) really does resemble the look and feel of The Office. The sound is surprisingly professional. Sure, the show lacks polish. But the episodes – which are generally under five minutes – are true to their theme. And there are definitely funny moments. Like Kerber’s presentation to her boss for ways to improve the showroom (“plants” and “inspiration writing on the wall”) that inadvertently includes a drawing of her crush at the other showroom she visited. Her love of ‘rados (as in the Chevy Silverado and Colorado … get it?). Her inability to gracefully get in or out of the trucks her dealership sells, despite her aim to target more women buyers. Even the team’s tongue-in-cheek response to their computer systems being down (a likely nod to the June ransomware attack that crippled thousands of auto dealerships across the country) showed how they respond to a problem with poise …and humor. Kerber says that the series’ focus is “promoting our dealership in a way that most dealerships don’t” with the end result of selling more cars. And, given the increased online traffic created by their videos, I don’t doubt that. But Mohawk has succeeded in a much more important way: showing not only customers, but prospective employees how great it is to work there. All I hear from my clients are complaints about the tight labor market and their challenges attracting and retaining good talent. I’m not sure how easy it is for a car dealership in upstate New York to find and motivate employees. But after watching The Dealership, who wouldn’t want to work at Mohawk? The people there seem great. These are people you’d like to hang out with and have a laugh, and they come across as caring workers. I’m not sure you’d find a lot of “quiet quitters” at this place. If anything, Kerber is single-handedly destroying the argument for working from home. Great businesses like Mohawk have great cultures, and you can’t just do that remotely. While Kerber deservedly gets the credit for this successful marketing campaign, let’s not ignore the company’s owner, Andrew Guelcher, who (I’m assuming) greenlighted the project. More than a few of my clients would have rejected the idea of paying for equipment and then tying up their employees for hours each week to make a TikTok video series, let alone going along with the vision of someone just nine months out of college. Like the series’s inspiration, will we one day see Guelcher burning his foot on a George Foreman grill? An office Olympics? A cameo from Steve Carell himself? With this kind of audience, and Kerber’s ingenuity, I wouldn’t be surprised. One thing I’m certain will happen: an uptick in sales and a line of people wanting to work at Mohawk Chevrolet.

Business is good in ‘Vacationland.’ It would be even better with more housing. 2024-08-04 12:00:00+00:00 - Some of that is changing. A recent homebuilding spurt has helped boost inventories, TD Bank analysts said in June, but Maine still has “lower than average supply levels, which we expect will lead to above average price gains in 2024.” The state’s rental availability has lagged the nation’s since 2019, and nearly half of tenants are “cost burdened,” spending at least 30% of their income on housing. “It’s a really big worry,” Hobbs said. “You cannot have a strong and prosperous economy without affordable housing.” You cannot have a strong and prosperous economy without affordable housing. Kelsi Hobbs, assistant professor of economics, University of Maine Unlike other parts of Maine, where populations swing sharply with seasonal tourism, the state’s Midcoast region, which includes Rockland, has plenty of full-time residents, said Shannon Landwehr, who leads the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce. “There are people who want to work, who want to be here — want to live here, want to be part of the businesses that are here — who are struggling to find the housing,” she said. Landwehr worries about sustaining the “diversity of the population” needed to power the economy and keep the area desirable for both residents and visitors if the problem deepens: “We’ll start to see kind of a division, if you will, of who’s here.”

Market Crash? No Problem for DoorDash Stock's Impressive Earnings 2024-08-04 11:00:00+00:00 - Investors are now worried about the market crashing, with the U.S. 10-year treasury bond finally breaking below a 4% yield for the first time since the Federal Reserve (the Fed) started hiking interest rates to combat inflation and a red-hot economy. The S&P 500 is trading lower by up to 1.5% as weak economic data starts coming in for August. The hopes of an interest rate cut, as high as they may be, aren’t enough to keep the market afloat. DoorDash Today DASH DoorDash $117.23 +9.03 (+8.35%) 52-Week Range $69.90 ▼ $143.34 Price Target $142.38 Add to Watchlist According to the CME’s FedWatch tool, the Fed is over 90% certain to cut interest rates by September 2024. However, that won’t be soon enough, considering the ISM Manufacturing PMI index just delivered its 21 consecutive contraction reading, and the employment situation report (NFP) just delivered another blow to the economy. However, one stock is bringing a double-digit upside in the middle of the worst economic environment in the cycle today. Get DoorDash alerts: Sign Up That stock is DoorDash Inc. NASDAQ: DASH. Its shares are trading higher by as much as 10% to defy the weak jobs and manufacturing data, a bullish reaction to the company’s second-quarter 2024 earnings results. Most expected a consumer discretionary stock like DoorDash to suffer from inflation and unemployment pressures. Still, this company had much more to give. DoorDash Stock Paves the Way to Multi-Bagger Potential Most in the market would look to Uber Technologies Inc. NYSE: UBER when finding stock in the food delivery industry. Still, that company has already gone through its growth equity phase and is now on large capitalization status. Uber's $122.6 billion market cap shows what could be ahead for DoorDash, which is only a $48.3 billion company. One main characteristic that makes DoorDash a young company is its financials, particularly the cash flow statement. Posting net losses is commonplace for a stock like this one, as it typically burns through cash to make ends meet. It's the riskiest part of the cycle but potentially the most rewarding. DoorDash MarketRank™ Stock Analysis Overall MarketRank™ 3.79 out of 5 Analyst Rating Moderate Buy Upside/Downside 21.5% Upside Short Interest Healthy Dividend Strength N/A Sustainability N/A News Sentiment 0.45 Insider Trading Selling Shares Projected Earnings Growth 1,585.71% See Full Details Even as revenue grew by 23% over the past 12 months, driven by a 19% increase in delivery orders, DoorDash still posted net operating losses of $201 million, which are still better than the $211 million lost last year. Of course, this leads to a net loss per share of $0.38, far from what investors want to see. However, the real upward trend is found in the business's operating cash flows, which reached just over $1 billion compared to only $790 million last year. Adjusting for capital expenditures of $40 million, investors can celebrate that DoorDash is on its way to consistent positive free cash flow status. It's only a short time before this is reflected in the company's earnings per share (EPS), and Wall Street knows this. Analysts forecast over 1,500% EPS growth in the next 12 months for DoorDash, expecting to see $1.18 per share for a significant swing from today's net losses. Significant Upside Remains for DoorDash Stock Leaning on this bullish evidence of DoorDash's results, those at Truist Financial felt comfortable enough to make their optimistic views public. Right after the earnings release, they stepped in to boost DoorDash stock's price target up to $150 a share, where it previously had a valuation of $145. To prove these new targets right, DoorDash needs to rally by an additional 28.3%, even accounting for the single-day 10% rally that came as the initial reaction to the earnings release. These analysts weren't the only ones on Wall Street looking to relay how bullish they are on DoorDash stock. Up to $4 billion in institutional capital made its way into DoorDash stock over the past 12 months, with a significant chunk coming from those at Price T Rowe Associates and Janus Henderson Group, which respectively reached a net investment of $753.3 million and $475.8 million. All told, DoorDash has a 90.6% institutional ownership rate. There is one additional technical point that investors can lean on today, one that solidifies the bullish trends ahead for DoorDash stock. As a sign of capitulation coming from the bearish side of the equation, DoorDash stock's short interest collapsed by 16.1% in the past month, opening the way for more bullish investors to take their place. Decrypting how markets feel about DoorDash stock today can also benefit investors looking to determine what might happen. To do this, investors need to check if the stock is a positive outlier among its peer group; this is done through valuation metrics. On a price-to-book (P/B) basis, DoorDash's 6.9x multiple commands a premium of 40% over the business services industry's average valuation of 4.9x today. There's always a good reason why stocks trade at valuation premiums, and now investors have a better idea. DoorDash, Inc. (DASH) Price Chart for Sunday, August, 4, 2024 Before you consider DoorDash, 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 DoorDash wasn't on the list. While DoorDash currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here

Has the Long Friendship of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett Reached Its Final Act? 2024-08-04 09:00:31+00:00 - In the summer of 1991, Mary Gates, the mother of the Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, convinced her workaholic 35-year-old son to spend the July 4 holiday at Hood Canal, a scenic, outdoorsy location about two hours from Seattle that had long been the family getaway. The Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, was among the guests. When Mrs. Gates tried to introduce her son to Mr. Buffett, however, he brushed her off, saying that he didn’t want to meet a “stockbroker.” But the two men hit it off immediately. Settling into a patterned couch, Mr. Buffett, dressed in a red polo shirt and dark trousers, his left foot propped up against the coffee table, and Mr. Gates in a tennis outfit — shorts and a white shirt, his white socks coming up to mid-calf, his mop of hair tousled — talked for 11 hours straight. The other guests had to pull them apart. Mr. Gates was surprised by the penetrating questions Mr. Buffett directed at him about the software business, and found himself warming to the avuncular Midwestern billionaire. The two have been close friends ever since. Once, recounting the story of their meeting to students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Mr. Gates called it an “unbelievable friendship.” Mr. Buffett quipped, “The moral of that is, listen to your mother.”

As Hundreds of Churches Sit Empty, Some Become Malls and Restaurants 2024-08-04 09:00:11.622000+00:00 - Lisa Tofano was baptized, confirmed and married at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church on Lake Opeka in Des Plaines, Ill. When she and her husband, John, visited the church last fall, however, it wasn’t to worship but rather to celebrate their 34th wedding anniversary at what the church had become: the Foxtail on the Lake, a restaurant. The transformation was not easy: The shuttered church needed an 18-month, $6 million gut renovation, and a new 3,000-square-foot kitchen, before it could start offering items like paella and beef shawarma, said David Villegas, a managing partner of Foxtail, who said he had been “a bit nervous” before the restaurant’s opening in November about the reaction of former parishioners. For Mrs. Tofano, though, “a church is more about the people than the building,” she said. Across the country, the number of empty churches and other houses of worship is sharply rising, and these structures, often unique architectural gems, have become huge draws for business owners.