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My husband and I quit our jobs and bought a 500-year-old hamlet in the French countryside. Here's how we transformed it into a successful rental business and our dream home. 2023-07-13 - Liz and Dave Murphy left their 9-to-5 jobs and traded their city home for a 17th-century hamlet. They split the cost of the site with Liz Murphy's mother and her husband, paying 215,000 euros each. Now the family lives in the hamlet and runs other properties on the site as vacation rentals. Get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in business, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley — delivered daily. Loading Something is loading. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Liz Murphy, a 45-year-old owner of Lac de Maison, a 17th-century French hamlet and holiday rental. The following has been edited for length and clarity. My husband, Dave, and I traded our detached house in Manchester for a 17th-century village in the French countryside in pursuit of a better quality of life. We both had 9-to-5 jobs in copywriting and marketing, and life had become a mad rush of food, baths, and bedtime. When COVID hit, we were both furloughed. It allowed us to reflect on our lives, and we realized how much time we'd missed with our kids, Charlotte and Tom, then 6 and 9. On a whim in August 2020, we began looking at gîte businesses — vacation-rental homes in France — that were available to purchase. We dreamed about escaping to the French countryside. The hamlet now has three operational gîtes. Liz Murphy We'd need a property with at least two gîtes to rent and two additional houses: one for our family and one for my mom, Helen, and her husband, Terry. By September we'd found 10 locations that met our requirements. Luckily, COVID-19 travel restrictions had lifted that month, so we flew to France and visited several sites. As soon as we pulled up the drive of Lac de Maison, a three-acre farmstead in the peaceful countryside of the Poitou-Charentes region, we knew it was the one. The hamlet sprawls three acres of land. Liz Murphy The 500-year-old hamlet comprised an owner's home and three operational gîtes, with other derelict buildings on the site that could be renovated into additional gîtes. It also had a beautiful garden with chickens and goats. We canceled the rest of our viewings and made an offer that day. We split the cost of the hamlet with my mom and her husband, who were joining us. The hamlet cost 430,000 euros in total. We paid 215,000 euros. We financed the purchase by selling our house in England. Any profits beyond the price of the property went toward renovations. The couple renovated old buildings into vacation rentals. Liz Murphy Though we finalized the property purchase on December 15, 2020, we didn't begin physically moving to France until January 2021. During that time, Brexit happened, changing all the rules and turning our move into a flurry of passports and spreadsheets. The move cost us around 6,000 euros. But by the beginning of 2021, all six of us were in France. We renovated 2 buildings while running the business Our family moved into the biggest gîte, while Mom and Terry took the old owner's home. Two weeks in, Mom and Terry realized that space wasn't suited to their purposes. And though we hadn't budgeted for it initially, they decided to pay for a renovation. One of the gîtes on the property. Liz Murphy What started as a new bathroom became a complete overhaul, down to the bricks. Mom and Terry returned to the UK for about eight months while we completed the work. We saved money by doing any labor we could — plaster, floor, roofs — an experience with a learning curve. We'd purchased the property knowing the previous owners had a couple of bookings for spring and five or six for the summer, including the gîte we were living in. So when Mom and Terry left, we moved into their house. We stayed in that house until the construction was so extensive that we had to move into a camper on the property that spring. The traditional French buildings date back 500 years. Liz Murphy At the same time, we began hosting guests — the first experience either Dave or I had in hospitality. The learning curve was steep, but since we both love people and had been on holiday before, we knew the kind of experience we wanted to deliver. By advertising where French people look for their holidays, we generated enough bookings to stay afloat. We also decided to remain open in the winter, when the property had previously not been open. All this was in preparation for renovating an old ruined barn into a four-bedroom gîte and taking over one of the existing gîtes as our home. The view from inside on of the gîtes. Liz Murphy In January 2022, we braced ourselves for a loss of income as we took the large gîte off the market, moved into it, and began construction on the ruin. This shell of a building had been empty for over 100 years — no rooms, no electricity, and no water. The interior of one of the gîtes available to rent. Liz Murphy Like with Mom and Terry's house, we did as much of the work as possible. We kept the original floors, and over nearly 10 months we turned everything around them into a new third gîte. While we exceeded our 80,000 euro budget, it's been worth the investment. Today all three gîtes are fully occupied seven days a week from May through the beginning of September and every weekend the rest of the year. The interior of one of the gîtes available to rent. Liz Murphy We're done renovating for now, but we continue to make minor tweaks to our residence, transforming it from a rental cottage into our home. Life in the countryside is wonderful This old farmstead is so different from our neighborhood in the UK. Our nearest neighbors are a quarter-mile, not a doorstep, away. A bigger village is just a bit down the road where the kids go to school. There's also a movie theater, a library, and a café. The kids have been in a French school since day one. For the first six months they despised us, the school — the whole enterprise. Two and a half years later, they're both thriving and fluent. The hamlet has lots of outdoor space and amenities. Liz Murphy Dave and I were lucky to meet the wife of our builder, a lovely English-French lady who helped us navigate the French bureaucracy — what I found to be the most challenging part of this entire process. For example, you must fill out forms to reregister your child for the same school, with the same teacher, every year, even if nothing changes. I think it's just because the French like paperwork. The children's play area on the property. Liz Murphy The B-and-B business allows us to live comfortably We didn't move to France to make money. We know we'll never be able to make as much here as we did with our big jobs in the city. But life is just better here. We can be there as our kids and my mom and Terry grow older. This business allows us to put family first. We essentially traded the value of our house in Manchester for Lac de Maison, and in the countryside your money goes so much further. We don't have to buy eggs — we've got them on-site. We knew that for the first two years we'd break even. This year we can save the money we're making in the summer to keep our income steady during the slower but still occupied winter months. An outdoor seating area for one of the gîtes. Liz Murphy With no more construction planned, we'll hopefully start to reap the rewards of the money we've plowed into the business next year. We've had our ups and downs, but it's been 100% worth it. Moving to France is the best decision we've ever made.

I make up to $9K a month on Taskrabbit. Many of my clients are people going through breakups and need help organizing their homes. 2023-07-13 - Vanessa Garcia works as a Taskrabbit in Los Angeles charging $75 an hour. She helps people going through breakups organize their homes and they frequently open up to her. Garcia says that clients often want to know its okay to let things go. Get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in business, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley — delivered daily. Loading Something is loading. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Vanessa Garcia, a 29-year-old who works as a Taskrabbit in Los Angeles, California. It has been edited for length and clarity. I've worked as a Taskrabbit for five years and in that time, I've helped people with a thousand little jobs – from personal assistant work to running errands to decorating – and can make anywhere from $4,000 to $9,000 per month. I normally charge $75 an hour. One thing I didn't expect was how many times I'd help people through a breakup. When people hire me after a breakup or even a divorce, they don't usually tell me up front what the situation is. But going into someone's home and helping them with organizational tasks is a really intimate thing and I try to be really friendly and open. That can lead to them telling me about the catalyst to my arrival. I've had people say, oh, I just got broken up with, or I'm ending a years-long marriage. You can kind of tell how much the breakup has affected them by the state of their house A home is a reflection of your mental and emotional state and if someone has been totally rocked by a break-up, their space tends to be really messy and sometimes even dirty. Sometimes there's trash everywhere and the person will say something like 'I've really been going through it and I haven't been able to bring myself to lift a finger around here.' I really do my best to stay as nonjudgmental as possible. Everyone is going through their own struggles and I'm there to help, not to judge. Once I'm done with my work and everything is organized and put away, it can feel like a clean slate. Clients tend to hang around while I organize They often talk about the relationship and what went wrong. Once or twice they've even cried. I've had clients tell me I should charge more because they got a therapy session out of the organization too — which is sweet. I like to think I'm helping people. Going through something like a breakup is hard enough emotionally without a stranger coming into your space. I want them to feel as comfortable as possible and to feel that I've really provided a service for them. Sometimes it goes too well — like the client who asked me out on a date after I helped her organize post-breakup. Sometimes I go through their ex-boyfriend or girlfriend's belongings for them although most of the time that just entails grabbing a box or bag and throwing most of it away. One time, both of the people involved in the breakup were around when I was organizing but it was pretty amicable. I don't know if they were just acting polite because I was there or if that's how they really were with each other. People want a clean slate This is what I've learned as I've helped people through life changes, break-ups, and divorces: people just want to get rid of things and start over. I try to create an organizational flow where it's simple enough that they can keep it up once I leave. It doesn't get more personal than going into someone's home and going through their stuff. I think that sometimes what they need more than my organizational skills is the permission I give them to throw things away. One client told me "I needed someone to tell me it was okay to let this go" and that's where I come in. If you're a gig worker and would like to share your story, email Jenna Gyimesi at jgyimesi@insider.com.

Some companies have demanded employees return to the office. The outcome is worse than we thought. 2023-07-13 - Many companies have started demanding employees come to the office again, and the results are bleak. Companies that instilled the mandate saw attrition rates jump and recruitment become more difficult. Giving employees the option to return could help the problem, as flexibility is now the new standard. Get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in business, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley — delivered daily. Loading Something is loading. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy We're now finding out the damaging consequences of the mandated return to office. And it's not a pretty picture. A trio of compelling reports — the Greenhouse Candidate Experience Report, the Federal Reserve's Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED), and Unispace's "Returning for Good" report — collectively paint a stark picture of this brewing storm. Unispace finds that nearly half (42%) of companies that mandated office returns witnessed a higher level of employee attrition than they had anticipated. And almost a third (29%) of companies enforcing office returns are struggling with recruitment. Imagine that — nearly half! In other words, they knew it would cause some attrition, but they weren't ready for the serious problems that would result. Perhaps they should have been. According to the same Greenhouse report, a staggering 76% of employees stand ready to jump ship if their companies decide to pull the plug on flexible-work schedules. Moreover, employees from historically underrepresented groups are 22% more likely to consider other options if flexibility goes out the window. In the SHED survey, the gravity of this situation becomes more evident. The survey equates the displeasure of shifting from a flexible-work model to a traditional one to that of experiencing a 2 to 3% pay cut. The talent hunt: A game of chess with flexibility as the queen In the game of talent acquisition and retention, flexible-work policies have swiftly emerged as the queen on the chessboard — commanding, decisive, and game-changing. The Greenhouse, SHED, and Unispace reports — when viewed together — provide compelling evidence to back this assertion. Greenhouse finds that 42% of candidates would outright reject roles that lack flexibility. In turn, the SHED survey affirms that employees who work from home a few days a week greatly treasure the arrangement. It's like enjoying a day at the beach while still being connected to the digital world. Curious about what's luring employees away? The Greenhouse report has cracked the code: Increased compensation (48%) Greater job security (34%) Career advancement opportunities (32%) Better flexible-work policies (28%) A more positive company culture (27%) In other words, excluding career-centric factors such as pay, security, and promotion, flexible-work policies shine brighter than the Vegas Strip in employee desires. Interestingly, Unispace throws another factor into the mix — choice. According to their report, overall, the top feelings employees revealed they felt towards the office were happy (31%), motivated (30%), and excited (27%). However, all three of these feelings decrease for those with mandated office returns (27%, 26%, and 22% respectively). This highlights that staff are more open to returning to the office if it's out of choice, rather than forced. Case studies of attrition with the return to office Take, for example, a regional insurance company with a workforce of around 2,000 employees. The company enforced a return-to-the-office policy, causing waves of unrest. It soon became evident that their attrition rates were climbing steadily. It echoed the Greenhouse report's findings: a majority of employees, 76%, would actively seek a new job if flexible-work policies were retracted. The underrepresented groups were even more prone to leave, making the situation more daunting. At that point, they called me to help as a hybrid-work expert that The New York Times called the "Office Whisperer." We worked on adapting their return-to-office plan, switching it from a top-down mandate to a team-driven approach, focusing on welcoming staff to the office for the sake of collaboration and mentoring. As a result, their attrition rates dropped and the feelings of employees toward the office improved, in line with what the Unispace report suggests. In another case study, a large financial-services company began noticing employee turnover despite offering competitive salaries and growth opportunities. Upon running an internal survey, they realized that, aside from better compensation and career-advancement opportunities, employees were seeking better flexible-work policies. This aligned with the Greenhouse and SHED findings, which ranked flexible work policies as a crucial factor influencing job changes. After consulting with me, they adjusted their policies to be more competitive in offering flexibility. A late-stage SaaS startup decided to embrace this wave of change. They worked with me to introduce flexible-work policies, and the result was almost immediate — they noticed a sharp decrease in employee turnover and an uptick in job applications. Their story echoes the collective message from all three reports: companies must adapt to flexible-work policies or risk being swept away. The brain factor: How cognitive biases play a role As we navigate these shifting landscapes of work, we cannot ignore the human elements at play. Like unseen puppeteers, cognitive biases subtly shape our decisions and perceptions. In the context of flexibility and retention, two cognitive biases come into sharp focus: the status-quo bias and anchoring bias. Imagine a thriving tech startup, successfully operating in a hybrid model during the pandemic. As the world normalized, leadership decided to return to pre-pandemic, in-person work arrangements. However, they faced resistance and an unexpected swell of turnover. This situation illustrates the potent influence of the status quo bias. This bias, deeply entrenched in our human psyche, inclines us towards maintaining current states or resisting change. Employees, having tasted the fruits of flexible work, felt averse to relinquishing these newfound freedoms. The Greenhouse report bears testament to this, with 76% of employees open to job hunting if their company rolled back flexible-work policies. Consider a large financial institution that enforced a full return to office after the pandemic. Many employees, initially attracted by the brand and pay scale, felt disgruntled. The crux of the problem lies in the anchoring bias, which leads us to heavily rely on the first piece of information offered (the 'anchor') when making decisions. When initially joining the company, the employees were primarily concerned with compensation and job security, the "anchors" in their decision-making process. However, once within the fold, the pandemic caused them to shift their focus to work-life balance and flexibility, as confirmed by both the Greenhouse and SHED reports. Unfortunately, the rigid return-to-office policy made these new anchors seem less attainable, resulting in dissatisfaction and an increased propensity to leave. So, as we steer our ships through these tumultuous waters, understanding these cognitive biases can help illuminate our path. Recognizing and accounting for the status quo and anchoring biases can enable us to create a workplace that not only attracts but also retains its employees in this age of flexibility. After all, success in the world of business is as much about understanding people as it is about numbers and strategy. Embracing the wave of change If there's one overarching theme resonating from the Greenhouse, SHED, and Unispace reports, it's this: Companies need to embrace the wave of flexible work policies or risk being left adrift. As we set sail into the future of work, flexibility isn't just a passing trend; it's a necessity, the new standard. After all, the key to not just attracting talent, but retaining it, lies in one simple word: flexibility. To ignore it is like trying to run a marathon with one shoe. Possible, perhaps, but far from comfortable or efficient.

An AI detector mislabeled nearly every essay written by a non-native English speaker as being written by a bot 2023-07-13 - Researchers found popular GPT-detectors flagged essays by non-native English speakers as AI-written. One detection system marked almost 98% of their essays as AI-generated text. The findings add to concerns on the effectiveness of AI-detection systems and systemic bias in AI. Morning Brew Insider recommends waking up with, a daily newsletter. Loading Something is loading. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address By clicking “Sign Up,” you also agree to marketing emails from both Insider and Morning Brew; and you accept Insider’s Terms and Privacy Policy Click here for Morning Brew’s privacy policy. Systems that detect AI-generated writing are flagging essays written by non-native English speakers as bot-generated, researchers from Stanford University said. In the study published Monday, the researchers ran more than 100 essays written by non-native English speakers through seven popular GPT detectors. (GPT is the framework behind some of the most widely used chatbots today, including ChatGPT.) The essays were written for an English-proficiency exam. The researchers also fed the detectors essays written by US eighth graders who speak English natively. More than half of the essays written by non-native English speakers were marked as AI-generated by the detection systems, the Stanford researchers found. And one GPT-detection system flagged almost 98% of those essays as written by AI. But when evaluating essays written by eighth-grade native English speakers, the detection systems performed much better, assessing that about 20% of their essays were produced by AI. Still mislabeling human-written essays as bot-written — but not at the same rate. The researchers warned the discrepancy could cause considerable harm to non-native English speakers who could be falsely accused of submitting work produced by chatbots for school assignments, college applications, or for work they do. AI-detection software is increasingly being marketed as a silver bullet to floods of misinformation being produced with tools like ChatGPT, Dall-E and MidJourney. But the study adds to the growing questions surrounding the effectiveness of these systems — and echoes longstanding calls to address biases hardwired into AI systems. Chatbots like ChatGPT generate written text by guessing the most logical word to follow in a sentence. It makes these guesses based on underlying large language models, or LLMs, which are trained on datasets comprised of mounds of data scraped from all sorts of publicly available sources, like social media platforms and Wikipedia. The researchers attributed the results of their study to a metric many GPT-detection systems use called "text perplexity." In an email to Insider, Stanford professor James Zou, who was the corresponding author of the study, said the metric "measures how surprising the word choices are in the text." The text that ChatGPT and other chatbots spit out is generally marked as low text perplexity by detectors because they're programmed to use the most common words or responses when constructing sentences. As a result, Zou said, "these detectors are more likely to flag text with low perplexity as AI-generated content." When the detection systems evaluated the essays written by non-native English speakers, it marked much of their writing as low perplexity because they used "a more limited range of linguistic expression," the study said. This resulted in a vast majority of their content being flagged as AI-generated text. The GPT detectors tested in the study aren't the only defensive tools producing paltry results. In June, The New York Times evaluated five programs designed to spot AI-generated images. The newspaper fooled the sensors on several occasions, noting the detectors tested didn't use logical reasoning when assessing the authenticity of an image. Meanwhile, upon ChatGPT's initial release, OpenAI warned users in a blog post that the chatbot would "sometimes respond to harmful instructions or exhibit biased behavior." The company assured then that it was moving to "block certain types of unsafe content," but that it did expect the chatbot "to have some false negatives and positives" for the time being. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged in a tweet earlier this year that ChatGPT has "shortcomings around bias" and vowed the company would improve them. "I'm optimistic that we will get to a world where these models can be a force to reduce bias in society, not reinforce it," Altman said in a May interview with Rest of World.

Russia's economy is in shambles and its oil exports are collapsing — but its crude oil just smashed a crucial price cap 2023-07-13 - Russia's flagship Urals crude just breached the price cap of $60 a barrel on Tuesday, per S&P Global. The price cap came into effect on December 5 and sought to limit Moscow's energy revenues. Russia's current-account surplus tanked by 93% in the second quarter of this year. Get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in business, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley — delivered daily. Loading Something is loading. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy Russia's economy is struggling, but the commodities giant could be getting an uptick in its flagship oil price — the Urals crude oil price just breached a crucial cap for the first time since December 5. A $60-a-barrel price cap has been imposed on Russia by the G7 countries to achieve two goals: it would limit Moscow's energy revenues being routed into the Ukraine war, and it still allowed Russian oil to continue flowing to the world economy, thereby keeping a lid on red-hot inflation. But Russia's flagship Urals crude oil prices have busted the price cap to reach $60.32 on Tuesday — its highest level since mid-November 2022, according to a S&P Global commodity insights report. An unnamed European oil trader told S&P there's strong demand for Russian oil from Indian buyers. China has also been snapping up cargoes, Insider's Phil Rosen reported in April. However, both countries have demanded huge discounts for their purchases. The development could dent the Western-led efforts to hit Russia's war chest, which has so far proven to be quite effective. After all, the price cap has severely hit Russia's coffers this year. The country posted a current-account surplus of $5.4 billion in the second quarter — marking a massive 93% plunge from a record $76.7 billion surplus in the same period last year, according to Russia's central bank data released Tuesday. But Russia is an important commodity producer. It can impact the global supply — and prices — of raw materials. The country announced an upcoming oil production cut earlier this month alongside another key oil producer Saudi Arabia. These production cuts prop up oil prices as demand outsizes supply, an unnamed European oil trader told S&P. The benchmark US West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were up 0.2% at $75.90 a barrel at 2.29 ET on Thursday. The global benchmark Brent crude oil prices were up 0.3% at $80.33 a barrel.

Google launches its Bard chatbot in Europe with a heap of new features as the AI arms race heats up 2023-07-13 - Google is making Bard available in Europe, Brazil, and other new territories. It's added new features, too. Bard can now read its responses out loud. Bard is competing with a raft of other chatbots flooding the market, including OpenAI's ChatGPT. Morning Brew Insider recommends waking up with, a daily newsletter. Loading Something is loading. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address By clicking “Sign Up,” you also agree to marketing emails from both Insider and Morning Brew; and you accept Insider’s Terms and Privacy Policy Click here for Morning Brew’s privacy policy. Google has announced its Bard AI chatbot is now available in more countries and territories, including Europe and Brazil. The latest expansion makes Bard available in "most of the world" and in the most widely spoken languages, the company said. Google has been accelerating its work on Bard as it races against OpenAI's ChatGPT and a raft of other chatbots flooding the market. The company had to postpone the rollout of Bard in Europe after the EU's top data watchdog raised concerns about how Bard would comply with EU data-protection rules. In a blog post, Bard's product lead, Jack Krawczyk, and its engineering vice president, Amarnag Subramanya, called the update Bard's "biggest expansion to date" with support for new languages including Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, German, and Hindi. Google has pushed out several new features as well. For example, Bard can now read its responses aloud, a feature that the company said is supported in 40 languages. Users can also set the "tone" Bard responds in: simple, long, short, professional, or casual. This will only be available in English to start. Google said it's added the ability to pin and revisit prompts should you want to pick up a conversation later without starting over. Users can also upload images along with a prompt and have Bard analyze them. For example, you could ask Bard, "Write a silly caption for this picture." Google's DeepMind unit is busy working on a more advanced large-language model named Gemini, which could make Bard and other generative-AI products more powerful. Meanwhile, competitors show no sign of slowing down. Anthropic, which was founded by former OpenAI researchers, this week launched its new chatbot model called Claude 2. OpenAI might want to get its skates on.

Coinbase leads crypto stock gains after Ripple Labs' legal victory 2023-07-13 - By Chibuike Oguh NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of Coinbase Global Inc surged by nearly 25% on Thursday, ahead of other cryptocurrency and blockchain-related companies, following a landmark legal victory in a closely-watched lawsuit involving blockchain company Ripple Labs Inc. A U.S. District Judge ruled on Thursday that Ripple Labs did not violate federal securities law by selling its XRP token on public exchanges, a decision that sent the value of the token soaring by as much as 74%. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had accused Ripple Labs and its current and former chief executives of selling unregistered securities when conducting a $1.3 billion offering for XRP, which was created in 2012. It was the first time a U.S. judge had found against the SEC where the agency has alleged a crypto token is a security and subject to its strict investor protection rules, buoying optimism over the future of the crypto market. Shares in Coinbase, which is also embroiled in litigation with the SEC over its trading of crypto tokens, surged 24.5% on Thursday following the decision, finishing at $107. Riot Platforms Inc jumped 15%, Marathon Digital Holdings Inc rose 14.5%, and Microstrategy Inc gained 11.7%. Hut 8 Mining Corp added 17.7%. Coinbase said it would allow trading of the XRP token again on its platform in line with the court ruling. "We've read Judge [Analisa] Torres' thoughtful decision. We've carefully reviewed our analysis. It's time to relist," Coinbase's chief legal officer Paul Grewal said on Twitter. Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, was last up 4.1% at 31,584 while Ethereum, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency, rose 6.43% to $1,993.3. (Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York; editing by Michelle Price and Deepa Babington)

Average Income Earners Don't Make Enough to Qualify For The Average Home – Here's How Much You Need To Make For A $500,000 Mortgage 2023-07-13 - Average Income Earners Don't Make Enough to Qualify For The Average Home – Here's How Much You Need To Make For A $500,000 Mortgage For first-time homebuyers, finding the perfect time to enter the real estate market can feel like a never-ending game. In the face of record-high inflation, steep interest rates and a dwindling supply of new homes, the path from renter to homeowner has become increasingly challenging. But amidst the economic uncertainties, there are strategic moves potential buyers can make to ensure they are well-prepared when the right opportunity arises. To begin with, it is crucial to have a clear understanding of your financial situation and determine the buying power your annual income can provide. The average sales price of houses sold in the U.S. so far this year is $487,300, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The cost of everyday expenses has been on the rise, potentially making it more challenging for homebuyers to cover the upfront costs associated with purchasing a home. While the consumer price index (CPI) indicated a slowdown in overall prices, as reported by the U.S. Department of Labor, specific indexes such as shelter, household furnishings and operations, motor vehicle insurance, recreation and apparel experienced a slight increase. Understanding the 28/36 rule can serve as a helpful benchmark for prospective buyers. This rule suggests that no more than 28% of a buyer's pretax monthly income should be allocated to housing costs, and the total housing costs plus monthly debt payments should not exceed 36% of their pretax income. Housing costs encompass various expenses, including mortgage payments, property taxes, home insurance, mortgage insurance and homeowners association fees. Debt payments, on the other hand, account for monthly bills related to student loans, car loans, credit cards and other debts. Check out: Investing in real estate just got a whole lot simpler. With as little as $100, average investors are becoming landlords thanks to this Jeff Bezos-backed startup. This REIT just teamed up with the company that built Elon Musk's tiny house to develop affordable housing communities. Here's how you can be among the first to buy shares. It's worth noting that buyers can still qualify for a mortgage even if their housing and debt costs surpass the 28/36 rule. For instance, FHA loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration allow housing costs of up to 31% of pretax income and debts plus housing costs of up to 43% of pretax income. In certain cases, there may be some flexibility available. To provide a practical example, if you were to put 10% down on a $333,333 home, your mortgage would amount to approximately $300,000. According to calculations, you would ideally need an annual pretax income of at least $110,820 to qualify for this scenario, although a slightly lower annual income of $100,104 might still be eligible. These calculations assume a 7% interest rate, a 30-year term, no recurring debt payments, no homeowners association fee and estimated monthly costs for private mortgage insurance, property tax and home insurance. Similarly, if you were to put 10% down on a $555,555 home, your mortgage would total around $500,000. In this case, the recommendation is a minimum annual pretax income of $184,656, but qualifying may still be possible with an annual income of $166,776. Again, these calculations consider a 7% mortgage rate, a 30-year term, no recurring debt payments, no homeowners association fee and estimated monthly costs for private mortgage insurance, property tax and home insurance. Now, getting closer to the average home price, if you were to put 10% down on a $444,444 home, resulting in a mortgage of approximately $400,000. The recommended annual pretax income is at least $147,696, but a lower annual income of $133,404 may still qualify. It's important to note that these figures are general guidelines, and the exact amount you can comfortably pay each month will depend on your financial obligations and goals. Considering the average personal income in the United States is $63,214 as of 2023, with a median income of $44,225, it is evident that affordability varies significantly across different regions. Real wages averaged $67,521 in 2022, with average household incomes reaching $87,864. With an annual income of $70,000, it is reasonable to expect that you could afford a home within the range of $290,000 to $360,000. Finding affordable homeownership may seem out of reach for average-income earners, but there are still options to consider. While the average income may not align with the income needed to purchase a home at the median sales price, don't lose hope. One alternative avenue to explore is real estate investing. Real estate investing provides an opportunity for people to build wealth and generate passive income. Although homeownership may be challenging, investing in real estate allows you to participate in the market and potentially benefit from its returns. While you continue to work toward homeownership, renting for an extended period doesn't have to be a setback. Use this time to your advantage by living as if you already have a mortgage. Save the difference between your rent and the estimated mortgage payment to boost your down payment, pay off debts or start an emergency fund. Remember, there is more to life than mortgage payments, and it's essential not to become fixated on achieving homeownership at the cost of your financial well-being. Flexibility and open-mindedness are key when navigating the real estate market. Read next: Don't miss real-time alerts on your stocks - join Benzinga Pro for free! Try the tool that will help you invest smarter, faster, and better. This article Average Income Earners Don't Make Enough to Qualify For The Average Home – Here's How Much You Need To Make For A $500,000 Mortgage originally appeared on Benzinga.com . © 2023 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Apple Defies Decline As iPhone Market Share Surges Amid Smartphone Slump 2023-07-13 - New market intelligence data reveals that the U.S. iPhone market share experienced a significant increase during the first quarter of this year, defying the overall decline observed in the smartphone market. The report indicates that while the smartphone industry faced challenging times, with a sharp decrease in U.S. smartphone shipments, Apple maintained a strong position and expanded its market share. The figures from Counterpoint’s latest market estimates show a concerning 17% year-on-year drop in U.S. smartphone shipments during the first quarter. Analysts attribute the decline to two primary factors: a correction in high channel inventory by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and a decline in consumer demand because of macroeconomic pressures. This downward trend affected all major smartphone brands after a robust performance in the first quarter last year. Don’t Miss: Until 2016 it was illegal for retail investors to invest in high-growth startups. Thanks to changes in federal law, this Kevin O’Leary-Backed Startup Lets You Become a Venture Capitalist With $100 Don’t just buy from your favorite brands, own them so you own the upside. Learn how Retail Investors Are Taking Stakes In Their Favorite Startups To Own The Upside The high channel inventory can be partly attributed to an overestimation of demand during the holiday season, suggesting that it is not an entirely separate factor but rather a consequence of the overall market conditions. Despite facing the challenges of a declining market, Apple weathered the storm more effectively than its competitors. While iPhone shipments experienced a decrease, the decline was slower compared to the overall smartphone market, enabling Apple to bolster its market share from 49% in the first quarter of 2022 to 53% in the same quarter this year. Counterpoint’s report highlights a significant trend of U.S. smartphone users switching from Android devices to iPhones, contributing to Apple’s market share growth. This Android-to-iOS migration continues to pose a key challenge for Android OEMs. Apple’s ability to increase its market share despite a year-on-year drop in shipments is a testament to the brand’s enduring appeal and customer loyalty. The global tablet market experienced a similar decline of 18% year on year, with Apple surpassing the average performance. Counterpoint’s report emphasizes that the iPad remains unrivaled in both the short and long term, maintaining its first-place spot in the tablet market. The most recent monthly data on smartphone market share in America clearly establishes Apple and Samsung as the leading brands, with impressive market shares of 56.82% and 29.47%, respectively. This indicates that iPhones accounted for more than half of the total earnings generated from smartphone sales in the U.S. Motorola secures the third position with a 4.74% market share, while Google follows closely behind in fourth place with 2.1%. LG takes the fifth spot with a market share of 1.81%. Looking specifically at the most recent quarter, Apple continues to dominate the market share of mobile phones in the U.S., capturing an even higher percentage at 57.22%. Samsung follows suit with a notable 29.12% brand share. The remaining phone brands collectively contribute less than 15% to the total revenue generated from smartphone sales in the U.S. See more on startup investing from Benzinga: There are more pounds of plastic in the ocean than pounds of fish. That’s why retail investors have invested over $4 million in This Startup That Invented Programmable, Drinkable Plastic That Dissolves In Water In 60 Hours Gamers are selling their old gaming items for millions. Learn why everyday gamers and investors are claiming a stake in their side hustle and how they invested over $1.2 million in this startup. Don't miss real-time alerts on your stocks - join Benzinga Pro for free! Try the tool that will help you invest smarter, faster, and better. This article Apple Defies Decline As iPhone Market Share Surges Amid Smartphone Slump originally appeared on Benzinga.com . © 2023 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Disney CEO Bob Iger opens door to unloading TV assets as linear business struggles 2023-07-13 - Disney CEO Bob Iger opened the door to selling the company’s linear TV assets as the business struggles during the media industry’s transition to streaming and digital offerings. Iger appeared on CNBC on Thursday, the morning after the company announced it would extend his contract by two years through 2026. He returned to the helm of the company in November after Disney’s board ousted Bob Chapek with a two-year contract through 2024 and plans to find a next successor. “After coming back, I realized the company is facing a lot of challenges, some of them self inflicted,” Iger told CNBC’s Faber on Thursday, noting he’s accomplished a lot of work in seven months but there’s more to be done. (NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC and NBC News.) At the top of the list is assessing the traditional TV business, Iger said on Thursday. Disney owns a portfolio of TV networks, from broadcast station ABC to cable-TV channels like ESPN. Disney is going to be “expansive” in its thinking about the traditional TV business, leaving the door open to a possible sale of the networks. “They may not be core to Disney,” Iger said, adding the creativity that has come from those networks has been core to Disney. Cable-TV channel ESPN is in a different bucket, however. On that front, Iger said Disney is open to finding a strategic partner, which could take the form of a joint venture or offloading an ownership stake. Iger said when he had left the company he had predicted the future of traditional TV and had been “very pessimistic,” and has found since his return that he was right in his thinking, adding it’s worse than he expected. When Iger last spoke with Faber in February, soon after announcing a major restructuring at the company, he said he felt “a sense of obligation” to return to Disney and that his preference was to stay for his two-year contract. “We’ve gotten a lot done very quickly, significant cost reductions and significant realignment of the company,” Iger said. “But dealing head on with some of our biggest challenges.” The appearance in February came shortly after Disney announced a sweeping restructuring that included thousands of layoffs and billions of dollars cut in spending. The reorganization warded off a potential proxy fight with activist investor Nelson Peltz. Disney reorganized into three segments: Disney Entertainment, which includes most of its streaming and media operations; an ESPN division; and a parks, experiences and product unit. These were some of Iger’s most significant actions in the months after his return. Disney revealed it would cut $5.5 billion in costs, consisting of $3 billion from content, excluding sports, and the remaining amount from non-content costs. The company earmarked 7,000 layoffs. In addition to looking for his next successor, Iger has been tasked with bringing Disney’s streaming business to profitability. In the last year, media executives across all companies have focused on how to make streaming profitable, particularly after streaming behemoth Netflix lost subscribers early last year and since instituted ad-supported streaming and a crackdown on password sharing to drive revenue. While the company posted revenue and profit in line with Wall Street estimates last quarter, it saw a loss of 4 million subscribers at its flagship streamer Disney+. Those subscriber losses were offset by price increases, which Iger said in May weren’t to blame for the lower numbers. Instead, he said it showed room for further increases when it comes to streaming, and pushing customers toward the ad-supported tier, with the aim of reaching profitability. In an effort to bulk up Disney+ and attract more subscribers to its cheaper, ad-supported tier — which it launched last year — the company announced last quarter it would add Hulu content to Disney+. In May, Iger had attributed the move toward a one-app location for both Disney+ and Hulu content to the increased advertising potential of a combined platform. Disney has been weighing whether it should buy all of Hulu, as it owns 66% and Comcast owns the rest. It’s likely Comcast will sell its Hulu stake to Disney at the beginning of 2024, CNBC previously reported. Disney will report its fiscal third quarter earnings after the market closes Aug. 9.

Musk asks federal court to scotch FTC settlement with Twitter 2023-07-13 - Twitter on Thursday asked a federal court to end a settlement it struck with the Federal Trade Commission last year over alleged privacy violations, claiming it was subjected to a “burdensome and vexatious enforcement investigation.” The requested followed a clash between House Republicans and FTC Chair Lina Khan at a hearing over the FTC’s investigation of Twitter and what her critics say is an antibusiness agenda.The FTC is examining whether Twitter under Tesla Inc. TSLA, +2.17% Chief Executive Elon Musk, who also owns Twitter, is protecting users’ privacy. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and other Republicans on the panel allege Democrats are targeting Musk for reinstating banned conservative accounts, including that of former President Donald Trump.

We have $2 million for retirement and want to spend every single dollar before we die 2023-07-13 - Dear MarketWatch, My wife (63) and I (70) are retired and have no children. Our total assets are $2 million. We have $1.35 million in equities ($1 million in an IRA and $350,000 in a taxable account) and $600,000 in our fully-owned mortgage free home. I receive $22,000 annually in Social Security. And because we do not have children, we would like to fully enjoy our retirement funds during retirement rather than leaving any of our assets before we both die. My question is about the percentage withdrawal rule and how this applies to our desires to use our funds rather than leave them behind. Everything I read about the (4% or 5%) rule refers to retaining a portion of your funds at the end of one’s life. Can you help us please understand what would be a better withdrawal figure for us considering our particular situation? See: My 57-year-old husband works three shifts and is ‘burned out’ — can he retire? Dear reader, Lots of people say it — you can’t take the money with you when you’re gone. But your goal might be a tough one to accomplish. Hitting a $0 balance is a very hard target, mostly because there’s no way to know for certain when you’ll die. You could get awfully close or you could fall under zero, which could be quite a problem. Getting there will require being extremely attentive to your assets, your spending and your portfolio balances. Your withdrawal rate matters, but as you have probably seen from your own research, they really are just estimates at the end of the day. The 4% rule, for example, has been widely contested in recent years. Experts say it actually takes too much out of the portfolio. (For others, it may not be enough, but that depends on lifestyle and the amount in assets, of course.) Morningstar estimates an investor need only use a 3.3% withdrawal rate, assuming a balanced portfolio and fixed withdrawals over 30 years, to ensure someone can use their assets without running out of money. Instead of focusing and committing to one withdrawal rate, you might want to take a more hands-on approach. One option is the dynamic withdrawal rate approach, which is where you increase or decrease spending depending on portfolio growth and declines, said Adam Wojtkowski, a certified financial planner at Copper Beech Wealth Management. “For someone looking to spend all of their assets, the ability to see larger distributions during good times allows them to spend and enjoy their funds, with less of a concern around running out of money at some point,” he said. If you go the do-it-yourself way, you could try using an Excel spreadsheet of your assets that you update regularly, so that you can see where your balance is and how comfortable you are with that. You should likely err on the side of caution and aim to have at least a little money left over. Worst case scenario if you have money left over you didn’t get to spend, you can have it go toward a worthy cause. Also see: Assisted living would cost $100,000 a year where we live. We’re almost in our 60s, should we get long-term-care insurance? Wanting to leave nothing behind isn’t the worst idea, but you don’t want to get to the point where you’ve depleted your assets and one of you is still alive. There are so many expenses in retirement, and it can become a dire situation quickly. Healthcare alone is so expensive, especially as one ages. Ask yourself some questions about what hitting $0 while one of you is still alive would look like. Social Security might help you, but would it be enough? And Medicaid might be available to help with healthcare, but is that something you’re willing to rely on? Would you have to sell your home, and if so, where would either of you go? These might seem like dramatic questions to ask, but you always want to be five steps ahead, especially when your nest egg is slowly being depleted. A financial planner can help you get a bit more granular about your spending and withdrawal approach, especially if you intend for it to fluctuate over time. They’ll be able to help you by suggesting to reign in the spending when you are overdoing it, and by managing your investments and other retirement income over the course of your lifetimes. I suggest you reach out to a qualified financial planner who will work in your best interest (quick tip: ask them if they are fiduciaries, among other questions), and look closely at your personal finances together. Readers: Do you have suggestions for this reader? Add them in the comments below. Have a question about your own retirement savings? Email us at HelpMeRetire@marketwatch.com

Michigan city investigates salon owner’s online comments about gender identity 2023-07-13 - TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A northern Michigan city is investigating after a local hair salon owner posted on social media that anyone identifying as other than a man or a woman is not welcome at her business. Christine Geiger’s online posts have drawn criticism from Traverse City’s mayor and other officials, who said they were looking into whether she was violating a municipal anti-discrimination ordinance. Demonstrators chanted and carried signs Wednesday outside the business, Studio 8 Hair Lab — Education & Beauty Supply. Other news Bear in a tree holds Michigan city in suspense for hours on Mother’s Day A city in northern Michigan has a new Mother’s Day memory. A 350-pound bear was in a tree for hours on Sunday before it fell onto a mattress as dozens of people watched in Traverse City. In an Associated Press interview, Geiger stood by her posts and said small business owners should be free to serve whomever they wish. “I just don’t want the woke dollar. ... I’d rather not be as busy than to have to do services that I don’t agree with.” A post last weekend on the salon’s Facebook page, which is no longer available, read, “If a human identifies as anything other than a man/woman please seek services at a local pet groomer. You are not welcome at this salon. Period. Should you request to have a particular pronoun used please note we may simply refer to you as ‘hey you.’” In another post regarding whether her establishment was “LGBTQ+ friendly,” Geiger wrote, “LGB are more than welcome however the rest of it is not something I support.” Geiger told the AP her statements weren’t prompted by the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 30 ruling that a Christian graphic artist who wants to design wedding websites can refuse to work with same-sex couples, although she agreed with the decision. Geiger, 48, said she was motivated primarily by personal experiences and objection to schools and doctor’s offices informing children about gender identification matters. She said she had been a licensed hairstylist since 2006 and never knowingly had rejected a transgender person’s request for service. Her salon does not take walk-in clients. Her customers are mostly acquaintances and people whom they refer. “I’ve had a big outpouring of support from my existing clients,” she said, but she’s also been flooded with angry messages, some making threats. Jack Winn, CEO of a Texas-based hair products company whose merchandise Geiger has used and promoted in her salon, said Thursday he disapproved of her comments and had severed ties with her after receiving more than 1,600 emailed complaints. State Rep. Betsy Coffia, a Democrat from Traverse City, said Geiger’s comments reflected “breathtaking hate and bigotry.” City attorney Lauren Trible-Laucht said she would investigate complaints against the salon “based on the relevant legal standards,” including Supreme Court rulings and Traverse City’s 2010 ordinance barring discrimination on numerous grounds, such as sexual orientation and gender identity. “We are disheartened to hear of any discriminatory behavior in our region,” Mayor Richard Lewis said. “The City of Traverse City has valued itself on providing a safe environment for all people.” The city of 15,700 anchors a Lake Michigan resort community with sandy beaches, cherry orchards and arts festivals. Some residents say the city’s cheery exterior masks racial and cultural divides similar to those elsewhere in the U.S.

St. Louis Fed president Jim Bullard, one of the central bank’s most hawkish members, stepping down 2023-07-13 - St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard, one of the most hawkish members of the central bank since it started it aggressive rate-hiking campaign, is stepping down. Bullard is leaving his position as president and CEO of the St. Louis Fed to become the inaugural dean of the Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. School of Business at Purdue University next month, the bank announced Thursday. While he’ll be available in an “advisory capacity” to the Fed until Aug. 14, Bullard has recused himself from his role on the central bank’s committee that determines the direction of interest rates and other monetary policy. “It has been both a privilege and an honor to be part of the St. Louis Fed for the last 33 years, including serving as its president for the last 15 years,” Bullard said in a statement. “This is an outstanding organization with staff in every area of the Bank bringing their passion, integrity and a deep sense of purpose to our mission of promoting a healthy economy and financial stability.” Bullard has been among the Fed policymakers who’ve taken an aggressive stance toward interest rate increases as the central bank took on the task of reducing the hottest inflation in four decades. Beginning with its first hike in March 2022, the Fed lifted its benchmark interest rate to about 5.1%, its highest level in 16 years, before forgoing a hike at its meeting of policymakers last month. On Wednesday, the U.S. government reported that inflation at the consumer level rose 3% in June from a year earlier, marking its lowest point since early 2021, though it remains above the Fed’s 2% target. Kathleen O’Neill Paese, vice president and chief operating officer of the St. Louis Fed, has taken over Bullard’s post on an interim basis while the bank’s board searches for a permanent successor.

India’s Modi is guest of honor at Paris Bastille Day parade as Macron rebuffs human rights critics 2023-07-13 - PARIS (AP) — France is staging a seduction campaign for visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, guest of honor at Friday’s annual Bastille Day parade, with the French president calling India a “key” player “in our future.” France is looking to further strengthen cooperation on an array of topics ranging from climate to military sales and the strategic Indo-Pacific region. But human rights, seen as an increasingly pressing subject for Modi’s India, was missing from the vast agenda. President Emmanuel Macron praised India in a speech Thursday evening before French defense officials as a “key partner.” “It is a giant in the history of the world that will have a determining role in our future,” Macron said, ahead of a dinner with Modi at the Elysee Palace. India “is also a strategic partner and friend.” Macron, with Modi at his side, will preside over Friday’s grandiose annual military parade to mark France’s national day. Indian troops will march and three French-made Indian Rafale jets will do a fly-by. As Modi arrived Thursday, India’s Defense Acquisition Council approved the purchase of 26 Rafales for the Indian Navy, an accord in principle announced by the Indian Defense Ministry. The price is to be negotiated with the French, a statement said. The purchase of three Scorpene submarines, developed by France and Spain, was also approved. Critics have voiced concern about France giving such a perch to Modi. India’s 72-year-old prime minister is widely viewed as increasingly authoritarian and his Hindu nationalist party as divisive. In a report in April, the campaign group Amnesty International said freedom of expression had declined under Modi. The European Parliament passed a resolution on Thursday for “human rights to be integrated into all areas of the EU-India partnership, including in trade.” The resolution called on member states “to systematically and publicly raise human rights concerns” at the highest level. Modi’s two-day visit comes as Paris and New Delhi mark the 25th anniversary of their strategic partnership. Crucially, it precedes Macron’s trip this month to the Indo-Pacific region, home to 1.5 million French nationals. Talks with Modi are aimed at ensuring the vast region remains a space where security, notably of the seas, and other key concerns like climate are preserved. Macron called it “an essential strategy for the balance of the planet.” Modi is being courted by other nations. His two-day visit to France comes on the heels of his June trip to the United States, where President Joe Biden offered Modi a lavish welcome. Modi was recently in Egypt and he is to head to the United Arab Emirates after leaving France. Ten personalities, including noted economist Thomas Piketty and former French ambassador to Denmark France Zimeray, implored Macron in a commentary Thursday in the newspaper Le Monde to “encourage Prime Minister Modi to end repression of the civil society, assure freedom of major media (outlets) and protect religious liberty.” Modi, who governs the world’s largest population, rarely talks to the press at home or abroad. But responding to a human rights question at a rare news conference during his Washington trip, he said that “democracy runs in our veins” and insisted that there is ”absolutely no space for discrimination.” ___ Youcef Bounab in Paris contributed to this report.

How major US stock indexes fared Thursday, 7/13/2023 2023-07-13 - Wall Street’s winning streak barreled into a fourth day following the latest signal that inflation is easing its chokehold on the economy. The S&P 500 rose 0.8% Thursday for its highest close since April 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 1.6% as Big Tech stocks led the way. Treasury yields tumbled further in the bond market after a report showed inflation at the wholesale level cooled by more in June than expected. That has traders increasingly betting the Federal Reserve may end its blistering run of hikes to interest rates very soon. On Thursday: The S&P 500 rose 37.88 points, or 0.8%, to 4,510.04. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 47.71 points, or 0.1%, to 34,395.14. The Nasdaq composite rose 219.61 points, or 1.6%, to 14,138.57. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 17.51 points, or 0.9%, to 1,950.89. For the week: The S&P 500 is up 111.09 points, or 2.5%. The Dow is up 660.26 points, or 2%. The Nasdaq is up 477.85 points, or 3.5%. The Russell 2000 is up 86.23 points, or 4.6%. For the year: The S&P 500 is up 670.54 points, or 17.5%. The Dow is up 1,247.89 points, or 3.8%. The Nasdaq is up 3,672.09 points, or 35.1%. The Russell 2000 is up 189.64 points, or 10.8%.

Delta executives say they’re not seeing the drop in airfares that the government reports 2023-07-13 - Delta Air Lines executives say they’re not seeing the drop in average airfares that federal officials believe are contributing to lower inflation. The Labor Department’s latest consumer price index this week showed average airfares falling 8% from May to June on a seasonally adjusted basis. “We’re not seeing the same, and it’s a different data point than what we have,” Delta President Glen Hauenstein said on the airline’s second-quarter earnings call. He dismissed the Labor Department’s methodology as a “ample of a sample.” Analysts agreed with Delta’s assessment. JPMorgan’s Jamie Baker said the government figure excludes corporate and most premium travel and is drawn heavily from discount-airline service. He blamed the CPI number for causing airline stocks to fall Wednesday, when the Labor Department report came out. Delta executives seemed far more willing to accept the Labor Department’s calculation that average fares last month were 19% lower than they were in June of last year. CEO Ed Bastian said it is important to remember that at this time last year, many people were just beginning to travel after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, but airlines weren’t yet fully staffed. As a result, demand was far stronger than supply. “People didn’t care where they were going or how much they spent. They just wanted to go someplace,” he said. “We were seeing fares up 30%, 40%, 50%" for some domestic flights. “That’s obviously not sustainable.” The Labor Department’s monthly CPI report indicated that lower prices for airline tickets, gasoline and used cars in June helped produce the lowest inflation since early 2021 -- 3% compared with a year earlier.

Nigerian leader plans $10 monthly handout to poor households after gas subsidy ends 2023-07-13 - KANO, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s new President Bola Tinubu has announced his government’s plan to pay $10 a month to poor households to ease the growing hardship caused by the scrapping of subsidies on gasoline. In a letter to the Nigerian Senate, which was read during Thursday’s sitting, Tinubu said 12 million households will benefit from the handout for a period of six months. The government plans to fund it through an $800 million World Bank loan for which Tinubu is seeking legislators’ approval. “It is expected that the program will stimulate economic activities in the informal sector and improve nutrition, health, education, and human capital development of beneficiaries’ households,” he said of the social welfare initiative. Tinubu scrapped the gasoline subsidy on his first day in office at the end of May, ending a decades-long program that made gasoline affordable for many but which authorities said was expensive and economically unsustainable. The subsidies cost the government an estimated $10 billion in 2022. He said his government would invest the money usually budgeted for subsidies in other vital projects. However, the end of the subsidy program more than doubled the price of gasoline, resulting in severe hardship for citizens already battling high inflation of 22.4% and where at least 63% of the more than 210 million population face “multidimensional poverty,” according to the national statistics agency. Tinubu said the planned $10 monthly handout would have “a multiplier effect” on about 60 million individuals, though some Nigerians criticized it as inadequate and unsustainable. In Kano state, the economic hub of northern Nigeria, traders said the country’s cost of living crisis had crashed their returns as sales dwindled and the commodity prices went up. The cost of transportation has also increased by more than 100% in Kano city since May when the subsidy was scrapped, residents said, as is the case across most parts of Nigeria where most of the residents rely on public transport. “We don’t sell anything anymore, so how do you expect me to be feeding my family?” asked Yusuf Ibrahim, who sells clothes in the city. “The government is not doing what we elected them to do.”

Republican state officials threaten legal action over company diversity policies 2023-07-13 - July 13 (Reuters) - A group of Republican U.S. state attorney generals on Thursday warned the country's largest companies that certain workforce diversity policies could be illegal in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision effectively striking down affirmative action in higher education. The 13 officials in letters sent to the 100 largest U.S. companies said the court last month made clear that any policy that treats people differently because of their race is illegal, even when it is adopted with good intentions. The attorney generals urged the companies to abandon race-based quotas or preferences in hiring, promotion and contracting and threatened legal action "sooner rather than later" if they do not. "Companies that engage in racial discrimination should and will face serious legal consequences," the attorney generals wrote. The officials singled out about a dozen companies that they said have used racial quotas and other explicitly race-based practices, including Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc's Google, Microsoft Corp, and Uber Technologies Corp. Those companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach and his counterpart in Tennessee, Jonathan Skrmetti, spearheaded the letter. They were joined by the attorney generals of Indiana, South Carolina and Missouri, among others. The Supreme Court ruling last month said Harvard University's and the University of North Carolina's race-conscious admissions policies violated the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law. The decision does not directly affect employers, but in a concurring opinion Justice Neil Gorsuch noted that the federal law banning race bias in federally-funded programs, including higher education, is "essentially identical" to the law prohibiting workplace discrimination. The decision is widely expected to spur legal challenges to admissions policies at universities and high schools and to corporate diversity initiatives that take race into account. Federal and state laws already bar companies from explicitly considering race in making employment decisions, but there is little recent precedent on the legality of diversity programs. Companies have had policies aimed at diversifying their workforce for decades. But many began looking more closely at the issue beginning in 2020, in the national debate on race spurred by the death of George Floyd and other Black people at the hands of police. Proponents of corporate diversity initiatives say that along with creating more equity, they attract better talent and can be good for business when they have support among a company's customer base. But in Thursday's letter, the attorney generals said well-intentioned race discrimination is still illegal. "The argument that different rules should govern racial classifications designed to include rather than exclude ... has been repeatedly rejected," they wrote. Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Alistair Bell Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Ripple Labs notches landmark win in SEC case over XRP cryptocurrency 2023-07-13 - Companies Law Firms Ripple Labs Inc Follow Coinbase Global Inc Follow July 13 (Reuters) - Ripple Labs Inc did not violate federal securities law by selling its XRP token on public exchanges, a U.S. judge ruled on Thursday, a landmark legal victory for the cryptocurrency industry that sent the value of XRP soaring. XRP was up 75% by late afternoon on Thursday, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres was the first win for a cryptocurrency company in a case brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission -- though it did also give the SEC a partial victory. While the decision is specific to the facts of the case, it likely will provide ammunition for other crypto firms battling the SEC over whether their products fall under the regulator's jurisdiction. An SEC spokesperson said the agency was pleased with part of the ruling in which the judge held that Ripple violated federal securities law by selling XRP directly to sophisticated investors. It is possible for the ruling to be appealed once a final judgment is issued, or if the judge allows it before then. The SEC spokesperson said the regulator was reviewing the decision. Ripple Chief Executive Brad Garlinghouse in an interview called the ruling "a huge win for Ripple but more importantly for the industry overall in the U.S." Coinbase (COIN.O), the largest U.S. crypto exchange, said it would again allow trading of XRP on its platform. "We’ve read Judge Torres’ thoughtful decision. We’ve carefully reviewed our analysis. It’s time to relist," Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal said on Twitter. Coinbase stock closed up 24% at $107 per share on Thursday. WHEN CRYPTO IS NOT A SECURITY The SEC had accused the company and its current and former chief executives of conducting a $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering by selling XRP, which Ripple's founders created in 2012. The case has been closely watched in the cryptocurrency industry, which disputes the SEC's assertion that the vast majority of crypto tokens are securities and subject to its strict investor protection rules. The agency has brought more than 100 enforcement crypto actions, claiming various tokens are securities, but many of those have ended in settlements. In the few cases that have gone to court, judges have agreed with the SEC that the crypto assets at issue were securities, which unlike assets such as commodities are strictly regulated, must be registered with the SEC by their issuer and require detailed disclosures to inform investors of potential risks. Torres ruled that Ripple's XRP sales on public cryptocurrency exchanges were not offers of securities under the law, because purchasers did not have a reasonable expectation of profit tied to Ripple's efforts. Those sales were "blind bid/ask transactions," she said, in which buyers "could not have known if their payments of money went to Ripple, or any other seller of XRP." Torres applied a U.S. Supreme Court case that said "an investment of money in a common enterprise with profits to come solely from the efforts of others," is a kind of security called an investment contract. XRP sales on cryptocurrency platforms by Garlinghouse and co-founder and former CEO Chris Larsen, and other distributions including compensation to employees also did not involve securities, Torres ruled. PARTIAL WIN FOR THE SEC The SEC won a partial victory as Torres found the company's $728.9 million of XRP sales to hedge funds and other sophisticated buyers amounted to unregistered sales of securities. Torres ruled that Ripple's marketing aimed at institutional investors made clear the company "was pitching a speculative value proposition for XRP" that depended on company efforts to develop the blockchain infrastructure behind the digital asset. She said a jury must decide whether Garlinghouse and Larsen aided the company's violation of law, and that the defendants cannot argue at trial that they lacked "fair notice" that XRP was a cryptocurrency. "The law does not require the SEC to warn all potential violators on an individual or industry level," she said. CALLS FOR LEGISLATION Gary DeWaal, an attorney at Katten Muchin Rosenman, said the ruling should help Coinbase in fighting its own SEC case. The market reaction indicates the ruling is a "tremendous event for the industry," he said. Both the Ripple and Coinbase cases focus on registration requirements and whether certain digital assets are securities under U.S. law. The crypto industry has called for legislation to provide clear rules for tokens, and the ruling brought new calls for Congress to clarify the status of digital assets. House of Representatives Majority Whip Tom Emmer, a Republican, in a post on Twitter said the ruling established that "a token is separate and distinct from an investment contract it may or may not be part of." "Now, let’s make it law," he said. Reporting by Jody Godoy and Chris Prentice in New York and Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Conor Humphries, Leslie Adler and David Gregorio Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.