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Biden administration provides $504 million to support 12 technology hubs nationwide 2024-07-02 18:20:00+00:00 - WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Tuesday that it was providing $504 million in implementation grants for a dozen technology hubs in Ohio, Montana, Nevada and Florida, among other locations. The money would support the development of quantum computing, biomanufacturing, lithium batteries, computer chips, personal medicine and other technologies. The Democratic administration is trying to encourage more technological innovation across the country, instead of allowing it be concentrated in a few metro areas such as San Francisco, Seattle, Boston and New York City. “The reality is there are smart people, great entrepreneurs, and leading-edge research institutions all across the country,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a call previewing the announcement. ”We’re leaving so much potential on the table if we don’t give them the resources to compete and win in the tech sectors that will define the 21st century global economy.” The money comes from the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration. In October 2023, President Joe Biden designated 31 tech hubs. Raimondo said the administration was pushing for more funding for the program so that all the designated tech hubs can get additional resources to compete. The tech hubs receiving funding include: — $41 million for the Elevate Quantum Tech Hub in Colorado and New Mexico — $41 million for the Headwaters Hub in Montana — $51 million for Heartland BioWorks in Indiana — $51 million for the iFAB Tech Hub in Illinois — $21 million for the Nevada Tech Hub — $40 million for the NY SMART I-Corridor Tech Hub in New York — $44 million for ReGen Valley Tech Hub in New Hampshire — $45 million for the SC Nexus for Advanced Resilient Energy in South Carolina and Georgia — $19 million for the South Florida ClimateReady Tech Hub — $51 million for the Sustainable Polymers Tech Hub in Ohio — $51 million for the Tulsa Hub for Equitable & Trustworthy Autonomy in Oklahoma — $51 million for the Wisconsin Biohealth Teach Hub.

Swedish Grandparents Can Be Paid to Babysit Under New Law 2024-07-02 18:19:33+00:00 - Swedish grandparents became eligible for paid parental leave this week after the country enacted a trailblazing new law aimed at extending child care benefits beyond a child’s immediate family. Under the change, which took effect Monday, parents are able to transfer a portion of their parental leave days to other caretakers, cementing Sweden’s reputation as a global trendsetter in progressive parental leave policies. The law enables single parents to transfer up to 90 days of paid leave to other caregivers and a parental couple to transfer up to 45 days, according to the Swedish government’s Social Insurance Agency. The law was approved by the Riksdag, Sweden’s 349-seat parliament, last December. Leo Gullbring, 65, a freelance copywriter based in Lund, Sweden, who is expecting his second grandchild in August, said he anticipates stepping in to help his son in the nearby city of Malmo with child care.

FDA approves a second Alzheimer’s drug that can modestly slow disease 2024-07-02 18:10:47+00:00 - WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials have approved another Alzheimer’s drug that can modestly slow the disease, providing a new option for patients in the early stages of the incurable, memory-destroying ailment. The Food and Drug Administration approved Eli Lilly’s Kisunla on Tuesday for mild or early cases of dementia caused by Alzheimer’s. It’s only the second drug that’s been convincingly shown to delay cognitive decline in patients, following last year’s approval of a similar drug from Japanese drugmaker Eisai. The delay seen with both drugs amounts to a matter of months — about seven months, in the case of Lilly’s drug. Patients and their families will have to weigh that benefit against the downsides, including regular IV infusions and potentially dangerous side effects like brain swelling. Physicians who treat Alzheimer’s say the approval is an important step after decades of failed experimental treatments. “I’m thrilled to have different options to help my patients,” said Dr. Suzanne Schindler, a neurologist at Washington University in St. Louis. “It’s been difficult as a dementia specialist — I diagnose my patients with Alzheimer’s and then every year I see them get worse and they progress until they die.” Both Kisunla and the Japanese drug, Leqembi, are laboratory-made antibodies, administered by IV, that target one contributor to Alzheimer’s — sticky amyloid plaque buildup in the brain. Questions remain about which patients should get the drugs and how long they might benefit. The new drug’s approval was expected after an outside panel of FDA advisors unanimously voted in favor of its benefits at a public meeting last month. That endorsement came despite several questions from FDA reviewers about how Lilly studied the drug, including allowing patients to discontinue treatment after their plaque reached very low levels. Costs will vary by patient, based on how long they take the drug, Lilly said. The company also said a year’s worth of therapy would cost $32,000 — higher than the $26,500 price of a year’s worth of Leqembi. The FDA’s prescribing information tells doctors they can consider stopping the drug after confirming via brain scans that patients have minimal plaque. More than 6 million Americans have Alzheimer’s. Only those with early or mild disease will be eligible for the new drug, and an even smaller subset are likely to undergo the multi-step process needed to get a prescription. The FDA approved Kisunla, known chemically as donanemab, based on results from an 18-month study in which patients given getting the treatment declined about 22% more slowly in terms of memory and cognitive ability than those who received a dummy infusion. The main safety issue was brain swelling and bleeding, a problem common to all plaque-targeting drugs. The rates reported in Lilly’s study — including 20% of patients with microbleeds — were slightly higher than those reported with competitor Leqembi. However, the two drugs were tested in slightly different types of patients, which experts say makes it difficult to compare the drugs’ safety. Kisunla is infused once a month compared to Leqembi’s twice-a-month regimen, which could make things easier for caregivers who bring their loved ones to a hospital or clinic for treatment. “Certainly getting an infusion once a month is more appealing than getting it every two weeks,” Schindler said. Lilly’s drug has another potential advantage: Patients can stop taking it if they respond well. In the company’s study, patients were taken off Kisunla once their brain plaque reached nearly undetectable levels. Almost half of patients reached that point within a year. Discontinuing the drug could reduce the costs and safety risks of long-term use. It’s not yet clear how soon patients might need to resume infusions. Logistical hurdles, spotty insurance coverage and financial concerns have all slowed the rollout of competitor Leqembi, which Eisai co-markets with U.S. partner Biogen. Many smaller hospitals and health systems aren’t yet setup to prescribe the new plaque-targeting Alzheimer’s drugs. First, doctors need to confirm that patients with dementia have the brain plaque targeted by the new drugs. Then they need to find a drug infusion center where patients can receive therapy. Meanwhile, nurses and other staff must be trained to perform repeated scans to check for brain swelling or bleeding. “Those are all things a physician has to have set up,” said Dr. Mark Mintun, who heads Lilly’s neuroscience division. “Until they get used to them, a patient who comes into their office will not be offered this therapy.” ___ 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.

Federal judge blocks Mississippi law that would require age verification for websites 2024-07-02 18:03:00+00:00 - New program aims to combat child exploitation New program aims to combat child exploitation 00:56 A federal judge on Monday blocked a Mississippi law that would require users of websites and other digital services to verify their age. The preliminary injunction by U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden came the same day the law was set to take effect. A tech industry group sued Mississippi on June 7, arguing the law would unconstitutionally limit access to online speech for minors and adults. Legislators said the law is designed to protect children from sexually explicit material. "It is not lost on the Court the seriousness of the issue the legislature was attempting to address, nor does the Court doubt the good intentions behind the enactment of (the law)," Ozderen wrote. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that any law that dealing with speech "is subject to strict scrutiny regardless of the government's benign motive,'" Ozerden wrote. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed the legislation after it passed the GOP-controlled House and Senate without opposition from either party. The suit challenging the law was filed by NetChoice, whose members include Google, which owns YouTube; Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat; and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. NetChoice has persuaded judges to block similar laws in other states, including Arkansas, California and Ohio. Chris Marchese, director of the NetChoice Litigation Center, said in a statement Monday that the Mississippi law should be struck down permanently because "mandating age and identity verification for digital services will undermine privacy and stifle the free exchange of ideas." "Mississippians have a First Amendment right to access lawful information online free from government censorship," Marchese said. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch argued in a court filing that steps such as age verification for digital sites could mitigate harm caused by "sex trafficking, sexual abuse, child pornography, targeted harassment, sextortion, incitement to suicide and self-harm, and other harmful and often illegal conduct against children." Fitch wrote that the law does not limit speech but instead regulates the "non-expressive conduct" of online platforms. Ozerden said he was not persuaded that the law "merely regulates non-expressive conduct." Utah is among the states sued by NetChoice over laws that imposed strict limits for children seeking access to social media. In March, Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed revisions to the Utah laws. The new laws require social media companies to verify their users' ages and disable certain features on accounts owned by Utah youths. Utah legislators removed a requirement that parents consent to their child opening an account after many raised concerns that they would need to enter data that could compromise their online security.

Sajid Javid to become partner at investment firm Centricus 2024-07-02 18:03:00+00:00 - Sajid Javid, the former Conservative chancellor of the exchequer, is to become a partner at a London investment firm founded by a trio of his former colleagues at Deutsche Bank. The former banker, who held seven ministerial positions in a 15-year political career, confirmed on Tuesday that he was joining Centricus, a private equity and asset manager based in Mayfair. He will start the role on 8 July. Javid has already earned about £450,000 as a consultant for the company, which has $42bn (£33bn) of assets under management and invests in everything from football to luxury hotels and 3D printing. The company began paying him £25,000 for up to 10 hours of work a month in March 2023, rising to £50,000 a month after he doubled his hours in April this year, according to the register of members’ interests. He will join Centricus as a partner after the general election, in a full-time role that will reunite him with the company’s two other partners and co-founders, Nizar Al-Bassam and Dalinc Ariburnu. Javid worked alongside both men at Deutsche Bank in the years leading up to – and during – the global banking crash, before he left to enter politics in 2009. “The founders of the firm I know very well, because I used to work with them. Having left parliament and politics I was looking to go back into business and finance and Centricus is a firm I am very pleased to be joining,” said Javid. “I will in my own time also be carving out time to support good causes. The motivations I had to get into politics to help others have never gone.” Javid served in the cabinet under three prime ministers as the minister for business, health and culture, as well as home secretary. He resigned as chancellor in February 2020 after Boris Johnson asked him to sack his advisers, and was replaced by Rishi Sunak. He rejoined Johnson’s cabinet in June 2021 as health secretary but sensationally quit in July 2022, amid a wave of resignations that ultimately brought down Johnson as prime minister. Centricus says it focuses its investments in four areas, financial services, technology, infrastructure and media, consumer and entertainment. The company is perhaps best known for its work advising the $100bn Vision Fund, a partnership between Japan’s SoftBank and the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund. Centricus, whose co-founder Al-Bassam holds British and Saudi citizenship according to Companies House filings, reportedly played a big role in securing investment from Riyadh. The company’s third co-founder, Michele Faissola, reportedly left the firm after his connections with the Qatari government created tension with the Saudis, amid diplomatic tension between the two Gulf states. Centricus also worked with European football’s governing body, Uefa, on an alternative proposal to a plan by several large football clubs to create a new Super League to rival the Champions League. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Business Today Free daily newsletter Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion The company was also involved in an ill-fated attempt to buy Chelsea FC in 2022, during a forced sale process triggered by UK imposing sanctions on the club’s former owner, the Russian oligarch. Javid’s consultancy work for Centricus has previously attracted the attention of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointment (Acoba), which examines the propriety of ministers taking jobs in the private sector after their service. Acoba said Javid’s previous role as chancellor had afforded him “significant knowledge of fiscal and monetary policy”. It said this knowledge might be “perceived to offer an unfair advantage to Centricus, specifically information regarding potential at-risk firms”. However, the body cleared Javid to work for Centricus. On Tuesday, Ariburnu, who donated £5,000 to Javid’s Bromsgrove constituency office in 2015, said the firm had “benefited greatly” from Javid’s advice over the past year. “We are delighted that he has agreed to join our partnership and firm on a full-time basis,” said Aburnu. “We look forward to further benefiting from his in-depth understanding and experience in global markets, international business and global geo-politics to help guide and execute our firm-wide strategy.”

In wake of Supreme Court ruling, Biden administration tells doctors to provide emergency abortions 2024-07-02 18:00:59+00:00 - WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration told emergency room doctors they must perform emergency abortions when necessary to save a pregnant woman’s health, following last week’s Supreme Court ruling that failed to settle a legal dispute over whether state abortion bans override a federal law requiring hospitals to provide stabilizing treatment. In a letter being sent Tuesday to doctor and hospital associations, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Director Chiquita Brooks-LaSure reminded hospitals of their legal duty to offer stabilizing treatment, which could include abortions. A copy of the letter was obtained by The Associated Press. “No pregnant woman or her family should have to even begin to worry that she could be denied the treatment she needs to stabilize her emergency medical condition in the emergency room,” the letter said. It continued, “And yet, we have heard story after story describing the experiences of pregnant women presenting to hospital emergency departments with emergency medical conditions and being turned away because medical providers were uncertain about what treatment they were permitted to provide.” CMS will also resume investigations into complaints against emergency rooms in Idaho, after the Supreme Court ruled last week that hospitals there must be allowed to perform emergency abortions for now, despite the state’s abortion ban. But enforcement in Texas, the country’s most populous state with a strict six-week abortion ban, will still be on hold because of a lower court ruling. The letter is the Biden administration’s latest attempt to raise awareness about a 40-year-old federal law that requires almost all emergency rooms — any that receive Medicare dollars — to provide stabilizing treatment for patients in a medical emergency. When hospitals turn away patients or refuse to provide that care, they are subject to federal investigations, hefty fines and loss of Medicare funding. The Texas Alliance for Life responded to the letter by saying the Biden administration “falsely suggests that Idaho and other state pro-life laws fail to protect women facing life-threatening emergencies during pregnancy.” “This is untrue,” the anti-abortion group said in a statement. “All state pro-life laws provide an abortion exception for those rare but tragic circumstances in which a pregnancy poses a threat to a mother’s life, including circumstances when death is not imminent. Those include Texas and Idaho.” The emergency room is the last place that the Democratic White House has argued it can federally require rare emergency abortions to be performed, despite strict state abortion bans. After Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, and U.S. women lost the constitutional right to an abortion, HHS quickly sent letters to doctors, saying that they were required to provide abortions in emergency medical situations when they were needed to keep a woman medically stable. An AP investigation found that complaints about pregnant women being turned away from emergency rooms spiked in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe, raising concerns about emergency pregnancy care in states that have enacted strict abortion laws. In Idaho, enforcement of the federal law in emergency abortion cases had been on hold since January, when the state’s strict abortion ban took effect. Idaho’s state law threatens doctors with prison sentences if they perform an abortion, with an exception only if a pregnant woman’s life, not her health, is at risk. The Biden administration has argued that this conflicts with a federal law called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA. Roughly 50,000 women every year develop serious pregnancy complications, like blood loss, sepsis or organ loss. Some of those women may show up in emergency rooms and in the most serious cases where a fetus is unlikely to be viable, doctors may recommend a termination of the pregnancy. For example, if a woman’s water breaks during the second trimester, a condition known as a preterm premature rupture of membranes, the fetus may not be viable, and continuing the pregnancy means that the patient may risk developing sepsis, an infection that can be deadly. Texas is also suing the Biden administration over its guidance around the law. The Department of Justice has appealed a lower court ruling that said the law could be enforced to the Supreme Court, which could decide on taking up the case later this year. HHS has also sought in recent months to make it easier for any patient who is turned away or not appropriately transferred to file complaints against hospitals. Earlier this year, CMS unveiled a new web page that allows anyone to submit a complaint in a straightforward, three-step process. “We will continue to build on our recent actions to educate the public about their rights to emergency medical care and to help support efforts of hospitals and health care professionals to meet their obligations under EMTALA,” the letter said. The department said the complaint webpage will also be available in Spanish, starting today. Lupe Rodriguez, executive director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, said her team has had conversations for a few months with the HHS secretary to encourage the office to make tools available in Spanish. Latinas are more likely to be uninsured, lack access to prenatal care and live in states with abortion bans, she said. This is even more of a concern for Latinas with limited English language skills or who are in mixed immigration status families, she said. “It’s incredibly important to be centering Latinas and people of color because we’re the most impacted by these abortion bans and attempts to restrict emergency care,” she said. — Fernando reported from Chicago.

Dale Vince sues Guido Fawkes owner for libel over Hamas claims 2024-07-02 17:50:00+00:00 - The Labour donor Dale Vince has employed a new legal approach to sue the political blog Guido Fawkes for libel, despite the website being hosted overseas. Vince, who has given millions of pounds to Labour in the run-up to the general election, says the Westminster-focused blog falsely suggested that he supports Hamas, a proscribed terrorist group. The green energy entrepreneur is now personally suing the site’s Ireland-based owner Paul Staines. The editor has previously declared that his Irish nationality and his blog being hosted in the US meant that “I don’t have to pay attention to what a British judge orders me to do”. Vince said: “He believes his ‘offshore’ structure protects him from being accountable, that he can flout our laws and disregard basic principles … With this legal action we hope to change that.” The green energy businessman has been given permission by an English judge to serve libel papers on Staines via email and post to his home in Ireland. Staines declined to comment. Vince is also seeking a website blocking order, which means that a London-based court could order British internet service providers to block access to specific blogposts. The approach is more commonly used in copyright cases, such as the blocking of illegal Premier League football streams. The case hinges on a Guido Fawkes post from March entitled “Multi-million pound donor to Labour party says Hamas are ‘freedom fighters’”. It consists of an edited clip from a Times Radio interview where Vince is asked: “Is a terrorist attack from Hamas Palestine defending itself?” Vince replies: “I think one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter, right? That’s how it works.” The businessman claims the clip was used to imply that he supported the terrorist acts of Hamas, including “the mass murder, kidnapping and rape which took place on 7 October”. The Daily Mail and GB News have already apologised and paid damages to Vince over similar stories. Vince said in a statement: “Some weeks ago, the Guido Fawkes website published false claims about me which spread quickly amongst rightwing channels and commentators, probably in part due to the imminent election. The intention was clear, to damage my credibility as a person and as a Labour supporter. “We’ve secured numerous retractions with costs and damages already, such as from the Daily Mail and GB News, and for me this is the most important piece of the puzzle, the source. I’m pleased we’ve now been given permission to take action against the editor, Paul Staines.” The Guido Fawkes site has previously said it asked Vince “to put on the record unambiguously that he does not think Hamas are freedom fighters”, in which case they “will be happy to withdraw and/or amend our previous reports accordingly”. It added: “They stated he had previously condemned terrorism on the record. We accept and never claimed otherwise that Mr Vince has previously condemned terrorism, including saying of the specific acts of Hamas terrorism on the weekend of October 7, 2023: ‘I don’t support what they did.’ We remain baffled therefore why he won’t even through his lawyers confirm that he does not think Hamas are, in the words he used, ‘freedom fighters’.” Guido Fawkes has links to the Tory party, having recently appointed the Conservative peer Ross Kempsell as a contributing editor. A former head of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street policy unit, he was given a peerage in Johnson’s resignation honours list.

How Tom Hanks’s Son Spawned a Hateful Meme Online 2024-07-02 17:49:50+00:00 - In the spring of 2021, Chet Hanks, the singer, actor and son of Tom, posted a series of statements and a music video with a refrain that caused confusion, not to mention a fair bit of cringing. He declared it was going to be a “white boy summer.” Whatever exactly he meant at the time, the phrase has since mutated into a slogan for white supremacists and other hate groups, according to a report published on Tuesday by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, an organization that tracks the spread of racism. Thousands of posts using the slogan “white boy summer” have appeared on the Telegram app this year. It’s been used by far-right groups to recruit new followers, organize protests and encourage violence, especially against immigrants and L.G.B.T.Q. people, the report said. For many of those who use it now, the phrase represents an unapologetic embrace of white heterosexual masculinity, often at the expense of women and people of color.

New Drug Approved for Early Alzheimer’s 2024-07-02 17:38:50+00:00 - The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved a new drug for Alzheimer’s disease, the latest in a novel class of treatments that has been greeted with hope, disappointment and skepticism. The drug, donanemab, to be sold under the brand name Kisunla, was shown in studies to modestly slow the pace of cognitive decline in early stages of the disease. It also had significant safety risks, including swelling and bleeding in the brain. Kisunla, made by Eli Lilly, is similar to another drug, Leqembi, approved last year. Both are intravenous infusions that attack a protein involved in Alzheimer’s, and both can slow the unfolding of dementia by several months. Both also carry similar safety risks. Leqembi, made by Eisai and Biogen, is given every two weeks; Kisunla is given monthly. Kisunla has a significant difference that may appeal to patients, doctors and insurers: Lilly says patients can stop the drug after it clears the protein, amyloid, which clumps into plaques in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s.

M&S increases stocks of smaller womenswear sizes due to higher demand 2024-07-02 17:25:00+00:00 - Marks & Spencer is increasing its stocks of smaller sizes in womenswear after a surge in demand left gaps on shelves. Stuart Machin, the chief executive of the high street stalwart, said that three years ago about a fifth (21%) of the items sold from its main seasonal collection were size six to 10 and that had now risen to 35% as its “fashion and style ranges [were] resonating with a different customer group”. Even outside those more fashionable ranges, sales of smaller sizes now represent about 23% of the mix, a rise from about 20% three years ago. Answering a complaint from a shopper at the retailer’s annual general meeting – that there were not enough smaller sizes in stock – Machin said on Tuesday that he had personally looked at the orders on smaller sizes to ensure there were more and “if we sell out in autumn/winter we’ll be doing very well”. The demand for smaller sizes reflects the increasing popularity of M&S, once mainly worn by those well over 50, with shoppers in their 20s, 30s and 40s who on average tend to be slimmer. A spokesperson for M&S, which stocks women’s clothing from size six to 24, said: “We’re not moving away from larger sizes, it’s more about getting better at responding to demand and making sure we have the right size mix and availability for all of our customers – which is something we haven’t always got right.” In May, Machin said more under-30s were buying M&S’s lingerie than ever before, helping take its market share in that product category to a new high of 38%. That broader appeal has help the revitalised retailer win more than 1 million extra shoppers and boost profits by 41% in the year to 30 March. The retailer has tried to improve its fashion credentials and reach a new generation of shoppers by using social media, including training its own staff as influencers. It has also enlisted younger names than it has traditionally used in advertising campaigns, such as Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Zawe Ashton. Tie-ups with celebrities such as Sienna Miller, the 42-year-old actor known for her style, have also been important. M&S said 10 was the most popular size in Miller’s range and 32% of items in its spring and summer campaign were in size six to 10. On the M&S website, six of the 19 clothing items available in Miller’s collection are sold out in sizes six to 10 Pippa Stephens, senior apparel analyst at GlobalData, said M&S’s decision to start stocking outside brands such as Nobody’s Child and Sweaty Betty on its website had helped boost its appeal with younger shoppers while the design of its own-label gear now had “more fashionable shapes and prints”. But she said that it may also be that a larger number of older shoppers were now more trim and “more aware of exercise and healthy eating”. Machin has also rejigged M&S’s food stores so that they have greater appeal to young families, with the Essential range of cheaper basics, larger packs and enough items to make it possible to do a full weekly shop. 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 Dozens of investors attended M&S’s annual meeting at the Paddington headquarters, albeit many fewer than the vast gatherings the FTSE-listed company was once known for when shoppers often berated it over the length of sleeves, knicker elastic and other matters. During the pandemic, M&S switched to holding the meetings online, but said it was now committed to a hybrid set-up. At the meeting, the retailer had to defend its use of agency workers, such as cleaners, who are not guaranteed at least the real living wage unlike the main shop floor staff who are directly employed by M&S. Machin and M&S chair Archie Norman also defended a decision to cut back the lifetime staff discount. Employees who had worked for the retailer for at least a decade had previously received the 20% discount, but on 1 July M&S lengthened the service period to 25 years. Machin said he had decided to make a change after discovering that 50,000 people who had left M&S were able to claim the discount, which he said was hitting profits.

First Democrat in Congress calls on Biden to withdraw from 2024 election after debate 2024-07-02 17:23:00+00:00 - WASHINGTON — Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, became the first sitting Democrat in Congress to call for President Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, citing his poor debate performance and the fact that Biden “has trailed Donald Trump” all year in surveys. “Our overriding consideration must be who has the best hope of saving our democracy from an authoritarian takeover by a criminal and his gang. Too much is at stake to risk a Trump victory—too great a risk to assume that what could not be turned around in a year, what was not turned around in the debate, can be turned around now," Doggett said in a statement Tuesday. "President Biden saved our democracy by delivering us from Trump in 2020. He must not deliver us to Trump in 2024." While numerous Democrats have privately expressed concerns or suggested anonymously that Biden leave the race, Doggett, who is 77, is the first lawmaker to say it openly. He represents a blue district based in Austin, Texas, and has served in Congress since 1995. “I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson," Doggett continued. "Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw. President Biden should do the same.” “I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully call on him to do so,” he said. It is unclear whether — or how many — Democratic lawmakers will follow suit as the president and his team insist he will stay in the race and be the party’s 2024 nominee. A Biden campaign official said the president is “staying in” and noted that other Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have provided supportive statements standing behind Biden. Doggett emphasized that he believes Biden has “achieved much for our country at home and abroad” as president, but added: “While much of his work has been transformational, he pledged to be transitional. He has the opportunity to encourage a new generation of leaders from whom a nominee can be chosen to unite our country through an open, democratic process.” Rep. Lloyd Doggett. Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images file “President Biden has continued to run substantially behind Democratic senators in key states and in most polls has trailed Donald Trump. I had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum to change that. It did not. Instead of reassuring voters, the President failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies,” Doggett said. He argued that the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling adds fresh urgency to the task of defeating Trump. “This week, with the Supreme Court creating 'a law-free zone around the President,' Trump, newly-empowered with immunity, could usher America into a long, dark, authoritarian era unchecked by either the courts or a submissive Republican Congress,” Doggett said. After Doggett’s call, Democratic candidate Adam Frisch, who is running in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, also called on Biden to exit, saying neither he nor Trump should be running for president. “We deserve better. President Biden should do what’s best for the country and withdraw from the race,” said Frisch, who lost by a razor-thin margin to Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., in 2022. Julián Castro — a former Housing and Urban Development secretary in the Obama-Biden administration who clashed with Biden as a 2020 candidate — joined the calls on MSNBC, saying there’s “a stable of Democrats” who would be more effective against Trump, including Vice President Kamala Harris. “He is not the campaigner he was in 2020,” Castro said. “I believe there are stronger options out there for Democrats.” Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, one of five House Democrats who represents a Trump district, published an opinion piece in a local paper saying: “While I don’t plan to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win. And I’m OK with that.” He said democracy “will be just fine” under Trump.

Shell to pause construction of huge biodiesel plant in Rotterdam 2024-07-02 16:56:00+00:00 - Shell has paused the construction of one of Europe’s largest biofuel plants which was expected to convert waste into green jet fuel and biodiesel by the end of the decade. The oil company said on Tuesday it would “temporarily pause” work on one of its biggest energy transition projects to address the technical difficulties that have delayed its progress so far. Shell began constructing the plant, based in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, in 2021, and had initially expected to start producing up to 820,000 tonnes of biofuels a year in April, before this was pushed back to 2025. About half of the plant’s biofuels were to be used for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) made from waste cooking oil and animal fat. The fuel is seen by some as crucial if airlines are to cut their carbon emissions in line with global climate targets. The nascent industry has also attracted criticism from those who claim that SAF is not a realistic replacement for paraffin-based aviation fuels within the timescale needed to prevent rising carbon emissions from creating a climate catastrophe. “We’re taking the tough decision now to temporarily pause on-site construction,” a Shell spokesperson said. “This gives us the opportunity to take stock, complete engineering, optimise project sequencing and in doing so maintain capital discipline.” The spokesperson added: “Low-carbon fuels form a key part of Shell’s ambitions to provide affordable and sustainable products to our customers.” The aviation industry accounts for 3% of the world’s carbon emissions, and is seen as one of the most difficult forms of transportation to decarbonise. The decision to pause the work deals another blow to Shell’s biofuels plans after the company cancelled an SAF project at Singapore’s Bukom Island in March last year. Shell was considering investment in a plant that could produce 550,000 tonnes of SAF a year to supply major Asian hubs such as Hong Kong International airport and Singapore’s Changi. The blow to Shell’s green aviation plans has come after the company signalled a scaling back of its green growth ambitions by reducing the number of staff working on low-carbon solutions by at least 200 roles, while a further 130 positions will be placed under review. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Business Today Free daily newsletter Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion The decision is expected to affect Shell’s plans for offshore wind development and sharply scale back its ambitions to fuel hydrogen passenger vehicles. Shell was an early adopter of hydrogen, which has fallen out of favour as electric vehicles become more popular. Instead, Shell’s chief executive, Wael Sawan, is planning to shift its focus towards high-profit oil projects and expanding its gas business to exploit higher global oil and gas prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The rise in global energy market prices has prompted executives across the oil and gas industry to review green investment plans and climate targets. BP confirmed last week it would halt investment in new offshore wind projects, and place a hiring freeze for the new business division, in an apparent attempt to placate investors who are unhappy with the greener direction set by its ousted boss Bernard Looney.

Labour is putting its plans for Britain in the hands of private finance. It could end badly | Daniela Gabor 2024-07-02 16:31:00+00:00 - The Labour party has a plan for returning to power: it will get BlackRock to rebuild Britain. Its reasoning is straightforward. A cash-strapped government that wants to avoid tax increases or austerity has no choice but to partner with big finance, attracting private investment to rebuild the infrastructure that is crumbling after years of Tory underinvestment. Labour has already done the arithmetic: to mobilise £3 of private capital from institutional investors, you need to offer them £1 in public subsidies. But every time you hear Labour announce such an infrastructure partnership, think of the hidden politics. BlackRock will privatise Britain – our housing, education, health, nature and green energy – with our taxpayer money as sweetener. BlackRock has long peddled the idea of public-private partnerships for infrastructure, climate and development. Yet its political momentum has recently accelerated. When its chair, Larry Fink, the world’s most powerful financier, sat with world leaders at the G7 summit last month, he promised the following: rich countries need growth, infrastructure investment can deliver that growth, but public debt is too high for the state alone to invest the estimated $75tn (£59tn) necessary by 2040. Trillions, however, are available to asset managers who look after our pensions and insurance contributions (BlackRock, the largest of these firms, manages about $10tn, as a shrinking welfare state pushes us – future pensioners – into its arms). If governments work with big finance, Fink explained, they can unlock these trillions. But to do so, they will need to mint public infrastructure into investable assets that can generate steady returns for investors. Why does BlackRock need the state? Why can’t it deploy trillions without the government’s helping hand? The British public remembers all too well PFIs, the private finance initiatives through which the state ended up paying extortionate amounts to private contractors that designed, built, financed or operated public services such as prisons, schools and hospitals before handing them back to the state, often in poor condition. But for big finance, there is more now at stake. In this golden age of infrastructure, financiers plan to own our infrastructure outright and transform it into a source of steady revenue. Since buying Global Infrastructure Partners in January 2024, BlackRock holds about $150bn in infrastructure assets, including US renewable energy companies, wastewater services in France and airports in England and Australia. It plans to expand aggressively, just like other private infrastructure funds. Direct ownership is the main game, but not the only one. Big finance can also invest in infrastructure indirectly, by lending to private infrastructure companies. The key is returns. For this, BlackRock wants the state to “derisk” investments. This financial jargon was included in the 2024 Labour manifesto, and it in essence involves the state stepping in to improve the returns on infrastructure assets. The choice here is not merely between public and private financing of public goods, but whether British citizens should tolerate the government handing out public subsidies for privatised infrastructure. Housing is only one example of the areas where these investors can already be glimpsed. Institutional landlords – the most prominent being Blackstone, the private equity fund – can acquire residential housing by participating in the privatisation of public housing. After the global financial crisis, the firm also bought up nonperforming mortgages, and since then it has gone on a global shopping spree, snapping up homes across the US and Europe. In the past year, Blackstone bought new rental homes in Britain worth about £1.4bn from the housebuilding company Vistry. Look behind Blackstone’s returns – which come from rents and rising house prices – and you will find the state’s footprint. The government has helped to guarantee and derisk these returns through regulations that favour asset owners over renters, through economic policies that support house price inflation and through the provision of income support – such as housing benefit – that allows renters to continue paying their institutional landlords. Although we’re told that partnering with these investors is a means of solving the housing crisis, it often delivers the opposite: higher rents, the displacement of lower-income tenants who are often from minority groups, and less affordable housing. This explains the backlash against institutional landlords, from Copenhagen to Berlin, Dublin and Madrid. Yet such public pressure will only be effective once the state returns to building public housing. Labour’s strategy raises a bigger set of questions about the type of state we want. Starmer’s vision for government-by-BlackRock reduces the question of state capacity to “how do I get BlackRock to invest in infrastructure assets?” This model involves the state in effect subsidising the privatisation of everyday life. This doesn’t only make it harder to bring public goods back into public ownership; it also allows big finance to tighten the grip on the social contract with citizens, and to become the ultimate arbiter of climate, energy and welfare politics, which will have profound distributional, structural and political consequences. Already, BlackRock is betting on becoming a key provider of green energy infrastructure – though its actual commitment to tackling the climate crisis only extends so far. The firm has lobbied heavily against European proposals to regulate its lending to fossil fuel interests with penalties, and has instead called for voluntary climate commitments. It is aiming to rapidly grow its green energy profits by tapping the government subsidies that will probably be provided through Starmer’s GB Energy, and through the US Inflation Reduction Act. But the profits BlackRock will hope to generate through investing in green energy are likely to come at a huge cost. In Britain, we know that the public ownership of green energy is more effective at lowering consumer bills, accelerating the green transition and creating good jobs. The risk is not only that our climate future will be vastly more expensive if actors such as BlackRock are driving it, but that this future will also produce a more unequal society, where citizens equate green measures with unaffordable public services. This may well provide the kindling for authoritarian, far-right fossil-fuel politics that reject the green transition and frame it as an assault on people’s living standards. Instead, we should plan creatively for a future where extreme climate events necessitate permanent state intervention, from price controls to buffer stocks and public ownership. What’s needed is a big green state. For this, we first need to repair a serious failure of macroeconomic policy imagination that regards the public purse as too small to fund transformative public infrastructure. To do so will require a radical transformation of the state. The state that Rachel Reeves, the likely future chancellor, promises us must break down the neoliberal walls between monetary, fiscal and industrial policy, and scrap low-tax regimes for multinational corporations and individuals with high net worths. It must shrink the power of big finance. This would be a gigantic undertaking, but it is the only realistic one we have. Daniela Gabor is professor of economics and macrofinance at UWE Bristol

Ruling paves way for businesses and public to sue water firms over sewage 2024-07-02 16:20:00+00:00 - Water companies could face a spate of legal challenges by people and businesses affected by sewage pollution after a ruling that United Utilities could be sued by a private company for damage caused by the dumping of human waste. Lawyers said it was a “watershed moment” as the courts had previously ruled that penalties for water companies were a matter for the regulator, and companies could not sue firms for damage caused to their property by sewage pollution. The Manchester Ship Canal Company, which has been trying since 2010 to bring a claim against United Utilities, has alleged that discharges from 121 sewage outfalls within its networks constituted a trespass. In February 2012, the high court ruled in favour of United Utilities, but this was later overturned by the court of appeal, and then restored by the supreme court in 2014. Then, in March 2021, the high court ruled it was the role of regulators and not the courts to address problems caused by sewage dumping. The Environmental Law Foundation, supported by the Good Law Project, challenged this decision, arguing that there should be legal options for people directly affected by sewage pollution. But the court of appeal found against them and said the only option for recourse in issues caused by pollution was through the regulator, and that the law did not allow people or companies directly affected to bring private claims against the water companies. The case then went to the supreme court, which overturned the previous rulings and found that United Utilities can be held to account for damage caused by discharges. The court said the 1991 Water Industry Act does not prevent the company from bringing a claim for nuisance or trespass when a canal is polluted by sewage discharges from United Utilities’ sewers, even if there has been no deliberate misconduct or negligence. Lord Reed and Lord Hodge said: “The supreme court unanimously allows the canal company’s appeal. It holds that the 1991 act does not prevent the canal company from bringing a claim in nuisance or trespass when the canal is polluted by discharges of foul water from United Utilities’ outfalls, even if there has been no negligence or deliberate misconduct.” The Good Law Project’s interim head of legal, Jennine Walker, said: “This is a sensational victory. It gives us stronger legal tools to turn the tide on the sewage scandal and hold water companies to account, after repeated failures from our toothless and underfunded regulators.” skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Down to Earth Free weekly newsletter The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential 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 A United Utilities spokesperson said: “We are considering the implications of the supreme court’s ruling and the clarification of the circumstances in which private owners could bring proceedings in respect of discharges. We understand and share people’s concerns about the need for change and we have already made an early start on an ambitious proposed £3bn programme to improve over 400 storm overflows across the north-west which would cut spills by 60% over the decade to 2030. These proposals form part of our business plan, which is currently under consideration as part of Ofwat’s price review process.”

'NEETS' and 'new unemployables': Why some young adults aren't working 2024-07-02 16:16:00+00:00 - Although the unemployment rate has spent 30 months at or below below 4% — a near record — not everyone who wants a job has one. And not everyone even wants a job at all. Some, referred to as “NEETs,” which stands for “not in employment, education, or training,” are opting out of the labor force largely because they are discouraged by their economic standing. Others, alternatively, are well-qualified but often younger candidates who are struggling to find positions, comprising a contingent of “new unemployables,” according to a recent report by Korn Ferry. Among 16- to 24-year-olds, the unemployment rate rose to 9% in May, which is “typical,” according to Alí Bustamante, a labor economist and director of the Worker Power and Economic Security program at the Roosevelt Institute, a liberal think tank based in New York City. Although the youth unemployment rate fell below 7% in 2023, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, such lows were “emblematic of how hot the labor market was at that point,” Bustamante said. “9% is basically what we should be expecting during relatively good economic times for younger workers,” he added. ‘NEETS’ feel ‘left out and left behind’ Still, some young adults in the U.S. are neither working nor learning new skills. In 2023, about 11.2% of young adults ages 15 to 24 in the U.S. were considered as NEETs, according to the International Labour Organization. In other words, roughly one in 10 young people are “being left out and left behind in many ways,” Bustamante said. Even though “that’s typically the norm,” he said, “we should be expecting these rates to be lower.” Young men, especially, are increasingly disengaged, according to Julia Pollak, a labor economist at ZipRecruiter. “The NEET trend is mostly a male phenomenon,” she said. Pollak explained that’s in part due to declining opportunities in traditionally male occupations, such as construction and manufacturing, while “women’s enrollment in schooling, education outcomes, and employment outcomes have mostly trended upwards.” ‘Talent hoarding’ has led to ‘new unemployables’ According to Korn Ferry’s report, a “perfect storm” has also created a glut of “new unemployables,” or highly trained workers who struggle to find job opportunities. “Employers are holding on to the talent they have and increasingly focusing on talent mobility,” said David Ellis, senior vice president for global talent acquisition transformation at Korn Ferry. This “talent hoarding” has led to fewer available job openings even for well-qualified candidates, he said. At the same time, firms are scaling back on new hires, limiting the opportunities at the entry level, as well. While the teen employment rate is the highest it has been in over a decade, early 20-somethings are struggling to find jobs, Pollak said. “It’s the 20- to 24-year-olds that saw a massive drop off in the labor force participation during the pandemic, and who have lagged behind ever since.” Overall, hiring projections for the class of 2024 fell 5.8% from last year, according to a report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, or NACE. As more candidates compete for fewer positions, stretches of unemployment are also lengthening. Now, the number of people unemployed for longer than six months is up 21%, Korn Ferry found. ‘Unemployable’ to employable Despite those trends in the job market, “all is not lost,” Ellis said. “Don’t wait to reach out,” he advised. Get back in touch with former employers or colleagues through LinkedIn or email and set up informational interviews. After that initial approach, ask for any job leads or contacts. In the meantime, make yourself more visible by writing about noteworthy topics in the industry and updating your resume to include keywords and so-called “title tags,” which highlight important elements at the top. Finally, don’t limit yourself to roles that include a promotion or a raise, Ellis also advised. Rather, aim for a “career lattice,” which could entail taking lower position to gain skills that will pay dividends later.

RXO Shares Surge Following New Acquisition Deal 2024-07-02 16:09:00+00:00 - Shares of RXO Inc. NYSE: RXO are up more than 20% on the week, something investors probably didn’t see coming out of the ‘boring’ transportation sector. This sector is notorious for having a low beta, English for low volatility. RXO stock has a beta below 1.0, meaning the company’s stock price will move less than the daily move in the broader S&P 500 index. RXO Today RXO RXO $27.04 +0.03 (+0.11%) 52-Week Range $16.94 ▼ $28.13 Price Target $19.90 Add to Watchlist Because of this quiet behavior, investors need to investigate why the stock is moving so aggressively quickly. The answer lies in an announcement made earlier in the week when RXO management announced a new potential acquisition deal. United Parcel Service Inc. NYSE: UPS would be letting go of its Coyote Logistics branch for a stipulated $1 billion valuation. RXO will be there to pick up the bill. Get United Parcel Service alerts: Sign Up Considering that shares of United Parcel Service were flat to negative upon the news release, investors can somewhat assume that letting go of Coyote Logistics is actually not the best move for the company, but what is one man’s trash quickly becomes one man’s treasure, or so do Wall Street forecasts suggest for the future of RXO stock today. RXO Dominates the Market with Promising Growth Prospects for Investors The transportation industry is due for a change, particularly the truckload brokerage and services sector, which is exactly where investors can expect RXO to start churning out some bigger steps moving forward. The company’s size is the main factor enabling this to be the case. A $3 billion market capitalization for RXO stands well below United Parcel Service’s $117 billion and peer KnightSwift Transportation Holdings Inc. NYSE: KNX and its $8 billion market capitalization. Some investors may view a smaller size as an issue. Still, this could benefit a changing economy, which has remained constant since the COVID-19 pandemic. RXO MarketRank™ Stock Analysis Overall MarketRank™ 0.91 out of 5 Analyst Rating Reduce Upside/Downside 26.8% Downside Short Interest Healthy Dividend Strength N/A Sustainability N/A News Sentiment 0.68 Insider Trading Acquiring Shares Projected Earnings Growth 261.11% See Full Details Why? RXO can adjust and move from one strategy to another quicker than its bigger peers, as a tanker ship takes longer to change course than a speedboat. Wall Street analysts know this, so they are now forecasting up to 261.1% earnings per share (EPS) growth for RXO stock this year. While bold, the market is welcoming these assumptions, as the stock is now bid up to a forward P/E ratio of 41.9x, commanding a premium of 141% over KnightSwift’s 17.4x valuation and a premium of 200% over United Parcel Service’s 14.1x forward P/E multiple. Of course, price action needs to be considered as another proxy. RXO stock trades at a new 52-week high, even discounting the recent news rally, leaving KnightSwift stock behind on its 81% and United Parcel Service as the bottom performer at only 70% of its 52-week high. What the New Deal Means for RXO Stock: Key Takeaways for Investors The company was kind enough to make a detailed presentation for investors on its website, but those typically involve a lot of marketing and ‘feel good’ viewpoints. Moving outside of those factors and into the meat of the deal, here’s what investors can expect. Scale and diversification are the two main effects this acquisition could have on RXO stock. Considering it is the fourth largest truckload broker in the U.S., adding Coyote Logistics will diversify the company’s transport into food and beverage and make it—reportedly—the third biggest in the nation. While RXO only counts 4,000 customers today, Coyote Logistics would bring roughly 15,000 customers and over 97,000 carriers on board. More than that, adding Coyote’s $3.2 billion in revenue would nearly double RXO’s current $3.9 billion. And the best part? The company is taking no debt and using no cash to make this transaction happen, so investors don’t need to worry about RXO swallowing up a mountain of debt to make this deal happen, as is often the case in other mergers and acquisitions examples. The financing for this acquisition will come from outside investors MFN Partners and Orbis Investments, who are sponsoring RXO in this new venture to exchange equity in the new combined company. This won't affect current shareholders. It's brilliant. Of course, this is far from a done deal, so investors must wait for regulatory approval and other paperwork to be cleared. Because of this, management expects the deal to close by the end of 2024, so any dips in RXO stock could be an excellent opportunity. RXO, Inc. (RXO) Price Chart for Tuesday, July, 2, 2024 Before you consider United Parcel Service, 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 United Parcel Service wasn't on the list. While United Parcel Service currently has a "Hold" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here

GM reports best U.S. quarterly sales since 2020 2024-07-02 15:53:00+00:00 - DETROIT — General Motors reported its best quarterly sales in more than three years, including notable increases in full-size pickup trucks and all-electric vehicles. The Detroit automaker on Tuesday reported sales of 696,086 for the second quarter, up 0.6% from a year earlier and its highest quarterly units sold since the fourth quarter of 2020. Its EVs deliveries increased 40% compared to a year earlier to 21,930 units. Still, EVs made up only 3.2% of its total second quarter sales. Auto industry forecasters such as Cox Automotive and Edmunds expect second-quarter sales industrywide, which included July 1, to be roughly level from a year earlier amid slowing retail demand. An unknown outlier in the second quarter is how much of an impact cyberattacks on dealer software provider CDK Global will have on sales. The June 19 ransomware attack forced CDK, a market leader, to shut down its dealer management system, impacting close to half of all dealerships in North America. “The CDK cyberattacks have thrown a monkey wrench into sales during the second half of June, affecting what is arguably one of the most lucrative and busiest times of the month and quarter for dealerships,” said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds’ head of insights. Dealers, including the industry’s largest publicly traded ones, were forced to delay sales or figure out workarounds to sell vehicles since the attacks occurred. All six of the major publicly traded franchised dealership groups have disclosed their exposure to the CDK issue. Five of the six — Asbury Automotive Group, AutoNation Inc., Group 1 Automotive Inc., Lithia Motors Inc. and Sonic Automotive Inc. — use CDK as their primary dealership management system provider, according to Automotive News. “The good news is — unlike other black swan events that the industry has contended with in the past — sales shouldn’t be lost or severely deferred, but rather pushed into the third quarter,” Caldwell said.

How thousands of Americans got caught in fintech’s false promise 2024-07-02 15:18:00+00:00 - Sanborn said acquiring Radius Bank opened his eyes to the risks of the “banking as a service” space. Regulators focus not on Synapse and other middlemen, but on the banks they partner with, expecting them to monitor risks and prevent fraud and money laundering, he said. But many of the banks running BAAS businesses like Radius simply don’t have the personnel or resources to do the job properly, Sanborn said. He shuttered most of the lender’s fintech business as soon as he could, he says. “We are one of those people who said, ‘Something bad is going to happen,’” he said. A spokeswoman for the Financial Technology Association, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group representing large players including Block, PayPal and Chime, said in a statement, “It’s inaccurate to claim that banks are the only trusted actors in financial services.” “Consumers and small businesses trust fintech companies to better meet their needs and provide more accessible, affordable, and secure services than incumbent providers,” the spokeswoman said. “Established fintech companies are well-regulated and work with partner banks to build strong compliance programs that protect consumer funds,” she said. Furthermore, regulators ought to take a “risk-based approach” to supervising fintech-bank partnerships, she added. The implications of the Synapse disaster may be far-reaching. Regulators have already been moving to punish the banks that provide services to fintechs, and that will undoubtedly continue. Evolve itself was reprimanded by the Federal Reserve last month for failing to properly manage its fintech partnerships. In a post-Synapse update, the FDIC made it clear that the failure of nonbanks won’t trigger FDIC insurance, and that even when fintechs partner with banks, customers may not have their deposits covered. The FDIC’s exact language about whether fintech customers are eligible for coverage: “The short answer is: it depends.” FDIC safety net While their circumstances all differed vastly, each of the customers CNBC spoke to for this story had one thing in common: They thought the FDIC-backing of Evolve meant that their funds were safe. “For us, it just felt like they were a bank,” the Oakland preschool owner said of her fintech provider, a tuition processor called Curacubby. “You’d tell them what to bill, they bill it. They’d communicate with parents, and we get the money.” The 62-year-old business owner, who asked CNBC to withhold her name because she didn’t want to alarm employees and parents of her schools, said she’s taken out loans and tapped credit lines after $236,287 in tuition was frozen in May. Now, the prospect of selling her business and retiring in a few years seems much further out. “I’m assuming I probably won’t see that money,” she said, “And if I do, how long is it going to take?” When Rick Davies, a 46-year-old lead engineer for a men’s clothing company that owns online brands including Taylor Stitch, signed up for account with crypto app Juno, he says he “distinctly remembers” being comforted by seeing the FDIC logo of Evolve. “It was front and center on their website,” Davies said. “They made it clear that it was Evolve doing the banking, which I knew as a fintech provider. The whole package seemed legit to me.” He’s now had roughly $10,000 frozen for weeks, and says he’s become enraged that the FDIC hasn’t helped customers yet. For Davies, the situation is even more baffling after regulators swiftly took action to seize Silicon Valley Bank last year, protecting uninsured depositors including tech investors and wealthy families in the process. His employer banked with SVB, which collapsed after clients withdrew deposits en masse, so he saw how fast action by regulators can head off distress. “The dichotomy between the FDIC stepping in extremely quickly for San Francisco-based tech companies and their impotence in the face of this similar, more consumer-oriented situation is infuriating,” Davies said. The key difference with SVB is that none of the banks linked with Synapse have failed, and because of that, the regulator hasn’t moved to help impacted users. Consumers can be forgiven for not understanding the nuance of FDIC protection, said Alt, the former OCC lawyer. “What consumers understood was, ‘This is as safe as money in the bank,’” Alt said. “But the FDIC insurance isn’t a pot of money to generally make people whole, it is there to make depositors of a failed bank whole.” Waiting for their money For the customers involved in the Synapse mess, the worst-case scenario is playing out. While some customers have had funds released in recent weeks, most are still waiting. Those later in line may never see a full payout: There is a shortfall of up to $96 million in funds that are owed to customers, according to the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee. That’s because of Synapse’s shoddy ledgers and its system of pooling users’ money across a network of banks in ways that make it difficult to reconstruct who is owed what, according to court filings. The situation is so tangled that Jelena McWilliams, the former FDIC Chairman now acting as trustee over the Synapse bankruptcy, has said that finding all the customer money may be impossible. Despite weeks of work, there appears to be little progress toward fixing the hardest part of the Synapse mess: Users whose funds were pooled in “for benefit of,” or FBO, accounts. The technique has been used by brokerages for decades to give wealth management customers FDIC coverage on their cash, but its use in fintech is more novel. “If it’s in an FBO account, you don’t even know who the end customer is, you just have this giant account,” said LendingClub’s Sanborn. “You’re trusting the fintech to do the work.” While McWilliams has floated a partial payment to end users weeks ago, an idea that has support from Yotta cofounder Moelis and others, that hasn’t happened yet. Getting consensus from the banks has proven difficult, and the bankruptcy judge has openly mused about which regulator or body of government can force them to act. The case is “uncharted territory,” Judge Martin Barash said, and because depositors’ funds aren’t the property of the Synapse estate, Barash said it wasn’t clear what his court could do. Evolve has said in court filings that it has “great pause” about making any payments until a full reconciliation happens. It has further said that Synapse ledgers show that nearly all of the deposits held for Yotta were missing, while Synapse has said that Evolve holds the funds. “I don’t know who’s right or who’s wrong,” Moelis told CNBC. “We know how much money came into the system, and we are certain that that’s the correct number. The money doesn’t just disappear; it has to be somewhere.” In the meantime, the former Synapse CEO and Evolve have had an eventful few weeks. Pathak, who dialed into early bankruptcy hearings while in Santorini, Greece, has since been attempting to raise funds for a new robotics startup, using marketing materials with misleading claims about the extent of its ties with automaker General Motors. And only days after being censured by the Federal Reserve about its management of technology partners, Evolve was attacked by Russian hackers who posted user data from an array of fintech firms, including social security numbers, to a dark web forum for criminals. For customers, it’s mostly been a waiting game. Craft, the Indiana FexEx driver, said she had to borrow money from her mother and grandmother for expenses. She worries about how she’ll pay for catering at her upcoming wedding. “We were led to believe that our money was FDIC-insured at Yotta, as it was plastered all over the website,” Craft said. “Finding out that what FDIC really means, that was the biggest punch to the gut.” She now has an account at Chase, the largest and most profitable American bank in history.

Prosecutors in Trump's hush money case say they don't oppose delaying his sentencing 2024-07-02 15:15:00+00:00 - Prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney's office said Tuesday that they don't oppose delaying Donald Trump's sentencing in his hush money case given the Supreme Court's ruling Monday that he has immunity for some of his actions as president in his separate election interference case. Several assistant district attorneys made their position known in a letter to New York Judge Juan Merchan, who's presiding over the hush money case. Trump was convicted in May of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment his former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actor Stormy Daniels at the end of the 2016 presidential campaign to cover up an alleged affair. Trump denies any affair with Daniels. He was scheduled to be sentenced on July 11, but that hearing now will likely be pushed back until after the Republican National Convention, which begins July 15. The letter from prosecutors came in response to a pre-motion letter Monday from Trump’s lawyers indicating they wanted to delay his sentencing as a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity. “Although we believe defendant’s arguments to be without merit, we do not oppose his request for leave to file and his putative request to adjourn sentencing pending determination of his motion,” the prosecutors wrote to Merchan. The prosecutors asked that Trump’s legal team file the request to adjourn the sentencing hearing by July 24, two weeks after the original requested deadline. The letter was signed by the assistant district attorneys who prosecuted the hush money case, including Joshua Steinglass, Matthew Colangelo, Christopher Conroy, Susan Hoffinger and Becky Mangold. Trump’s lawyers sent their letter to Merchan on Monday after the Supreme Court issued its decision on Trump's immunity appeal, with a 6-3 majority ruling that in the federal election interference case, he has immunity for some official actions, although maybe not for unofficial ones. The former president’s legal team said they wanted to brief Merchan on how the immunity decision could affect the verdict in the hush money case as part of their effort to get the conviction thrown out. Many of the actions entered into evidence during the hush money trial occurred before Trump took office in 2017. The immunity ruling will likely further delay proceedings in the federal and Georgia election interference cases as well. Biden's campaign spokesperson James Singer said in a statement Monday that the decision has “nothing to do with Donald Trump being convicted of 34 felonies for paying hush money to a porn star and then breaking the law to cover it up.” “At the end of the day, Donald Trump is a convicted felon precisely because he believed he’s above the law and was willing to do anything to gain power,” Singer said. “That’s why he’s a threat and must be defeated."

Biotech Stock Breakout: IBB Eyes Resistance with Amgen and Vertex 2024-07-02 14:51:00+00:00 - The biotechnology sector, represented by the iShares Biotechnology ETF NASDAQ: IBB, has experienced a year of consolidation. With the ETF up just 0.8%, it has underperformed the broader market, making it one of the worst-performing sectors year-to-date. However, as the year's second half begins, the IBB is trading just 3% away from its 52-week high and a significant resistance level, suggesting a potential breakout. Should the sector be on your watchlist for the year's second half? Let's take a closer look. Get IBB alerts: Sign Up Technical Analysis: Biotech ETF Nears Resistance iShares Biotechnology ETF Today IBB iShares Biotechnology ETF $136.02 -0.95 (-0.69%) 52-Week Range $111.83 ▼ $141.16 Dividend Yield 0.29% Assets Under Management $7.33 billion Add to Watchlist Biotech stocks, represented by the IBB, reached a two-year high in February but have trended sideways despite several mergers and positive clinical news. The consolidation within the sector may be attributed to various factors, including macroeconomic concerns, sector rotation, and a waning interest in biotech stocks after the intense focus during the pandemic. In 2020, the industry gained significant attention during the pandemic as companies like Pfizer with BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson developed COVID-19 vaccines. However, as society adapted to living with COVID-19 and other economic and political concerns emerged, interest in biotech waned. Despite these headwinds, the underlying fundamentals of the biotech sector remain robust, with continued innovation and a strong pipeline of clinical trials. Fund flows have been unfavorable year-to-date, with a negative 2.14% flow percentage representing net fund flows of the ETF as a percentage of Assets Under Management (AUM). More recently, the flow percentage for the past month is 2.61%, indicating a potential shift in momentum. From a technical analysis perspective, the sector ETF is trading near its resistance and above all of its major moving averages. While it has moved sideways for most of the year, it is now making consecutive higher highs, approaching its breakout level. This pattern indicates that investor sentiment might be shifting positively, positioning the sector for potential gains in the year's second half. Assessing the momentum of the ETF's top players can help investors determine which biotech stocks they should invest in. Amgen's Role in the IBB ETF: Weighting and Impact Amgen Today AMGN Amgen $310.77 -0.24 (-0.08%) 52-Week Range $218.44 ▼ $329.72 Dividend Yield 2.90% P/E Ratio 44.40 Price Target $307.35 Add to Watchlist Amgen NASDAQ: AMGN is the largest holding in the IBB ETF with a 9.26% weighting. Similar to the sector ETF, Amgen is consolidating near its 52-week high, forming a tight wedge pattern and setting up for a potential breakout. Year-to-date, the stock has outperformed the sector, up almost 8%. Analysts are bullish on the stock, with a Moderate Buy rating based on 21 analyst ratings, though the consensus price target forecasts a nearly 1% downside. The company last reported earnings on May 2, announcing an EPS beat of $3.96, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.76. Amgen's revenue for the quarter was $7.45 billion, up 22% year-over-year. Amgen Inc. (AMGN) Price Chart for Tuesday, July, 2, 2024 Evaluating Vertex's Strong Uptrend and Stock Potential Vertex Pharmaceuticals Today VRTX Vertex Pharmaceuticals $473.78 +2.53 (+0.54%) 52-Week Range $335.82 ▼ $486.42 P/E Ratio 30.74 Price Target $448.61 Add to Watchlist Vertex Pharmaceuticals NASDAQ: VRTX is the second-largest holding in the IBB ETF with a 9.16% weighting. VRTX has been a standout performer in the sector year-to-date, boasting a 15.8% return. Unlike Amgen and the broader sector, Vertex has significant upward momentum, trading in a firm uptrend and consolidating just 3% away from its all-time high. After reporting impressive earnings, the stock broke out of a lengthy consolidation in May. Vertex last issued its quarterly earnings results on May 6, posting an EPS of $4.76, beating the consensus estimate of $3.66 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $2.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.58 billion, marking a 13.3% year-over-year increase. Vertex's strong performance can be attributed to its focus on innovative treatments for serious diseases, including cystic fibrosis, which is where it leads the market. The company's robust pipeline and strategic collaborations have also been critical to its success. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (VRTX) Price Chart for Tuesday, July, 2, 2024 Breakout Potential: Biotech Sector's Promising Indicators The biotechnology sector is beginning to show signs of life, showing potential for a breakout after a lengthy consolidation. The performance of its top holdings, like Amgen and Vertex Pharmaceuticals, will be crucial in determining the sector's direction and ability to break out. Investors should closely watch these key stocks and the sector's resistance levels to gauge the next move. The recent shift in fund flows and the technical setup suggests that the sector could be poised for a strong performance in the year's second half. Before you consider iShares Biotechnology ETF, 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 iShares Biotechnology ETF wasn't on the list. While iShares Biotechnology ETF currently has a "hold" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here