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Why fintechs are becoming more popular
How banks are responding to fintech companies
Tips for choosing where to bank
Fintech banking platforms are appealing to younger generations. What does this mean for banking?
Several national banks have implemented recent changes in overdraft fees or overdraft protection programs.
JGI/Jamie Grill/ Getty Images
More consumers are turning to fintech banking companies to meet their needs.
A 2022 FICO report found that consumer expectations are also shifting.
Some traditional banks have responded by reviewing overdraft fee policies or services.
Fintech banking platforms like Chime and Current are becoming more popular among consumers.
What does this mean for banking? We'll explain how consumer expectations are shifting in the banking industry and what this may mean for you.
According to a 2022 Cornerstone Advisors report commissioned by FICO, consumer behaviors and expectations for banking are changing and traditional banks have to adapt to these needs.
The research found that younger generations — specifically, Millennials and Gen Z — are more likely to use digital banks for their primary checking accounts than a community bank or credit union. The report also states the percentage of Gen Z who reported having a checking account with a national bank decreased from 35% in 2020 to 25% recently.
"The biggest thing I think consumers need to understand is that it's actually very easy to manage a lot of these fintech relationships," says Darryl Knopp, FICO's senior director of portfolio marketing.
Knopp points out that fintech banking platforms resonate with consumers because they have products that are easy to understand and different.
Since products and services are based online, it's easy to manage an account. Some fintech platforms also offer 24/7 customer support or live chat features to communicate.
According to the mentioned FICO report, two areas where fintech companies may stand out to consumers for commonly offering free overdraft protection or savings tools.
Here's how traditional banks are responding to address consumer needs.
Several big banks are rolling out changes to overdraft policies in 2022. The Consumer Protection Bureau is also monitoring these changes and making sure that changes result in fewer fees for consumers.
Here's how 10 of the largest brick-and-mortar banks approach overdraft fees and overdraft protection programs.
Chase: Chase has changed its overdraft policy so customers can overdraw up to $50 from their bank account without having to pay the $34 overdraft fee. If you overdraw more than $50 from an account, you also have until the next business day to restore your balance to avoid paying a fee.
Bank of America: In May, Bank of America reduced its $35 overdraft fee to $10. The bank also got rid of its fee for utilizing overdraft protection services when you transfer money from another bank account.
Wells Fargo: Wells Fargo is no longer charging a fee for using overdraft protection if you have a linked bank account. During the third quarter of 2022, Wells Fargo is also modifying overdraft fee policies. If you overdraw from your account, you'll have 24 hours to restore your account without having to pay a fee.
Citi: In February, Citi announced that it would get rid of overdraft fees and overdraft protection fees. These changes will be taking place this summer.
US Bank: In January, US Bank did away with some of its overdraft fees. US Bank now allows you to overdraw up to $50 from a bank account without paying a fee. If you have overdrawn by more than $50, you also have until 11 p.m. ET of the following business day to restore your account balance without facing a charge.
Truist Bank: In January, Truist announced it would eliminate overdraft protection fees. The bank is also going to offer a new checking account that doesn't charge overdraft fees and allows customers to overdraw up to $100 from an account. The checking is expected to be available sometime during the summer.
TD Bank: In February, TD Bank stated it would be making several changes to overdraft policies throughout 2022. TD Bank will be eliminating overdraft protection transfer fees. Customers will be able to overdraw up to $50 from their bank account without having to pay an overdraft fee. If you overdraw more than $50 from an account, you also have 24 hours to restore your balance to avoid paying a fee.
Fifth Third Bank: Fifth Third Bank allows you t overdraw up to $5 without paying a fee. The bank also offers "Extra Time" with the Fifth Third Bank Momentum Checking Account. If restore an overdrawn balance before midnight ET on the following business day after your account is overdrawn, you won't have to pay an overdraft fee.
Citizens Bank: This month, Citizens Bank announced it would eliminate overdraft protection fees if you have a linked savings account. The change will be taking place in the middle of 2022.
Savings tools
According to a 2022 J.D. Power customer satisfaction study, retail banks with spending and budgeting tools are seeing an increase in customer satisfaction. However, the same study also reports consumers still want a more personalized customer experience.
Knopp points out that brick-and-mortar banks have the potential to grow in this area.
"This is an area where banks can compete very well. They often know much more about the customer. They have multiple products that can help address some of these challenges," says Knopp.
Knopp adds that the simplest way for traditional banks to remain competitive with fintech is to partner with them. If financial institutions cannot advance their technological services, fintechs could provide these tools for them.
With more banking options, Knopp says consumers can begin to learn more about specific banking products and services.
For example, you can look at both fintech companies and traditional banks and determine if particular features — like early direct deposit or budgeting tools— stand out to you.
Alina Leon, a paraplanner at Beacon Financial Planning, Inc., says local financial institutions may be worth considering if you have already established a good relationship with a banker or plan on applying for a mortgage or loan in the future.
"If you're fine with having everything online, an online account may work for you. But also it will be more difficult to perform some activities if you need to get a bank check or exchange currencies," adds Leon.
Knopp also advises people to carefully review new fintech platforms and be aware of the precise services and products provided.
"If a group is very new, you certainly want to evaluate their stability," says Knopp. "Are they going to be around? How easy is it to engage with them? Have a hard look at it."
PERSONAL FINANCE 14 bank accounts that help track personal finance goals with budgeting tools
More: Fintech Traditional Banking PFI Reference pfi | 2022-06-15T20:52:26Z | www.businessinsider.com | How Are Banks Responding to Fintech? | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/how-are-banks-responding-to-fintechs | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/how-are-banks-responding-to-fintechs |
5 ways to recession-proof your money right now, according to a financial planner
The author, financial planner Eric Roberge.
Beyond Your Hammock
A recession may be on the horizon. To protect your money, start spending less and earning more now.
If your time horizon is long, you should continue investing even while the market is dropping.
Refresh your skills to guard against layoffs, and avoid making any rash financial decisions.
Whether or not a recession happens is not within your control — so obsessing over macroeconomic trends or trying to predict what happens next for the US or global economy isn't a great use of your time or energy.
That doesn't mean you shouldn't care about these things. But if you want to recession-proof your finances, then you need to focus on what you can directly influence. When it comes to your money, the most immediate thing you have the most control over is your cash flow.
1. Manage your spending wisely, starting now
Cash flow is money coming in and money going out. The "going out" part is probably the easiest, fastest thing to influence.
Try building a worst-case scenario budget before you find yourself in a worst-case scenario. Take a look at your current expenses, and see what you could immediately cut. This is likely going to be things like entertainment, restaurants, luxury purchases, and other shopping.
Then go a level deeper: What might you not be able to eliminate entirely, but could easily spend less on? That might be groceries, home supplies, or things like transportation or fitness (if you switched from driving to biking, for example, or exchanged your exclusive and expensive gym membership for a cheaper option).
This slimmed-down budget can be the first thing you deploy if you feel nervous about a recession. And remember, recessions are usually officially declared after they've started (or even a year after they happened, as was the case with the two-month recession in March and April of 2020...which wasn't declared a recession until July 2021!).
Given that, it's worth testing out your worst-case scenario spending plan before you're forced into doing so. If you spend less now, that also frees up more cash flow for you to direct toward savings and investments — another great way to recession-proof your personal finances.
2. Boost your earnings, then your savings, while you can
Evaluating your spending to understand what you can drop from or temporarily stop putting into your budget is a critical step in managing your cash flow. But don't forget that you can exert some control over the money-coming-in side of things, too.
There are a number of ways you can increase your income. The right path for you will depend on your situation, your skills, and your interests, but here are a few suggestions to consider:
Ask for extra shifts or overtime hours
Look for part-time positions you can take on in addition to your current obligations
Explore freelancing or consulting on the side
Take on more responsibilities or projects at work, and use that as leverage to help negotiate higher pay (or consider taking your skills elsewhere while companies are still hiring)
Start your own business — but remove some of the risk by a) not borrowing money to do so, b) keeping your current job while you launch, or c) both!
And whether you increase your income or reduce your spending (or both), you'll have additional cash flow available each month. You can use that extra money to:
Pad your emergency fund, especially if you feel concerned about a recession and potentially losing your job
Increase contributions to your retirement accounts to build long-term financial stability
Add to your investment portfolio outside of retirement; for example, you could open and fund a brokerage account (or increase the amount you invest each month if you already have a portfolio outside your retirement savings)
Dollar-cost averaging is a great strategy for long-term investors to use when contributing money to the market. When you dollar-cost average, you put in the same amount of money on a regular, predictable schedule no matter what.
To recession-proof your finances (and investment portfolio), you need to continue to invest even though the market is dropping. In fact, especially when the market falls!
You're not actually dollar-cost averaging when you stop your contributions every time you feel uncertain about the economic future. Instead, you're falling victim to one of the biggest mistakes investors can make: buying high.
If you only invest when the market is going up, times are good, and everyone feels confident, you're buying at increasingly higher prices. And if you don't keep investing when the market falls, then you never take advantage of the lower prices the market offers.
It can feel scary to push your hard-earned cash into the stock market when the value of your investments is dropping, but wise long-term investors know that corrections, bear markets, and recessions are actually opportunities to buy assets at lower prices.
4. Review your skills and refresh them as needed
Most people fear recessions because they increases the risk that you'll lose your job and therefore your much-needed income. You can help recession-proof your finances by ensuring that even in a tight labor market, you remain a vital resource.
Review your skills and knowledge and compare that with the current market to see where you might be able to fill a need, or to understand what you might need to catch up on to stay relevant for open positions.
This applies if you're self-employed, too. Do you need to brush up on the latest trends in your field? Are there any training or education opportunities available, or certain clients or projects you can take on now to expand your experience?
Like everything else on this list, the time to take action here is now — before the economy drastically cools and companies back away from making new hires. If you can increase your value now, that will help you retain your current position while businesses weather the storm of a potential recession.
5. Avoid rash (or expensive!) financial decisions
Now is not the time to make crazy leaps into the unknown with your money, or to take uncalculated, unnecessary risks.
This is especially true for any financial decision that is going to tie up a lot of your cash flow, limit your liquidity , or set a very high fixed cost in your budget.
If you can hold off on very large financial decisions that might put you in a precarious situation, delay those. In the meantime, you can work on building up your savings and increasing your assets through investment contributions.
That allows you to be in a stronger financial position in the future, regardless of what the economy does or doesn't do in the near term. It may also help make it easier to navigate through an economically difficult time by leaving both you and your budget more adaptable and flexible.
Ultimately, one of the best ways to recession-proof your finances is to keep perspective. Don't make a short-term decision on what should be a long-term play — and remember that recessions themselves are short-term.
They are tough to go through in the moment, but they don't last forever. Economic trends tend to be cyclical, so lean times are typically followed by periods of growth.
Whether or not we're in for a recession in the near future, staying focused on the big picture and being proactive are two key ways to safely navigate whatever comes our way.
PERSONAL FINANCE I'm a financial planner, and I recommend 2 strategies to build an emergency fund fast
PERSONAL FINANCE How to invest using dollar-cost averaging
More: Recession Recession Proof Financial Planner Personal Finance Insider | 2022-06-15T20:52:32Z | www.businessinsider.com | 5 Ways to Recession-Proof Your Finances Right Now, According to CFP | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/recession-proof-finances-right-now-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/recession-proof-finances-right-now-2022-6 |
Trump vows Liz Cheney will be voted out next after pro-impeachment GOP lawmaker lost to a Trump-backed challenger
Brent D. Griffiths and Oma Seddiq
Trump lashed out at Rep. Liz Cheney while basking in the defeat of another pro-impeachment lawmaker.
Trump has made it his mission to chase pro-impeachment lawmakers out of the GOP.
Wyoming's Republican primary takes place on August 16.
Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed that Rep. Liz Cheney, who voted to impeach him over the January 6 Capitol riot, will soon lose her reelection bid — just how Rep. Tom Rice, another pro-impeachment lawmaker, was defeated in South Carolina's primary on Tuesday night.
"Same thing's going to happen in Wyoming to Virginia 'resident' Liz Cheney, that happened in South Carolina to Congressman 'Impeach Master' Tom Rice, who lost as an incumbent by 28 points!" Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Cheney and Rice were among the 10 House Republicans who broke with their party and voted to impeach Trump on a charge of "incitement of insurrection" last year in the wake of the Capitol attack. Only six of those Republicans are running for reelection in this year's midterms, and Rice is the first in that cohort to lose a primary.
With an estimated 95% of the results in, Rice is projected to lose to former state lawmaker and Trump-backed candidate Russell Fry, per Decision Desk HQ and Insider. In a sign of the extent of his defeat, Rice is currently trailing by more than 26 percentage points, a shellacking for a five-term incumbent.
Trump has made it abundantly clear that his mission is to rid the Republican Party of anyone he deems disloyal to him. Cheney, a staunch conservative who serves as vice chair of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot, has been one of Trump's toughest critics in Congress since he left office. She will face a Trump-endorsed challenger, attorney and former Republican National Committee member, Harriet Hageman, in Wyoming's Republican primary on August 16.
The former president has repeatedly taunted Cheney and her father, former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney. Trump has taken to calling the lawmaker a "war criminal" and delights in attacking the family for their support of the Iraq War, although Trump himself at the time, then-an emerging reality TV star, also supported the conflict.
Cheney has stood her ground against Trump and characterized herself as a defender of the Constitution. There has been no significant independent polling of the race as of yet. Cheney has amassed a large campaign war chest compared to Hageman so far.
Cheney's campaign did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
Though Rice lost his primary, Trump appears to be losing at least some of his grip over the GOP based on other recent primary elections. Rep. Nancy Mace, who ran against a Trump-backed opponent in South Carolina's 1st Congressional District, edged out her primary challenger on Tuesday evening.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who Trump heavily targeted because they refused to challenge the 2020 election results, also both coasted to victory in their primaries against Trump-endorsed candidates last month. Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, who Trump threw his support behind, lost his primary last month as well.
More: Donald Trump Liz Cheney DDHQ INSIDER Data | 2022-06-15T20:52:45Z | www.businessinsider.com | Trump: Liz Cheney Is Going to Lose Reelection Just Like Tom Rice | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-liz-cheney-going-to-lose-just-like-tom-rice-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-liz-cheney-going-to-lose-just-like-tom-rice-2022-6 |
3-year-old Roxana Montano got a dose of Soberana Plus (a Cuban COVID-19 vaccine) on August 24, 2021.
Adalberto Roque/AFP via Getty Images
Pfizer and Moderna both have COVID vaccines for children as young as 6 months old — which may begin going in arms next week.
Both companies say side effects for babies and toddlers are generally milder than for older people.
The most common side effect for babies was irritability — for toddlers arm pain was #1.
The wait is almost over for US parents who've been anxiously awaiting the authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine for babies and toddlers under 5 years old.
Independent advisors to the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously on Wednesday, encouraging the regulatory agency to give the green light to COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna for kids as young as 6 months old. (The move still requires a final go-ahead from the FDA and from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this weekend, meaning shots may finally start going in kids' arms next week.)
Ahead of the FDA's public meeting, the agency released independent analyses of both pediatric vaccines. The analyses suggest the shots from both drug makers are safe and effective at curbing COVID-19 — though like the shots for adults, they don't prevent coronavirus infections entirely, especially with the highly-infectious Omicron variant circulating.
The FDA reviews of Pfizer and Moderna baby vaccines include breakdowns of the most common side effects for each brand, broken down by age.
Moderna's vaccine, which includes a higher dose of mRNA than Pfizer's, comes with more side effects, while Pfizer's low-dose vaccine takes longer to kick in. But both vaccine formulations for babies and toddlers are much milder than the adult versions, and come with tamer side effects overall as a result.
Side effects from these COVID-19 vaccines, if they surface, usually begin about a day or two after vaccine administration and last for about 24-48 hours, on average. Though they're a bit unpleasant, they're also a sign that the vaccine is working, and the body's immune system is revving into gear. However, many babies and toddlers never experience much of a reaction to their COVID-19 vaccine at all, and that is also perfectly normal.
The most common side effect for babies who recieved Pfizer's 3-shot vaccine was irritability
In Pfizer's 6 month to 2 year age group, the top side effects were:
Irritability (51%)
Drowsiness (27%)
Decreased appetite (22%)
Tenderness at the injection site (17%)
Fever (7%)
Babies who got Moderna's 2-shot vaccine were also irritable for a couple days afterwards
In Moderna's 6 month to 2 year age group, the top side effects were:
Pain at the injection site (56%)
Fever (22%)
Swelling and redness at the injection site (18%)
Toddlers who got Pfizer's vaccine were tired, and had some arm pain
Toddlers who got Pfizer's vaccine had relatively few side effects.
Study participants from 2 to 5 years old reported:
Injection site redness (11%)
Most toddlers who got Moderna had some arm pain
2 year olds who got Moderna's vaccine had similar symptoms to the babies in the study, including:
Injection site redness (18%), swelling (16%)
Symptoms for 3 to 6 year olds who got Moderna were more similar to those that older kids and adults experience
Kids from 3 to 6 years old who got Moderna's two shot vaccine experienced:
Muscle aches (22%)
Chills (17%)
Nausea, vomiting (15%)
Swelling, tenderness (14%)
It's too early to know what the true vaccine effectiveness of these shots is
Both Moderna and Pfizer released some early estimates of their vaccine effectiveness for kids (based on trials in a few thousand volunteers) but it's worth treating both numbers with a healthy dose of skepticism, given their highly preliminary nature.
Pfizer's estimated its vaccine was around 80% effective, a number that was based on only 10 COVID-19 cases observed over the course of 40 days. Moderna's roughly 40% to 50% vaccine efficacy estimate for kids 6 months to 6 years old doesn't include a third dose (booster), which the company is testing out in that age group now.
Dr. Amanda Cohn from the CDC said during the meeting on Wednesday that "I would really hope" people don't put too much stock in the differing effectiveness numbers, because they are based on such a small number of cases over a very short period of time.
"I believe the vaccine is effective, I do not have any idea what that number will actually end up being," she said.
The true measure of success for these vaccines will be seen over time, based on how well they do at keeping young kids out of the hospital, and at preventing more COVID-19 deaths among babies and toddlers. COVID-19 hospitalization and death rates have been higher in kids under 5 than among school-aged kids (from 6-17 years old) who have already had the option to get vaccinated against the virus for many months.
"I think we have to be careful that we don't become numb to the number of pediatric deaths because of the overwhelming number of older deaths," Dr. Peter Marks, who's in charge of the FDA's vaccine-regulating Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said at the meeting, stressing that the hospitalization rate in young kids has been "troubling" and the pediatric death trends are far worse than even a very bad flu year.
More: coronavirus COVID-19 vaccine Pfizer Moderna | 2022-06-15T21:44:24Z | www.businessinsider.com | COVID Vaccines for Kids: Side Effects for Babies, Toddlers Under 5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-vaccines-kids-side-effects-babies-toddlers-under-5-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-vaccines-kids-side-effects-babies-toddlers-under-5-2022-6 |
Russia is making incremental gains in east Ukraine, and could potentially conquer the region in the near future.
Ukraine is outgunned in the east, and imploring the West for more weapons.
But experts say Putin is still unlikely to achieve his goal of conquering all of Ukraine, even if he hasn't given up on it.
After a series of major setbacks in the early days of the Ukraine war, Russian forces are slowly but surely making progress in the eastern Donbas region and there are growing concerns in the West that Russia could soon seize it.
Though the Russian military has overwhelmingly shifted its attention to the Donbas since failing to take Kyiv, the Pentagon, Ukrainian government, and top experts are in agreement that Russian President Vladimir Putin has not given up on his bigger goal of conquering Ukraine as a whole.
"Of course they have the idea of occupying the whole country. They demonstrated this in the first weeks of the war. This is their objective," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday, per CNN.
Still, experts told Insider that they're skeptical Russian forces have the troops and weaponry after suffering heavy losses to mount an effective assault on the Ukrainian capital or country's center — even if the Donbas falls and provides Russia with a potential platform to push westward.
Steven Pifer, the former US ambassador to Ukraine, told Insider that Putin "sees his mission as the recovery of Russian lands" and this suggests that if Russia takes the Donbas then "he might return to that objective — now let's try to go for Kyiv and such." Putin recently compared himself to Peter the Great, suggesting that the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine that he ordered was simply a case of Russia moving to retake lands that have historic ties.
"Whether everybody in Moscow shares that ambition is a very different question. But then you also have to ask — does the Russian military have the wherewithal to make that kind of offensive operation? There are a lot of Russian soldiers who are not particularly thrilled that they're fighting in Ukraine," Pifer said, adding, "The Ukrainians are getting battered and may have some morale issues, but I think most Ukrainians still think that this is an existential fight and that if they lose their democracy is gone and their vision of what Ukraine would be as an independent state."
The Pentagon has offered a similar assessment. US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl on Tuesday said Putin likely still has "designs on a significant portion of Ukraine, if not the whole country," but added, "I do not think the Russians have the capacity to achieve those grandiose objectives."
By the account of one Ukrainian official, 200 to 500 troops have been dying every day for the last week — a loss rate all but unsustainable for a military estimated to have had 250,000 troops prior to the war's outbreak.
Rita Konaev, deputy director of analysis at Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology and an expert on the Russian military, told Insider that if Russia seizes the Donbas she does not "foresee a campaign to retake Kyiv again" or "some sort of a resurgence of a total war in the way that we've seen in February."
But she added that "this is contingent that the Russians learn some sort of lessons" out of their past failures in the war so far.
"In the best case scenario for Russia — that they retake the Donbas — I think the conflict freezes along the previous lines. But of course that will also depend on what Ukraine is willing to accept. And right now, despite the increasing urgency and despair that is coming from the frontlines in the Donbas, I'm not completely certain that the political tide has turned against the broader aim of expelling Russian troops from Ukraine altogether," Konaev said.
'The numbers clearly favor the Russians'
The Donbas comprises the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk. Fighting between Kremlin-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has been ongoing in the Donbas since 2014, the same year that Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea. When Russia launched a broader, full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February, the pro-Russian separatists already controlled roughly one-third of the Donbas.
Russian forces appear to be on the brink of taking Severodonetsk, an industrial city in the Luhansk region considered crucial to Russia's goal of conquering the Donbas. Zelenskyy has warned that the battle for Severodonetsk, which is now largely controlled by Russian forces, could decide the fate of east Ukraine.
The fighting in east Ukraine is fierce, and Ukrainian forces are estimated to be suffering up to 1,000 casualties per day. Ukraine is imploring the West to send more weapons as the Russian onslaught rages on, underscoring that it's outgunned.
In comments on the fighting in the Donbas, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley on Wednesday said,"I would say the numbers clearly favor the Russians, in terms of artillery."
Milley said Russia's forces outgun and outrange Ukraine's troops, but also emphasized that a Ukrainian defeat in the region wasn't an "inevitability." With Ukrainian forces in a dire position, President Joe Biden announced another $1 billion in military aid to Ukraine on Wednesday, including "additional artillery and coastal defense weapons, as well as ammunition for the artillery and advanced rocket systems that the Ukrainians need to support their defensive operations in the Donbas."
Despite the tough circumstances Ukraine now faces, Pifer cautioned against fatalistic conclusions.
"Where people were swinging too far into 'Ukraine can win' in the first month and a half, maybe people may be swinging a little bit too far into 'Russia is now going to win,'" Pifer said, adding that Russian forces still have to seize "a lot of ground to occupy all of Donbas."
"It's too soon to tell" what will happen, Pifer said, adding that the conflict is "likely to turn into a war of attrition" that some assess could "stretch out into 2023 or 2024." | 2022-06-15T22:23:49Z | www.businessinsider.com | Putin Could Soon Conquer East Ukraine, but War Could Still Last Years: Experts | https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-could-soon-conquer-east-ukraine-but-not-kyiv-expert-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-could-soon-conquer-east-ukraine-but-not-kyiv-expert-2022-6 |
Amazon's JFK8 fulfillment center on Staten Island, New York, which this year became the first US Amazon warehouse to unionize.
An Amazon official disclosed the grueling meeting schedule during testimony on Wednesday.
The meeting schedule lasted from 8 a.m. until 4 a.m. the next day for six weeks.
Unions and a federal labor-relations board have challenged employers' use of such meetings.
Amazon held 25 mandatory anti-union meetings a day for employees at a warehouse on Staten Island, New York, in the six weeks before a union vote at the facility in March, according to testimony from an Amazon human-resources official at a federal hearing on Wednesday.
The upstart Amazon Labor Union, led by the charismatic former Amazon worker Christian Smalls, won that vote by a convincing margin. Amazon has contested the victory, alleging bias on the part of federal labor officials managing the vote and improper conduct by the union. Wednesday's hearing was the third day of what observers expect to be weeks of testimony before a federal labor-relations official decides whether to rerun the election at that facility, called JFK8.
Amazon's use of mandatory anti-union meetings, sometimes called captive-audience meetings, has come under scrutiny in recent months as the company has battled union campaigns in Staten Island and Bessemer, Alabama. The general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency overseeing union activities, said in April that she believed captive-audience meetings violated federal labor law.
Captive-audience meetings have been a cornerstone of Amazon's anti-union strategy, as they are for many employers battling union campaigns. Of three union elections at Amazon warehouses this spring, only one, at JFK8, was successful. The company prevailed in elections at another Staten Island facility, LDJ5, and in Bessemer.
At JFK8, the meeting schedule ran nearly nonstop from 8 a.m. until 4 a.m. every day in the six weeks before the election, according to the testimony of an Amazon employee who helped lead the company's anti-union campaign at the facility.
Amazon workers on Staten Island who previously spoke with Insider said they were required to attend as many as two meetings a week. In Bessemer and Staten Island, some workers repeated talking points from the meetings verbatim to explain why they planned to vote against the union.
Jennifer De Jesus, who works at the LDJ5 facility, previously told Insider that during Amazon's meetings, the company was "trying to scare you."
"They're talking about how the benefits we have before the vote might vanish," she said. "I'm not saying that what they're giving isn't enough. But the union is there to give you more."
More: Amazon Union amazon labor union Staten Island
Christian Smalls | 2022-06-15T23:50:47Z | www.businessinsider.com | Amazon Held 25 Mandatory Anti-Union Meetings a Day Before Vote | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-anti-union-meetings-staten-island-vote-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-anti-union-meetings-staten-island-vote-2022-6 |
'1776 Returns' was a soon-abandoned, Proud Boys-linked plot to take over 8 DC buildings on Jan. 6.
The 9-page plot was released Wednesday as part of a Proud Boys seditious-conspiracy defense filing.
Targets included the Supreme Court, CNN, and 6 congressional office buildings.
A Proud Boys defense lawyer has released the full text of "1776 Returns," a 9-page extremist proto-plot for the January 6 riot — in which the Supreme Court, CNN and congressional offices were originally targeted for occupation instead of the Capitol itself.
Read the full "1776 Returns" plot here.
It's unclear who wrote the chaotic, pro-right fever dream, in which the stated goal was to "fill the buildings with patriots and communicate our demands," including that a do-over presidential election be conducted using "Paper Ballots only."
But federal prosecutors have alleged that then-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio had it in his possession in late December of 2021.
Ultimately, Proud Boys leadership decided the plan was too impractical, federal prosecutors allege — and the target was narrowed down to the storming of a single building, the Capitol.
The eight DC buildings originally targeted for occupation by a "patriots" army were the Supreme Court, CNN — "at least egg doorway" the plan says — along with six buildings housing congressional offices.
Those were the Russell, Dirksen and Hart Senate office buildings, and the Cannon, Longworth and Rayburn House office buildings, according to the plan.
"Covert sleepers" were to set up a fake appointments inside the buildings prior to the Jan. 6 occupation, so that they could be in position to let people inside, the plan says.
Each building would have an assigned "Hypeman" who "leads chants, must maintain energy/presence," the plan says.
"No Trump, No America," was one recommended chant.
Each building would need a minimum of 50 occupiers "or it's a no go for that building," the plan says. "Patriots" would be recruited from among the Jan. 6 rally participants.
"Use Covid to your advantage," the plan instructs. "Pack huge face masks & face shields, protect your identity. Make sure everyone has food and water to last a day in their backpacks."
If "patriots" were denied entry into buildings, law enforcement could be distracted "by pulling other fire alarms around the city," the plan says. "This is ONLY to be done at the right time and if [redacted] makes the call."
It's not clear who redacted the name of the plan's apparent leader.
"Target Specific Senators Offices," the plan says, without either elaboration or an apostrophe.
The plan also muses, "See if you can get anyone with a semi to help you block traffic. Now is the time to reach out to truckers or bikers for Trump for these roadblocks."
The plan closes with a section titled "Special Mention."
"Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, Mike Pence & Bill Gates. We the people are watching you," it reads.
And it concludes with a shoutout to the GOP Senator from Kentucky and Florida's Republican governor: "Rand Paul & Ron DeSantis. We the people love you."
More: Jan. 6 riot Capitol attack Proud Boys extremism | 2022-06-15T23:50:59Z | www.businessinsider.com | Read '1776 Returns,' the Hare-Brained, J6 Proto-Plot to Take Over DC | https://www.businessinsider.com/read-1776-returns-jan-6-proud-boys-capitol-attack-dc-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/read-1776-returns-jan-6-proud-boys-capitol-attack-dc-2022-6 |
Veteran VC Bill Gurley warns that Silicon Valley employees have been spoiled by 'Disney-esque' benefits, and they're in for a shock as cost-cutting and layoffs hit
Bill Gurley, a general partner at Benchmark.
Brian Ach/Getty Images for TechCrunch
Bill Gurley said recent high tech valuations are unlikely to be revisited.
The Benchmark VC experienced the dot-com bust in 2001 and the Great Recession of 2009.
Gurley said layoffs may be "heresy" for employees, but it's better for companies to do them quickly.
Silicon Valley tech employees have been spoiled by lavish compensation and workplace perks, and now that a downturn is coming, these workers are in for a shock, says veteran venture capitalist Bill Gurley.
The Benchmark general partner, who has backed companies like Uber, Zillow, and Stitch Fix, wrote a tweetstorm, warning that valuations have collapsed and the highs — created by low interest rates in recent years — are unlikely to be revisited. Having been in venture capital for more than two decades, Gurley has seen his share of market downturns, including the 2001 dot-com bust and the Great Recession of 2009.
Companies are adjusting to the current downturn already, but "these adjustments are meeting with shock & surprise when it comes to the employee base, particularly those employees in the Bay Area," he wrote. "During this rate induced boom, competition for employees created a Disney-esque set of experiences/expectations in high tech companies."
Ironically, though, the cushy conditions he describes have come in part from the record inflow of venture capital into startups last year from firms such as Benchmark.
But funding has since retreated from those record levels, and startups are now tightening their belts in response. Companies such as BlockFi, Superhuman, and Cameo have reduced their staff in the last couple of months.
Layoffs and other cost-cutting measures may now come across as "straight up heresy" for many once-pampered employees, Gurley wrote. But in his view, it's better for companies to follow suit sooner rather than later and deal with the reality of not being cash-flow positive versus maintaining the status quo.
Sharing a list of companies that have laid off workers, he wrote: "The most dangerous move you can make is being a late add to this list."
NOW WATCH: This Silicon Valley founder went from being 'really broke' to starting a venture capital fund that's invested $5 million in 100 companies
More: Bill Gurley Venture Capital Silicon Valley | 2022-06-15T23:51:05Z | www.businessinsider.com | Tech Workers Are in for a Shock As Layoffs Hit, Bill Gurley Warns | https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-workers-shock-layoffs-hit-bill-gurley-warns-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-workers-shock-layoffs-hit-bill-gurley-warns-2022-6 |
Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk has shifted the explanations of a tour he led before the Capitol riot.
Loudermilk has changed his story about what happened on the day before the January 6 attack.
The tour received renewed attention after the January 6 committee released footage of it.
Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk has slowly shifted his explanation for a tour that he led a day before the January 6 Capitol riot. On Wednesday, the committee investigating the attack said that at least one person on the tour later attended Trump's January 6 rally and march toward the Capitol. Other tour members appear to have taken photos of stairwells and a security station in the Capitol complex.
To be clear, there is no evidence that currently suggests any of the tour participants rioted inside the Capitol. There is also no evidence that suggests that Loudermilk, a Georgia Republican, knew any of the people on the tour wanted to commit violence or deface the Capitol.
What is clear is that Loudermilk has consistently shifted his explanation of the tour. His shifting story didn't happen in a vacuum either, it came in wake of a stunning allegation leveled by one of his colleagues and as the January 6 committee continued to probe what happened.
Here's the timeline of what has unfolded:
January 6, 2021: Loudermilk's first description
Loudermilk gave an interview to a local Georgia radio station on the day of the riot. The Georgia Republican was still in an undisclosed secure location as he spoke. His comments would not become widely known until The Daily Dot uncovered them months later.
The explanation: "We actually had about a dozen people up here that wanted to come by and visit, we had them in our office, they definitely were peaceful people, people that we met at church. They were supporters of the president, they wanted to be up here as if it was another rally."
Loudermilk added that his staff had touched base with the tour participants., "We actually checked on them to make sure they were safe. When they saw what it was turning into, they immediately turned and went back down the mall to get away from the crowd here."
January 13, 2021: A Democratic lawmaker makes a jaw-dropping claim
Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a Navy veteran and New Jersey Democrat, requested an investigation "into the suspicious behavior and access given to visitors to the Capitol Complex" on January 5, 2021, the day before the riot. Sherrill led 34 House Democrats in writing to the board that oversees the US Capitol Police, alleging that she and other lawmakers who signed the letter "witnessed an extremely high number of outside groups in the complex." As the authors point out, the Capitol was largely closed to the public at the time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The letter sets off a flurry of speculation about what, if any, tours occurred and what, if any, members of Congress assisted the tours.
Note: A former Democratic staffer confirmed to Insider's Bryan Metzger on Wednesday that "the only way to get groups in was official business visits, which were still strongly discouraged."
February 17, 2022: Republicans reportedly say there were no "reconnaissance tours"
The Hill reported that Republicans on House Administration Committee, a panel Loudermilk serves on, have concluded there is no evidence of anything like what Sherrill described. "We have reviewed the security footage from the Capitol Complex during the relevant period preceding January 6, 2021, and we know it does not support these repeated Democrat accusations about so-called 'reconnaissance' tours," Rep. Rodney Davis, the top Republican on the committee, wrote in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
In a denial that would later take on renewed relevance, an unnamed GOP aide added, "There were no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on," the aide told the Hill. "There's nothing in there remotely fitting the depiction in Mikie Sherrill's letter."
May 19, 2022: The Jan. 6 committee makes its initial request:
House Jan. 6 Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson and Vice-Chair Liz Cheney wrote to Loudermilk asking for information about the tour. They also said of the Republicans' denial, "The Select Committee's review of evidence directly contradicts that denial."
A letter from the House January 6 committee
The same day: "A constituent family"
Loudermilk, per Politico, which documented early on the Republican's shifting explanations, told reporters: "A constituent family with young children meeting with their Member of Congress in the House Office Buildings is not a suspicious group… The family never entered the Capitol building…no place that the family went on the 5th was breached on the 6th, the family did not enter the Capitol grounds on the 6th, and no one in that family has been investigated or charged in connection to January 6th."
May 20: "Some were wearing hats"
Loudermilk, per a report published by the Valdosta Daily Times, said that some people in the group were wearing hats: "What was so awful about this family that caused the committee to make false accusations about them? Well, some were actually wearing baseball caps." The Georgia Republican added that he did not approve the GOP's broader denial letter before it went out.
The same day: The family was joined by "some guests"
Loudermilk in a video message said, "Yesterday afternoon, as I was traveling home to Georgia from Washington, my wife and I found out that I was in the crosshairs of the January 6 committee. Why? Because on January the 5th, I took a family with young children and their guests who were visiting Washington to lunch in a cafeteria in one of the House office buildings."
June 14: The Capitol Police chief says there was nothing "suspicious" about the tour
Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger told Loudermilk that after reviewing footage of the tour the Capitol Police Board found that they didn't view "any of the activities we observed as suspicious." Manger, in a letter dated June 13, also wrote to Loudermilk that there were roughly 12 people that later grew to 15 on the tour.
June 15: The Jan. 6 committee releases footage of the tour
The committee says its investigation found evidence that one of the people on the tour later marched toward the Capitol on January 6. This same person also made threatening remarks about Pelosi and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat. There is also evidence that someone on the tour appeared to be taking pictures of a stairway. In another instance, a person also appears to be taking pictures near a security station. The committee said the images also clearly show people on the tour wearing MAGA hats, contradicting the unnamed aide's comments to the Hill.
Here is the footage they released:
A spokesperson for Loudermilk did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
More: Barry Loudermilk january 6 January 6 committee House Republicans | 2022-06-16T02:57:24Z | www.businessinsider.com | Timeline: GOP Rep's Shifting Account of Capitol Tour He Led Day Before Jan. 6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/timeline-barry-loudermilk-timeline-capitol-tour-day-before-jan-6-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/timeline-barry-loudermilk-timeline-capitol-tour-day-before-jan-6-2022-6 |
$290 billion in market value has been shed in a widespread crypto selloff this past week. These 3 investment strategies will help your portfolio amid the industry's 'bloodbath', according to Fundstrat.
Investors should consider reducing exposure to altcoins, according to a Fundstrat note.
Crypto's market cap hit an 18-month low on Monday, notching under $1 trillion.
Medium and long-term investors, per Fundstrat, should allocate to bitcoin more aggressively.
Amid market turmoil, investors are panic selling their crypto holdings.
Around $290 billion in value was wiped from crypto's global market cap in the past week alone, per CoinMarketCap. Additionally, the same figure notched an 18-month low on Monday at under $1 trillion.
It's impossible to know exactly what the root cause of the recent downtrend is. Inflationary pressures from the Federal Reserve's hawkish monetary policies may be leaving investors skittish of more speculative assets, resulting in tokens to trade in tandem with risky tech stocks.
Elsewhere, the largest names in DeFi, or decentralized finance, are being dragged through the mud.
After promising lofty yields, crypto-lending and borrowing platform Celsius froze user account withdrawals while facing potential liquidity challenges. The crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital may also be facing financial headwinds after reportedly liquidating $400 million, according to The Block, citing unnamed sources. And finally, let us not forget about the collapse of algorithmic stablecoin UST in May, which some analogized as the nascent space's "Lehman moment."
Still, in a recent note to clients, Sean Farrell, the vice president of digital asset strategy at Fundstrat Global, wrote that both the Celsius and UST debacle remain "long-term constructive" for crypto.
"Such public displays of ignorant capital destruction are often overlooked in the traditional financial industry," Farrell wrote, who described the industry's current state as a "bloodbath."
He added: "Fortunately, we have the benefit of iterating and improving at a more rapid pace."
3 ways to adjust your investment strategies
Volatility is nothing new for crypto. And those who plan on holding through the bear market , per the Fundstrat exec, can adjust their investment strategies in a few ways.
Investors can cut down exposure to altcoins in their portfolios. Farrell recommends hedging long exposure in the near term, specifically around a month's time.
Altcoins have endured some of the biggest hits from the recent shakeout. After experiencing various network outages, Solana is 88.6% off from its all-time, according to crypto dashboard Messari, and has declined 24.5% in the past week.
"However, we are still constructive on cryptoasset prices in 2H," Farrell wrote.
Medium and long-term investors should begin allocating to bitcoin "more aggressively" as well, per the note to clients. This is in part due to the firm's belief that the market is nearing an area of "deep value" for bitcoin, meaning that there's a buying opportunity to capitalize on a cheap price point for the token.
In recent months, the largest crypto by market cap experienced a downtrend in its value, trading about 69.77% off its all-time high as of Wednesday. Its price, however, has been faring the storm better than most. In the past three months, solana and ether are both down 67.55% and 62.13%, respectively, while bitcoin declined roughly 49.64% in the same timeframe.
Greg King, the founder and CEO of $130 million crypto asset manager Osprey Funds, recently told Insider that Bitcoin has (and will continue) to hold up better in current market conditions as well.
Finally, investors should regardless be careful when investing in the current market conditions. "We think in the near term, it is still smart to remain cautious and protect your downside," Farrell wrote.
More: Investing crypto fundstrat global advisors | 2022-06-16T09:02:26Z | www.businessinsider.com | 3 Crypto Investing Strategies to Navigate 'Bloodbath': Fundstrat | https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-investment-strategies-to-navigate-market-bloodbath-bitcoin-altcoins-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-investment-strategies-to-navigate-market-bloodbath-bitcoin-altcoins-2022-6 |
Check out the 15-slide pitch deck e-commerce startup Productsup used to raise $70 million in Series B funding
The firm's clients include the likes of IKEA, RedBubble, and ALDI.
Productsup
German e-commerce firm Productsup recently raised $70 million in Series B funding.
The firm helps big-name clients like IKEA and RedBubble hone their online sales strategies.
Insider got an exclusive look at the pitch deck the firm used to bring investors on board.
German e-commerce startup Productsup recently raised $70 million in a Series B funding round.
For big-name global retailers, keeping track of product sales, partner deals, and social media engagement makes all the difference – but requires deciphering massive datasets from a host of different sources.
Founded in 2010, Productsup helps its long list of well-known clients – including the likes of IKEA, RedBubble, and ALDI – refine their sales strategies by putting the most important information in the same place.
"What was once a simple task of bringing products to consumers has become an overwhelmingly complex process for today's businesses," said CEO Vincent Peters. "We're in a new era of commerce where outdated approaches are no longer effective."
The firm's 65 million euro ($70 million) round was led by investors at European VC firm Bregal Milestone, alongside existing investor Nordwind Capital.
"This investment substantiates the effort and work we have put forth into transforming Productsup to be the product-consumer category leader," said Christian Plangger, managing partner at Nordwind Capital.
Insider got an exclusive look at the pitch deck Productsup used to bring investors on board. Check it out below:
More: Features eCommerce Technology | 2022-06-16T09:02:32Z | www.businessinsider.com | E-Commerce Firm Productsup Used This Pitch Deck to Raise a $70 Million Series B Round | https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-ecommerce-productsup-raise-70-million-series-b-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-ecommerce-productsup-raise-70-million-series-b-2022-6 |
Tech grads are having their dream job offers rescinded days before graduation. Now they're scrambling.
While some firms have conducted layoffs in the downturn, others have made the rarer move of rescinding job offers en masse just weeks before new employees' start dates.
Tech companies like Twitter and Coinbase lured new grads with lucrative salaries earlier this year.
Now they're rescinding offers, leaving grads scrambling just before their start dates.
Many had turned down other opportunities, and some were counting on the promised jobs for visas.
When Travis Chan, a rising senior at the University of California, Davis, accepted a position as a software-engineering intern at the video-messaging startup Loom in January, the tech industry looked very different.
Tech was in a hiring frenzy, and Loom was fresh off a massive $130 million Series C funding round backed by impressive venture-capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz. Its head count had more than doubled in the past two years as it joined firms like Amazon, Google, and Zoom in riding high amid a pandemic hiring boom.
Just a few months later, the other shoe dropped. Valuations and market caps were slashed in half, pushing high-flying startups and public tech giants to tighten their belts. Now, just two weeks ahead of his start date, Chan told Insider he received a "surprising and devastating" phone call from his recruiter. Because of "unforeseen economic circumstances," his offer was being rescind.
While some firms have conducted layoffs in the downturn, others have made the rarer move of rescinding job offers en masse just weeks, or in some cases days, before new employees' start dates. And one group has been uniquely caught in the middle: tech newcomers such as interns and fresh-faced college graduates who had their first-ever jobs taken away before they even began.
Twitter, for example, recently rescinded offers extended to candidates, pointing to larger turmoil after Elon Musk announced he was buying the company. Coinbase, which planned just a year ago to more than triple its head count, rescinded over 300 offers, a large portion of them new-grad engineers. Once hot startups like Redfin and Loom, which raised millions in funding last year, also laid off employees and cut many new grads loose in attempt to cut costs.
"I got the call, and I immediately started bawling my eyes out," a new grad who was set to start full time with a popular e-commerce startup after interning with the firm in 2021 told Insider.
The former intern, who asked to remain anonymous to protect future job prospects, was just three weeks out from graduation when he learned the opportunity he had worked for and planned his future around was gone.
"It was really scary — I had just been there a week ago, visiting the office and getting shown around. And I found out a week later that a lot of my colleagues knew that it was probably going to happen, but they weren't sure if they were allowed to tell me," he said.
Throngs of devastated new grads and interns who thought their job plans were secure have taken to LinkedIn and Twitter to share how they've been scrambling. Many describe how they turned down other lucrative opportunities or were in the process of moving across the country for jobs they no longer have, while others who were counting on the job for visas are now in a particularly tight spot.
"People have been really supportive. But it's my finals week, so I'd have to job hunt while also balancing schoolwork," Chan said, adding that despite recruiters and other engineers helping him land interviews, he'd decided he's done with the job-hunting process and would instead take up an old job.
"It's just too tiring to deal with anymore," he said.
New grads are frustrated, saying tech companies mishandled communication and left them in the dark
While many new grads who Insider spoke with said they understood cost cutting was a necessary part of the industry, they were frustrated with how tech companies mishandled communication.
For example, the new grad who was set to join the e-commerce startup said communications from management seemed "like the company was moving in a positive direction." But once the firm suddenly started laying off employees, he said he was met with two weeks of radio silence and "nonanswers" before human resources called him saying that his return offer had been rescinded.
"I am someone who really likes certainty, and suddenly everything was in jeopardy. So I went into panic mode," the former intern told Insider. "I was moving to New York in a few weeks because of this job, and I suddenly found out that I'm about to move to New York unemployed."
For many international students, these last-minute changes are not just questions of their careers or livelihood — their visa status is dependent on securing a job in their field of study.
Ashutosh Ukey, a 23-year-old who recently received his master's from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, told Insider he turned down multiple Ph.D. offers to work for Coinbase. His was one of many offers rescinded by the crypto company shortly before his start date, and now with just five months left before his visa expires, he needs to land a new job quickly or will be forced to leave the country.
"For programmers who need visa sponsorship, there's a lot more on the line," he said. "It's not just a financial or career setback; it's a question of whether you can even stay in the country. There's a lot more pressure to try to find a new role in time."
To make matters worse, Coinbase had promised new hires their jobs were safe just two weeks earlier, saying via email that the firm was "extremely excited" to have them join and would not be rescinding any job offers. So it was a shock when over 300 Coinbase new hires later received a mass email saying that because of "rapidly changing market conditions," the firm was rescinding their job offers.
"I was hearing all this news that crypto was crashing," another new grad who asked to remain anonymous because he wasn't authorized to speak with the press told Insider. "But I got an email with Coinbase telling me to not worry and that everything was fine. Then literally, shortly after my birthday, I get an email saying my offer was rescinded. I made a lot of plans that are in ruins now."
New engineers say that rescinded offers are wearing down their faith in the tech industry
Especially in a time when tech is battling both a downturn and a talent shortage, some prospective engineers have lost trust in the companies that have pulled the rug out from under them.
Hungry to recruit new talent, many companies wooed new grads with lucrative packages. One new grad who asked to remain anonymous because he wasn't authorized to speak with the press said he turned down offers from Meta, Amazon, Tesla, and TikTok to work for Coinbase, which offered him $188,000 and, more importantly, the option to work from wherever he wanted as an entry-level engineer.
His offer was also rescinded just as he was about to graduate. And while Meta and Tesla were aggressively hiring in the beginning of the year, both companies had shut their doors — pausing hiring indefinitely — when he tried to get back his offers.
"I was getting interviews from TikTok, Tesla, Amazon back in December," the new grad told Insider. "But now job hunting is lot harder. Everything's died down. There's a lot less job listings and less recruiters."
Many new grads and interns Insider spoke with said this recent episode in tech's seemingly indefinite downturn had shaken their faith in the industry. Landing that first job as an entry-level engineer requires months of work — studying questions, juggling multiple recruiter calls, poring over LeetCode to nail the notoriously intimidating technical interviews.
"This experience taught me that you are never guaranteed a job," the new grad who had his offer rescinded by the e-commerce company where he interned told Insider. "A contract means nothing because companies are more than happy to drop you in a heartbeat if it means they have to do it for the company."
For some new grads, this is valuable time they cannot afford to spend. Ukey said that he used to be excited about exploring experimental and innovative areas in tech, like crypto and blockchain. But while many crypto startups have tried to recruit him since Coinbase rescinded his offer, he's decided that crypto isn't a risk he can take — at least not for the immediate future.
While rescinded job offers are not a widespread cost-cutting practice, new-grad roles are vulnerable when a company tightens its belt, Jay Denton, the chief analyst at the compensation-data firm LaborIQ, said.
"When a company is growing a lot, they hire a lot of new grads because instead of getting someone with four to six years of experience, they can hire new grads who cost 15 to 20% less," Denton told Insider. "Yet when it comes to cost cutting, if you look at today's market rate, there's almost a 10% gap between today and last year's market-rate pay for engineers. So instead of hiring someone brand new at market rate, many companies are choosing to focus on retaining old hires if they could."
In addition to employee trust, the mass of rescinded offers might also shape company loyalty for the new class of tech professionals just entering the workforce. Employee loyalty had already declined during the "Great Resignation," when employees had more leverage, and now the increasingly turbulent job landscape has the potential to chip away at that even further.
"I used to be really excited, but now I realized I can't make work my entire personality," one new grad told Insider. "It has definitely made me a lot less loyal."
More: tech careers tech salaries Startups Hiring Freeze | 2022-06-16T10:33:44Z | www.businessinsider.com | Coinbase Rescinded Job Offers Are Leaving New Grads in Tech Scrambling | https://www.businessinsider.com/coinbase-rescinded-job-offers-leaving-new-grads-in-tech-scrambling-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/coinbase-rescinded-job-offers-leaving-new-grads-in-tech-scrambling-2022-6 |
Top of the morning. It's Jordan Parker Erb here. Today, Elon Musk is expected to field questions from Twitter employees at a company all-hands meeting — so we're taking this opportunity to introduce you to his "streetfighter" of a lawyer.
1. Meet Elon Musk's go-to lawyer. Alex Spiro, a brash 39-year-old litigator, has helped Musk defeat a defamation suit, and has been working behind the scenes for the billionaire as he tries to buy Twitter.
Musk and lawyers don't seem to mix — just ask the law firm that lost work from Musk's companies after refusing to fire a lawyer that Musk didn't like. But it seems Spiro is different.
He's made a name for himself representing professional athletes and rappers, from NBA star Thabo Sefolosha to hip-hop mogul Jay-Z. Randy Zelin, a defense lawyer who has taught at Cornell Law School, called him "as real as you get."
Some lawyers will stab you in the back, Zelin said. Spiro will "stab me in the chest."
Read our full profile on Musk's polarizing attorney.
2. The teen who tracks Elon Musk's jet struck a deal with Mark Cuban. 19-year-old Jack Sweeney agreed to stop monitoring Cuban's flights on Twitter after the billionaire offered him business advice. Read the DMs between the two.
3. New grads are having their dream tech job offers rescinded days before graduation. Several recent graduates told Insider they turned down other lucrative opportunities, or were in the process of moving across the country, before their job offers were taken back. Now, they're left scrambling.
4. Kraken will pay employees who don't agree with the company's values four months' worth of wages to leave. According to The New York Times, employees said CEO Jesse Powell made "hurtful" comments around preferred pronouns and demeaning statements toward women. Here's everything we know so far.
5. Google is betting the future of its products on a new internal AI project. It already lost the battle for machine learning to Meta, insiders say. Now, Google is quietly building out a new machine learning framework, and is hoping to strike gold. What we know about the internal project, called JAX.
6. Amazon is planning to expand into five new countries. Leaked documents show the company — despite scaling back its US retail business — is planning to launch its online marketplace in new locations across Africa, South America, and Europe. Check out all the countries here.
7. Forget Austin and Miami — people are flocking to other up-and-coming tech hubs. With more affordable home prices and emerging tech scenes, cities in Arizona, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina are luring droves of new residents from nearby areas. These are three of the hottest new tech epicenters.
8. Best Buy is putting on a few sales that rival Amazon's Prime Day deals. Prime Day isn't until July, but Best Buy is already running competing sales on TVs, headphones, smartwatches, and more. These are the top tech deals we found.
9. Your next trip through Europe could be on a helium-filled airship. The airships, which look similar to a blimp, could carry passengers as soon as 2026 — and though they're considerably slower than passenger jets, they're also much greener. Get a look at the helium airships.
10. UPS's new battery-powered cargo cycles have hit the streets. The four-wheeled eQuad electric bikes just made their debut in New York City, where UPS is testing them as a way to navigate congested cities and reduce its carbon footprint. Check out the little delivery cycles.
Elon Musk is set to answer questions from Twitter staff at an all-hands meeting.
Adobe and others are reporting earnings. Keep up with earnings here. | 2022-06-16T10:34:44Z | www.businessinsider.com | Tech: Elon Musk's Legal 'Streetfighter' | https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-elon-musks-legal-streetfighter-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-elon-musks-legal-streetfighter-2022-6 |
Wall Street: Powell goes hiking
Hi, Aaron Weinman here. The Fed raised rates on Wednesday. Let's unpack what that means for investment banking.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell spoke at the National Association for Business Economics on Monday.
1. The Fed raised its benchmark interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point on Wednesday to a range of 1.5%-1.75%. It's the most aggressive hike since February 1994 — the same month President Bill Clinton lifted the US trade embargo against Vietnam.
When thinking about Fed Chair Jay Powell's latest increase, it's important to remember that these hikes started when interest rates were near rock-bottom. That meant borrowing costs for companies were dirt cheap, and investment banks feasted on record deal numbers in the capital markets (where companies raise debt to service their operations). Corporates across the credit universe turned to cheap capital as the economy recovered in the aftermath of the global pandemic.
Those record numbers, however, are now a distant memory. And they're in no danger of increasing in the short term. When rates rise, borrowers will have little interest in tapping the capital markets for new financing, and they'll be loath to refinance any debt they got their hands on during the cheap-money days.
Speaking during a Morgan Stanley conference, Andrew Morton, Citi's global head of markets, said the US investment bank's wallet was down 50%-55% compared to this time last year.
IPOs, bond or loan deals, and the lucrative M&A market are all down as Wall Street assesses a landscape severely different from the years of cheap money and an accommodative central bank.
That said, Wall Street execs that ply their trade in the opportunistic restructuring space have been waiting patiently in the wings for a smidgeon of volatility . As companies brace for weaker earnings, and some struggle to repay their debts, lawyers and bankers will look to pounce on chances to clean up their balance sheets through equity injections, debtor-in-possession financings, or bankruptcies.
2. Elon Musk's go-to lawyer is a "streetfighter" in the legal world. Meet Alex Spiro, the 39-year-old litigator who helped the Tesla boss defeat a defamation suit. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports that Musk is expected to reiterate his desire to own Twitter when he speaks to the social-media company's employees later today.
3. Coinbase is fast-becoming the poster child for the depleted crypto space. The company announced plans to lay off 1,100 staff. Here's one manager who told Insider that Coinbase broke promises, which left him frustrated and disappointed.
4. PayPal just unveiled a new BNPL offering. PayPal Pay Monthly will allow users to split purchases into monthly payments spread over six to 24 month periods.
5. JPMorgan snared a Morgan Stanley exec to bolster its wealth-management team. Paul Halpern will join the rival US bank as its chief marketing officer.
6. HSBC canned one of its London-based traders after scrutinizing the person's cell phone, Bloomberg reported. The departure comes as Wall Street banks — under pressure from regulators — review bankers' messages on unauthorized messaging apps like Meta-owned Whatsapp.
7. Private-credit funds are playing a bigger role in financing leveraged buyouts. These funds started with the odd million-dollar ticket on a deal, but now they're lending billions of dollars toward transactions. Here's an explainer from Bloomberg on the evolution of this marketplace that's changing the capital markets.
8. "Russian Davos" just kicked off, but it's lacking any notable attendees from the West. Many business execs have shunned the event due to Russian sanctions and its invasion of Ukraine, giving folks from China, India, and the UAE center stage.
9. Wall Streeters enamored with remote work have flocked to Hawaii since the onset of the pandemic. Here's the best way to use those frequent-flyer miles for your next trip to the US' only archipelago.
10. German fintech Airbank just scored $20 million in Series A funding. Check out the pitch deck that the financial-management platform used to win over London-based Molten Ventures.
Glade Brook Capital has closed its third strategic growth fund. The $1.5 billion growth-equity investor raised $430 million to back emerging companies across the software and fintech spaces, among others.
Centroid Systems, a cloud services firm backed by private-investment firm VSS, has acquired Guardian Eagle, a data security consultant headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida. | 2022-06-16T12:04:55Z | www.businessinsider.com | Wall Street: Powell Goes Hiking | https://www.businessinsider.com/10-things-wall-street-jay-powell-rates-coinbase-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/10-things-wall-street-jay-powell-rates-coinbase-2022-6 |
American airlines will revise the pay rise it is offering to 14,000 pilots as its CEO pledges to pay them 'competitively,' amid the labor shortage
American Airlines planes.
American airlines is revising the pay rise it has offered to 14,000 pilots, per CNBC
CEO Robert Isom told pilots in a video message that the pandemic had changed the standard for compensation.
Airlines are increasing pay to mitigate an ongoing shortage of pilots.
American airlines is revising the pay rise it offered to 14,000 pilots, becoming the latest carrier to boost pay amid global squeeze on pilots.
"Our team will be paid well and be paid competitively. You are not going to fall behind network peers," CEO Robert Isom told pilots in a video message sent Monday, seen by CNBC, which first reported the news Wednesday.
Isom described a pre-pandemic proposal made to unions — of an initial 4% increase, followed by a 3% increase annually — as "industry-leading at the time." However, "the standard for compensation has gone up" as a result of the pandemic, he said, per CNBC.
Airlines have been grappling with a shortage of pilots as pent-up travel demand surges back as pandemic restrictions are lifted. The shortages pre-dated Covid-19, but with flights grounded, many pilots left the industry or were encouraged to retire.
American is one of a number of airlines, including United to have grounded a number regional flights because it didn't have enough didn't have enough pilots to fly them.
In response to the problem, airline execs have been rethinking flight schedules and considering loosening the training requirements for new hires. Improving pay and working conditions has been a factor highlighted by unions and pilot groups.
Isom's message comes in the same week that pilots at two wholly American Airlines owned regional carriers received a groundbreaking pay rise, as Insider's Taylor Rains previously reported. Pilots for Piedmont Airlines, and Envoy Air will see their hourly pay increase by nearly 50% until at least August 2024, after unions reached a deal with airline execs.
Unions representing United Airlines pilots, who are currently voting on as yet unpublished contract proposals, reached an agreement with executives in May, per CNBC.
Isom said American will take other carriers' agreements into account and update pay proposals when more details are known, per CNBC.
Responding to the proposals in a blog post earlier this week, Eric Ferguson, president of the Allied Pilots Association, the union representing American Airlines pilots, accused US executives of being slow to address the pilot shortage. He said they were now "throwing money at the problem."
He urged the airline to come up with an industry-leading contract rather than waiting to see how other airlines responded.
"We want schedules that respect the quality of life of our pilot group, which in turn will improve the reliability of our airline," Ferguson said.
American and the Allied Pilots Association did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment which was made outside of usual business hours.
The median annual wage for commercial airline pilots is $99,640 in May 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook.
More: American Airlines Transportation pilots Pay | 2022-06-16T12:05:01Z | www.businessinsider.com | American Airlines Revises Pay for 14,000 Pilots Amid Labor Shortage | https://www.businessinsider.com/american-airlines-pilots-pay-rise-labor-shortage-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/american-airlines-pilots-pay-rise-labor-shortage-2022-6 |
Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates joked on Twitter that Microsoft "ran out of microchips".
Wednesday's tweet was in response to the Internet Explorer browser finally being shut down.
Gates was joking about the conspiracy theory that he implanted microchips in COVID vaccines.
It appears Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates is very much aware of the conspiracy theory claiming he was implanting microchips in people who got the COVID-19 vaccine.
On Wednesday, he joked on Twitter that the company had to shut down Internet Explorer because it "ran out of microchips" vaccinating everyone.
Gates was responding to a tweet posted by The Daily Show that joked: "Wow, Bill Gates encourages everyone to get vaccinated, then a year later Internet Explorer dies. Coincidence???".
The microchip vaccine conspiracy theory is a false rumor that the COVID-19 vaccine was implanting a magnetic tracking device somehow connected to 5G mobile networks.
A Reddit spokesperson told The Verge the rumor originated on 4plebs, a community-run archive of 4chan, before it sprung onto Reddit, became a popular theory and punchline. It has since been repeated by artists including Charlamagne, M.I.A., and Kanye West.
This week, Microsoft shut down Internet Explorer, the browser launched in 1995 that become all but obsolete after being overtaken by the likes of Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari. Microsoft Edge will replace Internet Explorer as the default browser for Windows users.
The move sparked an online wave of nostalgia about the browser, which became notorious for its clunky interface and slow response times last decade.
More: Bill Gates Microchip Vaccine COVID-19 vaccine | 2022-06-16T12:05:07Z | www.businessinsider.com | Bill Gates Joked Microsoft 'Ran Out of Microchips' After Vaccinations | https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-joked-microsoft-vaccinations-microchip-conspiracy-theory-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-joked-microsoft-vaccinations-microchip-conspiracy-theory-2022-6 |
Amazon Prime Day 2022 is set for July 12 and July 13 — here's all the news we know so far
Keep this page bookmarked for the latest tips to help you get the most out of Prime Day.
BRENDAN MCDERMID/Reuters/Insider
What are the best deals on Prime Day?
The best early deals to shop right now
Tips for finding the best deals
Which retailers are competing with Prime Day?
Amazon Prime Day 2022 will take place on July 12 and 13.
In addition to thousands of deals across dozens of categories, Prime Day is the best time to save on Amazon devices.
Other retailers like Walmart, Target, and Best Buy offer similar sales during Prime Day.
Amazon Prime Day 2022 is coming. And along with it: Tempting prices on thousands of products across categories like tech gadgets, kitchen essentials, home goods, and more.
For the uninitiated, Amazon Prime Day brings some of the best deals of the year with limited-time deals across dozens of categories. If you like the sound of Black Friday -level prices in the middle of July, consider Prime Day as the best time to check some goods off your shopping wish list.
While Amazon keeps exact sale details close to the vest, we've got the low-down on what you need to know. To help make shopping Prime Day easier, we've got full-scale coverage on the most worthwhile deals and the best tips to find what you're looking for at the best prices.
Amazon Prime Day is the annual two-day shopping event for Prime members. It's Amazon's biggest sale of the year. So big, in fact, it's called by some as "Black Friday in July."
Each year brings significant markdowns on products in just about every category you can think of, and most notably, the lowest prices of the year on Amazon devices.
While it's never too early to prepare for Prime Day, there's a chance this won't be the only big, exclusive sale from the e-commerce giant in 2022. It's been rumored that Amazon will host another Prime Day in the fall of this year.
Amazon Prime Day 2022 will take place on Tuesday, July 12 and Wednesday, July 13.
Yes, you will need to have an Amazon Prime membership to take advantage of the deals during Prime Day.
It's worth noting that beyond Prime Day, a Prime subscription includes free two-day or same-day shipping. It also includes Prime Video, Prime Music, Prime Try Before You Buy (formerly Prime Wardrobe), and other perks.
If you're not an Amazon Prime member, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial by following these steps:
Go to amazon.com/amazonprime.
Click on the button Enjoy Prime FREE for 30 days.
On the next screen, click Create your Amazon account.
Follow the prompts and add your payment method and billing address.
Click the button that says Activate your free trial.
First things first: Amazon will be offering massive discounts on its own devices, so expect to see plenty of deals on Echo smart speakers, Fire tablets, Fire TV devices, Kindle e-readers, and the Blink and Ring home security systems. And if you've been interested in Amazon's Halo fitness tracker, Prime Day is the best time to buy. You'll also find discounts on Amazon's digital services, like Audible.
The best-selling categories worldwide last year included tools, beauty, nutrition, baby care, household products, and electronics, according to Amazon. Beyond Amazon devices, our readers' most-wanted products last year ran the gamut, from Crest 3D white strips to the LifeStraw personal water filter.
Quick tip: To understand if you're actually getting a good deal, use the free tool CamelCamelCamel. It is the most trusted Amazon price trackers available, and you can get notifications for price deceases for any product listed on Amazon.
Amazon is known for releasing early deals to drum up excitement, and we're expecting the same approach this year. We're a few weeks away from Prime Day, but here are some early deals that are on our radar.
To keep tabs on the best deals leading up to Prime Day, check out our full coverage of the best early Prime Day deals.
Tips for finding the best Prime Day deals
In terms of prepping for Prime Day, you need to understand how the big sale days work. For Prime Day, Amazon organizes deals in a particular way. There are Spotlight Deals, which are typically items that have the most inventory and are from big-name brands. There are also Lightning Deals, which run only for a limited time and in limited stock.
In addition to signing up for Prime if you're not yet a member, here are a few other tips to keep in mind:
Prep a wish list: It's smart to go into Prime Day with some idea of what you want to buy (and save on). For this, we recommend utilizing Amazon's Wish List feature. Once you get your list together, we recommend you start tracking their price history — see next point on how.
Price-check everything: The truth is with thousands of deals, not every deal will be a good one. That's why we recommend Amazon price trackers like CamelCamelCamel and Keepa to see exactly how much a product has cost over time and whether or not you're actually getting a good deal.
Take advantage of the Amazon app: Amazon's mobile app is a great way to personalize your shopping experience by previewing upcoming deals and adding them to your watch list for push notifications when they go live. It's also helpful for claiming bonus credits ahead of the festivities.
Recruit Alexa to alert you of deals: A feature released earlier this year, Alexa can now proactively notify you up to 24 hours in advance of a deal, as long as the item is on your Wish List, in your shopping cart, of saved for later. While there's no way in knowing how effective this feature is on Prime Day, some backup from your voice assistant wouldn't hurt.
Watch out for bonus credits: In years past, Amazon has offered shoppers the chance to snag extra cash towards Prime Day with early promotions. This year, Amazon has the Prime Stampcard, where you'll receive $10 for simply exploring a membership perk. There are four stamps in total, and the tasks are as simple as making a Prime-eligible purchase and listening to a song with Prime Music.
Shop around and keep your options open: Amazon isn't the only retailer offering discounts during the two-day event. While Amazon will have a slew of sales to look through, retailers like Walmart, Best Buy, and Target will have competitive sales that you should check, as well.
Other retailers take advantage of Prime Day by offering their own deals in and around the same dates that Prime Day takes place. Some retailers with physical locations offer the benefit to pick up items on the same day, as long as the location has your item in stock. Here are the big three that should be on your radar:
Walmart: Walmart offers a huge range of products, and the retailer usually has comparable deals to those found on Amazon for Prime Day. During last year's Prime Day, we saw deals on robot vacuums, TVs, phones, laptops, and more.
Best Buy: Best Buy typically offers tech products like TVs, phones, tablets, smartwatches, laptops, and more. Deals on these products are often comparable to Amazon's deals during Prime Day.
Target: Like Walmart, Target offers a wide range of products, many of which get comparable deals to Amazon's Prime Day deals. Some of the great deals we saw during last year's Prime Day included gaming, smart home, audio, personal care, robot vacuums, upright vacuums, and more. | 2022-06-16T12:05:14Z | www.businessinsider.com | Everything We Know About Prime Day 2022: When It's Happening and Deals to Expect | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/deals/amazon-prime-day | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/deals/amazon-prime-day |
UBS says investors should use these 5 strategies to thrive in an environment marred by persistently high inflation and surging oil prices
Stock market volatility has kept investors guessing in 2022, but UBS has 5 strategies to help.
UBS's Mark Haefele believes that "the easing of inflation has been delayed, rather than canceled."
Even so, he cautioned that inflation and volatility will remain above targets in the near term.
Haefele shared five strategies investors can use to combat volatility and earn long-term gains.
Bolstered by April's promising outlook that prices were finally stabilizing, investors eagerly awaited last Friday's May inflation report for further signs of economic improvement.
Instead, Friday's catastrophic reading reignited fears of an accelerated tightening cycle, rattling Wall Street. On Monday, stocks opened the week by officially nosediving into a bear market as investors priced in a highly aggressive 75 basis point hike at Wednesday's Federal Reserve meeting.
"Elevated inflation has been lingering for longer than expected because of higher energy and food prices arising from the war in Ukraine," wrote Mark Haefele, chief investment officer of UBS global wealth management, in a June 13 note. "We expect higher oil prices to be sustained, despite pledges from OPEC+ to step up production."
"Meanwhile, distortions arising from the pandemic have been slower to clear, including in sectors such as autos," he added.
Besides the stock market's decline, Haefele also pointed to the flattening yield curve as another sign of rising recession fears. Last Friday, the relationship between the five and 10-year benchmark Treasury yields inverted for the first time since March — an event that's preceded most major recessions in the past.
Inflation will inevitably ease
It goes without saying that things don't look good for the stock market. But Haefele believes that by only focusing on the doom and gloom, investors may be missing the broader picture.
"In our view, the easing of inflation has been delayed, rather than canceled," he wrote. "Core CPI, excluding food and energy prices, continued its downward trend — falling to 6% in May, from 6.2% in April and a peak of 6.5% in March."
"Although we expect growth to continue to moderate, we do not anticipate a significant downturn this year," he added.
Haefele also pointed out that recent falling prices of goods like televisions and smartphones indicate a shift in consumer spending away from goods towards services. As this continues, he's optimistic that supply chains might finally have room to recover from the bottlenecks they've been plagued by since the beginning of the pandemic. He also cited an influx of workers into a cooling labor market as another factor that will sustain current levels of household spending.
"The latest uptick in inflation may set the stage for a swifter decline in coming months as consumers adjust spending patterns and year-over-year comparisons become more favorable," explained Haefele. "If these trends continue, we still expect the Fed to be able to slow the pace of tightening later this year and back away from hawkish rhetoric."
5 investing strategies to focus on
Even as recessionary fears loom, Haefele advised investors to focus on five specific areas to weather the storm.
First, he recommended considering value-oriented strategies, including focusing on sectors like energy and markets like the UK.
While Haefele believes that inflation will eventually ease, he expects it to stay above targets, at least in the short-term. "An environment with inflation over 3% has historically been associated with an outperformance by value relative to growth stocks," he wrote.
Haefele also advised investors to prepare for volatility.
"Against an uncertain and volatile backdrop, investors can explore using options to improve payoff structures and consider drawdown management strategies," he wrote. "Elevated volatility in currency markets can also be used to enhance returns of excess cash positions."
He continued: "For example, we advise making use of the strong USD to sell the currency's upside in exchange for yield. We believe commodity-linked currencies (AUD, NZD, NOK, and CAD) offer the most appealing risk-reward for such strategies."
Haefele also urged investors to build up defensive strategies by focusing on asset classes that can hedge against volatility while still outperforming in a recession.
"We advocate investing in quality income, dividend-paying stocks, and healthcare," he wrote. "After years of low and negative yields, we are also now seeing select opportunities in fixed income, including in shorter duration, investment grade credit, which can also offer portfolio resilience in a recessionary scenario."
Haefele also recommended investors use alternative assets to both diversify their portfolios and to force themselves to focus on longer-term returns.
"Investing in private markets following declines in public market valuations has historically been a good strategy," he said. "Meanwhile, assets like infrastructure, real estate, and private markets can improve the inflation resilience of a portfolio, while some hedge fund strategies — especially macro strategies — can perform well in recessionary scenarios and help mitigate portfolio volatility if equity-bond correlations rise."
Finally, Haefele believes investors can benefit from investing in a new era of security, especially as the Russia-Ukraine crisis deepens.
"In the near term, the focus on food and energy security is leading to tightness in various commodity markets — a move we think will support higher raw material prices in the months ahead and speaks for a broad asset class engagement," he explained. "Longer term, we think demand for automation and robotics, carbon-zero, cybersecurity, and agricultural yield enhancement will all be boosted in this new world."
More: Investing stock market investing Stock Market
Inflation debate | 2022-06-16T12:05:26Z | www.businessinsider.com | 5 Investing Strategies to Combat Inflation & Earn Long-Term Gains | https://www.businessinsider.com/investing-stocks-strategies-high-inflation-earn-long-term-big-gains-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/investing-stocks-strategies-high-inflation-earn-long-term-big-gains-2022-6 |
The lead-up to the central bank's announcement was like anticipating reality TV. Would Jay Powell fall short of expectations? Would he be right on the money? Would everyone be mad?
For what it's worth, stocks certainly initially acted as if Powell made the right move.
Phil Rosen here, coming to you from New York — let's break it down.
1. The Fed made its move yesterday as it raised interest rates by 75 basis points, the largest increase since 1994.
The hike is meant to combat Friday's 41-year high inflation reading, though Fed Chair Jerome Powell did say that a 75 basis-point hike won't be a common occurrence.
US stocks — and also bitcoin — turned higher as Powell's presser got underway. Each of the major indexes gained after the announcement, with the Dow rallying as much as 500 points, or 1.4%, before Wednesday's closing bell. However, the latest market moves suggest these rallies were short-lived.
The decision by the central bank is set to make mortgages, car loans, credit-card debt, and other kinds of borrowing more expensive, part of the Fed's attempt to take some of the money contributing to uncomfortably high inflation out of the economy.
"The more aggressive stance can still be consistent with a softish landing for the economy, but the path is getting narrower," wrote Barry Gilbert, a strategist for LPL Financial.
You can listen to me talk about the Fed rate hike on today's episode of The Refresh from Insider.
Wells Fargo's head of diversity weighed in on recent headlines about diversity at the bank.
2. US stock futures fell early Thursday, as investors digest the Federal Reserve 's latest monetary policy decision. Bitcoin had a slight rebound after almost falling below $20,000 Wednesday, but is now trading around the $21,000 level. Here's the latest.
3. On the docket: Beyond Air, Adobe, and Kroger Co, all reporting. Plus, look out for the unemployment insurance weekly claims report expected at 7:30 am ET.
4. Crypto is in a tailspin — but learning about the landscape and becoming a smarter investor can help. Fifteen leading experts recommended these 27 books to anyone who wants to better understand digital currencies.
5. Oil markets are pricing in long-term supply deficits, according to the IEA. The Paris-based agency issued several warnings about what 2023 fuel supplies could look like, including a forecast that OPEC+ will face historic lows in spare capacity.
6. The European Central Bank said it's preparing a new anti-crisis tool as a surge in bond yields brings back memories of the eurozone meltdown. The ECB is pivoting back into crisis-fighting mode ahead of potential interest rate hikes. Here's what you want to know.
7. Wells Fargo says the US will tip into a recession in 2023. After the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates, views have shifted on Wall Street, with analysts saying the risks of a recession are rising. Wells Fargo is not alone in becoming more pessimistic about the US economy.
8. Two real estate investing veterans explained why they're sitting on over $1 million in cash and poised to buy property despite rising interest rates. "Effectively, rates for me have gone up 50%," one of them explained. "But for any sound investor, it's not what something costs — it's what value is there."
9. This investor lost his life savings in Terra USD after putting $20,000 in it. Now he lives paycheck to paycheck and is wary to invest until there's more crypto regulation. Read how the stablecoin collapse impacted his investing journey.
10. The crash in the Nasdaq is looking a lot like the bursting of the 2000 dot-com bubble. But the scary thing? In 2000 it fell for two more years and didn't fully recover until 2015.
Curated by Phil Rosen in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email prosen@insider.com or tweet @philrosenn.) Edited by Max Adams in New York and Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London. | 2022-06-16T12:05:44Z | www.businessinsider.com | Opening Bell: Take a Hike | https://www.businessinsider.com/opening-bell-take-a-hike-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/opening-bell-take-a-hike-2022-6 |
The bubble has popped on the mighty index-rebalance trade, and the overcrowded strategy is wreaking carnage across hedge funds
The overcrowded strategy got torched this month after trades anticipating the Russell 3000 recomposition went awry.
June is supposed to be the mecca for index-rebalance traders, the Wall Street investors who make bets based on stocks that get added or deleted to popular indexes like the S&P 500 and Russell 3000.
Instead, the uber-popular index-arbitrage strategy has turned into a bloodbath, and portfolio managers that crowded into the trade are staring down steep losses, according to industry sources.
Traders wagering on the planned June 27 recalibration of the FTSE Russell indexes, including the Russell 3000 that tracks the 3,000 largest US stocks by market capitalization, have been especially hard-hit, people involved in the strategy said.
"All of index rebal is down," an index-rebalance portfolio manager said.
"Most people were wrong the same the way," a hedge fund manager told Insider. "We know people who've gotten smashed in it."
The crux of the strategy involves buying up shares in companies slated for inclusion in an index and selling short the companies about to get booted. Trillions of dollars in passive investment funds like ETFs are dedicated to tracking these indexes as closely as possible, meaning the changes — telegraphed weeks in advance — result in significant, and usually reliable, price moves: The added stocks rise and the deleted stocks fall.
The trend often reverses after the index recomposition is completed.
This arbitrage strategy has been around since the 1990s, but it has exploded over the past five years with hedge funds from Ken Griffin's Citadel to Steven Cohen's Point72 piling into the periodic rebalance trades alongside traditional indexers.
But the dynamic flipped this month in advance of the Russell rebalance, which often produces one of the most frenzied trading days of the year.
The macroeconomic factors driving the broader market swoon, including knock-on effects from inflation and rising interest rates, have contributed to the index-rebalance woes.
But the swings have been exacerbated by how crowded the strategy has gotten, as have the effects of traders forced to unwind positions, people involved in the trade said.
The nearly 300 stocks scheduled to join the index on June 27 — including names like Airbnb, Clover Health, Lucid Motors, SoFi, WeWork, and Ziprecruiter — have tanked a combined 58% over the first two weeks of June, according to data analysis compiled by Insider. The S&P 500 and Russell 3000 are each down 9% during that span.
And, confounding matters, the corresponding 300 stocks scheduled to be subtracted — few of them household names — have outperformed, the PM explained.
"The names that were deleted, you would expect them to go down, but instead they're going up," the portfolio manager said. "It's the entire Russell trade going the wrong way."
The ongoing bust of companies that have gone public via special purpose acquisition companies added to the pain, industry sources said.
These so-called de- SPAC firms have been decimated, losing 75% of their peak value from early 2021, according to Bloomberg.
An ETF tracking these companies, a number of them included for addition in the Russell, is down 30% in June.
The bubble is popping
People involved in the index-rebalance strategy said its struggles date back to last fall, though the recent pain has been especially intense.
One word comes up repeatedly in conversations with experts in the strategy: "overcrowded."
Hedge funds in recent years have scrambled to bite off a piece of the index-rebalance pie, raiding each other's rosters as well as program trading desks at investment banks.
While tourists have flocked to index rebalance, as one PM previously told Insider, many of the industry's heaviest hitters dominate the space, including ExodusPoint, Balyasny, Citadel, Schonfeld, and Point72.
But the most prominent player by far is Millennium Management, the $55 billion multi-strategy giant, which has racked up billions in profits from the trade in recent years and helped spark a wave of copycats.
The most prolific portfolio manager at the fund — and across the entire strategy — is Glen Scheinberg, whose index-rebalance profits helped make him Millennium's top performer in 2020 and among the top last year as well. His pod, known as SRBL for the initials of its four key PMs, is known for putting on enormous, multi-billion dollar trades in the index rebalance space.
Few in the industry have come away unscathed, and Millennium hasn't been immune either. SRBL has sustained losses as well, and another Millennium index-rebalance PM, John Yi, has wound down his book, according to people familiar with the matter.
A Millennium spokesman declined to comment.
It's not the first time the index-rebalance trade has blown up. In 2020, index-rebalance specialists started off in disarray as fallout from COVID-19 that March nixed planned index rebalances that hedge funds had been anticipating. But as with the market overall, the strategy rebounded and had a stellar year.
This time around, with no warm embrace from the Federal Reserve forthcoming, industry players aren't expecting such a swift recovery.
"The strategy has been extremely difficult," a recruiter who works with index-rebalance PMs said. "But it compounds when you have books that unwind."
"It was a bubble — a big bubble. And it's popping," the recruiter said.
Joe Ciolli contributed reporting.
If you have more information about the index-rebalance trade or hedge fund performance, contact Alex Morrell via email at amorrell@businessinsider.com, and on encrypted apps Signal or Telegram at (262) 573-1023.
More: Index Funds index rebalance Millennium | 2022-06-16T12:05:50Z | www.businessinsider.com | Overcrowded Index Rebalance Trade Reaps Heavy Losses for Hedge Funds | https://www.businessinsider.com/overcrowded-index-rebalance-trade-leads-to-losses-for-hedge-funds-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/overcrowded-index-rebalance-trade-leads-to-losses-for-hedge-funds-2022-6 |
This start-up makes basketballs that give grassroots players access to NBA-style advanced analytics. Check out the 21-slide pitch deck SIQ Basketball used to raise $3 million.
Miami Heat shooting guard Duncan Robinson has endorsed SIQ Basketball's FIBA-approved ball, which gives grassroots players access to NBA-style advanced stats.
Sports startup SIQ Basketball gives grassroots players access to NBA-style advanced stats.
Their basketball tracks 192 data points for every shot and can be bounced over 50,000 times.
SIQ Basketball raised $3 million in a recent funding round led by KB Partners.
The NBA isn't just about points, rebounds, and blocks these days.
Superstars can now measure themselves against advanced shooting metrics including their shot release speed, spin rate, and release angle.
SIQ Basketball wants to make that data available to grassroots players.
The startup manufactures an FIBA-approved basketball that contains high-tech data-tracking hardware and costs just $99. It's durable enough to be bounced over 50,000 times, according to SIQ's chief executive Erik Anderson.
"The size, weight, bounce, and flight are the exact same as any other basketball," he told Insider in a recent interview. "Nothing is different other than the fact that our ball tracks 192 data points per shot and provides advanced analytics that professional teams and top programs are using."
SIQ has already landed some high-profile endorsements for its product. WNBA All-Star Kayla McBride credits their ball with helping her out of a shooting slump, and Miami Heat guard Duncan Robinson - one of the NBA's most accurate shooters - officially endorsed SIQ last year.
But Anderson's ultimate goal is to get SIQ's ball into the hands of as many ambitious amateur and grassroots players as possible.
"The obvious market is consumers who don't have access to the analytics that the professional players and organizations have," he told Insider. "Everyone who wants to, no matter the age or level of expertise, deserves to have access to their shooting statistics and analytics and the opportunity to become better athletes."
"That's where we are changing the game, by providing affordable and immediate access to anyone and everyone who wants to become a better basketball player," Anderson added.
To aid their efforts to expand, Anderson and SIQ recently closed a $3 million funding round that was led by Chicago VC firm KB Partners and supported by Estonia's Tera Ventures.
Here's the 21-slide pitch deck SIQ Basketball used to raise $3 million:
SIQ Basketball
More: Tech Insider Startups Pitch Deck | 2022-06-16T12:05:56Z | www.businessinsider.com | The Pitch Deck Sports Techstartup SIQ Basketball Used to Raise $3m | https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-sports-startup-tech-vc-venture-capital-siq-basketball-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-sports-startup-tech-vc-venture-capital-siq-basketball-2022-6 |
4 Big Pharma dealmakers share the 2 overlooked elements that biotech companies need to be a great partner and close deals
From left to right: Jie Liu D'Elia, Bristol Myers Squibb; Rahul Jerath, AbbVie; Sarah Kilpatrick, Pfizer; Michelle Li, Merck
Andrew Dunn/Insider
Biotechs need to look for more than just a check to land Big Pharma deals, industry dealmakers said.
"A pharma company doesn't want to be seen as just an ATM," said AbbVie's Rahul Jerath.
Dealmaking execs from Merck, AbbVie, Pfizer, and Bristol Myers Squibb spoke at the BIO conference.
SAN DIEGO — More biotechs are turning to Big Pharma for cash to help ride out the market downturn, but four veteran dealmakers said biotechs need to be looking for more than just a check to close deals.
Pharma dealmaking is not just about money, executives from Merck, AbbVie, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Pfizer said at a Wednesday panel at the 2022 Biotechnology Innovation Organization conference. Successful partnerships also require a focus on the science and an eagerness to work together with an appreciation for what Big Pharma brings to the table beyond money.
"A pharma company doesn't want to be seen as just an ATM," said Rahul Jerath, senior director of business development and acquisitions at AbbVie. "We want to see that there's a true collaboration and synergy for us to work together."
The process of going through due diligence and negotiating contracts often gives clues on how partnerships will fare, Jerath added. These processes can reveal if a partner is mainly there for an infusion of capital or has an earnest willingness to work together.
Pharma dealmakers prioritize biotechs putting science and patients first
The broader culture of a biotech company can become a make-or-break factor in these deal talks, particularly for earlier-stage research deals.
"We look for companies that put science first," Jie Liu D'Elia, Bristol Myers Squibb senior vice president of business development for oncology, hematology, and cell therapy said.
In one recent example, Bristol Myers agreed on June 3 to acquire the the San Diego-based cancer biotech Turning Point Therapeutics for $4.1 billion. The company is developing an experimental cancer drug called repotrectinib that Bristol Myers expects will win US approval in the second half of 2023.
"We saw a strong passion of caring for science and caring for patients," D'Elia said of Turning Point. "That patient-centric culture made all our discussions with the company very easy."
Michelle Li, Merck's associate vice president and head of corporate development and commercial business development, said the best biotech partners bring a clear understanding of what they want from Merck.
"The better you understand that, the easier the conversation will go and the better chance we can reach a deal," Li said.
'It has to be a marriage' between small biotechs and large pharmas
A willingness to work together can help get deals done, as was the case of Pfizer's deal in May to buy Biohaven Pharmaceuticals for $11.6 billion.
That relationship started last November, when Pfizer acquired the rights to sell Biohaven's migraine drug, Nurtec ODT, outside of the US. In contemplating buying the whole company, Biohaven's pipeline of mainly neuroscience drugs didn't fit with Pfizer's focus. The big pharma exited neuroscience in 2018.
"Yet, we still felt like there's a deal to be done," said Sarah Kilpatrick, business development lead for Pfizer's vaccines and internal medicines teams.
Ultimately, Pfizer's acquisition included a simultaneous spinoff of Biohaven's pipeline, allowing Biohaven's management team to continue working on the rest of its programs while Pfizer takes over Nurtec. Kilpatrick said that's a classic "win-win" type agreement that comes out of a willingness to consider new types of deals.
With the biotech industry down more than 60% from a 2021 peak, industry dealmakers said they are seeing more biotech interest in parternships, particularly as the capital markets have declined.
"In order to build out our pipeline for the future, it has to be a marriage within the industry between large and small pharma," AbbVie's Jerath said. "It can be dysfunctional at times, and that's fine. I suppose a lot of marriages are in general, but we need each other."
More: Pharmaceutical Biotech m&a | 2022-06-16T13:36:13Z | www.businessinsider.com | Big Pharma Dealmakers: Biotechs Partners Go Beyond Cash | https://www.businessinsider.com/big-pharma-dealmakers-biotechs-partners-go-beyond-cash-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/big-pharma-dealmakers-biotechs-partners-go-beyond-cash-2022-6 |
Inside the rise of 'head of remote work,' the hot new job companies like Okta and Atlassian are creating to make sure remote workers are happy, motivated, and building their careers
As companies adopt distributed workforces, some are creating new exec roles to manage the transition.
While employee like the flexibility that comes with remote work, it's also presented new challenges.
Okta, Atlassian, and Cloudflare share why they hired heads of remote work and what the job entails.
As companies transition to remote and hybrid styles of working, a new type of job is emerging.
The titles vary by company but share the same responsibilities: to make sure employees have the tools and practices they need to work in a more remote- or hybrid-work environment.
Samantha Fisher, Okta's head of dynamic work, who was hired in January 2021, said her job is centered around "coordination and thinking holistically about employee journeys."
"When employees have either a fully remote or distributed hybrid environment, their experiences, their engagement, the way they think about how they do their work and the culture that you're building at companies is different," Fisher told Insider. "It has to be thought about and structured and written down."
Other companies that have recently created this kind of role include the Australian enterprise-software company Atlassian and the security company Cloudflare. Some describe the emerging role as a combination of human resources, operations, and IT. And executives at these companies all say that having someone to manage the transition to remote and hybrid workplaces is essential for making informed, data-driven decisions and ensuring employees aren't burdened with extra work.
While Cloudflare is thinking about this role as a short-term job, Atlassian and Okta see it as a more long-term play for taking on new challenges that are sure to arise.
Why companies going remote and hybrid need a single person managing the transition
While remote work has given employees more flexibility about where they choose to live and how they work, it's also presented new challenges. Collaboration is harder when teams are spread across the country or the globe, company culture is harder to maintain, and there are new considerations for how to make sure employees are treated fairly and equitably.
Having one person to manage all that ensures things get done faster, Annie Dean, Atlassian's head of Team Anywhere, told Insider. Team Anywhere is what Atlassian has named its remote-work policy.
"The fastest way to make sure that nothing gets done is to have it be everybody's part-time job," Dean said. "I think what you need as somebody who leads this work is a problem solver, a cross-functional leader. Somebody who can get people motivated behind a vision and articulate and develop that vision."
Both Dean and Fisher say they work closely with both the HR team and CIO's office, but their day-to-day jobs are more like an operations or project-management role.
Cloudflare is taking a slightly different approach, assigning the job to someone inside the HR team. The company initially had a job posting for a head of distributed work, but in interviewing people for the role, Cloudflare chief people officer Janet Van Huysse said she felt like the role had a two-year term.
She ended up making the responsibilities part of a chief-of-staff role for the people team, and hired Willem Schelling, a former ViacomCBS exec, for the job. Right now this transition to distributed work is 100% of his focus, but as Cloudflare's transition to remote becomes the norm at the company, he'll take on the next challenge.
"There was no doubt that there is a huge benefit and advantage to having someone who has ownership of this transition and this change," Van Huysse said. "I think there's lots of cultural transformation that needs to happen."
Challenges and lessons for a head of remote work
The most important thing for a company making the transition to remote or hybrid work is to create a road map and a committee of executives from across the company from whom to gather input, Okta's Fisher said.
Her primary focus for the first three years on the job is to "streamline tools, technologies, and systems" for Okta's employees to help them work in a distributed, asynchronous way. The first task was to find a "knowledge management" tool that could serve as an information hub for employees, she said.
The chain of events at Atlassian has been similar, and Dean said the company has been able to use its own software tools like Confluence to reach those goals.
A big focus for all three companies and their heads of remote work is gathering data throughout the transition and making use of it.
"Our guiding philosophy on this is that a one-size-fits-all-approach is not gonna work at Cloudflare," Van Huysse said. One of the main reasons to have someone managing these efforts is to shorten the learning cycles, she added.
"It's one person who's getting all those lessons. We're 100% not gonna get it all right," she said. "And so when we do try something and it ends up not being successful, we can quickly move away from it. And when we do find something that is really working, we can amplify that."
More: Okta Atlassian CloudFlare | 2022-06-16T13:36:55Z | www.businessinsider.com | Okta, Atlassian, and Cloudfare Create a New Head-of-Remote-Work Role | https://www.businessinsider.com/okta-atlassian-cloudflare-remote-head-distributed-work-exec-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/okta-atlassian-cloudflare-remote-head-distributed-work-exec-2022-6 |
Pros and cons TD Bank
Pros and cons Chase
Checking account comparisons
Savings account comparisons
CD comparisons
Money market account comparisons
Which bank is more trustworthy?
TD Bank vs. Chase: Which brick-and-mortar bank is better?
Bank Editor's overall rating Standout feature Savings APY Learn more
Easy to waive fees on checking account
Easier to earn $200 sign-up bonus than with TD Bank
The bottom line: TD Bank makes it a bit easier to waive monthly service fees on its standard checking account than Chase. It has a lower minimum opening for CDs than Chase CDs. If you would like to open a traditional savings account, you could go with either bank since the accounts are very similar.
If you live on the East Coast and prioritize traditional banking, you might be considering Chase or TD Bank.
To help you determine whether Chase or TD Bank might be suitable for you, we're comparing each institution's bank accounts. We will also assess the banks' trustworthiness so you can learn more about their banking history.
Pros and cons of TD Bank
Over 1,100 branches in 15 states and Washington, DC
Access to 2,600 free ATMs
Possible to waive monthly services fees
Checking account bonus of $200 until 10/31/2022
Only available on the East Coast
High CD early withdrawal penalties
A- rating from the Better Business Bureau because the government took action against the business
Pros and cons of Chase
Access to 16,000 free ATMs
Checking bonus of $200 until 7/20/2022
No money market account
B- rating from the Better Business Bureau because the government took action against the business
TD Bank vs. Chase checking account comparisons
TD Bank and Chase have multiple checking accounts . Below, we've compared each bank's basic checking account offerings. Both of these accounts provide ways to waive monthly service fees.
TD Bank Convenience Checking Account Chase Total Checking®
Minimum opening deposit $0 $0
Monthly service fee $15 or $0 $12 or $0
How to waive the monthly service fee
Meet one of the following requirements:
Keep at least $100 in your account daily
Are between the ages of 17 and 23
Receive a total of $500 or more in direct deposits
Keep at least $1,500 in your checking account daily
Maintain an average daily balance of $5,000 or more in all Chase accounts and investment accounts
Sign-up bonus $200 $200
Next steps Learn more Learn more
If your priority is to avoid paying a monthly service fee, you may favor TD Bank over Chase. The TD Bank Convenience Checking Account has a lower minimum balance requirement than Chase Total Checking®. You'll also be eligible to waive the monthly service fee at TD Bank if you are between the ages of 17 and 23.
Chase still might be worth considering if you're looking to take advantage of a cash bonus, though. Both banks offer a $200 sign-up bonus if you're a new customer, but Chase has easier requirements.
At Chase, all you need to do is use a coupon code when you open Chase Total Checking® and set up direct deposit in the first 90 days. To be eligible for the $200 bonus on the TD Bank Convenience Checking Account, you'll need to receive $500 or more in direct deposits during the first 60 days of opening an account.
Winner: TD Bank
The TD Bank Convenience Checking Account makes it easier to waive monthly service fees than Chase Total Checking®. You might still want to explore Chase Total Checking® if you're a new customer and want to take advantage of a bank account bonus with easy requirements.
TD Bank Convenience Checking Account
No monthly service fee if you're ages 17 to 23
No interest earned
Doesn't reimburse out-of-network ATM fees charged by providers
Access to 1,100 branch locations and over 2,600 ATMs
Waive $15 monthly fee with $100 daily balance
TD Bank vs. Chase savings account comparisons
For savings accounts, we're seeing how the TD Simple Savings Account stacks up to Chase Savings℠ since both accounts have a $5 monthly service fee that can be waived.
TD Simple Savings Account Chase Savings℠
APY 0.02% APY 0.01% APY effective as of 06/14/2022. Interest rates are variable and subject to change
Monthly service fee $5 or $0 $5 or $0
How to waive the monthly fee
No monthly service fees during the first year if you do the following:
Make a monthly direct deposit of $25 or more
If you don't set up direct deposit or skip a month, you'll need meet one of the following requirements to waive the fee:
Keep at least $300 in your checking account daily
Are under the age of 24
Maintain a daily balance of $300 or more
Have an automatic transfer of $25 or more from a Chase checking account
Link Chase College Checking℠ for overdraft protection
Link to a qualifying Chase checking account
TD Bank and Chase have pretty similar savings accounts. Both banks let you open an account with $0 and pay low interest rates.
The requirements for waiving the $5 monthly service fee are almost interchangeable, as well. You might prefer the TD Simple Savings Account if you're a senior citizen looking to open a savings account. However, if you're under the age of 62, it may not make much of a difference, since the other requirements for waiving the fee are almost the same.
If you're looking to earn a competitive interest rate on a savings account, you might consider looking over our best high-yield savings account for contenders.
It's a toss-up between the two banks since the savings accounts have similar features. The requirements for waiving the $5 monthly service fee are nearly identical. Your best option might ultimately hinge on which bank's branches are closer to your home.
TD Simple Savings Account
No monthly fee for students, or for adults under age 24 or age 62 or older
No monthly fee for the first 12 months, with recurring monthly deposits of $25
Low APY
No monthly service fee for students, adults under age 24 or age 62 or older
Waive $5 monthly service fee by maintaining $300 minimum daily balance
No monthly fee for the first 12 months if you make recurring $25 monthly deposits
Interest compounded daily
Chase Savings℠
0.01% APY effective as of 06/14/2022. Interest rates are variable and subject to change
Relatively easy to waive $5 monthly fee
Link to a Chase checking account for free overdraft protection
Access to 16,000 Chase ATMs and over 4,700 branches
Link this account to your Chase checking account for Overdraft Protection
Waive $5 monthly service when you maintain a $300 balance, automatically transfer $25 each month from your Chase checking account, link to Chase College Checking for Overdraft Protection, link to a qualifying Chase checking account, or are under age 18
Manage your accounts, deposit checks, transfer money and more — all from your device
Available online nationwide except in Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. For branch locations, visit locator.chase.com
TD Bank vs. Chase CD comparisons
TD Bank Choice Promotional Certificate of Deposit Chase Certificate of Deposit (CD)
Term lengths 3 months to 5 years 1 month to 10 years
Minimum opening deposit $250 $1,000
APY 0.05% APY 0.02% to 0.05% APY
Early withdrawal penalties 3 months to 2 years interest 90 days to 1 year interest
Types of CDs Standard CDs, No-Penalty CDs, Step-Up CDs Standard CDs
Most banks require a minimum opening deposit of $1,000 for CDs like Chase. However, TD Bank lets you open a CD with only $250 upfront.
TD Bank also might be ideal if you'd like to get a special type of CD. For example, you can get a no-penalty CD, which means you won't have to be an early withdrawal penalty on a CD if you withdraw money before the end of the term. You may also open a 3-year or 5-year step-up CD. A step-up CD has a blended interest rate, which means that the interest rate will go up over time.
Chase may be a better option than TD Bank if you're looking for standard CD terms under three months or over five years.
TD Bank CDs require a much lower minimum opening deposit than Chase CDs. You may also prefer TD Bank to Chase if you'd like to open a special type of CD, such as a no-penalty CD or step-up CD.
TD Bank Choice Promotional Certificate of Deposit
Earn 0.05% APY on all terms
Early withdrawal penalties: All interest earned for terms under 90 days; 3 months of interest on terms between 90 days and 1 year; 6 months of interest on terms between 1 year and 2 years; 9 months of interest on terms between 2 years and 3 years; 1 year of interest on terms between 3 years and 4 years; 18 months of interest on terms between 4 years and 5 years; 2 years of interest on terms 5 years or longer
TD Bank vs. Chase money market account comparisons
Chase doesn't have a money market account, but TD Bank does. The TD Bank Growth Money Market Account could be a good option if you'd like to have an interest-earning account with an ATM card and check-writing abilities.
The TD Bank Growth Money Market Account works best if you are able to maintain at least $2,000 in your account daily. By meeting this requirement, you won't have to pay a $12 monthly service fee.
TD Bank is our default winner for this category because Chase doesn't have a money market account. The TD Bank Growth Money Market Account includes checking writing and an ATM card for easy account access. However, you'll want to be mindful of the account's monthly service fee.
TD Bank Growth Money Market Account
Free ATM card included
Earn Relationship Bump Rate if you meet the requirements
Access to 1,100 locations and over 2,600 ATMs
No monthly service fees for anyone age 62 or older
To waive the $12 monthly service fee, keep at least $2,000 in your account daily or link to a TD Relationship Checking or TD Beyond Checking account
Standard interest rate: Earn 0.01% APY on account balances under $25,000; Earn 0.02% APY on account balances over $25,000
Relationship Bump interest rate: Earn 0.01% APY on account balance under $2,000; Earn 0.02% on account balances between $2,000 and $25,000; Earn 0.03% APY on balances over $25,000
To earn the Relationship Bump Rate, you must do the following: Link a TD Checking account; complete a transfer from another TD Bank account each month, and grow your savings by $50 each month
TD Bank vs. Chase trustworthiness and BBB ratings
We include ratings from the Better Business Bureau to evaluate how a bank deals with customer issues.
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (Chase's parent company) received a B- rating. The BBB says it received this rating because government action was taken against the business.
In 2020, JP Morgan Chase & Co. paid the Department of Justice $920 million when charged with wrongful trading.
In 2020, JP Morgan Chase & Co. paid $800,000 in back wages in a settlement with the US Department of Labor that accused the company of underpaying women. The US Department of Labor also required the bank to provide a total of $9 million for compensation adjustments over five years.
The BBB also gave TD Bank an A- rating because government action was taken against the TD Bank.
In 2020, the US Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection required TD Bank to pay $122 million in a settlement that accused the bank of charging customers a Debit Card Advance service without their permission.
Both banks have been involved in recent public settlements. You may decide to bank with a mission-driven financial institution if you prefer to be part of an institution that closely aligns with your values and doesn't have a public settlement history.
Is TD Bank better than Chase?
TD Bank might be a better option if you'd like to open a CD. You'll only need $250 to open a CD at TD Bank, while at Chase, you need a minimum deposit of $1,000.
It also may be easier to waive monthly service fees on the TD Bank Convenience Checking Account than Chase Total Checking®.
Who has more branches, Chase or TD Bank?
Chase has more branches than TD Bank. TD Bank has 1,100 branches and is primarily based on the East Coast. Meanwhile, Chase has over 4,700 branches. Its branches are available in 48 states and Washington, DC.
Chase Total Checking: $3.00 for inquiries, transfers and withdrawals while using a non Chase ATM in the US, Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands. Fees from the ATM owner/network still apply. $5 per withdrawal and $3.00 for any transfers or inquiries at ATMs outside the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Fees from the ATM owner/network still apply.
PERSONAL FINANCE Relationship banking can offer special perks, but you'll have to open several bank products. Is it worth it?
PERSONAL FINANCE Don't discard your bank statements too soon. Here's how to safely store it and for how long
More: TD Bank Chase TD Bank Simple Savings Account TD Bank Convenience Checking
TD Bank CD
Chase Savings
chase total checking
Chase CD | 2022-06-16T13:37:01Z | www.businessinsider.com | TD Bank Vs. Chase: Which Brick-and-Mortar-Bank Is Better? | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/td-bank-vs-chase-comparison-review | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/td-bank-vs-chase-comparison-review |
CFPB asks: How can big banks improve customer service?
The CFPB thinks banks of all sizes should focus on the customer experience.
And as economic uncertainty reverberates across markets, providing stellar service to consumers will only become more important.
The news: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is seeking public comment on improvements that big banks can make to provide quality customer service.
What are the issues? The CFPB is asking what obstacles people face when they seek high-quality customer service and meaningful human interaction.
Customers have already started airing their grievances, saying:
It takes too long for big banks to solve their problems.
They're often required to repeat information to multiple people throughout the resolution process.
When following up on open issues, bank employees are unaware of or not knowledgeable on their situation.
Banks and credit unions with $10 billion or more in assets are required to respond to customer requests within a certain time period, per the 2010 Consumer Financial Protection Act—but that requirement has so far gone unenforced.
Customer service is key: With banking options more abundant than ever, banks of all sizes must step up their customer service game to retain customers and strengthen their loyalty.
Some have already identified the opportunity.
Smaller banks are partnering with fintechs to provide top-of-the-line customer service. Connecticut-based Patriot National Bancorp's partnership with American Challenger Development, for example, seeks to speed up account openings to under a minute, offer video interactions with customers, and close mortgages in less than 20 days.
But others, like neobanks —which are bringing on new customers in droves and offering more products to generate a profit—receive low marks when it comes to customer service.
Fewer than half (47%) of 3,400 neobank customers surveyed by J.D. Power felt it was convenient to reach a customer service representative.
Neobank users reported the most pain points when resolving problems via email or secure online messaging.
The big takeaway: Attitudes toward consumer banking tend to move cyclically with the economy—customers lose confidence during uncertain economic times.
Big banks, which have long endured through economic ups and downs, have a better chance of keeping customers engaged than digital banks and neobanks that haven't yet proved their resilience.
Our "US Bank Technology Spending" report points out that big banks that can avoid cutting their tech budgets and develop a high-quality customer service experience might be able to boost retention and attract customers frustrated by difficult interactions.
And as economic uncertainty reverberates across markets, providing stellar service to consumers thirsting for guidance and help will only become more important. | 2022-06-16T15:07:39Z | www.businessinsider.com | CFPB Thinks Big Banks Need to Enhance Their Customer Service | https://www.businessinsider.com/cfpb-thinks-big-banks-need-to-enhance-customer-service-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/cfpb-thinks-big-banks-need-to-enhance-customer-service-2022-6 |
Ben Winck and Alcynna Lloyd
Amid a nationwide housing shortage, housing starts in May were the slowest since April 2021.
US housing starts slid 14% to an annual rate of 1.55 million units in May, the Census Bureau said.
That's below the average forecast of 1.7 million units and marked the slowest pace since April 2021.
The slowdown signals housing supply will remain strained, leaving buyers under historic pressure.
Homebuilders are slowing their roll — and that means it'll be even harder for Americans to find affordable homes.
US housing starts plummeted in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.55 million units, the Commerce Department announced Thursday morning. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected starts to dip slightly to a pace of 1.7 million units. Falling for the second consecutive month, the decline is attributed to rising inflation and surging mortgage rates that dampened consumer sentiment. Starts are now running at the slowest pace since April 2021.
During May, single family construction fell 9.2% from the previous month to the lowest reading since August 2020. The category saw annual construction slow to an annual pace of just over 1 million, but still short of the revised April figure.
Multifamily construction — units in buildings with five households or more — fell by 26.8%, marking the largest one-month decline since August 2020. That slowdown risks constraining rental supply and keeping rent inflation elevated.
"Single-family home building is slowing as the impacts of higher interest rates reduce housing affordability," Jerry Konter, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, told Insider. "As the market weakens due to cyclical factors, the long-term housing deficit will persist and continue to frustrate prospective renters and home buyers."
Building permits — regarded as a forward indicator for home construction — also slowed, reaching an annual rate of 1.70 million in May. That was down 7% from the revised April rate of 1.82 million and below the median forecast of 1.79 million permits.
"Home builders pulled back from getting permits and starting construction in May. That's not a hopeful sign for a country suffering from a housing shortage," Holden Lewis, Mortgage Expert at NerdWallet, told Insider. "The number of dwellings under construction is at its highest level since the 1970s, partly because builders don't get their hands on materials to complete homes."
The Thursday report offers little solace for Americans hoping for the housing market to cool off. Overwhelming demand and historically low supply drove prices sharply higher throughout the pandemic. The nationwide backlog of prospective buyers continued to swell as more waited for a better time to buy. The May slowdown in construction signals contractors are still hesitant to meet demand and possibly slowing their roll to protect future profits.
As housing construction fell in May, the median listing price of a home climbed 14.8% to $430,621, according to Redfin. In the rental market, rents reached a record high of $2,002, rising 15% from the same time period in 2021. May's readings are a reminder that whether you are a renter or buyer, housing affordability is still cause for concern.
"More people are opting to live alone, and rising mortgage-interest rates are forcing would-be homebuyers to keep renting," Taylor Marr, deputy chief economist at Redfin, said in a statement. "These are among the demand-side pressures keeping rents sky-high."
More: Economy Real Estate Housing Market Housing Starts
Housing Market Signals | 2022-06-16T15:08:09Z | www.businessinsider.com | Housing Crisis: May Home Construction Down 14%, Market Isn't Improving | https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-market-prices-construction-starts-down-low-supply-demand-slows-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-market-prices-construction-starts-down-low-supply-demand-slows-2022-6 |
6 ways creators can prepare for an economic downturn, according to a top manager with clients like MrBeast
Creator talent manager Reed Duchscher.
Night Media
Reed Duchscher is the CEO of management company Night, which represents creators like MrBeast.
In early June, he shared a document with his clients on advice for creators on preparing for a recession.
The advice ranged from considering cash now to being conscientious of hard times.
With the market in freefall, content creators need to "prepare for the worst," says creator manager Reed Duchscher.
Duchscher, the CEO of the talent management firm Night, works with some of the biggest creators in the world, primarily YouTubers and Twitch streamers, such as MrBeast (who has almost 100 million subscribers on YouTube), and female gamer Aphmau (who has almost 13.5 million).
While creators like MrBeast and Aphmau have had big businesses for years, others have reached fame recently, and have been riding the wave of the thriving creator economy.
In the past two years, this industry has seen substantial growth. Influencer-marketing spend increased from $2.4 billion in 2019 to $3.69 in 2021, according to eMarketer. Payments for creators surged to all-time highs. Many people who previously pursued content creation part time had the chance to quit their 9-to-5 jobs and go full time.
It's especially for this last reason — that many creators have never had to face an economic downturn — that Duchscher felt the need to address them as he noticed rampant inflation, plunges in the stock market, and supply chain issues.
"I thought, either s*** will hit the fan or I will overreact, but either way, I think we need to get our creators prepared for this," Duchscher told Insider.
On June 1, Duchscher shared a document with the headline "Thriving in Hard Times" with Night clients via email.
To put together the document, Duchscher consulted with other managers from Night and partners at its sister venture capital fund, Night Ventures. They focused on stripping down advice to only the essential elements creators should be focusing on.
The advice is mainly geared toward YouTubers, although creators in general can benefit from it, Duchscher said.
Here were the top takeaways.
1. Plan for less volume
The document predicts a 15% to 20% reduction in YouTube RPM — short for revenue per mille, or the amount a creator gets paid from Google-placed advertisements every 1,000 views on a video — and 20% to 30% fewer brand deals.
These are rough estimates based on previous instances of ad downturn on YouTube, Duchscher said, and the key point is to prepare for a general slump.
"We don't think we're going to be right on the money and accurate, it could drop 30%, it could drop 60%," he said. "We actually have no idea, but we are pretty confident that rates will drop over the next 12 to 18 months."
2. Consider cash now
This point hints at creator economy startups like Spotter, Creative Juice, and Jellysmack, who have set aside capital to pay creators for a stake in YouTube catalogs that they plan to earn back through future ad revenue.
If there is an up-front offer like that on the table, Duchscher thinks it's worth a hard look at.
"I'm not saying to do the deal," he said. "But if you're a creator with a YouTube following, it's something you should at least take a look at."
Those deals, however, could be harder to come by in the current climate. Jellysmack, for instance, just laid off 8% of its staff as it braces for an ad downturn, Insider previously reported.
3. Explore other monetization opportunities
Creators who have already built income streams based on their audience's support, rather than relying on ads or brand deals, will probably be better off in the long run, Duchscher said.
"It'll be interesting to see what happens to Twitch streamers and Patreon creators that have built up loyalty," he said.
4. Make a firm financial plan
If he were a creator right now, Duchscher's first aim would be analyzing his own business.
Step one: Creators should have a sense of where their revenue comes from, and how variable their revenue streams are.
"Then you need to understand where you're spending money," he said. "How much does it cost you to employ people? Where are you spending all your other money? And how much is it costing you to post a single video?"
Lastly, creators need to figure out if they are in a good spot or in a vulnerable spot in case of a recession , and plan accordingly.
5. Be prepared with a 'rainy day' fund
Part of a creator's plan should be making sure they have cash reserves for at least six months in case revenue declines sharply, Duchscher said.
"A lot of creators don't do this," Duchscher said. "They don't have budgets, they don't know how much money they're spending."
6. Be conscientious of hard times
Creators should be in touch with the events going on in the world, wherever possible.
"I'm seeing this weird trend coming back on YouTube where a lot of creators are taking extravagant flights across the world, like 'I spent $40,000 on a flight,'" Duchscher said. "It makes a great YouTube video, but 18 months from now, if the world is really struggling, it's probably not a video we should film."
Here's the full document that Duchscher sent:
The document Duchscher shared on LinkedIn.
Reed Duchscher.
More: Recession Inflation Creator economy | 2022-06-16T15:08:11Z | www.businessinsider.com | 6 Ways Creators Can Prepare for a Recession: MrBeast's Manager | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-creators-influencers-can-survive-recession-according-to-mrbeast-manager-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-creators-influencers-can-survive-recession-according-to-mrbeast-manager-2022-6 |
As inflation flares and the Fed hikes rates, UBS explains why it sees a 'higher for longer' oil price, and lays how investors can capitalize on it
Investors need to watch the oil price as closely as the S&P 500, Nasdaq or jobs data.
Wealth management giant UBS has updated its forecast and it's not good news for the economy.
UBS has laid out the reasons why it sees crude prices going beyond $120 a barrel and staying there.
The stock market is perhaps the first thing that people think of in terms of taking the pulse of the global economy, but not far behind is the oil market.
Notwithstanding the fact the world needs to wean itself off fossil fuels if climate targets are to be met, oil still dominates the world's energy consumption, and therefore economic activity.
People are feeling the squeeze on their wallets when they fill up their car with gas like never before, and this has knock-on effects across the economy and financial markets.
Investors therefore need to watch the oil price as carefully as they do the S&P 500, Nasdaq or jobs numbers. That is exactly what money managers and analysts at major firms like UBS are doing.
The stormy outlook shows no sign of clearing anytime soon, according the the UBS chief investment office, lead by Mark Haefele.
"Crude prices have continued to rise in June, reaching close to the highest levels of the year despite growing concerns of a recession and weaker demand from China," he said in a note this week.
UBS pointed to the world's most populous country as the source of fresh upward pressure on crude prices.
"Demand for crude from China, the world's largest importer, looks set to slowly recover. While investors have been kept on edge by China's zero-Covid policies, including the recent mass testing in Shanghai during which residents were told to stay indoors, we believe China's reopening is intact," he said.
Most of Shanghai's residents have resumed normal activities and the bank's base-case scenario for China assumes there will be rolling mini lockdowns for the rest of the year, he said.
"As long as these curbs do not reach the scale of the citywide protracted lockdowns that we saw in April and May, we think the situation will be less disruptive to economic activity especially for production and supply chains, thus paving the way for an economic recovery in the second half of 2022 when more policy support materializes. Hence, we are anticipating a gradual, but slow, recovery in Chinese oil demand as mobility restrictions are lifted and stimulus policies are rolled out."
People returning to air travel with great enthusiasm is an ongoing problem from the perspective of fuel price rises, UBS noted.
"Tourist travel has already picked up following an end to pandemic restrictions in much of the world, according to UN World Tourism Organization data, which pointed to an 182% rise in international travel in the first quarter over the same period last year," Haefele said.
The International Energy Agency, which advises Western governments on energy policy, has said fuel demand will rise further when the main holiday season begins in the US and Europe, he noted.
US government data showed Americans alone consumed 9.2 million barrels per day of gasoline, even as prices at the pump hit record highs above $5 a gallon, while warmer weather in the Middle East is likely boost consumption of oil and gas to power air conditioning.
Haefele also noted that oil supplies are likely to remain tight due to to "limited spare capacity" among producers, while the sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine will continue to push prices up.
Even a recent pledge by a group of major exporters to increase crude production by 650,000 barrels per day in July and August won't change the overall picture much, Haefele added.
"The EU's ban on Russian oil imports, though staggered, will also worsen the long-term structural imbalance in global oil supply. As for the strategic oil reserve releases of OECD countries, this tap is only a short-term fix as the reserves need to be restocked at some stage. Indeed, EIA data on 13 June showed that crude stocks in the US strategic petroleum reserve fell by a record 7.7 million barrels last week," he said.
Against such a complicated backdrop, UBS said it has lifted its forecast for crude to $130 a barrel by then end of September, and the firm expects it to remain at around $125 a barrel for the subsequent three quarters. This is up from the previous forecast of $115 over this period.
Its $130 target is just 13% below crude's record $147.50 a barrel struck in July 2008, right before the global financial crisis exploded.
A stubbornly high oil price is always a headwind for the economy and the stock market, but investors still have options and can take advantage of the situation, UBS noted.
While most people cannot buy oil directly, it is relative easy to get exposure to 'black gold' and energy stocks via ETFs available from the usual online brokers.
"We continue to advise risk- taking investors to add long positions in longer-dated oil contracts in Brent or to sell Brent's downside price risks. We also continue to keep energy equities as most preferred in our global strategy," the bank's strategists said.
More: Oil price oil price 2022 Oil Market oil price crisis
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Oil Price Forecasts | 2022-06-16T15:08:41Z | www.businessinsider.com | Oil Price: Why Crude Could Rise Further and Stay High: UBS | https://www.businessinsider.com/oil-price-why-crude-could-rise-further-and-stay-high-ubs-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/oil-price-why-crude-could-rise-further-and-stay-high-ubs-2022-6 |
What is a sin stock?
Examples of sin stocks
Pros of sin stocks
Cons of sin stocks
How to invest in sin stocks
Sin stocks are shares in companies whose business can be considered unethical — and profitable
Amy Fontinelle and Paul Kim
Sin stocks are considered "defensive" stocks, meaning they tend to perform well even during an economic downturn or recession.
knape/Getty Images
The “sin stocks” label traditionally refers to gambling, alcohol, tobacco, and weapons companies.
Sin stocks are considered defensive stocks, meaning they tend to perform well even during an economic downturn.
Though relatively stable, sin stocks carry some special risks, such as being vulnerable to changes in regulations or taxes.
The growth of socially responsible investing and ethical consumerism has become more prominent in the investing space. With that, an investor who wishes to align their morals with how they build their portfolio would likely want to avoid a particular type of stock: sin stocks.
Even though some investors may find sin stocks objectionable, they tend to perform well in both bull and bear markets. They also tend to do well regardless of which phase of the business cycle the economy is currently in, even a recession.
Sin stocks are shares of a company that an investor may deem unethical. When academics study sin stocks and make generalities about how sin stocks perform, they usually focus on the "sin triumvirate," which includes alcohol, tobacco, and gambling. Some academics add the weapons industry to this list, dubbed the "big four" sin stocks.
However, on an individual level, just because you've invested in a company that doesn't fall under these predetermined industries does it mean the company's stocks aren't considered sin stocks. That determination largely comes down to the individual investor's moral compass. If you find that the way energy companies operate is immoral, but you invest anyway, that's a sin stock.
Other stocks and sectors can be considered immoral too — depending on your religion, politics, and ethical values.
Environmentalists might classify oil and coal stocks as sin stocks, considering the companies behind them to be polluters. Vegans might consider shares of any company that raises animals, sells animal products, or tests on animals to be a sin stock.
Though not a stock, cryptocurrencies that operate on proof-of-work and thus eat up energy in the mining process may also find they don't have a place in the portfolio of an environmentally conscious investor.
Socially conscious investors might also avoid investing in companies or industries that engage in unfair labor practices, like the chocolate or coffee industries, which engage in child labor. Some investors might also stay away from companies that profit off of the prison industrial complex. Other companies, such as the meatpacking industry, have historically mistreated their employees.
While some companies exploit their labor, other companies exploit their customers. Payday loan companies, many of them publicly traded, often make money off of the incredibly high interest rates they charge the people who take out loans, which investors might consider immoral or even predatory.
And if alcohol is sinful, maybe marijuana is, too — if it's being used recreationally and not for medicinal purposes. An investor might consider the stock of an opiate producer a sin stock because of all the people who become addicted — though of course, these drugs have enormous benefits too.
On the other hand, as societal norms change, certain industries shed their "vice" labels. Though alcohol is still traditionally considered a sin stock, its place in society today is remarkably different from where it was in the 1920s. A couple of decades ago, the idea of a publicly traded cannabis company would've been far-fetched.
Sin stock categories and companies
A variety of corporations could be called sin players. The categories include the traditional Big Four of the sin stock sector, along with some newer but commonly cited fields.
Alcohol: Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD), Molson Coors Brewing Company (MCBC), Boston Beer Company (SAM), Constellation Brands (STZ), Diageo (DGEAF), Brown-Forman (BF)
Defense/weapons: Boeing (BA), Northrup Gruman (NOC), Aerojet Rocketdyne (AJRD), Raytheon (RTX), Lockheed Martin (LMT), American Outdoor Brands (AOBC), Olin (OLN), Vista Outdoor (VSTO), Sturm, Ruger (RGR)
Tobacco: Altria (MO), British American Tobacco (BTAFF), Philip Morris (PM)
Gambling/adult entertainment: Las Vegas Sands (LVS), MGM Resorts (MGM), Wynn Resorts (WYNN), Penn National Gaming (PENN), Caesars Entertainment (CZR), Boyd Gaming (BYD), Scientific Games (SGMS), DraftKings (DKNG), RCI Hospitality Holdings (RICK)
Marijuana/cannabis: Cronos (CRON), Canopy Growth (CGC), Aurora Cannabis (ACB), Aphria (APHA), Tilray (TLRY), GrowGeneration (GRWG)
Corrections/prisons: CoreCivic (CXW), The GEO Group (GEO)
Payday lenders/pawnbrokers: Enova International (ENVA), EZCorp (EZPW), FirstCash Financial (FCFS), QCHI (QCCO)
Energy: Energy Transfer LP (ETP), ExxonMobil (XOM), Kinder Morgan (KMI)
Meat: Hormel Foods (HRL), Sanderson Farms (SAFM), Tyson Foods (TSN)
Snacks/junk food: Coca-Cola (KO), Mondelez International (MDLZ), Hershey (HSY), PepsiCo (PEP), McDonald's (MCD)
What makes sin stocks enticing?
Unfortunately for you and your moral compass, sin stocks are often very profitable for a number of reasons. Adding them to your portfolio can be an attractive financial move. Here are the big reasons they're generally considered to be strong investments.
They're steady performers
Sin stocks are considered defensive stocks, meaning they are less affected by bad news or economic downturns. Many of these stocks are recession -resistant, if not recession-proof, for the same reason that commodity stocks can weather recessions. There's still demand for the goods or services they provide regardless of the wider economic trends.
They're cash cows
As a result, sin stocks have a history of stable earnings and income streams. Many companies in sin industries are well-established, have sound financials, and have consistently paid dividends for years.
They've got little competition
The goods and services that sin stock companies produce tend to be highly regulated, creating a higher barrier to entry. Potential competitors may not want to participate in such a restrictive business environment, creating more room for existing players to grow.
Even sin stocks' negative connotations can work to their advantage. Certain institutional investors — especially those handling funds for religious or academic groups — often shy away from notorious or controversial businesses. That can lead to a particular sin stock being undervalued and a good bargain.
What are the downsides of sin stocks?
While sin stocks are usually a pretty stable investment, they come with a few drawbacks.
There's high regulatory risk
All companies' fortunes can be contingent on laws, but the regulatory risk is a particular concern with sin stocks. For example, marijuana, though legalized in certain states, has yet to be legalized nationwide. Even then, certain states might have their own set of regulations that would complicate a cannabis company's operations.
Taxes can be a problem
All companies have to deal with taxation, but sin stocks often have a fiscal target on their backs. Regulators and voters could decide to increase taxes on the "sinful" items these companies produce; they're often the go-to source when states need money. Higher taxes could reduce demand, which dampens profits and pushes stock prices down.
Consumer habits can change
You'll also want to consider the effect of changing consumer tastes, like declining alcohol and tobacco consumption. The CDC reports that cigarette consumption among adults was at 12.5% as of 2020, down from 42.4% in 1965. Black swan events can force habits to change, such as a pandemic shutting down casinos and the sporting events people like to bet on.
Note: Devoting too much of your portfolio to a single industry or company is always risky, regardless of what items it produces.
So you've made peace with the powers that be. You have your big sleeping pill on standby so you can sleep at night. You've decided to put a clothespin over your nose and plunge into some sin stocks.
Most of the considerations you're making, beyond your morals, are very similar to any other investment you'd make. You should be thinking about any decisions within the context of your long-term investment goals and your overall portfolio. If you don't want to invest in any particular company, but the potential profits are too enticing, there are sin ETFs out there for you to invest in instead.
Before you invest in any particular sin industry, you should take a wider look at that industry. Take note of any political or cultural developments around that industry, and the opinions of the decision-makers in power. Take, for example, the FDA's proposed ban on menthol cigarettes in April of 2022, which could shake up the tobacco industry and its stock prices (though stock prices stayed relatively steady after the announcement).
Otherwise, whether you should invest in sin stocks boils down to the same questions you would ask yourself with any investment:
What is the unique benefit of putting my money in this investment versus a different investment?
Is the potential reward high enough to choose this investment over the alternatives?
How does this investment fit into my portfolio and my overall investment strategy?
How much money do I stand to lose? Can I afford that loss?
Of course, as with any investment, you'll have to do the research on any possible sin stock you're considering to make sure the conventional wisdom about it holds true.
In a sense, the decision to invest in sin stocks is a question of whether your principles should influence your principal.
Realistically, your decision to invest or not invest in a sin stock isn't going to move the needle much in either direction. That said, the money you make off a sin stock will be derived from something you personally find immoral, which is something you'll have to square away with yourself.
It's up to you whether to base your investment decisions purely on financial considerations or whether to let the ethical questions inform your choices.
Amy Fontinelle
Amy Fontinelle is a blogger at Investopedia.
PERSONAL FINANCE Understanding the different stock types is important when choosing which to include in your portfolio
More: sin stocks Ethical investing Socially Responsible Investing Gambling
Alcohol stocks
tobacco stocks
defense stocks | 2022-06-16T15:09:05Z | www.businessinsider.com | Sin Stocks: Definition, Appeal, & the Key Players | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/what-are-sin-stocks | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/what-are-sin-stocks |
Wells Fargo's investment advisory arm says a recession will hit soon, and stocks won't get back to their former highs until 2024. Here's how it says investors should prepare.
Friday's inflation print shocked investors.
Wells Fargo's investment institute says a recession is on the way, and the recovery will be gradual.
It believes the S&P 500 could get back to 4,700 by the end of 2023 — short of its January 2022 high.
In its mid-year report the firm explains what to buy in stocks, bonds, and commodities.
The last bear market in stocks was the COVID crash, but it was followed by a shockingly fast recovery. Investors shouldn't expect anything like that this time, according to Wells Fargo's Investment Institute.
"We believe that this economic expansion will rank among the shortest and most volatile cycles over the past century," the firm wrote in its mid-year update. "Considering the economy's current rate of slowing, we believe a mild recession seems more likely than not later this year and into early next year."
Wells Fargo isn't forecasting an especially damaging recession in historical terms, but it sees signs that the recovery might not show up until late 2023 or early 2024, when inflation calms down and monetary tightening slows.
Stock strategy for a difficult year
The firm projects that the S&P 500 will finish this year in a range of 4,200 to 4,400, implying a rally of 10% to 16% through the end of 2022. It expects modest gains in 2023, with a target of 4,500 to 4,700 at the end of that year. The benchmark index last peaked at 4,796 on January 3 of this year.
Wells Fargo generally doesn't expect other stock market benchmarks to set record highs either. It predicts up to 18 months of solid but unspectacular performance, and says investors can do better if they focus on companies with steady results and strong balance sheets.
"We favor increased emphasis on quality over cyclicals in our sector positioning and selectivity at the sub-industry level," the firm said. It's especially bullish on tech, energy, and healthcare stocks.
"We favor the IT Services, Networking Equipment, and Enterprise Software sub-industries because we expect relatively resilient tech spending in the economy and continued high-quality financial metrics in these sub-industries," Wells Fargo said.
Meanwhile, energy will benefit from higher oil prices and constraints on supply, and Wells Fargo is especially bullish on integrated oil and gas companies because they tend to be financially healthy.
Healthcare, meanwhile, blends defensive traits with strong balance sheets and other quality characteristics.
"We favor the Managed Care sub-industry of the health care sector due to the diminishing risks from both the pandemic and politics along with this group's exposure to steady longer-term growth drivers," Wells Fargo said.
Overall Wells Fargo thinks the economy will contract by 0.5% in 2023. Since it's expecting weak economic performance, it advises investors to look at industries that are less cyclical than their market sectors.
"Examples would include defense contractors within industrials, property and casualty insurance within financials, and industrial gasses within materials," Wells Fargo analysts wrote.
Fixed income will recover slowly
Wells Fargo says the worst of the bond market's pain is over, but since it expects a slowing economy, a recession, and a gradual recovery, it's also forecasting a slow recovery in bond prices.
"We favor playing defense in bond portfolios today. We prefer short-term and intermediate term maturities while interest rates continue to rise modestly," according to Wells Fargo. "We expect higher interest rates across maturities by year-end 2022, with the potential for yield-curve inversion through 2023."
It's especially positive on municipal bonds, saying there's a "technical imbalance" between supply and demand that will push prices higher. The investment institute also likes bonds from essential service and taxpayer-supported bond issuers, and says transportation issues could be a good option for more aggressive investors.
Wells Fargo is neutral on investment grade corporate bonds ,with a positive view on bonds issued by consumer staples, utilities, healthcare, and oil and gas companies.
Commodities have been hot but a slowdown is ahead
The firm says that gains for commodities will slow down in the second half of 2022 before speeding up again next year.
"Persistent underlying supply constraints will return as the driving force behind commodity prices," Wells Fargo said. "Evidence still suggests that a new commodity bull super-cycle began in March 2020. Bull super-cycles are multiyear periods of strong commodity price gains, underpinned by lingering supply issues."
It suggests investing in precious metals, especially gold, as a way of playing defense and buying inflation protection, as that issue remains paramount for investors.
While Wells Fargo expects the global economy to slow, it's bullish on energy prices because of continued supply constraints in 2023. It also advises playing that theme by investing in midstream C corporations.
"Midstream companies made tremendous strides syncing their cost structures to the lower energy prices of the previous five years," Wells Fargo said. "We believe that capital discipline should continue to be a positive for midstream companies even if energy price gains stall."
wells fargo investment institute | 2022-06-16T15:09:11Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to Invest: Stock & Bond Strategy to Prepare for Recession | https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-stocks-how-to-invest-bond-profit-strategy-wells-fargo-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-stocks-how-to-invest-bond-profit-strategy-wells-fargo-2022-6 |
Security works by fencing outside the Supreme Court, Wednesday, June 15, 2022, in Washington
A Trump campaign lawyer said SCOTUS might take up an election case because of possible unrest on January 6.
The lawyer, Kenneth Chesebro, emailed John Eastman about the possibility, per The New York Times.
Chesebro wrote that the odds would be "favorable if the justices start to fear that there will be 'wild' chaos."
A Trump campaign lawyer wrote in emails in late 2020 that the possibility of "wild chaos" on January 6, 2021, could pressure the Supreme Court to take up a case that could overturn the presidential election, The New York Times reported Thursday.
In a December 24, 2020 email exchange between the Trump attorney, Kenneth Chesebro, and conservative lawyer John Eastman, the two discussed the possibility of the Trump campaign getting a last-minute lawsuit challenging the election results in Wisconsin before the Supreme Court.
Eastman also claimed to have inside knowledge of "a heated fight underway" between the justices over election cases.
"For those willing to do their duty, we should help them by giving them a Wisconsin cert petition to add into the mix," Eastman wrote, according to The Times.
Chesebro replied that the Wisconsin case "gives more ammo to the justices fighting for the court to intervene" — and referenced possible unrest on January 6.
"I think the odds of action before Jan. 6 will become more favorable if the justices start to fear that there will be 'wild' chaos on Jan. 6 unless they rule by then, either way," he wrote, according to The Times.
"Though that factor could go against us on the merits," he added. "Easiest way to quell chaos would be to rule against us — our side would accept that result as legitimate."
Chesebro referenced the possibility of "'wild' chaos" influencing the court on January 6 five days after Trump announced a "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th" on Twitter on December 19, telling his supporters, "Be there, will be wild!"
"You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take," Chesebro mused in the email, according to The Times. "A campaign that believes it really won the election would file a petition as long as it's plausible and the resource constraints aren't too great."
It is unclear how Eastman would have known about such internal Supreme Court deliberations, or what case or petition the justices would be engaged in a "heated" debate over.
The Supreme Court shot down a hail -mary lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 election results in four states that voted for President Joe Biden with no noted dissents on December 11.
The original jurisdiction lawsuit, brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and supported by Trump, aimed to invalidate those states' vote counts and allow their Republican-controlled state legislatures to directly appoint presidential electors.
A Trump-appointed federal judge also shot down the Trump campaign's last-ditch attempt to overturn Wisconsin's certification of the 2020 election for Biden, dismissing the case, Trump vs. Wisconsin Elections Commission, with prejudice on December 12.
The Trump campaign appealed, but a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of the lawsuit seeking to invalidate the Wisconsin results on December 24.
In addition to the emails reported on by the New York Times, the Washington Post also reported on Wednesday evening that the House Select Committee probing the January 6 insurrection had obtained emails between Eastman and Ginni Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, about overturning the election.
The new revelations about Eastman's emails with Ginni Thomas and Chesebro come as the committee is poised to hold its third public hearing on Thursday, focusing on the pressure campaign targeting Vice President Mike Pence to reject the election results on January 6.
Eastman played a key role in the intense efforts to overturn Trump's 2020 election through increasingly outlandish and extra-legal mechanisms, an effort that went all the way up to the day of the Capitol riots, and has been a subject of intense scrutiny by the January 6 panel.
Trump's lawyers relied on legal analysis from Eastman and Chesebro to pressure Pence to reject slates of Biden electors at the January 6 joint session of Congress, which Pence did not have the power to do.
Eastman also advised state lawmakers on how they could manipulate and overturn the 2020 results, and whether legislatures could "decertify" the 2020 election results after the fact, which is not possible under the Electoral College system.
In late March, a federal judge in California, US District Judge David Carter, forced Eastman to turn over thousands of emails to the committee that Eastman sought to block — and also concluded that Eastman and Trump "likely" conspired to commit felony obstruction of Congress in connection to January 6. | 2022-06-16T15:09:24Z | www.businessinsider.com | Trump Attorney: SCOTUS Would Take Election Case If It Feared 'Wild' Jan 6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-attorney-scotus-would-take-election-case-if-it-feared-jan-6-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-attorney-scotus-would-take-election-case-if-it-feared-jan-6-2022-6 |
When realtor Alyssa Bleau, who's bought and sold houses sight-unseen, decided to move from New York to North Carolina, her agent provided a showing via FaceTime. But she heavily relied on Matterport, a 3D modeling platform, to tour a 3D twin of her future home and measure the space for furniture.
More: Real Estate Housing Market Real estate agents Zillow | 2022-06-16T16:38:54Z | www.businessinsider.com | 3 Tips for Buying a House Sight-Unseen Without Regrets | https://www.businessinsider.com/3-tips-buying-house-sight-unseen-real-estate-agents-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/3-tips-buying-house-sight-unseen-real-estate-agents-2022-6 |
Over the last year, many workers have seen their pay and benefits increase, although inflation has taken a chunk.
Peter Cappelli, a Wharton professor, said employers pretty much still have all of the power.
He also said workers' gains today probably won't result in permanent changes.
Job openings are near a record high. Wages are still increasing. Businesses are hiring at a good clip.
But while many employers — and headlines — suggest that that's because the red-hot job market has empowered workers to ask for more, not everyone agrees.
"Employers have virtually all the power," Peter Cappelli, Wharton professor of management and director of the school's center for human resources, wrote in an email to Insider.
When asked if we've seen any changes to work in recent years because of employees' desires — such as through the Great Reshuffle or Great Resignation — Cappelli's answer was short and sweet: "Nope."
That might seem contradictory to all of the anecdotal reports of employers beefing up benefits or pay to lure in workers. But economists have noted that even the wage gains workers notched would be equivalent to how much wages would have grown in a world with no pandemic.
And many workers have seen their wage gains eaten up by inflation. At some low-wage firms — which have seen the largest wage growth in the country's economic growth — workers' nominal wage gains don't outpace inflation, even as CEO pay balloons.
Cappelli wrote that "there are some small markets where there are impacts" on work stemming from employee desires.
"Law firms seem to be allowing their associates to work remotely because there is a lot of competition for them and the labor market is well organized – hiring is from the same small set of schools, it happens all at once, everyone is informed as to what the offers are," Cappelli said.
The last time workers were able to quit, sit out for a little, and still support themselves was in the 1960's, Cappelli said. The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute finds that the minimum wage in 1968 would be worth $10.59 in 2021 dollars — far more than today's $7.25 minimum wage.
To replicate those conditions today, we'd need "strong unions, corporate governance that sees stakeholders, including employees, as important as shareholders, and a tight labor market especially for new hires," Capelli said.
While there seems to be an abundance of jobs, some recent graduates are still struggling to get a call back — and employers can still ghost them.
As the US sees signs of an economic slowdown, workers' nominal gains could be in danger, especially as layoffs roil some pandemic winners.
When asked if any of the nominal improvements employers are making right now — like higher wages, benefits, etc — will cause any permanent change, Cappelli also had a short but sweet answer.
"Higher wages dissipate quickly with inflation. Some benefits are hard to pull back, but they can be eroded quickly – adding co-pays, etc," he wrote. "So, no."
More: Economy great resignation Great Reshuffle job seach | 2022-06-16T16:39:06Z | www.businessinsider.com | Employers Still Have All the Power in Today's Job Market | https://www.businessinsider.com/employers-still-have-power-in-job-market-great-resignation-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/employers-still-have-power-in-job-market-great-resignation-2022-6 |
Some of the 1,100 Coinbase employees laid off say the writing was on the wall at the crypto giant thanks to frenzied hiring and exorbitant pay: 'Eventually the chickens are going to come home to roost'
Bianca Chan, Carter Johnson, Kylie Robison, and Jessica Xing
Christie Hemm Klok/Getty Images
Crypto exchange Coinbase laid off 18% of its staff Tuesday amid turbulence in the economy.
Experimental teams like Coinbase One and the NFT business, and customer support, were impacted.
Former employees said spending habits, from Super Bowl ads to sky-high salaries, are to blame.
It was late 2021, and Coinbase, riding high from the crypto market's record year, was building an armada of customer-support agents for its budding trading-subscription product, Coinbase One, in addition to general live support.
While crypto recruitment and compensation packages had made headlines for poaching top Wall Street and Silicon Valley execs and engineers, it wasn't just senior or technical hires who enjoyed above-market pay packages.
One prospective agent did a double take at Coinbase's salary offer for what amounted to a typical customer-service role.
"When I got hired, I was like, 'Wait, what?' You're paying me how much to answer phones?" the former employee said of their $70,000 salary, which is nearly double the average annual salary of a call-center representative in the US, according to employment website Indeed.
"For what we did, they paid way too much and they hired too many people, honestly," the former employee, who requested anonymity because they were not permitted to speak to the press, told Insider.
And they weren't the only one on the firm's near-400 person Global Support Team to think Coinbase's compensation levels were untenable.
Another former employee, who managed a team of customer-support agents, saw the signs when they helped build out the organization at the beginning of 2022 by hiring hundreds of employees.
"We basically have what seems like a blank checkbook and that can't work," the former manager, who received a 40% pay bump when they ditched a financial-technology company to join Coinbase, recalled telling senior management during the recruitment period.
"Eventually the chickens are going to come home to roost," the former manager said.
Indeed, on June 14, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced in a blog post the company was laying off 18% of its staff, or roughly 1,100 employees. Both the customer-support agent and the manager were among those who were let go.
As the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US, Coinbase helped to drive, and benefited from, a surge in interest in crypto throughout the pandemic. Along the way, the firm attracted legions of top talent by offering exorbitant salaries and benefits, even by crypto and tech standards.
But Coinbase employees who were recently laid off told Insider that, even if they didn't think job cuts would come as quickly or as drastically as they did, they felt tremors shaking Coinbase's business as the crypto industry began to falter this spring. The former employees requested anonymity in order to speak freely, but their identity is known to Insider.
In the post announcing the layoffs, Armstrong acknowledged the firm hired too many people amidst a booming crypto economy.
"While we tried our best to get this just right, in this case it is now clear to me that we over-hired," Armstrong said in the post.
The company more-than quadrupled its headcount over the past 18 months, Armstrong noted.
"Our employee costs are too high to effectively manage this uncertain market," he added.
A representative for Coinbase declined to comment for this story.
Business was booming
Coinbase's business mirrored that of the broader crypto industry throughout the pandemic. The exchange went public in a blockbuster 2021 direct listing with its market cap shooting above $100 billion at one point. It was a signal that crypto — or at least the industry's biggest players — was here to stay.
The total volumes flowing through Coinbase surged from $80 billion in 2019 to $1.7 trillion in 2021, according to regulatory filings. The company's net revenues consequently grew as well, jumping 1,400% between 2019 and 2021 to $7.8 billion.
Amid the crypto boom, Coinbase aggressively hired, poaching top talent from the likes of Microsoft, Google, and Goldman Sachs. This February, Coinbase's Chief People Officer L.J. Brock wrote a blog post detailing the firm's plans to hire 2,000 employees across product, engineering, and design teams. By May, Coinbase was already more than halfway there, adding 1,200 new staff. And that was after the company had tripled its headcount in 2021 with 2,400 new employees, compared to 750 in 2019.
High salaries and frenetic hiring weren't the only signs of Coinbase's generous spending. Earlier this year, the company spent an estimated $14 million on its infamous Superbowl commercial that consisted of a single QR code bouncing around the screen like a DVD screensaver.
And just a week before Tuesday's layoffs, Coinbase's Global Support Team enjoyed a four-day off-site in Austin, Texas, with the company flying in employees from India, Japan, Ireland, and England, the former customer-support manager said.
"It's almost like they were telling us one thing while they were getting ready to do something else," they added.
Even when things didn't work out, Coinbase was generous.
Two former Coinbase employees whose team was restructured earlier this year said they were offered to either re-interview with the company or take a severance package that offered a minimum of six-months pay. Both took the package.
But the grow-at-all-costs strategy came with downsides.
Another former Coinbase employee who was let go Tuesday told Insider the company's growth was "too fast, too inefficient."
The rapid hiring caused confusion and a sense that Coinbase, even as it ballooned in size, retained a loose and chaotic startup culture.
One former employee who worked on Coinbase's customer-experience team recalled feeling a sense of disorganization at the company as they onboarded last year; it only worsened leading up the layoffs.
"I chalked it up as a startup vibe, just like fixing an airplane in midair," they told Insider.
The halting rollout of Coinbase One, the subscription trading service, exemplified the uncertainty with which some new products were developed. The firm's budding subscription product that gives members access to $0-trading fees, slated to launch June 6, is still in beta, according to the former customer-support manager.
"As of June 6 it was supposed to go to 100% general availability, but I think that got delayed and I did not know the reason why — this might be the reason why," the former manager said, who added the service was available to half of Coinbase's customers as of June 1.
Even as Coinbase reiterated its desire to hire more staff in 2022, the crypto industry was being buffeted by bad headlines and falling prices this spring.
Amid the broader wave of selling hitting tech stocks this year, the price of major cryptocurrencies has tumbled. Bitcoin, which accounted for nearly 25% of Coinbase's total trading volume in the first quarter, has fallen 55% year to date. Ethereum, which comprised another 21% of volume, is down nearly 70%.
Coinbase's exchange, the crown jewel of its crypto empire, relies on trading volume to bring in money. As the world's biggest cryptocurrencies tanked, so did the volume Coinbase saw on its venue. The number of visits to Coinbase's exchange on desktops and apps fell 60% between May 2021 and May 2022, according to data from Similarweb, a digital intelligence platform that tracks traffic for millions of websites.
"Brian said the majority of our revenue comes from trading — no one's really trading," the former customer-service agent said.
To be sure, the entire crypto market was in crisis. The collapse of Terra, a decentralized stablecoin nominally pegged to another cryptocurrency, Luna, wiped out billions in market value this May. The day before Coinbase announced its own layoffs, crypto-lending platform Celsius announced the freeze of withdrawals from its platform. Meanwhile, layoffs swept through industry, impacting crypto powerhouses like Gemini, Crypto.com, and BlockFi.
Amid all the noise, Coinbase stock has fallen 78% this year. By mid-May, cracks began to show in its hiring plans. Just days after Coinbase released its quarterly report in which Armstrong discussed its hiring this year, the firm said it would enact a pause on new recruits. In early June, Coinbase announced it had rescinded offers the company had extended to hundreds of candidates.
For one former contract worker on Coinbase's talent team, the company's decision to rescind the job offers was the first sign that its growth strategy had gone awry.
At a last-minute meeting held with the heads of Coinbase's talent division immediately following the rescinded offers, the contractor said, "We honestly thought we were getting laid off then and there."
Some teams bore the brunt of layoffs
When the layoffs were announced this Tuesday, former employees were shocked at how they were conducted. For one, impacted employees' access to Coinbase's computer systems were shut off without warning first, at which point they received emails to their personal addresses informing them of their termination.
One of the former employees on Coinbase's customer-experience team was in the middle of training new employees this week when they "woke up to a grey screen on my Mac," adding they "slowly saw my Coinbase email disappear on my phone."
In the blog post announcing the layoffs, Armstrong said the lack of notice given to impacted employees was intentional and driven by concerns over security.
"Given the number of employees who have access to sensitive customer information, it was unfortunately the only practical choice, to ensure not even a single person made a rash decision that harmed the business or themselves," Armstrong wrote.
Full-time employees were offered a minimum of 14 weeks of severance, nearly half of what the firm had previously offered some employees at the beginning of the year.
It's not uncommon for companies pursuing waves of layoffs to pare back severance packages in order to cut costs, Alan Johnson, a compensation consultant at Johnson Associates, told Insider, adding that Coinbase's current package is still competitive.
"Usually when firms go through cycles of layoffs, they are most generous at the beginning. You feel guilty, you've got more economics to give. So usually the longer it goes on, the skimpier it gets," Johnson said.
Former employees cited many of the layoffs landed at non-revenue generating teams, with talent and customer support among those hit hardest. Teams that were focused on longer-term projects that had yet to produce projects were also impacted, according to a former member of one of those teams.
The contractor said much of the talent team at Coinbase was laid off along with at least several recruiters.
As for Coinbase One, the customer-support team for that product has been "gutted," whittled down to about 18 from more than 100, the former manager said.
Positions within the firm's "experimental venture areas" would be among the first to go amid job cuts, Coinbase President and COO Emilie Choi told CNBC in the wake of the layoffs.
Meanwhile, development at Coinbase's nascent NFT business, a Web3 marketplace for non-fungible tokens that entered beta April 20, has stalled, according to a former company program manager. Much of the NFT team has been laid off, they added.
"With our NFT launch, that was also pretty much a nothing burger, nothing transpired from that. So we just keep seeing failure after failure," the program manager said.
More: Coinbase crypto Layoffs | 2022-06-16T16:39:18Z | www.businessinsider.com | Inside Coinbase's Layoffs and Signs Within the Firm Leading up to It | https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-coinbase-layoffs-crypto-employees-spend-salaries-overhire-bitcoin-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-coinbase-layoffs-crypto-employees-spend-salaries-overhire-bitcoin-2022-6 |
Mortgage rates just rose above 6% for the first time since 2008. 3 real-estate experts — including one predicting price declines as early as this summer — break down what's next for the housing market.
Mortgage rates rose above 6% this week, Mortgage News Daily data said.
Rising rates are contributing to cooling off demand in the overheated housing market.
We share what 3 experts think is next in store for the national real estate market.
Fixed 30-year mortgage rates are skyrocketing.
In the first six months of the year, they're up about 100%, according to Mortgage News Daily data from June 14 showing 30-year rates at 6.23%. Data from Freddie Mac and the Mortgage Bankers Association over the last two week, meanwhile, still has rates around 5.2-5.3%.
The last time the latter two organizations reported mortgage rates above 6% was November 2008. Mortgage News Daily's dataset begins in 2009.
The surge is being driven by a Federal Reserve hellbent on cooling 41-year-high inflation now at 8.6%. To do this, they're hiking overnight lending rates for banks — which impact rates for mortgages, auto loan rates, credit card debt, and more — by the fastest pace in decades. On Wednesday, they hiked the federal funds rate by 75 basis points, the most since 1994.
Demand for home mortgages, as a result, is getting crushed. Mortgage applications volume is down more than 50% from this time last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
What does this mean for the future of the housing market in the near-term, which has been red hot since spring 2020?
In May, Insider asked 32 experts what what they see ahead for the housing market, and most said they don't see price declines. But the market has shifted in a month's time. Amid the sustained surge in mortgage rates and unrelenting inflation, here's what three market experts said this week about the market's near-term prospects.
Bill Adams, chief economist of Comerica Bank
Adams told Insider on Wednesday that he expects higher interest rates to continue to weigh on demand and price growth.
"I think the fever is broken for housing in the United States. The Fed rate hikes and beginning of shrinking of the balance sheet have pushed up interest rates a lot, and we're starting to see that flow through to weaker expectations of homebuilders and less foot traffic and listings, and a slowdown in mortgage applications and home sales."
Still, Adams said he doesn't see home prices dropping.
"I don't forecast an outright decline in prices," he said. "And that's because fundamental demand for housing is considerably stronger than it was prior to the pandemic because of the rise of work from home and changing lifestyles. And I think that's a change that's going to persist whether rates go up or down."
Ian Shepherdson, chief economist of Pantheon Macroeconomics
Shepherdson, meanwhile, is more bearish on the housing market in the near-term as mortgage rates rise.
In a note to clients on Wednesday, he reiterated recent calls he's made for home price declines as early as this summer.
"The 26% plunge in mortgage applications from their December peak — with no sign yet of a floor — already has pushed new home sales down to just 591,000 in April from a peak of 839,000 in December, driving up inventory to 9.0 months. That's high enough to signal that prices likely will fall over the summer, and new construction activity will drop sharply," Shepherdson said.
He added: "This is still the early stages of the housing rollover; homebuilders are not yet ready to admit that the sky is falling in. But it is."
Shepherdson, who warned in 2005 of the mid-2000s housing bubble that later burst, said in May that he expects a decline to be brief.
Alex Hermann, senior researcher at Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies
Hermann told Insider on Thursday that he expects home price growth to moderate, but not decline, as a result of softening demand from rising mortgage rates.
But demand hasn't fallen enough and housing supply is still too low to cause prices to drop, he said.
"Given where supply and demand fundamentals are right now, we're still incredibly constrained. Inventory is still near record and historic lows. And you'd expect home price appreciation to continue, certainly not turn negative — the caveat around that is with aggressive rate hikes you could find yourself in a broader economic downturn."
He also said that while rising mortgage rates hurt demand, they act as a further constraint on the the supply side, helping to keep prices up. This is because people will be more likely to hold onto their homes if the next home they purchase will come with a costlier mortgage.
"You're going to be reluctant to sell to take on a new mortgage when interest rates are one or even two percentage points higher," Hermann said.
More: Investing Housing Market housing market crash | 2022-06-16T16:39:36Z | www.businessinsider.com | Mortgage Rates Just Topped 6%. What's Next for the Housing Market? | https://www.businessinsider.com/mortgage-rates-6-percent-housing-market-whats-next-home-prices-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/mortgage-rates-6-percent-housing-market-whats-next-home-prices-2022-6 |
How Netflix, Disney+, and HBO Max are fighting for kid audiences as YouTube and TikTok take hold of Gen Alpha
Natalie Jarvey and Elaine Low
"CoComelon" grew popular on YouTube before being licensed to Netflix.
Courtesy of Moonbug Entertainment
Streaming has fueled a boom in kids programming as platforms seek to attract and retain subscribers.
There are signs that streamers' investment in original series for children might not be paying off.
Kids programming is "not a silver bullet" for retaining subscribers, said Common Sense Networks CEO Eric Berger.
When Hollywood made the leap to streaming , the creators of kids and family programming were major beneficiaries. Executives scooped up youth-centric shows under the belief that luring kids to their platforms would not only attract credit-card wielding parents but also insulate the streamers against quick cancellations, since the youngest entertainment consumers are known for repeat viewing.
Interest in kids programming also drove a spate of M&A in the space, with Netflix snapping up the Roald Dahl Story Company and Blackstone-backed Candle Media acquiring "CoComelon" producer Moonbug. Dr. Seuss Enterprises is now reportedly also looking for a buyer.
But a series of recent moves in Hollywood signals that streaming's investment in kids content might not be paying off.
In May, after subscriber loss sent its stock sliding, Netflix scrapped five planned kids shows, including a series in production from "Doc McStuffins" creator Chris Nee and a high-profile project in development from Meghan Markle. Though a person familiar with the cuts described them as part of the normal course of business, a creator in the kids and family space told Insider that they don't see Netflix as fully committed to investing in and nurturing new kids and family franchises.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Discovery, as part of its post-merger restructuring, eliminated the role of Tom Ascheim, a veteran who'd been overseeing all kids and family programming for HBO Max .
Even Disney+, whose long legacy of iconic kids programming gives it an edge in the space, has begun to invest more heavily in content for adults, including fare like "Dancing With the Stars." Last year, Disney CEO Bob Chapek revealed that only half of the streamer's subscribers are families with children, allowing it "to think much more broadly" about content, he said. On Disney+'s wishlist for new series, for example, are shows with extensive world building that don't necessarily have kid protagonists, per an agency source.
Hollywood may be realizing that children's programming is "not a silver bullet" for acquiring or retaining subscribers, said Eric Berger, CEO of Common Sense Networks — the for-profit affiliate of Common Sense Media that last year launched kids-first streamer Sensical.
'YouTube and TikTok have become Gen Alpha's playground'
Netflix and Amazon can be credited for helping to spur the early streaming demand for kids programming. In its first five years making original shows, Amazon Prime Video released more than a dozen for kids. But it has deprioritized kids content since 2019, when the company's studio arm began to instead focus on developing Prime Video "content for families inclusive of but not exclusive for kids," a spokesperson told the Los Angeles Times at the time.
Netflix meanwhile raced to lure top talent away from rivals like Disney. In 2018, for instance, the company signed a large overall deal with Nee, whose "Ada Twist, Scientist," debuted on the service in 2021. Last year, Netflix vp animation Melissa Cobb told USA Today that 60% of subscribers watch kids and family content each month.
But few kids hits have been minted on subscription streamers, one kids and animation insider pointed out: "There's not so much a 'moderate success' in kids animation. It's either a big success or not at all. That's fine as a 24/7 network but it's a different environment to go onto Netflix where they're watching anything on demand that they want."
And it can take time for young viewers to discover — and fall in love with — new characters. "A real hit in the kids space needs a lot of years to build an audience. It needs like 5, 6, 7 seasons to really get its sea legs and then be able to sell backpacks at Walmart," said Cyma Zarghami, the former president of Nickelodeon who now runs kids-focused media company MiMo Studios. "The streaming model is counterintuitive to the franchise building model of the past because two seasons doesn't build a franchise."
Another challenge, Berger noted, is that subscription streamers lag behind free video platforms like YouTube when it comes to capturing kids' attention. Common Sense Media found in 2020, for instance, that kids 8 years old and younger spent 37% of their time watching online videos versus 29% of their time on subscription streaming services.
"YouTube and TikTok have become Gen Alpha's playground," he said, explaining that kids can easily seek out content about their interests and go deep on, say, dinosaur videos, on those platforms. Sensical's strategy aims to tap into this behavior, he added, by curating a library of free, interest-based videos from top kids programmers and digital creators.
'Each one of the streamers has the opportunity to be the biggest platform for kids'
Streamers can compete in the kids space with shows centered on well-known IP. HBO Max, for instance, launched with a late-night talk show hosted by beloved "Sesame Street" character Elmo. It has also made "Tom and Jerry" shows and series featuring Looney Tunes characters. At Netflix, children's program "CoComelon," which originated on YouTube in 2006, regularly charts among the streamer's top shows.
That might explain why Netflix shelled out in 2021 to acquire the Roald Dahl Story Company — keeper of classic properties like "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Or why it decided to scrap some of the original shows it had in development, including Nee's "Dino Daycare" and Jaydeep Hasrajani and Jake Goldman's South Asian animated series "Boons and Curses."
Netflix remains committed to kids and family programming, according to the source familiar with the company's thinking. But recently greenlit projects are notably filled with familiar franchise names: a "Boss Baby" series, a "Jurassic World" interactive special, a "Ghostbusters" cartoon, a "Kung Fu Panda" series, and five Dr. Seuss animated shows and specials.
No one who spoke with Insider believes streamers will pivot away from kids content, which still represents a significant opportunity to grab market share. Just as Nickelodeon and Disney Channel have divided the linear TV kingdom, no one service has emerged as the go-to for the grade school set.
"Each one of the streamers has the opportunity to be the biggest platform for kids," Zarghami said, "if they lean into it and make it a priority."
But the market may be due to settle a little, particularly as streamers rein in spending across all verticals amid slowing growth.
Said Berger, "It's a matter of sizing [the investment] to the role that it plays in people's media consumption."
NOW WATCH: Anime could give Netflix a major advantage against Disney in the streaming war
More: Streaming wars Netflix Disney Plus | 2022-06-16T16:39:42Z | www.businessinsider.com | Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max Are Battling YouTube, TikTok for Kid Viewers | https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-disney-hbo-max-competing-youtube-tiktok-kid-viewers-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-disney-hbo-max-competing-youtube-tiktok-kid-viewers-2022-6 |
Revlon succumbs to bankruptcy amid crippling debt, rising inflation, and global supply chain woes
Bethany Biron and Ellen Thomas
Revlon signage is seen on display in a Boots store in London.
Revlon filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday evening.
The company is facing large debt, competition from online beauty brands, and supply chain headwinds.
CEO Debra Perelman said the move will allow the company to find a clearer path for future growth.
Revlon filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday evening, as the beauty giant struggles to cope with mounting debt and growing competition from industry upstarts selling online.
The company said in a press release it expects to receive $575 million in bankruptcy financing from current lenders, as it tries to "strategically reorganize its legacy capital structure and improve its long-term outlook."
The 90-year-old company, bought in 1985 by billionaire financier Ronald Perelman, has faced several headwinds of late, such as supply chain disruptions, shuttered stores at the peak of the pandemic, and a growing crop of trendy direct-to-consumer brands, like Kylie Cosmetics and Rihanna's Fenty Beauty, stripping away market share.
Revlon CEO Debra Perelman, who is Perelman's daughter, said in a statement that filing for bankruptcy protection will allow the legacy company to find a "clearer path for our future growth."
"Consumer demand for our products remains strong — people love our brands, and we continue to have a healthy market position," she added. "But our challenging capital structure has limited our ability to navigate macro-economic issues in order to meet this demand."
She continued: "By addressing these complex legacy debt constraints, we expect to be able to simplify our capital structure and significantly reduce our debt, enabling us to unlock the full potential of our globally recognized brands."
According to Revlon's bankruptcy filing, Revlon's vendors became less tolerant of late payments made by the company as they themselves were squeezed by supply chain woes. A Covid-19 related shut down in China earlier this year also made key components for its products more scarce.
Revlon's business, which includes the Revlon brand, Elizabeth Arden, and Almay, is majority owned by MacAndrews & Forbes, Ronald Perelman's holding company.
The company flirted with bankruptcy in 2020. Revlon spent much of that year renegotiating its large debt pile — more than $3 billion in long-term loans — and in December 2020, reached an agreement with lenders that allowed it to narrowly avoid the formal restructuring process.
Perelman himself has spent the past two years offloading many of his personal assets, including artwork, a Gulfstream jet and in January 2022, an East Hampton estate for $84 million.
Revlon's portfolio was battered by the 2020 store closures, but sales have begun to rebound. The company posted $479.6 million in sales for the first quarter of 22, up 7% from the year prior. Still, Revlon has not been able to avoid supply chain pressures and inflation in an increasingly competitive beauty market.
Got a tip for this reporter? Contact Ellen Thomas via ethomas@insider.com or Twitter DM @ellenbthom. Reach out using a non-work device. This reporter uses the secure messaging app Signal — message for direct contact info.
More: Revlon Retail Beauty Bankruptcy | 2022-06-16T16:40:13Z | www.businessinsider.com | Revlon Files for Bankruptcy Amid Rising Competition, Supply Chain Woes | https://www.businessinsider.com/revlon-files-chapter-11-bankruptcy-competition-supply-chain-woes-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/revlon-files-chapter-11-bankruptcy-competition-supply-chain-woes-2022-6 |
Hannah Towey and Kate Taylor
Daniel Humm at Eleven Madison Park
Former employees said the vegetable-based staff meals left workers starving during 14-hour shifts.
One former kitchen worker told Insider he was so malnourished he had to see a doctor — but was still denied chicken.
A former kitchen employee at acclaimed New York restaurant Eleven Madison Park, which relaunched as a 100% vegan restaurant last year, said the vegetable-based "family meals" prepared for staff left him starving during 14-hour shifts, causing his health to suffer to the point that he had to see a doctor.
The malnourishment led him to submit a request to management for chicken to be added as an option for staff meals, which the restaurant proceeded to ignore, he told Insider. While staff members were permitted to bring food from home, he said the job's grueling hours and $15-an-hour wages meant he lacked the time and money to do so.
Eleven Madison Park, once named the best restaurant in the world, struggled to hire enough workers after the pandemic despite its renowned culinary reputation. Its hiring difficulties paired with a lack of ingredients meant overworked chefs had little time and resources to make meals that properly sustained workers, three former employees told Insider.
A vegan meal at New York's acclaimed fine-dining restaurant Eleven Madison Park.
The family dishes had to be vegan to satisfy celebrity Chef Daniel Humm, a former employee said, even though Humm himself eats meat. One former employee recalled eating cauliflower and beets day after day. After their shift, some employees would get Sticky's fried chicken or a burger at McDonald's, another former employee said.
"Everyone was depressed," one former kitchen employee told Insider, who recalled employees at after-work drinks in 2021 fantasizing about quitting. "Everyone was like, 'This place is not OK.'"
The experience was one example of how Eleven Madison Park's chaotic shift to veganism impacted its employees on the ground, as chronicled by Insider's Kate Taylor. Some of the 11 former Eleven Madison Park employees interviewed for this article requested to remain anonymous for fear of professional repercussions, but their identities are known to Insider.
More: Food restaurant workers restaurant New York City | 2022-06-16T18:09:52Z | www.businessinsider.com | Eleven Madison Park Employee: Vegan Meals Left Staff Hungry | https://www.businessinsider.com/eleven-madison-park-employee-vegan-meals-left-staff-hungry-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/eleven-madison-park-employee-vegan-meals-left-staff-hungry-2022-6 |
Dominick Reuter and Kali Hays
Elon Musk hinted that layoffs could take place at Twitter after his proposed takeover is complete.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said the social media company would need to "rationalize" its headcount.
Musk also said "the bias definitely needs to be strongly towards working in person," echoing his position for his other companies.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk hinted that layoffs could be on the table for Twitter following his proposed $44 billion takeover of the social media platform.
"We need to make more than we spend," Musk told employees during a town hall meeting on Thursday, according to a person who attended.
"I shouldn't say 'we,'" he added. "The transaction is not complete."
Musk also said that the company would have to have a "rationalization" of its headcount, and echoed similar statements regarding remote work that he has made at his other companies.
"The bias definitely needs to be strongly towards working in person, but if somebody is exceptional, then remote work can be okay," he said.
Last month, Musk issued an ultimatum to staff, calling for them to come into the office and stop "phoning it in" or quit.
The meeting was the first chance for Twitter staff to directly ask questions of Musk since the announcement of his takeover bid in April.
Some employees previously expressed "anger" and "disappointment" at Musk's efforts, while others have quit or plan to in protest.
One worker told Insider they were not put off by Musk, dubbing the reaction among colleagues as "Elon derangement syndrome."
In the weeks since the offer was announced, share prices for both Twitter and Tesla have fallen considerably, casting doubt on the chances that the original $54.20 per share bid will go through.
More: Elon Musk Twitter Tech layoffs | 2022-06-16T18:09:58Z | www.businessinsider.com | Elon Musk Hints at Possible Layoffs to Improve Twitter Finances | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-hints-possible-layoffs-for-twitter-improve-finances-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-hints-possible-layoffs-for-twitter-improve-finances-2022-6 |
Elon Musk, speaking directly to Twitter employees for first time, talks layoffs, remote work, aliens, and why sarcastic tweets should have an 'ironic' label
Elon Musk spoke directly to Twitter employees for the first time during an all-hands meeting on Thursday.
The billionaire and Tesla CEO is in the process of acquiring Twitter. Many employees are upset about the deal, Insider previously reported.
Musk fielded questions ranging from remote work to layoffs to Twitter's policies about banning "objectionable content."
Elon Musk spoke directly to Twitter employees for the first time on Thursday, answering several pointed questions during a virtual all-hands meeting with staff, according to two employees present and a recording of the meeting obtained by Insider. The employees described it as at times "confusing" but also "hilarious."
During the call, which ran for an hour, Musk addressed taking the company private, answered questions about his personal life, and suggested the company may have layoffs after he buys it, stressing "We need to make more than we spend." ("I shouldn't say we. The transaction is not complete," he quickly added.)
It was the first time Musk has directly addressed Twitter employees since it was revealed the Tesla CEO would try to acquire the social media company, an acquisition that has been filled with drama and even questions over whether Musk might try to renegotiate the offer. In May, Musk said the deal was "on hold" until he obtained more details on fake accounts on the platform, which the company has since agreed to.
Ahead of Thursday's meeting, employees submitted more than 100 questions for Musk via an internal Slack channel, according to screenshots seen by Insider. These questions fell into six broad categories: free speech and conversational health; policies around removing "objectionable content"; Twitter's product roadmap; how the company would work with Tesla, where Musk is also CEO; workplace policies and processes, like return-to-office and potential job cuts; and questions about Musk's personal life.
Musk arrived about 10 minutes late to the meeting, and broadcast from his phone in what appeared to be a hotel room, according to two employees present and a screenshot obtained by Insider.
Top of mind for many employees was Twitter's remote-work policy. It was one of the first Silicon Valley companies to embrace permanent work-from-home at the beginning of the pandemic, and CEO Parag Agrawal announced it would maintain a flexible remote work policy "forever" this March.
Multiple questions on remote work were put to Musk, who told employees at his other companies SpaceX and Tesla earlier this month that they should resign if they don't want to work from the office, if he would force staff back to the office after the acquisition completed. Musk stressed that he was "biased" toward in-person work. "Exceptional people can work remote," he said.
Musk has frequently shared his thoughts on content moderation, and told employees on the call that he believed people should be able to express themselves on Twitter so long as it's within the law, but caveated that the platform did not necessarily need to give those posts reach. Asked about inclusivity on the platform, Musk responded that he believed the best measure of inclusion would be getting Twitter's userbase to a billion people.
At one point, Musk veered off into a discussion about aliens ("I've seen no actual evidence") and said he'd prefer some way to visually flag when his tweets are ironic.
Despite launching his $44 billion takeover bid for Twitter more than two months ago, and commenting publicly about Twitter's employees and executives, this Thursday meeting is the first time Musk has addressed his would-be staff directly. Agrawal informed staff in a brief email on Monday that Musk would be joining the call, as first reported by Insider.
Employees commiserated internally during the meeting, with several expressing frustration at his "rambling" responses and stance on remote work on the company's internal Slack.
Musk has already been a central topic of discussion at several such all hands meetings and on internal Slack channels at Twitter. Some workers have previously expressed "anger" and "disappointment" at his efforts to take over the company. Many have quit or plan to in protest. "There were a lot of negative live comments during the stream," said one employee on the call.
However another told Insider they are not put off by Musk, dubbing the reaction to him inside Twitter "Elon derangement syndrome."
Employee backlash | 2022-06-16T18:10:04Z | www.businessinsider.com | Elon Musk's First Meeting With Twitter Employees Amid Acquisition | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musks-first-meeting-with-twitter-employees-amid-acquisition-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musks-first-meeting-with-twitter-employees-amid-acquisition-2022-6 |
Vice President Mike Pence.
In his statement to the Jan 6. panel, Pence's former chief counsel said the law is "not a plaything."
"The law is not a plaything for presidents or judges to use to remake the world in their preferred image," he wrote.
Greg Jacob will testify publicly at the committee's third public hearing on Thursday.
Mike Pence's former counsel Greg Jacob called serving the vice president "the honor of a lifetime," while also warning that the rule of law is "not a plaything" for political leaders to bend per their whim, according to his written statement submitted to the January 6 House committee.
"The law is not a plaything for presidents or judges to use to remake the world in their preferred image," he wrote. "Our Constitution and our laws form the strong edifice within which our heartfelt policy disagreements are to be debated and decided."
"When our elected and appointed leaders break, twist, and fail to enforce our laws in order to achieve their partisan ends...they are breaking America," he added. "We should not feign surprise when our citizens treat the law and the Constitution with the same level of respect that our elected leaders do."
Jacob, along with retired federal judge J. Michael Luttig, will testify publicly on Thursday before the House Select Committee probing the January 6 insurrection.
The hearing, set to start at 1 p.m. ET, will focus on the efforts by President Donald Trump and his allies to pressure Pence to use his ceremonial role overseeing the count of electoral votes on January 6, 2021, to "send back" slates of electors for President Joe Biden back to their states in order to overturn Trump's election loss.
Jacob, as Pence's top legal adviser, was a key figure in rebuffing the intense pressure campaign and efforts to compel Pence to obstruct or meddle with the count. He wrote a memo that Pence put out as a two-page open letter on January 6 explaining why he would not seek to sabotage the ratification of Biden's win.
Another Pence ally convinced Luttig, a venerated figure in conservative legal circles, to post a Twitter thread reiterating that Pence had no authority to unilaterally reject slates of electoral votes for Biden.
Luttig's tweets ended up being cited in the two-page memo Pence released on the morning of January 6, in which he explained that "the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not."
Conservative lawyer John Eastman, for example, produced a six-page memo arguing that Pence could toss out electoral votes.
"It was such boneheaded analysis, and so we intended to have our record make that clear, too," Pence's then-chief of staff Marc Short previously said of the Eastman memo in an interview with journalist David Drucker for his book "In Trump's Shadow."
—Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) June 16, 2022
As the January 6 panel holds public hearings, a bipartisan group of senators is discussing reforms to the antiquated Electoral Count Act of 1887 that would clarify the vice president's role and raise the bar to object to counting slates of electors.
In his letter, Jacob also wrote that while he supports such reforms, they'll only have an impact if leaders respect the underlying political norms of conceding defeat when an election is lost and facilitating a peaceful transition of power.
"I agree that changes should be made," Jacob wrote." The truth is, however, that our enacted laws were already clear that the Vice President did not possess the extraordinary powers others urged upon him. New statues will make little difference if we do not first inculcate in our citizens and demand in our leaders unfailing fidelity to our Constitution and the rule of law."
More: Mike Pence january 6 Capitol Siege January 6 committee | 2022-06-16T18:10:10Z | www.businessinsider.com | Former Pence Counsel Says 'the Law Is Not a Plaything' for Presidents | https://www.businessinsider.com/greg-jacob-former-pence-counsel-law-is-not-a-plaything-for-presidents-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/greg-jacob-former-pence-counsel-law-is-not-a-plaything-for-presidents-2022-6 |
Financial planner Pamela Capalad.
Financial planner Pamela Capalad says people tend to make rash money decisions during recessions.
Instead of rushing to change your investment strategy, reassess your risk tolerance.
A recession might be a good time to hire a financial planner or therapist for ongoing support.
Americans are terrified of a potential recession.
While many of us are rushing to change the way we spend, save, and invest, financial planner Pamela Capalad of Brunch & Budget recommends taking a mindful pause before making dramatic changes to your investment portfolio.
People tend to make emotional money decisions during recessions
"Recessions lead to a lot of potential desperation," says Capalad. "I think it's a matter of understanding what you're invested in, what your goals are, and finding time to review and revisit that before the recession hits. When it happens and you start to feel emotional abut it, you can just stick to your plan because, during a recession, your gut or emotional state might panic and say, 'Oh my God, I have to get out!'"
Capalad says she witnessed very wealthy people sell their stocks at the lowest points of the 2008 recession. "They were like, 'I can't do this! My gut's telling me to get out!' and then they missed out on the next few years' bull market run. So it's not necessarily about trusting your gut, but about trusting your plan."
Instead of making rash decisions about changing your investment strategy, Capalad recommends asking yourself these questions:
Are my investments still aligned with my goals?
Am I comfortable with the level of risk my investments are in?
Am I comfortable with how volatile the stock market currently is, and how volatile it's most likely going to be?
"If your answer to those questions is no, then it's probably time to revisit the allocation your investments are in," she says. "During the 2008 recession, stocks and the S&P 500 dropped by 40% — that's half of people's money — but the bond market overall only dropped by 10%. If you can't stomach the risk, then it might make sense to go back to your investments and dial down the risk by putting more money in bonds and less in stocks."
A recession is a bad time to invest in things you don't necessarily understand
"Avoid investing in anything that you didn't understand before the recession," says Capalad.
In the cryptocurrency market, for example, a new investor might think it's a good time to buy now that prices have plummeted by 23% in five days, at the time of this writing.
"Do you understand why you're investing in crypto? Do you understand how crypto works? It's really easy to ride a wave and ride a trend, especially when it's going up, because crypto currently is all speculation," she says. "Unless you've had long-term experience in investments" — cryptocurrency only started in 2009, so it's rare for people to be long-term investors — "your gut doesn't really know which direction to feel sometimes."
It might be a good time to hire a financial professional for ongoing support
If the thought of a potential recession is taking your emotions for a rollercoaster ride, Capalad says it might be time to find ongoing support from a financial therapist or financial planner.
She says, "The tricky thing about financial planners and financial therapists is that we can't necessarily give you one-time advice on the spot when you're in an emotional state. If you are going to get emotional about it, now is probably the time to start seeing if it makes sense to have ongoing support and ongoing financial advice."
PERSONAL FINANCE I'm not worried about a recession for 3 reasons, but I'm still preparing in 3 ways
More: recession 2022 recession 2023 recession 2024 Recession | 2022-06-16T18:10:46Z | www.businessinsider.com | Why You Shouldn't Change Your Investment Strategy During a Recession | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/dont-change-investment-strategy-recession-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/dont-change-investment-strategy-recession-2022-6 |
Please don't waive your home inspection
A couple years ago, my husband and I were trying to buy a house in Philadelphia. We found one we liked, then made an offer that was accepted. We saw the house twice on video chat with our realtor (we were living in Los Angeles at the time), and my husband's mom and aunt visited it in person. We planned to do a home inspection, but we were pretty confident about the place — it ticked all of our boxes and people we love and trust had seen it and given it the A-OK.
But we are not professionals, and when a professional looked at the house he saw a lot more than the home's four lovely bedrooms and two charming baths. Our home inspector found a baroque tapestry of scary and expensive problems: black mold, active termites , and many, many termite-damaged joists that needed repair or replacing (joists! which hold up the house! needed to be replaced!).
So we backed out of the deal, and since we had an inspection contingency in our contract we lost only the $650 we'd spent on the inspection and got back our $5,000 deposit.
Waiving a home inspection is an increasingly common tactic used to win bidding wars
My husband and I were lucky — the real estate market today looks a lot different than it did in the fall of 2020. Properties are in short supply, and with mortgage interest rates rising rapidly many buyers are feeling the "now or never" push to close on homes. As a result, realtors across the US are reporting a rising share of clients waiving their inspection contingencies to make their offers more attractive.
This is not ideal, to say the least.
"As a rule, when meeting with buyers, we always advise them that it's a bad idea to waive a home inspection under any circumstances," says Kimberly Allard, a realtor in Massachusetts and a regional vice president with the National Association of Realtors. "Especially in this day and age where buyers are spending so much money for properties and they're putting their cash into buying these properties, they don't have a lot of cash leftover to put on new roofs or fix improperly wired electrical."
In other words: When you're maxing out your budget just to buy the home, where do you find the cash to pay for all the repairs you didn't know you'd have to make because you waived your inspection?
John Wessling, president of the American Society of Home Inspectors, agrees and adds that inspections are about more than just understanding how much repairs might cost.
"Issues that are discovered during the inspection relate to expenditures and, most importantly, safety," he says. "One new-construction home I inspected was subsequently condemned by the local code authority. Someone had cut large notches in nine floor joists to locate the drain for the master-bath shower. The pipe ran under the kitchen floor — the floor bounced when you walked on it."
There are a few times when waiving your inspection might not be the worst thing to do
Allard says there are a few circumstances when it might be OK to waive your inspection. For example, she says, buyers who plan to tear down or gut-renovate a property might not be so concerned about issues an inspector would find, since they're planning to rebuild anyway. And if you're a contractor yourself, you may be able to assess the condition of the home on your own and make repairs as needed.
You could consider waiving an inspection on a new-construction home if the property has a valid certificate of occupancy and offers a warranty, though Allard says an inspection is still wise. And if you have enough money to deal with potential problems — or you got the house at a deep, deep discount and can afford repairs — you might not mind waiving your inspection. Otherwise, Allard advises, doing an inspection is always best.
Do buyers have any other options?
Allard says there are other ways to make your offer stand out without waiving your right to an inspection. For instance, you could consider waiving your inspection contingency but not the inspection itself. In that case, you're conducting an inspection for informational purposes only and agreeing that you'll forfeit your deposit if you back out of the deal. It gives you a chance to learn about any repairs or renovations you'd need to make, and also offers the seller some security. Or you could say you'll only back out of the offer if the inspector finds necessary repairs over a certain amount.
Some sellers may also allow "pre-offer inspections," where the prospective buyer sends an inspector to the home before making an offer. The potential downside here is you might end up paying for many home inspections before finding a place you like enough to buy, but it does offer some protection. Some sellers will also pay for an inspection themselves and make the report available to prospective buyers.
And, adds Wessling, "Another possibility would be to have a home inspection as soon as you take possession of the property. While this inspection does not give you the information before you purchase, at least you will have a good idea of the condition of your purchase."
Allard told me about a buyer who waived their inspection and lived to regret it. "I had clients that went to put on an addition and found a whole wall full of termites and it had compromised the structure," she says. "That is something that likely would have shown up in a home inspection. Maybe not the extent of it, but the fact that there were termites and it needed additional investigation."
Don't be that client. Please.
I waived the inspection on my home, and it's cost me a fortune. Here are 5 things I'd tell first-time buyers before doing the same.
If you're a first-time buyer in the current seller's market, bring an experienced homebuyer with you when you go to look at your "dream home," writes Jackie Fishman.
I paid more for my house than it's worth, but it saved me a fortune in the long run
Instead of waiving her right to a home inspection, writer Sarah Martinez Shaw offered more than her home's appraised value to win a bidding war.
I thought I knew how to handle money as a financial advisor, but a conversation with a 30-year-old millionaire completely changed my mind
Former financial advisor Kevin L. Matthews II says he changed his wealth-building strategy when he met and interviewed Grant Sabatier, a millennial who'd built a net worth of $1.25 million in five years.
Anthony Gonzales lost his husband six months after they were legally married — when same-sex marriage was first made legal in their county — and Social Security denied his claim for survivor's benefits, saying they were required to be married for at least nine months. So he joined a class-action lawsuit.
More: PFI Newsletter Newsletter homebuying Home Inspection | 2022-06-16T18:10:58Z | www.businessinsider.com | PFI Newsletter: Please Don't Waive Your Home Inspection | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/pfi-newsletter-dont-waive-home-inspection-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/pfi-newsletter-dont-waive-home-inspection-2022-6 |
This $300 million hedge fund returning 24% so far this year lays out why it's picking up battered biotech companies
Coast Capital returned 7.6% in May and is up 24.3% year to date.
Founder James Rasteh is seeing opportunities in biotech companies.
Rasteh began Coast Capital three years ago and has since amassed about $300 million in assets.
Activist hedge fund founder James Rasteh is finally using his degree in genetics to dive into the biotech space.
Rasteh's $300 million firm Coast Capital had focused its concentrated portfolio on European industrial companies like FirstGroup, a transport firm based in Scotland, and HomeServe, a British multinational home repairs business that is set to be acquired by Brookfield Asset Management.
Now, Rasteh and his 5-person analyst team are seeing opportunities in biotech companies, as the sector continues to get pummeled amid a larger market turndown. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index is down roughly 29% year to date as of Tuesday.
"We think that there's a really great age of biotech innovation and much more effective treatment of disease that is upon us — and just when that is about to happen — valuations in biotech have reached multi-year lows or in many cases all-time lows," Rasteh told Insider.
Former Jana Partners managing director James Rasteh runs Coast Capital.
Coast Capital
Coast Capital, which returned 7.6% in May and is up 24.3% year to date, only invests in 12 holdings at a time, and like HomeServe, a few of those companies are likely to be taken over, said Rasteh. So, the company will be exiting those positions and replacing them with new opportunities.
Rasteh, who studied genetics and commerce at the University of British Columbia, had not invested in biotech because he believed a number of companies in the sector were making promises they couldn't keep.
"They were pursuing technologies that were not mature enough yet," he said. In addition to his analysts, Rasteh is working with an advisor in the healthcare and biotech space in Europe.
Advances in quantum computing, mapping genomes, and newer mechanisms to deliver drugs in cells, like the mRNA Covid vaccine, are making it easier to make bets on biotech companies, Rasteh said. Some of the areas that he is looking at include companies that are focused on cancer treatment protocols and therapeutics and Alzheimer's, as well as other central nervous system-related diseases.
Rasteh, a former Jana Partners managing director, began Coast Capital three years ago and has since taken in about $300 million in assets. The fund is starting to raise capital again, and Rasteh hopes to raise another $500 million.
With markets crashing, Coast Capital is investing "cautiously" and doesn't "expect to escape what we believe will be a protracted bear market unscathed," Rasteh said.
"However, we do expect in the medium and long term to perform materially better than overall markets by combining unusually detailed due diligence with unusually compelling value in high-quality companies."
More: Hedge Funds activist Biotech stock | 2022-06-16T19:39:28Z | www.businessinsider.com | Coast Capital Is up 24% This Year. Here's Where It's Placing Its Bets. | https://www.businessinsider.com/coast-capital-performance-biotech-stocks-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/coast-capital-performance-biotech-stocks-2022-6 |
A view of the US House of Representatives.
Reuters / Gary Cameron
An increasing number of members of US House members won't cooperate with the independent Office of Congressional Ethics.
The report from the Campaign Legal Center said that 5 of the 8 lawmakers under ethics investigation aren't cooperating.
30 House members refused to cooperate during the past 13 years, the report states.
In 2021, Rep. John Rutherford appeared to violate the federal Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act because he was late in disclosing 157 personal stock transactions together valued at between $652,000 and $3.5 million.
But when members of the independent Office of Congressional Ethics reached out to interview Rutherford and his chief of staff for their investigation, the two refused to cooperate.
Rutherford and his chief of staff's reticence to aid in Office of Congressional Ethics investigations are part of a growing phenomenon in the US House of Representatives, according to a new report from the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit government watchdog group.
Five out of eight members of Congress that the Office of Congressional Ethics has in 2022 publicly acknowledged investigating have refused to cooperate with the office, according to the Campaign Legal Center report.
And since 2009, 30 members in the House have refused to cooperate with Office of Congressional Ethics investigations, the report concludes.
Matters under investigation have included campaign finance transactions, personal investments, suspected conflicts of interest, travel habits, and gift acceptance.
"Voters have a right to know that members of Congress are acting both ethically and transparently, and by refusing to participate in the review process, members make it harder for voters to know whether they are," report author Danielle Caputo wrote. "It also makes it more difficult for the OCE to conduct its review effectively."
The Office of Congressional Ethics is a nonpartisan body, created by Congress itself in 2008, that investigates allegations of misconduct by House members and staff.
The office cannot, however, compel members of Congress to cooperate with their investigations and does not have law enforcement power of its own. It refers cases to the House Committee on Ethics when it has reason to believe a member of the US House or a House staffer has violated a law or ethical standard.
Sitting members of Congress the Campaign Legal Center says have refused to cooperate with Office of Congressional Ethics investigators include:
Rep. Pat Fallon of Texas, a Republican
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, a Democrat
Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas, a Republican
Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado, a Republican
Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, a Democrat
Rep. Alex Mooney of West Virginia, a Republican
Rep. John Rutherford of Florida, a Republican
Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, a Republican
Rep. Steven Palazzo of Mississippi, a Republican
Rep. Lori Trahan of Massachusetts, a Democrat
Rep. David Schweikert of Arizona, a Republican
Rep. Roger Williams of Texas, a Republican
Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, a Democrat
Rep. Vern Buchanan of Florida, a Republican
Other members who are not currently in office but are mentioned in the report include former Reps. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina — Meadows later became Donald Trump's presidential chief of staff.
Deceased members of Congress, including Rep. John Conyers of Michigan and Rep. Jim Hagedorn of Minnesota, also rejected requests to cooperate with Office of Congressional Ethics investigations.
Insider contacted the offices of each sitting member of Congress who the report accuses of not cooperating with ethics investigators.
Most did not immediately respond, although a spokesperson for Tlaib told Insider that the congresswoman complied with the Office of Congressional Ethics and House Committee on Ethics investigations.
As for Rutherford, the Office of Congressional Ethics referred its findings — without the congressman's input — to the House Committee on Ethics, which is composed of members of Congress themselves has the power to punish fellow members for actions deemed unethical or illegal.
More: INSIDER Data campaign legal center Office of Congressional Ethics House of Representatives
David Schweikert | 2022-06-16T19:39:34Z | www.businessinsider.com | Several Members of Congress Under Ethics Investigation Won't Cooperate With Investigators | https://www.businessinsider.com/congress-office-of-congressional-ethics-investigations-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/congress-office-of-congressional-ethics-investigations-2022-6 |
Cash-out refinance vs. home equity line of credit: At a glance
What is cash-out refinancing?
Cash-out refinancing pros and cons
Example of cash-out refinancing
What is a HELOC?
HELOC pros and cons
Example of a HELOC
Consult a pro
Cash-out refinance or HELOC: What to know when choosing which you should use to tap your home's equity
A cash-out refinance will usually have a lower interest rate than a HELOC.
Cash-out refinancing involves replacing your existing mortgage loan with a new one.
A HELOC is a second mortgage that works like a credit card, allowing you to withdraw funds as needed.
Either option can make sense to turn your home equity into cash if you get the right interest rate.
When your home's value rises, tapping into the increased equity can be a smart financial move. You can use the money to get rid of higher-interest debts, pay for renovations and repairs, or virtually any other purpose you can imagine.
Cash-out refinancing and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) are among the most popular mechanisms for accessing this equity and turning it into cash.
Though cash-out refinancing and HELOCs can both help you access your home equity, there are some key differences between them that are important to understand.
A cash-out refinance is when you replace your existing mortgage with a new, larger one. The new loan pays off the old one, and you get the difference between those two balances back in cash.
A HELOC is a second mortgage. It uses your equity as collateral, and you get a line of credit you can make withdrawals from for a set time (usually 10 years). It works much like a credit card and typically has an adjustable interest rate.
Homeowners can use either option to access the equity they've built up in their homes at rates that are often lower than other forms of credit such as credit cards, says Steve Kaminski, head of U.S. residential lending at TD Bank.
"Cash-out refinance mortgage transactions typically require higher closing costs than a home equity line of credit and may take longer to process and receive funds," Kaminski says. "A HELOC adds a second loan, therefore, the borrower will have two payments to manage versus one."
Note: Home equity is the market value of your home minus any loans against it.
With a cash-out refinance, you replace your current mortgage with a new, larger one. The new loan pays off the old one, and you receive the difference between the two balances back in cash.
"A cash-out refinance allows a homeowner with some equity in their home to take out a new mortgage for more than they currently owe on the existing one, and pocket the difference in cash — minus closing costs," says Rob Heck, vice president of mortgage at Morty.
A cash-out refinance might be a good option if mortgage rates are low, as it could allow you to replace your existing mortgage loan with a lower-rate one. It can also be a wise choice if you want to consolidate higher-interest debts, like credit cards, or you have fixed costs you need to cover. (Cash-out refinancing comes with a single lump sum, while HELOCs let you withdraw money as needed.)
Cash-out refinancing probably isn't wise if you'd have to trade a low interest rate for a higher one or if you're struggling financially.
"With a cash-out refinance, your payment may increase significantly depending on the market rates combined with the loan amount increase," Kaminski says. "A cash-out refi is typically a good option when home values have increased and mortgage interest rates are low."
Only one monthly payment
Can use the funds for any purpose
Interest is tax-deductible
Typically lower interest rates than credit cards, personal loans, and other financing products you might be considering
Usually have fixed interest rates
Replaces your existing mortgage loan's rate and term, which may or may not work in your favor
May increase your monthly payment and long-term interest costs
Interest paid on the entire balance from the start
Comes with closing costs
Tend to carry higher rates than a regular mortgage loan
Here's how a typical cash-out refinancing might work:
Let's say you have an existing mortgage with a balance of $200,000 and your house's value is $400,000. If you needed cash, you might do a cash-out refinance into a $300,000 loan. Then, $200,000 of that would be used to pay off your old mortgage, and you'd get the remaining $100,000 back in cash.
A HELOC works much like a credit card. You get arevolving credit line based on how much equity you have, and you can withdraw funds from that credit line as needed in the first 10 years. This is called the draw period. You will only pay interest on the balance used during this period.
"Unlike a cash-out refinance, a home equity loan doesn't replace your first mortgage," Heck says. "Instead, you get a second mortgage with a higher interest rate."
Once the initial 10-year period is up, you will need to repay the balance — either in one lump sum or via monthly installments (this will depend on your lender and HELOC terms). HELOCs typically have variable interest rates, which means your rate — and payments — can fluctuate over time.
"HELOCs can provide more flexibility in managing equity borrowed against your home," Kaminski says. "It works much like a credit card as a revolving line of credit that you can draw on as needed, but potentially at much larger amounts. This can be extremely helpful when managing home renovation projects where availability of funds is needed over time, rather than all at once."
Important: Don't confuse HELOCs with home equity loans. Though both are second mortgages, HELOCs are a credit lines you can withdraw from as needed. Home equity loans provide funds in a lump sum.
HELOCs also typically have lower closing costs than a cash-out refinance and may close faster, meaning you can start using your funds sooner. Additionally, you'll only pay interest on the funds you use — rather than the entire credit line.
"A HELOC is like a credit card in that you don't pay interest until you spend money, whereas a cash-out refinancing is like getting a cash advance," says Jodi Hall, president of Nationwide Mortgage Bankers. "You are paying interest as soon as the money is in hand."
The big downside of a HELOC is that it's a second mortgage — meaning you'll have an additional payment on top of your existing mortgage loan. Your payments can also fluctuate.
"HELOCs are variable-rate based — and tied to the prime rate — which could increase in the future as the prime rate increases," Kaminski says.
Can withdraw funds as needed
Only pay interest on the amount you withdraw
No large payments in the first 10 years of the loan
Lower closing costs than cash-out refinances (sometimes zero)
Doesn't change the terms of your existing mortgage
Variable interest rates mean payments could fluctuate
May come due all at once
Adds a second monthly payment
Interest not always tax-deductible
Let's walk through a potential HELOC scenario:
Say you have an existing mortgage balance of $200,000 and your home is worth $400,000. Since most lenders allow you to borrow up to a combined 85% of your home's value, that leaves you with $140,000 you could access via a HELOC (.80 x 400,000 - 200,000).
Once approved for that $140,000 HELOC, you'd get a checkbook or debit card you could use to make withdrawals from your credit line. You could withdraw money as needed for the first 10 years of the loan, and you'd only pay for the interest on those withdrawn funds for that period. When that initial 10-year period expires, you'd make monthly principal and interest payments until the balance was paid off. (You typically have 20 years to repay).
The choice between a HELOC and a cash-out refinance isn't always clear-cut. If you're not sure which one would best serve your needs as a homeowner, consult a mortgage professional or tax advisor for guidance.
Whichever you choose, make sure to shop around for your loan. Rates and terms can vary widely from one lender to the next, so getting at least a few quotes can help you get the best deal possible.
PERSONAL FINANCE Cash-out refinance vs. home equity loan: How to choose which one to tap your home's value
PERSONAL FINANCE The 7 best and worst times to refinance your mortgage
PERSONAL FINANCE If you need money for a home renovation, here's how to choose between a home equity loan and a HELOC
More: Personal Finance Insider PFI Reference Freelance refinance mortgage
Cash-out Refinancing | 2022-06-16T19:40:34Z | www.businessinsider.com | Cash-Out Refinance Vs. HELOC: Which Should You Choose? | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/cash-out-refinance-vs-heloc | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/cash-out-refinance-vs-heloc |
In late May, SpaceX announced a Starlink service designed for RVs.
Shortly after, European luxury camper van maker Alphavan unveiled a Starlink package for its RVs.
See inside the camper van with a living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and garage.
If lackluster internet has stopped you from pursuing life on the road, a RV maker in Europe may have just announced a Starlink-based solution for your problems.
In late May, SpaceX announced a Starlink service designed for RVers, bringing stable coverage to even the most off-grid and off-road destinations.
Elon Musk's (pictured right) SpaceX is increasing Starlink internet prices for all customers.
And it was only a matter of time before RV makers jumped at the opportunity to integrate this connectivity solution into their builds.
On the heels of this announcement, German luxury camper van maker Alphavan announced its plan to offer a Starlink adapter package with its luxurious Mercedes-Benz camper vans.
In the US, Starlink sets are $600 for the hardware plus an additional $135 a month for the service.
Source: Starlink
For an additional roughly $480, Alphavan customers who have the Starlink set can purchase the add-on, which includes an adapter with "theft protection" and cabling, according to a press release.
This system can then be used to mount the Starlink dish to the roof of the tiny home on wheels ...
... integrating its connectivity to the camper van's amenities like its smart TV and smart home system.
However, it should be noted that Starlink can't be used while the RV is moving.
SpaceX's "Starlink for RVs" announcement came only two weeks ago …
… and fans are already eager to outfit their RVs with the service: Alphavan is already seeing orders for its adapter package, Philipp Wex, the cofounder and CEO of Alphavan, told Insider in an email.
The German camper van maker is no stranger to integrating tech into its 170-inch Mercedes-Benz Sprinter-based tiny homes on wheels.
Alphavan's latest 2022 camper van model, the roughly $185,800 "Edition 4x4 – offroad – online – efficient," is already equipped with a smart home system and roof antenna that can power the van's LTE and WiFi router ...
… making the camper van feel like a true house on wheels.
But it takes more than just stable WiFi to make a RV feel like home, which is why Alphavan designed its camper van to include a living room, kitchen …
… bedroom, and garage that can turn into a separate children's bedroom.
Let's take a quick tour around the build.
No need to fear cramped spaces: The interior is almost 6.9 feet tall, giving all but the tallest travelers some standing room.
Let's start at the front of the van in the living and dining "room."
Here, there's a table and seating bench. When the driver and passenger seats swivel to face the interior, this dining table can accommodate a family of four.
Remote workers can also use this space as a mobile office with support from the Starlink package.
The dining-living space is located right next to the kitchen, which could rival many small studio apartment kitchens.
Like many fully equipped luxury camper vans, this kitchen space has several storage compartments, a dual-burner induction cooktop, a sink, and a refrigerator.
But if these kitchen cabinets aren't enough, there's also overhead storage in the living room, including cupboards above the cockpit and compartments with LED lights, outlets, and USB ports.
Now let's head across the kitchen and into the bathroom, which is just as equipped as the cooking space.
This room has all the typical bathroom amenities like a toilet, sink, shower head, and vent system all condensed into a small space.
Heading out, the bedroom is just behind the bathroom and kitchen and up a ladder.
The luxurious (as far as camper vans go) bedroom has a plush mattress, charging stations …
… reading lights, and plenty of windows, including a skylight, making the camper van feel like a hotel on wheels.
The smart TV can also swivel to face the bedroom, turning the space into a personal movie theater.
The bedroom also comes with a mosquito net for travelers who like sleeping with the rear doors open for a tent-like camping experience.
Climbing up a ladder to reach the bed may seem fussy, but the sleeping space has to be elevated to accommodate the under-bed "Flexport," which can be accessed through a small door or through the rear of the van.
This space can either be used as a garage or a children's bedroom for RVing families.
The new model also has two solar panels and a larger battery (compared to previous models) to support off-grid travel.
But if you're in the US, you probably won't be getting your hands on a Starlink-equipped Alphavan anytime soon.
For now, Alphavan only sells its vans in Germany.
Source: Alphavan
But in the future, this could change. In 2020, Wex told Insider that the company is "investing in what would be necessary" to sell its vans in the US and Canada following a spike in inquiries from the two countries.
More: Camper van RV road travel Starlink | 2022-06-16T19:40:46Z | www.businessinsider.com | Photos: RV Maker to Outfit Luxury Camper Vans With SpaceX's Starlink | https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-rv-maker-outfit-luxury-camper-vans-spacexs-starlink-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-rv-maker-outfit-luxury-camper-vans-spacexs-starlink-2022-6 |
Stewart Rhodes, founder of the citizen militia group known as the Oath Keepers speaks during a rally outside the White House in Washington, on June 25, 2017.
January 6 House committee members keep teasing they've uncovered a secret MAGA-extremism back channel.
But the Oath Keepers have long said the "Stop the Steal" organizers invited them to the 2021 rallies.
In fact, they're building their legal defense on that yet-described "invitation."
Rep. Jamie Raskin on Thursday became the latest January 6 committee member to tease that upcoming testimony will reveal secret coordination between Trumpworld and extremist groups — but the Oath Keepers have long boasted of such a back channel.
In fact, leader and founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes and other members of the pro-Trump militia are staking their seditious-conspiracy defense case on these yet-described communications with rally organizers.
Rhodes' lawyers have been arguing for months that his group's presence in DC was requested by organizers of the "Stop the Steal" rallies of January 5 and 6, the gatherings that galvanized a pro-Trump crowd to storm the Capitol.
It was actually a multi-rally gig, the court papers say.
"In late December, Mr. Rhodes was notified by organizers that Oath Keepers were needed to provide protection in Washington, DC, for multiple rallies on January 5 and 6, 2021," a February filing says.
The filing was Rhodes' unsuccessful attempt to win his pre-trial release from jail — by portraying his group's presence at the Capitol as a benign response to rally organizers' security concerns.
The Oath Keepers were also convinced that then-President Donald Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act before Congress could certify the election results, allowing them to respond as a "legal" armed militia, the papers say — though again, just how they came to be convinced of this is left unstated.
"Previous conservative rallies across the United States in the months running up to the Presidential election had been attacked by members of Antifa and Black Lives Matter," the February filing says.
"The Oath Keepers had been present for the vast majority of those rallies for the purpose of providing defensive assistance to attendees, some of whom were injured and even hospitalized," it says.
Rhodes' defense arguments also openly reference that the Oath Keepers provided a personal security detail for former Trump advisor Roger Stone on the day before the riot. Again, this detail is brought up in an attempt to legitimize the group's presence at the Capitol.
Raskin told CNN on Thursday that a future hearing will describe a back channel between extremist groups and the Trump orbit.
"All of that is to come soon," Raskin teased.
"The hearing I'm working on is about the relationship between this whole effort and the domestic violent extremist groups and how the mob was actually mobilized and put into action," he said.
Moments after the first public hearing, on June 9, CNN's Jake Tapper spoke with House Select Committee Chair Bennie Thompson about the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
When Tapper asked if there will be future witnesses "that describe actual conversations between those extremist groups and anyone in Trump's orbit?" Thompson answered, "Yes," without elaborating.
"Obviously, you have to go through the hearings," Thompson said.
He continued: "But we have a number of witnesses who come forward that people have not talked to before, that will document a lot of what was going on in the Trump orbit while all of this was occurring."
More: Oath Keepers Capitol Siege extremism Washington DC | 2022-06-16T19:40:52Z | www.businessinsider.com | 'Secret' MAGA Back Channel Is Oath Keepers' Legal Defense | https://www.businessinsider.com/secret-maga-backchannel-is-oath-keepers-defense-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/secret-maga-backchannel-is-oath-keepers-defense-2022-6 |
Flores was one of several candidates tracked by the media watchdog Media Matters for America, which found multiple instances of her referencing the QAnon conspiracy theory movement on social media.
In an advertisement Flores took out on Facebook in April 2020 that said the "Democrat Party has failed us," she used the QAnon related hashtags, according to a screenshot of the ad preserved by Media Matters.
She earlier this year won her party's primary to appear on the ballot in November to represent the newly redrawn 34th district, which is more favorable to Democrats than the current district, CNN reported.
Flores immigrated to the US from Tamaulipas, Mexico when she was six years old, making her the first member of Congress to be born in Mexico. Flores worked as a respiratory care practitioner and as the Hispanic Outreach chair for the Hidalgo County GOP, becoming involved with the Republican Party about five years ago, according to a report from Politico.
Flores is the latest member of Congress to win an election after publicly referencing the baseless conspiracy theories related to QAnon. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, both members of the Republican Party, referenced it prior to their elections.
More: QAnon Texas Marjorie Taylor Greene Lauren Boebert | 2022-06-16T21:10:30Z | www.businessinsider.com | New Rep. Flores Joins Greene and Boebert in Having Referenced QAnon | https://www.businessinsider.com/flores-joins-greene-and-boebert-in-having-referenced-qanon-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/flores-joins-greene-and-boebert-in-having-referenced-qanon-2022-6 |
Here's an exclusive look at the 12-page pitch deck that startup Scenery, a 'Figma for video editing,' used to raise funding led by Greylock
Mike Folgner and Ryan Cunningham of Scenery
Scenery is a collaborative video-editing platform designed for the new era of remote work.
Its goal is to take video editing from a single player to multiplayer system.
The company just landed $14.6 million in Series A funding from Greylock Partners and others.
In 2004, Mike Folgner was finishing up his second year at Stanford Graduate School of Business. He was writing his senior thesis in a class co-taught by Silicon Valley veterans, then Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, and Sierra Ventures founder, Peter Wendell.
A decade before, photography had made the jump from film to hard disc, and brought about a slew of photo-editing tools like Ofoto and Shutterfly. Folgner proposed that the next medium to go digital would be video. An Ofoto for video editing was right around the corner.
Folgner recalled that Schmidt circled the idea in his thesis in red and made a note: "This should get funded," he wrote.
After business school, Folgner and classmate Ryan Cunningham, launched three different companies for video editing tools — the latest, which debuted in June, is Scenery, a video editing software designed to facilitate collaboration across creative teams.
The company just raised a $14.6 million Series A led by Greylock Partners. The round also included participation from Craft Ventures, Precursor Ventures, Wireframe Ventures, and Figma Ventures, the company's investment fund formed this year. Greylock Partners was also an early investor in Figma.
Scenery allows teams to storyboard, ideate, upload and manage media content in real time. For the past six months, it has been undergoing trials by video editors, companies, and student groups. Now, it's available in beta. Folgner likens it to a cross between Google Docs and Figma, a collaborative platform for UX design, for video editing.
"The thesis we have is that there's a shift in productivity tools from single user desktop to web, collaboration, team-based," said Folgner. He cites the collective transition from Microsoft Word to Google Docs, Powerpoint to Keynote, and Adobe Sketch to Figma.
Yet video editing has remained a solo pursuit.
"It's still primarily done on the desktop through Premiere and Final Cut," Folgner said. "As teams have gone remote, it's presented a huge challenge."
Folgner concedes that single player platforms are still faster than multiplayer ones. However, he believes the days of hovering over a video editor's shoulder in the cutting room are numbered. The technology is catching up.
Scenery's target users include political teams producing campaign ads, creative agencies, and even student groups working on end-of-quarter projects. Eventually, Folger and Cunningham want to see Scenery in the hands of filmmakers and even Hollywood editors. | 2022-06-16T21:11:06Z | www.businessinsider.com | The Pitch Deck Scenery Used to Raise $14.6 Million Series a Funding | https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-video-editing-startup-scenery-raise-vc-funding-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-video-editing-startup-scenery-raise-vc-funding-2022-6 |
Workers around the world were more stressed than ever in 2021, according to a new Gallup report.
In addition, 60% reported being emotionally detached at work and 1 in 5 said they were miserable.
Gallup's CEO says employers and employees alike should focus on one thing that can determine satisfaction at work: your boss.
Every year seems to be another chance to feel new levels of stress on the job.
Workers around the world were more stressed in 2021 than ever before, according to a new Gallup report, State of the Global Workplace: 2022. Worldwide, 44% of workers reported having daily stress at work, up slightly from 43% in 2020, which was its own record at the time.
In addition, Gallup found that 60% of workers around the world are emotionally detached at their jobs, and 19% are plain miserable. Worldwide, just 9% of workers are thriving and engaged, while the majority of the global workforce, specifically 57%, are neither engaged nor thriving at their jobs.
The effects can be harmful to all areas of employees' lives, well beyond work itself.
Workers who regularly reported high levels of burnout on the job said their work hurt their ability to meet their family responsibilities. These people were also 23% more likely to go to the emergency room, Gallup found.
So what's the answer to your workplace woes? One area for employers and employees alike to direct their attention is improving management, says Gallup CEO Jon Clifton.
"The real fix is this simple: better leaders in the workplace," Clifton wrote in a letter preceding the report. "Managers need to be better listeners, coaches and collaborators. Great managers help colleagues learn and grow, recognize their colleagues for doing great work, and make them truly feel cared about. In environments like this, workers thrive."
More: Burnout Work work stress Work Environment | 2022-06-16T21:11:42Z | www.businessinsider.com | Workers Were More Stressed Than Ever Last Year, and That's Not All | https://www.businessinsider.com/workers-were-more-stressed-than-ever-last-year-gallup-report-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/workers-were-more-stressed-than-ever-last-year-gallup-report-2022-6 |
Chris Dong
Delta Reserve cardholders will have a chance to own a small piece of aviation history.
Amex and Delta have launched two limited-edition cards made from Boeing 747 airplane metal.
Through August 3, 2022, new and existing Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card and Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card cardholders can request the new design.
Delta unveiled the new card at an event at the Delta Flight Museum in Atlanta this week.
Read Insider's guide to the best airline credit cards.
68 million miles. 14,100 flights. 27 years of service.
Delta's first-ever Boeing 747-400, delivered in July 1990, had its last passenger service in November 2017. That ended the decades-long journey for storied ship number 6307, an aircraft that first flew for Northwest Airlines before being inherited by Delta Ar Lines during a 2008 merger.
Now, 6307 is getting a reincarnation of sorts. (Sadly, none of Delta's fleet of 16 747 aircraft will be flying again.) Instead, for a limited time, there's a unique opportunity to own a piece of this plane; one that carried over four million passengers throughout its lifetime.
Aviation geeks, this one's for you: Delta and Amex are introducing a limited-edition Boeing 747 credit card design made out of, you guessed it, airplane metal. Starting today, this will be exclusive to the two high-end Delta co-branded credit cards, the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card and Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card.
I was one of the lucky few guests that experienced the unveiling of this card at an invite-only event. It happened onboard a Boeing 747 at the Delta Flight Museum, just outside Delta's home of Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
2 limited-edition Delta Reserve cards made from airplane metal
Welcome Offer: Earn 60,000 Bonus Miles and 10,000 Medallion® Qualification Miles (MQMs) after you spend $4,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 3 months.
Delta and Amex say that this is the first-ever credit card design made from airplane metal, offering travelers a piece of the sky in their wallet. Both new and existing Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card and Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card cardholders can request this limited-edition design until August 3, 2022.
As an aviation geek who never flew a Delta 747-400, spending a glamorous evening on the plane, wining and dining with fellow journalists and travelers, was a dream come to life.
While I didn't actually fly anywhere, I did experience the history of Delta, and got an intimate tour of an aircraft that is becoming rarer by the day (and an actual relic for Delta).
This 747 is part of the Delta Flight Museum, with a fully intact upper deck, complete with Delta One seating and access to the cockpit.
"The 747's legacy lives on for a new generation of Delta flyers through this first-of-its-kind credit card," said Dwight James, Senior Vice President, Customer Engagement & Loyalty for Delta Air Lines, and CEO, Delta Vacations.
Amex and Delta executives wouldn't reveal exactly how many limited-edition airplane metal cards were made, but they did say that as many as possible were created from a single retired Boeing 747 aircraft.
It's notable that the creation of the Boeing 747 kicked off an era of modern tourism in 1969, democratizing long-haul flights and continental exploration. Decades later, for younger aviation fanatics like me who love the journey as much as the destination, Delta and Amex now have something for us, too.
"[Our] teams worked tirelessly to transform a piece of Delta's history into a card ... taking care that [it] honors the Boeing 747's history while giving it a new purpose through this project," James said.
Besides this exclusive design, the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card and Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card come with complimentary access to Delta Sky Club lounges when traveling on a same-day Delta-marketed or Delta-operated flight. You will also get into American Express Centurion Lounges for free when flying Delta with a ticket purchased on a US-issued American Express card.
Planespotting from a Sky Club with a (piece of a) 747 in your pocket? Now that's an easy sell.
Chris Dong is a freelance travel reporter, writing stories ranging from in-depth features and personal essays to travel news as it relates to loyalty and credit cards. Chris has been tapped as an expert in his field by The Washington Post, NPR, and TIME. Previously, he was a reporter and newsletter lead at The Points Guy, where he covered the intersection of loyalty and travel, while also managing the site's daily newsletter to over 500,000 subscribers. You can follow Chris on Twitter and Instagram, or send him an email at hello@thechrisflyer.com.
PERSONAL FINANCE The best Delta credit cards of April 2022
More: Personal Finance Insider Credit Cards Credit card news Delta | 2022-06-16T22:50:34Z | www.businessinsider.com | Amex Launches Limited-Edition Boeing 747 Metal Delta Reserve Cards | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/amex-delta-reserve-card-limited-edition-boeing-747-metal-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/amex-delta-reserve-card-limited-edition-boeing-747-metal-2022-6 |
An engagement ring is a major purchase — here's the best way to pay for it
An engagement ring is an exciting purchase, but make sure you strategize how you'll pay for it.
Buying an engagement ring is exciting, but it takes a lot of research. Paying for the ring is something you'll need to consider, too.
There are a few different ways to pay for a ring, including saving and paying outright or taking out a loan.
One of the easiest ways to pay without depleting your cash reserves — and without having to pay interest or loan fees — is to use a credit card with a 0% introductory APR on purchases. That way, you can take your time to pay without having to pay interest (until the introductory period is over).
There are a few options, but our choice for the best card with a 0% introductory APR is the Chase Freedom Unlimited®. After the 15-month 0% introductory period, a 15.74% - 24.49% Variable applies.
See Business Insider's list of the best rewards credit cards »
Buying an engagement ring is a big deal. It's a thing that takes research, patience, and decisiveness. As Josh Marion, a vice president at Ritani, an online diamond and jewelry retailer pointed out in an interview with Business Insider, buying an engagement ring "is a decision on par with buying a car or a house — you can't just jump into it."
Of course, whenever you start thinking about an engagement ring, it's not long before the cost comes into play. Whenever you decide you're ready to propose to that special someone, how much you spend on the ring, whether you're resetting a diamond that has been in your family for generations or buying a new one, is a personal decision. There's a ton of advice out there, and plenty of schools of thought, but there are no hard and fast rules; ignore anyone who tells you that you absolutely have to spend three months' salary, or that you have to spend a certain amount for each year you've been together.
One thing that's for sure, though, is that you shouldn't spend outside of your means. When you're ready to pop the question, and in a financial position to do so, there are a few ways to pay for an engagement ring. However much you decide to spend, chances are it'll be a lot — likely the most expensive thing you've ever bought. When I proposed to my (now) wife, that was certainly the case — not counting college and grad school, of course.
Keep in mind that we're focusing on the rewards and perks that make these credit cards great options, not things like interest rates and late fees, which will far outweigh the value of any points or miles. It's important to practice financial discipline when using credit cards by paying your balances in full each month, making payments on time, and only spending what you can afford to pay back.
Can you finance an engagement ring?
You do have the option of financing a ring with a loan arranged through your jeweler. Using loans to make major purchases and keep cash on hand can be a smart financial move, and in some cases, the loans offered by your jeweler may fit your needs.
Here are a few of the financing options available through popular jewelers:
Blue Nile: Financing is available via Blue Nile's credit card. Depending on the price of the ring, consumers enjoy 0% APR for the first six, 12 or 18 months after purchasing. If you choose a longer payment plan, with equal payments, there's a 9.99% APR.
Ritani: Ritani offers financing via a Synchrony bank credit card. You can choose from the following options: no interest for 12 months, 9.99% APR for 36 months, or 9.99% APR for 60 months.
Tiffany & Co.: The brand's credit card offers a 0% intro APR for 12 months, or a 7.99% APR for 24 months.
However, jewelers' financing options may not have the best terms or interest rates, and you generally won't get any cash back or rewards on the engagement ring purchase.
Your other payment options
The first, and most obvious, is to save up enough money and buy it outright. However, there are reasons you may not want to do this. For instance, you may want to keep a cash cushion in case of emergency, rather than committing to spending it all at once. After all, that's why people finance things like new appliances or cars.
Fortunately, there's another option, which is what I went with. Instead of taking out a traditional loan, or financing a ring through a credit card offered by the jeweler, you can open a new credit card that has a 0% introductory APR on purchases for a certain amount of time.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited is a great option if you want a card with an intro APR offer on purchases.
Why I used a credit card with an intro APR offer
When I bought the ring, I opened a card that had a 0% introductory APR for the first 15 months. That meant that instead of paying cash all at once, I was able to charge the ring to the card, and pay it off over a bit more than a year without having to pay any interest. As a nice cherry on top, I even got a sign-up bonus for opening the card, and cash back on the ring itself, which I was able to put right toward paying it off.
It was basically free money for buying the ring.
The key is that you make sure you pay off the whole thing before the introductory APR ends and the normal one becomes effective. In my case, I decided to be safe and divided the total cost of the engagement ring by 14. I paid that amount each month, and that way, I was finished paying off the whole thing a month early.
A great feature is that you have extra flexibility if you go this route. If you come into some extra cash, or decide that you want to just finish the payments from savings, you can pay off the balance in full at any time.
The best credit cards with 0% APR offers
While there are a few different cards that offer introductory APRs, the one I would pick now is the Chase Freedom Unlimited®.
That's because in addition to offering a long 15-month term on the 0% introductory purchase APR (which goes up to a normal 15.74% - 24.49% Variable afterward), it offers 1.5% cash back on most purchases, and a sign-up bonus of 1.5% cash back in addition to regular earning on everything you buy up to $20,000 spent in the first year (worth up to $300 cash back) (the Chase Freedom Unlimited® also recently started offering bonus cash back on eligible travel and drugstore purchases).
Plus, if you have a premium card from Chase, like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, you can turn your Chase Freedom Unlimited® cash back into Chase Ultimate Rewards points instead, and move those points to the premium Chase card. That way, you can do things like transfer Chase points to frequent flyer partners, which is usually a much more lucrative way to use them than redeeming as cash back.
Here are some other cards with intro APR periods for purchases:
Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express: 0% intro APR on purchases for 15 months (then 15.49% - 25.49% Variable) (See Rates)
Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card: 0% intro APR on purchases for 15 months (then a 15.24% - 25.24% (Variable))
Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card: 0% intro APR on purchases for 15 months (then a 15.24% - 25.24% (Variable))
Citi Simplicity® Card: 0% intro APR on purchases for 12 months and on balance transfers for 21 months (balance transfers must be completed within 4 months of account opening) (then a rate of 15.49% - 25.49% Variable)
Regardless of which route you choose to go toward paying for the ring, this is an exciting time, but you have a lot of research to do. If you're not sure where to start, Ritani offers a number of guides on picking out diamonds and settings, as well as how to go about actually buying the ring. And check out Insider Picks' guide to the best places to buy engagement rings online.
Featured credit cards from our partners
Annual Fee $95
Regular APR 16.74% - 23.74% Variable
Regular APR 16.74% to 23.74% Variable
Credit Score Good to Excellent
For rates and fees of the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, please click here.
More: Personal Finance Insider Credit Cards PFI TPG Chase Freedom Unlimited
Citi Simplicity Card
Blue Cash Everyday Card from American Express
Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
PFI Related Product Module | 2022-06-16T22:50:40Z | www.businessinsider.com | Best Way to Pay for an Engagement Ring: a Credit Card With Intro APR | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/pay-for-engagement-ring-credit-card-with-intro-apr | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/pay-for-engagement-ring-credit-card-with-intro-apr |
In this Jan. 6, 2021, photo, Proud Boys including Joseph Biggs, center in flannel jacket, walk toward the U.S. Capitol in Washington, in support of President Donald Trump.
Joseph Biggs was name-dropped 4 times in Officer Caroline Edwards' 'slipping in blood' testimony.
On Thursday he demanded a four-month trial delay due to the bad publicity.
Federal prosecutors say he was the first to bust a window and breach the Capitol.
Proud Boy Joseph Biggs wants his seditious-conspiracy trial delayed until December — because Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards name-dropped him four times during her prime time, 'slipping in blood' testimony last Monday.
In papers filed Thursday, Biggs says the bad publicity from Edwards' testimony before the House Select Committee on January 6 is too damaging for him to get a fair trial on the current August 8 starting date.
"Biggs seeks to start trial after the midterms are over and some 'dust has settled' with respect to public opinion," the filing says.
"It's certainly not a frivolous motion," Judge Timothy Kelly — who will preside over the eventual trial — said during a hearing later Thursday.
Biggs and co-defendant Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola have joined in asking Kelly to sever their trial from that of their three co-defendants, who include ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio.
The judge said he may rule on the motion next Wednesday.
Biggs is accused of leading the crowd that broke through the first metal, bike-rack barrier at the Peace Circle, and of being the very first rioter to bust a window and enter the Capitol.
"It was the crowd led by Joseph Biggs," Edwards testified during the first House Select Committee hearing, held on June 9.
"Joseph Bigg's rhetoric turned to the Capitol Police," she testified, noting Biggs' was using a megaphone.
"He started asking us questions like, 'You didn't miss a paycheck during the pandemic?'" she testified, adding that it was at this point she said, "Sarge, I think we're going to need a few more people down here."
Edwards' highly compelling testimony included her account of being struck in the head by a bike rack, blacking out from a head injury, and then regaining consciousness in violent chaos she likened to being in military combat.
"I was slipping in people's blood," Edwards' memorably testified.
In papers filed Tuesday, Biggs cited bad publicity from that testimony in requesting that the trial be moved out of Washington, DC. to Miami, Florida.
"A show. A production. A spectacle," that filing, written by Biggs attorney John Hull, says of the hearings.
Edwards' testimony was "seen by over 20 million Americans," the filing says. "Including lovably dorky, wonky, media-attentive Washingtonians" who would comprise the jury pool, it says.
Tarrio and other co-defendants have also asked to move the trial; those requests, too, are pending.
More: Proud Boys Capitol breach extremists Washington DC | 2022-06-16T22:50:46Z | www.businessinsider.com | Proud Boy Says He's Now Too Famous to Be Tried in August | https://www.businessinsider.com/proud-boy-joseph-biggs-too-famous-capitol-trial-delay-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/proud-boy-joseph-biggs-too-famous-capitol-trial-delay-2022-6 |
The January 6 committee's third public hearing painted a picture of American democracy on the brink.
Two former legal advisers to VP Mike Pence testified in detail about the pressure campaign targeting him.
A key Trump advisor pushed for the election to be overturned sought a pardon after the Jan. 6 attack.
American democracy was on the brink like no time ever before.
So said the witnesses and lawmakers serving on the House Select Committee probing the January 6 insurrection during its third public hearing on Thursday, which is examining the unprecedented pressure campaign targeting then-Vice President Mike Pence leading up to January 6.
The two witnesses testifying during the marathon afternoon session were Greg Jacob, Pence's former chief counsel, and retired Judge J. Michael Luttig, both of whom advised Pence as he rebutted President Donald Trump and conservative attorney John Eastman's intense efforts to pressure Pence to obstruct and meddle with the electoral count on January 6.
Jacob and Luttig, steeped in legal expertise and constitutional scholarship, explained at a granular and methodical level why neither the Electoral Count Act nor the 12th Amendment permitted Pence to unilaterally reject Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden, as Trump and Eastman were pushing the vice president to do in a break with all of US history.
The hearing also painted a picture of just how close the United States came to a full-blown coup. The witnesses outlined a gulf-sized rift between Trump and his vice president, and how Pence ended up caught in the balance, carrying the weight of history and the integrity of the US Constitution on his shoulders.
This all happened as rioters stormed the Capitol and came within 40 feet of the vice president's location — at one point.
"Our nation owes you a great debt for your knowledge, integrity, and your loyalty to our Constitution," said Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House select panel, in his closing statement. Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, praised the witnesses and Pence, who was not present, for doing the right thing "at a critical time."
from AP white_check_mark eyes raised_hands 2:36 Michael Luttig, a retired federal judge who was an adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, testifies as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol holds a hearing at the Capitol in Washington.
A venerated former conservative federal judge speaks up and issues a warning.
Luttig, a widely respected conservative legal figure, served for over a decade on the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals and was twice considered for the Supreme Court during the George W. Bush administration. Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz once said Luttig is "like a father to him," Insider's Bryan Metzger reported.
Luttig's words on Twitter influenced the two-page memo Pence put out on the morning of January 6, in which he said he would not seek to meddle with the election. And he spoke out in person at the hearing.
"That declaration of Donald Trump as the next president would have lunged America into what I think would have been tantamount to a revolution within a constitutional crisis in America," Luttig said at the beginning of the hearing.
Later, Luttig said: "I would have laid my body across the road before I would have let the vice president overturn the 2020 election" based on a faulty reading of history.
In his closing remarks, Luttig issued a stark warning that American democracy may not be so lucky in the next presidential race, when Trump or his successor could "succeed in 2024 where they failed in 2020" in overturning an election.
"That's what the former president and his allies are telling us," Luttig added. "The former president and his allies are executing that blueprint for 2024 in open and plain view of the American public."
Indeed, in a January 30, 2022, statement, Trump asserted that Pence had had the authority to unilaterally throw out state elector votes certified by dual houses of Congress, saying: "Unfortunately, he didn't exercise that power, he could have overturned the Election!"
John Eastman apparently didn't believe his own theories of how Pence could overturn the election.
In his January 3, 2021 memo to Pence's team, Eastman argued that the Electoral Count Act was unconstitutional and Pence should disregard it and give himself the authority to reject Electoral College slates under the 12th Amendment to the Constitution.
But Eastman was singing a different tune just a few months before.
Rep. Pete Aguilar presented a draft letter to Trump dated to October 2020 that included a suggestion that the vice president, serving as president of the Senate, could unilaterally reject election results. It was unclear who wrote the initial memo.
"I don't agree with this," Eastman wrote in the document in a comment dated October 11, 2020. "Nowhere does it suggest that the President of the Senate gets to make that determination on his own."
—Arieh Kovler (@ariehkovler) June 16, 2022
"Judge Luttig, does it surprise you that the author of those comments in blue was, in fact, John Eastman?" Aguilar asked.
"Yes it does, congressman," Luttig said.
Eastman requested a preemptive pardon.
After playing a key role in the pressure campaign targeting Pence, Eastman emailed Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani on January 7, the day after the insurrection, to ask for a presidential pardon.
"Third, I've decided I should be on the pardon list, if that's still in the works," Eastman wrote in an email obtained by the committee.
Late in the evening of January 6, after rioters had been cleared from the Capitol where the VP, his family and his aides had sheltered for hours, Eastman emailed Pence's counsel to break the law and disrupt the electoral certification he was overseeing.
According to the email released by the committee, Eastman wrote, "So now that the precedent has been set that the Electoral Count Act is not quite so sacrosanct as was previously claimed, I implore you to consider one more relatively minor violation." | 2022-06-16T22:50:58Z | www.businessinsider.com | Third Jan. 6 Committee Hearing on Pence: Takeaways, Key Moments | https://www.businessinsider.com/third-jan-6-committee-hearing-on-pence-takeaways-key-moments-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/third-jan-6-committee-hearing-on-pence-takeaways-key-moments-2022-6 |
Michael Luttig, a retired federal judge who was an adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, looks at Greg Jacob, former counsel to Vice President Mike Pence, as he testifies before the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Former federal judge Michael Luttig said Trump is laying the groundwork to rig the 2024 election.
Luttig called MAGA world a "clear and present danger to American democracy."
He said the difference is, now that they've practiced overturning an election, they may succeed.
A former Pence advisor on Thursday characterized former President Donald Trump's failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election as a dry-run that MAGA world is "candidly and proudly" pledging to get right by seizing power in 2024, no matter what.
Michael Luttig, a retired conservative federal judge who counseled former Vice President Mike Pence in January 2021, told the January 6 select committee that Trump and his supporters remain a "clear and present danger to American democracy" and that they're being incredibly blunt about their plans to manipulate the results of the next presidential election.
"The former president and his allies are executing that blueprint for 2024 in open and plain view of the American public," Luttig testified during the committee's third public hearing. His closing remarks dovetail with comments Luttig made in a February 14 op-ed he wrote for The New York Times titled "The Conservative Case for Avoiding a Repeat of Jan. 6," wherein Luttig warned that Trump might again try to interfere with the certification of electoral votes.
"If the former president or his anointed successor … were to lose that election, they would attempt to overturn that 2024 election in the same way that they attempted to overturn the 2020 election. But succeed," Luttig said of the tentative gameplan. "That's what the former president and his allies are telling us."
Luttig offered the chilling assessment after he and fellow Pence advisor Greg Jacob spoke at length about the work Trump and fellow election deniers put into pressuring Pence to block Joe Biden from becoming president.
Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson asked Luttig for the final thoughts after noting that "there are those who think the danger has passed" and that "the system worked" because Trump didn't get what he wanted the last time around.
More: January 6 committee Captiol siege Donald Trump Michael Luttig | 2022-06-16T22:51:04Z | www.businessinsider.com | Trump Is Scheming to Rig the 2024 Election: Pence Advisor | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-michael-luttig-oveturning-2024-election-playbook-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-michael-luttig-oveturning-2024-election-playbook-2022-6 |
Vice President Mike Pence is seen holding a phone watching President Donald Trump tell the angry mob at the Capitol to leave as his daughter Charlotte watches on January 6, 2021.
January 6th House Select Committee Hearing
January 6 House Select Committee released photos of Mike Pence during the Capitol attack on Thursday.
Pence refused to leave the Capitol even though his life was in danger.
When a pro-Trump mob took the Capitol by storm, former Vice President Mike Pence was swiftly moved from the Senate chamber
January 6th Select Committee Hearing
Before being escorted to safety, Pence was within 40 feet of the pro-Trump mob, CBS News reported.
He was transported to a loading dock beneath the Capitol
Vice President Mike Pence refused to evacuate during the January 6 Capitol Riot.
In March, a Secret Service inspector named Lanelle Hawa said during an accused rioter's trial that Pence spent "several hours, approximately four or five hours" in the Capitol's underground loading dock throughout the attack.
"It's located underneath the Capitol building, sort of under the plaza on the Senate side," Hawa said.
"When we got down to the secure location, Secret Service directed us to get into the cars, which I did, and then I noticed that the vice president had not," Greg Jacob, then Pence's senior counsel, said at a Thursday public hearing. "I understood that the vice president had refused to get into the car."
Pence refused to evacuate during the January 6th Capitol attack despite being in danger
Pence declined to evacuate despite the mob's chants because he "did not want to take any chance that the world would see the vice president of the United States fleeing the United States Capitol," Jacob added.
The pro-Trump mob that stormed that Capitol chanted "Hang Mike Pence."
"Aware of the rioters chants to 'hang Mike Pence,'" Committee co-chair Rep. Liz Cheney said in her opening, "the president responded with this sentiment: 'Maybe our supporters have the right idea.' Mike Pence 'deserves it.'"
He remained in the loading dock until the riot was over — watching the video Trump released hours into the attack telling rioters to go home.
"Go home. We love you. You're very special," Trump said in the video.
The morning of the attack, Pence and Trump had an intense phone call.
The morning of the attack, Pence and former President Donald Trump had an intense phone call, White House aides told the committee.
"I remember hearing the word 'wimp.' Either he called him a wimp — I don't remember if he said, 'you are a wimp, you'll be a wimp' — wimp is the word I remember," Nicholas Luna, a former assistant to Trump, said.
Ivanka Trump's chief of staff, Julie Radford, said that Ivanka Trump told her he called Pence "the P-word."
Trump, and his mob, wanted Pence to overturn the 2020 election results
Trump, and the mob of his supporters, wanted Pence to overturn the 2020 election results — incorrectly claiming it was a Vice Presidential power.
Federal judge J. Michael Luttig told the committee Thursday that if Pence attempted the feat, it would have resulted in a "revolution."
Thursday's hearing exposed the unprecedented pressure campaign targeting Pence during the riots
Follow live updates of the hearings here.
More: Features Mike Pence Donald Trump january 6 | 2022-06-17T00:24:03Z | www.businessinsider.com | Photos: Pence Refused to Be Evacuated From the Capitol on Jan. 6 and Watched Video of Trump Telling Rioters 'We Love You' | https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-pence-secure-location-refusing-evacuated-capitol-jan-6-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-pence-secure-location-refusing-evacuated-capitol-jan-6-2022-6 |
Celebrations at the launch ceremony for China's third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, at a dry dock in Shanghai on June 17, 2022.
China boosted its military on Friday by launching a third aircraft carrier.
It is named Fujian, after the Chinese province closest to Taiwan, which China has repeatedly threatened.
China has committed to growing its military force, and the carrier is likely able to rival Western ones.
China on Friday launched its third aircraft carrier, which is named after the Chinese province that directly faces Taiwan.
Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua reported that the carrier, named Fujian, is the first carrier made in China that uses catapults.
State media shared footage of celebrations at the launch:
—Global Times (@globaltimesnews) June 17, 2022
Fujian is China's closest province to Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as its own.
A map showing the proximity of Taiwan and the Chinese province of Fujian.
China's defense minister said on Sunday that his country would "fight to the very end" to stop Taiwanese independence.
"If anyone dares to secede Taiwan from China, we will not hesitate to fight. We will fight at all costs. And we will fight to the very end," he said.
The US defense secretary had that day accused China of a "steady increase in provocative and destabilizing" military activity near Taiwan, including flying military aircraft nearby in "record numbers in recent months."
The Fujian carrier had been under construction at the Jiangnan Shipyard northeast of Shanghai since 2018, the Associated Press reported.
It is thought to be able to rival the capabilities of those in the West, according to the AP.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank described the carrier earlier this month as part of China's efforts to modernize and grow its military, and said the launch would be a "seminal moment in China's ongoing modernization efforts and a symbol of the country's growing military might."
Reuters also noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping has committed to overhauling China's military.
NOW WATCH: MSNBC host Chris Hayes thinks President Trump's stance on China is 'not at all crazy'
More: News UK Speed desk China Taiwan | 2022-06-17T09:28:43Z | www.businessinsider.com | China Launches New Aircraft Carrier, Named After Region Facing Taiwan | https://www.businessinsider.com/china-fujian-aircraft-carrier-named-after-province-facing-taiwan-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/china-fujian-aircraft-carrier-named-after-province-facing-taiwan-2022-6 |
Rivian's stock is cratering as GM, Ford, and VW threaten its plan to make the first great electric pickup. Here's why experts worry it has already squandered its 12-year-lead.
Alexa St. John and Nora Naughton
Rivian's apparent lead has narrowed dramatically over the past year, and with a sinking stock price, that has some investors and industry experts worried.
When Rivian landed its first big investments, it had no electric-pickup competition.
Rivian's lead in the electric-pickup segment narrowed with the release of F-150 Lightning.
Rivian has room to carve out a niche in a broad market, but some experts say it should worry.
Once a Wall Street darling, Rivian made its name as the first EV startup to focus solely on pickup trucks, the most lucrative vehicle segment in the US.
In 2019, when Rivian ramped up its fundraising efforts with investments from Amazon and Ford, other automakers had yet to reveal any battery-powered versions of their popular pickup trucks. Massive, billion-dollar investments in electrified fleets were still in nascent stages.
That open field seemed to convince investors that Rivian was most likely to dominate in the EV startup space, especially as it related to the crucial pickup-truck segment. These vehicles, with ever-increasing transaction prices and loyal customers, are critical profit drivers in the US auto industry, particularly for American car manufacturers like Ford and GM.
"If you're a pickup-truck manufacturer, right now is really the time to jump in and get all of the attention focused on you," said Devin Lindsay, a principal automotive analyst at S&P Global Mobility, who warned of an increasingly crowded landscape for electric pickups. "If you can get customers locked into your product early, all the better."
But Rivian's apparent lead has narrowed dramatically over the past year. As the startup has struggled with the myriad production challenges common to automotive newcomers, established carmakers, including Ford, GM, and VW, are launching or planning electric trucks, some of which are hitting the market at a faster pace than Rivian's vehicles.
Industry experts and analysts say the Ford F-150 Lightning poses the most imminent threat to Rivian. But the GMC Hummer, Chevrolet Silverado, and now even the rekindled Volkswagen Scout brand (which plans to introduce an SUV and off-road truck) could also foil Rivian's plans to dominate the segment. Many remain optimistic about Tesla's Cybertruck, which could also greatly disrupt the market.
All this has industry experts and investors worried, especially as Rivian's stock has dropped more than 80% from a high of nearly $180 a share following its IPO last November.
On a call with investors following first-quarter earnings, Rivian's CEO, RJ Scaringe, said the company's leadership team has spent a "tremendous amount of time" adjusting to the changes in the market and investor demands since the IPO. The startup is currently balancing future products, including a new R2 vehicle platform, with three existing vehicle launches in progress.
Still, Scaringe said Rivian is "maintaining laser focus on ramping up the existing capacity that we have, such that we can fully harvest the revenue associated with it."
Ford, GM, VW, and other legacy companies with emerging electric pickups have a built-in advantage over startup competitors like Rivian: the ability to produce them at scale more quickly with existing resources, talent, and manufacturing plants — all in addition to milking decades' worth of brand loyalty from nameplates like F-Series and Silverado.
Ford revealed the Lightning in May 2021 — three years after the public first saw the R1T, Rivian's electric pickup. But unlike Rivian, Ford began rolling the Lightning off assembly lines just shy of one year later and had already built 2,800 as of early May, Darren Palmer, the VP of EV programs, said. Ford anticipates an annual production capacity of 150,000 Lightning trucks within the next year. Rivian built 2,553 vehicles and delivered 1,227 in the first quarter of this year, and plans on delivering 25,000 in 2022.
There's so much immediate demand for electric pickups that some prospective buyers are making multiple reservations to see which becomes available first, according to a new survey on preorder numbers from EV-battery-health startup Recurrent (which also provides market research). This, too, could be a threat, experts say.
Robby DeGraff, an AutoPacific analyst, said Rivian still has a lot of hurdles standing in its way.
DeGraff added that consumers "are starting to get the itch of, can I go get an F-150 Lightning six months sooner than the Rivian? Maybe I'll do that and jump ship."
Still room in the market
Still, some say there remains room for all of these players in the segment — especially if they lean into niches.
Competition in the pickup-truck market "creates a bit of a challenge" for startups, according to Mark Wakefield, the global coleader of the automotive and industrial practice at AlixPartners. But strong demand can also mean plenty of room for new innovations in the segment.
"Maybe to a smaller segment or a subsegment of people, you can outrank a larger player by being more focused on something that larger player isn't," Wakefield said.
Working in Rivian's favor is the fact that there are different buyers for each of the pickups available or coming on the market. Rivian has positioned its lineup, including the R1T pickup, as "adventure vehicles," with gee-whiz add-ons like a camping kitchen in the truck bed and a bed-mounted tent.
Still, the company appears to have mass-production plans for its vehicles, with a factory in Normal, Illinois, that can produce 150,00 vehicles annually, and another future plant in Georgia that will be able to produce up to 400,000 vehicles a year, according to the company. Scaringe has said Rivian plans to expand annual capacity in Illinois to 200,000 vehicles.
"I don't know if they should necessarily be on high alert per se, mostly just because I think that an R1T buyer is a different type of buyer than an F-150 Lightning buyer, or even a Hummer EV buyer," DeGraff said, "but the space is getting more crowded."
More: Transportation Rivian electric truck
electric silverado | 2022-06-17T09:29:01Z | www.businessinsider.com | Why Some Worry Rivian Squandered Its Electric-Pickup Lead | https://www.businessinsider.com/investors-losing-patience-experts-fear-rivian-squandered-electric-pickup-lead-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/investors-losing-patience-experts-fear-rivian-squandered-electric-pickup-lead-2022-6 |
Stay optimistic, pivot to profit, and cut jobs in one go. Investors who navigated the dot-com crash give founders 5 tips on surviving the downturn.
Ilkka Kivimäki, a managing partner at European seed fund Maki.vc.
Maki.vc
Startups are implementing hiring freezes and laying off staff as investor cash dries up.
Insider asked investors who navigated the dot-com crash and other collapses for their advice for founders.
They urged founders to pivot to profitability and to cut jobs in one go rather than iteratively.
Ilkka Kivimäki sold his first company, PC Superstore, in 1999. After a successful exit during the dot-com boom, he quickly started up another business.
His next firm, Wicom Communications, provided enterprise communications and contact-center software to small telecom companies. Shortly after he created Wicom, the market crashed.
"With the dot-com bubble having just burst, it was extremely difficult to raise funding," Kivimäki, now the cofounder and managing partner at the European seed fund Maki.vc, told Insider.
"And just when we managed to overcome this challenge and raise 12 million euros for our company, two months later, 9/11 happened, and everything went from bad to worse," he said.
Internet companies drove the dot-com boom in the late 1990s, as investors piled into businesses promising future profitability that in many cases never came to fruition. The bubble burst in 2001, hobbling wider markets and wiping massive sums off the valuations of some of the world's biggest tech firms, including Intel and Oracle. Some analysts have suggested the ongoing hammering of tech stocks bears a striking similarly to the 2001 crash.
Kivimäki eventually sold Wicom Communications to SAP in 2007, six years after the bubble began to burst. He struggled with its growth trajectory, layoffs, and overall business strategy as potential clients went bust.
"At times, I was so anxious that I had to go to a doctor to check I wasn't having a heart attack," he said.
Raising cash has become more difficult for startups now as firms ditch growth for profit against the backdrop of a looming recession . Startups have begun slashing jobs across a variety of industries, including crypto, rapid delivery, and fintech. Investing veteran Jeremy Grantham, who called the dot-com crash, has predicted a total stock downturn of around 40%.
Kivimäki is one of many investors who has navigated periods of extreme uncertainty in tech.
Gi Fernando, a serial entrepreneur and the chair of climate-focused nonprofit accelerator Subak, was running his second company, Techlightenment, a social-media agency, during the 2008 crash. Elsewhere, Stephen McIntyre, a partner at Frontline Ventures, survived a cull of 50,000 people at Ericsson when he was an engineer there during the dot-com crash.
Kivimäki, Fernando, and McIntyre shared advice for founders on how to navigate an economic downturn based on their own experiences.
Do the ugly math
"As hard as it is, be brutally honest in your first forecast," Kivimäki said.
During the dot-com bust, there was not enough money to be raised. Kivimäki said that all founders should be prepared for venture capital to dry up and ask themselves, "Will my company survive without new funding for the next 18 to 24 months?" and "Are my customers going to make it?"
In Wicom Communications' case, they did not.
"Our customers were small European telecom companies that went bankrupt when the bubble burst or right after it," Kivimäki said. "So we had to shift our focus to moderately sized and large companies and change our entire business plan in the process."
Many fast-growth startups opt to raise venture capital, but Subak chair Gi Fernando said businesses should consider bootstrapping first.
"By being a bootstrapping business rather than one seeking funding all the time, you'll be better able to accept money at better terms when more money comes into the market," he said. "This particularly applies if you're doing something new."
Create a new plan that favors profitability
Once founders have faced the math, they should create a thorough plan of what is needed for their business to become profitable.
The plan should have very concrete action points and milestones to follow, Kivimäki said.
"In most cases, survival and profitability mean cutting down your head count and other costs radically — about 30% to 60%," he said.
"In addition, shift your client pitch from the perspective of enabling growth to becoming more efficient and saving money — meaning topics that are more directed to the CFO than CEO."
The pace of change is also important. If cuts or a shift in focus is on the cards, do it immediately, Subak's Fernando said. "And take risks when you're refocusing. There will be consequences, but err on speed over lengthy discussions or deliberation."
If you need to make layoffs, cut once and deep
The startup ecosystem is abuzz with news of job losses.
It is an unfortunate but undeniable fact that layoffs are often needed, Kivimäki said, but "when you do it, do it once and cut deep."
Insecurity can dampen spirits in the office and create a demotivating atmosphere. Cutting deep, just once, and letting employees know that no more layoffs are one the way may help, Kivimäki said.
"Then start to build back the team while your peers are killing their companies with several consecutive cuts," he added.
This will help protect company culture, Frontline's Stephen McIntyre added.
"Implementing layoffs can trigger waves of additional and uncontrolled staff attrition, due to the gravitational pull of the strong team bonds the company has worked so hard to build," McIntyre, who was also a director at Google during the 2008 crash, said.
"Managers must focus their efforts on retaining those employees with strong signaling effects on others, the employees who are both culturally influential and high performers."
Try to keep morale high with communication
Startups tend to operate with all hands on deck, meaning there are plenty of opportunities for upskilling and career progression, but this changes as growth slows, McIntyre said.
Managers must inspire and motivate people to ride out the storm with specific and structured career support, based on what employees want from the role over the next 12 months, not the next five years, he added. "Actively listening is key."
Engaging the first line of people managers to step up and become leaders is one way to avoid top-down uncertainty, McIntyre said.
"Although often overlooked, they have the most direct reports and therefore must be empowered with the right information and management coaching to lead."
Stay optimistic because you could come out on top
Every downturn is also an opportunity, Kivimäki and Fernando said.
Starting up during this time means "you won't lose to a company who would normally be able to outmuscle you with money," Fernando said. For that reason, he thinks it's one of the best times to do it.
"You have more of a chance to succeed with less money, because larger, more established companies are focussing their efforts on raising money," he said. "So if you're doing something new and you have a model with a low-cost base, you've got a better chance of winning."
Kivimäki added: "If you manage to survive it, you will probably come out of it with half of your competition gone, with a very united team and with a new focus on your product. Thus, you are so ready to ride the next boom period way ahead of the competition."
More: Features Startups Tech Insider Venture Capital
BI Tech | 2022-06-17T09:29:31Z | www.businessinsider.com | Investors Share 5 Tips for Founders on How to Survive the Downturn | https://www.businessinsider.com/startup-economic-downturn-survived-the-dot-com-crash-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/startup-economic-downturn-survived-the-dot-com-crash-2022-6 |
Inside a Delta Air Lines flight.
Delta Air Lines pilots said they are flying overtime and on their days off amid chaos in the industry.
They said in a letter to flyers that they agree that flight delays and cancellations are "unacceptable."
They said Delta need to work so customers do not "lose confidence" in the airline.
Pilots with Delta Air Lines said they were "flying a record amount of overtime" amid the airline industry's struggle with delays, staff shortages, and cancellations.
Pilots wrote an open letter to customers on Thursday, where they said they were just as frustrated as passengers by disruption in the industry.
"We are disheartened when we witness the impact of your disrupted travel plans," they said.
It asked customers to remember that the pilots prioritize safety, and that "we have been working on our days off, flying a record amount of overtime to help you get to your destination."
"At the current rate, by this fall, our pilots will have flown more overtime in 2022 than in the entirety of 2018 and 2019 combined, our busiest years to date.
The pilots also said Delta leaders need to work harder so customers do not "lose confidence" in the airline.
"As we welcome you aboard, we will continue to go above and beyond to ensure the integrity of the operation. Delta's management needs to do the same before you lose confidence in the Delta brand."
Insider has contacted Delta for comment about the letter.
The US has seen a heavy volume of flight delays and cancellations this year, and many airlines are understaffed.
Delta recently announced that it was cancelling around 100 daily departures in the US and Latin America, in a move similar to other airlines.
More: News UK Speed desk Delta Air lines Delta | 2022-06-17T12:09:22Z | www.businessinsider.com | Delta Pilots Say Flying Record Amounts of Overtime Amid Staff Shortage | https://www.businessinsider.com/delta-pilots-say-flying-record-amounts-overtime-unacceptable-travel-disruption-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/delta-pilots-say-flying-record-amounts-overtime-unacceptable-travel-disruption-2022-6 |
Newton spoke to around six Twitter employees about their impressions of the meeting, as he reported in his newsletter Platformer.
Employee dissatisfaction with the meeting was visible as it was ongoing. "There were a lot of negative live comments during the stream," one Twitter employee told Insider.
He hinted layoffs could be on the way if he takes over the company and said "exceptional" employees would be permitted to keep working from home.
Musk also digressed into talking about aliens, saying he hasn't seen any evidence they exist.
Twitter insiders told Insider's Kali Hays they expect Musk to use the firehose to try to re-negotiate a better price for the deal.
More: Elon Musk Twitter Meeting All-hands | 2022-06-17T12:09:28Z | www.businessinsider.com | Elon Musk Spoke to Twitter Staff. Some Found It Incoherent. | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spoke-to-twitter-staff-some-found-it-incoherent-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spoke-to-twitter-staff-some-found-it-incoherent-2022-6 |
"Customers aggressively moved to pork during the quarter," Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen said.
Brontë Wittpenn/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
Consumers are changing how they shop as inflation continues to hit, executives from Kroger say.
This includes buying own-brand products and switching from beef to pork.
Kroger said it expected inflation to remain high for the rest of the year.
Inflation-hit consumers are changing how they shop, executives from Kroger say.
Some are opting to buy own brands rather than big names and others are switching from beef to cheaper meats like pork.
"We are seeing different shopping behaviors based on how individual customers are experiencing the current inflationary environment," CEO Rodney McMullen said.
More than half of Americans are using their savings, borrowing money, or going into debt to cover their expenses amid soaring inflation, according to a survey of 2,000 shoppers by the US National Retail Federation conducted in May and released this week. Two-thirds of respondents said they're worried about higher prices on everyday items and almost half said they're switching to cheaper alternatives.
Customers are "aggressively starting to buy" Kroger own-label products, McMullen said. Total identical sales without fuel increased 4.1% in the quarter, while identical sales for Kroger's own-brand brands increased 6.3%.
"When the economy is tight, our brands always gain share," McMullen said.
This is good for Kroger. Its gross margin for sales of its own-brand products is on average around 6% higher than big-name brands, McMullen said.
"And if you look at profit per item, it's similar or, in many cases, actually higher," McMullen added.
Kroger said that it launched 239 new own-brand products during the quarter.
In particular, inflation has pushed the price of fuel up. On average in the US, fuel now costs $5.00 a gallon, up from $3.08 a year ago, according to the AA. Kroger said that more customers were using its fuel rewards program than ever before and that it was reaping higher profits, too.
Kroger's profit margin for fuel sales was $0.42 per gallon, compared with $0.35 in the same quarter last year, CFO Gary Millerchip said.
Overall, customers are coming in more frequently and spending more money but they're not buying as many items during each shop, McMullen said.
"We're also seeing customers, especially customers that aren't as sensitive to their budget, upscaling with or buying bigger packs," he added.
As well as buying in bulk, consumers are changing which food items they're buying, too. "Customers aggressively moved to pork during the quarter," McMullen said. "And some of that movement was at the expense of people not buying as much beef because it's a great value for the money."
"We think the customers are doing a lot of work on balancing their total budget, and we continue to balance it as well with promotions," McMullen said.
Kroger said it expected inflation to remain high for the rest of the year, though noted that year-over-year inflation would soon start to overlap elevated levels from the second half of 2021.
Kroger said that despite soaring fuel costs it could control transportation costs better because it owns and operates some of its delivery fleet. It said that it also saw improvements in product availability because of its supplier relationships. McMullen said that Kroger was "cautiously optimistic" in a broader supply chain recovery throughout the year.
"We were successful in offsetting inflation headwinds in many parts of our business and continued investments in our associate wages by reducing costs in areas that do not impact the customer experience," Millerchip said.
More: kroger Retail Inflation Grocery Store | 2022-06-17T12:09:46Z | www.businessinsider.com | Inflation: Kroger Shoppers Choosing Own Brands, Switching to Pork | https://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-kroger-money-price-shop-shoppers-own-brands-beef-pork-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-kroger-money-price-shop-shoppers-own-brands-beef-pork-2022-6 |
An entrepreneur who turned his ecommerce side hustle into a full-time job ranks Amazon, Etsy, and eBay from most to least favorite
Neil Lassen has made a living for the last 10 years in ecommerce, selling various items online.
In his experience, Etsy is the best site for most sellers, with Merch by Amazon coming in second.
He doesn't recommend using eBay, due to its algorithm and lack of payment processor.
When Neil Lassen, 30, was in college, he was tired of making $8 an hour working at Target. He started looking into ways to make money online and quickly found a knack for selling merchandise — especially more hands-off, print-on-demand items.
Today, Lassen spends his days running a fully online business to help other ecommerce merchants get traction with customers by sharing tips, tricks, and skills he's learned over the last decade.
One thing he's learned is where it's easiest and hardest to sell. Below, he ranks three of the biggest sites he's worked with — Etsy, Amazon, and eBay — from most to least favorite.
Etsy has a bad reputation with some creators, due to the cut the site takes of creators' profit, without offering to handle any of the customer service or other logistics. That said, Lassen said that he still thinks it's better for many creators than either Amazon, or eBay.
"Yes, you have to deal with customer service," Lassen told Insider. "But I think Etsy's a lot better just because it gives you way more control over your business. You actually get to interact with these customers, which will lead to a way better review rate than the 1% you might get on Amazon."
That said, he conceded that Etsy does take a large cut of the profit and just raised its fees, and understands why that hurts the creator's bottom line. But he said that it's not the full picture of what Etsy has to offer.
"Everyone's very upset about that," Lassen said. "But at the same time, almost everyone that I work with, who's just trying to get something set up online, just wants to make a few bucks. Those people are going to fail unless the audience is already built in, and Etsy has done that."
He added that doing print-on-demand via Etsy can help get around production costs for sellers, and that one way to recoup costs if you're making handmade items, which Etsy is very popular for, is by building that cost into the price that the consumer pays.
"A lot of the artistic and creative people I deal with don't really understand the business side of everything, which is why I try to educate people," said Lassen. "Yes, you love needlepointing — but now here's how to actually turn into a business and how to price your stuff appropriately by looking at the market data."
While Lassen prefers Etsy for creators, especially those who hand-make products and don't do print-on-demand, "Amazon's got a way bigger buyer pool," Lassen said. "You get way more sales there."
Lassen specifically recommends Merch by Amazon, an arm of the company that allows independent creators to design their own print-on-demand merchandise, which Amazon will create, list, and ship to customers via Amazon Prime. The creator of the design only receives a royalty fee, but it's much less work for the creator and may ultimately become a more passive stream of income.
"I would implore people to actually do a little bit of research on the business," Lassen said. "Because most people don't know that you can sell physical products without actually shipping anything, which I think is like the coolest thing ever."
The platform that Lassen likes the least is eBay, which he tried to use for his own merchandise early in his business ventures. "They don't have nearly as many customers," Lassen said, and "the algorithm to actually get things ranked on eBay is a lot harder."
Lassen explained that Etsy and Amazon don't require you to "continuously monitor the product," because the algorithm for those sites will keep your product afloat indefinitely, but eBay won't. Additionally, Lassen dislikes that you have to deal with PayPal to do commerce on eBay, while Etsy has its own payment processor and Merch by Amazon pays people a simple royalty fee.
To Lassen, the merits of the other two platforms over eBay is a no-brainer, due to the products remaining evergreen on those platforms and how they have much more customers than eBay.
"When's the last time you saw an eBay commercial?" Lassen asked. "You see Etsy ones all the time now."
ADVERTISING How eBay is trying to overhaul its advertising business to be more like Amazon and Walmart
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ENTREPRENEURSHIP 3 strategies a 30-year-old entrepreneur used to turn his side hustle into a full time job
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More: eBay eCommerce merchandise | 2022-06-17T12:35:14Z | www.businessinsider.com | Amazon, Etsy, and eBay for Sellers, Ranked by an Ecommerce Merchant | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-etsy-ebay-for-sellers-ranked-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-etsy-ebay-for-sellers-ranked-2022-6 |
The Zaandam cruise ship pulls into Port Everglades.
Cruise ship entertainers had to become cleaners when COVID-19 hit, according to a new book.
Two dancers carried disinfectant tanks and sprayed corridors daily, Bloomberg reported per the book.
The excerpt said the cruise ship was understaffed because workers were ill with the virus.
Entertainers onboard a cruise ship had to take on cleaning jobs when the vessel went into lockdown because of COVID-19, according to a new book.
Cabin Fever, by Michael Smith and Jonathan Franklin, details what happened in March 2020 when the virus spread on Holland America's MS Zaandam cruise ship, according to an excerpt of the book reported by Bloomberg.
The virus had infected many crew members, leaving the ship understaffed, per the excerpt. As a result, entertainers onboard Zaandam were forced to help with disinfecting the interior of the ship.
Some of the jobs involved wiping down surfaces, door handles, handrails, and buttons in elevators with antibacterial handwipes, while others were in charge of filling up dozens of hand sanitizer dispensers, according to Bloomberg's report of the book.
Two dancers had to spray disinfect in corridors on a daily basis from tanks carried on their backs, the book said.
The dancers joked about the job being called the "Covid Buster," a reference to the film "Ghostbusters."
One housekeeper on the ship worked 14-hour shifts to deliver meals to the 716 cabins, the excerpt said, reported by Bloomberg.
A volunteer worker who came from another cruise ship, MS Rotterdam, said there were only 15 staff well enough to take food to guests' cabins, according to the book.
Only 11 workers were available to clean the kitchen, take out trash, and operate the dishwashers, rather than the usual 24 workers, Bloomberg's report said.
Four passengers died on board the Zaandam and dozens more had COVID symptoms on a cruise that began in Argentina and was due to end in Punta Arenas, Chile.
Due to the outbreak nobody was allowed to leave the ship in Chile and passengers without symptoms of the virus were transferred to another cruise liner after a fortnight, Reuters reported at the time. The Zaandam had to travel to Fort Lauderdale to dock.
Holland America didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
The cruise industry had to rapidly when the pandemic struck. Insider has reported how some crew had to cope with loneliness, a lack of shore leave, and mandatory quarantines.
Some passengers and staff even had to eat rotten food and didn't have enough water, The Washington Post reported.
Others told Mail Online they "felt like lepers" after being forced to isolate in their cabins during COVID-19 outbreaks.
More: transport Transportation Ship Cruise Ship | 2022-06-17T12:35:20Z | www.businessinsider.com | Cruise Ship Entertainers Became COVID-19 Cleaners After Outbreak: Book | https://www.businessinsider.com/cruise-ship-entertainers-forced-cleaners-disinfect-covid-lockdown-book-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/cruise-ship-entertainers-forced-cleaners-disinfect-covid-lockdown-book-2022-6 |
Boris Johnson faces wrath of Red Wall Tory MPs after pulling out of Doncaster event at last minute
Catherine Neilan and Henry Dyer
Boris Johnson is facing the wrath of northern Tory MPs after pulling out of an event at the last minute.
MPs said they had been given "an assurance" he would attend before last week's vote of no confidence.
Tom Tugendhat, a southern MP and potential leadership rival, is due to speak instead.
Boris Johnson is facing the wrath of Red Wall MPs after the prime minister pulled out of addressing an event for those in their patch.
Sources told Insider that Johnson had been expected to deliver a speech at the Doncaster-based Northern Research Group (NRG) conference Friday afternoon. However, on Friday morning, Number 10 confirmed he would not be attending.
The group, which is made up of Conservative MPs from some of England's northern constituencies, had received "an assurance" Johnson was likely to attend prior to last week's vote of confidence, one Tory said.
It was in his itinerary as late as Thursday morning, sources said, with the expectation that he would visit nearby Wakefield as part of the by-election campaign.
"Doesn't he have to drive past the fucking place?" one backbencher said.
However, with Number 10 refusing to confirm the prime minister's location, MPs began speculating that he may be visiting Tiverton, home to another looming by-election, or even Ukraine.
One NRG member said: "As ever, if there has been a domestic problem he goes to Ukraine... there is always an endorsement from President Zelenskyy to be had."
Some sources suggested the conference could be an opportunity for further plotting against the prime minister with leadership contender Tom Tugendhat — who represents Tonbridge and Malling in Kent — addressing the northern group instead.
Rishi Sunak, the chancellor and one-time favourite rival to Johnson, has also attended.
One Labour MP was scathing, telling Insider: "Pissing off a load of your northern members doesn't seem the best solution ... could almost write the attack lines."
Tory MPs from the Red Wall — a catch-all term for northern working-class seats that swung from Labour to the Conservatives — were heavily wooed by Downing Street during the recent leadership crisis.
However, many others rebelled and some were only prevented from doing so at the last minute, sources say.
One MP told Insider he was already having regrets about having backed Johnson.
Many have been offered junior roles within government, with one rebel Tory MP telling Insider: "Any member of 2019 intake who doesn't have a job have decided they don't want a job."
More: News UK Boris Johnson Leadership | 2022-06-17T14:06:30Z | www.businessinsider.com | Boris Johnson Faces Northern MP Fury After Pulling Out of NRG Event | https://www.businessinsider.com/boris-johnson-faces-northern-mp-wrath-pulls-out-nrg-event-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/boris-johnson-faces-northern-mp-wrath-pulls-out-nrg-event-2022-6 |
Spotify is shaking up its ranks as it makes a bigger push into ad sales and seeks to reassure investors about its future
Spotify cofounder and CEO Daniel Ek at the 2018 Code conference.
Greg Sandoval/Business Insider
Spotify is shaking up its sales ranks as it makes a bigger push into the advertising business.
Spotify wants to grow advertising from 15% of its business to at least 20%.
It's eager to reassure investors who have questioned its profitability prospects.
Spotify is shaking up its executive ranks as it makes a bigger push into the advertising business and seeks to reassure investors about its growth prospects.
The company named Snap exec Per Sandell as VP of ad product, starting in September, Insider has learned. He'll join Miladin Pavlicic, a fellow Snap alum who joined Spotify in March and with Sandell is credited with building Snap's ad platform.
Sandell will report to ads head Lee Brown, who is moving up to VP, Head of Global Advertising Business & Platform. Jay Richman, who currently has that title, is leaving the company.
Spotify has grown into a music streaming giant, with ads a small but growing part of the business as advertisers pay to reach non-paying listeners of its music and podcasts.
Advertising made up 15% of its business at the end of 2021, and Spotify wants to grow that to at least 20%.
The company touted becoming a $1 billion ad business this year, with ad revenue tripling since 2018, and laid out ambitions to get that figure to $10 billion over time by shifting from buying ads based on podcast titles to an automated system.
But Spotify has come under fire from investors who question the company's profitability prospects and its stock sliding 55% this year. In the first quarter, it reported subscriber growth that was lower than its earlier forecast, inviting comparisons with Netflix , whose subscription business has also recently softened. It's also faced a storm of criticism from artists protesting Spotify's handling of its star podcaster Joe Rogan's spreading of COVID misinformation and past use of a racial slur. And its move beyond business to podcasts has come with other challenges.
With those headwinds, Spotify is eager to show it's building a cutting-edge ads business in the mold of Snapchat, which stood out for its early innovations like AR.
More: Spotify podcast advertising podcasts Joe Rogan | 2022-06-17T14:06:54Z | www.businessinsider.com | Spotify Shakes up Advertising Ranks to Grow Sales | https://www.businessinsider.com/spotify-shakes-up-advertising-ranks-to-grow-sales-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/spotify-shakes-up-advertising-ranks-to-grow-sales-2022-6 |
The timing of your job offer determines how you should negotiate your salary. Here's what to do in every scenario, according to an executive recruiter.
Rob Cancilla.
Rob Cancilla is a senior director of executive recruiting for early-stage VC-backed companies.
He says they there are 3 common scenarios; the slow play, the exploding offer, and the quick draw.
You should approach each one differently since they impact your negotiation power.
As an executive recruiter I've overseen hundreds of job offers from account executives to CEOs. I've learned that the timing of when you receive your offer is just as important as how much you negotiate.
Most candidates don't take into consideration how the timing of their offers impacts how to approach their negotiations.
Here are three common scenarios and how you should negotiate in each one.
Scenario 1: The quick draw
If you receive your offer in 1-3 business days after your final interview you're most likely the "lead candidate."
This means, after an exhaustive search of four to eight weeks and interviewing 10-20 candidates, the company is excited to offer you the job as their number one choice.
I categorize this as a medium-to-high negotiation power as being the number one candidate is a fantastic seat to be in at the offer stage.
You can feel confident in negotiating your salary in this scenario. Companies love to feel like they landed their number one candidate and are often comfortable negotiating to make that happen, as long as it's within reason.
Scenario 2: The exploding offer
An exploding offer is an offer with a pre-determined expiration date — typically 1-3 business days.
Exploding offers are often given when the company is comfortable hiring the number one candidate or hiring the number two candidate. The exploding offer acts as an insurance policy for the company allowing them to be able to quickly turn around and make an offer to the number two candidate if it does not work out with you.
Like the "quick draw" you're most likely the lead candidate and the timeline can be the similar — typically a week from your final interview. The big difference is now there might be competition with the number two candidate.
You can definitely negotiate an exploding offer, but I categorize this as a medium-low negotiating power as the number two candidate is probably right behind you waiting for the same offer.
Scenario 3: The slow play
You receive an offer 1-3 weeks after your final interview. In this scenario, the company most likely made an offer to the number 1 candidate, but couldn't come to an agreement in the negotiation.
In this scenario, you're probably the number 2 candidate, and that's not a bad thing.
Here's why: Often companies will bring two, maybe three people, to final interviews. Even when companies have three candidates in final interviews, it's very rare for a company to be comfortable making an offer to all three — they could be happy offering it to any one of you. This means you're in a fantastic scenario, because the company probably has limited options at this point if you don't accept the offer.
I categorize this scenario as a high negotiating power for you. It's important to not take being the number two personally, as the number one candidate might have more experience than you.
Every salary negotiation is different and you should utilize multiple data points and resources to evaluate how much you should negotiate. These scenarios should be treated as directional as you often can't validate these scenarios in real-time, but I've given hundreds of offers and in my experience, the timing matters.
Rob Cancilla is a senior director of executive recruiting for early-stage venture capital-backed companies and a job search content creator. | 2022-06-17T14:32:35Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to Negotiate Your Salary Depending on When You Get the Job Offer | https://www.businessinsider.com/executive-recruiter-explains-best-negotiate-three-types-job-offer-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/executive-recruiter-explains-best-negotiate-three-types-job-offer-2022-6 |
Prices for gas and diesel fuel, over $5 a gallon, are displayed at a petrol station in Monterey Park, California on March 4, 2022. - Californians filling up their cars on March 4, winced at the spiraling cost of gasoline, but largely shrugged as residents of the state that has long had the highest gas prices in the United States.
Local Florida police are on the lookout for two men who stole about $6,000 worth of diesel.
Experts have warned skyrocketing prices may cause a rise in fuel theft rings.
Diesel prices have surged over the past year and linger near a record average of $5.79 per gallon.
—St.Cloud Police Dept (@StCloudPD) June 14, 2022
"They go in and they change the pulsator," Bowman said. "The pulsator is the device that is inside the gas pump that regulates the flow of the fuel. So they're able to change the price of the fuel down to a nickel or a penny to the gallon and fill the back of their trucks up—their bladders or spare tanks—with fuel that's basically free."
More: Gas Gas Prices Diesel Diesel Shortage | 2022-06-17T14:32:41Z | www.businessinsider.com | Thieves Stole 1,093 Gallons of Diesel Amid String of Fuel Thefts | https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-thieves-stole-thousand-gallons-diesel-fuel-hidden-truck-tanks-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-thieves-stole-thousand-gallons-diesel-fuel-hidden-truck-tanks-2022-6 |
Many companies commodify holidays with sales and promotions.
Walmart's "Celebration Edition: Juneteenth Ice Cream" was pulled from shelves after backlash.
Here's how companies can commemorate identity-based holidays like Juneteenth respectfully.
For years, corporations have capitalized on holidays and turned them into marketing ploys: President's Day sale, 4th of July deals, Labor Day discounts, and so on. But earlier this month, when Walmart's "Celebration Edition: Juneteenth Ice Cream" was pulled from shelves after widespread backlash, I can't say that I was surprised. In fact, I was relieved.
On its face, Walmart's Juneteenth, red-velvet flavored ice-cream could be perceived as an earnest effort to shed light on a holiday that's recently become popular across the nation. Instead, many Black folks felt that the gesture was disingenuous; a commodification of a painful time in our nation's history, not a commemoration.
Juneteenth recognizes June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, two months after the Confederacy had surrendered. It was over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in Southern states. Last year, President Biden signed a bill that deemed Juneteenth a federal holiday.
As the CEO of LaLew Public Relations, I felt Walmart's debacle was avoidable. I've been in business for six years and a consumer for much longer. Walmart made the decision to produce the Juneteenth ice cream because they thought it was going to be profitable. Had the retail giant been more intentional about respecting the meaning behind the holiday, they may have made different decisions.
As brands look for ways to recognize identity-based holidays, here are three ways companies can commemorate Juneteenth in a respectful manner.
Support Black businesses
There are thousands of artists, startups, and creatives who are producing quality products. Companies like Bright Black Candle, which specializes in vegan candles, and the the Sable Collective, lifestyle boutique that sources from women artisans of color, are great options to pour resources into.
Supporting Black businesses helps curb the racial wealth gap that afflicts the Black community and particularly small business owners. Black Americans only have 17 cents for every dollar the average white American has. At the start of the pandemic, Black business ownership declined more than 40%, according to a report by the House Committee on Small Business Committee. But many of these businesses faced challenges prior to the pandemic; securing access to capital and racial discrimination chief among them.
Ensuring these Black businesses have access to financial resources can help bridge the gap and help safeguard their futures. Companies should strongly consider how they can use their influence to eliminate this injustice. Every dollar matters when it comes to the health of the Black economy.
Resist the urge to commercialize the holiday
Don't cheapen the significance of the holiday by plastering "Juneteenth" on mugs and keychains.
Not all holidays are a fit for branded material. It's OK to hit the pause button on gimmicks and allow the true nature of the holiday to take precedence. Perhaps companies can publicize a message that reinforces their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. They could offer learning opportunities on effective allyship like Microsoft, who offered a course to all its employees to build a more inclusive culture. Companies could elevate conversations around microaggressions in the workplace. They could use the holiday to educate employees on disenfranchised communities.
Practice appreciation without commercialization.
Test before you go public
Many brands don't seek opinions from the communities they're attempting to honor. But this step could help spot problematic intentions.
Get input from those in the community. Walmart spent a lot of money mass producing ice cream, designing its packaging, using fuel to transport the ice cream from the manufacturer to the store, and paying employees to shelve it. Perhaps if Walmart tested or received feedback, they could have saved production costs.
Companies could employ a panel of diversity experts, marketing professionals, and Black community leaders to sign off on all Juneteenth collateral before finalizing. Companies should question their intentions and try to anticipate any fallout that may occur. They should also gather constructive feedback from within the business. Companies could work with experts to highlight the unconscious biases that have plagued the marketing and advertising world for too long.
Jessica Lewis is the CEO of LaLew Public Relations and is based in Rochester, New York. She is a marketing and branding expert who approaches her work through a lens of equity and inclusion.
More: juneteenth Walmart Holiday Black America | 2022-06-17T14:32:47Z | www.businessinsider.com | Here's How Companies Can Commemorate Juneteenth Respectfully. | https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-companies-can-commemorate-juneteenth-respectfully | https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-companies-can-commemorate-juneteenth-respectfully |
A federal prosecutor said the Justice Department wants a trial "as early as possible."
Navarro accused prosecutors of pushing for a speedy trial to "exploit" his lack of legal counsel.
The former Trump advisor hired defense lawyers the day before formally pleading not guilty.
A federal judge on Friday set a November trial date for the contempt of Congress case against Peter Navarro, the former Trump advisor who was charged in early June with illegally defying the special House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Judge Amit Mehta scheduled the trial to start November 17, rejecting a suggestion from Navarro's defense team that the court proceeding begin in early 2023.
A grand jury indicted Navarro weeks after the House referred the former Trump advisor to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution over his refusal to sit for a deposition or turn over records to the House January 6 committee. The Justice Department had previously brought contempt of Congress charges against Steve Bannon, who is set to stand trial in July.
In the initial weeks after his indictment, Navarro represented himself and said he was running up against "a number of hurdles" in hiring defense lawyers. But on the eve of his arraignment, a pair of defense lawyers — John Irving and John Rowley — entered appearances to represent Navarro.
Navarro accused the Justice Department and FBI of misconduct, claiming the law enforcement agencies were rushing his case and "pushing very hard for a 'speedy trial' as part of its strategy to exploit the unrepresented."
"Clearly, the prosecution's strategy is to take advantage of an individual without adequate representation," Navarro wrote in a letter to Judge Amit Mehta. "At this point, I am very actively seeking a legal team but am facing a number of hurdles."
More: Peter Navarro House january 6 committee Justice Department contempt of congress | 2022-06-17T14:32:53Z | www.businessinsider.com | Ex-Trump Advisor Peter Navarro Pleaded Not Guilty to Contempt of Congress Charges | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-peter-navarro-plea-not-guilty-contempt-congress-january-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-peter-navarro-plea-not-guilty-contempt-congress-january-2022-6 |
A trader works at the New York Stock Exchange NYSE in New York, the United States, on March 9, 2022.
Crypto lender Babel is freezing withdrawals for users due to "unusual liquidity pressures."
It's the second major platform to do so this week as the crypto market faces a massive selloff.
Celsius previously stopped letting customers withdraw their holdings on Sunday.
Another major crypto lending platform has stopped letting people take out their holdings.
Babel Finance, which is based in Hong Kong and boasts a customer base of 500, said Friday that withdrawals from its services will be "temporarily suspended" as cryptocurrencies face a brutal and widespread selloff.
"The crypto market has seen major fluctuations, and some institutions in the industry have experienced conductive risk events," Babel said on its website. "Due to the current situation, Babel Finance is facing unusual liquidity pressures."
Babel did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
The firm was last valued at $2 billion in May, Reuters reported, and only allows the trading and lending of bitcoin, ethereum, and stablecoins.
It's also not the only lending platform to halt withdrawals as liquidity pressures mount amid a worsening market rout.
Celsius Network said Sunday that it was doing the same for its 1.7 million customers, citing "extreme market conditions."
Celsius users told Insider this week that they're anxious about their holdings currently trapped on the platform. One user said he has $105,000 worth of crypto stuck on the app. Another said she may have lost two years' worth of income.
The price of bitcoin, still the largest and most well-known cryptocurrency, has declined 70% from a November 2021 peak. The slump has dragged down the entire market's value below $1 trillion for the first time since February 2021.
The rout's also impacted hedge funds like the 10-year-old, crypto-focused Three Arrows Capital, also known as 3AC. The firm has hired "legal and financial advisers," the Wall Street Journal reported, following massive losses sparked by a major investment in stablecoins that later tanked.
3AC is also now faced with $400 million in liquidations, according to The Block.
Founders Zhu Su and Kyle Davies, meanwhile, have "ghosted" their business partners as they grapple with concerns over insolvency, Vice reported.
NOW WATCH: A crypto expert explains the difference between the two largest cryptocurrencies in the world: bitcoin and Ethereum
More: crypto DeFi crypto lending | 2022-06-17T15:37:58Z | www.businessinsider.com | Crypto Lending Firm Babel Freezing Withdrawals for Users Amid Selloff | https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-lending-babel-freeze-withdrawals-for-users-celsius-bitcoin-selloff-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-lending-babel-freeze-withdrawals-for-users-celsius-bitcoin-selloff-2022-6 |
A top Frito-Lay exec reveals its secret weapon to keeping sales growing in the pandemic and figuring out which consumer behaviors will last
Rachel Ferdinando, SVP, CMO, Frito-Lay North America.
Frito-Lay has been a bright spot for PepsiCo as people gobbled up familiar snacks in the pandemic.
The snack giant's CMO revealed how the unit used data to adapt to changing consumer behavior in real-time.
She discussed which pandemic consumer changes will stick even as people venture out again.
Frito-Lay North America has been a bright spot for PepsiCo as people gravitated to familiar salty snacks in the pandemic.
It wasn't by accident. Back in 2020, the snack maker developed its own tools to analyze consumer data, test ads, and plan its marketing, with help from its in-house ad agency.
Frito-Lay's top marketer laid out in an interview how using these tools, along with commercially available ones, has paid off. By being able to take findings directly to marketing leadership, the company has significantly shrunk the time between identifying consumer trends and responding with product or marketing changes, sometimes to a matter of minutes.
"We can ask a question and get an answer within 24 hours," said Frito-Lay SVP and CMO Rachel Ferdinando, whose focus on using data landed her a spot on Insider's 2021 Most Innovative CMOs list. "It also helped us learn how people are shifting in how they're thinking about food."
Early in the pandemic, Frito-Lay used these tools to pick up on people feeling insecure, followed by cravings for joy and the ability to travel again. It also learned people were using its snacks in new ways — as part of a meal and even an ingredient.
"In the beginning of the pandemic, it was, 'I want my trusted brands that make me feel secure. It then became, I'm stuck at home using an ingredient as entertainment,'" she said.
From that data came four new internationally inspired flavors for Lays potato chips, including tzatziki and Thai basil chili. It also kicked up its recipe efforts, creating hundreds of new ways for people to use its products in recipes, like veggie burgers using crushed Cheetos and mini apple pies featuring cinnamon sugar pita chips.
It pivoted its TV message to talk about how it was helping people with a campaign called "It's About People."
Using social media, Frito-Lay tracked when supplies ran out and pointed people to places to find them. It also spun up a direct-to-consumer site, Snacks.com, which is tied to its Tasty Rewards loyalty program that the company uses to collect customer data.
It even created a novelty product, Lay's Bestseller, a hollow book people could use to hide snacks from roommates in quarantine.
Some pandemic behaviors will endure
Frito-Lay tapped Megan Thee Stallion, shown at the Grammys, for its Super Bowl ad.
Maria Alejandra Cardona/Reuters
People are venturing out again and inflation is raging, presenting fresh challenges for marketers. Mainstream brands like Frito-Lay's also face growing competition from startups catering to young people's taste for new and healthier products.
But Ferdinando sees more growth ahead, thanks to the company's ability to get a quick read on what consumers want.
As people seek to reconnect, Frito-Lay has made a big shift to capitalize on cultural moments. In its splashiest example to date, the brand enlisted Megan Thee Stallion to appear in a Super Bowl ad for its Flamin' Hot line and debut a music video on the surface of an actual Dorito chip, using Snap's augmented reality lens.
"It really comes down to, when we have a big cultural moment, how do we make it more immersive," Ferdinando said.
Frito-Lay also is announcing June 17 that it's signing on as a North American regional supporter for the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup. The company says it is FIFA's first-ever "salty snack" brand partnership and that it presents a chance to tie Frito-Lay's broad household penetration to a hugely popular sport and healthy lifestyle.
"Soccer is the world's most popular sport and the US is its fastest-growing market," Ferdinando said. "It's about creating opportunity for all. There's a lot of shared value there."
As for other trends, she also predicts some pandemic behaviors will endure. The connection to home will stick, despite people having more opportunities to go out. People will continue to expect a seamless connection between shopping online and in store. And the heightened sense of health that was elevated during the pandemic won't go away.
At the same time, inflation has pinched people in the wallet. In its first fiscal quarter this year, PepsiCo's revenue was mostly driven by price increases.
That's where the company sees things like its DTC and recipe sites as playing an important role, promoting chips as part of meals, selling personalized products, and learning more about what consumers want.
"The value occasion will be important," Ferdinando said.
More: Frito-Lay PepsiCo Megan Thee Stallion | 2022-06-17T15:38:04Z | www.businessinsider.com | Frito-Lay CMO Lays Out Pandemic Data Marketing Strategy | https://www.businessinsider.com/frito-lay-cmo-pandemic-marketing-strategy-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/frito-lay-cmo-pandemic-marketing-strategy-2022-6 |
How a 23-year-old built a lucrative side hustle as a LinkedIn influencer and how much she earns
Stephanie Nuesi
23-year-old Stephanie Nuesi works at Google, but is building a career consulting startup on the side.
She has 120,100 followers on LinkedIn, and uses her presence to drive clients and get sponsorships.
Nuesi signed three contracts for sponsored content last month totaling $6,875.
Without an ad-share model like YouTube, or the reputation as a brand deal repository like Instagram, LinkedIn hasn't historically been regarded as a hub for creator monetization.
But the platform has made a push in recent months to change that. Last fall, the platform announced a $25 million commitment to the creator sector, including an Accelerator Program (which has handed out $15,000 grants to 100 influencers) and subsequently unveiled an in-house podcast network in February.
Today, some career-minded influencers say they're harnessing LinkedIn to make a healthy living.
Twenty-three-year-old Stephanie Nuesi is a full-time associate financial analyst at Google, but on her off hours is building Max Up, a career consulting startup she founded in college. She said that LinkedIn – where she counts 120,100 followers – has not only been instrumental in garnering clients, but also in raking in brand deals.
In May, Nuesi signed three brand deals for sponsored content that came to her through LinkedIn for a total of $6,875. In addition to LinkedIn, some contracts stipulated for content on other platforms, including Instagram, where Nuesi has 45,000 followers. Insider verified the figures with documents she provided.
Nuesi first started posting on LinkedIn when she founded Max Up in 2019, and started to gain traction. She shared the struggles and successes of her own job search, as well as her inspiring backstory: having immigrated to the US from the Dominican Republic in 2015, entering college without speaking English.
Her viral moment came in 2021, when she shared two posts chronicling her first two days of work at Google.
"I'm the first one in my family to study in the US, work in corporate America, and now join the tech world," she wrote in the post, which has 4 million views and 3,000 comments.
"I had to turn off my notifications because it just kind of blew up," Nuesi told Insider. "I don't even know how. I guess it's kind of like TikTok, where you can hit a million views overnight."
Adding more 'sauce' to her content
Nuesi has been at Google for almost one year, though LinkedIn – where she posts four times per week — has become a lucrative side hustle. (She declined to disclose the specifics of her arrangement with Google, but said she is permitted to work on Max Up during off hours.)
On LinkedIn, her biggest earners are sponsorships, including partnerships with Nextplay (an eight-week fellowship that helps participants break into the tech field), hiring app Hirect, and office software maker Condeco.
Brands also reach out to Nuesi on LinkedIn for sponsorships that will live on other platforms. One of the aforementioned deals last month exclusively involves TikTok posts.
Nuesi said LinkedIn is also key in helping funnel clients to Max Up, where she offers resume and cover letter reviews, career coaching, and interview prep sessions. Various packages are offered, with a resume tune-up starting at $147.00.
"Most of my clients come to me through LinkedIn," she said, to the tune of three to four per month, "which is a lot considering I spend $0 on advertising."
Nuesi added that LinkedIn has also helped her land speaking gigs at universities and companies. While this is sporadic – roughly once every three months – she can make $500 for a one-hour gig.
At LinkedIn, Nuesi is a "managed creator," meaning she has been assigned an in-house strategist and also gets access to press opportunities and networking events. The best advice she's gotten from her channel manager so far? To add more "sauce" to her content by embracing polarizing topics, like candidates getting ghosted by recruiters or a recent swath of tech layoffs.
"I started creating polls and having conversations about those things, and my audience just kind of changed," she said. "People looked up to me a little bit more than they did before."
More: LinkedIn Google Influencer career coach | 2022-06-17T15:38:34Z | www.businessinsider.com | Online Side Hustle Making Over $6,000 a Month: LinkedIn Influencer | https://www.businessinsider.com/online-side-hustle-making-thousands-a-month-linkedin-influencer-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/online-side-hustle-making-thousands-a-month-linkedin-influencer-2022-6 |
Boris Johnson's Doncaster snub backfires with leadership rivals expected to woo Red Wall MPs
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Leon Neal - WPA Pool /Getty Images
Northern Tory MPs say Johnson's decision to pull out of a northern conference may have backfired.
The party's autumn conference could be a "beauty parade" for leadership rivals, one said.
Another noted that only 32 Johnson supporters need to rebel for the PM to lose another confidence vote.
Boris Johnson's last-minute decision to back out of an event with northern Conservative MPs has fired the starting gun on yet another leadership challenge, Tories believe.
The prime minister's surprise decision to visit Ukraine instead of addressing the Doncaster-based Northern Research Group is now expected to result in rivals vying for the support of the Red Wall group of MPs that he snubbed.
Many of those MPs, who entered Parliament in 2019, gave the prime minister conditional support during last week's vote of no confidence.
One MP who backed Johnson last week has told Insider they already regret doing so.
Another Tory suggested that the party's autumn conference could become a "beauty parade" for leadership rivals, saying: "[Contenders] have five weeks to get the numbers and ensure people are onside. Then conference becomes a beauty parade and if an alternative is available, all bets are off."
Rivals would be getting prepared over the summer, with things "going a lot faster than people think"," he added. "Rules don't matter — everything is guidelines."
"The Red Wall saved him — now the Red Wall is looking at alternatives. Not going is one of the biggest, stupidest fucking mistakes ever."
Another senior backbencher noted that after last week's vote of no confidence, the rebels needed 32 Johnson supporters to switch in order to bring the prime minister down.
As of October 2020, the Northern Research Group had 55 members, with around 20 attending the Doncaster event.
"It's a rollercoaster without breaks," the MP said. "Sooner or later the wheels will come off it's just impossible to know when.
"I am sure they've calculated that the downside of visiting Wakefield far outweighed the downside of missing the NRG," they said, referring to expectations that he would visit nearby Wakefield as part of a by-election campaign there. "And everyone would understand a visit to Ukraine. Think they may have miscalculated."
Instead of hearing from the prime minister, assembled MPs, business representatives, and others heard from Tom Tugendhat, the MP for Tonbridge and Malling, who has not ruled out a leadership challenge.
On Thursday night, MPs also heard a speech from Chancellor Rishi Sunak, which one attendee said was "full of energy."
More: News UK Boris Johnson | 2022-06-17T16:47:24Z | www.businessinsider.com | Boris Johnson Red Wall Snub Backfires, Resurrecting Leadership Doubts | https://www.businessinsider.com/boris-johnson-red-wall-snub-backfires-resurrecting-leadership-doubts-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/boris-johnson-red-wall-snub-backfires-resurrecting-leadership-doubts-2022-6 |
Florida governor Ron DeSantis released a survey asking school board members and candidates to share their view on controversial education policies.
Lynne Sladky/Associated Press
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' campaign released a survey for school board members and candidates
The survey would let respondents' stance on topics like critical race theory be used in his campaign ads.
It's the latest move by DeSantis to inject politics into the non-partisan education system.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis decried "woke indoctrination" as he announced a survey for school board members and candidates to share their takes on controversial education policies — and let him turn their grievances into ads for his political campaigns.
It's the latest attempt by the Republican governor to inject politics into the state's non-partisan school boards.
The DeSantis Education Agenda — laid out in a survey on DeSantis' campaign website — says it aims to stop the "woke agenda from infiltrating public schools."
The blueprint features 10 short phrases that his campaign says could be a "model for other states." The agenda includes policy positions like increasing teacher pay and supporting mental health initiatives.
But the vast majority of the blueprint references culture war flashpoints that have fueled strife at school board meetings across the country. The agenda decries critical race theory — a university-level concept rarely taught in schools — as well as "woke gender ideology."
DeSantis asks respondents whether they agree students should be "educated not indoctrinated," and if they support the governor's efforts to teach kids the "horror of communism." Some questions in the survey are a simple "yes" or "no" while others include the option to submit a video or longer text answer.
But to take the survey, candidates have to sign away the right for the governor's campaign to use their opinions and concerns in political ads, on social media, and in other mediums.
The campaign website also notes that taking the survey doesn't count as an endorsement from DeSantis in their school board races.
A spokesperson from DeSantis' office did not immediately respond to an Insider request for comment.
Florida's school board elections are supposed to be non-partisan but are becoming the latest political battleground in the state. DeSantis, for his part, has waded into the fight over the state's education system, encouraging outraged parents to make their voices heard.
Earlier this year, he signed the Parental Rights Education Act into law, dubbed by critics as the "Don't Say Gay" bill for its restrictions on what teachers can say about sexual orientation and gender identity. Last year, he also signed an executive order banning school boards from enacting mask mandates and threatened to strip state funding from ones who did.
DeSantis is up for reelection in the state this year, with voting taking place in November. The rising Republican star could also flirt with a 2024 presidential run, with straw polls showing he garners more support from conservatives than Donald Trump, and one expert telling Insider's Azmi Haroun and Charles Davis that DeSantis has "absorbed the lessons" of the former President's playbook without the baggage.
More: Speed desk Ron DeSantis Florida school board | 2022-06-17T16:47:30Z | www.businessinsider.com | DeSantis School Board Survey Results Could Be Used in His Campaign Ads | https://www.businessinsider.com/desantis-woke-indoctrination-school-board-survey-candidates-grievances-campaign-ads-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/desantis-woke-indoctrination-school-board-survey-candidates-grievances-campaign-ads-2022-6 |
"Gravity Falls."
"Gravity Falls" creator Alex Hirsch shared censorship notes from Disney he received for the show.
One note asked to revise a moment where a male character puts his arm around another male character.
Disney has been embroiled in controversy over its depiction, or lack of, LGBTQ+ representation.
The creator of the Disney Channel animated series "Gravity Falls," which ran from 2012 to 2016, shared on Twitter on Thursday numerous standards-and-practices notes that Disney gave him for the show, and his responses.
Alex Hirsch, the creator, tweeted that the interactions are "100% real" and that he still wakes up "in cold sweats thinking about" the "thousands" of censorship notes he received on the series from Disney.
Disney representatives did not immediately return a request for comment from Insider.
One of Disney's concerns regarded two male characters, Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland, showing "flirtatious" affection towards one another.
"Please revise the action of Blubs putting his arm around Durland," the censors wrote, according to Hirsch. "As noted in previous concerns, their affectionate relationship should remain comical versus flirtatious."
Hirsch replied: "Nope. They're ... buddies. Chill out."
"The gesture is approved in this context," Disney responded, according to Hirsch.
—Alex Hirsch (@_AlexHirsch) June 16, 2022
Hirsch has spoken out before about Disney's concerns with LGBTQ+ themes in "Gravity Falls."
In 2020, he tweeted that Disney "forbade" him from depicting any explicit LGBTQ+ representation in the series. Though, he went on to applaud Disney for evolving and featuring queer characters in its animated series years after "Gravity Falls" ended.
Disney has been embroiled in controversy recently over its handling of LGBTQ+ representation in its content. Its initial lack of response to Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill, which prohibits sexuality and gender education in kindergarten through the third grade, sparked outcry from staffers.
Since then, some have spoken out about how the company has hindered LGBTQ+ themes in movies and TV. After Pixar staffers released a statement in March accusing cuts to "nearly every moment of overtly gay affection" in its movies, Disney restored a same-sex kiss to "Lightyear," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Three former staffers of the now-defunct animation studio Blue Sky, which Disney shut down last year, told Insider in March that Disney leadership had taken issue with a same-sex kiss in its movie "Nimona" (the movie has since been revived by Netflix for an expected 2023 release).
Other censorship notes Hirsch said he received from Disney included:
revising the phrase "chub pub" on a t-shirt because the word "chub" has a "sexual connotation.
revising the term "hoo-ha" because "it's a slang term for vagina."
More: Disney TV Hollywood Disney Channel | 2022-06-17T16:47:36Z | www.businessinsider.com | 'Gravity Falls' Creator Shares Disney's Censorship Notes | https://www.businessinsider.com/gravity-falls-creator-shares-disney-censorship-notes-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/gravity-falls-creator-shares-disney-censorship-notes-2022-6 |
Meet the automated kitchen assistants poised to revolutionize the restaurant industry
Created by Miso Robotics with Insider Studios
It's hard to believe an investment opportunity can be this tasty.
Miso Robotics is solving one of the biggest problems in food service with advanced, fully automated kitchen assistants designed for commercial-scale fast-food restaurants. With the ability to triple restaurant margins and double production, there's no question as to why 10 of the top 25 quick service restaurant brands have already started working with the company.
After all, this $300 billion industry has been plagued by some major challenges. Despite spending $70.3 billion on labor annually, workers are quitting the food service industry in droves, and it's not slowing down any time soon. In fact, the labor shortfall rose from 4.8% to 6.9% last year alone.
To make matters worse, restaurants are already skating by on razor-thin margins of just 5%. With high employee turnover, sky-high overhead, and plummeting profit margins, restaurants are having a hard time maintaining margins, much less boosting them.
But there's a new trend emerging. Brands are starting to realize that there's a way to fix this growing problem. It's called automation — and Miso Robotics is leading the way. Their automated kitchen assistants do all the heavy lifting in restaurant kitchens, filling some of the biggest gaps in back-of-house operations.
The best part? Miso's robotic kitchen assistants have the potential to triple restaurant profit margins by slashing costs. They work twice as fast and can boost food output by an impressive 30%. Plus, their compact design makes it easy for them to fit into even the smallest spaces.
From grilling to frying to drink-filling, Miso's kitchen assistants Flippy and Sippy provide restaurant staff with the time and space they need to focus on the most important parts of the job: customer service.
Consider the worker shortage solved.
Right now, Miso Robotics is on the fast track to success. The company has already brought advanced automation to renowned international fast-food brands, including White Castle and CaliBurger. In fact, White Castle saw such a positive impact on productivity from their Miso test run that they've decided to deploy Flippy to 100 more of their standalone locations.
Even global multi-brand restaurant company Inspire Brands — parent company of Buffalo Wild — is tailoring Miso's robots to its exact needs with Flippy Wings, the only robotic chicken wing frying solution designed for high-volume restaurants.
To top it all off, Miso's latest partnership is with Jack in the Box, who just launched a pilot program with the robotics company to improve restaurant efficiency and boost revenue. This could open up the door for Flippy and Sippy to integrate into more of its 2,200 US locations.
All of these partnerships are putting Miso on track to take over the US restaurant market, which includes as many as 250,000 nationwide fast-food restaurants.
With significant traction underway, Miso Robotics is ready to continue pushing forward and capturing the interest of other top brands in need of automation. The company has already put over $50 million in investments to excellent use by continually expanding and optimizing existing kitchen-automation technologies. The latest version of Flippy is smarter, faster, leaner, and more modular than ever. Now, they're continuing to raise funds for further advancement, and to develop robots for even more commercial kitchen tasks.
The idea of Miso Robotics cooking your next fast-food meal could become a reality — and soon. Now you can invest in the most capable automated frying solution available today, and become a part of the automation revolution. Secure your shares in Miso Robotics before the company's funding round closes June 23rd.
Miso Robotics is offering securities through the use of an Offering Statement that has been qualified by the Securities and Exchange Commission under Tier II of Regulation A. A copy of the Final Offering Circular that forms a part of the Offering Statement may be obtained from: Miso Robotics.
You should read the Offering Circular before making any investment. This paid content was prepared solely by Miso Robotics and does not necessarily reflect the views of Insider or its employees. It may contain forward-looking statements and information relating to, among other things, its business plan and strategy, and its industry. These statements reflect management's current views with respect to future events based on information currently available and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements as they are meant for illustrative purposes and they do not represent guarantees of future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements, all of which cannot be made. Moreover, no person nor any other person or entity assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of forward-looking statements, and is under no duty to update any such statements to conform them to actual results.
This post was created by Miso Robotics with Insider Studios.
More: Sponsor Post Studios Enterprise Studios Tech Brand Supplied
sp-ridge-article3 | 2022-06-17T16:47:48Z | www.businessinsider.com | Meet the Robotic Kitchen Assistants Revolutionizing Restaurant Service | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-a-robotics-company-is-solving-the-food-industrys-labor-shortage | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-a-robotics-company-is-solving-the-food-industrys-labor-shortage |
A man walks over hot coals in Thailand.
Ruslan Kaln/Getty Images
Corporate retreats are coming under fire for reports of injuries and out-of-control partying.
Two dozen Swiss employees were hurt this week after walking over hot coals during a team-building exercise.
This isn't the first time this has happened — staffers have been hurt in similar events over the past two decades.
For many white-collar workers, the annual company retreat was once a time-honored tradition, designed to bolster employee bonding and productivity while giving staffers the opportunity to blow off steam.
In recent years, however, the corporate retreat has gained an increasingly bad reputation. Staffers at a Swiss ad agency became the latest victims of a company outing gone awry, when more than two dozen attendees were hurt walking barefoot over hot coals during a team-building exercise.
The event joins a growing list of disastrous corporate excursions, including WeWork's drug and sex-filled "Summer Camp" and the notoriously raucous team events of Uber's early days.
A total of 13 of the Swiss staffers were hospitalized Tuesday after the hot-coal incident, which drew 10 ambulances and two emergency medical teams to the scene, according to local reports.
Emergency personnel responded to the scene after two dozen Swiss employees were injured walking on hot coals at a corporate retreat.
Zurich Cantonal Police
While the activity, also called fire walking, has long been a spiritual practice worldwide, it also is now a popular challenge for the corporate set — one that often renders results similar to those at the Swiss outing.
According to The New York Times, life coach and motivational speaker Tony Robbins features a fire walk at his annual seminars, which prompted injuries and hospitalizations in 2012 and 2016. And in 2001, several Burger King employees were similarly hurt walking over hot coals during a retreat.
And it's not just the third-degree burns raising eyebrows. Before the pandemic, buzzy startups became known for their exclusive, lavish summer outings, often held at lush venues or beachside towns like the Hamptons. These events — like Camp Glossier and Camp Rent The Runway — were often documented on social channels, where followers would watch wistfully and live vicariously from home.
—CHARM CITY COWGIRL (@chrmcitycowgirl) July 27, 2017
Such retreats have since taken on a new level of scrutiny, especially after reports of wild behavior and hefty spending at events like WeWork Summer Camp - even while the company hemorrhaged money behind the scenes unbeknownst to investors.
"We're talking people having sex in the bushes, people openly popping pills, railing lines [of drugs] in the middle of crowds while watching Bastille perform," an employee requesting anonymity told Business Insider's Julie Bort and Meghan Morris in 2019. "You could hear people audibly having sex in their tents all day and night. People peeing all over the place, and pulling down their pants and defecating in between the tents because they are so drunk they can't even make it to the bathroom."
Many companies had to rethink their strategies around corporate retreats in the face of the pandemic, which temporarily halted annual outings. And with many staffers now dispersed and working remotely around the globe, this adds another layer of difficulty in structuring a retreat.
Still, new studies show that workers are more productive and creative in real-world settings as compared to virtual, Zoom work environments, which means the corporate retreat - or iterations of it - is likely here to stay.
More: News Corporate Retreat WeWork Uber | 2022-06-17T18:41:35Z | www.businessinsider.com | Corporate Retreat Injuries and Mishaps Are Increasingly Common | https://www.businessinsider.com/corporate-retreats-injuries-mishaps-increasingly-common-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/corporate-retreats-injuries-mishaps-increasingly-common-2022-6 |
Amanda Makki is running for Congress in Florida. She's a former Senate aide who has been active in GOP politics since the George W. Bush years.
John Mottern/AFP via Getty Images
Amanda Makki is running for US House in Florida's 13th District.
She used campaign cash to pay for personal expenses, something federal rules prohibit.
Makki's campaign blamed confusing rules and said she's personally reimbursed her campaign.
Republican congressional candidate Amanda Makki has reimbursed her campaign committee following an Insider report indicating she had used political cash to pay her personal electricity and internet bills — something impermissible under federal law.
Makki's new campaign treasurer — the campaign "removed" the previous treasurer last month — officially confirmed the refund in a letter Thursday to the Federal Election Commission and blamed unclear federal rules for the mishap.
"The FEC's varying regulatory treatment of this type of expense over the years demonstrates the committee's error in paying these expenses was reasonable and unintentional," Makki campaign treasurer Nancy Marks wrote the agency, which enforces and regulates campaign finance laws.
Makki had used $611 in campaign cash for her home electric bill and several hundred dollars in campaign cash to pay for internet service. Marks said Makki had done so because of "a reasonable and good-faith understanding that this was permissible because the committee has used her home office seven days a week as the committee's exclusive campaign headquarters."
FEC rules prohibit candidates from using donor funds for personal use, whether it be for rent, home internet, cable service, personal travel, or to pay for an energy bill. The commission has made narrow exemptions for cases in which candidates use donor funds to pay for security at home or on their phones and computers.
The FEC has not fined or otherwise penalized Makki's campaign to date. But it could investigate the matter if someone filed a complaint and has already inquired about Makki's spending in a letter to her campaign committee.
Makki is an Iranian-American running in Florida's 13th District, which is currently held by Democrat Charlie Crist. The seat in Florida's 13th District is open because Crist is vacating the seat to run for Florida governor against Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Makki faces several opponents in Florida's August 23 primary, including Anna Paulina Luna, who in April won former President Donald Trump's endorsement. As of March 31, the Makki campaign reported having about $514,000 cash on hand, according to FEC records.
More: Elections Florida amanda makki Ron DeSantis | 2022-06-17T18:41:41Z | www.businessinsider.com | GOP Congressional Candidate Refunds Campaign After Seemingly Illegal Spending | https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-congressional-candidate-refunds-campaign-after-seemingly-illegal-spending-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-congressional-candidate-refunds-campaign-after-seemingly-illegal-spending-2022-6 |
The Lamborghini Huracan STO.
The Lamborghini Huracan STO is a car built for the racetrack but legal to drive on the road.
It starts at around $330,000. With optional features, the STO I recently drove came to $400,000.
The STO wasn't just an attention magnet — it was a reminder of just how menacing street cars can be.
As I crept through Los Angeles traffic with a $400,000 Lamborghini Huracan STO's engine burbling in my ear, a man in a black Dodge Challenger yelled: "Can I have a ride?" I tried to yell back.
The problem was, I'd only been in the car for about five minutes. I hadn't figured out how to roll down the windows yet.
Getting accustomed to a supercar like the STO is a uniquely embarrassing experience. Everyone's staring at you, you're trying not to scratch the low front splitter on the ground, and you don't know where any of your basic controls — like the ones that roll down the windows — are yet. As the man in the Challenger yelled through my sealed windows, I had to prioritize my time.
I needed to find the turn signals first.
Still, his enthusiasm made sense. The Huracan STO is a textbook Lamborghini: ostentatious even in a coat of dark gray paint, prowling lower to the ground than a weed-eater.
Its 631-horsepower V10 engine, which sits behind the driver, snarls like it wants to rip your throat out, and the only storage in the car is what you can fit in your lap and at your feet. Trunks and frunks aren't needed when all you're carrying is the audacity.
The STO starts at around $330,000, and the one I drove in LA came to $398,833. It had $7,200 sport seats, more than $20,000 in carbon-fiber accents, $16,500 in extras from Lamborghini's Ad Personam customization program, an $800 cruise-control system, and a $4,000 nose-lift feature to navigate the car's low front end over bumps and dips.
You might be wondering why cruise control — something that comes on decade-old Toyota Camrys — is optional on a $400,000 Lamborghini. The answer is that you're not supposed to need it.
That's because "STO" is short for "Super Trofeo Omologata," and "omologata" is Italian for "homologation." Many motorsport series require manufacturers to homologate their race cars, or give them a tangible link to vehicles that can be purchased for the road.
—Alanis King (@alanisnking) April 9, 2022
Some automakers thus create "homologation specials" — race cars tweaked to become road legal, less for their sales potential and more so their counterparts can race. People often buy cars like the STO to drive recreationally on the racetrack, not on the road.
"Omologata" is just another way to say that where we're going, we don't need cruise control.
Race cars — or cars modeled after them, like the STO — are also notoriously uncomfortable compared to normal cars. They're stiff, low, and tight, with their seats gripping your hips and thighs like a giant hair clip. Comfort features are stripped away in favor of performance enhancements, and there's no fluffy suspension to insulate passengers from the ground. You feel every little bump and crack you encounter, like a wooden roller coaster with a few boards out of place.
That's because the STO doesn't care if your ass hurts when you get out of it. If you care, you're in the wrong car.
When Lamborghini dropped off my loaner STO at the Hampton Inn I stayed at, everyone stared. They wondered if I was lost, peeking into its windows and taking photos to show their kids.
I squatted into the low driver's seat, flicking open the red cover over the car's start button and clicking the paddle shifter in my right hand to put the car in "drive." Everything's dramatic in a Lamborghini, including getting it out of park.
The STO roars on startup and whenever it's revved, but on the highway, its engine quiets down enough to hold a phone call. Its stiff suspension is oddly comfortable on long drives, and its seats and steering wheel have manual adjustments instead of power ones. (Remember: This is a track car, and track cars don't need your silly power seats.)
The car is as wide as it is low, slithering around and always ready to strike. There's no visibility aside from the front windshield: Check the rearview mirror and all you'll see is an engine cover that looks like a big, thick rib cage over the V10 behind you; glance in the side mirrors and the massive rear wing blocks much of your view.
—Alanis King (@alanisnking) April 11, 2022
Some people joke that you only need to look forward when driving a race car, but in LA traffic, it's nice to see the car behind you. With the STO, that takes a lot of concentration.
The STO's rear wing, exterior air vents, and harsh styling communicate that this isn't just a normal Lamborghini; it's special — a Lamborghini that costs two home mortgages instead of one. It's the perfect blend of Lamborghini and race car: bare and raw, yet still somehow gaudy. It's minimal and excessive all at the same time.
I remember driving down a barren highway in LA one night under harsh yellow street lighting, glancing at the concrete dividing wall between my side of the road and the other. On it was a menacing, cartoonish triangular shadow slinking down the road, its intensity blinking on and off with each streetlight I passed. It was a scene from a superhero movie, playing out right beside me.
That's when I realized: "Wait. That's me."
Because it's designed for the racetrack, driving the STO on public roads is like stretching a rubber band and never being able to fling it. It's too good for the street — launching like a plane and gluing itself to the ground, unfazed by anything a driver can do within the limits of the law — and too good for most drivers.
It's a tool for precision, not an animal to be tamed. Its potential is at your fingertips on the road, even if you're a little scared of where it could lead.
That's what makes the STO great. It can be a pain to drive supercars on everyday commutes; each little dip requires a nose lift, and when a nose lift isn't enough, it's time to either scratch the front splitter or reroute the navigation.
But you don't drive the STO on the road because it's easy. You do it to tell everyone that you accept its challenges and discomforts — not because you particularly enjoy them, but because you're tough enough to handle them.
You also drive it because everyone likes a little attention, even if you haven't yet figured out how to roll down the windows and respond.
NOW WATCH: We drove the Lamborghini Urus to see if it holds up as a family SUV
More: Cars & Trucks Transportation Car Review car reviews | 2022-06-17T18:41:53Z | www.businessinsider.com | Lamborghini Huracan STO Review: a Supervillain Car | https://www.businessinsider.com/lamborghini-huracan-sto-review-a-supervillain-car-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/lamborghini-huracan-sto-review-a-supervillain-car-2022-6 |
Women and people of color receive lower-quality feedback from managers than white men get, a new study shows.
Asian and white men are more often called "genius" while women of color are more often called "overachievers."
A separate study found the people who receive the most problematic feedback are also paid the least.
When Kieran Snyder, CEO and co-founder of the augmented writing platform Textio, first started researching workplace communication over a decade ago, she was drawing on both her personal history with gender-based discrimination and an academic career analyzing natural language datasets.
From the words shared in meetings and resumes, to social media and performance feedback, Snyder said she saw patterns of bias, including findings that women receive much more overtly negative and personality-based feedback than men do.
Earlier this year, Snyder led a team to take a wider look at how gender, race, and age shape the feedback that workers receive from their managers.
The new research offers a sobering view of the US workplace after two years of supposedly stepped-up diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts following the Me Too movement and the murder of George Floyd.
At one mid-sized organization, Black women received twice as much feedback about their personality as white men did, while Asian men received slightly less than white men, according to the study.
One reason personality-based feedback is problematic, the researchers write, is that there is rarely anything the employee can do about it.
In another example, white and Asian men were far more likely than others to be called "brilliant" and "genius" in feedback, while women were more likely to be called "overachievers." (Asian women were five times as likely as white men to be called an "overachiever," which the researchers say is "typically applied to strong performers transcending low expectations.")
"Some groups are credited with more baseline talent than others," the authors write. "This plays out not just in written feedback, but in opportunities for challenging stretch assignments and promotion rates over time."
Among the reasons these biases are harmful are several critical economic impacts: better feedback is linked to more promotions, leadership opportunities, and better pay.
Indeed, a study last year from the American Association of University Women found that the people who receive the most problematic feedback at work are also those who receive the lowest average salary. Their findings showed Asian and white men receive the highest salary and the least negative bias, while Black and Latina women were at the opposite end of the scale.
Of course, no report about actionable feedback would be complete without some action-items of its own, and the authors offer several tips for both managers and employees.
Managers are advised to avoid commentary about an individual's personality, and instead focus on their specific behaviors that they can do differently going forward, backing up everything with concrete examples as much as possible.
Employees too can influence the kind of feedback they receive by asking for specific examples of past behavior, and request advice for how to tackle future challenges.
More: Careers Bias Feedback Performance Reviews | 2022-06-17T18:42:05Z | www.businessinsider.com | Workplace Study: Men Called 'Brilliant,' Women 'Overachievers' | https://www.businessinsider.com/performance-reviews-study-gender-race-impact-men-brilliant-women-overachievers-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/performance-reviews-study-gender-race-impact-men-brilliant-women-overachievers-2022-6 |
After already serving 20 days in jail, Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin avoided additional prison time Friday as he was sentenced for his participation in the pro-Trump mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Judge Trevor McFadden found Griffin guilty in March of trespassing on restricted Capitol grounds but acquitted him on a separate disorderly conduct charge. A Trump appointee, McFadden handed down the verdict because Griffin elected for a so-called bench trial, in which a judge — rather than a jury — reviews evidence and determines guilt or innocence.
In an hourlong hearing, McFadden sentenced Griffin to 14 days in prison but credited him for 20 days the Cowboys for Trump founder had served while awaiting trial. The judge also ordered Griffin, a New Mexico county commissioner, to pay a $3,000 fine and ordered a yearlong period of probation.
Handing down the sentence, McFadden called the January 6 attack on the Capitol a "national embarrassment" and a "dark day" for Washington, DC, and the country. But McFadden noted that Griffin had not entered the Capitol building itself but only trespassed on the grounds outside the building, putting him at what the judge called the "minimal end of criminality."
The sentence effectively ruled out any further prison time for Griffin — barring a violation of his probation — in connection with his involvement in the January 6 attack. But the judge had harsh words for Griffin, who maintained during his sentencing hearing Friday that he was unaware that the grounds outside the Capitol were restricted on January 6.
McFadden dismissed that claim as "preposterous."
"I'm not convinced even a little bit," the judge said.
In court papers, federal prosecutors said Griffin bragged about his involvement in the Capitol attack at a county commission meeting. Prosecutors also pointed to more recent social media posts and statements in which Griffin appeared to mock his March guilty verdict and display a lack of contrition for the Capitol attack, underscoring how January 6 defendants have talked themselves into deeper trouble amid their criminal proceedings.
McFadden said the "vast majority" of Capitol rioters who remained outside the building were "not charged at all," and he suggested that Griffin only faced prosecution if he hadn't "gone to such lengths to publicize his actions."
More: couy griffin cowboys for trump january 6 cases Capitol Siege | 2022-06-17T20:14:54Z | www.businessinsider.com | Cowboys for Trump Founder Avoids Extra Prison Time for Capitol Attack After Already Spending 20 Days in Jail | https://www.businessinsider.com/cowboys-trump-founder-couy-griffin-prison-sentence-capitol-attack-january-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/cowboys-trump-founder-couy-griffin-prison-sentence-capitol-attack-january-2022-6 |
Lawyers have asked to delay a July trial in which Trump is accused of siccing security on Trump Tower protesters.
Jury selection would conflict with Trump's deposition in the NY AG's probe of the Trump Organization.
In all, 7 of Trump's NY legal battles have dates, deadlines or depositions between now and early August.
Lawyers for Donald Trump are asking a Bronx judge to delay the July 18 start of a civil trial where five protesters of Mexican heritage allege Trump unleashed fist-swinging security guards on their rally outside Trump Tower in 2015.
The first week of that trial would now conflict with a deposition that Trump must give in New York Attorney General Letitia James' probe of his business, the lawyers explained in a filing Thursday night.
The double-booking is to be expected. No fewer than 7 of Trump's New York-based legal battles have dates, deadlines or depositions between now and early August.
With the lone exception of testifying for James, Trump does not have to personally be present while his lawyers hash out everything from the indictment of his company to why he retweeted an animation that used the song "Electric Avenue."
But Trump's very small army of East Coast lawyers is busy-busy-busy.
Busiest of all may be Alina Habba and her law partner, Michael Madaio. They are Trump's attorneys for the Trump Tower protester trial and for two separate, labor-intensive legal battles with the AG's office.
One is over the AG's demand for Trump's personal business documents, a matter for which Trump conditionally remains in contempt of court.
The other is the AG's demand for Trump's testimony. Donald Trump and his two eldest children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump, Jr., all must submit to questioning under oath before the AG's lawyers — whether in person or via video has not been determined — sometime between July 15 and July 22.
Habba did not immediately respond to a request for comment on her cases.
"Defendant is now mandated to appear for a deposition on the week of July 18," Habba wrote in her Thursday night letter to New York Supreme Court Justice Doris M. Gonzalez, who will preside over the Bronx protester trial.
"As this office is also representing Defendant in that matter, I am required to defend my client's deposition and will not be available from July 18-22," Habba wrote the judge.
The AG won't budge an inch on the deposition dates, Habba wrote. So it's the trial date that's gotta give.
"We have been advised that the OAG [Office of the Attorney General] will not consent to an adjournment of these [deposition] dates, as it contends that any delay could potentially conflict with the relevant statue of limitations.
"As a result," Habba's letter concludes, "we request a brief adjournment of the current trial date and seek this Court's permission to schedule jury duty for July 25, 2022, or a date thereafter as the Court sees fit."
The judge has yet to rule on moving the protester trial date.
Here's how Trump's crowded legal dance card is shaping up for the summer. All dates are subject to additional shuffling as the parties try to squeeze everything in.
Monday, June 20, is a deadline for the AG's office to tell a Manhattan judge if — after two years of legal battles — they are finally satisfied with Trump's efforts to comply with their subpoena for his documents, and whether they think Trump's costly contempt-of-court order should therefore be lifted once and for all.
A hearing for oral arguments on that matter would likely be set for later in the week.
And on Wednesday, June 22, a side-battle to the Bronx protester trial is scheduled for an in-person hearing.
The lawyers for Trump and for the protesters are accusing each other of unethical behavior relating to the pretrial release of deposition excerpts that revealed Trump has an inordinate fear that "dangerous" fruit would be flung at him during protests.
The judge will preside over each of the parties' demand that the other be sanctioned in the fruit fracas.
On Tuesday, July 12, lawyers for the Trump Organization and its former CFO, Allen Weisselberg, appear before a Manhattan criminal judge.
"We will discuss all pre-trial matters," NY Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan said in setting the date from the bench on Wednesday. "And we'll set a firm trial date."
Manhattan prosecutors allege — and defense lawyers deny — that Weisselberg and the Trump Organization set up a payroll scheme that let company executives disguise millions in pay as income-tax -free fringe benefits.
A late-August, early September trial has been discussed, though Weisselberg could yet plead guilty and face minimum jail time.
Tuesday is also a date for a remote hearing in Trump's 2021 civil suit in Dutchess County, NY, against his niece, Mary Trump, and the New York Times.
Trump is seeking "no less than One Hundred Million Dollars" in damages over the Times' Pulitzer-winning coverage of his tax records.
Friday, July 15, is the court-mandated starting bell for the three Trumps to begin depositions in the AG's probe of the Trump Organization.
The three Trumps' depositions before the AG's lawyers must conclude by week's end.
And Friday, July 22, is a motion-filing deadline in a lawsuit by disco-reggae star Eddy Grant, who sued Trump for copyright infringement in federal court in Manhattan in 2021.
Grant is seeking $300,000 in damages over the use of his hit song, "Electric Avenue," in a Biden-bashing animation that Trump tweeted during the 2020 presidential campaign. Trump has been court-ordered to give a deposition in that case by June 21.
This is the tentative new start date of the protester trial in the Bronx.
Instead, jurors will hear trial depositions previously taped by the two now-arch-enemies.
Trump has sworn he had nothing to do with the security-on-protester violence outside Trump Tower, and that he hadn't even known there was a protester issue until the following day.
Cohen has countered in his own deposition that his then-boss was indeed there — and in charge. Cohen said in his own deposition that he was with Trump, upstairs in the Trump Organization's headquarters, as Trump told his top security officer of the protesters, "get rid of them."
Finally, Wednesday, Aug. 3, is the day for depositions to begin behind the scenes in writer E. Jean Carroll's lawsuit against Trump in federal court in Manhattan.
Habba and Madaio are currently the attorneys representing Trump on this case.
Carroll accuses Trump of raping her in the mid-1990s; her lawyers have said that they will not seek a deposition from Trump — but they do want his DNA, which they hope to compare with a dress Carroll says she was wearing when the incident happened.
As for the rest of August, the Bronx protester trial could drag on into mid-month. And August 29 is the tentative trial start date for the Electric Avenue trial, providing a settlement is not reached.
More: Donald Trump The Trump Organization New York Letitia James | 2022-06-17T20:15:00Z | www.businessinsider.com | Too Much Litigation: Trump Lawyers Are Double-Booked in NY This Summer | https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-litigation-ny-ag-depositions-lawsuits-this-summer-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-litigation-ny-ag-depositions-lawsuits-this-summer-2022-6 |
Amazon's Fire HD 10 tablet is an excellent value for video streaming, but not if you watch YouTube or Apple TV Plus
The Fire HD 10 display comes in full HD (1080p) resolution for less than $100 at times.
What does
Amazon's operating system and apps
The Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021) tablet is a cheap device that's best suited for video streaming.
Its performance is sluggish, but the screen is good enough to watch videos.
If you want to do anything else at all with it, you're better off with Apple's iPad.
Amazon Fire HD 10 32GB Tablet (2021)
Amazon's Fire HD 10 (2021) tablet has a very tempting $149.99 price for a 10-inch tablet, and it's even more appealing when the price drops to $99.99 on occasion.
However, this is a case where you get what you pay for. When you buy a budget-priced tablet, you shouldn't expect an experience that's close in quality to an iPad or a Samsung Galaxy Tab.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, as a basic tablet is exactly what some people want, especially if all they do on tablets is stream video. If that's the case, you technically don't need anything more expensive. That is, unless you really want YouTube or Apple TV Plus, which this tablet does not support.
Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021) specifications
Specifications Amazon Fire HD 10
Display 10.1-inch (1920 x 1200) LCD
Processor Mediatek MT8183 Helio P60T
Memory (RAM) and storage 3GB RAM, 32GB storage
Battery and charging Unknown battery size; six hours 42 minutes in battery test; 9W charger included.
Cameras 5-megapixel (MP) rear camera, 2MP front camera
Audio Two top-firing speakers
Authentication PIN
Price $149.99 (currently on sale for $99.99)
What does "lockscreen ad-supported" mean?
You can pick the ad-supported Fire HD 10 to save $15.
You can buy the Fire HD 10 with the "lockscreen ad-supported" option or the slightly more expensive "without lockscreen ads" option. The "lockscreen ad supported" version displays an ad on the lockscreen when you wake the tablet. The ad doesn't stay on the screen all the time.
We recommend you buy the ad-supported version because you can disable the ads yourself later for a $15 fee if you find them obnoxious.
The right edge of the Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021) tablet showing its buttons and USB-C port.
Amazon's Fire HD 10 is utilitarian with its plastic back and a fairly average front with uniform display borders.
Compared to pricier tablets from Apple and Samsung with flat edges, the Fire HD 10 has rounded edges that feel more comfortable and easier to hold.
The speakers are found on the top edge when you're holding the Fire HD 10 in the horizontal position, like when you're watching a video. That's a thoughtful design decision, as your hands don't block the speakers when you hold the tablet while watching a video.
The Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021) tablet's display is simple and does its job.
The 10.1-inch display is a simple, unpretentious 1080p (FHD) LCD panel to display video and content. There are no fancy frills or features like HDR or high refresh rates here.
As such, the Fire HD 10's display is totally fine for anything you do on the tablet, and it does its job admirably — especially for such a low price.
The back of the Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021) tablet is no-frills plastic.
It's clear the Fire HD 10 isn't a powerhouse. It feels like using an older tablet, like the 2017, 5th-gen iPad. But lower performance is to be expected on a cheaper tablet.
The Fire HD 10 runs apps and casual games decently well, but not as quickly and smoothly as the iPad. Graphically demanding games, like "Asphalt 9," run at a sluggish pace. But, if you plan to use the Fire HD 10 exclusively to stream video, the Fire HD 10's performance won't be an issue.
In benchmarking with the Geekbench 5 app, the Fire HD 10's processor scored 301 for single-core performance, and 997 for multi-core. Those are much lower scores than the 9th-gen iPad's 1,330 single-core and 3,470 multi-core scores, which makes sense considering its $329 starting price.
The Amazon App Store on the Fire HD 10 (2021) tablet.
Amazon's operating system (OS) on its Fire HD tablets is a highly modified version of Google's Android OS, but you don't get access to a huge range of popular apps and games. We found that even some common, popular apps — like Reddit or LastPass — aren't available.
Most notable is the lack of any Google apps. That means no YouTube, no Gmail, no Google Maps, and more.
It's possible to use the web versions of these apps in Amazon's Silk web browser, but it's far from an ideal solution to the problem of missing common apps.
With that said, Amazon's App Store has a decent showing for popular video streaming apps, including Netflix , Prime Video, Hulu , Paramount Plus, Disney Plus, Peacock, HBO Max , Starz, Showtime, and Sling. Apple TV Plus, however, is missing.
You can check out if Amazon's App Store has the apps you want on its Fire tablet apps listings.
The speakers on the top edge of the Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021) tablet.
The Fire HD 10 has great battery life for a 10-inch tablet. In our battery test, which involves streaming a YouTube video at the display's resolution (1080p, in this case) at full brightness, the Fire HD 10 lasted six hours and 42 minutes.
In the same test, the 9th-generation iPad lasted five hours and 25 minutes, though it has a sharper resolution and more power-hungry processor.
To note, since the YouTube app isn't available for the Fire HD 10, we streamed a YouTube video from YouTube's website.
If you're looking at the Fire HD 10, we're assuming you're looking for the cheapest tablet that's still viable. With that in mind, your best alternative to the Fire HD 10 is Apple's 9th-generation iPad.
Apple 10.2-inch iPad 9th Generation (2021)
The front of the Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021) tablet.
It's hard to recommend the $149.99 Fire HD 10 when Apple's standard 10.2-inch 9th-generation iPad offers so much more — even if it starts at $329. If you catch the Fire HD 10 at its $99.99 discounted price, the standard iPad is still a significantly better tablet that's worth the extra cost.
Not only does the iPad have every app you could possibly want, it runs those apps significantly faster than the Fire HD 10.
With that said, the Fire HD 10 is technically all you need if you use tablets exclusively to stream video.
The Kids edition of any Fire HD tablet, including the Fire HD 10 Kids edition, is also a great inexpensive option for kids to stream appropriate videos. Amazon also has some of the best parental controls and kids content on any platform.
More: Tablets Amazon Fire HD 10 Insider Reviews 2022 Insider Picks | 2022-06-17T20:15:06Z | www.businessinsider.com | Amazon Fire HD 10 2021 Tablet Review: Excellent for Streaming Video, but Nothing Else | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/amazon-fire-hd-10-2021-review | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/amazon-fire-hd-10-2021-review |
How an award-winning upholsterer designs custom interiors
Award-winning upholsterer Oksana Ignatova shows us her process for designing custom upholstery.
Stitch Girl Inc. offers 1,000 materials to choose from, including leather, fabric, and Alcantara.
Designing car interiors takes preparation, quality materials, attention to detail, and experience.
Oksana Ignatova: Hi my name is Oksana, I'm the owner of Stitch Girl Inc, and we do custom upholstery here. Today I'm gonna show you how we design and install custom interiors.
I've been doing upholstery for around 8 years now. We do custom upholstery, we do everything that's inside of the car. Carpet, headliners, we can wrap steering wheels, seats, dashboard, door panels… so everything.
I do a lot of steering wheels and my hand stitching brought me to the SEMA 35 under 35 award.
The first step is to meet our client and learn what design ideas they have in mind. Usually the clients ask us to think about the design, it all depends on the car right? Sometimes the client knows what he wants and just wants us to complete his car.
After we have agreed on a design then the client picks the materials. We do have a lot of samples. I will say it's about one thousand to choose from.
We offer various materials like leather, Alcantara, fabric, vinyl and more. Our clients usually pick leather because of its feeling and the quality. If it's a full interior it's gonna take about 6 weeks.
We start by removing all the material from the car. We remove the seats from the car because that way it's going to be easier to work on.
After we remove everything we can design our own templates. I make my templates using a special vinyl material. I use seat foam as a reference and I cut the pieces out.
So now when I've got all of my templates I can transfer them to the materials and cut it so it's ready to sew.
We have about 300 colors for the thread to pick from. So we can do any color you want.
When I start to stitch the way I do it depends on the car part. If it's the seat covers I use a sewing machine, when it's a steering wheel I do it by hand.
So now I'm gonna prepare the parts for the french seam. It takes some time, now we have to wait until the glue dries then we are going to fold it. It makes it so the seam looks more straight without any bumps or wiggles. Now I'm gonna use a plastic hammer to make sure the seam is flat and so our stitches look nice.
So now we are ready to do a french seam with the red thread. In order to get the perfect stitches, the only way is to practice. I've been stitching for ten years so I have plenty of practice. When I'm sewing parts together, I test fit them several times to make sure they will fit properly.
Now I'm installing the new wrapped cushions. I'm using the hog rings to attach the cushions to the frame. I use the steamer to steam the leather for a better fit.
Sometimes the client wants to personalize his interior so we use a laser engraver to do that. We have several 3D printers we use to fabricate custom interior components.
My favorite part of the process is finishing a project and seeing the client happy.
What's next for StitchGirl? It's to keep taking on projects, using new technologies, and staying creative. | 2022-06-17T20:15:12Z | www.businessinsider.com | How Custom Interiors Are Designed by an Award-Winning Upholsterer | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-custom-interiors-are-designed-award-winning-upholsterer-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-custom-interiors-are-designed-award-winning-upholsterer-2022-6 |
You can send a fax from your iPhone using a third-party app.
Most fax apps are free, but you need to pay a subscription fee to send or receive faxes within the app.
To send a fax, you'll need to know the fax number and then write, scan, or attach the document.
Like VHS and floppy disks, you might think of fax machines as relics of long-obsolete technology. And you would be largely correct — few people have fax machines anymore — it's not a sure thing that the multifunction printer in your office can send or receive faxes.
Even so, there are still times when you might need to send a fax, even if that's only once a year. If you need to send a fax, there's no need to get a standalone fax machine or to pay a visit to the local print shop. With the right app, you can fax from your iPhone.
How to fax from an iPhone
There are a number of iPhone apps which have the ability to send a fax, but beware: Even if the app is free, there is generally a fee required to send a fax with the app you choose. Some apps may offer a free limited trial, but after the introductory fax or time period, you'll need to pay for a subscription.
If you know you'll need to send more than one fax, you might want to wait until you can send them all in a fairly short time period to avoid long-term charges.
iFax is a good choice to fax from your iPhone because the app includes a seven-day free trial (after which the service is $24.99 per month). Here is how to send a fax with iFax:
1. Install iFax from the App Store.
2. If this is your first time using the app, you'll be asked to sign up for the iFax service. Tap Continue and then confirm the Basic Monthly subscription.
Like most fax apps, iFax is free but requires a subscription to send faxes.
3. You don't need your own fax number to send faxes, so skip the offer to get a number.
4. Connect to an existing account or enter your email address and tap Continue.
You'll need to sign into iFax using your email or another online service.
5. On the iFax home page, tap Create a Fax.
6. Enter details for the recipient, including the fax number you're sending the fax to, recipient's name, and fax subject.
7. Tap Scan or Add Document.
To send a fax, just enter the recipient's info and select the document you want to attach.
8. Choose the option you prefer:
Scan Document: Use the phone's camera to capture the document.
Write Text: Type the message you want to fax.
Email: Follow the instructions to find the email message you want to fax, then use the email app's Share button to share the email's attachment with the iFax app.
Gallery: Select a photo from your phone's camera gallery to send as a fax.
Google Drive or Dropbox: Download a file stored on a cloud service and send it as a fax.
9. When you return to the Fax page, you can tap Scan or Add Document again and continue adding pages to the fax. Each attachment can be a different kind of document. For example, you can scan a document using the camera and also write a page of text.
10. When you're done, tap Send.
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More: iPhone fax Smartphones Software & Apps | 2022-06-17T20:15:30Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to Send a Fax From an iPhone | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-fax-from-iphone | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-fax-from-iphone |
League of Legends has a TV mockumentary now. Here's how its creators got Riot Games on board and pitched the show to Paramount+.
"Players" debuted on Paramount+ on June 16.
Paramount+ debuted e-sports mockumentary "Players," centered on a fictional League of Legends team.
The series' creators, who made "American Vandal" for Netflix, first had to get Riot Games on board.
The duo produced two videos for their virtual pitch, which led to a series order from Paramount+.
Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda, the creators of Netflix true crime mockumentary "American Vandal," had just put the finishing touches on a pitch for a new show — a satire set in the world of competitive video gaming — when the pandemic ground all in-person meetings in Hollywood to halt.
Given the nature of their proposal — a show combining the look and feel of sports documentaries like ESPN's "30 for 30" series with the duo's signature dry humor — they were naturally concerned about pitching to a bunch of network and streaming executives who were still learning how to mute themselves on Zoom .
To keep the technical glitches at bay, Perrault and Yacenda decided to try something different: They filmed their pitch so that they could present prospective buyers with a polished vision for their show.
The effort paid off. They received multiple offers, including from Paramount+, which on June 16 debuted "Players," a faux-documentary about an e-sports team competing on the League of Legends circuit.
"It was a great way to sort of game the system," said Joe Farrell, who executive produced "Players" for Funny or Die. "It was a way to bring [Perrault and Yacenda's] energy, which really is how they sell their shows, to executives in a COVID environment. That was effective."
And for Paramount+, the opportunity was clear. The show would give them a foothold in the wildly popular world of e-sports, in which the League of Legends World Championship final last year drew nearly 74 million peak concurrent viewers. Their offer of a series order sealed the deal.
How to bring the League of Legends world to the small screen
Hollywood pitches are highly orchestrated performances, a chance to showcase how an idea will translate to the screen. Writers and producers often show up to meetings with storyboards, sizzle reels, or playlists. Translating the humor and energy of a pitch to a virtual world was a challenge for creators across Hollywood amid pandemic shutdowns.
To pitch "Players," Perrault and Yacenda opened with a brief round of live remarks before sending all meeting attendees a link to a video — and instructing them to mute themselves and turn off their camera while they watched. That video centered on Perrault's journey of the previous two years, which he'd spent quietly researching League of Legends, the popular multiplayer video game from Riot Games that helped give rise to global pro e-sports.
"Players" co-creator Dan Perrault spent several years researching the world of e-sports and gathering assets to use in his pitch for the series.
Dan Perrault
Perrault explained that he had attended multiple events, including the League of Legends' 2018 all-star weekend in Las Vegas, and had met with players, broadcasters, and fans. His remarks were intercut with photos of him at events and videos that showcased what it's like to experience a League matchup firsthand.
When the video ended, Perrault and Yacenda took Q&A from executives before launching a second video that laid out their vision for "Players," complete with actors dressed as the fictional competitors who would appear in their show.
Getting buy-in from Riot Games before heading to Hollywood
Helping the duo with their pitch were Riot Games executives, including Global Head of League of Legends ESports Naz Aletaha, who months earlier had approved the use of the league's IP in the show.
Perrault and Yacenda told Insider that having Riot's buy-in for "Players" was crucial. In fact, they had to pitch the show to Riot before they could bring the concept to Hollywood buyers.
"The goal was like, 'Hey, trust us with your IP. We're coming from a place of love and we want to come correct,'" said Yacenda, with Perrault adding, "That was probably one of the highest-stakes pitches we've ever had because if [Riot] said no, we weren't going to do the show."
The slideshow they prepared for their Riot pitch, which included many of the same assets that made it into their final presentation, was enough to seal the deal. "Thank God they saw potential in it and agreed to do it," said Perrault.
'An act of desperation' to convey the show's humor and originality
Though they had perfected a version of their "Players" pitch for Riot, Perrault and Yacenda had to rethink it once they realized they'd be pitching Hollywood virtually instead of in person.
Filming their presentation ahead of time probably took about three times longer than the normal prep that goes into a pitch, estimated Funny or Die's Farrell, because of the work that went into scripting, shooting, and editing —but all of the parties involved had cut their teeth making web videos. "I think we were uniquely positioned to do it," said Farrell.
Perrault dressed as League of Legends character Fizz while attending a match at LA's LCS Arena.
Even with all their preparation, they ran into challenges. One pitch meeting went so poorly that, while the video was airing, they decided to spark some energy by dressing Perrault in costume as a League of Legends character. When he turned his camera back on after one of the videos had played, he was decked out in a fuzzy blue onesie.
"That was, I guess, an act of desperation," Perrault said. "We did not get an offer" from that company.
But for Paramount+, "the second video gave them the assurance that the season was there," said Farrell. "The way Tony and Dan work, you don't put all those resources together to make the pilot. We pre-write and shoot it like a movie. So if you're going to do it, you just gotta do it."
More: Paramount Plus Streaming wars American Vandal | 2022-06-17T20:15:36Z | www.businessinsider.com | How League of Legends Show Creators Pitched Riot Games and Paramount+ | https://www.businessinsider.com/league-legends-show-creators-pitch-paramount-riot-games-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/league-legends-show-creators-pitch-paramount-riot-games-2022-6 |
Amazon's probe into the controversial culture at a key cloud unit has ended with 'no evidence of systemwide, discriminatory practices,' leaked memo shows
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks at the GeekWire Summit.
Dan DeLong/GeekWire
A probe into Amazon's ProServe cloud unit found no evidence of "systemwide" discrimination.
The probe found that reports made by six employees "could not be substantiated."
Insider recently reported on claims that the culture at ProServe includes bullying and retaliation.
Amazon Web Services said its probes into the culture in the Professional Services, or ProServe, unit "did not find evidence of systemwide, discriminatory practices," according to an internal email viewed by Insider.
AWS hired a firm called Oppenheimer Investigations Group to conduct the investigation and said in the memo that 92 current and former employees participated. The company also conducted an internal investigation. Six employees reported personal experiences that resulted in individual investigations, but the "employee concerns could not be substantiated and the investigations have closed with no findings of misconduct."
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
ProServe represents a small part of Amazon's 1.6 million-person workforce but has become a flashpoint for conversations about how the company treats employees. Shortly after Andy Jassy took over as Amazon's CEO in July, more than 500 employees signed a petition that described a culture of systemic "discrimination, harassment, bullying and bias against women and under-represented groups."
Insider recently reported on the unit's workplace culture, with nearly two dozen employees describing their experiences with bullying, shouting, derogatory remarks about women, other biased comments, retaliation against people who complained, and scant consequences for offenders.
While the review did not find evidence of misconduct, it did find what Amazon said in the memo were "opportunities to reduce ambiguity in promotion and job leveling processes, provide more information about performance management practices, and advance the frequency and adoption of our inclusion and empathy efforts."
In response, the company wrote in the memo that it has already started leadership sessions, beginning with a session in March focused on psychological safety, unconscious bias, and microaggressions. It also said it launched the "Inclusion in the Cloud learning series," with sessions on allyship, unconscious bias, privilege, and microaggressions, and has a related "inclusive leadership toolkit."
Amazon said it also refreshed guidelines for on promotions and job leveling, started a "women's leadership circles" and will focus in elevating the work of affinity groups, and said it launched "an enhanced level of employee services to address any concerns early, and offer personalized intervention efforts."
Amazon recently moved Todd Weatherby, the former head of ProServe accused of gender discrimination in a lawsuit, to an "advisory role" in a sweeping reorganization of the unit, according to internal emails viewed by Insider. In February, Weatherby was also moved to report to Uwem Ukpong, who was hired from the energy-technology company Baker Hughes, to run a new AWS Global Services group that combines ProServe with other customer-facing businesses.
Do you work at Amazon or have insight to share? Contact reporter Ashley Stewart via email (astewart@insider.com), or send a secure message from a nonwork device via Signal (+1-425-344-8242).
More: Amazon Amazon Web Services Cloud Computing Enterprise Software | 2022-06-17T21:45:35Z | www.businessinsider.com | Amazon ProServe Probe Finds No Evidence of Misconduct, Discrimination | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-proserve-probe-no-evidence-misconduct-discrimination-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-proserve-probe-no-evidence-misconduct-discrimination-2022-6 |
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg speaks to supporters in New York on Nov. 2, 2021.
The Manhattan DA's lone indictment in a 3-year probe of the Trump Organization is nearing a possible September trial.
In a new court filing, prosecutors defend their right to pursue a tax larceny case in which the IRS is a victim.
Trump's side argued that NY prosecutors are improperly using state charges to enforce federal law.
In papers released Friday night, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg defends his right to prosecute his ongoing tax-larceny case against the Trump Organization and its ex-CFO, Allen Weisselberg.
The new filing challenges defense claims that as state-level prosecutors, the DA lacks the jurisdiction to prosecute alleged thefts and theft-conspiracies in which the IRS is an alleged victim.
The 2021 case — the lone indictment in the DA's 3-year probe of the Trump Organization — alleges that Trump's business and his CFO stole from the IRS by padding company executives' pay with income-tax -free perks and fringe benefits.
"To convict Weisselberg of grand larceny under Count 3," the filing says, referring to the most serious charge in the 15-count indictment, "the jury will simply need to find that as a result of Weisselberg's lies, he wrongly obtained over $50,000 from the IRS in the form of improperly claimed tax refunds.
"The jury need not determine Weisselberg's exact tax liability nor the exact amount that he wrongly claimed in refunds nor what amount is currently due to the IRS," the filing says.
"A guilty verdict would not in itself impose any obligations upon Weisselberg to make a payment to the IRS," the filing adds, rebutting defense claims that the state-level prosecution is wrongly pursuing a federal income tax collection.
The filing also challenges defense "selective prosecution" claims alleging that the former president's business is being singled out because of the Democratic DA's political bias.
"Defendants continue to fail to point to a single similarly situated corporate or individual defendant that has been treated differently by this Office or to advance any argument supporting that Defendants were impermissibly selected for prosecution," the filing says.
The case is nearing a possible September trial; the parties are scheduled to be in court in Manhattan on July 12, when pre-trial matters are to be discussed and a firm trial date set.
More: Donald Trump The Trump Organization Alvin Bragg Manhattan | 2022-06-17T23:17:02Z | www.businessinsider.com | Manhattan DA Defends Right to Pursue Trump Organization Tax-Larceny Case | https://www.businessinsider.com/manhattan-da-federal-tax-larceny-donald-trump-organization-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/manhattan-da-federal-tax-larceny-donald-trump-organization-2022-6 |
A Dallas Judge prevented Texas AG Ken Paxton from intervening in a case involving trans healthcare.
The case involved a children's hospital in Dallas suing to provide care for trans youth.
Paxton has argued that gender-affirming care for trans youth is "child abuse."
A judge prevented Attorney General Ken Paxton from further intervening in a case regarding healthcare for transgender youth after he attempted to reverse a court order that allowed a hospital in Texas to provide gender-affirming care for new patients.
Dallas County Judge Melissa Bellan said on Friday that she could not find evidence that Paxton or the state of Texas had the authority to intervene on behalf of individuals in the case, CNN reported.
The decision comes after Bellan provided an injunction and restraining order allowing Dr. Ximena Lopez at Children's Medical Center in Dallas to continue providing gender-affirming health care for transgender youth in the state.
Paxton's office argued that they should be allowed to bring experts to support a claim from Paxton that gender-affirming healthcare constitutes "child abuse," which he wrote about in a February opinion.
The state of Texas has clamped down on healthcare for transgender youth in recent months. In February, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a directive ordering the state's Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate parents and guardians who permitted children to receive gender-affirming care.
On June 11, a judge reinstated an injunction on Abbott's directive, saying there was reason to believe plaintiffs would "suffer immediate and irreparable injury" if the law was enforced, the AP reported.
In response to legislation targeting LGBTQ youth across the country, President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday. The order would give states guidance on policies that would expand physical and mental healthcare for LGBTQ youth, according to a White House fact sheet.
A representative for Paxton's office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
More: Biden Greg Abbott ken paxton trangender rights | 2022-06-18T05:21:56Z | www.businessinsider.com | Texas AG Ken Paxton Removed From a Case Over Healthcare for Trans Youth | https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-ag-ken-paxton-removed-from-case-healthcare-trans-youth-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-ag-ken-paxton-removed-from-case-healthcare-trans-youth-2022-6 |
Several Democratic groups have paid for ads that support extreme, right-wing candidates.
The efforts have attacked more moderate Republicans and appear aimed at improving Democrats' chances in the fall.
But some on the left have called the strategy "risky" given potential threats to democracy.
Democrats are paying for ads to promote far-right candidates in the primaries, apparently with the idea they'll be easier to beat than more mainstream Republicans in the fall.
One 30-second ad in California attacked incumbent GOP Rep. David Valadao and promoted one of his challengers for the 22nd district, rancher and businessman Chris Mathys.
Mathys went to great lengths to align himself with Trump, even trying to identify himself on the ballot as a "Trump conservative/Businessman," a request the California secretary of state denied. Mathys also told The Bakersfield Californian in January that Trump would have won the 2020 election if the votes were "properly counted," despite election audits, officials, and judges dismissing claims of widespread fraud.
"David Valadao claims he's Republican, yet David Valadao voted to impeach President Trump," the ad said, adding that Mathys, on the other hand, was a "true conservative, 100% pro-Trump and proud."
House Majority PAC, which is linked to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, paid for the ad.
Valadao was leading over Mathys as of Friday evening, but the ad was one of several instances in which Democratic groups boosted Republican candidates who promoted false claims of voter fraud or expressed support for January 6.
The efforts have targeted more moderate Republicans who are facing Trumpian candidates and appear to be aimed at improving Democratic candidates' chances in the general election. The practice is not new, but some on the left have expressed concerns that it could be a risky move given the insurrection and current economic factors that could hurt Democrats in the midterms, including soaring inflation.
"I think it's very dangerous and potentially very risky to elevate people who are hostile to democracy," Howard Wolfson, a Democratic strategist, told The Washington Post. "Either this is a crisis moment or it isn't. And if it is — which it is — you don't play cute in a crisis."
Democratic Rep. Kathleen Rice of New York also said the strategy could be especially dangerous given the current moment.
"I realize that this type of political gamesmanship has existed forever, but our country is in a very different place now than we were in previous cycles," Rice told The New York Times. "For these Democratic groups to throw money at raising up a person who they know wants to tear down this democracy is outrageous."
Other examples of Democratic groups using this strategy include a Senate race in Colorado and governor races in Nevada and Illinois, according to The Post.
More: midterm elections 2022 republican candidates Democrats PAC | 2022-06-18T06:49:10Z | www.businessinsider.com | Democrats Boost Far-Right Candidates in Hopes They'll Be Easy to Beat | https://www.businessinsider.com/democrats-boost-far-right-candidates-hope-be-easy-to-beat-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/democrats-boost-far-right-candidates-hope-be-easy-to-beat-2022-6 |
Yellowstone National Park faced historic flooding this week, which destroyed roads and bridges and forced evacuations.
Montana Gov. Gianforte's office confirmed to NBC he was in Italy while the natural disaster occurred.
Gianforte faced heavy criticism from constituents for not returning to Montana once the flooding started.
As Yellowstone National Park faced historic flooding this week which caused millions of dollars in damage and destroyed bridges and roadways, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte's office confirmed he was on vacation in Italy.
"The governor departed early Saturday morning to Italy with his wife for a long-planned personal, private trip," Gianforte's office said in a statement to NBC Montana. "When severe flooding struck, the governor delegated his authority to respond to the disaster to Lieutenant Governor Kristen Juras with whom he worked closely over the last four days to take swift, decisive action."
The historic flooding, which caused an estimated $29 million in damages to the national park and surrounding areas, began June 13 and prompted the evacuation of more than 10,000 park visitors during one of its busiest tourism seasons of the year. No serious injuries or deaths have been reported.
Gianforte faced heavy criticism for his absence from constituents and political rivals, who started the social media tag #WhereIsGreg upon realizing the state's disaster declaration had been signed by the Lieutenant Governor. For several days, Gianforte's office did not state where the Governor was, citing unspecified "security concerns."
"In a moment of unprecedented disaster and economic uncertainty, Gianforte purposefully kept Montanans in the dark about where he was, and who was actually in charge," Sheila Hogan, executive director of the Montana Democratic Party, told the Los Angeles Times.
Though he had portrayed himself on Twitter as actively participating in the official response to the floods, the Republican Governor returned to Montana on Thursday night.
"Grateful to be back in Montana, the governor looks forward to being on the ground in Gardiner this morning to survey damage and meet with residents and local officials about recovering and rebuilding," Gianforte's office said in a statement to NBC Montana.
The incident prompted comparisons to Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who recieved scrutiny for similarly vactioning during a 2021 weather disaster in his state. During a frigid winter storm that resulted in $80-130 billion in damages and nearly 250 deaths, Cruz spent time vacationing at a luxury hotel in Cancún.
Cruz called the trip a "mistake" after intense backlash, but later joked about the incident on Twitter. Unlike Cruz, Gianforte left for vacation before the flooding occurred.
Gianforte's office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
More: Politics Yellowstone Yellowstone National Park flood | 2022-06-18T06:49:16Z | www.businessinsider.com | Montana Governor Vacationed While Yellowstone Faced Historic Flooding | https://www.businessinsider.com/montana-governor-vacationed-while-yellowstone-faced-historic-flooding-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/montana-governor-vacationed-while-yellowstone-faced-historic-flooding-2022-6 |
Here's the 10-page pitch deck supply-chain-automation startup Arkestro used to raise its $26 million Series A
Edmund Zagorin is the founder and CEO of the supply-chain-tech startup Arkestro.
Arkestro uses machine learning to speed up procurement processes.
The company raised a $26 million Series A round led by a consortium of investors.
CEO Edmund Zagorin said he planned to double his team by the end of the year.
Supply chains rarely get simpler as companies grow. Shifting tariffs, sudden sanctions, port shutdowns, and transportation bottlenecks — not to mention inflation — can trigger a need to buy materials from new suppliers.
Take the recent sanctions on Russia, which had immediate effects on the supply chains of companies that couldn't take months to come up with tidy workarounds.
"For any supply-chain manager, you could get a call from your CEO or your CFO that says, 'We need to make a change now, and drop what you're doing and do it,'" Edmund Zagorin, the CEO of San Francisco procurement-tech startup Arkestro, said.
Procurement teams, the people tasked with finding and ordering solid, safe, and legal sources of product and materials for businesses, have gotten a workout over the past two years.
Arkestro uses machine learning to tame some of that complexity and help companies buy more things faster. The startup just raised a $26 million Series A round led by NEA, Construct, Koch Disruptive Technologies, and Four More Capital.
Zagorin told Insider Arkestro's machine-learning tech constantly analyzed what's happening in a buying operation and running scenarios so it could suggest the best thing to do next.
The software can tell suppliers what price is likely to be accepted by the buyer to cut down on rounds of negotiation. It can tell buyers which suppliers respond the fastest so they can get goods delivered sooner. It notices when a supplier's prices are increasing and might recommend adding suppliers in that category to find cheaper options.
The result is that procurement staff can handle more and get things done faster, Zagorin said.
On top of speed, Arkestro can change the skills-procurement professionals' need to function at a high level, according to the founder. Procurement teams today, he said, are experts in spreadsheets and operations but don't always have strong soft skills.
"The procurement teams of the future will have a lot more people that have great analytical data skills and relationship skills in combination," he said.
So far, Arkestro is most attractive to companies with very complex supply chains, like the chemical giant BASF. The startup has about 50 employees and plans to reach 100 by the end of the year.
Zagorin said adoption of the software had been quick because there's no onboarding since the technology was email-based.
"We have lots of users that are not even aware that they're using Arkestro," he said. "There's no login. You don't have to set up an account. You just receive an email that gives you the option to accept the recommendation."
Here's the pitch deck that landed Arkestro $26 million to double its head count this year.
More: BITranspo Supply Chain Supplier | 2022-06-18T09:55:35Z | www.businessinsider.com | Read Arkestro's Pitch Deck From Its $26 Million Series a | https://www.businessinsider.com/arkestro-series-a-pitch-deck-supply-chain-procurement-automation-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/arkestro-series-a-pitch-deck-supply-chain-procurement-automation-2022-6 |
A former Carlyle Group money manager warns that the S&P 500 is doomed to fall 42% if the Fed carries out the 11 rate hikes Wall Street expects — and says raising interest rates destroys demand and does nothing to solve inflation
Stocks are selling off as inflation stays elevated and the Fed hikes interest rates.
If the Fed continues to hike, they'll crash stocks further, says Keith McCullough.
Hiking rates won't solve inflation, but will crash the economy and stocks he says.
When Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell raised interest rates by 75 basis points on Wednesday for the first time since 1994, investors cheered. The S&P 500 closed the day up 1.46%, a strong bounce back from Monday's 3.9% loss.
Powell and the rest of the Federal Open Market Committee took the drastic measure following an 8.6% reading on the Consumer Price Index on June 10, the highest in 41 years. Rising interest rates tend to create a drag on economic activity and demand, easing pressure off of surging prices.
But according to Keith McCullough, the central bank is taking the wrong approach. Raising the fed funds rate will do little to ease inflation in the near-term, the former Carlyle Group money manager says. Instead, it's only effect will be crushing economic growth.
"As the Fed bends to the will of Wall Street and raises rates, they're tanking the U.S. economy AND not fixing underlying inflationary issues," McCullough said this week on Hedgeye, his financial information site.
The market expects the Fed to institute 11 rate hikes of 25 basis points, which would put the fed funds rate at 2.75-3%. It currently sits at 1.5-1.75%. Another hike of 75 basis points followed by a hike of 50 basis points would meet the expectation of 11 hikes of 25 basis points. Powell said at Wednesday's FOMC meeting that he expects they will hike by 50 or 75 basis points at their July meeting.
If they meet this threshold of 11 hikes, McCullough said, then stocks will continue to fall. Peak-to-trough, they'll fall as far as 42%, he said. The S&P 500 is already down 23.4% year-to-date.
McCullough said raising rates is a bad idea at the moment because he believes the economy is in a fragile position, according to his model, shown below.
The US economy is currently in the fourth quadrant, shown in the bottom left corner of the following chart, McCullough said. In this environment, inflation and growth are both slowing down, and the Federal Reserve should therefore be dovish, he said.
Their current hawkish stance, then, is going to have disastrous effects, he believes.
"If you get tightening financial conditions into a #Quad4 economic slowdown, you will implode the stock market," McCullough said.
"The Fed shouldn't be doing 50 basis points, they shouldn't be doing any," he added. "Until they stop doing more than expected, the market's just going to just get us paid more on the short side. If they do what's on the board there, 11 hikes, the S&P is not going be -22%, it's going to be -32%, then -42%."
McCullough's views in context
McCullough's argument lies on the assumption that the economy is fragile and inflation is decelerating. Both of those premises are up for debate.
Inflation — which has been fueled by a combination of supply chain hiccups, rising commodity prices, and strong consumer demand — looked like it had peaked in March before rising to new highs in April, and gas and food prices are likely to continue to stay elevated, further fueling inflation. A strain on housing inventory across the country is also pushing up rent and home prices.
And while inflation is weighing heavily on consumer sentiment — the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey had its worst-ever reading in May — the economy appears strong in other ways: savings are relatively high, spending remains strong, and the labor market is tight with unemployment around pre-pandemic lows at 3.6%.
The Federal Reserve, and the majority of economists on Wall Street who don't see a recession as their base case, believe the economy is strong enough to withstand a tightening cycle without breaking.
Some, like Guggenheim Partners' Scott Minerd, however, are worried that a significant amount of demand destruction is already taking place.
Ken Rogoff, a former chief economist at the IMF, told Insider in May that the Fed wouldn't be able to bring down inflation meaningfully unless they hiked rates to around 5%. But by the time they get to 3%, they will have likely triggered a recession, he said.
'It's very hard to bring inflation down until you've made the real interest rate positive," Rogoff told Insider on May 6. "If inflation's at 3% and the interest rate's at 3% two years from now, inflation is not going to be on the way down."
"I'm guessing when they hit about 3%, there are going to be pretty strong signs of the economy slowing down, and maybe even before then," Rogoff added.
Inflation appears to be heavily driven by poor supply-side dynamics. The Fed is trying to manipulate what it can — demand-side dynamics — to ease the problem. But as McCullough is warning, stocks may pay the price.
Wall Street strategists remain fairly constructive for 2022, with the median price target among major banks at around 4,800 for the S&P 500. The index closed Friday around 3,860. That represents 24% upside from current levels.
But McCullough has company in those making near-term forecasts for further downside. Morgan Stanley's Mike Wilson said the S&P 500 would likely find a floor around 3,400. Bank of America's Savita Subramanian said she sees the index falling as low as 3,200.
The market's fate will depend heavily on what inflation does in the months ahead, and how the Fed responds. With stocks already more than halfway to McCullough's worst-case scenario, investors might do well to keep his warning of economic malfunction in mind, especially if inflation continues on its upward tear.
More: Investing Stock Market Crash Stock Market Analysis
fed and stocks | 2022-06-18T09:55:47Z | www.businessinsider.com | Stock Market Crash: Expert Warns of 42% Drop If Rate Hikes Continue | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-crash-inflation-rate-hikes-further-sell-off-mccullough-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-crash-inflation-rate-hikes-further-sell-off-mccullough-2022-6 |
Business Insider/Hayley Peterson
Grocery inflation is at its highest point since 1979, causing shoppers to change their habits.
Over half of consumers say they are shopping sales and using coupons.
Shoppers are also cutting back on non-essential items, like more expensive cuts of meat.
Inflation is changing everything about how Americans grocery shop, from what stores they visit to the brands they buy and how frequently they shop.
Approximately 95% of US households said they are making changes to purchasing habits to account for rising prices, according to a Numerator survey of over 10,000 consumers in April. About half of those surveyed said that in recent months they've stocked up on essentials when they were on sale, and searched for coupons and discounts. In both cases, an even higher percentage of consumers said they plan to adopt those behaviors in upcoming months.
Here are other ways Americans are shifting their shopping habits.
Grocery lists are shrinking
Grocery prices are skyrocketing at the fastest rate since 1979, and shoppers are feeling it. The rate of price increases month-to-month have increased since the beginning of 2022, and prices for food at home — a category which includes groceries — have risen 11.9% in May year-over-year, according to the Consumer Price Index. Milk and dairy prices have gone up at even faster rates, with meat and fish up 14.2% and eggs up 32.2% over May 2021.
As a result, over one-third of Numerator survey respondents said they are purchasing fewer items than they have in the past and 54% said they plan to cut spending, citing non-essential food as one of the top categories they intend to slash.
While households have different definitions of "non-essential," reductions often translate to trading down from pricier meats like beef to cheaper options like chicken, and buying half gallons of milk instead of full gallons.
According to a May survey from the Food Industry Association (FMI), 21% of consumers are buying less meat, and 14% are buying less produce. Some shoppers are swapping out those pricier purchases for more frozen and canned meat, they told FMI, with a higher percentage of shoppers with household income under $40,000 making the switch.
A Costco worker arranges meat in a display at a Costco Warehouse store March, 2, 2006 in Richmond, California. Costco Wholesale Corporation, the nation's largest warehouse club operator, reported an 11 percent increase in quarterly sales, beating second quarter estimates.
Membership clubs and discount stores are benefitting
Rising prices are pushing customers to change where they shop. Discount grocery chain Aldi is seeing "significant spikes" in traffic, the company's US vice president of national buying Scott Patton told Insider. The chain added 2.5 million new customers in May, with the greatest increases among middle-income and high-income households, Patton said. Independent foot traffic analysis from Placer.ai confirmed this growth.
Aldi's highest-growth categories reflect categories with the highest rates of inflation, meaning customers are flocking to the budget store to buy the priciest items. Aldi had lower prices than Walmart in most grocery categories, and in a recent price comparison from Insider, the discount chain won out on produce, pantry staples, and eggs. The biggest difference was in meat, with potential savings up to 60 cents per pound on some items.
Meanwhile, Sam's Club, Costco, and BJ's — which operate with membership models where customers must pay an annual fee to shop at the store — are also all having an exceptionally good year. They're benefiting from the same trends pushing customers towards discount stores like Aldi. And while membership clubs aren't up as much as Aldi, 46% of consumers told Numerator they're making fewer, bigger trips, which fits with the bulk buying nature of these stores. and 21% of grocery shoppers told FMI that they've switched to buying in bulk.
Kate Taylor/Business Insider
Private-label brands see an uptick
Many grocery shoppers are opting for the cheapest brands on shelves — 31% of consumers told Numerator they are switching to less expensive brands — which are often private-label brands sold by grocery stores.
This is showing up in data from grocery stores, too. Aldi told Insider that 90% of its offerings are private label. Walmart noted increased penetration of its private-label brands in a May earnings call. The deli, meat, and dairy sections are seeing the greatest movement into private-label brands, John Furner, CEO and president of Walmart US, told investors on the call.
And while Costco's Kirkland private-label brand is already huge, making up around a quarter of the membership club's revenue, the company reported that private-label sales were up slightly in a recent earnings call.
More: Retail Grocery Inflation BLS | 2022-06-18T11:23:02Z | www.businessinsider.com | How Inflation Is Changing Grocery Shopping: Coupons, Sales, Frozen Foods | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-inflation-is-changing-grocery-shopping-coupons-sales-frozen-foods-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-inflation-is-changing-grocery-shopping-coupons-sales-frozen-foods-2022-6 |
Stocks are as oversold as they've been at any point in the last 30 years, says the chief market strategist at Truist Bank — and these 4 sectors are the most attractive right now
Truist is neutral on stocks but thinks they're too cheap right now after their brutal selloff.
Truist Bank is neutral on stocks and doesn't have a recession in its base case this year.
Keith Lerner, the firm's chief market strategist, believes stocks are way oversold right now.
Here are four stock market sectors that Truist is bullish on: two cyclicals and two defensives.
Keith Lerner, the co-chief investment officer and chief market strategist at Truist Bank, has gone from being "positive yet realistic" about stocks at the start of the year to "strongly neutral" today.
The long-time bull downgraded economically sensitive small caps in early April, and then did the same to all equities a week later. His more-cautious call proved to be warranted, as US stocks were in the second week of what would become a seven-week losing streak.
But even after two more months of ugly trading that has sent US stocks into a bear market , Lerner isn't ready to throw in the towel. In fact, he believes that now might be a rare buying opportunity.
"Only 4% of S&P 500 stocks are above their 50-day moving average, one of the most extreme oversold conditions of the past 30 years," Lerner wrote in a message to Insider on June 14. "Therefore, we would not be aggressively selling here but are maintaining our more defensive sector positioning."
There have only been nine times since 1990 when fewer than 5% of stocks have traded above their 50-day moving average, Lerner wrote in a June 14 note to clients, adding that returns in that scenario tended to be mixed in the near term but higher in the following year.
But while stocks tend to rise over time, that doesn't always mean it's wise for investors to dive headfirst into markets after the S&P 500's 23% year-to-date decline. Lerner told clients that there's currently an "unusually wide" range of possible outcomes for stocks and the economy.
In a recent interview with Insider, Truist's chief market strategist shared why he's still hopeful despite mounting risks, and which four market sectors make the most sense to invest in now.
Recession risk is rising, but it's still not a certainty
So much can change in markets in a week. When Lerner initially spoke with Insider on June 9, it appeared as if stocks had bottomed after rising 5.5% from their mid-May low of about 3,810.
"At the lows, we were basically pricing in an over a 65% chance of a recession ," Lerner said on the morning of June 9. "And even though the risks are there, we think that's a little bit too much short term. There is rising risk, but the market was overestimating recession risks."
Hours later, fears of sky-high inflation and a weakening economy once again gripped investors and caused them to reconsider their bullish stance. That afternoon, the S&P 500 fell over 2% in what would be the start of a 9% slide in the span of four days — just the fourth such occurrence since the end of the financial crisis, Lerner would later note.
The selling, sparked by a report that showed that alarmingly high inflation accelerated in May, has since driven the S&P 500 nearly 4% lower than the 3,800 downside target that Lerner had laid out, and 15% to 18.7% below his upside targets.
But the strategy chief isn't ready to bail on stocks at these levels, and Truist is sticking to its thesis that there won't be a recession this year. The chance of an economic downturn in the US over the next 12 months has risen 25% to 35%, Lerner said, but he still doesn't believe it's a near-certainty like some of his peers do and like current market pricing suggests.
Regardless, the US economy is inevitably entering a slowdown, Lerner said, adding that a recession will be much more probable in late 2023. And as the Federal Reserve aggressively lifts interest rates in hopes of slowing runaway inflation, a so-called "soft landing" where the US central bank brings down price surges without hurting the economy gets less likely, Lerner said.
"I think it's going to be a challenge to stick a landing without breaking an ankle or two," Lerner said. "If we look back historically, it's going to be a challenge."
4 sectors to buy stocks in
Since uncertainty about the economy, inflation, and interest rates is so high, Lerner cautioned investors against being overconfident when either buying dips or selling rallies in stocks.
"This is not a time to make aggressive bets, I would say, in either direction," Lerner said. "But you should bring in your bets and take off some risk relative to the last few years that you've had. That's what our message has been since February."
With that said, Lerner listed four stock market sectors that Truist currently has an overweight rating in: energy, materials, healthcare, and consumer staples.
The former two are cyclical, meaning that companies within those sectors tend to fare best during economic expansions, while the latter two are defensives that do well during slowdowns.
"We like that combination of a little bit of offense from the commodity-linked sectors, a little bit more defense as well, as kind of a good balance in this market," Lerner said.
Energy has been Lerner's favorite sector for months, and that bet has paid off spectacularly. The sector is up about 50% in the past year, while no other sector is even in positive territory. Still, the strategy chief doesn't think it's time to bail on energy as the group's catalysts remain in place.
"Earnings revisions are up tremendously this year, and we still think oil prices are going to stay well-bid here, especially with the supply side," Lerner said. "And they're still relatively cheap."
Materials, which are widely regarded as an inflation beneficiary, are in the red so far this year but have outperformed the broader market on one-year, year-to-date, and three-month bases. The sector is the only one that Truist gave a positive rating on technicals, fundamentals, and valuation, with Lerner's team citing higher commodity prices as a tailwind in the note.
Defensive sectors lagged during the economic recovery, Lerner noted, but they're now coming back into favor as investors brace for more stock market mayhem.
Healthcare names are down just 2.4% in the past year, while the S&P 500 is down 10.9% in that span. Healthcare companies' greater pricing power are a tailwind in an inflationary backdrop, Lerner said.
Truist's team wrote the following about the healthcare sector in a recent note to clients: "Relative performance has been stronger, the sector ranks well in our quantitative work, and we expect it to hold up well in a choppier market environment given its defensive characteristics."
Finally, consumer staples have gone from one of Lerner's least favorite sectors to one of his top ideas. Back in mid-October, the strategy chief thought the group's valuations were attractive but knocked its "weak growth outlook" and "poor relative price performance." Now, the inverse is true, as Truist sees valuations as one of the only reasons to be wary of the sector.
"While it's lagged more recently, intermediate relative price trends remain positive for staples," Truist's team wrote in a recent note. "The sector is supported by its defensive characteristics amid heightened geopolitical and global growth risks."
While Lerner didn't issue any specific stock picks, investors can use exchange-traded funds (ETFs) like the following to add exposure to Truist's top sectors: the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE), the Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLB), the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV), and the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP).
More: Investing Keith Lerner Keith Lerner Truist
sectors to buy
sectors to buy stocks in
sectors to invest in
Sectors to watch
materials stocks
consumer staples sector | 2022-06-18T11:23:08Z | www.businessinsider.com | 4 Sectors to Target With Stocks in Rare Oversold Territory: Truist | https://www.businessinsider.com/investing-cheap-stocks-to-buy-recession-inflation-top-strategist-truist-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/investing-cheap-stocks-to-buy-recession-inflation-top-strategist-truist-2022-6 |
Tim Boyle / Getty
Costco owns a chicken processing facility in Nebraska that supplies many of its rotisserie chickens.
Two Costco shareholders filed a lawsuit saying the company mistreats its chickens at the facility.
Costco is famous for its $5 rotisserie chicken, which hasn't increased in price even as inflation makes other groceries pricier.
Costco sold 106 million rotisserie chickens in 2021 alone.
Paul Sakuma/Shutterstock
In 2018, Costco constructed a plant for Lincoln Premium Poultry, a company started by the warehouse club.
The plant opened in 2019, with hopes of giving Costco control of the entire chicken supply line, from production to processing and selling.
Nebraska was chosen for the plant because it had grain, water, and labor, which are the three main costs associated with chicken processing.
Controlling the entire process allows Costco to save as much as 35 cents per chicken.
AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File
In hopes of these savings, Costco invested $450 million in the facility.
Source: Omaha World-Herald
By owning its own facility, Costco can also select for chickens that best fits its sales needs.
Chicken producers are breeding larger chickens across the industry, which can be sold for more as their individual parts.
The doesn't work for Costco, which needs to keep chickens around six pounds to sell as rotisserie chickens.
"We were having trouble getting the size bird we wanted on a consistent basis. We couldn't take a seven-pound bird or an eight-pound bird and make it work," senior VP of fresh foods at Costco Jeff Lyons said. "They're too big. They wouldn't even fit on our rotisserie line."
The facility is slated to eventually produce 2 million chickens each week, up to 100 million per year.
That's equivalent to about a third of Costco's chicken needs, which include both rotisserie chickens and separate chicken parts, like breasts, thighs, and wings.
To meet this demand, Costco has to work with over 500 chicken farms.
All those chickens need 2,000 acres each worth of corn and soybeans per week to feed them.
The plant employs about 800 workers to process these chickens.
The plant has been the source of some controversy in Nebraska.
The local school board opposed construction because of traffic and possible depletion of the water supply.
Other local advocacy groups said that they opposed the plant because of the control Costco could exert over smaller independent farmers.
Animal rights groups have also targeted the facility.
In 2021, Mercy for Animals visited the facility and described conditions including "chickens struggling to walk under their own unnatural weight," "bodies burned bare from ammonia-laden litter," "dead days-old chicks," and "piles of rotting birds."
In response to the report, Costco said it is "committed to maintaining the highest standards of animal welfare, humane processes, and ethical conduct throughout the supply chain,"
Two Costco shareholders filed a lawsuit in June accusing the company of "illegal neglect and abandonment" in the Nebraska plant.
Costco hasn't responded to inquiries about the lawsuit, but the company has a page on its website describing its commitment to animal welfare.
"Animal welfare is part of Costco's culture and responsibility, and we are committed to a global approach to Animal Welfare. We are working toward a uniform program in the countries/regions where we operate while respecting that each country may have its own regulatory and social requirements in place," the page reads.
Source: Costco
More: Features Business Visual Features Retail Costco | 2022-06-18T12:54:30Z | www.businessinsider.com | Costco Rotisserie Chicken Plant Nebraska: Photos | https://www.businessinsider.com/costco-rotisserie-chicken-plant-nebraska-photos-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/costco-rotisserie-chicken-plant-nebraska-photos-2022-6 |
I lost income at the start of the pandemic and don't want to be in a risky position if a recession hits.
Financial planners told me to keep investing in my retirement accounts to scoop up stocks "on sale."
Paying off debt and bulking up my emergency fund are also important steps to take.
Over the past few years, I've been doing what I can to strengthen my overall financial portfolio. Since the majority of my 20s were spent making money mistakes (from not having an emergency savings fund or retirement account to racking up credit card debt), I've vowed to be more strategic with my cash in my 30s.
Now that I have a good foundation in place, a solid budget that I follow most months, and am finding new ways to earn passive income, I am looking for ways to continue to emergency-proof my finances in case another pandemic or a recession pauses my ability to earn money; I lost a chunk of my income at the start of COVID and don't want to repeat that experience.
With talk of a recession on the horizon, I decided to chat with financial planners to learn more about how my investing, retirement, and personal savings strategies should pivot and change.
Personal savings
I've been keeping a close eye on my personal finances and trying to get back on a strict budget to prepare for a recession. Recently, I've wondered if I should be doing more.
Financial planner Jay Zigmont says that preparing your personal savings for a potential recession requires a few essential steps: getting on a budget; paying off debt; and building up your emergency funds.
"For most people, the biggest impact of a recession would be job loss," says Zigmont. "If you lose your job, you will be happy you did these things."
Financial planner Adam Deady agrees and recommends putting plans in place now to pay off debt when the economy is strong. When it goes into a recession, Deady says that fully funding an emergency fund should take priority.
"If you can pay these types of debts off by the time the next recession hits, it will make it that much easier to pay your expenses if your income is decreased for any reason or period of time," says Deady.
If you already have three to six months of expenses saved in your emergency fund, financial planner Danielle Miura recommends preparing to put an extra month's worth of expenses in that account.
"It can give you the protection you need so that you don't have to worry about gaining extra liabilities in a recessionary period," says Miura.
As someone who only started investing a few years ago, I wondered if there was anything I should do with my money that's in the market in case a recession happens.
Financial planner Dustin Newton says that if you're investing for the long term, a looming recession shouldn't panic you. While you may want to off-load some investments if you need the cash, you should stick with a strategy that has you selling when prices are low.
However, Newton says if you do have cash to invest, you might want to consider buying recession-friendly sectors (such as consumer staples, utilities, and health care). Stocks that have been paying a dividend for many years are also a good choice, since they tend to be long-established companies that can withstand a downturn.
Outside of stocks, Newton advises buying real estate.
"When a recession hits and home values drop, it may be a buying opportunity for investment properties. If you can rent out a property to a reliable tenant, you'll have a steady stream of income while you ride out the recession," says Newton.
If a recession happens and I lose income, I might have to adjust my overall financial strategy. Even though I have a lofty goal of retiring a millionaire, I wondered if a recession would mean that I should pause contributions to my SEP IRA retirement account.
Miura says that might not be the best idea since continuing to invest in your retirement plan will help you reduce the average dollar per share in your portfolio. If you work for a company that matches 401(k) contributions, you definitely shouldn't stop contributing.
"In the long term, your contributions will greatly benefit you," says Miura. "It is essential that employees continue to take advantage of employer benefits and make an effort to grab free money where you can."
PERSONAL FINANCE A financial planner shares the best thing to do with your investments during a recession: nothing
More: Retirement Savings Recession Personal Finance Insider | 2022-06-18T12:54:54Z | www.businessinsider.com | What to Do With Savings and Investments Before a Recession | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/savings-investments-before-recession-2022-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/savings-investments-before-recession-2022-6 |
Boeing just debuted its 2022 ecoDemonstrator, a 777-200ER aircraft previously used as a passenger jet.
The plane will test 30 new technologies aimed at improving safety, efficiency, and sustainability.
Innovation tests include a water conservation system and a new pilot heads-up technology, among others.
Boeing has officially unveiled its newest ecoDemonstrator: a 777-200ER aircraft that once operated as a passenger jet.
The Boeing 2022 ecoDemonstrator will test 30 technologies to enhance safety and sustainability. Shown here, the 2022 ecoDemonstrator – a Boeing-owned 777-200 ER (Extended Range) after being painted in San Bernardino, Calif., in June.
The plane flew for Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand, and Suriname Airways before being converted into a testbed for the American manufacturer.
Air New Zealand Boeing 777 at the gate at LAX (not the ecoDemonstrator).
Since the program was launched 10 years ago, Boeing has converted nine planes into ecoDemonstrators, like an American Airlines 737-800 in 2012, which was the first one built…
…an Embraer 170 in 2016…
…and an Etihad 787-10 in 2020.
According to the planemaker, the purpose of the program is to improve aircraft operational efficiency and safety, decrease the industry's environmental footprint, and enhance the customer experience.
Insider was invited to tour the ninth ecoDemonstrator at Boeing's facilities in Seattle to learn about the technologies being trialed. Take a look.
The 777-200ER is not the first time Boeing has used a 777 variant for its ecoDemonstrator program.
According to Chad Lloyd, Boeing's deputy manager of the ecoDemonstrator program, the plane was chosen because it was available and the company wanted to retest some of the technologies already tested on a 777-200 in 2019.
The Boeing 777-200 ecoDemonstrator in 2019.
During the tour, Lloyd explained that 30 tests will be done on the aircraft. This brings the program's total testing to 230 technologies across all nine planes.
One consistent focus across each platform is sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). By 2030, the company has committed to delivering all of its commercial planes with the capability to operate on 100% SAF.
United Airlines is the first airline in the world to use 100% SAF on a passenger flight.
United Airlines just became the first airline in history to operate a passenger flight using 100% sustainable aviation fuel
In 2021, the company partnered with NASA to test the biofuel on an Alaska Airlines 737-9 and measure the emissions with different blends of SAF and traditional jet fuel, including 100% SAF.
An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 EcoDemonstrator.
This year, the NASA partnership will continue on the 777-200ER, but with a different engine type. The 2022 ecoDemonstrator is equipped with Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines.
"Engine architecture matters," Lloyd said. "It has an influence on what comes out the back end as exhaust."
When not testing the experimental SAF blend, Lloyd said the plane will operate with the highest blend of SAF available, which the planemaker believes to be 30% SAF and 70% jet fuel.
Another technology being tested on the ecoDemonstrator is "additive manufacturing," which allows Boeing to design parts that are lower weight and use less waste and energy in the process. This is because the part is being scaled up rather than subtracting material from a bigger piece.
The 2022 Boeing ecoDemonstrator will test this additively manufactured auxiliary power unit (APU) exhaust duct support panel. Additive manufacturing reduces weight and fuel use on the airplane and reduces material waste during the manufacturing process.
Two parts of additive manufacturing will be on the 2022 ecoDemonstrator: one on the tail and a second in the engine.
Both pieces will be made of titanium.
Several other technologies will be installed inside the plane, as well as systems to monitor and report the data. To create an environment for flight testing, the plane was gutted of its seats and carpet.
However, overhead bins were left in place, with a few holding emergency equipment, like a first aid kit and fire extinguisher.
The galleys and jumpseats were also still installed. According to Lloyd, the front galley is used to store food and drinks for the engineers during test flights, which can last four to five hours.
While Lloyd said no technologies have been installed yet, the company is currently prepping the plane to bring them onboard.
Two technologies will be installed at the back of the aircraft, including a refrigerant in the aft galley and tray tables made of natural materials that will be attached to seats in the aft cabin.
The refrigerant currently used on aircraft contains a potent greenhouse gas, which can be harmful if it leaks. So, in partnership with Collins Aerospace, Boeing is testing an "environmentally preferred" alternate on the ecoDemonstrator.
Meanwhile, the tray tables will be made of natural fiber manufactured with biodegradable materials. The flight crews will test the durability of the tray tables during flights.
In the middle cabin, a "self-disinfecting lavatory" with embedded UV lights will be installed. UV lights will also be tested in the aft galley to better clean surfaces.
Another sanitation effort being tested on the lavatory is a "hands-free" latch and lock that will negate the need to touch the door or knob.
Hands-free entry and exit at Delta's SkyClub lounge bathrooms at LGA.
A second lavatory will be installed that will house a water conservation system. The technology sanitizes waste water from hand washing and reuses it to flush the toilet, saving 50 gallons worth of water per flight.
British Airways 747 lavatory.
On the wing, another technology will be tested to reduce drag during cruise.
Currently, the wing houses vortex generators (VG) that improve aerodynamic efficiency during takeoff and landing, but the technology actually increases drag at high altitudes.
As a solution, Boeing is testing "SMART VG," which combines the current VGs with a NASA-engineered metal that changes shape with temperature. This means the VGs could fold down and store into the wing on command during cruise, reducing drag.
In the belly is another technology to replace halon 1301, which is the industry standard fire suppressant used on aircraft, but it has ozone-depleting properties.
Boeing is testing alternative agents that will replace halon by 2040, which is an industry-mandated goal, according to Lloyd.
The former business class section is where the flight test systems will be located. The engineers are responsible for the safety of the plane and the crew, as well as reporting quality data.
In the cockpit, Boeing is testing a new flight test display for pilots. Instead of fixed monitors installed on a panel in the crew's line of sight, the company is creating a "head-worn heads-up display with an enhanced vision system."
This means the pilots will wear a hat-like system that will display things like airspeed and altitude on glass, but they can also look through the glass out at their surroundings. This is intended to help with situational awareness, according to Lloyd.
The enhanced vision system connects to a camera on the nose of the plane that "augments the pilot's vision through that headset display to give them additional visibility in low visibility situations," Lloyd said.
Another flight deck innovation being tested is a system capable of knowing when to use a single-engine taxi, which would reduce fuel burn.
The 777-200ER ecoDemonstrator will begin six months of flight and ground testing this summer.
"The Boeing ecoDemonstrator program brings together the two most important ingredients to a more sustainable future – innovative technologies and partnerships with customers, suppliers, government agencies, and academia," Boeing's chief sustainability officer Chris Raymond said.
This year's ecoDemonstrator celebrates Boeing's 10th anniversary of the future-focused program.
The plane's livery represents the decade-long work to innovate and improve Boeing technologies, like the "more aerodynamically efficient winglets" on the 737 MAX jets.
While it may seem that all the efforts are individually small, like 50 gallons of water conserved, they can collectively make a big impact, Boeing vice president of product development Mike Sinnett explained.
"We aren't looking for the big grand slams," he said. "Historically, we've seen 15%-20% better fuel burn on current generation [planes] compared to previous generations, and probably half of that comes from the plane and half from the engine."
"The half from the plane is never one thing, it's 20, 30, or 40 little things," he continued. "What the ecoDemonstrator does for us is it gives us a toolkit of all these little things that when added together makes a significant difference."
More: Business Visual Features Boeing 777-200ER Boeing 777
ecoDemonstrator | 2022-06-18T12:55:18Z | www.businessinsider.com | See Inside Boeing's 777 EcoDemonstrator Aircraft, Flight Testing | https://www.businessinsider.com/see-inside-boeings-777-ecodemonstrator-aircraft-flight-testing-2022-10-years-6 | https://www.businessinsider.com/see-inside-boeings-777-ecodemonstrator-aircraft-flight-testing-2022-10-years-6 |
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