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COVID-19 Outbreak in The U.S. and Canada:
Impact on North American Supply Chain Operations
- The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about significant supply chain and logistics disruptions throughout the North American continent as firms and manufacturers scramble to cope with various levels of government-mandated restrictions.
- Everstream Analytics has identified 46 out of 50 U.S. states that have ordered at least some form of official stay-at-home order or mandate for non-essential businesses to close due to the COVID-19 epidemic. At least 19 states have adopted statewide restrictions that remain in effect until May 1 and beyond, while another 21 states have measures in place until April 30 or earlier. In Canada, eight provinces (including Quebec and Ontario) and one territory have ordered non-essential businesses to close down. Appendix A of this report outlines the measures adopted by each state and province.
- The ability of North American manufacturers to weather the operations and supply chain impacts is dependent on whether federal and statewide directives have defined them as an “essential” service. The U.S. has largely adopted a more patchwork approach with each state designating their own “essential” sectors, while the Canadian manufacturing hubs of Ontario and Quebec imposed the most severe restrictions north of the border.
The impact on North American manufacturers has been particularly felt in the life sciences and healthcare; automotive and mobility; engineering and machinery; energy and chemicals; and technology sectors amid the turmoil caused by COVID-19.
- From a transport and logistics perspective, capacity constraints and rising air and ocean freight rates have created challenges for global trade lanes coming to and from North America. However, ground freight remains less impacted as the U.S.-Canada border restrictions apply only to non-essential travel and some U.S. states have lifted restrictions on oversized/overweight trucking load permits for transporting emergency medical supplies.
Since early March, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. and Canada has created serious disruptions to manufacturing operations and logistics networks, and subsequently across global supply chains, throughout North America amid various government-mandated restrictions.
Although Washington and Ottawa have introduced important measures at the federal levels, state and provincial governments are arguably playing a leading role in restricting movement and compelling non-essential businesses to temporarily close as the COVID-19 situation worsens. As of April 27 00:00 GMT, Everstream Analytics identified 46 out of 50 U.S. states that have adopted an official statewide stay-at-home order or ordered non-essential businesses to close. In Canada, 8 provinces (including Quebec and Ontario) and 1 territory have mandated that non-essential businesses cease operations.
The degree to which North American manufacturers have been affected by the COVID-19 restrictions has been contingent upon whether federal or statewide directives have defined them as “essential” services. While many states make references to federal guidelines, some have offered different interpretations on what sectors should be considered “essential” and opted for looser restrictions or even delegated cities and counties to determine their own restrictions.
Everstream Analytics provides a breakdown of the manufacturing sectors heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, most notably life sciences and healthcare (LSHC); automotive and mobility; engineering and machinery; energy and chemicals; and technology. It also takes a closer look at the transport and logistics constraints for air, ocean, and ground freight across various states and provinces throughout the U.S. and Canada as the crisis continues to evolve.
State And Provincial Level Restrictions Due to COVID-19
As the U.S. copes with the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal and state governments have increasingly been split over balancing the public health needs and economic concerns of the country after U.S. President Donald Trump announced his desire to restart the national economy by May 1 or sooner. For the most part, the U.S. has largely responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with sub-national measures adopted at the state, city, and county levels through stay-at-home orders and mandating the shutdown of non-essential or life-sustaining businesses.
As of April 27 00:00 GMT, Everstream Analytics has found that 46 out of 50 states have ordered at least some form of official stay-at-home order or mandate for non-essential businesses to close amid the COVID-19 epidemic. At least 19 states have adopted statewide restrictions that remain in effect until May 1 and beyond, while another 21 states have measures in place until April 30 or earlier. Six states, including California, Maryland, and Oregon, have adopted executive orders imposing COVID-19 restrictions until further notice with no specified end-date. Only four states – Arkansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Utah – have not officially issued either a statewide stay-at-home order or mandate non-essential businesses to cease operations.
The ability of U.S. manufacturers to weather the operations and supply chain impacts is dependent on whether federal and statewide directives have defined them as an “essential” service. So far, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Essential Operation guidance lists non-medical manufacturing as essential if such manufacturing is pertinent to metals, minerals, semiconductors, transportation, aerospace, nuclear facilities, chemicals, wood, power generation commodities, mining, and those manufacturing operations supporting the other 15 essential categories. While most states make reference to federal CISA guidance, some have adopted much looser restrictions and permitted the vast majority of non-life sustaining businesses to continue to operate. Appendix A details the different approaches that each U.S. state and Canadian province has taken in response to COVID-19.
As disagreements continue over whether the U.S. President has the unilateral authority to compel states to lift stay-at-home orders and order businesses to reopen, several state governors have announced three major regional coalitions on how states are planning to coordinate their economic re-openings: California, Oregon, and Washington (West Coast); New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island (Northeastern); and Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky (Midwest). This comes as a number of states across Ohio, Tennessee, Idaho, and North Dakota have all declared that they would not be extending COVID-19 restrictions and intend to restart business by May 1.
In Canada, similar restrictions have been adopted with the manufacturing hubs of Quebec and Ontario ordering non-essential businesses to close until May 4 and 6 respectively. Both provinces have introduced revised lists for what constitutes as “essential” business with certain major non-life sustaining sectors (such as mining and energy) being permitted to resume operations.
Manufacturing Impacts in U.S. And Canada
The sector-specific analysis below provides an overview of the specific challenges faced by firms and suppliers operating in the life sciences and healthcare, automotive and mobility, engineering and manufacturing, energy and chemicals, and technology industries amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Life Sciences And Healthcare
The severe strains placed on American life sciences and healthcare supply chains have been underpinned by acute supply shortages and skyrocketing costs for procuring critical medical supplies and equipment needed to combat the COVID-19 outbreak. While the U.S.’ reliance on China and India for critical and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and protective garments is well-documented, higher-end medical equipment and devices remain heavily sourced from other developed nations for products such as diagnostic reagents, oxygen therapy equipment, and disinfectants (see Appendix B).
As a response to the crisis, the Trump administration has taken several measures under the Defense Protection Act to compel companies to produce much-needed medical supplies such as ventilators, medical masks, and swabs. In addition, a temporary rule was issued prohibiting the exports of certain types of personal protective equipment (PPEs) without “explicit approval” by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. These are categorized under five categories of medical supplies: N95 filtering face piece respirators; other filtering face piece respirators; elastomeric, air-purifying respirators and appropriate particulate filters/cartridges; PPE surgical masks; and PPE gloves or surgical gloves. The measures are effective for 120 days from April 7 to August 10.
The measures do allow for a narrow exemption for shipments by or on behalf of U.S. manufacturers with continuous export agreements with customers in other countries since at least January 1, 2020. However, the exemption only applies to U.S. manufacturers with a track record of distributing at least 80 percent of their PPE product supplies, on a per item basis, in the U.S. during the 12 months. Certain shipments of PPE may also be exempted from the new restrictions including exports to Canada and Mexico. The restrictions do not include other materials that the U.S. Department of Health has defined as “scarce or threatened materials” that could be subject to further actions if the situation continues to escalate, which may include chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine, ventilators, certain sanitizing and disinfectant products, and medical gowns or apparel.
Automotive And Mobility
The adverse impacts on the U.S. and Canadian automotive sectors are exemplified by the 93 percent shutdown faced by Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) plants across the industry in the US and at least 47 percent in Canada. Restoration to pre-COVID-19 capacity is anticipated to be a challenge, because outside of the NAFTA area, which retains logistic contingency in the form of essential classifications for cross-border trade, full-fledged resumption will be made difficult by sub-national essential production limits on OEMs and component manufacturers as well as respective supplies required for production.
Moreover, even if quick plant production resumption takes place in the NAFTA area, any input material imports could be complicated by COVID-19 related trade restrictions. In addition, resumption of automotive production at OEMs such as Ford and GM may be challenged where production of essential items required to address the COVID-19 pandemic is mandated, such as with Ford’s production of ventilators under the Defense Production Act. As a whole, sub-tier suppliers are anticipated to face significant impact, as OEMs struggle to bring production back to pre-COVID-19 capacity. Small yet crucial suppliers may face challenges amid sales and production losses themselves, and could be at risk for insolvencies which may reverberate upward towards OEMs and trigger supply shortages overall in the industry.
Major automotive supplier clusters in the US are concentrated in the Deep South and the Great Lakes states of the Midwest, which includes the facilities of the Big Three (FCA, GM, and Ford) as well as German and Japanese OEMS, while OEM assembly plants in Canada are primarily concentrated in southern Ontario. Everstream Analytics data shows that the predominant concentration of OEMs and affiliated suppliers is in the 9-county Detroit, Michigan metropolitan area in the U.S., bordered by Windsor and the counties of Essex, Lambton and Kent in Ontario in Canada. Monitoring stay-at-home orders in these areas will be crucial to assessing when production may potentially resume for the industry.
ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING
North American engineering and manufacturing firms have seen a considerable decline in demand for iron, steel, and other various metals as U.S. automakers continue to announce sweeping shutdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, major steelmakers U.S. Steel, ArcelorMittal, Gerdau, AK Steel, and Vallourec have all been forced to either idle or temporarily suspend operations at their respective blast furnaces and steel mills with few providing specific timeline on when their facilities could come back online.
Everstream Analytics data shows that the physical presence of engineering and manufacturing firms in the U.S. is primarily concentrated in the Great Lakes Midwest and the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. As is the case with other industries, carefully monitoring lifting of stay-at-home orders and definitions of essential businesses is necessary to assess when the impact on these industry clusters may abate.
Half of Canada’s manufacturing output is concentrated in Ontario, where the industry saw a loss of 31,600 jobs. Quebec, the province with the second largest manufacturing presence, reported a record 1,200 manufacturing job losses as of March, although the figures will decrease as the province expands the scope of industries allowed to resume production. Ontario has seen an increase in intra-provincial sourcing, albeit mostly for the critical COVID-19 response-related industries, but also for non-essential industries.
ENERGY AND CHEMICALS
The collapse of worldwide oil prices and limited space to store oil amid the COVID-19 pandemic has seen U.S. and Canadian energy producers caught in the crosshairs of extreme market volatility amid a pricing war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. Despite a deal reached by OPEC+ to cut global oil production by 10 percent, an overnight collapse on April 21 saw U.S. oil prices fall below zero for the first time in history, meaning producers are now paying buyers to take oil supplies off their hands due to a drastic oversupply of oil and insufficient storage capacity.
The downturn has forced a number of notable oil and gas and chemical producers to temporarily halt operations, idle refineries, or reduce overall production. Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, PBF Energy, and Marathon Petroleum have all been forced to either idle or shut down their refineries, while ConocoPhillips was the first major U.S. shale producer to confirm that it would cut its U.S. annual output by 30 percent. U.S. petroleum producer Valero Energy and Canadian energy firm Husky Energy have also been forced to declare force majeure to their suppliers due to COVID-19.
Moreover, the fallout from COVID-19 has triggered a number of high-profile insolvencies including Denver-based shale producer Whiting Petroleum and Texas-based shale driller Yuma Energy, which have both filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Trump administration has initiated plans to make funds available for oil and gas companies struggling due to COVID-19 amid broader fears within the industry that bankruptcies could far exceed that of the 2014-2016 oil crash.
As relief against record-low energy prices, New Mexico and Oklahoma state regulators allowed producers to cut output on state lands to halt losses, while Texas regulators are delaying a vote that would force producers to curtail oil production by 20 percent. Everstream Analytics data reveals that the vast majority of U.S. energy supplier and manufacturing locations are heavily concentrated in the U.S. South (particularly Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Louisiana); with the sector making up 78.4 percent of locations in Houston and amid reports of looming mandated production cuts in the state, those dependent on the energy and chemicals industry are advised to monitor state-level restrictions.
In the U.S., the semiconductor industry is considered essential business under the federal CISA guidelines and has been allowed to operate during the COVID-19 crisis. However, the lack of a uniform global definition of what constitutes as “essential” has meant that the supply chain impact abroad has been significant for the industry, with each country having different lockdown impacts. The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), an industry group representing leading U.S. tech manufacturers, previously lobbied federal and state governments to allow chip production plants to be recognized as essential services, citing that chips were critical for infrastructure, healthcare and manufacturing, as well as cloud data centers.
While domestic manufacturing in the U.S. for the semiconductor industry has been less impacted than other sectors, global uncertainty in the market looms. Some leading U.S.-based chipmakers have seen their production plants shut down in Southeast Asia, while global shipments and exports from South Korea and Japan to the U.S. have declined. Should states decide to impose tougher government orders if the COVID-19 situation worsens, it could result in prolonged shutdowns for semiconductor foundries and trigger supply shortages.
Regardless of the exceptions made for essential goods, the uninterrupted flow of goods remains at risk due to the possibility of force majeure declarations or insolvency filings by transportation and warehousing companies. The CEVA Logistics declaration, for example, led to a legal relief of the company’s obligations on agreed-upon delivery schedules for its air, land, and sea contracts.
On the customs side, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) have instituted limited forms of customs payment relief, for general and essential goods, respectively. For example, in the U.S., the Trump administration announced on April 20 a 90-day deferral on certain duties to provide American importers suffering from financial hardship due to COVID-19 with relief. However, imports subject to duties under Section 201, 232, and the 301 Trade Remedies targeting Chinese goods will not be included in the relief effort.
In terms of air cargo impact, the Trans-Atlantic trade lanes between the U.S. and Europe has seen significant capacity reductions in both directions. Space is available with constraints but with no transit time guarantees. For Trans-Pacific routes, capacity is still constrained with freighter schedules from the U.S. remaining inconsistent but gradually ramping up back to normal. Capacity constraints in Asian transit hubs persist to destinations without direct flight options from North America. In addition, Trans-Pacific lanes have continued to see increased air freight rates from China to North America, with the highest prices being recorded out of Shanghai.
In Canada, the borders remain closed to non-residents with only four Canadian airports (Calgary, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver) accepting international passenger flights. Airport terminals across the country are operating normally for cargo, although freighter capacity is constrained despite continuing to fly normally. Many airlines, including flag carrier Air Canada, have adapted their passenger fleets and compensated for a drop in passenger service to ensure supply chain continuity for domestic, Trans-Atlantic, and Trans-Pacific routes.
East Asia – North America cargo was the earliest and one of routes to be hardest hit. While ocean freight is also exempt under the terms of the joint agreement on essential cross border services, the possibility of port congestion and disruption remains as crews require pre-boarding screening and ships require sanitary measures in line with IMO guidance, with on-board operations further limited by necessary operations guidance. The U.S. Coast Guard requires an immediate declaration to the Captain of the port of arrival upon discovery of symptomatic crew, as well as 15 days prior to arrival reporting requirements to the CDC. Canada has a 96-hour reporting requirement for symptomatic crew before arrival in Canadian waters.
Several terminals at major U.S. ports were forced to close or reduce operating hours due to an increase in blank sailings and slashed cargo volumes, as well as instances of port workers contracting COVID-19. At the Port of Virginia, the Portsmouth Marine Terminal will be closed from May 4 and the number of hours truck gates will be open at other terminals is set to be reduced. For the Port of Seattle, Terminal 18 – the Pacific Northwest region’s largest container terminal – has since been brought back online as of April 11 following confirmed cases of workers contracting COVID-19.
After introducing border restrictions on March 21 to combat the spread of COVID-19, the U.S. and Canada announced on April 18 that the border would continue to be closed to all non-essential travel for another 30 days with the movement of cargo and freight activity between both countries being exempted. For ground freight, this includes the average daily passage of 30,000 trucks conducting USD 1 billion (CAD 1.4 billion; EUR 900 million) worth of commerce.
The ability for interstate ground shippers in the US to continue operating could be complicated, first by the ability to perform interstate shipments in the event that origin, transit, and destination jurisdictions have differing definitions of essential business. At the state level, Georgia, Michigan, Virginia, and Illinois have adopted executive orders lifting restrictions on oversized and overweight trucking load permits and licenses for transporting emergency supplies needed to combat COVID-19.
Some states and provinces in the two countries have seen peaks and ebbs in COVID-19 infection rates, and as a result, many manufacturers are considering their production options accordingly. Others, however, have elected to maintain their halts for additional weeks. While production may be permitted to resume based on the easing introduced at the sub-national level, COVID-19 response requirements at national levels, and the administrative means that may be employed to meet these requirements, may provide unexpected disruptions to production requirements. If the ebbing of the COVID-19 infection curb proves to be insufficient for the requirements of federal, state/provincial, and local governments as a result, the possibility of such disruptions could be ever more likely.
- Monitor easing of restrictions on a state-level: As states and provinces re-evaluate their closures vis-a-vis infection trends, some have indicated a willingness to ease restrictions or do away with them altogether. If and when these do occur, supply chain managers should closely monitor how it may impact their sector and potential suppliers as both countries seek to restart production and reopen supply lanes.
- Remain abreast of customs relief opportunities: While limited in duration and scope, efforts by CBP and CBSA to provide payment relief are a positive indicator of potential alleviations to come, which can facilitate supply chain movements down the line. Supply chain managers should therefore remain aware of developments in customs facilitation that can assist mobility restoration going forward.
- Anticipate schedule and regulatory changes to production: Depending on both countries’ emergency response requirements, which can be performed via legislative invocation (such as the Defense Production Act (50 U.S.C. Chapter 55) or the Emergencies Act (RSC 1985, c 22 (4th Supp)) or Executive Order/Order-in-Council, producers should anticipate that manufacturing requirements may be administratively changed and should prepare accordingly.
|STATE||MOVEMENT RESTRICTIONS||BUSINESS RESTRICTIONS||DURATION |
|Alabama||Stay-at-home order effective from April 4 until May 1. Stay-at-home order will be reviewed by state officials on or before April 28.||Non-essential businesses ordered to close until April 30. No manufacturing-intensive industries impacted.||27||April 30|
|Alaska||Stay-at-home order issued effective from March 28 through April 21. ||Some non-essential businesses allowed to reopen on April 24 under Phase One plan for reopening the state’s economy. |
Critical infrastructure and healthcare operations exempted. Healthcare manufacturers, medical equipment and personal protective equipment manufacturers, transport and logistics, critical manufacturing (including products needed for medical supply chains and supply chains for food and agriculture, chemicals, commodities, energy, transportation).
|Arizona||Stay-at-home order in effect from March 31 until April 30.||Non-essential businesses ordered to close until April 30. Healthcare operations and essential infrastructure operations exempted. Airport operations, oil and biofuel refining, ports, operation and maintenance of utilities defined under essential infrastructure.||31||April 30|
|Arkansas||Neither statewide stay-at-home order nor quarantine restrictions in effect.||Businesses and manufacturers required to implement social distancing protocols. Many businesses in the state have closed of their own choice.||N/A||N/A|
|California||Stay-at-home order issued on March 19 with no set expiration date.||Closure of non-essential businesses effective as of March 19. Manufacturers, technicians, logistics and warehouse operators, and distributors are explicitly mentioned as essential, with sectors including healthcare, food & agriculture, energy, transportation & logistics, communications & IT.||40||INDEFINITE|
|Colorado||Stay-at-home order extended from March 26 until April 26. Stay-at-home order will shift to a “Safer-at-Home” phase on April 27 that will keep many of the same recommendations.||Critical business includes healthcare, critical infrastructure, manufacturing, and defense, among others. Non-critical businesses may only conduct minimum basic operations for the duration of the Public Health Order.||32||April 26|
|Connecticut||Stay-at-home order extended from March 23 until May 20.||Executive order mandating the closure of non-essential businesses extended until May 20.||33||May 20|
|Delaware||Shelter-in-place order in effect from March 24 until May 15. Non-transiting visitors to Delaware must self-quarantine for 14 days.||Executive order in effect until May 15 mandating the closure of non-essential businesses. No manufacturing-intensive industries impacted.||59||May 15|
|District of Columbia||Stay-at-home order in effect from March 30 until May 15.||Non-essential businesses closed until May 15. Exemptions provided to essential infrastructure (including utilities), healthcare operations, energy and automotive, transportation and logistics.||47||May 15|
|Florida||Statewide stay-at-home order in effect from April 3 until April 30.||Only essential services or activities permitted as detailed under the list provided by the federal CISA guidance.||28||April 30|
|Georgia||State-wide shelter-in-place effective from April 3 until April 30.||Non-essential businesses are limited to minimum staffing and remote work. Essential services identified as pertinence to “critical infrastructure” defined as pertaining to healthcare and food distribution.|
Temporary waiver for oversized and overweight trucking load permits and licenses. The waiver only applies to loads carrying emergency materials related to COVID-19.
|Hawaii||Stay-at-home order in effect from March 25 until at least through April 30.|
Hawaii issued zero access restrictions from the U.S. mainland and other countries effective from March 26.
|Non-essential businesses are requested to limit operations to minimum operations or remote work. Essential businesses must implement staggered staffing per social distancing guidelines.||37||April 30|
|Idaho||Stay-at-home order extended from March 25 until April 30.||Non-essential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work. Cities and counties reserve the right to enact more stringent ordinances. Essential businesses include oil, mining, transportation, businesses pertaining to food production, mailing & shipping, and “business that supplies essential businesses”||37||April 30|
|Illinois||Stay-at-home order in effect from March 21 through May 30.||Non-essential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work effective until May 30. Essential businesses include essential infrastructure, which has been defined to include, but not be limited to, food production, transport, energy production, distribution, railroads, and other broadly construed sectors.|
Executive order relaxes truck weight restrictions for vehicles transporting essential goods for COVID-19.
|Indiana||Stay-at-home order in effect extended from March 24 until May 1.||All non-essential businesses required to cease operations until May 1.||39||May 1|
|Iowa||No official statewide stay-at-home order issued.||Some non-essential retail businesses were ordered to close from March 17 until April 30. No manufacturing-intensive industries impacted.||45||April 30|
|Kansas||Stay-at-home order issued from March 30 through May 3.||Non-essential businesses ordered to close. Businesses that are allowed to remain operational include those with functions related to cargo and fuel supply, food products, and defense.||35||May 3|
|Kentucky||No official statewide stay-at-home order issued. “Healthy at Home” campaign, which is phrased as an advisory rather than an executive order, remains in effect indefinitely.|
Travel for Kentucky and non-Kentucky residents outside the state is restricted to essential needs and work.
|All non-essential businesses ordered to close from March 23. A phased re-opening of the economy set to begin on April 27 that will ease restrictions for certain non-essential businesses including health care services. Transportation and logistics, shipping, and agricultural operations included under definition of essential services.||36||INDEFINITE|
|Louisiana||Stay-at-home order issued from March 23 through April 30.||Stay-at-home mandate issued for non-essential businesses. Essential service providers include healthcare, businesses that supply other essential businesses, utilities, mailing and shipping services. |
Some restrictions on businesses are set to be lifted by May 1, although no specific details have been outlined.
|Maine||“Stay Healthy at Home” executive order issued from March 25 through at least April 30.||Non-essential businesses are limited to minimal operations. Essential services include industrial manufacturing, biomedical, post offices and shipping outlets.||37||April 30|
|Maryland||Stay-at-home order in effect from March 30 extended to an indefinite date.||Non-essential businesses ordered to close and defined under businesses that are not part of the critical infrastructure sectors identified under the federal CISA guidelines.||29||INDEFINITE|
|Massachusetts||Statewide stay-at-home advisory effective from March 24 until May 4.||All non-essential businesses ordered to close until May 4. Essential services defined under federal CISA guidelines.||42||May 4|
|Michigan||Stay-at-home order extended from March 24 through April 30.||All businesses required to stop operations unless deemed as critical infrastructure workers. An Executive Order adopts federal CISA guidelines to define critical infrastructure. Delivery-related restrictions for vehicles carrying essential supplies to combat COVID-19 are also lifted.||38||April 30|
|Minnesota||Stay-at-home order extended from March 27 through May 3.||Critical sectors permitted to continue operations including healthcare, transportation and logistics, and food and agriculture.||38||May 3|
|Mississippi||Stay-at-home order in effect from April 3 through April 27. Governor Tate Reeves confirmed that the stay-at-home order will not be extended beyond April 27.||Non-essential businesses ordered to close barring some retail sales permitted so long as social distancing requirements are met. Essential services include healthcare operators, manufacturers, agricultural providers, utilities and critical infrastructure, mail and shipping services.||25||April 27|
|Missouri||Stay-at-home order extended from April 6 until May 3. Governor Mike Pearson confirms the stay-at-home order will not be extended beyond May 3 and pledged that on May 4 “people are going back to work.” St. Louis extending stay-at-home order indefinitely. Kansas City extending order until May 15.||Non-essential businesses ordered to close. 42 categories of businesses categorized under “essential business” including healthcare and food-related services.||28||May 3|
|Montana||Stay-at-home order extended from March 28 through April 26.||Phase One for re-opening the state economy planned for April 27, which will allow certain non-essential businesses to resume under certain conditions. Essential services include healthcare, agriculture, mailing and shipping services, and transportation providers. The executive order incorporates the federal CISA guidance to further define essential businesses.||30||April 26|
|Nebraska||No official statewide stay-at-home order issued.||No official statewide directive issued for businesses. Additional non-essential businesses and services closed.||N/A||N/A|
|Nevada||Stay-at-home order issued from April 1 until April 30.||Non-essential businesses ordered to close. Governor Steve Sisolak announced plans on April 21 for a Phase One plan to allow certain non-essential businesses to resume operations. Essential services include healthcare services, biomedical facilities, post offices and shipping outlets, logistics and supply chain operations.||30||April 30|
|New Hampshire||Stay-at-home order from April 10 until May 4.||Non-essential businesses ordered to close. Essential services include food and agriculture, law enforcement, essential infrastructure, healthcare operations, essential infrastructure (electric, petroleum, natural gas, waste and wastewater, and steam), transportation, and logistics.||25||May 4|
|New Jersey||Official statewide stay-at-home order issued from March 21 with no specific expiration date.||Non-essential businesses must close bricks-and-mortar premises under Executive Order.||35||INDEFINITE|
|New Mexico||Stay-at-home order extended from March 24 until April 30.||Non-essential businesses ordered to suspend all in-person operations.||38||April 30|
|New York||Statewide stay-at-home order extended from March 22 to May 15.||Non-essential businesses ordered to remain closed until May 15. Certain low-risk construction and manufacturing activities could begin in some regions stay-at-home order expires on May 15.|
Essential services identified under twelve categories as detailed under Executive Order 202.6 including essential healthcare operations, manufacturing, logistics and technology support. Any entity that possesses personal protective equipment (PPEs), ventilators, respirators, bi-pap, anesthesia, or other necessary equipment or supplies as determined by the Commissioner of Health must inventory such supplies and report it to the Department of Health.
|North Carolina||Stay-at-home order effective from March 30 through May 8.||Non-essential businesses ordered to close until May 8. Essential businesses include healthcare and public health operations; essential infrastructure; mail, post, shipping, logistics, delivery, and pick-up services; suppliers for COVID-19 essential businesses and operations; and manufacturing, distribution, and supply chains for critical products and industries.||31||May 8|
|North Dakota||No official statewide stay-at-home order issued. State of emergency declared on March 15 and set to be lifted on May 1.||Non-essential businesses ordered to close through April 30. No manufacturing-intensive industries impacted.|
Executive order signed to temporarily lift weight restrictions on North Dakota’s highways to ensure critical sources arrive in a timely manner amid COVID-19.
|Ohio||Shelter-in-place order in place extended from March 23 until May 1.||Non-essential businesses and operations must cease all activities until May 1. Essential businesses include logistics (mail, post, and shipping, delivery, and pick-up services); transportation; supplies for essential businesses; manufacturing, distribution and supply chain for critical products and industries.||39||May 1|
|Oklahoma||Stay-at-home order issued from March 25 to May 6 particularly targeting vulnerable populations.|
Travelers entering Oklahoma from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, Louisiana, and Washington state are required to self-quarantine for 14 days.
|Executive order expanded to all 77 counties mandating non-essential businesses suspend services until May 6. Essential industries include chemical (petroleum and coal manufacturing), energy (mining, oil and gas extraction), transportation and distribution, and postal services.||43||May 6|
|Oregon||Stay-at-home order remains in effect until ended by the governor.||Certain retail businesses were ordered to close. No manufacturing-intensive industries impacted.||33||INDEFINITE|
|Pennsylvania||Stay-at-home order in effect from March 23 until May 8.||All non-life sustaining businesses ordered to cease operations. Industries permitted to continue physical operations include: agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting; manufacturing (semiconductors, chemicals, petroleum and coal, plastics, iron and steel); mining, oil and gas; transportation and warehousing (air transportation, rail transportation, postal service); and utilities.||47||May 8|
|Rhode Island||Stay-at-home order extended from March 28 until May 8. Anyone who returns to Rhode Island after domestic airplane travel must immediately self-quarantine for 14 days.||All non-critical retail businesses are ordered to cease operations.||42||May 8|
|South Carolina||State of Emergency executive order extended through from April 7 to at least April 27. All South Carolina residents ordered to limit movement outside their home or workplace except for essential activities.||Non-essential businesses limited to minimum operations. Essential businesses and critical infrastructure operations include commercial vehicles transporting essential goods (such as food, medicine, medical supplies and equipment) and individuals engaged in commercial transportation activities.||21||April 27|
|South Dakota||No official statewide stay-at-home order issued.||No statewide directive ordering businesses to cease operations, only to implement social distancing guidelines.||N/A||N/A|
|Tennessee||Stay-at-home order extended from March 31 until April 30. Governor Bill Lee confirmed that the order will not be extended further after April 30.||Non-essential businesses limited to minimum operations. Essential services include healthcare and public health; mail, post, shipping, logistics, delivery, and pick-up services; essential infrastructure operations; manufacturing, distribution, and supply chains for critical products and industries.|
The vast majority of businesses in 89 counties in the state will be allowed to reopen on May 1.
|Texas||Stay-at-home order issued from April 2 through April 30. Air travelers flying to Texas from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, Louisiana, Washington states as well as Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit and Miami must self-quarantine for 14 days.||No official statewide order mandating non-essential businesses close. Cities, counties, and school districts have largely been allowed to adopt proprietary approaches to contain COVID-19.||29||April 30|
|Utah||No official statewide stay-at-home order issued.||No official order mandating non-essential businesses close. Businesses must minimize face-to-face contact with high risk employees. High risk individuals (older residents and those with serious underlying medical conditions) may leave only for essential needs and work.||N/A||N/A|
|Vermont||“Stay Home, Stay Safe” order extended from March 25 until May 15.||Non-essential businesses limited to minimum operations. On April 20, Vermont’s Phase One plan for re-opening the economy allowed certain non-essential businesses to resume operations for curbside pickup and delivery.||52||May 15|
|Virginia||Stay-at-home order effective from March 23 until June 10.||All non-essential businesses ordered to close. Essential retail businesses permitted to remain open include automotive parts, accessories, and tire retailers; medical, laboratory, and vision supply retailers.|
Temporary waiver granted for oversized/overweight trucking load permits and licenses, which applies only to loads carrying emergency materials directly connected to COVID-19.
|Washington||Stay-at home order extended from March 23 until May 4.||All non-essential businesses ordered to be closed. Essential business and services include healthcare and public health, food and agriculture, energy (electricity, petroleum, natural gas, and propane workers), transportation and logistics, and chemicals.||43||May 4|
|West Virginia||Stay-at-home order in effect from March 24 until terminated by a subsequent executive order.||Non-essential businesses are limited to minimum operations. Essential business and operations defined under federal CISA guidance.||32||INDEFINITE|
|Wisconsin||Stay-at-home order extended from March 25 until May 26.||All non-essential businesses and operations required to cease except for Minimum Basic operations. Essential business and operations defined under federal CISA guidance.||62||May 26|
|Wyoming||No official statewide stay-at-home order issued.||All non-essential businesses ordered to be closed from March 25 until April 30. No manufacturing-intensive industries impacted.||37||April 30|
|PROVINCE||RESTRICTIONS||DURATION (DAYS)||END DATE|
|Alberta||Non-essential businesses closed from March 27. Petroleum, natural gas, and coal, industrial and manufacturing, health and medical services permitted as essential services.||29||Indefinite|
|British Columbia||Non-essential businesses closed from March 18. Health (services), critical infrastructure services providers, transportation, and manufacturing permitted as essential services. Non-essential services permitted to open in compliance with Public Health Officer recommendations, and re-closure is at the discretion of the Provincial Health Officer.||54||Mid-May|
|Manitoba||Non-essential businesses closed until April 28, extended from the previous April 14. Supply chain, ICT, transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, construction, energy, and health (services) are permitted to operate.||28||April 28|
|New Brunswick||Non-essential businesses closed from March 25. Supply chain, manufacturing, food processing, energy are permitted to operate||30||Indefinite|
|Newfoundland and Labrador||Non-essential businesses closed from March 23. All non-retail enterprises may remain open provided social distancing is observed||33||Indefinite|
|Northwest Territories||No major restrictions, with most pertinent order issued on March 18. Mines and hydrocarbon camps required to adhere to social distancing.||38||Indefinite|
|Nova Scotia||No major restrictions, with most pertinent order issued on March 22. Non-essential businesses can remain open provided social distancing is observed||34||Indefinite|
|Nunavut||No major restrictions. No cases reported as of April 24 in Nunavut, yet self-isolation measures underway since March 15||42||Indefinite|
|Ontario||Lockdown measures extended until at least May 6. Non-essential businesses closed. Supply chain enterprises, health (services) manufacturing, agriculture, construction, and energy are permitted to continue.||45||May 6|
|Prince Edward Island||Non-essential businesses closed indefinitely as of March 18. Health (services), construction, supply chain (includes manufacturing and agriculture) are permitted to continue.||38||Indefinite|
|Quebec||Lockdown measures extended until May 4. Non-essential businesses closed. Strategic infrastructure, priority manufacturing and commercial enterprises, construction, and priority transportation and logistics remain in operation.||42||May 4|
|Saskatchewan||Non-essential businesses closed as of March 26. Health (services), mining, forestry, energy, agriculture, manufacturing, supply chain, transportation, logistics, ICT are permitted to continue.||30||Indefinite|
|Yukon||Non-essential businesses closed as of April 2. Health (services), food production, ICT, energy, transportation, manufacturing, construction are permitted to continue||23||Indefinite|
|PRODUCT||SECTION||HS CODE CLASSIFICATION||LEADING EXPORTERS TO U.S. |
(BY PERCENTAGE, VALUE IMPORTED IN 2019)
|Disinfectants (e.g., hand sanitizer, hydrogen peroxide, other chemical disinfectants)||Disinfectants and sterilization products||3808.94||Canada (60.8), China (10.8), Mexico (8.5)|
|Swab and viral transport medium set||Diagnostic testing||3821.00||Italy (18.1), United Kingdom (16.1), France (12.2)|
|Diagnostic reagents based on polymerase chain reaction nucleic test||Diagnostic testing||3822.00||United Kingdom (16.1), Singapore (14.4), Germany (12.3), Canada (11.6)|
|Plastic gloves||Protective garments||3926.20||China (78.1), Canada (12)|
|Surgical rubber gloves||Protective garments||4015.11||Malaysia (47.4), Thailand (45.7)|
|Cellulose or paper masks||Protective garments||4818.50||China (49.9), Indonesia (32.7)|
|Textile face masks without a replaceable filter or mechanical parts||Protective garments||6307.90||China (72.4), Mexico (10.8), Canada (2.2)|
|Infusion pumps||Other medical devices and equipment||8413.19||Mexico (28.9), Poland (16.3), Czech Republic (8.9)|
|Oxygen therapy equipment (e.g., medical ventilators)||Oxygen therapy||9019.20||Singapore (34.4), China (17.4), Mexico (13.6)|
|Gas masks with mechanical parts or replaceable filters for protection against biological agents||Protective garments||9020.00||France (22.9), United Kingdom (21.5), Canada (10.5), Germany (10.4)|
|Computed tomography (CT) scanners||Other medical devices and equipment||9022.12||Germany (49.8), Japan (15.8), Israel (14.5)|


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Disney shares are down 8% in heavy trading, extending a selloff that started yesterday after the media conglom posted weaker than expected earnings and streaming data for the September quarter.
The dip in the shares, changing hands at about $161, is weighing on the broader market. Disney is one of only 30 highly selective, heavyweight stocks included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average so a big move like today’s has an impact, pulling the index lower. (The DJIA is off 80 points or 0.22%. The broader Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Russell 2000 are all in positive territory.)
Disney+ growth slowed for the fiscal fourth quarter, adding 2.1 million subscribers to hit 118.1 million. That’s 10M less than it added in the prior quarter. On a call with analysts and an appearance on CNBC, CEO Bob Chapek said the streamer is still on track to meet its longer-term 2024 FY targets in large part as it pushes into new markets (it plans to double the international territories it’s in by fiscal 2023) and continuing to roll out fresh content based on Disney franchises.
Disney+ is gearing up for a major drop on Friday — the two-year anniversary of its launch — with new details and a first look at art and trailers for upcoming content. Shang-Chi and Jungle Cruise will be available to stream tomorrow and Disney is offering subscribers one month of the service for $2.
“We wonder if Disney+ is too narrow a product and requires much greater investment in non-Disney content to widen out the product’s appeal,” said MoffettNathanson analysts.
Wall Streeters and industry players have consistently praised Disney’s track record in successfully growing Disney+ from zero to 118 million, the question is what’s next.
“The admission that Disney+ growth will re-accelerate when content spending re-accelerates is
consistent with the recent experience at Netflix, where the growth slumber created by the
pandemic’s pull-forward of subscribers was finally shattered by record amounts of new content
dropped in the last few months of this year,” the firm said. “Taken together, this reality brings us back to the Warren Buffett quote above that he used to describe the airline industry, but that we think applies to streaming as well: “The worst sort of business is one that grows rapidly, requires
significant capital to engender the growth, and then earns little or no money.”
“We remain somewhat skeptical that more Star Wars/Marvel/animated/family content will be sufficient to grow the Disney+ audience out to parity with Netflix,” said Doug Creutz of Cowen.
Disney’s total revenue surged last quarter as theme parks recovered and advertising returned, but still came up short of forecasts, as did earnings. For better or worse Wall Street is laser focused on streaming, which helped Disney stock soar to new highs last year.
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Examining Legislative Responses to Vaping Linked Deaths: Why Raising Sale Ages for Nicotine or Banning Flavored Vaping Products Doesn’t Solve the Issue
By Margaret Lu
Margaret (Maggie) Lu is a sophomore at the University of Chicago studying English and Spanish.
On September 6th, Senator Dick Durbin called for the resignation of the FDA lead. On September 11th, President Donald Trump promised to ban the sale of flavored vaping products. While the dangers of cigarettes are widely known and warned against in American media, e-cigarettes & vaping are often touted as a “safe alternative” to cigarettes [i]. Juul usage has quietly taken a deadly turn, most recently causing the 12th death of a person related to vaping [ii]. Apart from banning the sale of flavored vaping products outright, another avenue being explored is to raise the sales age of vaping to 21. Both solutions have pros and cons, but neither touch on the key issue: discovering the actual cause of vaping deaths.


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Firm seeking to expand and become a 40 to 50-strong business within five years
Project manager LeadManage is relaunching itself as Opera as it seeks to expand to become a 40 to 50-strong business within five years.
The relaunch sees Dan Whittingham join as co-managing director alongside Paul Bailey, formerly LeadManage’s deputy managing director, while Seth Cooper assumes the role of head of corporate services.
All three take an equity stake in the business alongside its founders Geoff Heppell, Nigel Clarke and Paul Daniels.
Launched in 2013, the firm has hit £2m turnover and has a core staff of 20, having focused on the retail, corporate services and commercial development sectors working for clients including Hammerson, Argent and The Office Group. Projects include supporting Argent’s Thomas Heatherwick-designed Coal Drops retail complex at King’s Cross (pictured).
Whittingham said the focus under the new brand would be to pool the experience of the senior team to expand the firm’s offering.
The relaunch and sharing of equity was prompted by the founders “wanting to focus on succession”, but the founders will “still be very much involved”, Whittingham said.


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Strategy Analytics pegs the number of smartphone handsets than were active between July and September this year as 1.038 billion, equivalent to one for every seven people on the planet. That’s up 47 percent from the same period last year.
The company notes that the first handset to meet its definition of a smartphone was the Nokia Communicator in 1996. While it’s taken 16 years to get to the billion mark, the company predicts the number of smartphones in use will double by 2015.
It’s good news for the smartphone industry, though it appears to be particular good news for Strategy Analytics, which is charging $6,999 for a copy of its full report. That means its not easy to check the precise methodology it used to come up with the billion handset figure.
ReadWriteWeb points out that the forecast for hitting the two billion mark is probably an underestimate. The three year timescale almost perfectly matches what would happen if the number of smartphones added in the past year continues at the same rate.
In reality, it’s possible smartphone adoption will increase even more quickly if manufacturers continue to break new markets, particular the types of places such as Brazil, China and India which have large populations that are getting more disposable income.
I’d also expect to see a faster smartphone adoption coming from manufacturers turning their attention to low-price, basic handsets that still qualify as smartphones. In a lot of markets, the point is rapidly approaching where even people on a budget may opt for a smartphone, particular where they can get a contract-free handset without having to break the bank.
There’ll also inevitably be a demographic shift as a higher proportion of the population is made up of people who’ve always been around smartphones and don’t either fear or dismiss the technology.


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Lowe’s Companies (NYSE: LOW) is scheduled to report its earnings results for the second quarter on Wednesday before the market opens. The results will be hurt by the convergence of cost pressure, a significant transition in merchandising organization, and ineffective legacy pricing tools and processes.
The company’s products revenue will be benefited by the in-store and online merchandise purchases, while services revenue will be driven by the professional installation services made through subcontractors. The majority of revenue for goods and services will be recognized in the quarter following revenue deferral.
The company’s future success depends on its ability to adapt the business concept to respond to customers’ changing shopping habits and demands as the home improvement retail environment is rapidly evolving. The results will be impacted by the failure to identify changing trends, business concept adaptation, implement change, growth and productivity initiatives.
The company has relied on the public debt markets to fund portions of its capital investments and the commercial paper market and bank credit facilities to fund its working capital needs. The company’s credit strength depends on liquidity and access to capital that relies on efficient, rational and open capital markets.
Analysts expect the company’s earnings to fall by 3.40% to $2.00 per share while revenue will rise by 0.30% to $20.96 billion for the second quarter. In comparison, during the previous year quarter, Lowe’s posted a profit of $2.07 per share on revenue of $20.89 billion. The company has surprised investors by beating analysts’ expectations thrice in the past four quarters.
For the first quarter, Lowe’s reported a 2% increase in earnings helped by a tax benefit arising from its sale of the assets of Mexico retail operations. Total sales rose by 2.2% and comparable sales grew by 3.5%. Comparable sales for the US home improvement business increased by 4.2%.
For fiscal 2019, the company expects total sales growth of about 2% and comparable sales to increase by about 3%. The earnings are predicted to be in the range of $5.54 to $5.74 per share and adjusted earnings are anticipated to be in the range of $5.45 to $5.65 per share.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) reported first quarter 2023 earnings results today. Net revenues grew 12% year-over-year to $7.9 billion. GAAP net income rose 6% to $4.2 billion while EPS grew
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Thursday reported a decline in adjusted earnings and revenues for the fourth quarter. The semiconductor giant also provided guidance for the first quarter of 2023. Fourth-quarter
Shares of McCormick & Company Inc. (NYSE: MKC) were down over 5% on Thursday after the company missed expectations on its fourth quarter 2022 results and provided a lower-than-expected earnings


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Jennifer Sawyer remembers when Riverwalk Market Fair was just an idea.
Now the open-air Saturday market located on Bridge Square in downtown Northfield is a growing entity with out-of-town visitors and Northfielders alike enjoying the food, art and entertainment for 20 consecutive Saturdays − beginning Saturday (June 7).
“The energy was so high then and this many years later, it’s still high,” said Sawyer, who is on the Leadership Team of Rebound Enterprises in Northfield. “It’s so cool what a small group of people have created. This is such a great asset for Northfield.”
Beginning its fifth season, Riverwalk Market Fair offers a different combination of locally grown seasonal produce, artisan foods, food vendors, a juried selection of art and fine crafts, live entertainment and activities for the whole family.
And this year, Sawyer and Brett Reese, a founding member of Rebound Enterprises, have offered their business expertise on a pro bono basis to help Riverwalk continue to be a viable downtown event and to possibly reach new heights.
Reese said he is only too happy to help an event like Riverwalk thrive and succeed in his hometown.
“This event is a really great thing for the community and the town,” Reese said. “It brings in visitors and the locals participate as well. It really helps build the fabric of this community.”
Reese said that he and Sawyer want to offer what he feels Rebound has been successful in and that’s good governance, strategy and financial viability. They both believe in Riverwalk and want to see it continue to succeed.
“It’s good for downtown and is a magnet for businesses,” Reese said. “There is a definite benefit for Northfield.”
Founded in 2010 by local artists and entrepreneurs − and largely funded through vendor fees and grants from the Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Northfield Economic Development Association − Riverwalk originally was started as a venue for local entrepreneurs to market their products. Since then, Riverwalk Market Fair has become a valued community asset where local residents gather, as well as a popular visitors’ destination.
The numbers confirm what organizers have been preaching for so long: Riverwalk Market Fair is a thriving event that brings people to Northfield who infuse money into the local economy.
In 2013, 50 different vendors sold at Riverwalk and sales were $181,215. The average amount spent at Riverwalk by the 100-400 people who attended each week for the 20-week run was $21, while the average spending at other businesses was $34. The average spending on food and beverages was $49.
Riverwalk provides a venue for local artists, makers of fine crafts, food artisans and farmers to market their products. Some of these vendors have other jobs and earn extra income through Riverwalk, while others have launched self-supporting businesses.
There have been many success stories come out of Riverwalk:
• Martha Scheutzle of Martha’s Eats and Treats started her business at Riverwalk and still does brisk Saturday business there. She has established a retail store in Dundas and an active catering business.
• Geralyn Thelen of Just Me Geralyn and Glass launched her fused glass business at Riverwalk the first year it opened. As of 2013, she has quit her salaried job and is marketing her fused glass full time.
Ann Mosey, who is a current Riverwalk Market Fair board member and executive director of the Northfield Arts Guild, believes the event has been successful in not only bringing tourists to town, but also in drawing artists and organic farmers to Northfield.
She also thinks the Saturday event can be used to launch other events, piggy-backing off of Riverwalk’s success. she says the event draws people to town anyway.
“It’s created an anchor event in which to build on,” said Mosey, who believes the word is out and that all arts organizations can leverage Riverwalk’s success and have other events. “We are continuously looking for extended daylong events. It’s building on that little whisper.”
With four successful seasons in the books, Mosey and other Riverwalk Market Fair organizers believe it’s time for the event to move forward from where it is currently.
“How big do we want this to be?” she said. “That will be the next discussion.”
As consultants, Reese and Sawyer look forward to that discussion and helping to come up with a sound strategy for future success.
“The people who first had the vision for Riverwalk and have made it successful deserve a succession plan,” Sawyer said. “They’ve done the heavy lifting. Now is the time to build on that.”


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TrelliSoft is being integrated into IBM's Software Group, and its TrelliSoft products are now available from IBM Tivoli Software, IBM said.
TrelliSoft's software offerings include Java and Web-based tools designed to handle different aspects of storage infrastructure, including capacity, availability, event, performance and asset management.
IBM had already been working on storage resource management software and said that technology from Glen Ellyn, Ill.-based TrelliSoft would complement its projects.
Storage management has become sharpening their focus on software as their hardware sales have lost momentum.for data-swamped companies, with analysts saying the market for such products could triple by 2005. Meanwhile, storage makers such as EMC have been
Last week, IBM and Hewlett-Packardto let each company's storage management software work with the other company's products.


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Earlier in the year, Toyota announced that it would introduce a Woodland Edition of the 2022 Sienna. Pricing was not released at the time, but CarsDirect has found pricing after studying Toyota's order guide. The 2022 Sienna Woodlands Edition has an MSRP of $45,350, excluding the $1,215 destination charge. That...
CAR AND DRIVER
Lexus is poised to launch several new SUV models over the next few years, and a detailed Reddit post purports to know a lot about what's in store, from redesigns of existing models to new additions to the lineup. We typically take these kinds of rumors with a grain of salt, but given that Lexus has filed official U.S. trademarks for many of these new nameplates, we think there's some credence to the info presented. So here's a look at what could be coming to your local Lexus showroom in the near future.
Check out the most fuel-efficient non-hybrid compact SUVs for 2021 and 2022 model year vehicles. The 2022 Subaru Forester and 2021 Subaru Crosstrek score number one and two best. With gas prices going up and averaging well over $3.00 per gallon and more than $4.00 in some states, car shoppers...
RZ450e – Yes, the “e” means electric. Not much information is available for the upcoming electric SUV from Lexus, called the RZ450e. Lexus has already shown the concept for its first electric vehicle, the LF-Z electrified EV crossover. We likely can expect the RZ450e to take on a similar look to the LF-Z electrified concept car. The concept LF-Z electrified has a sleek and futuristic look, with electrified written on the rear in LED lettering. A sharp look, we expect the RZ450e to be a bit bigger, with a similar body style.
Truth About Cars
We continue our 1990s-then-2000s series today, with the Japanese counterpart to the American compacts presented here recently. These Japanese compacts from 1998 represented the last of the Nineties’ Golden Era quality. Civic, Sentra, Corolla, make your pick!. Honda Civic. The seventh-gen Honda Civic is in its third model year for...
Longtime collaborators Noah and Vans are dropping a new sneaker collection soon. This time, the NYC-based menswear label gave fall-ready looks to two of the skate brand’s heritage silhouettes. The five-shoe Noah x Vans capsule includes two new iterations of the lesser-known Caballero VLT LX model (designed for skateboarding icon...
Laredo Morning Times
Noah and Vans are teaming up once again to release a new five-shoe collection ahead of the Fall/Winter 2021 season. The lineup includes two new iterations of the Caballero VLT LX model as well as three colorways of the Authentic One Piece VLT LX. Each shoe sports a tonal color blocking featuring Black or Green hairy suede uppers, while the latter model arrives in a Wheat colorway. Each pair will also feature Noah’s signature logo debossed on the heel.
If you have a family, you are almost undoubtedly looking for a family-sized SUV that has the most appealing attributes. The answer to that quest is right here in this list of the 11 most appealing family SUVs, according to the consumers who own them. As it has done for...
Ocean Honda of San Juan Capistrano
First United Methodist Church (FUMC) in Prattville, Alabama spent the past year renovating its 100-year-old sanctuary as nearly a decade has gone by since its last major update. FUMC cleaned, refurbished, and restored systems to better meet the needs of its 1,000-and-growing assembly and provide for a wider range of service presentations and performances. Part of the upgrade is a Renkus-Heinz backed audio system.
Venue: Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow Date: Thursday, 16 September Time: 20:00 BST. Coverage: Listen to Sportsound and follow live text commentary on the BBC Sport website & app. Rangers defender Filip Helander has undergone surgery and will be missing for “at least a few months”, manager Steven Gerrard has confirmed. Helander...
Lexus of Milwaukee
With the Smart Food Campus project we repurposed an abandoned cement factory into a lively, green, ultra-sustainable food production and distribution hub. The design was done by @jorp.is in collaboration with @tripoli_arkitektar and with environmental consultancy from Verkís. Renderings by @rua.lx. The core of the project is the high tech...


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The British car brand has been world-famous ever since Bond, James Bond, first went on a crime spree on behalf of Her Majesty in an Aston Martin DB5 in 1964 (“Goldfinger”). But it all started much earlier, in 1913, and a lot has happened since then.
Birth of a Legend
At that time, Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford entered into a partnership. The two were enthusiastic racing drivers. That was also what connected them: their shared vision of a perfect racing car. And the knowledge gained from the race track was also to be transferred to everyday use. The brand experienced its beginnings in a small workshop in the London district of Chelsea. Innovative design, the highest level of craftsmanship, breathtaking performance and exclusivity were closely associated with Aston Martin even back then.
One of the brand’s oldest surviving race cars is the 1923 Razor Blade. A hundred years ago, it broke numerous records. In the wake of the TT1. Aston Martin made its debut on the race track with this car the year before. The legendary model known as the “green pea” caused a sensation throughout. Fast forward to the present: the Aston Martin Valkyrie makes its mark. The high-performance model brings Formula 1 technology to the road.
Intensity: 110 Years in the Making
The car manufacturer is celebrating the anniversary under the motto “Intensity: 110 Years in the Making”. Part of the campaigns was the release of the photographs of the “Razor Blade” and the “Valkyrie”. In addition, an celebrates the milestone in the company’s history with a new, strictly limited and super exclusive Aston Martin model. It will be unveiled later this year.
The legend was also honoured at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The brand proves that it still sets the tone after more than 110,000 cars built and a century. Incidentally, the DB5 mentioned at the beginning also celebrates a birthday this year. It rolled off the production line for the first time 60 years ago.
Iages: © Aston Martin


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California - Google reportedly just bought a French firm named FlexyCore, in order to enhance the performance of the Android operating system.
Based on reports in L'Express, Google has just bought a French technology firm named FlexyCore with a value of U.S. $ 23.1 million, according to local media news by France, L'Express, as quoted by Engadget.
Name FlexyCore looming after they make software DroidBooster; were able to increase the speed of the applications in Android, without drain battery power.
Google spokeswoman in France said that the software will help performance belongs FlexyCore Android for mobile devices.
Ahead of the launch of KitKat Android 4.4, Google also promises that the latest Android technology thanks FlexyCore intake is even going to make the phones low specifications can be powered


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Vivo Nex hands-on review
CHINESE PHONE MAKER Vivo might not be that well known in the Western world, but after launching its latest flagship device last week we’re pretty sure that’s all about to change.
The Vivo Nex is special because it’s unlike any other smartphone we’ve seen of late, it boasts a completely bezel-free, notch-less display thanks to its quirky pop-out selfie camera.
We try out the Chinese firm’s completely ‘bezel-free’ smartphone
Revealed at an event in Beijing on Tuesday, the Vivo Nex sure touts some impressive tech. Take, for instance, its massive 6.59in FHD+ Super AMOLED display, a screen that has such a tiny bezel that it stretches to each edge of the phone without any disruptions from cameras or buttons.
But in reality, does the phone live up to its crazy specs? We got our hands on the device during the opening of the FIFA World Cup in Moscow this week to find out, and we managed to test most of its features during the first match of the championships. What better backdrop to see if the phone can perform well under pressure?
We’re huge fans of the Vivo Nex’s design, chiefly because it sets the phone apart from any other device on the market right now. The first obvious stand out feature is its bezel-less screen, but we’ll talk about that later in the display section.


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A key provision in the recently passed U.S. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs ACT (IIJA) calls for funding for broadband and other projects go toward those which use products and materials containing primarily domestic-made components. But a growing number of broadband groups and vendors have told the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that’s just not realistic.
Back in January, the NTIA put out a call for comment on how it should implement the broadband grant programs through which more than $48 billion in federal funding will flow. Several prominent broadband groups, including USTelecom, NCTA – The Internet and Television Association, NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association and the Telecommunications Industry Association, quickly chimed in and flagged the so called “Buy American” clause as a problem. They pressed the NTIA to waive the requirement.
That request has since been seconded by an array of additional parties, including the likes of Cisco, Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, Samsung, WISPA, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, INCOMPAS, the Telecommunications Law Professionals and the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition.
The IIJA requires products used for broadband deployments to contain at least 55% domestic content. But as Cisco noted, though broadband equipment including switching, routing, transport and access gear is “largely developed and designed in the U.S., it is not manufactured in America by and large.” Indeed, Dell’Oro Group VP Jeff Heynen told Fierce that according to Federal Communications Commission filings, the “vast majority” of manufacturing for CPE such as cable modems and optical network terminals (ONTs) is done in Taiwan.
That means “it will not be possible for NTIA, eligible entities and subgrantees to procure the broadband equipment they need to build the networks envisioned in the IIJA on the timelines that the law requires while meeting the 55% domestic content threshold,” Cisco wrote.
Meanwhile, fiber supplier OFS Fitel pointed out that there was a surge in demand for broadband products even before the IIJA passed in November 2021 stemming from private investments and earlier federal funding programs including the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). That increase has already resulted in “greatly extended delivery intervals” for optical cable.
While delivery timelines were primarily extended by Covid-related supply chain disruptions, OFS noted it’s not clear when these will be fully resolved. It warned that “if sourcing options are restricted as stipulated in the IIJAs domestic preference requirements, OFS believes a shortage of optical cable and optical connectivity will likely persist over the next five years due to the additional demand from the BEAD funding, in addition to ongoing record levels of optical fiber network investment.”
In a separate filing, Intel noted its CPUs do not qualify as domestic products under the Buy American guidelines even though “a majority of the value of the CPU is manufactured in the United States.” While the company said it is working to increase its fabrication capacity with new facilities in Ohio, it pointed out that “procurement rules prevent domestic semiconductor wafers from qualifying as U.S. origin when they undergo the final stage of assembly outside of the U.S.”
“Requiring case-by-case waivers for every individual purchase needed to implement broadband will significantly delay critical projects and potentially overwhelm federal officials with requests,” Intel argued.
It should be noted a number of entities including ADTRAN and the Communications Workers of America pressed the NTIA to adhere to the Buy American requirements as outlined in the bill. The latter in particular claimed a broad waiver of the rule would amount to a “get-out-of-reshoring-free” card for telecom companies.
But Heynen told Fierce he expects waivers to be granted in some form. The NTIA is expected to release its rules for the grant programs within the next month.
“In this environment of having limited supplies and supply chain being challenged anyway, it’s almost impossible to limit that supply chain to a handful of companies that source 55% of their components from American companies,” he concluded. “I think the need and the desire to get these projects underway and to fulfill the timeline requirements that they have almost demands that some of these waivers be granted.”


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What can we help you with?
Is MyUS open for business and able to ship?
Yes! Regular business operations continue at MyUS. As a shipping and logistics company, MyUS has been deemed an “essential service” by our state and federal governments.
US online shopping is open for business, and our shipping partners and carriers are still operating and able to deliver packages. For more information on our commitment to safety and service in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, read the message from our CEO.


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Amazon wins an e-book fight in Europe(Read article summary)
European Union regulators ended an antitrust probe into e-book prices after Apple and other publishers offered to abandon the possibility of pricing agreements that would have hindered Amazon selling e-books more cheaply than their rivals.
Chalk it up as another win for Amazon, this time on European shores, in an e-book antitrust investigation that has roiled publishers on both sides of the Atlantic.
European Union regulators ended an antitrust probe into e-book prices on Thursday after accepting an offer by Apple and four publishers to drop pricing agreements aimed at preventing Amazon from undercutting e-book prices.
The settlement marks a clear victory for Amazon, allowing it to sell e-books more cheaply than rivals. (We reported on the proposed deal last month.)
“The commitments proposed by Apple and the four publishers will restore normal competitive conditions in this new and fast-moving market, to the benefit of the buyers and readers of e-books,” EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said, according to Reuters.
Under the deal, Apple and four publishers – Simon & Schuster, Harper Collins, Hachette Livre, and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, owner of German company Macmillan – will abandon agency pricing, in which publishers set e-book pricing, and allow retailers to set e-book prices. According to settlement terms, retailers can cut e-book prices and offer discounts for a period of two years. And the publishers must suspend “most favored nation” contracts for five years. These contracts effectively barred publishers from selling e-books at prices lower than Apple’s.


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35 years later, The Dark Crystal remains one of the finest works to ever come from the mind of Jim Henson. To celebrate the recently restored, 4K version of the movie, Fathom Events is re-releasing The Dark Crystal in theaters this February, which comes a year after the Dark Crystal 2 comic was released. Many fans of the classic have never had the chance to experience it on the big screen and this gives them the opportunity to do just that. But the screenings are only happening on two nights, so if you want to go, you'd better clear your schedule and get tickets asap.
The Dark Crystal will play in U.S. movie theaters on Sunday, February 25, and Wednesday, February 28, at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. local time on both days. So you'll have a couple of chances to catch the movie in theaters. Tickets for the event are set to go on sale on Friday, January 12. If you want to get it on this special event, be sure to grab tickets early. Tom Lucas, Fathom Events Vice President of Studio Relations, had this to say about the upcoming screenings of The Dark Crystal.
"Jim Henson created a truly one-of-a-kind experience with The Dark Crystal,' one that is rarely seen on the big screen. Fathom Events could not be more excited about the privilege of working with The Jim Henson Company, Universal and Sony to give movie lovers the chance to see the visual splendor of The Dark Crystal in theaters."
Jim Henson and Frank Oz co-directed The Dark Crystal, which has truly taken on a life of its own in the years since its release. The story of The Dark Crystal takes place in the world of Thra, which has been torn asunder by a fracture in a great magic crystal, which caused two races to be created: the tranquil Mystics, or urRu, and the evil Skeksis, who all but destroyed Thra's native species, the Gelflings. Now, the Mystics have summoned Jen, one of the last surviving Gelflings, to find the lost piece of the crystal. The quest sends him on an unbelievable adventure that can restore harmony and peace to Thra. Netflix is currently working on a 10-episode prequel series, Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, which is expected to debut next year on the streaming service.
Each screening of The Dark Crystal, in addition to being screened in its newly restored glory, will also feature a brand-new featurette with Lisa Henson, CEO and President of The Jim Henson Company. Following the screenings in February, The Dark Crystal will debut on 4K Ultra HD and return to Blu-ray and Digital on March 6. The Blu-ray will be presented in an all-new collectible Digibook package, with rare photos and behind-the-scenes info about the making of this iconic classic.
When it was released in 1982, The Dark Crystal wasn't a box office smash, bringing in just $40 million worldwide. But the movie has endured and its legacy will be shared with audiences like never before this February. A full list of theaters participating in the Fathom Events screenings will be released once tickets go on sale January 12. Tickets can be purchased through the Fathom Events website or at the box office from your theater of choice.


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But Jason Statham's missus could be responsible for a whiplash epidemic thanks to her latest photoshoot.
The 27-year-old star – who celebrates her birthday next week – has stripped completely naked, save for some designer bling.
The blonde beauty decorates her butt-naked form in some seriously impressive diamonds in the stunning new snaps for Violet Grey.
Posing up a storm on a lawn of luscious green grass, the Marks & Spencer underwear designer shields her intimate areas with some strategically-placed limbs.
Ms Huntington-Whiteley – who started her modelling career as a teen – also recalled her very first naked shoot.
She told the mag: "I was in London and it was a different time.
"I honestly think I was a lot more free when I was younger; Kate Moss was my favourite supermodel and she always took her clothes off for anything. It was like, 'Well if it’s good enough for Kate'."
Read the full interview on VioletGrey.com.


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It wasn’t enough, it seems, for only avatars to perish in video games. To add to the thrill of and raise the stakes for gamers worldwide, Palmer Luckey, founder of the virtual reality (VR) firm Oculus, claims to have designed a game headset that vanquishes its bearer in real life upon the death of his/her avatar in the game.
Inspired by a Japanese anime of a similar concept (players trapped in an online role-playing die in reality due to the killer “Nerve Gear” headset), Luckey explained he was halfway through with brining this murderous headset to life. The device is connected to three explosive charge modules that are tied to a photosensor capable of detecting when the screen flashes red at a specific frequency. When an appropriate game-over screen is displayed, BOOM– the charges fire and blow up the gamer’s brain. One can only hope this is metaphorical.
Although under continuous development, Luckey cautioned that the headset is far from perfection and currently exists as a piece of “office art” (where one would hope it remains). As a “thought-provoking reminder of unexplored avenues in game design.”
Source: Euro News
The opinions expresses here in the post "Founder of VR Firm Oculus Designs Headset to Kill You If You Die in a Game" are those of the individua's contributor(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Business Info Ethiopia , BIE Intelligence PLC, its publisher, editor, or any of its other contributors.


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Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe to publish BATTLEZONE® on PlayStation®VR
Oxford, UK, Aug 17th, 2016 – Rebellion, one of the UK’s longest-running and most innovative independent studios, is thrilled to announce that its flagship virtual reality title BATTLEZONE® will be receiving a boxed edition, published by PlayStation®.
One of the most lauded PlayStation® VR titles revealed so far, BATTLEZONE® will be one of only a select few games to receive both a digital and boxed release alongside the much anticipated launch of the PlayStation® VR hardware on October 13th, 2016.
For more details please head to the updated Battlezone website – http://www.battlezone.com
Usama Al-Qassab, Vice President of Marketing at SIEE had this to say on the partnership:
“2016 is the year of VR, and we are committed to providing a full range of the best and most innovative experiences for PlayStation VR at launch. We have been working with a number of independent studios to bring their creative visions to life, and are delighted to be partnering with Rebellion to bring the classic Battlezone franchise to PlayStation VR.”
Jason Kingsley OBE, Co-founder of Rebellion, also commented:
“We are delighted Rebellion can work with PlayStation® to give Battlezone® a boxed, retail release. We’re extremely proud of Battlezone; it’s a title that helps to show just how powerful and transformative an experience VR can be.
“With help from our friends at PlayStation®, Battlezone® will have an even broader reach than we could have imagined. Right from the earliest days of Project Morpheus they’ve played a huge part in supporting independent VR games development and worked closely with our team to deliver the kind of complete VR gameplay experience players have been calling out for. We know you’ll love it if you play it – and now you’ve got no excuse not to!”
Battlezone will be playable in the consumer hall during Gamescom 2016 in Cologne, Germany. Head to the PlayStation® stand in Halle 7.1 to give the game a blast!


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Around 3.2 million UK households have bought an animal companion since the pandemic began, according to pet population figures from the Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association (PFMA). As a result, prices of puppies, in particular, have soared and, sadly, dog thefts have seen a massive spike.
Charity DogLost has recorded a 250 per cent increase in dognappings from March 2020 to March 2021, its senior police liaison coordinator, Wayne May, tells The Independent.
An RSPCA spokesperson tells The Independent that the organisation believes that a rise in pet thefts could be the result of “the surging popularity, and value, of fashionable and ‘designer’ breeds”.
A spokesperson says: “It’s really concerning to see an increase in dog theft within certain areas of the UK and we’d urge anyone who believed their pooch has been taken to report the incident to police immediately.”
Unlike prior to the pandemic, May says thefts now appear to be less opportunistic and more likely to be the work of organised crime groups.
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May believes that many thieves are now stealing dogs indiscriminately - rather than looking for specific breeds - and then asking for money via ransoms or returning them to collect rewards offered by owners.
Currently, pets are classed as “property” under the Theft Act and many campaigners, including May, are lobbying for penalties for dognappers to be tougher.
“At the moment, dog theft is treated exactly the same as you having your mountain bike stolen,” says May. “We are dealing with animals that are living and breathing - and we know they have feelings. Plus, a dog means a lot more to a family than a push bike.”
The RSPCA tells The Independent that owners need to take “extra precautions” to protect their dog from criminals. Here, we share the organisation’s tips, along with advice from May based on his experience of investigating dog thefts.
Vary your walks
May suggests not repeating the same routes when walking your dog: “Go somewhere different every day,” he advises. “A lot of people will come out the front door, turn right and go on the same path.”
As people are allowed to meet outdoors, he also recommends taking walks with other owners, while observing social distancing.
Microchip your pet (including cats)
The RSPCA emphasises the importance of microchipping pets, and of keeping contact details current.
A spokesperson says: “We’d urge all dog owners to take extra precautions to protect their pooches from thieves by neutering their pets, ensuring they are microchipped with up-to-date contact details registered, ensuring they wear a collar with contact details embroidered or an engraved ID tag.”
If you suspect your pet has been stolen, the organisation recommends immediately contacting the police and letting the microchip company know so your pet can be registered as stolen. You should also reach out to local rescue groups, dog walkers and vets.
While only dogs have to be microchipped by law, the RSPCA advises microchipping cats too. “Microchipping is a very easy procedure,” its spokesperson says. “It involves a tiny microchip being quickly and simply inserted under the animal’s skin and this then gives the pet their own unique code.”
“Thousands of pets are lost and stolen every year and many are never reunited with their owners but microchipping can help to change that. While collars and tags can get caught or removed – microchipping identifies pets permanently and effectively.”
Don’t leave dogs alone
May advises planning your time carefully so that you don’t need to go to the shops when your dog is with you, and they aren’t left alone outside the store. Many dogs are also stolen after being left in cars, he adds.
The RSPCA recommends ensuring your garden is secure and that all gates are locked, as well as making sure your dog doesn’t stray too far from you if off the lead during a walk.
Tighten security for outdoor-dwelling dogs
“If you keep your dogs outside - in kennels, for example - upgrade your lighting and your CCTV,” says May. “Also, look at bringing the dogs closer to your residential property, not in kennels at the bottom of the garden.”
Don’t specify a reward amount
If you do decide to offer a reward, May recommends using the term “finder’s fee” and not specifying an amount.
He suggests: “If a member of the public on social media contacts you and says: ‘How much is the reward?’, all you have to do is reply: ‘I will disclose that to the finder of my dog.’”
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TEC: A young conference for an emerging field
Amazon VP and chief economist for digital streaming and advertising Phil Leslie on economists’ role in industry.
TEC is a young conference because only recently has it become common for economists to take operational roles in industry.
“Economists have only been really working in industry for about the last 15 years,” says Amazon vice president and chief economist for digital streaming and advertising Phil Leslie, who will be a panelist in a TEC conference session titled “Outlook for Econ Careers in Tech”. “Companies like Yahoo, eBay, and Microsoft created research labs and would have a handful of economists along with other scientists. They focused on writing research papers for academic publications using these cool new sources of data.
“Then, about 10 years ago, Amazon decided they also wanted to start hiring economists. But they were going to take a different approach. The economists were going to be embedded throughout the businesses, and they were going to be focused on business problems.”
At the time, Leslie was an associate professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. “I was a skeptic,” he says. “I thought, ‘Wow, you're going to have a hard time recruiting academics to do that, because all the other companies are putting them in research roles.’ However, it turns out that that first set of academics — and here Pat Bajari deserves a ton of credit — were so successful at driving real value for Amazon that, quickly, word spread throughout the company that these economists were actually really helpful and valuable. As a result, demand for economists grew substantially.
“Now you can go to top economics departments, and the PhD students will tell you they're considering academic jobs and jobs in industry. Industry jobs weren't anything anybody even mentioned five or ten years ago. Amazon pushed the boundary on creating an entire new career path, and NABE [the National Association for Business Economics] has positioned themselves as the industry association that is really focused on what it means to do economics in industry.”
Cause or correlation?
Leslie believes that one of the things that economists bring to industry is a focus on causality. “When you say ‘causal modeling’ to any economist, they’ll say, ‘Yeah, that's what economists do,” Leslie says. “‘We do causal modeling.’”
“Something that's always been an important part of any economics training is understanding the distinction between correlation and causation,” he continues. “For example, the role that advertising plays in driving sales. You may see products that have a lot of advertising, and they also get a lot of sales. It doesn't necessarily mean that the advertising caused those sales. Sometimes, companies will by default put more advertising into their most successful products.
“So how would you go about figuring out what the causal effect of advertising is on sales? That's where you get things like experimental variation or holdouts or approaches around instrumental variables or other types of methodologies that economics have developed for getting at causal effects.”
Leslie points to an example from his own work at Amazon. An Amazon Prime membership comes with a host of benefits — fast, free shipping, free two-hour grocery delivery, free video, and free music, among others.
But, Leslie says, “we don't necessarily know which of those benefits are most important to our customers. Should we be providing more free shipping? Faster free shipping? Should we be providing more video content? Should we be improving the music benefit or reading benefit or gaming benefit? So we built a structural econometric demand model of the bundled services for Prime members that allows us to understand how different benefits create value for our customers.”
Theory meets data
One of the other distinguishing aspects of economics, Leslie says, is its emphasis on theoretical models. “It’s an important way that economists are different from other types of data science experts at Amazon,” he says.
Still, he adds, economics isn’t nearly as theoretical as it used to be. “Back in the 1970s and the 1980s, economics was mostly about theoretical and mathematical modeling,” he says. “There was not much data analysis. Today, that has flipped around. Econometrics and empirical research are the primary focus.
“A common criticism of the theory models was that they are built around assumptions that may or may not hold in the data. I think people started to realize that for a theory to be truly useful, we have to be able to test it and validate the underlying assumptions with data. Today, economists have made great strides in combining theory and data. It’s another reason that industry has begun to take a greater interest in economics.”
More information about Amazon’s presence at TEC 2020 is available here.


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Market Recap – December 12th
US stocks started the week on a positive note, with investors looking ahead to key monetary policy decisions from the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, and other central banks. The S&P 500 index rose 0.7% after the New York Federal Reserve released data showing a decline in consumer inflation expectations. The tech-focused Nasdaq 100 index also saw gains after fluctuating earlier in the day. Treasury yields increased, with the 10-year yield hovering around 3.63%, and the dollar strengthened.
Looking at specific stocks, Boeing’s shares increased by 2.8% after Air India ordered 150 737 Max jets. Meanwhile, shares of Rivian, the electric vehicle company, dropped by over 4% after it was announced that the company plans to make electric vans in Europe with Mercedes-Benz on hold. Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe explained that the company is focusing on its existing consumer and business ventures to achieve “the best risk-adjusted returns” on its capital investments. The original agreement with Mercedes-Benz was announced in September.
Want to learn how to invest? Download the Invstr app, where you can play Fantasy Finance and manage a virtual investment portfolio, or open a brokerage account and invest for real. Take our interactive investing course on Invstr Academy and become a better investor today!
I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.


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Mortal Kombat 10 is in development and will be released alongside next film adaptation
Tales of Zestiria, Tales of Xillia 2 US release announced by Namco Bandai
See BioWare developers working on Mass Effect 4
Skylanders 4 is in development and set for release this year
Retro Studios confirms they've got a new Wii U game in the works
Weekly Warp-Up: Time Is On My Side Edition
New Releases: TitanFall, Dark Souls II, Yoshi’s New Island, More
Tales From the Borderlands will tell a two-sided Rashomon-style tale
Sony is bringing The Last of Us to a movie theater near you
A Playing Card With Fangs: How Puzzle Games Use Characters to Get in Our Heads
Capcom plans to announce two games at PAX East
Capcom plans to talk about a ton of games at this year’s PAX East show, including two unannounced projects! The two games will be unveiled during the “World of Capcom” panel scheduled for Friday, March 22 at 12 Noon.
If you’ve got PAX East tickets and you miss the panel, be sure to swing by their booth as Darkstalkers Resurrection, Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen, Remember Me and Lost Planet 3 will all be playable on the show floor.
PAX East 2013 will be held March 22-24 in Boston and if you don’t have tickets, you’re too late. They officially sold out a day or two ago.
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See the enemies of Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen in this new trailer
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Capcom announces major expansion to Dragon’s Dogma coming next year


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Durham, N.C. — Loretta Lynn has canceled an upcoming show at Carolina Theatre of Durham.
Lynn, 85, was originally scheduled to play Durham on May 5, but suffered a stroke the night before. She rescheduled the show to Sept. 29.
Officials announced Friday that the September show was canceled. Fans who purchased tickets with a credit card will have those purchases refunded automatically. Fans who purchased tickets with cash will be able to get a refund by returning their tickets to their original point of purchase. Refunds will be granted through Friday, Aug. 4.
The Grammy-winner had a string of hits starting in the 1960s with the biographical "Coal Miner's Daughter," which was made into a best-selling book and movie, as well as songs like "You Ain't Woman Enough," ''The Pill" and "One's on the Way."