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Covid cases fall during lockdown
The number of daily new confirmed coronavirus infections has fallen in the past month but remains higher than in the first wave of the pandemic. As the government plots a course to relaxing Covid restrictions in four stages this spring, the seven-day average for the number of deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test has fallen to 400, from almost 1,300 in early January. After the government hit its target to offer the vaccine to the four most at risk groups in the UK, almost 18 million people have had a first jab. Almost 650,000 have had a second.
Mobility climbs despite continued lockdown
The number of trips taken on UK roads and public transport has increased slightly in the past month, in a sign that more people are starting to leave their homes despite the continued lockdown. According to Apple mobility data – which records requests made to Apple Maps for directions – bus and train journeys are still down by more than half from pre-pandemic levels but have crept up in recent weeks. Mobility levels are higher than during the first lockdown, reflecting a lesser impact on economic activity.
Stock market gains after unlocking roadmap
Shares in the British companies most likely to benefit from the easing of Covid restrictions have rallied on the London stock market after Boris Johnson set out the government’s roadmap for ending lockdown in England. However, concerns are growing that a faster economic recovery would trigger a surge in inflation, which could force central banks to raise interest rates. It comes at a time when several global markets, including the Dow Jones and the Japanese Nikkei, are close to record highs. The FTSE 100 has risen by about 150 points since the start of the month, to trade at about 6,600. The index of leading UK company shares still remains about 1,000 points below its pre-pandemic level in early 2020.
Inflation edges higher as food prices rise
Rising food prices drove up inflation in January. The consumer prices index (CPI) rose to 0.7% from 0.6% a month earlier as food and household goods stores put up their prices, and offered fewer discounts this year on items such as beds and settees. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) noted price rises on frozen fish fingers, vegetables such as cauliflowers, and premium crisps. Analysts said the inflation rate would probably rise further over the coming months as the economy gradually reopens.
Business activity stronger than feared in February
Britain’s economy showed signs of steadying in February after the plunge in business activity in January when lockdown measures were reintroduced. Closely watched surveys of company managers showed the situation improved for services firms but the economy still remained in contraction as restrictions took their toll. The flash IHS Markit/Cips purchasing managers index jumped to 49.8 from 41.2 in January, just below the 50 mark that divides expansion from contraction. With rising Covid infections on the continent, activity in the eurozone remained subdued. However, activity hit a six-year high in the US. Although losing some momentum, China’s economic recovery continued.
Unemployment rises despite furlough extension
The impact of Covid-19 on the economy drove up the unemployment rate to 5.1% in the three months to the end of December – representing 1.74 million people – up from 5% in the three months to the end of November, according to the ONS. The jobless rate was 4% before the pandemic struck. However, figures from HMRC showed 83,000 employees were added to company payrolls in January, in a promising sign for the jobs market despite the third lockdown. It comes after the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, extended the furlough scheme, now due to run until the end of April. The chancellor is coming under pressure to provide extra support as job losses climb.
Retail sales plunge during third lockdown
British retail sales fell by 8.2% in January from a month earlier amid the toughest Covid lockdown since the first wave of the pandemic. With the closure of stores on high streets and in shopping centres, sales plunged across the retail sector, apart from food stores and online, where spending increased. Internet sales accounted for a record 35.2% of sales last month, up from 29.6% a month ago, when more physical shops were open in the run-up to Christmas. A year ago, online sales were running at 19.5%. The ONS said after steadily recovering from the impact of the first lockdown, the latest restrictions had pushed the volume of sales down to 5.5% below pre-pandemic levels.
Budget deficit rises before chancellor’s budget
Sunak’s budget on 3 March will be framed by record levels of government borrowing and debt as state spending soars in response to Covid and tax revenues collapse. Public sector borrowing was £8.8bn in January, the highest on record for a month when self-assessed tax receipts usually help to generate a surplus. It takes the budget deficit – the gap between spending and receipts – to about £271bn for the first 10 months of the financial year, up £222bn on a year ago. December’s borrowing pushed the national debt – the sum total of every deficit – to £2.1tn, or about 97.9% of gross domestic product, the highest debt ratio since the early 1960s. Sunak has said “hard choices” must be taken to balance the books. But economists warn austerity or tax rises could derail the UK’s economic recovery.
Double-dip recession avoided despite record slump
Official figures confirmed the UK economy suffered its biggest annual decline in 300 years in 2020 amid the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, but that a double-dip recession at the end of the year was avoided. The ONS said gross domestic product fell by 9.9% in 2020, the biggest decline since 1709, as no sector of the economy was left unscathed. However, companies learning to adapt to lockdown and looser controls in December helped the economy to grow by 1% in the final three months of the year. Although avoiding a return to recession during the second wave of the pandemic, economists expect GDP is shrinking again at the start of 2021 amid the toughest lockdown since the first wave of Covid-19.
House prices fall as stamp duty deadline looms
House prices in the UK fell in January by the most in almost a year, as the Covid homebuying boom fuelled by the government’s stamp duty holiday fades. With the end of the tax break looming at the end of March and disruption from the renewed lockdown, the price of an average property fell 0.3% month on month, according to Halifax. The fall ends a seventh-month streak of house price growth as Britons scrambled to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday. Property industry experts have warned prices could fall dramatically this year after the tax break ends and as unemployment rises. Sunak is, however, reportedly considering an extension at the budget.
And another thing we’ve learned this month … Household savings could power economic revival but inequality has risen
British households have saved record amounts during the coronavirus pandemic as people have spent less money during lockdown and made savings on travel costs and eating out while working from home. The chief economist at the Bank of England, Andy Haldane, says this means families are poised “like a coiled spring” to fuel a rapid return to economic growth with a multibillion-pound spending spree. Official figures show record repayments on credit cards and personal loans and the UK’s households savings ratio – a snapshot of savings as a proportion of disposable income – hitting a record high of 27% in June last year, and staying at historically high levels since. But this rise in average saving masks severe financial pain for lower-income households bearing the brunt of Covid job losses. It is mostly those in the top 40% saving money and it is unclear how much of those savings will be spent in the recovery.
— to www.theguardian.com


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Nissan is introducing new ways to use the power of batteries to store and share energy to make its electric cars even more useful to customers.
According to a plan called Nissan Energy, Nissan’s electric vehicle owners can easily connect their cars to power systems to charge their batteries, power homes and businesses, or supply power back to their electrical networks. The company will also develop new ways to reuse electric car batteries.
Nissan has already begun deploying programs in the USA, Japan and Europe, aimed at creating a whole “ecosystem” around its electric vehicles, primarily Nissan Leaf.
Nissan Energy will set new standards for connecting vehicles to energy systems through three key initiatives:
- Nissan Energy Supply
- Nissan Energy Share
- Nissan Energy Storage
Separate initiatives are already being implemented in different countries, for example, in the United States, Nissan North America will use Leaf electric cars to support its headquarters during periods of peak electricity load, expecting significant cost savings.
In Germany, Leaf will be used as a reserve for the German power grid, and in Japan, Nissan is working with telecommunications and energy companies to conduct field tests of V2G systems to confirm the ability of electric vehicles to manage energy consumption.
References: newsroom.nissan-global.com. Written by: electricvehicle.org

domain: news


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The German company this week bagged best chocolate at the yummex Middle East Innovation Awards for its low carb, high protein Chocolate Crossies.
Edeka and REWE
Fitmeals is hoping to emulate the UK success of Irish vitamin and protein bar brand Fulfil for the German market.
Speaking to ConfectioneryNews at the yummex trade fair in Dubai, Andreas Serwotka, co-founder and sales manager at Fitmeals, said: "There's big demand in healthy products right now in Germany…
"Germany is way behind the UK [in functional snacking] - the players in the UK are much bigger and have many more innovations than we have. We trying to bring something like this to Germany."
Fitmeals chocolate products are expected to hit store shelves in Germany this quarter. The company has gained distribution for its 60 g Chocolate Crosse in major retail chains in Germany such as Edeka and REWE, at a RRP of €2.99 ($3.58).
"It's more expensive [than conventional confectionery], but if you compare it to protein bars, it's more or less the same price,” said Serwotka.
Targeting mass market retail
The company is targeting mainstream retail rather than specialty channels. "At least in Germany we're seeing [protein snacking] is really getting a mass market. We're also selling to gyms and nutrition shops, but the big business is done with retailers,” said Serwotka.
He said the company still has a lot to do in Germany, but is exhibiting at yummex to gauge interest in the Middle East where it is looking for distributors.
From muesli to snacks
The Nuremberg-based company began with protein mueslis in 2015. It is now focusing on snacking and chocolate after facing stiff competition from fellow German firm MyMuseli.
"We're trying to make healthy snacks. We started with muesli because it seemed like the best entry to the market, but we never planned to stay with the mueslis - it was always a plan to get into snacking.”
Fitmeals continues to sell its mueslis, but is now focusing on its chocolate products and expanding into other snacks.
Serwotka and his cousin cofounded Fitmeals. They both studied business administration and spent around 15 years in the fitness industry. Fitmeals marks their first move into the food industry.
"At the beginning, we produced the mueslis ourselves, then we tried to outsource it to another company, but it didn't work as well as expected. We found a new investor - he's already producing, so he helped us to set up production ourselves,” said Serwotka.
Sugarfree with maltitol
Fitmeals’ award-winning Chocolate Crossies are fortified with 30 % pea protein and sweetened with maltitol.
The producer uses xylitol for its mueslis, but its chocolate products are sweetened with maltitol.
"We had a couple of muselis sweetened with stevia - but we had a lot of customers complaining that they don't like the stevia taste,” said Serwotka.
Fitmeals will soon launch pralines with a protein cream filling sweetened with xylitol and a maltitol-sweetened chocolate coating.
"The muselis are still made with soy protein, but now every new product is based on pea protein,” said Serwotka.


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Here's your first look at the Samsung Galaxy S8
- Motorola unveils the upgraded, affordable Moto G5 and G5 Plus
- (NYSE:LB) Shows Long Term Growth Rate of 0.1125
- Uber calls Waymo's lawsuit 'baseless' - Roadshow
- Trump says race for DNC chairman was 'rigged'
- Saudi foreign minister makes landmark visit to Iraq
- Why Natalie Portman won't be attending the Oscars
- Chances of Aussie victory strong as India ends at 99/6 at tea
- Nokia 3310 to Run On Series 30+, Have Swappable Features
- National Express Group PLC 5.5% Potential Upside Indicated by Liberum Capital
- Asus Announces ZenFone Live With Beautification Sensor And Livestreaming Features
- Chelsea beat Swansea to go 11 points clear on top
- Man Charged in Shooting That Targeted Foreigners: 'Get Out of My Country'
- White House tried to get Federal Bureau of Investigation to dispute story of Russian Federation contacts


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The Samsung Galaxy S11 is set to come out early next year as we know of the S series. However, recent leaks reveal that it is not the only phone that Samsung is working on right now.
Rumors already have it that Samsung is working on a foldable smartphone with a clamshell design. This could be a phone to compete with the Motorola RAZR 2019, Motorola’s own foldable RAZR phone.
Even the foldable smartphone is not the one we are talking about now. We may actually be getting a new international release from Samsung sooner than we thought.
The Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite will be a budget version of the Galaxy S10. However, this does not mean that its specifications are mediocre.
We have just gotten details of the upcoming Galaxy S10 Lite as published by Slashleaks. The popular info-breaker discovered the details via the Brazilian Certification Authority ANATEL.
In fact, the device will reportedly pack an impressive 4,370mAh battery. This is bigger than what we see in any of Samsung’s current smartphones. To put this in perspective, the Galaxy S10 packs a 3,400mAh battery while the Galaxy S10 Plus enjoys a 4,300mAh battery.
Earlier this year, we also got leaks from Forbes about what is under the Galaxy S10 Lite’s hood. It will likely come with the Snapdragon 855 chipset, coupled with 8GB of RAM.
In the camera aspect, we got more leaks from SamMobile suggesting a dual-camera setup on the rear and another dual-camera setup on the front. The front-facing cameras will come in a pinhole setup.
Samsung may have cut down on some of the features of the regular S10 in the Lite version. However, we do not yet have all the details about how much.
We also do not have information about when the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite will launch. But we expect it to launch in the coming weeks as the year is already coming to an end, and we are already looking forward to the Galaxy S11 series.


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God Of War Ascension heading for a March release
Sony has announced a release date for their newly-revealed God Of War prequel, God Of War Ascension.
The game was revealed earlier this year and it will be the first game in the series to feature multiplayer gameplay alongside its gory single player experience.
Ascension will tell some of the story of Kratos back when he was just the mortal Ghost of Sparta and not the all-conquering god-slayer that we have come to know him as.
God Of War Ascension will be out on the PS3 on March the 12th of next year.
- Report finds that the 100 USD tier of Assassin's Creed: Unity's microtransactions is completely unnecessary
- Final Fantasy Type-0 HD gets a new trailer
- Bungie deconstructs their latest Destiny patch, hints at what is coming next
- DayZ creator Dean Hall could join UK studio Improbable
- Shadow Of Mordor arrives on last-gen consoles
- David Braben apologises for ditching Elite: Dangerous's offline mode, outlines refund criteria
- Microsoft celebrates the 1st birthday of the Xbox One with free access to Sunset Overdrive
- Hacker group leaks account details for thousands of PSN, Origin, Windows Live and 2K Game Studios accounts
- RedLynx promises online multiplayer is coming to Trials Fusion early next year


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Apple fired up for future on record profit
Apple reaffirmed its status as the world’s most profitable consumer technology company last night, announcing record profits of $6 billion (£3.7 billion) between October and December the day after founder Steve Jobs said that he was taking an indefinite medical leave from the business.
More than any other reigning chief executive, Mr Jobs is the embodiment of his company’s brand. Last night he was in an ebullient mood, despite his health worries, as he announced “phenomenal” sales during the Christmas quarter and insisted that the company was “firing on all cylinders”.
For the three months to December 25 Apple posted record profits — nearly double last year’s level — and revenues at an all-time high of $26.74 billion.
The company sold 7.33 million iPads during


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Bitcoin in the Philippines
- “If you want something that is fast, near real-time and convenient, then there’s the benefit of using virtual currencies like bitcoin,” the central bank official added.
The Government of the Philippines has been taking a bullish stance on bitcoin as they have made many movements to embrace and foster the use of the currency.
Earlier this year Bankgko Sentral ng Pilipinas,BSP, started to officially regulate local bitcoin exchanges. As they have seen that people are active in the virtual currency space and enterprises ((Coins.ph, BuyBitcoin.ph and Rebit.ph) have popped up to meet the filipino consumer’s appetite for the virtual currencies.
The country of the Philippines possesses some of Asia’s most advanced and holistic BTC platforms which allows Filipino users to settle any currency related bills, payments and transfers with bitcoin.
In response, BSP, is regulating the Philippine Bitcoin Exchanges as remittance companies and they are recognizing BTC as legal and proper payment method.
Earlier this year, BSP Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla announced the plans of the Philippine Central Bank to issue an in depth regulatory framework for Bitcoin users, exchanges and companies. The Deputy Governor emphasized the rapid growth of Bitcoin within the country, making of the monthly Bitcoin volumes increases from $1 mln to $6 mln a month over the span of a year.
Guidelines for Virtual Currency (VC) Exchanges
The government quickly followed up on their promise to provide regulatory guidance on Bitcoin and the Central Bank of the Philippines released BSP Circular No.944 entitled “Guidelines for Virtual Currency (VC) Exchanges”.
The document clarified the nature of bitcoin, and stated that it won’t be classified a s legal currency because it wasn’t issued by the central bank. But since they saw numerous benefits to using the currency in terms of payment and remittance, the central bank will allow for the flows of the currency with moderate regulation of the bitcoin providers, classifying them as remittance companies.
They then formalized the BTC facilitators and made certain that the companies would be in compliance with Anti- Money Launder (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) policies.
Now, the regulators are seeking to provide further clarity on the expanded use cases of bitcoin and its network. In a press conference this week, the country’s equivalents of a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) leader Emilio Aquino presented their stance and future plans on expansion.
They are looking at whether or not they should be adopting the virtual currencies as securities which would officially take them to another level in regards to regulatory acceptance. When the move occurs, cryptocurrencies would be integrated in the regulatory code.
The commissioner (Aquino) stated
“The direction is for us to consider this so-called virtual currencies offerings as possible securities in which case we will apply the Securities Regulation Code. The heightened frenzy and increasing popularity surrounding initial coin offerings has pushed authorities to lay down new rules to protect consumers.
We have seen particularly in the social media sites that there are offers of initial coin offerings, most popular of which, of course [are] bitcoin and Ethereum…but [there are] new ones which may be considered as securities.”
Their bank and their regulators have said that they are taking an open minded approach while studying what other regulators in the US, Malaysia and other countries are doing.
The Use Case
The primary and approved use cases are for the increasing need for improved remittance services from Filipinos working overseas. The government has endorsed at least six companies in the space and are looking to approve more companies who will be providing these services.
The reason why the people of the Philippines are preferring this to traditional services like Western Union and others is because the transactions are cost effective and less time consuming.
Some governments are seeing the interest from their people and taking a market based approach to how they deal with Bitcoin. The primary thought process is , if there is significant demand, then regulate moderately and let the space progress.


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High Tech - News, Reviews and Tests
- Your selection:
- tag DotA 2
- Remove all
Gabe Newell Slams Windows 8, Talks Steam Box on GT.TV
Aug 19, 2012 - in News
Spike TV did a 30-minute scoop on what's currently going on at Valve including Newell's distaste for Windows 8, info on the Steam Box, the upcoming launch of Big Picture, and even talk about a DOTA 2 documentary.
Valve Forced to Pull Player-Created DotA 2 Mace for Copyright
Aug 13, 2012 - in News
Some of the risks of leaving the cogs of the Steam Workshop entirely up to the community are cropping up...


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Chicago, IL (PRWEB) June 08, 2016 -- The United States Patent Office has granted solar lighting company LuminAID a patent for inflatable solar-powered lights, awarding comprehensive patent protection in the United States - U.S. Patent No. 9,347,629. In the midst of rapid growth in the diverse sustainable technology sector, LuminAID has developed an innovative and life-saving lighting technology for disaster relief, humanitarian aid and outdoor recreation. The awarded patent application, which was filed in 2012, covers a wide range of shapes and sizes of solar inflatable lanterns, including several different iterations already commercially available as part of the LuminAID solar product line.
LuminAID lights are used by humanitarian aid organizations ShelterBox, Médecins Sans Frontiers and the United Nations Population Fund as well as major companies such as Toyota, Exelon, Commonwealth Edison and Lenovo. The solar lights have been distributed to more than 70 countries.
LuminAID founders and inventors Anna Stork and Andrea Sreshta developed the LuminAID technology while still in graduate school and have since helped thousands of victims of disasters and poverty, including individuals in Haiti and Nepal. The two female entrepreneurs were featured on ABC’s Shark Tank in 2015. As a result of the Shark Tank presentation, Mark Cuban invested in the company. According to Cuban, “Investing in companies like LuminAID that also help people allows me to focus on not only how we can make money but also how we can make an impact.”
LuminAID was represented by John Dragseth and Jennifer Huang at the intellectual property law firm Fish & Richardson in the patent application process. Cuban has also been represented by Fish in various matters.
“Being granted the patent is a tremendous milestone for LuminAID as it provides a solid foundation for future innovation,” states Kathi Vidal, a Principal with Fish. Natalie Arbaugh, a Principal who heads Fish’s Women’s Initiative adds, “We are delighted to work with women inventors like Anna and Andrea as it underscores our firm’s commitment to expanding the role of women in technology, business and the law.”
LuminAID light technology integrates a solar-rechargeable LED circuit in an expandable and collapsible core. The solar lanterns are the first of their kind to be designed with an inflatable transparent bladder which diffuses the solar-charged LED light and collapses to be easily portable. The LuminAID lanterns are entirely waterproof and dustproof and collapse into a compact shape.
Inventors Stork and Sreshta represent a rarity in U.S. Patent holders: only 15 percent of all issued patents are granted to women. While they have been growing their business and continuing to invent new solar products, Stork and Sreshta have worked to empower the next generation of women engineers and entrepreneurs. Representing LuminAID, Stork spoke at the United Nation for Women’s Entrepreneurship Day and is featured in a children’s book about women engineers.
More than just a solar start-up, the women at LuminAID have incorporated social responsibility through their Give Light Get Light program. This program helps customers sponsor lights for families in need around the world. The LuminAID business model continues to shine within a group of successful start-ups centered around social entrepreneurship. Having created one of the most successful of these social responsibility brands, TOMS Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie recognized a shared social mission and offered to invest in LuminAID last month.
LuminAID develops innovative, solar-powered products for humanitarian relief aid and outdoor recreation. The company’s first product, the LuminAID light, is a solar-powered, inflatable lamp that packs flat and inflates to create a lightweight, waterproof lantern suitable for outdoor recreation and emergency situations. Anna Stork and Andrea Sreshta, co-founders of the company, invented the inflatable solar lights in response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti while they were graduate students at Columbia University. LuminAID lights have been sold to individuals in more than 70 different countries, and charitable projects with NGO partners have put more than 25,000 donated lights on the ground in more than 50 countries including Haiti, Nepal and the Philippines. LuminAID was featured on ABC's Shark Tank, received offers from all five "sharks" and made a deal with the billionaire investor Mark Cuban in 2015. Visit: http://www.luminaid.com.
About Fish & Richardson
Fish & Richardson is a global patent, intellectual property (IP) litigation and commercial litigation law firm with more than 400 attorneys and technology specialists across the U.S. and Europe. Fish has been named the #1 patent litigation firm in the U.S. for 13 consecutive years and is one of the busiest post-grant firms, representing more petitioners at the PTAB than any other firm. Fish has been winning cases worth billions in controversy – often by making new law – for the most innovative clients and influential industry leaders since 1878. For more information, visit http://www.fr.com.
LuminAID PR Contact:
For further media information, please contact:
Daphna Gall at daphna(at)luminaid(dot)com
Follow LuminAID on Twitter and YouTube @LuminAIDLab, Facebook http://www.fb.com/luminaid, and Instagram @luminaid.
Daphna Gall, LuminAID, http://www.luminaid.com, +1 3126008997, [email protected]


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Sony Interactive Entertainment (“SIE”) recently announced an all new record-breaking milestone for the PlayStation 4 (“PS4”).
As of 31 December 2018, the PS4 has sold over 91.6 million units globally, with more than 5.6 million units sold worldwide during the 2018 holiday season. This staggering number outshines that of any other game console on the market currently.
In addition, more than 50.7 million PS4 games were sold globally during the 2018 holiday season, which equates to 876 million PS4 games being sold worldwide as of December 31, 2018. The most popular game during this period, was Marvel’s Spider-Man, which launched in September 2018, selling more than 9 million copies as at November 25, 2018.
John Kodera, President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, had this to say in his statement:
“Thanks to the continued support from our fans during the holiday season, we are pleased to announce that PS4 has reached 91.6 million units globally. We are also happy to announce that the monthly active users of PlayStation Network continues to show strong growth, and has surpassed 90 million as of end of November 2018,”
“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to our passionate community around the globe, and our partners, for helping us achieve these milestones. This year, we will bring more enhanced experiences to our fans along with a highly anticipated lineup of games that are only possible on PS4. As we look toward the next PS4 milestone, SIE will continue to evolve, and we will further expand the platform to deliver the best interactive entertainment experiences to the world.”
Well done Sony and PlayStation for their continued success as the leading console platform.


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The wait is over; the list of nine finalists of the Daikin – Samurai
Incubate Ideathon, who will pitch their ideas at Nairobi tomorrow, is out.
Daikin, one of the leading air – conditioning companies in the world, wants to find their next partners, here in Africa through this competition. The event is a joint initiative between Daikin and Samurai Incubate Africa Inc.
“With WeeTracker as our outreach partner, the Ideathon had 160+ African startups applying for the pitch event, out of which 9 finalists have been shortlisted after interviews and discussions,” said Rena Yoneyama, Managing Partner, Samurai Incubate Africa Inc.
Amongst the finalists, Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania have equal representation with 2 participants from each country.
The winner of the Airtech Bootcamp Africa event will have a chance to work on a project, fully covered by Daikin. The participants or the winner of the Ideathon may also stand a chance to receive USD 100K -150K in investment by Samurai Incubate Africa.
It is amongst first and a unique opportunity for the African startups to
scale their business ideas and get a chance to work with world’s renowned
The ten finalists (in alphabetical order) of the events
Found the article interesting ? Follow us on Twitter to see what others are saying about it.
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ford-motor-tariffs/trump-... Steel and aluminum tariffs imposed by the Trump administration have cost Ford Motor Co (F.N) about $1 billion in profits, its chief executive officer said on Wednesday, while Honda Motor Co (7267.T) said higher steel prices have brought “hundreds of millions of dollars” in new costs.“From Ford’s perspective the metals tariffs took about $1 billion in profit from us,” CEO James Hackett said at a Bloomberg conference in New York, “The irony of which is we source most of that in the U.S. today anyway. If it goes on any longer, it will do more damage.”
“From Ford’s perspective the metals tariffs took about $1 billion in profit from us,” CEO James Hackett said at a Bloomberg conference in New York, Hackett continues to whiff as Ford CEO. Outside of stockholders and Ford employees who get a profit based bonus no-one give a whit about Ford's profits. Tell customers how much more their new car will cost as Ford passes the tariff along, like WalMart is, and people will take notice. Even then, people buy at WalMart a lot more often than they buy a new Ford.Steve
Thank you for recommending this post to our Best of feature.An interesting side effect of the tariffs was mentioned yesterday in my screed on Nat Gas consumption. US based aluminum and steel producers are cranking up production of their normally un-competitive products to try to take advantage of the higher prices due to tariffs which is a large part of the recent increase in Nat gas consumption. They are usually un-competitive operations due to their age and old equipment. Timhttps://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2018/08/09/t...Tariffs on steel and aluminium are creating some winnersBut they are not quite the success rump thinks...There is more substance to the claim that they have brought American furnaces and smelters roaring back to life. ...More strikingly, even some of those whom protectionism was supposed to help are grumbling. The loudest complaints are about the inclusion of Canada in the list of countries thwacked by trade barriers, which has damaged a highly integrated economic area. ......The big question is whether any revival can be sustained. In the short term, tariffs are more likely to bring older, relatively inefficient steel plants back online than to stimulate new long-term investments, for the simple reason that the president could withdraw the tariffs at any moment. The newest aluminium smelter in America is around 40 years old. If primary aluminium production revives sustainably, it will be because American producers can access cheap, reliable energy.
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That’s because there’s more to Disney than Disney+.
Long-term, Disney+ is still projected to hit its estimates of 230 million to 260 million by the end of fiscal 2024, according to the company. Yet in the short-term, with vaccinations ramping up and Covid restrictions loosening, it’s time for the rest of Disney to help lighten the load.”We think the subscriber miss is just a bump in the road,” Trip Miller, a Disney ( investor and managing partner at hedge fund Gullane Capital Partners, told CNN Business. “We are not concerned at all about the company as Disney is a rock-solid business that has and will continue to stand the test of time.”Disney+ now has 103.6 million subscribers, an astounding number for a service that’s not yet two years old — yet still below below the 110 million that many on Wall Street were expecting. The subscriber miss continued to hit Disney’s stock into Friday, opening down about 4% before recovering a bit.Investors might be tempted to compare to )Netflix (, which also missed subscriber expectations and took a stock hit last month. But streaming is Netflix’s whole business model — and though Disney+ has been the buzzy item at Disney, the company has a lot more going on. )
“Netflix simply trades on its subscribers, and that subscriber number really moves the stock,” Michael Nathanson, a media analyst and founding partner at MoffettNathanson, told CNN Business. “That’s the been the case lately with Disney, but it has so many other engines that could help it.”
Two of those Disney engines are poised to rev up this summer.
Disney’s film unit and its parks and resorts division, historically the two pillars of the company’s business, were hit hard by the pandemic: Its parks closed for months and major movies were delayed, costing the company a lot of money.But parks like Disneyland have since reopened, and films like Marvel’s “Black Widow” are ready to hit theaters and Disney+ this summer. That could make a big difference to Disney’s overall financial health and give investors more to gauge than just the streaming numbers.
“They have many catalysts in place as the world returns to normal”
Thursday brought other major news for Disney: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 do not need to wear masks or practice social distancing indoors or outdoors, except under certain circumstances.
This news has significant ramifications for Disney’s parks and theatrical business. If vaccinated consumers don’t need to wear masks, that more people may head to Disney World or to the theater.
Asked about the new mask guidelines Thursday, CEO Bob Chapek told CNBC that the resorts have seen “no shortage of demand whatsoever” and that he thinks “in relatively short order, you’re going to see our attendance go up significantly.”
It’s a fantastic development for Disney’s core parks and films businesses. And it shows that although streaming has been in the spotlight at Disney and at its competitors, investors have a lot more to consider for the House of Mouse.
As Miller, the hedge fund investor, puts it, streaming and subscriber growth “certainly get the recent headlines” but Disney is a “diversified business that works in a more normal environment.”
“We feel all the brands matter and can contribute to the long-term business,” he added. “Disney has survived the global pandemic well. Over the next year, they have many catalysts in place as the world returns to normal.”
#Disney #growth #hit #snag #pressures #parks #films


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Average retail gas prices in Peoria soared again last week, up 19.7 cents per gallon, according
to a survey released Monday by GasBuddy. This compares with the national average
that has increased 14.4 cents per gallon in the last week. Prices were 12.3 cents per gallon
higher than a year ago and 36.6 cents per gallon higher than a month ago. Senior Petroleum
Analyst Patrick DeHaan says prices have ticked higher as rising oil prices have put upward
pressure on gasoline prices.


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Store retailers could lose 5% of holiday season sales through showrooming
Eight out of ten retailers are affected by showrooming, according to new research from Edgell Knowledge Network, in partnership with Ebay, yet just 10% have strategies in place to limit its effects.
According to Gaurav Pant, research director at Edgell Knowledge Network, the act of using a mobile phone in-store to check competitors' prices is here to stay. "Showrooming", as it's called, can have an adverse effect on a retailer's bottom line if strategies aren't in place to limit its effect.
The report, "The Impact of Showrooming on the 2012 Holiday Season", reveals that 80% of retailers expect to be impacted by showrooming. They expect to lose, on average, 5% of sales to the practice. Electronics and appliance categories were expected to be the most vulnerable.
However, only a quarter of retailers surveyed supported full integration between their store and online channels, and only 15% share their inventory online - two reliable methods for retailers to lessen showrooming's impact.
"Showrooming is a phenomenon that's here to stay. One in four shoppers used their mobile phones to compare prices while in the store during the 2011 holiday season, and those numbers will only grow," said Gaurav Pant, Research Director, Edgell Knowledge Network. "But the good news is that retailers can put strategies in place to help counter the effects of showrooming by engaging showroomers actively, integrating their online and offline channels, and prioritizing their investments to counter showrooming."
Earlier this year, a report from Capgemini revealed how consumers across 16 mature and developing markets see the future of physical stores.
Over half (51%) of the 16,000 participants expect that, by 2020, many physical stores will exist primarily as showrooms, places to display products available for order by various other channels. Respondents from developing markets were more likely to hold this belief while a third of consumers in more mature markets think so.
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Chainsaw Man is gearing up to launch its big anime adaptation later this fall, and has given fans a close look at the first character designs coming to the series! Tatsuki Fujimoto’s original manga series is now one of Shueisha’s biggest franchises running today, and so his anime has become the most anticipated new release of the year as a whole. Production details have been sparse for some time, but with the series slated for release in the fall, the studio behind the Chainsaw Man anime has begun revealing more details and fuller looks than ever before.
Alongside the launch of the most comprehensive first trailer for Chainsaw Manfrom the anime, MAPPA also provided details on the four main characters that fans will meet in the new series. With Denji, Power, Makima, and Aki Hayakawa all confirmed for the series and revealed in motion through the first trailers, fans have now gotten a closer look at how their manga has been translated into the anime version. With Kazutaka Sugiyama (Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation) handling the designs, you can take a close look at them below, as spotted by @YourAnimeGuy on Twitter:
— Your anime guy⁉ (@YourAnimeGuy) August 5, 2022
Chainsaw Man will be released in October, but a concrete release date has yet to be announced at the time of this writing. The new anime has previously confirmed that it will stream on Crunchyroll when it releases in other territories, so fans everywhere are ready when it comes out. Ryu Nakayama will direct the new anime for MAPPA with Hiroshi Seko handling the script, Kazutaka Sugiyama providing character designs, Tatsuya Yoshihara as action director, Kiyotaka Oshiyama as devil designer, and Kensuke Ushio as composer. . The first additions to the main cast were also announced with Kikunosuke Toya as Denji, Tomori Kusonoki as Makima, Shogo Sakata as Aki Hayakawa, and Fairouz Ai as Power.
Chainsaw Man is it just one of the major franchises making its first anime as part of the busy fall 2022 anime schedule, so where does it currently rank on your new must-have series? Which anime are you most looking forward to seeing its world premiere? Let us know all your thoughts on this in the comments! You can even contact me directly about all things anime and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!


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recycling plant for glass bottles from china,How China fallout is shaking recycling in California - Resource .Jan 30, 2018 . About 85 percent of mixed paper and OCC exported out of California has been bound for China in recent years, and as the Asian behemoth closes its doors to some of those imports, the state's recycling industry is feeling the hit. In 2016, California's exports of recyclables amounted to 15 million tons, worth.Will China's Ban on Importing Waste Affect Your Recyclables .Aug 18, 2017 . The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) estimates that by weight, 70 percent of the recycling material sent to China that will be captured by the ban . the most relevant to consumers are mixed paper (everything from magazines to phone books), scrap plastics (including food containers and plastic.
Council tells ratepayers to 'minimise' recycling as Chinese ban bitesJan 31, 2018 . Meanwhile Horsham Rural City Council plans to begin stockpiling the recycling it collects, in the hope that China "changes its mind", Mayor Pam Clarke said. She said the council was looking to find a site to store the material for the time being. Wine bottles and other glass bottles set to be recycled at the.Automatic wine glass bottle recycling plant soaking, brush washing .Oct 14, 2016 . This automatic bottle washer, which is used for diverse specifications of bottles. Whatever new or old bottles of beer, bottles of wine, bottles of beverage .
Advanced PET bottle recycling plant coming to California - Resource .
China crushes U.S. recycling, at least for now - Houston Chronicle
Green activist's crystal clear aim to solve Hong Kong's glass .
Will China's Ban on Importing Waste Affect Your Recyclables .
What Operation Green Fence has Meant for Recycling | Waste360
Why China's waste pickers are a better alternative to incineration .
Why the US recycling industry is feeling down in the dumps .
Chasing CleanTech in the Glass Bottle Industry – CleanTechies
Recycling of plastics - University of Cambridge
Container Recycling Institute - CRI
The truth about recycling | The Economist
50 Shades of Green: Recycling in Miami — Debris Free Oceans
Plastic Waste Piles Up as China's Ban Goes Into Effect | Sierra Club
China doesn't even want to buy our garbage anymore - The .
Glass Recycling | SUEZ Australia
China's waste import ban makes recycling costly for NZ businesses .
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Glass to Glass Recycling Facility, Portland, Oregon - Packaging .
recycling plant for glass bottles from china,Where does it go? Recyclables on Oahu - Kanu Hawaii


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Most consumers believe the marketing industry is failing to represent the diversity of life in 21st century Britain, according to a major new study conducted for Marketing Week.
The two-part research also shows that a significant proportion of marketers believe their departments are not representative of minority groups, including different ethnicities, sexualities and disabilities. As a result, their marketing output is not reflective of society.
Our survey of 2,000 consumers, carried out by One Poll in October 2015, finds that 65% of those surveyed feel British marketing and advertising fails to recognise the full range of lives and experiences of people across the country. A further 38% disagree that brands represent the realities of modern-day Britain through their marketing messages and the people portrayed in their advertising. Less than 5% strongly agree that brands succeed in doing so. One in six people, meanwhile, say they are less likely to buy from a brand.
A separate poll of 754 marketing professionals conducted by Marketing Week in parallel with One Poll’s consumer survey reveals severe misgivings about the industry’s record on diversity. It shows that 42% of marketers believe the brands they work for are failing to reflect contemporary society in their marketing and advertising.
Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, founder of meat and poultry brand The Black Farmer, was unequivocal at the Festival of Marketing this month when asked during a panel debate whether he felt minority groups still face discrimination. He said: “If you’re a woman, or you’re a person of colour, or you have a sexuality that is not considered mainstream, it will have an impact on you. Those of us [who are in those groups] will know that.”
Emmanuel-Jones, who was born in Jamaica but moved with his family to the UK in the 1950s, explained that he decided to call his company The Black Farmer in order to be provocative and to challenge latent prejudices about the fact he is a black businessman operating in Devon – a predominantly white area. In his first TV advert for The Black Farmer, which launches at the start of next year, he celebrates his complex identity and British heritage.
“It says something about our society that the name The Black Farmer has an edge to it,” he added. “There’s almost a double-take moment where people are not too sure whether it’s politically correct and there’s still confusion about the sort of language that you should use when referring to people of colour. I’m trying to help people overcome that.”
Marketing Week’s research shows that 45% of marketers believe ethnic minorities are well represented in the output of marketing and advertising. However, only 29% of consumers share the same view, while 10% of people feel that ethnicity is the most pressing diversity issue that brands need to address in their marketing today.
Around half of marketers feel their brand has become more diverse and reflective of society over the past 10 years, but more than a third believe it has made no progress during that period. Gender relations is the area where marketers feel the industry has improved most, with just over a quarter (27%) of them feeling this is the case. Sexual orientation (24%) and ethnicity (22%) are rated the next best areas for progress.
By contrast, marketers feel there has been little change in how the industry communicates to people with mental health issues. Over a fifth of marketers (21%) select this as the area where the profession has made the least amount of progress over the past decade.
This suggests many brands are failing to adequately represent and cater for people with mental health issues in their marketing – and may not even be acknowledging their place within society. Gender identity (for example, transgender, transsexual, transvestite) and physical disability also score highly among marketers as being areas where the industry has made the least progress (14% and 11%, respectively).
These challenges appear to tally with a lack of diversity within marketing teams. For example, 51% of marketers report that there are no people with physical or mental disabilities within their department. In addition, 27% of marketers say there are no lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) people and 26% report the same for ethnic minorities.
However, marketers generally doubt that their companies are discriminating against minority groups in their employment practices. More than two-thirds of marketers agree with the statement ‘people from different backgrounds are treated equally by my company’, versus just 14% who disagree. Two-thirds of marketers also agree that ‘people from different backgrounds have an equal chance of being employed by my company’, compared to 17% who disagree.
Jan Gooding, group brand director at Aviva and chair of LGBT charity Stonewall, says many businesses lack a clear understanding of the experience of minority groups within their organisations. Speaking at the Festival of Marketing she suggested that many marketers choose not to come out as gay for fear that it will negatively impact their careers.
Of the marketers surveyed, 83% say they are heterosexual, 8% are homosexual and 3% are bisexual, while 6% would rather not say. “There’s a big number of people who don’t feel able to be out,” said Gooding.
“It’s an utter disgrace where the marketing industry is. If you don’t even know how many people are not out at work, how can you say whether there’s a problem? I’ve seen lots of extraordinary declarations from straight CEOs saying ‘there’s no homophobia in my agency’. How do they know? They have absolutely no idea.”
Neglecting valuable markets
There is evidence that brands will miss out on sales if they fail to communicate with specific groups. For example, research by Stonewall claims the gay market is worth between £70bn and £81bn in consumer spend in Britain alone.
Disability charity Scope has also published research claiming that businesses could be missing out on a share of £420m a week by failing to meet the needs of disabled people. It reports that three-quarters of disabled people have left a shop or business at some point because of poor customer service or a lack of disability awareness.
Lisa Quinlan-Rahman, director of external affairs at Scope, argues that disabled people rarely see their lives reflected in mainstream advertising (see Q&A, below). Brands are consequently failing to tap a powerful and lucrative market, she suggests. Only 22% of consumers surveyed by Marketing Week believe that people with physical disabilities are well represented in British marketing, while even fewer people (8%) feel this way about people with mental disabilities.
“The nature of advertising and marketing is to sell the concept of an aspirational or recognisable lifestyle that aligns brands with consumers, and I think the lack of that representation of disabled people in that everyday, aspirational way is quite alienating,” says Quinlan-Rahman.
Most marketers agree that making their brands and marketing more reflective of society can have a positive effect on sales. Over half (54%) agree that if their brand tackled diversity challenges, it would make a potential customer more likely to buy their products and services, compared to 30% who say it would have no effect on their purchase decision. Most consumers say improving diversity would not influence them, but by definition most are not part of an underserved minority.
There are signs that some diversity-driven marketing efforts are resonating with the public. The study shows that consumers regard broadcaster Channel 4 as the most successful British brand at communicating diversity in its marketing and advertising, selected by 16% of respondents, followed by the BBC (14%) and Marks & Spencer (12%).
Channel 4 received widespread acclaim in 2012 for its ‘Meet the Superhumans’ campaign to promote the London Paralympic Games. The broadcaster also lampooned homophobic laws in Russia before the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics with its ‘Gay Mountain’ TV ad (above). The channel seeks to represent diverse groups of people in both its programming and marketing, so its selection as the most diverse brand suggests this strategy is having an effect on consumers.
The need for leadership
So what steps should brands take to ensure their organisations are more diverse? Maggie Semple, founder of the Semple fashion brand and a non-executive director on several company boards, believes businesses should hire the best people for a job rather than attempt to fill “quotas” of different minorities. However, she adds that business leaders should examine their own attitudes towards diversity and look to incorporate different backgrounds and perspectives into their companies.
As a black woman who has worked in multiple industries, Semple confirms she has encountered many different challenges in her career. “I work a lot with major corporates and with their senior leaders, and they pay me to hold a mirror up to them – to be honest with them and get them to be honest too. For me, the agenda has to shift from just the compliance side of it to actually achieving diversity of thought,” she told the Festival of Marketing audience this month.
Investing in young people
For some brands, achieving this cultural shift involves investing in young people with diverse experiences. The National Theatre, for example, is one of several companies to partner with Creative Access, a charity that places young people from under-represented black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds in the creative industries into paid internships. It says that since 2012 it has placed more than 430 graduate interns in six-month or year-long internships at companies including Channel 4, the Daily Mail and Harper Collins.
Alison Forbes, marketing manager at the National Theatre, says Creative Access plays an important role in providing it with “bright, switched-on young people” – particularly as the company lacks its own graduate training scheme. The focus on diversity also helps the National Theatre “to be truly national and reflect the landscape of the country”, she says. The theatre appoints interns to a range of different departments, including marketing, with the possibility of a permanent role at the end of the placement.
“Marketing is about trying to tell a story to the right people in the right way, so having a range of skills, knowledge, expertise and backgrounds only makes you a stronger team and more successful at doing that,” says Forbes.
Regardless of how brands harness diversity, all marketers can take action to ensure they have a positive impact on the working culture around them. This week, University College London and Datatech Analytics are hosting Women in Data 2015, an event that aims to provide role models for women in the science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) professions.
The organisers note that there is a rising demand from brands for people who understand ‘big data’ at a time when Britain faces a major shortfall of qualified people. Only 13% of people in STEM professions are female, according to the Office for National Statistics, which suggests there are opportunities for women to forge careers in these male-dominated industries.
Payal Jain, managing director for strategic analytics at Barclaycard, is among the speakers due to present at the event. Although she does not believe she has encountered barriers related to her gender during her career, she believes it is important to provide guidance to fellow professionals and set a strong example about the importance of diversity within organisations. This open approach to learning and understanding is a good place to start for all brands seeking to tackle their diversity challenges.
“Up until recently, there’s been a lack of role models to say to women ‘I can go and do this’,” says Jain. “That’s why I’m speaking about it – I have that power to inspire people to think that because I’ve done it, they can go and do the same.”
Q. Is marketing failing to represent disabled people?
At Scope, we would definitely agree that advertisers could be doing more to represent the lives of disabled people. There are around 11.9 million disabled people in Britain and we feel they rarely see their lives reflected in mainstream marketing and in the media. There’s a really big role that marketing can play to make disabled people more visible in society.
At Scope we did some research that found that not many people know a disabled person or know enough about disability. That means that when we asked them, two-thirds of people said they felt uncomfortable or awkward around disabled people.
That led us to launch our ‘End the awkward’ campaign (video above), which was about breaking those barriers down. We know that when you make disabled people and disability more visible and start to build those bridges it has a really powerful impact.
Q. How are you encouraging brands to improve their engagement with disabled people?
Our research has shown that businesses could be missing out on a share of £420m a week by failing to meet the needs of disabled people, or by not providing products that feel attractive to disabled people. Also, 75% of disabled people have told us that they or their families have left a shop or a business because of poor customer service or a lack of disability awareness.
So there’s a whole circle of awareness that can mean that not only are we improving attitudes towards disabled people, but businesses themselves can tap into an enormous share of a very powerful market.
Q. Do you think that disabled people struggle to get jobs in creative industries such as marketing?
Possibly – diversity is very important for all departments. At Scope, we’re about making this country a place where disabled people have the same opportunities as everyone else. For too long there has been a big gap between the employment rate of disabled people and the rest of the population.
We know, for example, that attitudes continue to be a barrier. Around 74% of disabled adults feel they have lost out on a job opportunity because of their impairment or their health condition – so sometimes disabled people are seen as risky hires and actually getting into work can be an issue.
But then also when you’re in work, it’s about having the right support in the workplace – whether that’s support with accessibility or flexible working. That can be equally important to disabled people staying in work.


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Gamers will soon be able to experience Madden in a whole new way. EA Sports president Peter Moore confirmed to Bloomberg the long-standing football series will appear on popular social networking website Facebook.
"We have to make 'Madden' more accessible," Moore said. "You'll see us on Facebook going forward." While an official announcement and release date were not given, the move to Facebook will give players a "simpler experience" compared to the console counterparts, Moore added.
- Congrats Saints!
According to the latest NPD data, the Madden series has gone on to sell 63 million copies in the U.S. alone.
Last November, Electronic Arts acquired known Facebook games developer Playfish in a deal upwards of $300 million dollars. The company hopes to reach the platform's 400 million users with both new and familiar titles of its existing franchises.


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Although Kanye West hasn’t blessed fans with a new album since 2016’s The Life of Pablo, the record is still out here doing impressive numbers.
Not only that, but according to a new certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the album’s streaming success has also helped ‘Ye make history across the pond.
As reported, the innovative release has become the first album in the UK to be certified gold based on streams alone.
The album, which was originally released as a TIDAL-only exclusive, spent 47 weeks in the Top 100 in the UK, with data from the Official Charts Company reporting that the project has since been streamed more than 100,000 times, earning the gold certification.
Considering that earlier this year, the rapper achieved the same milestone in the U.S., with the streaming-only project being certified gold back in April, the news doesn’t come as too much of a surprise. However, despite the organic nature of the rapper repeating the history-making milestone, props still must be given.
Many congrats out to Kanye West for being the first pioneer to achieve such a contemporary accolade.
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If you’ve been keeping an eye on the news, you’ve likely heard about Wallstreetbets and the eye-watering stock price changes of video game retailer, Gamestop. The David vs. Goliath battle saw everyday stock traders on Reddit take on the hedge fund giants of Wall Street. Now, in a similar fashion, there’s a new short squeeze happening with one of the world’s favourite precious metals. The silver short squeeze
What is a short squeeze?
Let’s take a step back to first understand the mechanics of a short squeeze. As a one liner, the principle of shorting a stock is simply “sell high, buy low.” It’s the exact opposite of the investing principle “buy low, sell high.” We’ll get to the squeeze in a moment.
At a high level, a seller will “short” a stock if they believe that the stock is overvalued and will fall in price. Shorting means that the seller will borrow the stock at the “overvalued” price and then, once the price has dropped, they’ll cover their position by buying back the shares, allowing them to make money by cashing in on the difference. For example, if someone borrows and sells a share at $20, then the share price falls to $5 and they buy back, they profit $15.
The danger to shorting a stock is that there is infinite risk, since there is no limit to how high a stock price could go. This is an important point in understanding what happens in a short squeeze. When a stock sharply jumps in price, it forces short-sellers to sell at a loss to prevent further losses; they’re effectively “squeezed” out of their positions.
How does this relate to Reddit and Gamestop?
The short squeeze scenario described above happened recently in spectacular fashion with Gamestop, the world’s largest retail gaming company. The movement was fuelled by a Reddit forum called WallStreetBets, which now has over 9 million subscribers.
This happened because some private investors in the forum group realized that not only had several hedge funds shorted millions of dollars of Gamestop shares, but also that there was strong potential for Gamestop to see further growth. So, the Redditors came together to squeeze the hedge funds out of their positions and lose a lot of money. Collectively, they drove up the stock price by 1,700% in the space of a month. In the process, hedge funds saw huge losses – Melvin Capital, for example, was reported to have lost $4.5 billion in assets value in January.
Following the Gamestop saga, various spin off groups from WallStreetBets have appeared on Reddit, targeting different stocks. One such group is WallStreetSilver, created at the end of January and already attracting almost 40,000 members, called “Silverbacks.”
Like their counterparts on WallStreetBets, these Redditors believe that silver prices are being artificially suppressed by major banks and will see immense gains in the future. With these small-time investors banding together and putting their money into silver, the price of silver touched eight-year highs in early February. Retail sites struggled to keep up with the demand, as Redditors flocked online to showcase their collection of coins and bars. BlackRock iShares Silver Trust, the largest ETF tracking silver, recorded unprecedented inflows.
What’s the significance of a silver short squeeze?
As momentum built from the WallStreetSilver group, the hashtag #silversqueeze started trending on Twitter and some big names Tweeted their support, including the Bitcoin billionaires, the Winklevoss twins, with Tyler Winklevoss writing that the “#silversqueeze is a rage against the machine” and Cameron Winklevoss stating, “ramifications of a #silversqueeze cannot be underestimated.”
Following a similar pattern to Gamestop shares, if the private investors succeed in driving up the price of silver, the potential price boom could be massive, with one Reddit poster sharing “THE BIGGEST SHORT SQUEEZE IN THE WORLD $SLV Silver 25$ to 1000$.” If this scenario were to play out, silver could be a very good hedge in the future. With Reddit mobilizing the collective power of everyday traders and global market seeing significant shifts, it appears silver is certainly one commodity to keep your eye on.


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Ofgem boss Andrew Wright has acknowledged a "deep distrust" of energy companies among consumers and said he "completely understands" frustration and anger about rising bills.
The energy regulator's chief executive told the Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee that consumers were not convinced that price increases were either fair or justified.
He said: "I completely understand why people feel frustrated and angry about rising energy bills. Prices have more than doubled over the last 10 years at a time when incomes have been squeezed, and consumers are not convinced that price increases that they see are either fair or justified."
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Unilever and Tmall partner to garner better customer insights
Unilever has unveiled a joint innovation lab with Tmall's business-to-consumer innovation center to gain better data analyzing and consumer targeting capabilities.
Unilever's personal care product lines, Blueair air purifying machines and Qinyuan water purification products, will work closely with Tmall's new product innovation center in the initial stage.
The Dutch-Anglo personal care and consumer goods giant's first skin care product based on Tmall's consumer insights will be launched next month, and will be sold exclusively on Tmall.
The joint new product research lab will leverage the e-commerce giant's data analytical powers to find potential buyers and to collect research data on users' response to help products better meet consumer demand.
Samir-Cal Singh, global executive vice president of skin cleansing at Unilever, said he expects the partnership, which is the first of its kind for the consumer goods company, to be extended to other product categories in the future.
Through the collaboration, Unilever seeks to combine online and offline customer data resources, where consumers can choose to apply for new product samples — either through online or offline retailers — and the manufacturers can get a quick response about how the new product worked, so as to tweak the formula more efficiently.
By employing a flexible supply chain, Unilever aims to shorten the new product R&D stage and launch cycle to six to nine months, down from one or two years under normal circumstances.


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This Week in Retail: Filet Mignon a Steal at Retail This Valentine’s Day, While Lobster Prices Soar
Beef takes the top spot for protein feature volume this week, with 30 percent of ad space. Seafood follows up with 27 percent, while pork claims 21 percent. Chicken ads make up 15 percent of total protein features.
Of course, steaks make up an overwhelming majority of beef ads for Valentine’s, accounting for 51 percent of beef buying opportunities. The top featured steak cuts for this week include ribeyes, top sirloins, and tenderloin filets. Bone-in rib steaks average $7.54 per pound, which is up from a year ago at $6.96. Top sirloin steaks are a little more economical for the budget minded shopper, at $6.39 per pound, down nearly 8 percent from a year ago. Filets average $14.13 per pound on feature, which is down nearly $2 per pound from last year—and 15 percent lower compared to the 3-year average, making this item a relative steal for V-day dinner at home.
Pairing that steak with a succulent lobster tail? Cupid himself would be impressed, but you’ll be paying more than last year...
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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a discussion guide which outlined options to strengthen consumers’ access to, and control over, their financial data as a first step before issuing a proposed data rights rule that would implement section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act.
This first step in the process will allow community banks and small financial companies to weigh in under the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act. Once the SBREFA process is complete, the CFPB will issue its proposal, which will ultimately obligate financial institutions to share consumer data upon consumer request, accelerating the shift toward open banking and open finance.
The proposals under consideration include:
The ability for consumers to transfer their account history to a new company.
Limitations imposed by the CFPB on third parties reselling authorized data for other uses.
Petition on Data Aggregators: ICBA and other groups earlier this year called on the CFPB to initiate a rulemaking that defines “larger participants” in the data aggregation services market that should be subject to ongoing supervision. The groups noted in a joint petition that while the 1033 rule will apply to financial institutions and data aggregators, third-party aggregators are not subject to CFPB supervision.
Letter on Nonbanks: The petition followed last year’s ICBA letter calling on the CFPB to ensure nonbanks that access customer financial information take the same care in protecting consumer privacy and data as community banks.
Feedback on the CFPB’s outline can be emailed to [email protected] and is due by Jan. 25, 2023.


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Zynga Nears Funding, $10 Bil Valuation
To date, Zynga has already raised over $500 million from a host of investors as its explosive growth in social gaming has proven irresistible. However, Zynga's long term success isn't written in stone. "Some worry about Zynga's reliance on Facebook, as well as its sharing some of its revenue." That said, sources say the company's sales of virtual goods and advertising is closing in on $1 billion and more annually.


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Checkers burger restaurant comes to East Tennessee
Spend some time in the East Tennessee area and it won't take long to pass a yellow and red Lee's Food Mart sign.
Terry Lee and his brother Gary Lee opened the first Lee's Food Mart in 1988 and have grown the convenience store chain to operate more than 40 stores in Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia.
Now, one of those yellow and red signs is joined by a red and white checkerboard previously nonexistent in East Tennessee. Terry Lee's son Wesley Lee joined the family business about a year ago as a zone manager of eight Lee's Food Mart stores. But he was quick to jump on a new business opportunity - opening the doors of a Checkers fast food restaurant attached to the Lee's Kodak, Tenn,. location.
An idea sparked by chili cheese fries
The location of Wesley Lee's first Checkers location is by no means random. Lee has spent many summer days at Dollywood's Splash Country in neighboring Pigeon Forge where his son developed a love of chili cheese fries.
"So like any kid, 'Hey dad I want chili cheese fries tonight for dinner,' " Lee said. "So I started buying the Checkers fries (at the grocery store). They're really great fries, and as I did some research, I learned they're not represented in this marketplace, period."
For Terry Lee, the idea made sense. He had always been interested in franchising and knew his son was the right man to take on the operational aspects of owning a franchise.
"That was Wesley's challenge and his opportunity to make a difference in the company," Lee said. "I told him, 'This is your opportunity to make your mark, so go for it.' "
Checkers restaurants are traditionally drive-thru only. But to draw customers in to the convenient store from the restaurant and vice versa, Lee decided to give this Checkers a dining area.
Like father like son
Wesley Lee was four when his father opened the first Lee's Food Mart. A Sunday tradition in the Lee household was to practice baseball and clean the market's self-serve car washes.
"I can wash a car wash," Lee said with a laugh. "I'm pretty mean at it."
He worked in the stores every summer and periodically through school, but never imagined he'd go in to the business beyond that. He spent seven years as a high school history teacher and football coach before changing paths.
As a businessman who owns two Ford Lincoln dealerships, owns a steel fabrication company and is CEO of Commercial Bank, Terry Lee recognizes when someone has what it takes to succeed. It's something he knew his son had way before he joined the family business.
"You've got to let your kids find their own way," he said. "I felt it was important for him to find out what motivated him in life and make that determination himself versus saying, 'Here, work in this.' Now he's come at it with more energy than he would have if that was the only thing he'd ever done."
"He never once missed a baseball game"
The eight stores Wesley oversees keep him on the road most of the time, as they are spread throughout Clinton, Bulls Gap, Kodak and Knoxville.
It was when he was his busiest starting in the early morning and getting home at 11 p.m. to get the Checkers ready to open that he realized how hard his father worked when he was a kid.
"It made me think back to the times he would be at the office for long hours and get home real late," Wesley said. "We were really heavily involved in sports, and all his working and constantly growing his convenient store business, as well as other businesses that we're in, he never once missed a baseball game or a football game. Never missed it. He would take his vacation, and we would go to football camp. It blows my mind.
"It's an eye opener how much he had to sacrifice for us, and it's something you don't really see when you're younger."


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$HSY 2Q15 PR: Net acquisition, integration & transaction costs were $2.3MM, or $0.01 per share-diluted, international business realignment & other supply chain program costs were $2.8MM, or $0.01 per share-diluted, and non-service-related pension expense (NSRPE) was $0.9MM.
For the past few years, $AAPL has been buying domains with the iCloud name. According to a report from TechCrunch, the latest acquisition was of the domain name iCloud.net.
$AAPL just released the first look of its $5 billion Cupertino campus, now named Apple Park. Take a look.
Looking forward to the first $TSLA earnings after SolarCity acquisition.


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On June 5 during the company’s annual shareholders meeting, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. President and CEO Doug McMillon challenged the company’s more than 2 million associates to win the future of retail “one customer at a time.”
He then shared his strategy to attain that goal: “We’ll save customers money on their everyday needs with an easy shopping experience powered by people and technology. We’ll offer: Value—everyday low prices. Convenience—we’ll be there when and where they want us. Merchandise—we’ll have the items they want and continue to be great merchants. An easy experience—simple and fun. We’ll win one customer at a time.”
McMillon, speaking to an audience of more than 14,000 associates and shareholders, reinforced the integral role Walmart associates play in serving customers every day and the company’s commitment to providing opportunities for them to grow and advance their careers.
Referrring to the company’s recent announcements on scheduling, pay, benefits and training, McMillon said, “With hard work and determination, you can exceed your highest expectations here. I’m so proud of the work we’ve done this year to demonstrate how we’ve always felt about our own associates, our team.
“In our story, the hero is you—our associates. We aren’t more powerful than a locomotive or able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. We do have super powers though and they are real. They’re our passion, our commitment to our customers, our caring for one another. Really, our superpowers are those that help us make someone’s day better; their life better.”
Serving customers in new ways
McMillon discussed the evolving needs of Walmart customers and how technology is offering new ways to serve them. “We’ve always said we run our business one store a time. That’s still true. But it’s becoming more than that. It’s now one customer at a time. One customer can shop with us in so many different ways—in stores, on their phones, at homes, a pick-up point. But they just think they’re shopping at Walmart, at ASDA, at Sam’s Club.
“I want us to stop talking about digital and physical retail as if they’re two separate things. The customer doesn’t think of it that way, and we can’t either. Customers just want us to solve their everyday problems with an easy, seamless shopping experience.”
He said Walmart is in position to impact the future of retail thanks to its “2 million associates who want make a difference,” as well as its network of stores around the world.
“Think about the map of our locations. No one else has that incredible network around the world,” McMillon said. “Now, think about our supply chain and experienced logistics team. I get excited about what our technology team is now capable of. As we add new capabilities and join these unique assets together effectively, we’re going to have something special.
“We’re approaching this work with both urgency and determination,” he added. “We’re moving fast to exceed our customers’ expectations, while making purposeful choices that will position us for the long haul. This is a turning point in our story, and the investments we’re making today will set the stage for strong and sustainable growth.”
At the meeting, which capped off a week of events in northwest Arkansas designed to celebrate the company’s associates, Walmart announced that it would raise the starting wage for more than 100,000 department managers and specialists; make changes to its dress code; improve the in-store experience for both associates and customers, including the return of Walmart Radio and changes to store temperatures; new technology for all department managers; and new associate badges that read: “Our People Make the Difference.”
Emphasis on integrity, giving back
McMillon also shared his expectations for Walmart leaders as they work to execute his vision, including acting with integrity, leading on social and environmental issues and making a difference in local communities.
“There’s no business result that’s worth more than your personal integrity or our company’s. We’d rather have a bad financial result than take a shortcut,” he said. “We want to show that a business can grow in size and reduce its environmental impact at the same time.”
Walmart Stores operates 11,462 stores under 65 banners in 28 countries and e-commerce websites in 11 countries. Its fiscal year 2015 revenues were $486 billion.


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The Coca-Cola Company is discontinuing Tab, its first diet soda brand that became a cultural icon in the 1980s and retains a small but loyal cult following to this day.
For years, rumors have circulated that the soda giant was planning to end the brand, which was introduced in 1963. The possibility of its demise had prompted Tab’s most devoted fans — who call themselves Tabaholics — to reach out to the company to complain and even sign petitions demanding that Coca-Cola keep Tab alive.
But this time, it’s really over: Tab is going away amid an effort by Coca-Cola to “retire select underperforming products” by the end of this year, the company announced on Friday.
Coca-Cola said that plans to streamline the company’s beverage brands were “underway well before the coronavirus outbreak,” but that supply chain disruptions and changing consumer behavior caused by the pandemic prompted the company to speed up its efforts.
Coca-Cola is just one of many major food, beverage and retail brands feeling the impact of the pandemic. Some fast food chains, including California Pizza Kitchen and Ruby Tuesday, have filed for bankruptcy during the crisis, along with retail brands including J. Crew, Men’s Wearhouse, and Lord & Taylor. Other companies have also taken creative approaches to marketing during the pandemic, with PepsiCo recently releasing a new beverage, Driftwell, to help people de-stress and unwind before bed.
Other outgoing products from Coca-Cola include Odwalla, Coca-Cola Life, Diet Coke Fiesty Cherry and Sprite Lymonade, as well as regional beverage brands such as Northern Neck Ginger Ale and Delaware Punch.
“It’s about continuing to follow the consumer and being very intentional in deciding which of our brands are most deserving of our investments and resources, and also taking the tough but important steps to identify those products that are losing relevance and therefore should exit the portfolio,” Cath Coetzer, global head of innovation and marketing operations for The Coca-Cola Company, said in a statement.
Tab was initially marketed to women with the message that the zero-calorie beverage would keep their waistlines trim. The brand reached its cultural height in the 1980s, when commercials featured bikini-clad women with a jingle proclaiming that Tab was “for beautiful people.” But in 1982, Coca-Cola introduced Diet Coke, and by 2011, only three million cases of Tab were produced, compared with 885 million cases of Diet Coke.


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Egencia, the global B2B travel tech platform serving more than two million travelers around the world, is expanding its footprint in India with a new development center in Cyber Hub, Gurgaon. The center solidifies Egencia’s plan in the India region and paves the way for the company’s future after being acquired by American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT), the world’s leading B2B travel platform.
Backed by Amex GBT, Egencia is set to accelerate growth and India plays a strategic part in this plan. The company plans to drive some of its core tech capabilities out of the Gurgaon development center with a key focus on travel management, Site Reliability Engineering, eCommerce, and driving global technology support.
Speaking to the journalists at the launch event, Pratik Modi, Senior Director, Technology, and India Lead, Egencia, said: “We believe travel is a driver of economic, social and environmental progress. As we emerge from the global pandemic and adapt to geo-political tensions across the world, it has only heightened the need for frictionless, personalized products and services as travellers want to feel supported in times of uncertainty. Our role as a proven global B2B travel tech platform is to give travellers the best user experiences, unmatched content, and unbeatable service when they are booking and traveling, so they can make informed decisions quickly. Now with this new office, Egencia is striving to build on its technology talent in India to enhance our platform capabilities and accelerate innovation as we transform the B2B Travel industry with cutting-edge technology.”
With a supportive government environment, increasing ease of doing business and availability of highly skilled tech talent are some of the reasons why major tech giants are investing big in India. With hefty investments and recruitments, these corporations have all gone beyond just low-end coding and tweaking some products for the local market. Their success shows India’s strength and potential for technology related research and development.
Egencia – an American Express Global Business Travel Company – is disrupting the travel management space with the most innovative and scalable products. As part of the most valuable marketplace in business travel, Egencia is in a league of its own with industry-leading data insights and AI-driven innovation that powers the travel programs of 9000+ companies in more than 60 countries.
Trusted globally for its corporate travel expertise, Egencia is recognised as a leader in the industry in the latest IDC Marketspace for cloud-based business travel technology. The company is known to never stop evolving to elevate the user experience and deliver powerful data and insights to make business decisions. As the original digital TMC, Egencia’s data is unmatched in the industry, enabling the delivery of intuitive, relevant AI-driven experiences to customers.
India continues to be a strategic location for Egencia and Amex GBT. India hosts a pool of talented professionals, and this state-of-the-art, modern facility will house existing employees and provide a substantial opportunity to potentially double the Egencia India teams in the years to come.


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Amazon hosts job fair to fill 2,000 positions
RUSKIN (FOX 13) - Are you looking for a job?
Amazon is hiring another 2,000 full-time workers for its fulfillment centers in Ruskin and Lakeland. The positions will pick, pack and ship customer orders.
In addition to competitive wages, the company news release states employees are immediately eligible for comprehensive benefits that include health insurance, 401(k) with 50 percent match, bonuses, company stock awards and a network of support to help ensure employees’ success.
Amazon also offers hourly employees innovative programs like career choices, where the company will pre-pay 95 percent of tuition for courses related to in-demand fields, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to jobs at Amazon.
The August 28 job fair is located at Hillsborough Community College Southshore Campus in the New Science building from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 3 to 6 p.m.
Interested candidates can apply on site and qualified applicants will leave with job offers.
Amazon began operations in Florida last year and already has more than 2,000 full-time employees in Florida. The company says it’s hiring in order to meet growing customer demand.


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The facility, to be constructed at a new Gönenli site in Akhisar, will produce infant nutritional formula for major global brands, and reduce the country’s reliance on imports. Production capacity is expected to be 13,800 tonnes per year, with the plant scheduled to be operational in March 2023.
Established in 2015, and headquartered in Ístanbul, Gönenli Süt is one of Turkey’s major contract dairy manufacturers. The firm’s existing plant, in Balıkesir, processes 800 tonnes per day of raw milk into cheese, UHT- and ESL- (extended shelf-life) milk, for global brands and for discount markets.
Besides many kinds of dairy products, Gönenli also focuses on high technology nutrition products and plant-based milk alternatives in cooperation with multinationals. Gönenli is the first dairy company in Turkey approved for enteral nutrition products manufacturing and pioneered local production for two of the existing three key multinationals dominating the Turkish market.
Rapid growth in both domestic and international milk markets has meant the existing plant could no longer meet demand. In 2019, Gönenli made the decision to expand and construct a new facility at the new site secured in Akhisar. The new facility will expand Gönenli’s capacity for processing UHT- and ESL-milk for existing and new customers around the world. For this part of the plant, GEA is supplying separators and a MVR1 (mechanical vapor recompression) evaporator.
The Akhisar facility will also produce the first domestic production of infant nutritional formula.
Zeki Sözen, president of Gönenli Dairy, said, “Infant formula production is critical for Turkey because it is all imported. While self-sufficiency for food is major concern for many nations, one can easily imagine the importance of infant formula.
“We believe this project will also be a success story and milestone for Turkish dairy industry for not only infant formula, but also many nutrition products manufacturing.”
A GEA MSD 500 spray dryer, with a capacity greater than 2,000 kg/h of powder, and TVR (thermal vapor recompression) evaporator systems (2TVR1, 8,000 kg/h), will process the infant formula.
GEA has worked with Gönenli since 2016, providing separator technology and equipment for UHT- and ESL-milk process lines at the Balikesir plant. In June 2021, GEA won the contract to design, configure and supply the infant milk powder processing part of the new plant at Akhisar.
The company has also selected GEA ‘Cyclone Extra Efficiency’ (CEE) cyclone equipment, which offers high powder separation efficiency, higher yield and lower emissions, to reduce the risk of smearing, cut attrition rates and potentially improve powder size and characteristics. Calculations made by GEA showed Gönenli Süt could reduce powder loss by 33 tons/year by selecting the CEE.