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☆ Wayfair to open its first large store, as physical locations make a comeback
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( Gabrielle Fonrouge | In Gabrielle-Fonrouge | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Wayfair follows other direct-to-consumer brands that have opened stores, including Warby Parker , Figs , Casper, Glossier and Everlane. In the early 2010s, new store openings largely outpaced closures, until the tide turned in 2017. Jeenah Moon | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesOther privately held direct-to-consumer brands have also expanded into retail stores, including bedding company Brooklinen, furniture store Burrow and apparel brands Everlane and Untuckit. High cost of entryIf direct-to-consumer brands could all open stores and suddenly boost sales and profitability, they'd all be doing it. Courtesy: WayfairSome direct-to-consumer brands have already been burned after they expanded too quickly and demand fell.

Persons: Niraj Shah, Wayfair, Warby Parker, Glossier, They're, Larry Cheng, It's, you'll, Liza Lefkowski, Shah, Coresight, John Mercer, Coresight's, Trina Spear, Spears, King, King of Prussia, Rebecca Fitts, Alvarez, Tolia, Allbirds, Al Drago Organizations: CNBC, Apple iOS, Companies, Walmart, Target, Joss, Discount, TJX, Bloomberg, Getty, Marsal, Washington , D.C Locations: Wilmette , Illinois, Chicago, Casper, Amazon, U.S, Coresight Research's, Burlington, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, King, King of Prussia , Pennsylvania, Georgetown, Washington ,

☆ Japan's stock markets are on a tear. Will 'zombie’ firms threaten the bull run?
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-09 | by ( Lim Hui Jie | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

What are zombie companies? Japan's "zombie" problem has been around for a long time, said William Pesek, author of the book "Japanization: What the World Can Learn from Japan's Lost Decades." Raising the borrowing cost will put these zombie companies at risk of bankruptcy and bailouts, which could have a broader impact on the economy if there are job losses. "But the aid program has led to an increase in the number of 'zombie' companies that would otherwise have been unable to continue operating," the report added. Japan's stock markets have also been testing new highs since 2023, and higher interest rates could halt the bull run.

Persons: Adam Pretty, William Pesek, we've, Pesek, CNBC's Martin Soong, Warren Buffett's, Warren Buffett, Kazuo Ueda, Ueda Organizations: Getty, Bank of Japan, Tide, Asia Times, Japan Times, CNBC, Nikkei Locations: TOKYO, JAPAN, Roppongi Hills, Tokyo, Japan, Asia

☆ Republicans worry that turmoil plaguing state parties could hurt GOP up and down the ballot in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-20 | by ( Daniel Strauss | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

“I think it’s going to be a problem,” said Oscar Brock, a member of the Republican National Committee from Tennessee. And the state parties rely on the RNC and we ship them the data. Kemp has used his, the Georgians First Leadership Committee, as a political fundraising vehicle operating outside of the usual channels of the state Republican party. State parties play a key role in activating voters, organizing door knocking efforts and corralling donors. In the past, Barbour stressed, candidates could leave a fair share of the phone calls and door knocking to the state parties.

Persons: hamstrung, “, ”, Oscar Brock, –, Brian Kemp, Donald Trump, Ron Kaufman, ” Kaufman, Christian Ziegler, Kristina Karamo, Evan Power, Karamo, Jeff DeWit, DeWit, Ronna McDaniel, Kemp, Trump, We’ve, It’s, ” Jason Shepherd, can’t, you’re, Henry Barbour, Barbour, ” Barbour, that’s, Joe Biden we’re Organizations: CNN, Republican, Republican Party, Republican National Committee, Republicans, Georgia Gov, Prosperity, RNC, Florida Republicans, Florida Republican, Republican Party of Florida, Florida Party, Michigan Republican Party, Clark County School District, Clark County Republican Party, Nevada Republican Party, Republican National, Arizona Republican, An, An Arizona Republican, Georgia Republican, MAGA, GOP, Georgia Republicans, Leadership, Democratic Party, Cobb County Republican Party, Democrat, – Locations: Michigan, Florida, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Clark, Las Vegas, Trump, Maricopa County, An Arizona, Georgians, Cobb County, Mississippi, “

☆ Meet your new neighbor: A data center powering the AI boom
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Matt Turner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The growth could put data centers in competition with local populations for space and resources. As my colleague Dan Geiger reports today in an excellent story on a data center development boom, the AI explosion has triggered a surge in investment in these warehouse-like complexes. For example, DataBank, a data center provider backed by investment firm DigitalBridge, is putting smaller data centers in the suburbs of "tier two and tier three cities," CEO Marc Ganzi told my colleague Ellen Thomas. Unlike e-commerce warehouses, these data centers don't add a bunch of traffic to the roads, and they're pretty quiet. As a result of limited generation capacity in places like Arizona and northern Virginia, these data centers are popping up anywhere where the local utilities can support them.

Persons: tony, Dan Geiger, Jonathan Gray, Blackstone, Marc Ganzi, Ellen Thomas Organizations: Morning, APS Locations: Ohio, Georgia, Virginia, Loudoun Meadows, Aldie , Virginia, Texas, Nevada, Utah, Phoenix, Atlanta, Reno, Arizona, Southwest

☆ The cloud uses massive amounts of energy. Generative AI will be way worse. A Microsoft data center veteran warns big changes are coming.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Training AI models in data centers uses up to three times more energy than traditional cloud tasks. A warning from a Microsoft data center veteranA Microsoft data center. MicrosoftTom Keane, who oversaw Microsoft's cloud data centers for about two decades, recently warned about this. An AI data center will need up to three times more power than a traditional cloud facility, he estimated. "The data center of the future is not in Virginia, it's not in Santa Clara, it's not in Dallas, Texas," Ganzi said.

Persons: Marc Ganzi, Cowen, Nammo, TikTok, Jack Clark, Matthew Barakat, Shaolei Ren, Microsoft Tom Keane, Keane, Bernstein, Mark Moerdler, DigitalBridge, Ganzi, it's, Ellen Thomas Organizations: Dominion Energy, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, McKinsey, Big Tech, Financial Times, AP, Nvidia, UC Riverside Locations: Northern Virginia, Manassas , Virginia, Virginia, DataBank, Santa Clara, Dallas , Texas

[1/6] A chef cooks tofu as he prepares a dish before the opening for dinner hour at Ukai, a traditional Japanese restaurant, in Tokyo, Japan, July 6, 2023. "There's no doubt rising wages and bonuses are among factors prodding customers to come dine with us despite the price hikes," said Ukai manager Yuka Hoshino. It is also drawing the attention of the Bank of Japan (BOJ), which is shifting away from its view the recent cost-driven inflation will prove temporary. "Japan is seeing early signs of progress in achieving inflation accompanied by higher wages," another source said, a view echoed by two more sources. The BOJ is changing its tone on the drivers of inflation and how they see progress made in sustainably hitting 2% inflation.

Persons: Kim Kyung, Hiroki Wakita, Yuka Hoshino, Kazuo Ueda, Teikoku Databank, Akihito Sato, Shohei Kanai, Ryozo Himino, Seisaku Kameda, Tetsushi Kajimoto, Sam Holmes Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Bank of Japan, Research, Workers, Thomson Locations: Tokyo, Japan, TOKYO, French, Ginza

However, there is uncertainty about how long households can weather price hikes and generate inflation driven more by demand, which holds the key to whether BOJ's 2% target can be achieved in a sustainable manner, analysts say. The Tokyo core consumer price index (CPI), which excludes volatile fresh food but includes fuel costs, rose 3.2% in June from a year earlier, accelerating from a 3.1% gain in May. While companies offered wage hikes unseen in three decades this year, inflation-adjusted real pay continues to fall in a sign of pain consumers are feeling from the wave of price hikes. BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda has repeatedly said the BOJ will maintain ultra-loose policy until stronger wage growth keeps inflation sustainably around its 2% target. "The BOJ may revise up its inflation forecast but probably keep policy steady in July," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.

Persons: Yoshiki Shinke, Teikoku Databank, Kazuo Ueda, Ryozo Himino, Takeshi Minami, Takahiko Wada, Leika, Satoshi Sugiyama, Kantaro, Sam Holmes Organizations: Bank of Japan, Dai, Research, Reuters, BOJ, Norinchukin Research, Thomson Locations: Tokyo, TOKYO

☆ Japan killed 17 million chickens amid an outbreak of bird flu. Now it's running out of space to bury them.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Japan culled over 17 million chickens this season amid its worst bird flu outbreak ever, per NHK. As a result, egg prices soared in Japan, prompting some restaurants to suspend sales of egg-based items. However, not all of them have enough capacity to incinerate so many carcasses, according to another NHK report in October. The mass culling of so many chickens over bird flu impacts food prices. It's not just Japan as there's an ongoing bird flu outbreak globally that's affecting the poultry industry — and in turn egg prices.

☆ Japan Inc strives to lure skilled workers as inflation, labour crunch bite
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Tetsushi Kajimoto | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

[1/2] A worker assembles an air drill at the factory of manufacturer Katsui Kogyo in Higashiosaka, Japan June 23, 2022. About a quarter of Japanese firms have offered inflation allowances or plan to do so, said corporate credit research firm Teikoku Databank. read moreThe private sector expects the drive to help boost productivity, meshing with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's "new capitalism" initiative on wealth distribution that put a top priority on wage hikes. "Bonuses or inflation allowances would have only a limited impact on easing the pain of cost-push inflation, as consumers tend to save one-off payouts rather than spend," added Kiuchi, now an executive economist at the Nomura Research Institute. Workers have high expectations from this year's labour talks, which they hope will counter cost-push inflation while tackling the tight labour market to help boost the economy.

☆ McDonald's Japan hikes prices for 3rd time in 10 months on surging costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Rocky Swift | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

McDonald's Holding Company Japan Ltd (2702.T) said it would raise prices on about 80% of its menu from Jan. 16, citing currency fluctuations as well as surging costs for materials, labour, transportation, and energy. The hikes follow previous increases in March and September last year, as Japan grapples with inflation and a slide in the yen that has made imported ingredients more expensive. The price for a single cheeseburger will go up to 200 yen ($1.49) this month from 140 yen a year ago. The cost of the signature Big Mac hamburger will go up to 450 yen from 410 yen previously. Japanese consumers will see price increases on more than 4,000 food items from next month, researcher Teikoku Databank said on Thursday, following an even bigger wave of hikes last October.

☆ BOJ to keep ultra-low rates, hold fire until global outlook clearer
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Markets are rife with speculation that the BOJ will adjust its policy when Kuroda's second, five-year term ends in April. CONTENT WITH STATUS QUOAmid uncertainty over the global outlook and pace of Japanese wage rises, the BOJ is content with maintaining the status quo for now, the sources said. The BOJ expects the inflation rate to slow below its target next year because cost pressure will dissipate. Any chance of a BOJ policy adjustment will disappear if the Fed fails to tame inflation without pushing the U.S. economy into deep recession, analysts say. "But the BOJ will probably find it hard to phase out stimulus if the global economy is in bad shape," he said.

From Tuesday, Japan will reinstate visa-free travel to dozens of countries, ending some of world's strictest border controls to slow the spread of COVID-19. Just over half a million visitors have come to Japan so far in 2022, compared with a record 31.8 million in 2019. GHOST TOWNNarita Airport, Japan's biggest international airport some 70 kilometres from Tokyo, remains eerily quiet, with about half of its 260 shops and restaurants shuttered. Whether overseas visitors wear face masks and abide by other common infection controls in Japan is another concern. "From the start of the pandemic until now, we've had just a few foreign guests," said Tokyo innkeeper Sawa.

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