DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ The Hard Question of Affirmative Action and Slavery
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But the exchange highlighted a tension that’s likely to be central to the debate over affirmative action after the Supreme Court rules. Put simply, getting rid of race-based admissions policies may turn out to be harder than it sounds. Today’s newsletter is the first in what will be an occasional series on the future of affirmative action. Grit and characterThe court is expected to rule on affirmative action in June, and observers expect tight restrictions on race-based considerations in college admissions. Consider two teenagers: One grew up with working-class parents, attended a high-poverty high school and scored 1390 on the SAT.

☆ Prebiotic soda Olipop approaches $200 million in annual sales — and CEO says Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have already come knocking
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Prebiotic soda maker Olipop is set to cross $200 million in annual sales this year, just five years after it arrived on grocery store shelves. Olipop had raised $55.4 million as of Jan. 2, at a reported valuation of $199.8 million, according to Pitchbook data. Consumers are also increasingly interested in "gut health," one of the latest wellness trends. Both Olipop and Poppi have leaned into influencer marketing on TikTok, where gut health became a trending topic last year. But Olipop's Goodwin is confident that consumers are willing to pay more for the drinks he formulates.

☆ The Long Shadow of Covid School Closures
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

During the early months of the Covid pandemic, Randi Weingarten and the teachers’ union she leads faced a vexing question: When should schools reopen? For years, advocates of public education like Weingarten had argued that schools played an irreplaceable role. Without public schools, their defenders argued, society would come apart. Teachers and parents feared that reopening schools before vaccines were available would spark Covid outbreaks, illness and death. Instead, Covid became an opportunity for her union, the American Federation of Teachers, to push for broader policy changes that it had long favored.

☆ Biden’s Quiet Re-election Strategy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The biggest reason that many Democratic officials are nervous about President Biden’s age is not his ability to do the job in a second term. Four decades later, the government managed its relationship with a teetering Soviet Union while Ronald Reagan’s mental capacities slipped. In each case, White House aides, Cabinet secretaries and military leaders performed well despite the lack of a fully engaged leader. The issue that makes many Democrats even more anxious than Biden’s second-term capabilities is whether his age will prevent him from winning a second term. Today, I will look at the biggest question about Biden’s re-election campaign — which he formally announced yesterday — and how he might address that question.

☆ How Strong Is the Economy?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Conservatives sometimes respond to this data by trying to separate the economy from the rest of society. But I think it’s a mistake to imagine that the economy is somehow distinct from living standards. To over-generalize only somewhat, blue America believes in NIMBYism (“not in my backyard”), while red America is more comfortable with YIMBYism. That combination helps explain why our economy looks so good by some measures and so bad by others. Liberals have been hobbling government and the economy, Nicholas Bagley of the University of Michigan explained on Ezra Klein’s podcast.

☆ Analysis: Bearish fundamentals, buoyant charts complicate outlook for US stocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Saqib Iqbal Ahmed | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Technical indicators such as equity price movement largely show stocks are poised to continue a rally that has seen the S&P 500 climb 8% year-to-date, analysts who track them said. TECHNICALLY SPEAKINGThe S&P 500 (.SPX) has traded in a 9.7 percentage point range year-to-date, its narrowest range for comparable periods since 2017. Johnson, who has a year-end S&P 500 target of 4,625, is encouraged by the reversals in downtrends for many U.S. stock indexes. The S&P 500 has traded higher 83% of the time for the full year, returning an average 13.73%, when it hasn't dropped below the preceding year’s December low in the first quarter, a Piper Sandler analysis showed. The S&P 500 is trading at about 18 times 12-month forward earnings estimates compared to its long-term average P/E of 15.6 times, according to Refinitiv Datastream.

☆ Democrats’ Numbers Problem
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden and Senate Democrats have a numbers problem. But Senator Dianne Feinstein’s failing health has frozen the Senate Judiciary Committee, the group that must consider any judicial nominees before the full Senate votes on them. Biden and other Democrats had hoped for the appointment of judges — both to federal trial courts (known as District Courts) and to appeals courts (known as Circuit Courts) — to be a major accomplishment this year. That plan is now in doubt because Democrats do not have the votes to confirm judges without Feinstein. Instead, about 20 Biden nominees are in limbo, and 9 percent of District Court and Circuit Court judgeships remain vacant.

☆ More women describe having forced abortions in Nigerian Army programme
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +20 min

And both lost their pregnancies after they were taken into custody by Nigerian soldiers and given unidentified pills and injections. Nigerian military leaders previously have adamantly denied the existence of the abortion programme and the deliberate killing of unarmed children. We respect every living soul.”Asked about the military’s comments on the programme, Yau replied: “This happened to me, and they are denying it. After she was put into a room with three other pregnant women, Yau said, army personnel gave her pills and more injections. Reuters was unable to determine if this tally overlapped with others cited in its December story about the abortion programme.

☆ India Is Surpassing China in Population
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The United Nations released data this morning confirming that India will soon surpass China as the most populous country. When that happens, it will be the first time in centuries that China does not have the world’s largest population. The milestone is focusing attention on both India’s potential to become a global power and the significant challenges that it faces. My Times colleagues who are based in India will be writing about the subject frequently this year, and I want to use today’s newsletter to frame these issues. If India can use its size — and China’s declining population — to catch up, the world would change again.

☆ Trump's team is way more worried about the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case and the Georgia elections investigation, Maggie Haberman says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Trump and his aides are far more concerned about the Georgia elections probe and the Mar-a-Lago case. She added that his aides are privately worried about the Mar-a-Lago case, which is "clearer-cut." "Some of his aides are very worried about the documents investigation that the Justice Department has," Haberman said. She added that the Mar-a-Lago case is a "clearer-cut issue" in comparison to the other investigations. In March, the conservative lawyer and pundit George Conway told Insider that of the cases Trump faces, he's most likely to face prison time over the Mar-a-Lago documents case.

☆ 'Cracks in the foundation': 3 leading Wall Street strategists reveal the overlooked reason why stocks are on shaky ground right now — and how to invest with a downturn looming
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( James Faris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Instead, they've been propelled by large caps and growth stocks, specifically tech. If not for a small number of mega-cap growth stocks, the S&P 500 wouldn't be staying afloat. Last year investors learned the hard way that narrow markets are dangerous, as tech stocks tumbled during the market selloff. "Breadth has been exceptionally weak as large-cap growth stocks hold up the major averages," Wilson wrote in a late March note. Outside of tech, Lebovitz highlighted traditional defensive sectors like consumer staples and utilities.

☆ The world's largest wealth manager is warning investors to avoid stocks for the rest of 2023. Here's its advice across asset classes.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Marley Jay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

UBS, the world's largest asset manager, downgraded stocks and says they have little upside now. The firm says investors shouldn't sit on the sidelines, especially in the bond market. UBS advised investors on what to buy in stocks, bonds, currencies, and alternative assets. "The bond market is pricing for a recession to start as soon as the summer," Haefele wrote, while oil prices and credit spreads also reflect substantial recession risk. Speaking of stocks, Haefele doesn't like what he sees.

☆ Lyft picks new CEO as founders tap out amid fierce competition
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Risher, a former Amazon and Microsoft executive, ran non-profit Worldreader for over a decade before joining Lyft's board in 2021. Shares of Lyft lost nearly three-quarters of its value in 2022 and is down about 13% this year. Shares of Lyft, which is yet to report an annual profit, rose about 3% in trading after the bell. A member of the Lyft board of directors since July 2021, Risher will become CEO on April 17, while Green and Zimmer will continue to serve as chair and vice chair of the board. Risher will be paid an annual salary of $725,000 and will get a signing bonus of $3.25 million, the company said.

☆ Tech workers feel jilted and betrayed by how firms like Meta and Google handled layoffs. HR professionals say the issue isn't malice, it's just poor planning.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Asia Martin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Laid off tech workers feel like they were treated poorly by their ex-employers after years of loyalty. Ex-Googlers and Meta employees say they were laid off while on maternity leave or suddenly got locked out of systems. HR consultants told Insider that many companies are ill-prepared for the logistics of mass layoffs. These unfortunate situations are part of a growing chorus of laid-off tech workers across the industry who feel they're being given the cold-shoulder by their once-beloved employer. But, along with protecting the company, there's an interest in protecting the laid off employees, too.

☆ UBS says it's 'time for quality' with recession near. 10 stocks to buy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Investors should turn their attention toward quality stocks as market volatility persists and a recession becomes more likely, UBS said in a note this week. Because of this, UBS thinks stocks are likely to remain volatile, and investors should turn to quality names to ride out the storm. UBS highlighted four stock baskets that investors should turn their attention to, including one titled "Time for quality." Bank of America is another "time for quality" stock on the UBS list, which highlights earnings per share growth and profitability. Other stocks that made UBS' list include Merck , American Express, Oracle and Lockheed Martin.

☆ Adam Sandler honored with Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Jeff Mason | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Actor and comedian Adam Sandler waves as he is awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center in Washington, U.S., March 19, 2023. REUTERS/Joshua RobertsWASHINGTON, March 19 (Reuters) - Actor and comedian Adam Sandler became the 24th recipient of the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Sunday, at an evening event featuring stars Jennifer Aniston, Chris Rock and Conan O’Brien to celebrate his comedy and career. With the White House a short distance from the Kennedy Center, some presenters touched on politics. Sandler joins the ranks of other comedians who have received the Mark Twain Prize, including Jon Stewart, Dave Chappelle, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Letterman, Carol Burnett, Eddie Murphy and Ellen DeGeneres. The prize is named after novelist and essayist Samuel Clemens, better known by his pen name, Mark Twain.

☆ How Jimmy Kimmel Fixed His Back Pain by Reading a Book
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Lane Florsheim | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ debuted 20 years ago. Earlier this year, Jimmy Kimmel celebrated the 20th anniversary of his late-night talk show by having three of the guests who appeared on the very first episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live return: George Clooney, Snoop Dogg and Coldplay. There was one aspect of that 2003 taping, though, that Kimmel, 55, and his team definitely did not want to replicate. “Someone in the third row vomited right in the middle of the show,” says the comedian and host. “It’s funny because we’ve always assumed she was drunk, but I recently watched a tape of the first show and I’m not so sure.

☆ How the market has changed in the 20+ years I’ve covered it
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Eastman Kodak (KODK) was a Dow stock. I’ve written about B2B (aka business-to-business) software companies, cloud computing firms, IPOs and SPACs, and cannabis/pot stocks. There have been more flavors of the month in the stock market during my CNN career than at your local Baskin-Robbins. It’s fine to have a lot of your money in S&P 500 ETFs and other funds that will track the broader market. “We still continue to believe that over long periods of time, stocks provide a reasonable hedge against inflation,” Patterson said.

As a result, the world's largest listed miner reported underlying profit attributable from continuing operations of $6.6 billion, down from $9.72 billion a year earlier. That missed a Vuma Financial estimate of $6.82 billion, as earnings from copper and coal came in lower than analysts had expected. Shares of the global miner fell as much as 2.8% to A$47.11, their lowest since Jan. 6 and were down 2% at 0138 GMT in a broader market (.AXJO) that was down 0.5%. BHP also said it expected aggressive global interest rate hikes from last year to slow growth sharply across the developed world. BHP has threatened not to invest in Queensland after the state hiked its coal royalties to the highest rate in the world.

SummarySummary Companies H1 profit misses estimateInterim dividend beats estimatePositive on demand outlook from ChinaStarts process to sell two Queensland met coal minesFeb 21 (Reuters) - Global miner BHP Group (BHP.AX) was positive about demand outlook through to fiscal 2024 as top metals consumer China reopens and shifts policy towards its debt-laden property sector, the company said on Tuesday after its 2023 first-half profit missed estimates. However, its interim dividend of 90 cents per share, while lower than last year's $1.50 per share, beat Vuma Financial's estimate of 88 cents. "We are positive about the demand outlook in the second half of fiscal 2023 and into fiscal 2024, with strengthening activity in China on the back of recent policy decisions the major driver," Chief Executive Officer Mike Henry said. But the reopening of the world's second-biggest economy and a property sector policy shift has BHP upbeat on the commodity demand outlook. However, in an environment where central banks are aggressively tightening their monetary policy, BHP expects its operating environment to remain volatile in the near term, but expects China to be a source of stability for commodity demand.

☆ John Keats Stares Into the Abyss, Boldly
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( David Lehman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/john-keats-stares-into-the-abyss-boldly-5b3c3b57

☆ Nigerian rights panel, underfunded and overmatched, begins probe of powerful military
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +11 min

REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja/File PhotoFeb 7 (Reuters) - A special panel named by Nigeria's National Human Rights Commission launched an investigation Tuesday into recent Reuters reports on rights abuses by the country’s army. Nigerian military leaders said the abortion program did not exist and that children were never targeted for killing. The U.S. defense and state departments, the United Nations Secretary-General, the German foreign minister, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch all called for Nigeria to investigate the Reuters findings. In a 2002 paper, two Nigerian scholars called the body "a red herring” to distract from human rights violations. In 2013, the military allegedly killed as many as 200 civilians in the town of Baga, in northeastern Borno state.

☆ UBS says seek income as market upside is over and names 10 attractive dividend payers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Here's 10 that made the list: AT & T made the list with a dividend yield of 5.5%. UBS has a buy rating on the telecommunications stock with a price target of $24, implying 10.7% upside over Thursday's close. Also rated a buy, UBS raised its price target by $2 in January to $56. American Electric Power , meanwhile, has a 3.6% dividend yield. UBS has a buy rating and a $113 price target, meaning the utility could rally 19.5% from Thursday's close.

☆ BHP says China is set to be a stabilizing force for commodities demand this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The world's largest listed miner said iron ore production from mines it operates Western Australia on was 74.3 million tons for the three months ended December, up 1% from 73.9 million tons a year earlier and beating a consensus of 71.9 million tons. "China's pro-growth policies, including in the property sector, and an easing of Covid-19 restrictions are expected to support progressive improvement from the difficult economic conditions of the first half," BHP said. BHP joined peer Rio Tinto to expect that China's measures to support its property sector will underpin solid demand for their steel-making products. China is set to be a stabilizing force for commodities demand this year as developed nations face economic headwinds, BHP said on Thursday as it posted higher quarterly iron ore shipments that beat expectations. The mining giant reaffirmed its fiscal 2023 forecast for Western Australian iron ore output at between 278 million tons and 290 million tons.

☆ Apple is looking for a top sales executive to spearhead a giant advertising push in sports and streaming. Here are 16 execs who could score the job.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Claire Atkinson | Lucia Moses | Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

Netflix also conducted a search before hiring two Snap executives, Jeremi Gorman and Peter Naylor, to lead its new ads business. XandrLesser, a longtime digital ad executive, has extensive experience working on issues around the future of digital marketing. McDonald has a ton of other digital ad sales and publishing experience. She helped launch Modi Media, ad buying giant GroupM's addressable TV business, before joining TV adtech startup Cadent. UnivisionValentino runs Disney's digital ad business as EVP, client and brand solutions.

Search resuls for: "David Le"

25 mentions found