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☆ NHL roundup: Lightning win Cup Final rematch vs. Avs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

In the first meeting between the clubs since last June's Stanley Cup Final, Vasilevskiy stopped 30 shots to extend his franchise-record shutout total to 29. Hagel had two goals and an assist to lead the Lightning offensive output as they broke a two-game skid (0-1-1). Boeser, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Nils Aman added goals for the Canucks. Nicolas Roy, Alex Pietrangelo and Paul Cotter also scored for the Golden Knights while Jonathan Marchessault added two assists. Red Wings 2, Flames 1Filip Zadina scored his first goal of the season after missing over three months as host Detroit edged Calgary.

☆ Amazon Studios is growing fast and spending big on shows like 'Citadel,' but insiders say unclear creative direction, leadership shifts, and tech bureaucracy threaten to drive away staff and talent
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Lucia Moses | Elaine Low | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +20 min

The dust has been settling at Amazon Studios after a big reorg in the fall that solidified Jen Salke's power. Yet Amazon Studios faces major challenges. Amazon Studios' Head of Global Television Vernon Sanders told Insider that the goal is to deliver content with global cultural relevance. Amazon Prime VideoWhile spending on such big swings has soared, some insiders see far less budgetary support for underrepresented casts. "I do think people wonder what's the commitment to Amazon Studios," the current insider said.

☆ Pfizer, Novartis, Merck Executives Say They Are Hunting for Deals Again
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Jared S. Hopkins | ) 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/pfizer-novartis-merck-executives-say-they-are-hunting-for-deals-again-11675907783

But the year-over-year price drops for goods have been helping pull overall inflation measures lower, the data compiled by the U.S. software company showed. "Current demand levels are driving retailers to hold prices down and continue to clear out excess inventory," Brown said. New CPI data is scheduled to be released next week, with economists expecting it to show another slowdown. The CEA study tried to isolate the pace of wage growth only in the sectors referred to by Powell, and concluded that it is slowing fast. Wage growth for production workers and supervisors "have both eased substantially."

But unlike ICBC and its peers, Ant neither took deposits, nor piled risky loans onto its balance sheet. Free from the red tape that binds regular banks, the loans facilitated by Ant ballooned. Digital offerings accounted for half of overall consumer loans in China, Fitch Ratings calculated in 2021. Ant is set to become a licensed financial holding company, putting it under the close watch of China's main banking regulator. Beijing wants Chinese consumers to consume, so is likely to indulge controlled growth of consumer credit.

☆ Pharmaceutical companies losing patent protection as competition grows
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailPharmaceutical companies losing patent protection as competition growsThe Wall Street Journal's Jared Hopkins joins 'Power Lunch' to discuss biotech patent protection duration, competition coming to the pharmaceutical industry and pharmaceutical M&A plans.

☆ A biotech millionaire claimed his wild routine cut his biological age by 5 years. Scientists aren't sure most of it really works.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Marianne Guenot | Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Bryan Johnson, a 45-year-old biotech CEO, has spent millions in his quest to reverse aging. He claims his biological age has been cut by 5 years with a strict regimen controlled by doctors. The Green Giant smoothie, which Bryan Johnson drinks every morning at around 5am. Intrusive measurements, including regular colonoscopiesA nurse performs a blood test for Bryan Johnson. But does that mean they've cracked the code on how to measure the "biological age" of a person accurately?

"But I'm not seeing signals of ... quick decline in the economic data, and I am prepared for a longer fight," Waller said. Though wage growth has slowed, the decline is "not enough," Waller said. Waller did not say in his prepared remarks how much higher the Fed may need to raise its benchmark overnight interest rate to reach a level adequate to return inflation to the Fed's 2% target. As of December, the Fed's preferred measure of inflation was increasing at a 5% annual rate. "Though we have made progress reducing inflation, I want to be clear today that the job is not done," Waller said.

☆ NHL roundup: Sharks end Lightning's record home win streak
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The Sharks controlled play for most of the three-on-three session, and Karlsson helped the visitors post their second straight win with a slick diagonal pass that Meier easily netted at 2:19. Meier finished with two goals and an assist while Karlsson notched a goal and two helpers. The Penguins killed off a penalty in overtime, then scored during a delayed penalty call. Adin Hill didn't work too hard in stopping 16 shots to record his career-high 11th win. Vatrano scored with a backhand off a feed from Isac Lundestrom to end Anaheim's eight-game losing streak against the Blackhawks.

"We didn't expect it to be this strong," Powell said, but it "shows why we think this will be a process that takes quite a bit of time." It has just confounded all sorts of attempts to predict," Powell said, noting that wage growth has slowed even with continued strong job gains. Officials raised the target interest rate a quarter point to a range between 4.5% and 4.75% at that session, and said in the latest policy statement that "ongoing increases" would be needed. 1 2 3 4 5As of December, the Fed's preferred measure of inflation was increasing at a 5% annual rate, still more than double the Fed's target. While Powell said he expected "significant declines in inflation" this year, the U.S. economy was still "in the beginning of getting that down."

"It tells me that so far, we're not seeing much of an imprint ... on the labor market," Kashkari said. Bond yields have rocketed higher and interest rate futures markets now are squarely priced for a federal funds rate reaching at least 5.1%. LABOR MARKET CONCERNSOn Monday, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic was one of those who said the central bank may need to lift borrowing costs higher than previously anticipated given the job gains. "We've seen no progress so far, virtually no progress in core services ex housing, and that's very tied to the labor market." Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Chizu Nomiyama, Andrea Ricci and Paul SimaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

He noted that a process of "disinflation" seemed to be taking hold so far without throwing employment off course - a hoped-for outcome if it can continue but one that might prove unsustainable if job growth doesn't slow. The full impact of the Fed's already-anticipated rate increases still has not been felt on the economy, meaning the current strength in the job market and elsewhere may in fact begin to wane, Kamin said. Though job growth has remained remarkably strong, the economy is by many estimates still perhaps a million or more positions short of what would have been reached given job growth trends before the onset of COVID-19, suggesting more room for growth. "The data overran the Fed last week, and Powell and his colleagues are falling behind the curve again. Reporting by Howard Schneider; Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Dan Burns and Paul SimaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

And simmering in the background: A still unresolved Federal Reserve fight to control inflation that may pose the largest outstanding risk to the Biden economy, and over which the White House has little influence. Consumers are "reconciling layoff announcements with record job numbers, inflation that is rolling over yet prices remain elevated. The progress on inflation, meanwhile, has come so far without any corresponding hit to job growth or the unemployment rate. The unemployment rates for Black and Hispanic people are near the lows seen before the pandemic hit the U.S. economy in March of 2020. "On average, American households are in a better position than they were before the pandemic hit," National Economic Council director Brian Deese said on Monday.

☆ AbbVie Aims for New Drugs to Boost Sales as Competitors Target Humira
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Jared S. Hopkins | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Drugmaker AbbVie Inc. is looking for its next hit. Now that its blockbuster immune-disease therapy Humira is facing lower priced competition, AbbVie is turning to a pair of next-generation successors to replenish the billions of dollars in sales that will be lost, Chief Executive Richard Gonzalez said. It is also betting on four drug approvals by the end of next year.

The stronger-than-expected hiring pushed the unemployment rate to 3.4%, the lowest since the spring of 1969. “It will give the Fed absolutely no reassurance that labor market imbalances – which have been adding to wage pressures - are easing," said Brian Coulton, chief economist at Fitch Ratings. "It will reinforce the message that the Fed still has quite a lot of work to do to tame core inflation." U.S. Labor Secretary Martin Walsh said he thought Friday's report showed signs of an economy and labor market steadily returning to normal. Powell pointed out that the years just before the COVID-19 health crisis included simultaneously low unemployment, low inflation, and sustainably modest wage growth, proof that a best-case set of conditions was achievable.

When asked about the matter at a news conference after the end of the U.S. central bank's latest policy meeting on Wednesday, Powell declined to say whether Fed officials had begun planning for a possible default. "If there were pressures pushing the funds rate higher the (Fed market desk) would automatically add reserves to deal with that," William English, a Yale School of Management professor, said in a recent interview. As head of the Fed's monetary affairs division at the time, it was English who briefed officials in 2011 on possible options. The approach "appeared acceptable" to Fed officials previously, and was included in a draft statement the central bank had prepared in the event a debt limit compromise was not reached. But I don't want to say what I would and wouldn't do, if we have to actually deal with a catastrophe."

☆ I've made $408,000 in 5 years running online courses on Teachable and Skillshare. Here's how I found my niche and landed clients.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Ella Hopkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

I started getting requests from customers to design fabric for them, for everything from handbags to backpacks to children's clothing. The website also gets a cut, but the amount depends on whether the design is for commercial or personal use. Clients would see my designs on these websites, search my name, and come to my website I'd created to show my portfolio. Having an ongoing income from clients buying my existing designs meant I could take a break when I needed to. When I felt better, I could create new artwork to upload to a website to sell more prints.

☆ Fact Check-COVID-19 vaccines do not add a ‘third strand’ of DNA
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Moderna’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine does not alter human DNA or add a third strand to people’s DNA, as claimed in a video circulating on social media and viewed more than 400,000 times on Twitter. This gave me chills.”However, the video offers no evidence for its claim about the vaccine altering human DNA. The messenger RNA (mRNA) in approved COVID-19 vaccines does not interact with human DNA inside cells, and does not enter the cell nucleus where DNA is housed. Reuters has also addressed other false claims that mRNA vaccines alter human DNA (here, here, here). COVID-19 vaccines based on mRNA do not alter human DNA or add a third strand to the DNA double helix.

☆ Drug Prices Increase 5.6% as Government Ramps Up Pressure to Lower Costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Jared S. Hopkins | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Pharmaceutical companies raised list prices of 983 arthritis, cancer and other prescription drugs by an average of 5.6% at the start of this year—restrained increases as the industry faces a new federal law aimed at lowering medicine costs. Pfizer Inc., Novartis AG and Eli Lilly & Co. are among the companies that took the price increases through Jan. 31, according to 46brooklyn Research, a nonprofit drug-pricing analytics group. In recent days, Germany’s Merck KGaA raised the list prices of 11 products, including the multiple-sclerosis therapy Rebif.

☆ Drugmakers Raise Prices on Nearly 1,000 Medicines but Show Restraint
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Jared S. Hopkins | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ I make 6 figures as a hospital pharmacist. Here's why it's a great career, and my advice to anyone who wants to pursue it.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Gabrielle Reeder | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Her hospital and pharmacy is open 24/7, and she works 8-hour shifts including Sundays at times. Rummana said the job is always fast-paced, but she's grateful and loves being a hospital pharmacist. I started working at CVS and then transitioned into hospital pharmacy at St. Joseph's Wayne Hospital in Wayne, New Jersey. I started working at Hackensack in January 2021 as a hospital pharmacist, and I make $71.60 an hour. Seeing people leave the hospital and lead happier, healthier lives can be translated into a career as a pharmacist.

In both the United States and Europe, the words of central bankers led investors to cut their estimates of the peak or "terminal" rate expected in the current tightening cycle. With financial conditions loosening despite rising policy rates, "central banks must...be resolute in their fight against inflation and ensure policy remains appropriately tight long enough to durably bring inflation back to target," Adrian and others wrote. The European Central Bank seems furthest from a likely stopping point. Combined, the statements mark the start of the endgame for central banks that were slow to recognize the onset of inflation last year before engaging in a record-setting round of rate increases. Central bankers long ago stopped using the word "transitory" in reference to inflation that proved faster and more persistent than any expected.

☆ An author who made $1.3 million in a year self-publishing books on Amazon shares his 6 best tips for making money as a writer
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Ella Hopkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Dawson shared his tips for authors to get their books in front of readers and make a living. Hire a professional designer to produce your book cover. Writing a 10,000-word novel is a different skill compared to writing a 150-word blurb, Dawson said. By the time the reader is on the first page of an e-book, you've already persuaded them to give you a chance as an author, Dawson said. Once your cover, blurb, and story are ready, you might think advertising is the next logical step.

The rate hikes imposed by the Fed since March have now totaled 4.5 percentage points, with the policy rate now in a range between 4.50% and 4.75%, the highest since 2007. It is in part that resilience that has the central bank poised for "ongoing increases" in its policy interest rate. Stocks, modestly lower ahead of the Fed rate decision, turned sharply higher as Powell spoke. "If you were hoping for clear signs of an upcoming pause in interest rate hikes, you were left wanting. INFLATION TARGET REAFFIRMEDThe Fed statement indicated that any future rate increases would be in quarter-percentage-point increments, dropping a reference to the "pace" of future increases and instead referring to the "extent" of rate changes.

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