DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

Fed officials from San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly to St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, often at opposite ends of recent policy debates, have both discussed rates possibly rising above 5% next year. If there is concern about crossing that line, Fed officials have not voiced it. With the expected half-point increase at the next meeting, the policy rate will end the year in a range between 4.25% and 4.5%. The fed funds rate was seen ending 2023 at 4.6%. The upcoming projections will show that final destination perhaps coming into view, and give a better assessment of the possible cost as well.

☆ Amazon media chief Jeff Blackburn retires from the company for the second time
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Senior Vice President of Business Development at Amazon Jeff Blackburn (R) and Anne Blackburn attend the The IMDb Dinner Party at the Sundance Film Festival presented by Dolby on January 28, 2019 in Park City, Utah. Jeff Blackburn is retiring for the second time from Amazon , where he held a number of high-profile leadership roles over two decades. Amazon said Friday that the senior vice president of global media and entertainment will remain at the company through early 2023 to "ensure a smooth transition." Blackburn joined Amazon in 1998 and has worked on a number initiatives at the company including advertising, Amazon Studios and Prime Video service and music business. He rejoined that May as the senior vice president of a new Global Media & Entertainment division, overseeing Amazon's video, music, podcast, and gaming businesses.

☆ Fact Check-Finding that most people dying from COVID-19 are vaccinated does not mean vaccines don’t work
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Statistics that show the majority of deaths from COVID-19 are among vaccinated people reflect the fact most people are vaccinated, not that the vaccines are ineffective, as implied in a social media post. Similar statistics show COVID vaccines continue to reduce the risk of dying and severe illness, an expert told Reuters. The data cited in the article show the majority of COVID-19 deaths are among vaccinated people, particularly the elderly, a group that is nearly 94% vaccinated in the United States. CDC Data cited in the same article shows that vaccination continues to reduce risk of death across all age groups. Reuters has previously factchecked similar misleading claims that a large proportion of COVID-19 deaths among vaccinated people reflects poor vaccine effectiveness (here) (here) and (here).

Central banks might make some progress toward their inflation targets by raising interest rates and managing demand, Morgan Stanley chief executive James Gorman said at the Reuters Next conference in New York. Central banks, by managing demand through interest rates, could probably "bring inflation down to around four percent. But he also nodded beyond the world's central banks to a needed supply-side solution to rising prices. So far, and particularly in the United States, the actions of central banks have not had an appreciable impact on core elements of the economy, particularly the job market. "I would be surprised if central banks officially moved the target, but they might decide to stay higher than it for some time."

HONG KONG, Dec 1 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Covid-19 lockdowns and protests across China have highlighted the risks of the mutual dependence between Taiwan's Foxconn and its top customer Apple (AAPL.O). It makes 70% of the world’s iPhones, according to Fubon Research. Meanwhile Apple’s huge investments into Foxconn have paid off: the U.S. company is the most profitable smartphone maker by far. Foxconn has been scrambling to contain the fallout, offering bonuses to temporary workers and shifting production to other facilities. At the time, Foxconn said it was bringing the situation under control and was coordinating with other plants to increase production.

☆ 3 easy ways to prevent Slack from taking over your day, according to its cofounder
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Ella Hopkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Slack helps staff at 100,000 organizations and 77% of Fortune 100 companies stay in touch in the era of hybrid working, according to the company. Decide when you won't respond to messages and schedule messages to respect others' work hoursHenderson said he had no patience for bosses who send emails at night, like Elon Musk. Slack has staff working across time zones, so it wasn't possible to schedule a meeting for everyone to attend, Henderson said. Henderson uses Slack Clips to record short videos that replace information-sharing meetings. Staff are also encouraged to post updates in the Slack channel dedicated to a particular project to cut down on meetings, he said.

The war on inflation is far from won, with the Fed's preferred measure of price increases still running at roughly three times the central bank's 2% target. That's the biggest ramp-up in U.S. rates over a nine-month period since Volcker battled even higher inflation in the early 1980s. Powell, who this year marked a decade since his appointment as a Fed governor and whose second term as Fed chief extends to 2026, has overseen some divided decisions. In a best-case scenario, inflation continues to fall and Fed officials, whether hawk or dove, align around a stopping point for the policy rate that doesn't lead to a sharp rise in unemployment. Reporting by Howard Schneider; Additional reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Paul SimaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

China is Sri Lanka's largest bilateral creditor and, with India and Japan, part of official creditor talks to restructure the country's debt. "China will have to play a major role in Sri Lanka's debt restructuring process," CARI researchers Umesh Moramudali and Thilina Panduwawala wrote in the report. The island nation's total external debt is $37.6 billion, according to the report. Adding central bank foreign currency debt, including a $1.6 billion currency swap with China, public external debt rises to $40.6 billion, of which 22% is from Chinese creditors. The loan agreements have clauses that "submit the loans to Chinese governing law and arbitration before the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission".

☆ As Ukrainian forces recaptured a key town, another elite Russian unit appears to have gone through 'the meat grinder'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Russian troops in Lyman and those who retreated took heavy losses, including an elite GRU unit. In just a few days, Ukrainian forces liberated hundreds of square miles of territory and scores of villages. Its cadre of Spetsnaz commandos is among the best in the Russian military. Competent special operators require years of basic and advanced military training, as well as training tailored to their mission sets. The Russian military as a whole is taking a battering in Ukraine, though casualty estimates vary widely.

While the Fed chief did not indicate his estimated "terminal rate," Powell said it is likely to be "somewhat higher" than the 4.6% indicated by policymakers in their September projections. The Fed's response to the fastest outbreak of U.S. inflation in 40 years has been a similarly abrupt increase in interest rates. Powell said Fed estimates of inflation in October showed its preferred measure still rising at about triple the central bank's 2% target. The yield on the 2-year Treasury note , the maturity most sensitive to Fed rate expectations, dropped to about 4.47% from 4.52%. Bottlenecks in goods production are easing and goods price inflation appears to be easing as well, and this, too, must continue."

In recent years, researchers have looked for supplements, in particular to data like JOLTS, to provide more nuance about job market dynamics. "When JOLTS came along it was stepping into a data void that it has done a good job of filling. An expanded JOLTS survey may get directly at that and other issues in the future, said Paul R. Calhoun Jr., who was involved with developing the survey in the 1990s and is its current manager. "You got all these job openings," Calhoun said. "We had the unemployment rate, so we knew how many people there are who are looking for work and don't have a job.

☆ America’s gun epidemic is deadlier than ever, and there are vast disparities in who’s dying
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The researchers found that firearm mortality rates increased for most demographic groups in recent years – especially during the pandemic – and vast disparities persisted. With infant mortality in the United States, when you look at Black infants versus White infants, there’s over a two-fold (difference in) mortality rate. There are two key factors driving community gun violence, says Jonathan Jay, an assistant professor at Boston University School of Public Health: disadvantage at the neighborhood level and exposure to gun violence at the individual level. “Gun violence is most likely in spaces that show signs of physical disinvestment. The gun suicide rate increased 10% while the non-gun suicide rate decreased by 8%, and the gun homicide rate increased 45% while the non-gun homicide rate increased only 6%.

☆ I make around $14,000 a month ghostwriting on Fiverr and work around 5 hours a day. Here's how I got started and built up a clientele.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Ella Hopkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

I also offer pitch writing and business-plan writing, from "Shark Tank" to angel-investor pitches. When I set up a website, I went on Fiverr to get a logo designed for it. By November, I had made enough money to leave the warehouse job and focus on Fiverr full time. I can write 1,000 words in an hour and 10,000 words, including interviews and outlines, in 12 to 15 hours. I went to the Bahamas in 2019 and I got to spend most of my time on the beach, but I had some client work to keep up with.

☆ China's people are protesting the country's severe zero-COVID policies, and public-health experts agree with them
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Protests are erupting across China over the country's restrictive zero-COVID policies. Public-health experts say the policies are unsustainable, ineffective, and unnecessarily severe. Without vaccination campaigns targeting older adults, China's lockdowns may only delay a catastrophic COVID wave. Tyrone Siu/ReutersThere is no easy way forward for China, but constant 2020-style lockdowns are not the solution, according to public-health experts, who called the policies unsustainable, ineffective, and irrational. As a result, Huang thinks the zero-COVID lockdowns are completely unwarranted.

☆ BBC journalist was 'beaten and kicked by police' in Shanghai while covering zero-COVID protests
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Edward Lawrence, a BBC journalist, was arrested while covering zero-COVID policies in Shanghai. A BBC spokesperson said he was "beaten and kicked by police" during the arrest. Protests have been ongoing in Shanghai, Beijing, and Nanjing regarding the strict lockdowns. Prior to his arrest, Lawrence was posting on social media about ongoing protests in Shanghai, where citizens have gathered to object to stringent zero-COVID policies. "The BBC is extremely concerned about the treatment of our journalist Ed Lawrence, who was arrested and handcuffed while covering the protests in Shanghai," The Guardian reported a spokesperson for the British public service broadcaster said.

☆ Tom Holland would be a great Zorro, according to Antonio Banderas
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Dan Heching | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —In the age of reboots, revivals and prequels, Antonio Banderas is sharing thoughts on who would make a great choice to follow in his masked footsteps as the legendary Zorro. The actor, who played the swashbuckling hero in 1998’s “The Mask of Zorro” and sequel “The Legend of Zorro” in 2005, said his “Uncharted” costar Tom Holland would be a perfect fit for the role, in a video interview published Saturday with Comicbook.com. “He’s so energetic and fun,” Banderas said of Holland. “He’s got this spark, too.”The “Zorro” films, which were directed by Martin Campbell, costarred Catherine Zeta-Jones. While the “Zorro” franchise currently has no solid projects in development, Banderas is currently doing press for another sequel, the upcoming DreamWorks animated movie “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.”In that film, Banderas again voices the debonair feline character he originated in the “Shrek” movies, following 2011’s feature-length “Puss in Boots.”

☆ Rare mass protests erupted in China over tough COVID restrictions after fire kills 10. 'We are human beings,' chanted the demonstrators.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Protests have erupted in the Xinjiang region of China against strict COVID-19 lockdowns. Videos on Chinese social show people chanting, "end the COVID lockdown" and "we are human beings," Reuters reported. Xinjiang is in its third month of a COVID lockdown as the region sees a seven-day average of 24 new cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Authorities said on Saturday they would ease the months-long Covid lockdown in Xinjiang, reported CNN. Such widespread protests are rare in China, but years of restrictions due to the country's zero-COVID policies have led to growing anger.

☆ New subvariants, family gatherings may bring more Covid-19 after holiday, but experts don’t expect severe surge
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Brenda Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Experts expect that Thanksgiving gatherings will stir up social networks and give new coronavirus subvariants fresh pockets of vulnerable people to infect. And we are concerned that after holiday gathering, lots of people coming together, that we may see increases in Covid-19 cases as well,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Tuesday on CNN. For the week ending Nov. 19, the CDC estimates that BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 were causing about half of all new Covid-19 cases in the US. Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths have remained flat for the past four weeks. “It’s probably got a bit more of a fitness advantage, so what we’re seeing is gradual replacement without a massive change in the total number of Covid-19 cases,” he said.

"The uncertain lags and magnitudes associated with the effects of monetary policy actions on economic activity and inflation were among the reasons cited." Still, the implication that policymakers were stepping down from their break-neck pace of rate hikes lifted U.S. stock prices and sent Treasury yields lower. The yield on the 2-year Treasury note , the maturity most sensitive to Fed rate expectations, dropped to 4.49%. Contracts tied to the Fed's policy rate showed investors maintaining bets for a half-percentage-point increase at the Dec. 13-14 policy meeting. "The path forward for monetary policy is a battle between the 'various' and the 'several,'" said Brian Jacobsen, senior investment strategist with Allspring Global Investments in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

Left unclear: How much higher Fed officials feel they need to raise rates, and how strongly the sense of risks is shifting towards concerns about "overshooting" and doing more damage to the economy than is necessary to control inflation. Yet with Fed rate increases since March totaling 3.75 percentage points, including moves of three-quarters of a percentage point at the last four meetings, policymakers have indicated they are ready to slow down from the fastest pace of central bank tightening since the early 1980s. Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsWith recent government data showing slower-than-expected inflation, several Fed officials have said they are comfortable with a half-percentage-point increase at the Dec. 13-14 meeting - an expectation embedded in current market pricing for contracts tied to the central bank's policy rate. Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsThe minutes, which are due to be released at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT), could help show just how broadly that sentiment is shared, and how close members of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee may feel they are to pausing rate increases altogether. Reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by Paul SimaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ NFL Thanksgiving Day previews: Bills, Cowboys, Vikings in action
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Hannah Brewitt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +26 min

Gary McCullough/AP Green Bay Packers wide receiver Samori Toure is tackled by Detroit Lions safety Will Harris. Norm Hall/Getty Images Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen hurdles Kansas City Chiefs safety Justin Reid as he scrambles for a first down. Gary A. Vasquez/USA Today Sports/Reuters New Orleans Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas makes a reception against Atlanta Falcons cornerback A.J. To see if history repeats itself with a Cowboys win, or if the Giants can pull off the upset, tune in on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. Bill Belichick’s team could be on the cusp of a hot streak and are hitting the Vikings game at just the right time.

On social media, families say they’ve hunted for hours for Tamiflu and the first-line antibiotics amoxicillin and Augmentin. They have one viral illness after another. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half of US states have “high” or “very high” respiratory virus activity. As for the antibiotics amoxicillin and Augmentin – a combination of amoxicillin and clavulanate, an agent that helps guard against antibiotic resistance – it’s not entirely clear why demand is so high. Some viral illness, like influenza, can leave the body more vulnerable to secondary bacterial infections that may need treatment with antibiotics.

Fungal infections are more widespread than doctors or patients realize, research suggests. People generally get fungal infections after breathing in spores. Thompson’s paper came just weeks after another study revealed high rates of fungal disease diagnoses far outside their traditionally understood geographies. A World Health Organization report in October also found that severe fungal infections became more prevalent among people with pre-existing health issues during the Covid pandemic. In some cases, fungal infections can take months of treatment to clear and may become chronic.

☆ What Covid taught scientists and the public about the flu
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Caroline Hopkins | Nbc News Contributor Caroline Hopkins Is A Health | Science Journalist Who Covers Cancer Treatment For Precision Oncology News. She Is A Graduate Of The Columbia University Graduate School Of Journalism. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +10 min

Flu transmission can be stoppedThe 2020-2021 flu season — the first full flu season of the Covid pandemic — defied Tedros’ message. ‘Nonpharmaceutical interventions’ workBefore Covid, experts put limited stock in so-called nonpharmaceutical — that is, nonvaccination — strategies for preventing flu transmission. Although the airline case study taught the research community about airborne flu transmission, she said the general public’s appreciation for these risks has increased because of Covid. In that study, the researchers compared mild Covid infections with mild flu infections in mice and humans and found that the brain effects were similar around seven days post-infection. Asymptomatic flu infections may be underappreciatedThe Covid pandemic put a spotlight on the extent and risk of asymptomatic infections.

☆ 'Red flag' gun laws in focus after attack at Colorado LGBTQ nightclub
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Authorities do not appear to have filed a petition seeking to confiscate any weapons Aldrich may have had at the time under the state's red flag law. RED FLAG OPPOSITIONThe disparity partly reflects deep opposition to red flag laws among some of Colorado's conservative sheriffs and local political officials. While El Paso Sheriff Bill Elder has voiced skepticism about "sanctuary" declarations, he opposed the red flag law over due process concerns, according to local media reports in 2019. The National Rifle Association opposes red flag laws as unconstitutional infringements on law-abiding citizens. Studies on the effectiveness of red flag laws are limited but suggest they can make a real difference.

Search resuls for: "Hopkins"

25 mentions found