DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ In forgotten parts of Singapore's iconic Orchard Road shopping street, a new era is taking shape
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-22 | by ( Kevin Lim | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The Far East Shopping Center on Orchard Road in Singapore, on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThe Far East Shopping Center along Singapore's Orchard Road has seen better days. Orchard Road, Singapore's main shopping street, is 2.2 km (1.3 miles) long but much of the activity takes place in the middle of the stretch as well as at selected malls linked via underground walkways to subway stations. Far East Shopping Center isn't connected to Orchard MRT unlike several of its neighbors. Two of the properties, the voco Orchard hotel and Forum The Shopping Mall, share some 180 meters of frontage along Orchard Road.

Persons: Ong Beng Seng, hasn't, CDL, Singapore's URA, URA, Richard Goh, Rasa Singapura, Sukanto Tanoto, Du Shuanghua, Jeremy Lake Organizations: Shopping, Bloomberg, Getty, Shopping Center, Singapore Botanic Gardens, Urban Redevelopment, Properties, Singapore, Developments, CDL Hospitality, Arts, CNBC, Singapore Botanic, Pacific Eagle, Food, Savills Singapore, Concorde Locations: Orchard, Singapore, Delfi Orchard, Istana Park, Canning, HPL

☆ I'm an Amazon manager who found out I was on a Focus PIP after helping an employee
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-14 | by ( Tim Paradis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with an Amazon employee who sought to go on medical leave because of a stressful situation that developed with their manager. I got a sense that my manager was potentially going to put me in Focus because of how they were berating me. The entire FMLA process was a hurdle for me. AdvertisementI later heard from my manager while I was on FMLA, and they informed me that I had been put on Focus. To suggest we use our performance management process to drive any other outcome, such as reducing our employee base, is wrong.

Persons: —, we're, It's, Slack, didn't, That's, I'd, Margaret Callahan Organizations: Service, Amazon, Services, Business Locations: copays, FMLA

☆ Inside the NYC kitchen fueling Shake Shack's $4 billion burger empire
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Nicolas Vega | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Shake Shack has nearly 350 locations in the U.S. and another 134 around the world and is valued at more than $4 billion. With dozens of new locations opening later this year, the team in the Innovation Kitchen is constantly developing new offerings. In order for a menu item to reach customers, it needs to be approved by Shake Shack's 13-person tasting panel. How delicious an item is is only one of the factors that the Innovation Kitchen team thinks about when developing new recipes. Shake Shack's latest limited time offering — a barbeque inspired menu — was months in the making.

Persons: John Karangis, Karangis, Shake Organizations: CNBC, Shack, Innovation Kitchen's, Innovation Locations: U.S, Bangkok, Thailand, Japan, Tokyo

☆ These stocks and ETFs could benefit from AI's voracious appetite for energy
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-18 | by ( Jesse Pound | In Jesse-Pound | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

XLU 1M mountain Utilities stocks have risen sharply in May. Woodard identified other ETFs and stocks that could benefit from increased energy consumption and investment in the electric grid. Miners should retain pricing power given constrained capacity after a decade of underinvestment," the Bank of America note said. Bank of America is positive on the Global X Uranium ETF (URA) , which offers exposure to both physical uranium and miners. Bank of America did not include a utilities ETF in the note, but the firm has a buy rating on Xcel Energy, among such stocks.

Persons: Jared Woodard, Woodard, ruddy, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Bank of America . Investment, Utilities, Bank of America, Miners, Companies, VanEck Oil Services, Halliburton, Uranium, Xcel Energy Locations: Freeport, McMoRan

☆ Goldman is bullish long term on nuclear power and uranium. This stock is a key way to gain exposure
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-06 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Goldman has raised Cameco's 12-month stock price target by $1 to $56, implying 15.7% upside from Friday's close. CCJ YTD mountain CCJ 3-mo chart "We continue to see CCJ as a key means of gaining exposure to the entire value chain of uranium," Goldman analysts lead by Neil Mehta told clients in a note Monday. Though Cameco's sales of 7.3 million pounds of uranium in the quarter missed guidance of 8.25 million pounds, the company maintained its full-year guidance of 32 million pounds to 34 million pounds. Governments around the world increasingly view nuclear power as a key pillar of the energy transition because the technology can provide reliable carbon-free energy at a time when electricity demand is rising. Western countries are seeking secure supplies of uranium to support a nuclear buildout, rather than relying on Russia or neighboring Kazakhstan.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Goldman, Cameco, Neil Mehta, Mehta, Joe Biden Organizations: Uranium, The U.S, Senate Locations: Friday's, Canada, Russia, Kazakhstan, The, Russian

☆ A buying opportunity in uranium stocks has emerged as volatility in the space increases, charts show
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Katie Stockton | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Uranium stocks outperformed the broader equity market in 2023, with the Global X Uranium ETF (URA) gaining nearly 38% for the year. We think the recent volatility in uranium stocks presents an opportunity to take advantage of their cyclical uptrend. This applies to the Sprott Uranium Miners ETF (URNM) as well, which completed a basing phase (i.e., the "cup") last November that we featured on X . A breakout above $31.30 would complete URA's cup-and-handle pattern in a long-term bullish development, supporting its cyclical and secular uptrend. URA is the largest uranium ETF, with $3.2 billion in assets, and it has a reasonable expense ratio (0.69%).

Persons: URA, Cameco Organizations: Uranium, Uranium Miners Locations: URA

☆ Official Amazon HR document reveals a spike in employees put on PIPs during a time of record layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-20 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Layoffs vs. terminationsThe spike in PIPs coincided with 27,000 layoffs that Amazon announced between November 2022 and March 2023. "Managers, however, do not engage in performance management work eagerly. "To suggest we use our performance management process to drive any other outcome, such as reducing our employee base, is wrong," Callahan added in a statement. PIPs and quiet firingSome Amazon employees previously told BI that the company had put more people on PIPs as part of what they perceived as the quiet-firing push. Amazon had roughly 400,000 total corporate employees in that period, according to another internal document obtained by BI.

Persons: They're, aren't, Margaret Callahan, Callahan, Erik Gordon, David Ryder, cumulatively, Peter Cappelli, Cappelli, Amazon's, couldn't, Eugene Kim, Peter Capelli Organizations: Amazon, Business, Experience, Technology, BI, University of Michigan, Pivot Employees, University of Pennsylvania, Wharton's Center, Human Resources

☆ It's time to buy the dip in nuclear and uranium ETFs, Bank of America says
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Jesse Pound | In Jesse-Pound | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Uranium stocks have cooled off in recent weeks, making this a good time for investors to jump in, according to Bank of America. Many of the biggest uranium stocks like Cameco Corp. are down about 14% in February. Since 2021 clean energy ETFs with heavy exposure to wind and solar power have suffered a sharp bear market ( > 30% losses and $2.4bn outflows), but over the same period investors added $2bn into uranium & nuclear power ETFs," Woodard said. An example of a uranium fund that is seeing such a blip is the Global X Uranium ETF (URA) , which is Woodard's top pick in this space. Another uranium fund that Bank of America is bullish on is VanEck Uranium and Nuclear Energy ETF (NLR) .

Persons: Jared Woodard, Woodard, URA, Canaccord, George Gianarikas, they've, Gianarikas, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Bank of America, Cameco Corp, Uranium, Nuclear Energy, Public Service Enterprise Group, Uranium Trust Locations: NLR, Canada

☆ Amazon employees fear increased 'quiet firing' tactics and a 'brain drain'
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-13 | by ( Eugene Kim | Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Silent sacking, Garrison told BI, "is how Amazon is going to reduce operational costs without negatively affecting the stock price. Some Amazon employees recently took to Slack to announce their resignations specifically over the return-to-hub policy. Another AWS employee told BI they feel like they are "doing the job of three people." Any suggestion to the contrary is untrue," the Amazon spokesperson said. Are you an Amazon employee or do you have insight to share?

Persons: they're, Justin Garrison, Garrison, wasn't, URA, hasn't, that's, Slack, RTO, we'd, They've Organizations: Service, Amazon, Business, BI, Amazon Web Services

☆ NZ Funds says uranium bet returns over 300% profit
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-23 | by ( Nell Mackenzie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Uranium is a key input in the production of nuclear energy. NZ Funds said the rise in the uranium price in this time had boosted the returns of its existing options positions by as much as 362% so far. "The drive for an energy transition has increased positive sentiment towards nuclear energy. "NZ Funds have the in-house infrastructure and investment team, along with world-class expertise from our partners at Syzygy to support these types of investments," said Mark Brooks, senior portfolio manager at NZ Funds. Nuclear energy is responsible for 10% of the world's power generation, EIA website statistics show.

Persons: Syzygy, Goldman Sachs, William Callanan, Mark Brooks, Nell Mackenzie, Amanda Cooper, David Evans Organizations: U.S, Reuters, Wednesday, Funds, Technological, Senate, Fuel Security, Uranium, NZ Funds, U.S . Energy Information Administration, EIA, Thomson Locations: Russia, China, Japan, Ukraine, United States, U.S, Canada, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan

☆ Kosovo bridge divers overcome fear to 'fly' in annual competition
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] Evald Krnic, a diver from Montenegro, jumps from a bridge during a competition on the White Drin River, near the town of Gjakova, Kosovo July 23, 2023. REUTERS/Fatos BytyciURA E FSHEJT, Kosovo, July 24 (Reuters) - With arms outstretched like bird's wings in the traditional "swallow style", Evald Krnic plunged more than 20 metres from a bridge in southern Kosovo into the cold White Drin river. "You don't just jump; you fly," he told Reuters after winning first place in the bridge-diving competition, an annual event held for the past 73 years and drawing both amateurs and professionals. "The beauty of this sport lies in conquering that fear and taking the leap." Krnic was also the winner last year in the Bosnian town of Mostar where he jumped 22 meters from an old bridge into the river below.

Persons: FSHEJT, Krnic, Fatos, Peter Graff Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Montenegro, Gjakova, Kosovo, Bosnian, Mostar

☆ A series of leaked photos appearing to show Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in bizarre disguises could be a Kremlin attempt to ridicule him
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Leaked images appear to show Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in bizarre disguises. Prigozhin launched a short-lived mutiny against Russian leadership last month. The photos, shared by pro-Kremlin Telegram channels, could be an attempt to humiliate the Wagner chief. The mercenary Wagner Group, which Prigozhin founded, is known for being active in Middle Eastern countries and Africa. However, relations between their hot-headed leader and Russian military leadership soured as the former repeatedly accused the latter of not sending his fighters much-needed weapons and accused them of incompetence.

Persons: Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Prigozhin, URA, Muhammad, Sacha Baron Cohen's, Aladeen, Prigozhin's, Vladimir Putin, Alexander Lukashenko Organizations: Russian, pro, Kremlin, Service, Guardian, Ministry of Defense, Wagner Group, Reuters Locations: Wall, Silicon, Russian, Sudan, Abu Dhabi, Benghazi, Tripoli, Syria, Africa, Moscow, Belarus, St Petersburg, Ukraine, Bakhmut

☆ Bank of America warns that the time-tested 60/40 portfolio strategy is on its deathbed — but you can still profit by making these 11 investments
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( James Faris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The 60/40 portfolio doesn't work anymore, according to Bank of America. If the 60/40 portfolio was on life support last year, this year its demise is now "confirmed," Woodard wrote. Bonds require 40% of the assets in a 60/40 portfolio but have delivered only 25% of the returns since 1920, he noted. Weak bond returns will lead to "another lost decade" for the 60/40 portfolio, in Woodard's words. For income, Bank of America's researchers unveiled a strategy called "dynamic prudent yield" that promises to beat bond indexes while carrying less risk.

Persons: Bonds, Jared Woodard, Woodard, Woodward, Schwab Organizations: Bank of America, Bank of, RSP, Vanguard, Energy, P Metals, Mining, Uranium, Research, Government Bond ETF, First Trust, Income, Muni Bond ETF, Muni, Blackstone Senior Loan, of America, Bond, SPDR Bloomberg Convertible Securities ETF, US, iShares, Securities ETF, VanEck Preferred Securities, Financials, Bloomberg, Treasury Bond ETF, Treasury

☆ Bank of America says there's a bull market underway in Uranium and names an ETF to play it
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

There should be a shortage of uranium through 2035, according to Jared Woodard, investment and ETF strategist at Bank of America. At the same time, demand is for uranium — which is a form of nuclear energy — is growing and the "third bull market" could be here. There's also better risk-adjusted returns compared with other commodities and stocks, he said, even if a bull market is just starting. Woodard added that uranium exposure can help diversify a portfolio given its low correlation to other markets markets. Woodard also noted the ETF has the highest number of energy, materials and industrial holdings in North America and Europe.

☆ Amazon employees on performance-improvement plans have a little-known Slack channel. Leaked messages reveal anguish, despair, but also community.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Rebecca Knight | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

There's a word-of-mouth Slack channel used by Amazon employees on its performance-improvement plan. Most employees post anonymously; one former worker likened it to a virtual support group. The Slack channel, #focus-and-pivot-info, is not highly publicized, according to interviews with eight current and former Amazon employees, five of whom are or were members of the channel. Most employees post anonymously, making their comments difficult to verify or investigate further. On Slack, a sense of community — but also stressThe Slack channel does not appear to be public knowledge within the company.

☆ Singapore hikes property stamp duties to cool property market
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Chen Lin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SINGAPORE, April 26 (Reuters) - Singapore raised taxes on private property purchases in a surprise move late on Wednesday night that includes a doubling of stamp duties for foreigners to an eye-watering 60%. The ABSD on Singaporeans' second and subsequent home purchases will rise to 20% from 17%, and 30% from 25%, respectively. The government said in a news release that property prices showed "renewed signs of acceleration amid resilient demand." The last time it raised stamp duties was in December 2021, when it said the property market was "buoyant" despite the economic impact of COVID-19. Property prices and rents in Singapore have been climbing steadily over recent years due to construction delays caused by the COVID-19 disruptions.

☆ Uranium is having a 'renaissance.' What to know about it, and how to play it
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

But despite the strong outlook for the commodity price, stocks and funds related to the commodity have not risen in lock step. The Sprott Uranium Miners ETF (URNM) and Sprott Physical Uranium Trust (SRUFF) are down about 7% and 4% so far this year, underperforming the broad S & P 500 , which has gained 6.5% . He said the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust is a smart play because it has the best risk-to-reward ratio in his eyes and has the benefit of holding actual uranium as opposed to just mining stocks. The company also manages the Sprott Uranium Miners ETF, which Huhn said has a larger emphasis on the mining stocks than the commodity price. Zuri-Invest's option is unique because it has a shorter settlement time and can be redeemed for either money or physical uranium, Huhn said.

[1/4] A taxi waits for pedestrians at a street crossing under a pre-election billboard of candidate Jakov Milatovic in Podgorica, Montenegro, March 30, 2023. Montenegro, whose economy relies on tourism generated by its scenic mountains and seaside, ditched a state union with much larger Serbia in 2006 and declared independence. A row between lawmakers and Djukanovic over his refusal to name a new prime minister deepened the political paralysis. "I am here to lead Montenegro to success because for too long we have been led by the unsuccessful," Milatovic told a campaign rally. After the invasion of Ukraine last year, Montenegro signed up to EU sanctions against Russia.

☆ Russia wants to replenish its troops by recruiting 400,000 new contract soldiers starting April: reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russia wants to recruit 400,000 new contract soldiers starting in April, per multiple local reports. Russian contract soldiers are typically volunteers who serve three-year paid stints in the army. The authorities said the summons were issued just to collect information, and not to lay the groundwork for a second mobilization, BBC Russia reported. Russian contract soldiers are typically volunteers who sign up for a three-year paid stint in the army, per the Institute for the Study of War, a think tank. Since the war began in February 2022, recruiters have been offering hefty bonuses and increased salaries to contract soldiers, while the Kremlin rushes to bolster resources for its hard-hit troops.

☆ Ex-Amazon managers say they were pressured to cut successful workers to meet attrition goals — and faced retribution when they resisted
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Shana Lebowitz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

Former Amazon managers say they were pressured to cut successful workers to meet attrition goals. In anticipation of Amazon's performance-review period, he told Insider, he'd kept careful notes on what his employees were doing well and where they could improve. These people said leadership would place employees in Focus even if the managers of those employees said that the workers had met or exceeded expectations. A few weeks later, he said, his manager told him he was on Pivot and had the option to leave the company with severance, which he did. Amazon managers are required to submit their performance ratings for employees in an online tool, then discuss their rationale with managers above them, he said.

☆ I was a manager at Amazon. My boss encouraged me to quit after I defended a high-performing employee who was about to get the lowest performance rating.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Shana Lebowitz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

He said he defended an employee who senior leaders placed in this category despite performing well. Senior leaders would bump people to the lowest performance bucket so they could meet certain quotasDuring the annual-review process, managers would fill out information sheets for each employee. But the senior leaders had apparently been given "unregretted attrition," or URA, numbers — how many employees Amazon wants to lose in a given year. And they would quickly try to force things into a stack ranking of who was high-performing, who was middle-performing, and if we could put people into the "least-effective" bucket. Senior leaders would start going down a list of people who were the next rung up on the performance measurement.

☆ I was working toward a promotion at Amazon when my manager started emailing me about needing coaching. Now I'm worried about losing my job.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Shana Lebowitz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

An Amazon marketing manager was told they were a high-value contributor. I started my promotion doc [a document explaining why an Amazon employee is ready for a promotion]. One thing that's in the ethos at Amazon is you're supposed to be allowed to make mistakes. So if it's something as simple as, "Hey, let's all try this new thing in Asana," and then the next day you're told you're horrible at Asana and that you're being put on a coaching action, it just seemed un-Amazonian. 'I started getting strange communication from my manager'By the end of December, I started getting strange communication from my manager.

☆ Oliver Stone's new film puts nuclear energy in the spotlight. These stocks are ready to hop on the trend
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

In his latest documentary "Nuclear Now," Stone argues for the use of nuclear energy as an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels. "We had the solution [nuclear power] … and the environmental movement, to be honest, just derailed it. For investors, the film adds to growing interest in nuclear power as a fossil fuel alternative beyond renewables. These funds invest in a variety of stocks tied to nuclear power throughout the value chain. Other global nuclear energy ETFs such as Sprott Uranium Miners (URNM) and the VanEck Uranium+Nuclear Energy (NLR) have gained more than 13% and 4% in 2023, respectively.

☆ These are Dan Niles top 5 picks for 2023, when he expects the market to fall another 20%
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Jesse Pound | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Hedge fund manager Dan Niles is preparing for the potential of another steep decline for stocks in 2023 with a top picks list that leans defensive. Niles said on CNBC's " Squawk on the Street " Tuesday that he expects the S & P 500 to fall to 3,000, which is more than 20% below where the index finished 2022. Another area that Satori Fund is focused on is health care. There were also two individual stocks on Niles' list. Niles said that he believes in the Instagram parent's cost-cutting plans, making its cheap multiple – relative to other internet stocks – attractive.

☆ Meta wants managers to rank twice as many employees in its lowest performance-review categories
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Ashley Stewart | Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The range includes layoffs and "non-regrettable" exits by staff who managers aren't sad to see go. The higher range includes already laid-off employees and "non-regrettable attrition," a term for staff considered not critical to operations who managers would not be sad to see leave. NRA, as it's also known inside Meta, includes people who quit of their own accord and those who are let go after being deemed underperformers. "Unregretted attrition" includes employees Amazon considers low-performing who are often pressured out via notorious performance-management programs. Shortly after the recent layoffs, Meta revealed it was looking to shrink its office footprint and would continue its current hiring freeze well into 2023.

Search resuls for: "URA"

25 mentions found