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☆ UBQ Materials raises $70 million in private funding round
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JERUSALEM, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Israel's UBQ Materials, which converts household waste into thermoplastic material, said on Wednesday it raised $70 million in a private funding round led by Eden Global Partners. Existing investors in the company, including TPG Rise Climate, TPG’s Rise Fund, Battery Ventures, and M&G’s Catalyst strategy, also participated in the funding round. UBQ said the funds will be used for its global expansion, such as additional facilities in Europe and North America, alongside the soon to open facility in Bergen Op Zoom, Netherlands. UBQ noted that its bio-based thermoplastic that is made from residual waste serves as a sustainable alternative to fossil-based plastics. UBQ converts residual household waste diverted from landfills or incineration, including all organics, into an thermoplastic material that is both climate-positive and highly recyclable.

Persons: UBQ, Steven Scheer Organizations: Eden Global Partners, TPG, Battery Ventures, Mercedes, Benz, PepsiCo, Thomson Locations: Europe, North America, Bergen, Netherlands

[1/2] Hostess Brands "Twinkies" are displayed in a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S. July 5, 2016. Smucker (SJM.N) said on Monday it will buy Twinkies-maker Hostess Brands (TWNK.O) in a $5.6 billion deal, as major U.S. packaged food companies look to expand their brand portfolios with pandemic-era fortunes dwindling. J. M. Smucker will pay Hostess shareholders $34.25 per share in a cash and stock deal, representing a premium of 54% since the day before the report surfaced. Hostess Brands became an acquisition target after it managed to boost its revenue through price hikes that fueled investor concerns over its prospects with its volume growth consistently declining. Smucker and Hostess deal follows a spree of other deals including that of Campbell Soup's (CPB.N) $2.7 billion deal for Rao's sauce maker Sovos Brands (SOVO.O) and Unilever (ULVR.L) buying premium frozen yogurt brand Yasso in North America.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, Smucker, Campbell Soup's, Hostess, Ding Dongs, Dimpal Gulwani, Ananya Mariam Rajesh, Anirban Sen, Savio D'Souza, Shinjini Organizations: REUTERS, Hostess Brands, Reuters, Hostess, Mills Inc, Mondelez, PepsiCo Inc, Hershey Co, Sovos, Unilever, Hos, Thomson Locations: Manhattan, New York City, U.S, North America, Lenexa , Kansas, Ho, Bengaluru, New York

☆ Online grocery firm Instacart seeks up to $7.7 billion valuation in IPO
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

In the filing, Instacart said it is setting an offer price of between $26 and $28 for its IPO. Instacart said it would issue 22 million shares in total, comprising 14.1 million of newly issued shares from the company and 7.9 million shares from selling stockholders. Instacart said its total common stock outstanding will be 276 million shares or 279.3 million if underwriters exercise an option to purchase additional shares. At 276 million shares total, Instacart will likely secure a valuation of about $7.7 billion. Alongside TCV, Sequoia Capital, D1 Capital Partners, and Valiant Capital Management, the fund would purchase up to roughly $400 million in the offering.

Persons: Instacart, Goldman Sachs Organizations: underwriters, PepsiCo, Norges Bank Investment Management, Sequoia Capital, D1 Capital Partners, Valiant Capital Management Locations: Sequoia

☆ Jelly giant J.M. Smucker agrees to buy Twinkie maker Hostess Brands for $5.6 billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Hostess Twinkies and CupCakes are displayed on a store shelf on May 17, 2021 in San Anselmo, California. Jelly maker J.M. Smucker is buying Twinkie owner Hostess Brands for $5.6 billion, or $34.25 a share. Hostess shareholders will receive $30 in cash and .03002 shares of Smucker's stock for each share of Hostess that they owned. As of Friday's close, shares of Hostess stock have risen 25% this year, giving the company a market value of $3.73 billion.

Persons: Twinkies, J.M, Smucker Organizations: Hostess Brands, Reuters, PepsiCo, Mondelez Locations: San Anselmo , California

☆ For Western firms, the risk of leaving Russia could be higher than staying
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Greg Kennedy | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesA wave of Western companies exited Russia promptly after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. For firms wishing to quit, amid heavy reputational and financial damage, the prospect of leaving is becoming harder with time. Nabi Abdullaev, a partner at Control Risks and former editor of the Moscow Times, told CNBC: "Some companies decide to stay because the risk of leaving Russia, at this moment at least, is higher than the risk of staying." Western companies that remain in the country are able to continue doing business because, despite sanctions, numerous transactions and activities are still authorized. In comparison, sanctions on Iran and North Korea are a far more severe environment for Western companies to operate within.

Persons: Nabi Abdullaev, Abdullaev, Vladimir Putin, Maria Shagina, Philip Morris, Heineken, Shagina Organizations: Bloomberg, Getty, Moscow Times, CNBC, Companies, Carlsberg, Danone, International Institute for Strategic Studies, Unilever, Nestle, PepsiCo, Research, Heineken, Russian Arnest, Kyiv School of Economics Locations: Moskva, Moscow, Russia, Ukraine, Russian, UniCredit, Raiffeisen, Ukrainian, Iran, North Korea

☆ U.S. food companies go deal hunting as pandemic growth fades
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Deborah Mary Sophia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Last month, Campbell Soup (CPB.N) struck a $2.7 billion deal for Rao's sauce maker Sovos Brands (SOVO.O). Reuters GraphicsReuters Graphics Reuters Graphics"Large food companies need to add more new concepts, new flavor profiles and new food items because their old brands - though still growing - are not growing at a meaningful rate," Milani said. Packaged food companies "are now faced with some difficult comparisons on organic (sales) and are seeking some strategic, category-specific M&A targets that will propel them through the next few years," Henry said. "Most of the large cap packaged food companies have ... diligently reduced their debt and improved their balance sheet (through the pandemic)...so they have the risk capacity and risk appetite to pursue large-scale acquisitions," CFRA Research analyst Arun Sundaram said. "These packaged food companies need to continue finding ways to stay relevant ... And so one of the easiest ways to do that is through M&A."

Persons: Brendan McDermid, Campbell, There's, Michael Milani, Baker Tilly, Milani, Kraft Heinz, Sarah Henry, Henry, Mills, Luca Zaramella, Hershey, J.P, Morgan, Arun Sundaram, Deborah Sophia, Arun Koyyur Organizations: Campbell Soup, New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, Sovos, Unilever, Mars, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Reuters, Logan Capital Management, PepsiCo, Mondelez, Barclays, Hostess Brands, Thomson Locations: New York, U.S, North America, dealmaking, Bengaluru

☆ Gatorade's newest drink doesn't contain Gatorade
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The PepsiCo-owned brand, best known for its fruit-flavored sports drinks like Fierce Grape or Frost Glacier Cherry, is adding Gatorade Water. It’s a major bet that the brand can tap into the growing “functional water” category (i.e. Specifically, alkaline water is a water that has a higher pH level than tap water. Gatorade Water has pH levels of 7 and higher. Other popular brands include Nestle-owned Essentia and two other PepsiCo-owned brands including LIFEWTR and Propel, a flavored water, that the company sees Gatorade Water being “complementary” to.

Persons: Cherry, Michael Del Pozzo, it’s, Del Pozzo, “, ”, Malina Malkani, Leana Wen, ” Howard Telford, ” Telford, Gatorade’s Del Pozzo, ” Del Pozzo Organizations: New, New York CNN, PepsiCo, Gatorade, Academy of Nutrition, CNN, George Washington University, Coca, Nestle Locations: New York

☆ These 10 brands have the highest customer loyalty—Apple isn’t in the top 3
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Ashton Jackson | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The company's "Customer Loyalty Index" evaluated Fortune 100 companies across a series of six metrics, excluding 40 companies that lacked sufficient data or didn't interact directly with customers. 3 company, semiconductor giant Intel, featured "some of the lowest volumes of customer service and complaint-related searches," said the report. 4, has long been known for having a cult-like fanbase, but "surprisingly" suffered in the customer service department, the report said. That means people searched online more for Apple-related support questions than most other Fortune 100 companies, DesignRush added. Coca-Cola "has some of the most satisfied customers, with some of the fewest customer service and complaint-related searches," said the report.

Persons: Johnson, DesignRush, Warren Buffett Organizations: Google, Lowe's Intel Corporation Apple, Cola Company PepsiCo, Allstate Corporation Microsoft Johnson, Home Depot, Intel, Apple, Microsoft, Cola, PepsiCo Locations: DesignRush

For investors looking to rake in profit from the recent oil rally, here are some companies that are poised to benefit off of higher crude prices. Higher oil prices could add to inflationary pressure and feed central bankers' decisions on interest rates. Higher correlation between oil prices means good news for some companies, however. The 10 most positively correlated stocks to oil are energy names, which tend to rise when oil prices get a boost. Molson and Monster have slipped 5.6% and 2.2%, respectively, during the current quarter, while PepsiCo is off more than 5%.

Persons: Brent, WTI, Russell, Molson Coors Organizations: West Texas, CNBC, Oil, Diamondback Energy, Devon Energy, APA, Diamondback, Halliburton, Insurance, CCC Intelligent Solutions Holdings, . Beverage, Molson, Monster, PepsiCo, Bank of Canada, Manhattan Associates, Cadence Design Systems, chocolatier Hershey Locations: Saudi Arabia, Russia, Devon, American

☆ SunnyD Vodka Seltzer and other alcohol that looks like juice is everywhere. Some states are cracking down to avoid confusing shoppers.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

There's also SunnyD Vodka Seltzer, made by Harvest Hill Beverage Company and on shelves since March, as well as Hard Mountain Dew, which is made by PepsiCo and the Boston Beer Company. Harvest Hill, which makes SunnyD Vodka Seltzer, pointed to the words "Vodka" and "contains alcohol" on its packaging for the beverage. Drinks like Hard Mountain Dew and SunnyD Vodka Seltzer have drawn criticism from consumer advocacy groups and public health experts for years. Sugary and fruity alcoholic beverages, such as White Claw hard seltzer, began to gain popularity at the end of the last decade. Besides potentially causing confusion, the beverages' sweet tastes make it easy to down one — or several — compared to traditional alcoholic beverages like beer.

Persons: Molson Coors, There's, Seltzer, Lisa Gardner, Molson, seltzer, Pamela Trangenstein Organizations: Service, Coca, Coke, Harvest Hill Beverage Company, PepsiCo, Boston Beer Company, Wall Street, Regulators, Illinois Liquor Control Commission, Illinois Commission, ., Cola, Molson Coors, Boston Beer, Public Health Institute, New York Times Locations: Wall, Silicon, . Virginia, Harvest Hill

☆ Twinkies maker will give food brands a sugar high
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Anita Ramaswamy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Hostess Brands "Twinkies" are displayed in a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S. July 5, 2016. Acquire Licensing RightsNEW YORK, Sept 1 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Urban legend says Hostess Brands’ (TWNK.O) infamous Twinkie is so highly processed it could survive a nuclear war. Executives at both Hostess and Mondelez have noted that snacking is getting more popular, even as people are indulging in smaller portions. Add a 30% premium to its undisturbed stock price, and its enterprise value is 15 times forward EBITDA, according to Refinitiv data. A deal is possible, but it has a good chance of leaving a short-lived sugar high.

Persons: Mills, Metropoulos, Andy Callahan, Mondelez, Callahan, isn’t, Morgan Stanley, General Mills, Lauren Silva Laughlin, Sharon Lam Organizations: Reuters, Mondelez, Apollo Global Management, New York Times, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Planters, Hostess Brands, Hershey, PepsiCo, General, Thomson Locations: Manhattan, New York City, U.S

☆ 13 brands, from Coca-Cola to REI, that are pouring money into movies and TV to reach consumers with Hollywood-style storytelling
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Mattel's Barbie is just one of many big brands getting serious about making Hollywood-style entertainment. "Barbie" may be the movie of the summer, but lots of other big brands are getting serious about making Hollywood-style entertainment. Brands are also getting more systematic about tracking the projects' outcome so they can justify the cost. Neutrogena: Neutrogena Studios launched in 2021 and is J&J Consumer's first brand-funded content studio to make feature documentaries and scripted shorts. Showtime/PepsiPepsiCo: PepsiCo's Content Studio is led by veteran PepsiCo marketer Lou Arbetter.

Persons: Barbie, Ron Howard, Brian Grazer's, Oscar, Michael Sugar, Brian Newman, REI, Michael Sugar's, Jae Goodman, Lauren Denowitz, Coke, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard's, Selman Careaga, John Deere, Mara Downing, Al Roker, Jill Wilfert, Robbie Brenner, J.J, Abrams, Lena Dunham, Barney, Daniel Kaluuya, J, Sebastian Garcia, Laurie Hernandez, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck's, Entertainment —, Justin Biskin —, Howard, Lou Arbetter, Max, Robert Rodriguez, Nadia Hallgre, Stanley Nelson, Arbetter, It's, Procter, Kimberly Doebereiner, Paolo Mottola, Kyra Sedgwick, Watiti, Saint Laurent, Anthony Vaccarello, Saint, Pedro Almodóvar, Ethan Hawke, Pedro Pascal, it's, Paolo Sorrentino, David Cronenberg, Kelly Mullen, Bryce Dallas Howard, Lena Waithe, WePresent, Holly Fraser, Moses Sumney, Solange Knowles, Riz Ahmed, Aneil, Fraser Organizations: Hollywood, Procter, Gamble, Brands, Unilever, InBev, Waffle Iron Entertainment, draftLine Entertainment, Netflix, Coca Cola, Entertainment, Global, Deere, Warner Bros, Warner Brothers, Universal Studios, Mattel, Neutrogena Studios, Studio, Kerry, Seattle Film, Ghetto Film, HBO Nike, Nike, Waffle, Apple, HBO, Showtime, Pepsi PepsiCo, PepsiCo, Pepsi Super, Pepsi, G Studios, Imagine, Amazon's, Hulu, Paramount, Blue Fox Entertainment, Saint Laurent Productions, Unilever Entertainment, Imagine Entertainment, Monotype Locations: Hollywood, Kerry Washington, American, Cannes, Britain

French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire attends the China-France Economic and Financial Dialogue at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, July 29, 2023. He said they had also agreed to bring forward annual price negotiations - initially planned for next year - to September. Le Maire went a step further on Thursday, naming Unilever, Nestle and Pepsi Co as being among the companies which he said were refusing to toe the line on prices. "The large multinationals could do much more," Le Maire said. "No one is willing to say 'I am going to reduce my prices' because the government is saying so," he said.

Persons: Bruno Le Maire, Thomas Peter, Le Maire, Le, Sybille De La, Silvia Aloisi, David Holmes, Frances Kerry Organizations: Finance, France Economic, REUTERS, Rights, Unilever, Nestle, PepsiCo, Federation du Commerce, Pepsi Co, Thomson Locations: China, France, Diaoyutai, Beijing, Paris

☆ France announces more food price caps in effort to curb inflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Joseph Ataman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Paris CNN —The number of price-capped products in French supermarkets will double to 5,000, finance minister Bruno Le Maire said Thursday, as data revealed another month of double-digit food inflation. Speaking to French broadcaster France2, Le Maire also criticized several multinational companies, including Unilever (UL) and PepsiCo (PEP), for not doing enough to help French consumers. The price caps, agreed with producers and distributors, aim “to definitively break the spiral of food prices,” he said, noting that the affected products made up around a quarter of a typical supermarket’s offerings. In June, Le Maire said 75 top food companies had agreed to cut prices on hundreds of products from July in line with declines in raw material costs. According to provisional data released by the country’s statistics institute Thursday, French food prices rose 11.1% this month compared with a year ago, less than they did in July but still more than double the rate of overall inflation.

Persons: Bruno Le Maire, France2, Le Maire, “, ”, ” Le Maire, Olesya Dmitracova Organizations: Paris CNN, Unilever, UL, PepsiCo, Nestle

REUTERS/Niharika Kulkarni/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsMUMBAI, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Reliance Industries' retail unit is attracting "strong interest" from other top investors after raising $1 billion from Qatar Investment Authority, its billionaire chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Monday. "Several marquee global strategic and financial investors have shown strong interest in Reliance Retail," he said, adding he would share progress about them "in due course". Ambani said in 2019 that the group planned to list the retail business in five years. Reliance also said on Monday that Ambani's three children, including Isha Ambani, will join the board of parent Reliance Industries. Reliance Retail has invested more than $10 billion in the last two years and opened 3,300 new stores last year, Isha Ambani said.

Persons: Niharika Kulkarni, Mukesh Ambani, Ambani, Ambani's, Isha, Tiffany, Reliance, Isha Ambani, Sriram, Aditya Kalra, Susan Fenton Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Reliance Industries, Qatar Investment Authority, Reliance Retail, KKR, Silver Lake, TPG, Reliance, Burberry, Unilever, PepsiCo, Thomson Locations: Mumbai, India, Asia, Africa

☆ 30 dividend-paying stocks in solid sectors with upside outside the AI hype, according to a 30-year fund manager
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-27 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Similar companies within the healthcare sector in his portfolio include Abbott Laboratories (ABT), which pays out a 1.95% dividend yield. Additionally, it offers a 2.35% dividend yield. Within the defense sector, he also likes Lockheed Martin (LMT), which pays a dividend yield of 2.64%. It pays out a 2.19% dividend yield plus a profit and losses payout at the end of the year. It has a 2.85% dividend yield and has increased its payout by about 8 to 10% a year, he said.

Persons: Max Wasserman, He's, Wasserman, overvalued, That's, Johnson, There's, Lockheed Martin Organizations: Miramar Capital LLC, Nasdaq, Broadcom, Microsoft, Company, NAPA Auto, Parts, Abbott Laboratories, Merck & Co, Dynamics, Group, PepsiCo Locations: Northbrook , Illinois, NAPA

FILE PHOTO-Hostess Brands "Twinkies" are displayed in a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S. July 5, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidFile Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNEW YORK, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Hostess Brands Inc (TWNK.O), the maker of Twinkies snack cakes, is exploring a sale after fielding takeover interest from major snack food makers, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. General Mills Inc (GIS.N), Mondelez International Inc (MDLZ.O), PepsiCo Inc (PEP.O) and Hershey Co (HSY.N) are among the companies that have shown an interest in acquiring Hostess, the sources said. Hostess has hired investment bank Morgan Stanley (MS.N) for advice on handling the deal negotiations, the sources said. No agreement is certain and Hostess may decide against any deal, the sources added.

Persons: Brendan McDermidFile, Hostess, General Mills, Morgan Stanley, Mills, Ding Dongs, Dean Metropoulos, Alec Gores, Gross, Anirban Sen, Abigail Summerville, Chris Reese, Marguerita Choy Organizations: REUTERS, Hostess Brands Inc, Nasdaq, General, General Mills Inc, Mondelez, PepsiCo Inc, Hershey Co, Hostess, Hershey, PepsiCo, Hos, Apollo Global Management Inc, Thomson Locations: Manhattan, New York City, U.S, Mondelez, New York, Lenexa , Kansas, Ho

☆ Instacart just filed for its IPO and revealed a plan to sell $175 million in stock to PepsiCo
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Alex Bitter | Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The company outlined its business as well as a plan to sell $175 million in shares to PepsiCo. The grocery delivery service filed a prospectus, a detailed document that outlines Instacart's business and IPO ambitions, on Friday afternoon. Instacart will also sell $175 million in Series A preferred stock to beverage giant PepsiCo as part of a private placement, according to the document. Instacart said its average order value was $110 in 2022In total, Instacart works with 80,000 stores. As of June 30, 2023, it has 5.1 million Instacart + members.

Persons: Instacart Organizations: SEC, PepsiCo, Service, NASDAQ Global, Publix, Costco, Aldi, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, DoorDash Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ Instacart files to go public on Nasdaq to try and unfreeze tech IPO market
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Instacart, the grocery delivery company that slashed its valuation during last year's market slide, filed its paperwork to go public on Friday in what's poised to be the first significant venture-backed tech IPO since December 2021. In May, Instacart said it was leaning into the generative AI boom with Ask Instacart, a search tool that aims to answer customers' grocery shopping questions. Instacart will try and crack open the IPO market, which has been mostly closed since late 2021. In March of last year, Instacart slashed its valuation to $24 billion from $39 billion as public stocks sank. Apoorva Mehta, Instacart's founder and executive chairman, plans to transition off the board after the company's public market debut, according to a 2022 release.

Persons: Instacart, Fidji Simo, haven't, Japan's SoftBank, Uber, They've, Simo, Mark Zuckerberg, Apoorva Mehta, Barry McCarthy, Snowflake, Frank Slootman, Andreessen Horowitz's Jeff Jordan, Shipt, Goldman Sachs, Nick Giovanni Organizations: Nasdaq, PepsiCo, Maplebear Inc, Target, Walmart, Meta, Walmart Grocery, Google, Sequoia Capital, DJ Capital Partners, Norges Bank Investment Management, TCV, D1 Capital Partners, Valiant Capital Management Locations: what's

☆ JPMorgan: The world's food supplies face a bleak future. These are the 3 biggest threats, and the companies best-positioned to tackle food insecurity.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Mark Reeth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Investors need to know exactly where the threats to the world's food supply are coming from, what themes are beginning to emerge in this new reality, and how they should be investing. New threats to the world's food supplyIn her report, Chang highlighted the ongoing problems affecting the world's food supply: war, weather, and the weaponization of food. One of the most devastating recently implemented restrictions on food supply is India's decision to ban the exportation of non-Basmati white rice. The combination of war, weather, and the weaponization of food has taken a toll on the world's food availability. And within food innovation, JPMorgan analysts like Philippine food and beverage maker Monde Nissin (MONDE PM) and Thailand-based seafood producer Thai Union (TU TB).

Persons: UNICEF — that's, Global Research Joyce Chang, Chang, El, Hilary, CJ Cheiljedang, Mengniu Dairy, Kubota, Jeronimo Martins SGPS Organizations: JPMorgan, Hurricanes, UNICEF —, Global Research, Grain Initiative, Food Policy Research, Food, Agriculture Commodities, ASEAN, Mahindra, LG, Thai Union, TU, Jeronimo Martins SGPS SA, Tesco PLC, J Sainsbury PLC, Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize, Carrefour SA, Yara International ASA, OCI, OCI NA, Bayer AG, PepsiCo Locations: Ukraine, California, Canada, East Coast, Russia, Africa, Asia, India, El, South Korean, HK, South Korea, Philippine, Thailand, Europe

☆ Cramer says these stocks do well in an economic slowdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Julie Coleman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

CNBC's Jim Cramer said he's not sure whether the economy is headed for a slowdown, but on Tuesday he gave investors stocks to look into in case it is. "I don't know if we're headed for a slowdown, but I do know it makes sense to dip your toe into the consumer packaged goods stocks, true recession stocks, if only so that you'll have all your bases covered, and because they've gotten cheap," Cramer said. He added that during a slowdown, the consumer "retrenches," going back to the store to buy goods and make "the dollar stretch a little further." Cramer in particular highlighted consumer packaged goods stocks like Pepsico and Mondelez . "None of these recession stocks work if the economy stays white hot, but they make good protection in case Jay Powell says something really harsh on Friday that makes us terrified of a slowdown," Cramer said, referring to the Federal Reserve Chairman's upcoming speech at the central bank symposium.

Persons: CNBC's Jim Cramer, he's, we're, Cramer, Procter, Jay Powell, you've Organizations: Pepsico, Mondelez, Gamble, Hershey, Federal Reserve

☆ Alleged Russian crime boss sanctioned by Ukraine owns a major stake in US biotech firm
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Buried in corporate filings is another relationship that is central to Humacyte: Russian billionaire Gavril Yushvaev is the company’s second-largest individual shareholder. Humacyte: Russian billionaire has no ‘control’ over firmYushvaev has not been sanctioned by the US government. “There are patients walking today on their own limbs who would not be doing so without access to the HAV to repair their damaged arteries,” a Humacyte spokesperson said. ‘It shows poor judgment’Yushvaev was brought in as an accredited private investor by Credit Suisse’s capital markets advisory group, a Humacyte spokesperson told CNN. Dougan does not personally know Yushvaev, a Humacyte spokesperson told CNN.

Persons: — Weeks, Kathleen Sebelius, Gavril Yushvaev, Yushvaev –, ”, Yushvaev, ” Forbes, Dann, Charles Whitehead, That’s, Steven Tian, Putin, Vladimir Putin, Trump, Sebelius, Humacyte, Obama, ” Yushvaev, Yale’s Tian, Whitehead, “, ” It’s, Brady Dougan, Dougan, Laura Niklason, ’ Yushvaev, Jeff Sonnenfeld, Sonnenfeld, ” Humacyte, Lawrence Ward, Ward, Eleanor Bloxham, ” Bloxham, ’, Lyft, Mother Jones Organizations: New York CNN, Pentagon, Nasdaq, US Department of Defense, CNN, Securities and Exchange Commission, Ukraine, Pepsico, Cornell Law School, BlackRock, Vanguard, Yale School of Management’s, Institute, Treasury Department, Kremlin, Credit, Ayabudge, Credit Suisse, Humacyte, PTC, Yale, Yushvaev, SEC, “, Soviet, US Treasury, Dorsey, Whitney’s, Value Alliance, The Department of Defense, DOD, Cornell, Russia Locations: Ukraine, North Carolina, Humacyte, Russian, Russia, Crimea, Cypriot, Yale, Bloxham, Lyft

The fund is one of a growing number investors and policymakers pushing to put more women in company boardrooms. Its latest move comes as the fund takes stock of its ESG engagement with companies so far this year. This year for the first time the fund analysed the structure of all U.S. pay packages above $20 million to see if they aligned with long-term value creation. As a result of its analysis, the fund voted against more than half of pay packages above this level, the report showed. The fund voted against the pay of Coca-Cola's (KO.N) James Quincey, Apple's (AAPL.O) Tim Cook and PepsiCo's (PEP.O) Ramon Laguarta, the fund's voting record showed.

Persons: Carine Smith Ihenacho, Smith, Smith Ihenacho, James Quincey, Apple's, Tim Cook, Ramon Laguarta, Gwladys, Jane Merriman Organizations: ARENDAL, Reuters, Coca, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Thomson Locations: Norway, boardrooms, United States, Europe, Japan, Arendal

☆ A hedge fund manager shares 2 ChatGPT prompts and the AI plugin he used to filter top stock picks
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-12 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

He fed the LLM data from a terminal and asked it to filter its findings through top academic literature and fund managers. Building on the knowledgeIn his earlier experiments, Patel and his team manually pasted increments of stock data into ChatGPT's text box. Using Julius AI, Patel was able to input data for over 6,800 stocks to see if the outcomes or accuracy would change. The metrics Patel chose to input were based on company fundamentals that he felt were important when picking stocks. Patel concluded that whether it's a human analyst or AI that's picking stocks, there are no guarantees in the stock market.

Persons: Alpesh Patel, it's, Patel, Julius AI, Julius, Price, ChatGPT's, Warren Buffett, Cisco Systems Inc Patel, Johnson, Eli Lilly, Rahul Sonwalkar, you've Organizations: NYSE, Nasdaq, US Securities and Exchange Commission, FTSE, New York Stock Exchange, Alpha, Broadcom, Cisco Systems Inc, Apple Inc UnitedHealth, Johnson, Johnson Exxon Mobil Corp Visa Inc Tesla, Walmart, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Procter, Gamble, Chevron Corp Mastercard, Depot Inc, Pfizer, AbbVie Inc Merck, Co Inc, Cola Co, Pepsico, Broadcom Inc Alibaba

☆ American price elasticity stretched to the limit
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Ben Winck | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Aug 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The United States may be over the hump on inflation, but consumers aren’t acting like it. Lingering restraint will stretch the power of price elasticity to its limits. Similarly, PepsiCo’s (PEP.O) 14% increase in North American prices of Mountain Dew, Tropicana orange juice and other beverages cost it 4% in quarterly sales. Strong appetites for Oreos and Wheat Thins lifted Mondelez International’s (MDLZ.O) sales 2% in the United States, Canada and Mexico, even as prices climbed 10%. They have climbed 3.5% from a year earlier, surpassing the 3.2% annual increase in the Consumer Price Index.

Persons: Mondelez, Darden, Ricardo Cardenas, Laxman Narasimhan, Marriott, Jeffrey Goldfarb, Aditya Sriwatsav Organizations: Reuters, of Michigan, U.S . Bureau of Labor Statistics, Capital, Procter & Gamble, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Reuters Graphics Reuters, U.S, of Labor Statistics, Thomson Locations: States, Dew, United States, Canada, Mexico, American

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