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☆ Marvel's 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' scores $104 million during domestic debut
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Paul Rudd is Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, alongside Johnathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror in "Ant-Man and the Wasp in Quantumania." Disney and Marvel Studios' "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" scored an estimated $104 million at the domestic box office during its opening weekend. "Quantumania's" domestic haul is nearly double what the first standalone Ant-Man film opened to in 2015 and marks the 31st consecutive MCU release to debut at number one at the domestic box office. Internationally, "Quantumania" took in $121 million, bringing its estimated global haul for the three-day spread to $225 million. "'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' sets into motion what looks to be week after week of solid moviegoing and creates momentum for a solid summer movie season."

☆ ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ Review: Where More Is Less
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Kyle Smith | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Anyone who has been to a comic-book movie lately can tell you that should any interlude dare to linger more than about 37 seconds in a situation where not much is taking place except people talking, the theater will start twinkling like a galaxy as viewers take out their phones to check their messages. To forestall such fidgeting, superhero sagas grow increasingly desperate not to let any period appreciably longer than a Toyota commercial elapse without a frenzied chase, thunderous battle, jolly musical interlude, display of things not seen on this earth, or instance of the universe being turned inside out. The latest hectic example, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” inaugurates Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is as financially hale as it is creatively tired. Thanks to a few sweet father-daughter moments and a relatively direct plot, this entry is a notch better than some even-more-febrile recent efforts such as “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” and “Thor: Love and Thunder.” But overall it’s another lackluster blockbuster. It does contain one genuinely awe-inspiring visual spectacle (the face of Paul Rudd , the only American man who looks nearly as good now as he did during the Clinton administration) and one truly scary concept (teen activist daughters bent on achieving universal social justice when you wish they’d just do their homework).

"Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" premiered in theaters on February 17. How to watch 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania'"Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" is now available to watch exclusively in theaters. When will 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' be available on Disney Plus? "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" is expected to start streaming on Disney Plus later this year. With this range in mind, "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" should hit Disney Plus in April or May.

☆ Stocks slide as investors worry about more rate hikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Stocks tumbled Thursday morning after the US government’s Producer Price Index report showed that prices at the wholesale level rose faster than expected in January. The unwelcome inflation news comes just two days after the Consumer Price Index figures showed that retail prices continue to come in above forecasts. Investors also were unnerved by comments from Cleveland Federal Reserve president Loretta Mester about inflation and the economy. St. Louis Fed president James Bullard, another regional bank president who does not have a vote on the FOMC this year, is giving a speech this afternoon. Streaming media device maker Roku (ROKU) also soared following strong earnings.

☆ 'Ant-Man and the Wasp in Quantumania' reviews: The villain is good, but the movie is bad
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

DisneyAre the pint-sized heroes of Disney's "Ant-Man and the Wasp in Quantumania" enough to take on the newest — and baddest — villain of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Marvel Studios' "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania." "Ant-Man and the Wasp in Quantumania" held a 53% "rotten" rating from 148 reviews, as of Wednesday afternoon. "Sometimes the weight of all this responsibility causes 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' ... to buckle at the knees," O'Sullivan wrote. Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) in "Ant-Man and The Wasp in Quantumania."

☆ Opinion | Can Nikki Haley Surprise the G.O.P. Field? Our Columnists Weigh In.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( New York Times Opinion | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Gray Not so long ago, the Republican National Committee was predicting continued electoral doom unless the party expanded beyond its mostly white base. Did Trump stamp out the ambitions of her generation for good, putting an end to the dream of a friendlier, more moderate Republican Party? Madrid Over 70 percent of Republican primary voters are white, so her candidacy will test the viability of a nonwhite candidate. Haley is too representative of the party elite’s desires to be seen as a plausible tribune of the working class. She is selling the idea that she is somehow both distinct enough to separate herself from the former president she continues to support and similar enough to win the nomination with this Republican Party.

☆ Charlie Munger still likes big banks and hates crypto
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

“I might have different ideas [than Buffett],” Munger said about bank stocks at the annual meeting for the Los Angeles-based newspaper publisher Daily Journal, where Munger was chairman until last year. Munger remains a board director at Daily Journal and is one of its top investors. Daily Journal, like Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB), is a conglomerate that also owns some individual stocks. Daily Journal’s portfolio is much smaller than Berkshire’s. Munger said he doesn’t want to sell Daily Journal’s bank investments because Daily Journal bought many of the stocks at the bottom during the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

[1/4] Director Peyton Reed poses at a premiere for the film "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" in Los Angeles, California, U.S., February 6, 2023. "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" is the first movie in phase five of Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe. It takes the superhero and his resizing powers into the Quantum realm, a subatomic world where he meets new challenges. Reality melted away and brought her into the fantasy world that many children grew up reading about in the Marvel comic books, she noted. Disney artists assembled new environments, creatures, buildings and an entire internal history and logic to make the Quantum realm come to life.

☆ What were Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch talking about at the Super Bowl? A Twitter thread wanted wrong answers only.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Felise Seah | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch were spotted sitting next to each other at the Super Bowl on Sunday. Guesswork erupted on Twitter after a user asked what these two could be discussing and wanted "wrong answers only." On Monday, a Twitter user posted a picture of the duo seated next to each other, asking "what are they talking about?" and wanting "wrong answers only." "Oops you said wrong answers," the poster added.

☆ Barney the purple dinosaur is back and he has a new look
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Barney is back, and while Mattel has not yet officially confirmed it, we’re guessing he still loves you. Toy giant Mattel (MAT) announced Monday that Barney, the friendly (and, let’s be honest, cringe-worthy to a large group of Millennials who watched him as pre-schoolers, and to their parents) purple dinosaur is making a triumphant return to TVs and toy shelves next year. The “Barney & Friends” show, featuring the titular violet-hued T-Rex, aired on PBS in the United States from 1992 until 2010. So no beleaguered actor dressed up in a dinosaur costume marching around and singing to young kids. “With our modern take on Barney, we hope to inspire the next generation to listen, care, and dream big,” Soulie added.

☆ Ron DeSantis backed deep cuts to Social Security and Medicare while in Congress. Trump is ready to hammer him for it ahead of 2024.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Trump has made it clear that he will attack DeSantis' past support for changes to Social Security and Medicare. It would have also increased the full retirement age for Social Security to 70 as well. The AARP tore into Ryan's proposal at the time, particularly for its proposed changes to social security. Trump has made it clear that he would not propose cuts to Social Security and Medicare and is ready to attack 2024 nomination challengers who have in the past. Insider couldn't find any comments he made at the time, but he was far from the only Republican or even the only Florida Republican to vote against the bill.

☆ An estimated $16 billion worth of bets will be placed on the Super Bowl
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —With more states legalizing gambling on sports, Super Bowl LVII will probably be the biggest event for the industry ever. But how will casino and online/mobile sports betting companies stand out in an increasingly crowded field? “We have prepared for this Super Bowl like never before,” Greenblatt said. That’s more than double the number of wagers on last year’s Super Bowl. That’s different from 2021 when customer growth was being rewarded.”That being said, both DraftKings and FanDuel still plan to advertise during this year’s Super Bowl.

☆ Investors need to embrace these stocks that we love
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

I’ve typically done this stock picking feature in early to mid February as a Stocks We Love type of story, pegging it to Valentine’s Day. The restaurant stocks in particular could do well. Inflation is obviously still a concern for big consumer brands. Consumer prices rose 6.5% over the past 12 months through December, down from a 7.1% pace in November. Up nextMonday: Earnings from TreeHouse Foods (THS), Avis Budget (CAR), FirstEnergy (FE), IAC (IAC) and PalantirTuesday: US CPI; Japan GDP; UK employment report; earnings from Coca-Cola, Asahi Group, Marriott (MAR).

☆ Nonalcoholic Beer Ad in Super Bowl Spotlights ‘Dry Economy’
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Megan Graham | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

Heineken USA plans to run a 30-second Super Bowl ad for its Heineken 0.0 nonalcoholic beer, enlisting actor Paul Rudd as Marvel’s Ant-Man to make the pitch. Sales volume in low- and no-alcohol was $2.5 billion, while the overall U.S. alcohol market totaled $188.3 billion. Ad spending to promote nonalcoholic beer on national television, by comparison, totaled $9.7 million in January, up from $1.4 million in January 2019. Boisson Inc., a retailer of nonalcoholic beer, wine and spirits with 10 stores in New York and California, said it is increasing its marketing spending. SipSteady co-hosted a Dry Vibes event in January in Kansas City that included tastings of nonalcoholic beverages.

☆ U.S. exempts Britain, New Zealand from foreign investment reviews -Treasury
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - The United States on Friday extended the status of Britain and New Zealand as countries exempt from the U.S. foreign investment screening program, the Treasury Department said, having determined that those countries' own screening programs are robust enough. U.S. Treasury's powerful Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) said it made the decision based on the countries' use of their own "robust foreign investment screening program." "The United States thoroughly reviews foreign investment for national security risks, and it is critical that our allies also identify and address risks from malign foreign investment," Assistant Secretary for Investment Security Paul Rosen said. "Today’s actions reflect that our Five Eye allies have all stood up and implemented their own robust foreign investment screening programs. We look forward to continuing to coordinate with all of them on matters relating to investment security."

☆ Take a Look at Some of the Best Super Bowl Ads Ahead of the Big Game
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Aidan Pollard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul return as Walter White and Jesse Pinkman in one of the much anticipated Super Bowl commercials. This year some advertisers have released what appear to be full-length Super Bowl commercials early, posting them to social media and YouTube. The Super Bowl has long been a kind of, well, Super Bowl for advertisers, leading companies to go bigger every year with their ads. The commercial pokes fun at corporate "rock stars" by splicing real rock and heavy metal icons into everyday office situations. Diddy does hitsA commercial released this week shows musician Diddy in a meeting with marketers from Uber who are asking him to write a song for the Uber One membership service.

"Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" premieres in theaters on February 17. "Quantumania" is expected to tie into past Marvel shows and movies, including "Loki" and "Endgame." The highly anticipated sequel to "Ant-Man" and "Ant-Man and The Wasp" debuts exclusively in theaters on February 17. So, it's likely that "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" will pick up on several storylines that have already been introduced in the MCU. If you're interested in catching up on previous Marvel films and shows that are expected to tie into the new Ant-Man movie, we've got you covered.

☆ AI is the latest Wall Street craze. Is it also the next bubble?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

All of this AI news has helped boost shares of Baidu (BIDU), Microsoft (MSFT) and Google owner Alphabet (GOOGL) this year. Shares of the artificial intelligence software company have more than doubled this year, to about $26. SoundHound AI, which makes speech- and other audio-recognition software, has also seen its stock more than double this year. The fact that many of the world’s largest tech companies are embracing artificial intelligence is evidence of that. “We believe tech companies and tech equities will continue to face headwinds, as long as the Fed keeps its foot on the brake,” Siebel said in December.

☆ Super Bowl ads lean on stars, humor to grab attention
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Sheila Dang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/3] Musician Ozzy Osbourne takes part in a Super Bowl ad for Workday, in this undated handout photo provided by Workday. Big-name celebrities are not uncommon in Super Bowl ads. A 30-second Super Bowl spot this year sold for a little over $7 million, according to a person familiar with the ad sales. “Advertisers want people talking about their brand, and not just during the 30 to 60 seconds of (Super Bowl) air time,” Rucker said. Some stars will poke fun at themselves or their careers in Super Bowl ads.

☆ Bob Iger beats Nelson Peltz in Disney board battle
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Kate Trafecante | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

After reporting a multibillion cost-cutting initiative that sent Disney shares surging, CEO Bob Iger gained a key battle against activist shareholder Nelson Peltz. Peltz, who demanded changes at Disney (DIS) and a seat on the company’s board, declared defeat after Iger announced many of the cost-cutting initiatives Peltz had been demanding. One possible cost-cutting – and debt-reducing– maneuver for Disney: selling its stake in streaming service Hulu, a move Iger said he has not yet ruled out. Wall Street analysts had widely expected Disney to buy the rest of the Hulu stake, owned by rival Comcast (CMCSA). Iger said the changes he announced during Wednesday’s earnings call were to unwind Chapek’s previous restructuring of the company.

☆ We're trimming a tech heavyweight to buy more of these two high-quality stocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Jeff Marks | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Companies everywhere are trimming IT budgets to save on costs and that limits Cisco's ability to get the new orders. We are taking a little more than half of those CSCO dollars and buying some Eli Lilly . As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade.

☆ Inflation: Fed's Neel Kashkari says prices are still too high
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, understands that consumers are still struggling to deal with high prices. Kashkari told CNN’s Poppy Harlow Tuesday that he knows first hand how expensive many consumer goods and services are. Job market strength fueling more inflationKashkari acknowledged that inflation pressures are easing, but said the Fed is still not comfortable with how high prices are, particularly for services. He told Harlow he’s penciling in short-term rates as high as 5.4% before pausing. It’s hard to have a recession when the job market is still so robust, he told Harlow.

☆ Bank of America CEO: We're preparing for possible debt default
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The CEO of Bank of America (BAC), America’s second-largest bank, told CNN he hopes lawmakers resolve their issues, because the market and economy love stability. “We have to be prepared for that, not only in this country but in other countries around the world,” Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan told Poppy Harlow on “CNN This Morning” Monday. Yellen subsequently said there could be a “global financial crisis” if there is no debt limit agreement. Extremely low,” Moynihan told Harlow. He told Harlow that given China’s importance in the global supply chain, it’s in everyone’s interests to not have any economic tensions escalate.

☆ Did investors learn nothing from last year’s market meltdown?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Shares of movie theater chain AMC (AMC) have soared nearly 65% so far in 2023, and AMC (AMC)’s companion preferred stock (which trades under the ticker APE as a nod to the nickname AMC (AMC) fans have given themselves on social media) has more than doubled. So did investors learn nothing from last year’s market meltdown? I don’t agree with this market rally in meme stocks,” said Erik Ristuben, chief investment strategist with Russell Investments. Another strategist agrees this recent rally for meme stocks and other speculative bets may not end well. If they’re upbeat about spending, that could keep the rally in consumer stocks going.

☆ A bull shark likely behind fatal attack of 16-year-old girl swimming in a river, say authorities
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Authorities in Perth, Western Australia, believe that a bull shark is responsible for a fatal attack. Bull sharks, which can live in salt and fresh water, can be aggressive though fatal attacks are rare. Bull sharks are the most dangerous sharks in the world, according to many experts, because they hunt along shorelines where people gather to swim. One of the biggest bull sharks recorded was 13 feet long and weighed 990 pounds. The Swan River had not seen a fatal shark attack since January 1923, when a bull shark killed a 13-year-old boy.

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