May 3, 2026

06 Market

U.S. sales still down 1 year after Bud Light controversy– www.stltoday.com

pgnewser May 9, 2024 1

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Excerpt from www.stltoday.com

ST. LOUIS — Beer sales in North America are still down for Anheuser-Busch InBev while its spirits brands are growing, the Belgium-based brewer shared with investors during its most recent earnings call Wednesday.

The first quarter report of 2024 comes over a year after A-B sent transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney a can featuring her face, which she shared in a video, leading to public outcries by some conservatives for a boycott.

A-B revenue was down almost 9% in the U.S. and Canada, due to a volume decline of nearly 10%, A-B InBev CEO Michel Doukeris said Wednesday morning.

Yet, Doukeris called A-B’s beer sector in the U.S. resilient, with “beer volumes improving sequentially through the quarter and dollar sales continuing to grow versus last year.”

Rents are rising faster than wages across the country, especially in these cities– www.cbsnews.com

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Excerpt from www.cbsnews.com

Wages for the typical U.S. worker have grown since the pandemic, but for many Americans those gains are being gobbled up by rising rent.

Rents have jumped 30.4% nationwide between 2019 and 2023 while wages during that same period only grew 20.2%, according to a recent analysis from online real estate brokers Zillow and StreetEasy. Gaps between wage growth and rent increases were widest in large cities, including Atlanta; Charlotte, North Carolina; Miami, Phoenix and Tampa. Other cities where renters are feeling the tightest pinch include Baltimore, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, New York and San Diego.

The cost of renting began its sharp climb during the pandemic, as demand roared due to Americans fleeing major urban centers and opting for more space away from neighbors in the suburbs and rural areas. Rent is still increasing, housing experts say, just at a much slower pace than in recent history…

“New multifamily buildings coming online have eased competitive pressure in many markets, but in New York City construction just simply can’t keep up with demand,” Lee said in a statement.

Elon v OpenAI: judge disqualified after challenge from Musk’s lawyers | OpenAI– amp.theguardian.com

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Excerpt from amp.theguardian.com

Ex-OpenAI co-founder alleges Sam Altman subverted company’s original goal of transparency, becoming a largely for-profit entity

The California judge presiding over Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, has removed himself from the case. Judge Ethan Schulman on Monday sustained a challenge from Musk’s lawyers, which cited a California state law that allows plaintiffs and defendants to remove a judge they believe cannot grant an impartial trial.

The law, known as California Code of Civil Procedure 170.6, does not require the person issuing the challenge to provide any factual basis for their claim that the judge is prejudiced against them. Each side in a case gets one such peremptory challenge, which is granted as long as it is filed with correct language and within a certain time frame.

The Biden administration wants free speech for Big Labor, not businesses– www.washingtonexaminer.com

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Excerpt from www.washingtonexaminer.com

What’s more offensive — and, for that matter, illegal? An employee calling a coworker a “gutter b****” and a “queen of the slums”? Or a CEO saying that bringing in a labor union will make the workplace “much slower” and “more bureaucratic”?

The answer is clearly the employee who racially and sexually demeaned his coworker. Yet in President Joe Biden’s administration, the CEO is the one getting punished.

On May 1, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy violated federal labor law when he said that unionization comes with downsides.

In January, the same NLRB forced Amazon to rehire a worker who insulted his colleague on the grounds that federal labor law protected him.

Vietnam’s China ties loom large in U.S. hearing on market economy upgrade– www.japantimes.co.jp

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Excerpt from www.japantimes.co.jp

U.S. President Joe Biden’s bid to draw Vietnam closer as a strategic ally clashed with his desire for union workers’ votes on Wednesday as trade lawyers sparred over whether the Commerce Department should upgrade the communist-ruled country to market economy status.

The move, opposed by U.S. steelmakers, Gulf Coast shrimpers and American honey farmers, but backed by retailers and some other business groups, would reduce the punitive anti-dumping duties set on Vietnamese imports because of its current status as a non-market economy marked by heavy state influence.

Vietnam’s deepening economic ties to China loomed large in arguments on both sides of the issue at a virtual public hearing hosted by the Commerce Department as part of a review. A decision is due on July 26.

Argentina will start printing 10,000 peso notes, amid inflation– www.ctvnews.ca

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Excerpt from www.ctvnews.ca

Prices in Argentina have surged so dramatically in recent months that the government has multiplied the size of its biggest bank note in circulation by five — to 10,000 pesos, worth about US$10.

The central bank announcement Tuesday promised to lighten the load for many Argentines who must carry around giant bags — occasionally, suitcases — stuffed with cash for simple transactions. Argentina’s annual inflation rate reached 287 per cent in March, among the highest in the world.

The new denomination note — five times the value of the previous biggest bill — is expected to hit the streets next month in a bid to “facilitate transactions between users,” the central bank said. The 10,000 peso note is worth US$11 at the country’s official exchange rate and US$9 at the black market exchange rate.

 

Feds Target Tesla Over Autopilot & Full Self Driving Claims– cleantechnica.com

pgnewser May 9, 2024 0

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Excerpt from cleantechnica.com

Words have consequences, especially when uttered by someone who has an enormous public following. For almost ten years, regulators have been wrangling with Elon Musk over his claims that Tesla automobiles can drive themselves with little to no input from human drivers. The name “Autopilot” has been controversial from the start, as many contend it lulls drivers into a false sense of security. Musk, in his own inimitable fashion, has refused to consider changing the name to something less controversial.

Full Self Driving implies the system is capable of Level 4 autonomous driving, which it clearly is not. It may be good, it may even be very good, but it is at best a Level 2+ system. Even Tesla admits drivers must “supervise” it, which confuses the situation even more. A year ago, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a directive that required Tesla to “recall” all of its cars sold in the US that had the “Autosteer on City Streets” feature installed (“recall” in this case meant that it had to roll out a software update). NHTSA describes the defect as follows:

China tech giant Baidu VP apologises after backlash over tough style– www.hindustantimes.com

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Excerpt from www.hindustantimes.com

 

A top PR executive at Chinese internet giant Baidu apologised Thursday after videos she posted online sparked accusations of toxic and abusive management and sent the firm’s shares sliding.

Qu Jing, the vice president in charge of public relations, posted a series of clips this month on video-sharing platform Douyin describing her tough treatment of junior colleagues.

“Why do I have to consider the family of an employee?” she asked in one.

“I am not her mother-in-law!”

“If your boyfriend calls you to ask about breaking up, what does it have to do with me?” Qu demanded in one clip.

“It is not my duty to know whether you are crying or not.”

In a separate clip, Qu attacks an effigy bearing the name of Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post newspaper in an apparent protest against a negative article.

She gloats in another that, while she remembered to buy gifts for colleagues, she forgot her son’s birthday.

Argentina power companies reject state offer to pay debt with bond– buenosairesherald.com

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Excerpt from buenosairesherald.com

Power companies in the AGEERA electricity generators’ association have rejected Economy Minister Luis Caputo’s proposal to use bonds to pay power wholesaler CAMMESA’s debt of over US$1 billion.

On Wednesday, the Government formalized the regime to pay CAMMESA’s debt to generator companies via resolution 58/2024 of the Energy Secretariat, which was published in the Official Gazette.

The government’s proposal, conceived by Caputo, consists of paying the debt for energy subsidies — with a 50% write-off — via a dollar-denominated bond, the AE38. This would defer overdue payments from December and January. The debt totals AR$1,100 billion (US$1.2 billion at the official rate, US$1 billion at the MEP rate), the resolution says.

US Supreme Court rules against Warner Music in copyright damages case– finance.yahoo.com

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Excerpt from finance.yahoo.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled in favor of a Miami music producer in a legal fight with Warner Music over a song by rapper Flo Rida, resolving a dispute over the time limit for claiming monetary damages in copyright cases.

The 6-3 ruling, authored by liberal Justice Elena Kagan, affirmed a lower court’s decision that favored producer Sherman Nealy, who sued a Warner subsidiary and others in Florida federal court in 2018.

Nealy has said that his label Music Specialist owns rights to the electronic dance song “Jam the Box” by Tony Butler, also known as Pretty Tony. Warner artist Flo Rida, whose given name is Tramar Dillard, incorporated elements of “Jam the Box” into his 2008 song “In the Ayer.”

Nealy sued music publishing company Warner Chappell and others, arguing that they took an invalid license to “Jam the Box” from Butler, his former business partner, while Nealy was incarcerated for cocaine distribution. The producer requested damages for alleged copyright infringement dating back to 2008.

Bank of England edges closer to rate cut, possibly in June, as it predicts below-target inflation– abcnews.go.com

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Excerpt from abcnews.go.com

LONDON — The Bank of England maintained its key U.K. interest rate at a 16-year high of 5.25% though it gave a broad hint that a reduction could be on the cards as soon as June as inflation is forecast to fall below target.

In a statement Thursday, the bank’s nine-member Monetary Policy Committee voted 7-2 to keep rates unchanged, with the 2 dissenters backing a quarter-point reduction. Last time, only one member voted for a quarter-point cut.

Like the U.S. Federal Reserve last week, which also kept rates, on hold the majority on the panel wanted to see more evidence that inflation is under control.

The increase in the number of those backing a U.K. rate reduction is a clear indication that there is a shifting balance on the committee in favor of cuts.

Disneyland’s $1.9B expansion plan approved by Anaheim City Council– www.foxbusiness.com

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Excerpt from www.foxbusiness.com

 

‘The Claman Countdown’ panelists Robbie Whelan and Kenneth Leon break down Disney’s battle against Trian Partners.

Disney received final approval on Tuesday to move forward with its nearly $2 billion expansion plan for its Disneyland theme park in California.

The Anaheim City Council said the company’s proposal – “DisneylandForward” – received its second unanimous approval from all seven members.

Donald Trump Rages Against Paul Ryan in Fiery Midnight Rant After Former House Speaker Trashes Ex-President– radaronline.com

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Excerpt from radaronline.com

In December 2023, Ryan blasted Trump after he blamed the former House Speaker for Republican election losses.

“Trump’s not a conservative,” Ryan said. “He’s a populist, authoritarian narcissist. So, historically speaking, all of his tendencies are basically where narcissism takes him, which is whatever makes him popular, make him feel good at any given moment.”

Kroger Continues to Persecute Unvaccinated Workers

pgnewser May 8, 2024 0

Kroger is making changes to its employee handbook that target the unvaccinated with a $50 a month “tax” and cut them off from having any “paid pandemic-related leave.”

The company is not able to fire unvaccinated workers outright, so it seems it is intending on pressuring them out instead. The yearly cost for each unvaccinated employee is $600, presuming they or one of their family members don’t suffer pandemic-related needs that could force them to miss work with no hope of being given paid leave as vaccinated workers would be able to rest on.

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Excerpt from ca.style.yahoo.com

In a bid to push more of its workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, Kroger will eliminate paid pandemic-related leave and charge $50 per month to employees that haven’t gotten shots.

Kroger stopped short of mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for workers, but said it is “modifying policies to encourage safe behaviors including vaccination.” Company officials added the grocer will also continue to offer a one-time $100 bonus to workers that get fully vaccinated.

The $50 surcharge goes into effect Jan. 1 and applies to salaried associates enrolled in a company health plan. The extra expense would cost an employee $600 per year.

Biden Regs Officially Add $1 Trillion Burden to Economy

pgnewser May 8, 2024 0

The American Action Forum (AAF) has calculated that President Joe Biden’s regulation changes and executive orders have cost the American economy an additional $1 Trillion, an investment that, the report claims, fails to deliver results that justify the cost increase. Dan Goldbeck, AAF’s director of regulatory policy, stated, “This past week, the final rule cost total for just 2024 can now be measured in 13 digits. While no rule matched the singular impact of the prior week’s EPA rule – because, really, what could? – this was also one of the more prolific weeks in recent memory.”

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Excerpt from lidblog.com

Joe Biden has been the worst president in history where it comes to adding new regulations to burden Americans and has slammed us all with a massive $1 TRILLION in new regulations and rules… yes, just as the economy is already doing so badly, he is trying to hurt it even more with oppressive rules.

Per American Action News:

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final emissions regulations for light- and medium-duty vehicles, which some have characterized as an electric vehicle (EV) mandate, pushed the costs of the Biden administration’s regulatory agenda over the $1 trillion threshold for 2024, alone, according to AAF’s analysis. Across all agencies and regulatory actions last week, the federal government published regulations imposing $103 billion worth of total costs and 11.6 million annual paperwork hours.

More Banks on the Verge of Failure as Bidenomics Buffets Nation– lidblog.com

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Excerpt from lidblog.com

 

The massive failures of Bidenomics is pushing more banks to the verge of insolvency, a report finds.

Inflation, sky-high interest rates, and crashing economic growth is sending many smaller banks past the breaking point.

Worries of a possible new wave of bank failures comes on the heels of bank regulators seizing Republic First Bancorp to set up its sale to Fulton Bank.

Per Just the News::

The bank reportedly had a total of $6 billion in total assets and $4 billion in total deposits, according to Yahoo Finance. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp estimated the cost of the failure to its fund would be about $667 million.

Republic Bank has 32 branches in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York that are reopening as branches of Fulton Bank by this Monday.

Just the News added, “According to recent reports, hundreds of banks face the potential of failing just like Republic First Bancorp.”

Consulting firm Klaros Group analyzed roughly 4,000 U.S. banks and found that the banks face a threat of losses due to “secular changes in social patterns accelerated by the COVID pandemic (such as work-from-home, which has materially impacted demand for office space) and to the impacts of higher interest rates and related inflation.”

China-West divide threatens ‘reversal’ for global economy, IMF official warns– amp.scmp.com

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Excerpt from amp.scmp.com

Her remarks come at a time of increased geopolitical uncertainty over a number of challenges, most notably an escalating rivalry between the US and China and the war in Ukraine.

Although economic fragmentation is not yet as severe as it was during the Cold War, Gopinath said, it carries a much greater potential cost thanks to higher global reliance on trade.

China’s share of US imports fell by 8 percentage points between 2017 and 2023 as trade and overall relations between the two countries fragmented, while the US’ share of China’s exports fell by about 4 percentage points during the same period.

Trade between blocs of countries aligned with either China or the US was also negatively affected, Gopinath said.

Between the middle of 2022 and 2023, the average weighted quarter-on-quarter trade growth between US-leaning countries and China-leaning countries fell by nearly five percentage points compared with the five-year period between 2017 and early 2022.

Similar patterns could also be observed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with trade and investment between blocs falling more than trade within blocs.

Disney shares fall 9.5% despite first profit in core streaming business– www.ft.com

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Excerpt from www.ft.com

Disney shares tumbled 9.5 per cent on Tuesday even as it reported the first profit in its core streaming business since it leapt into a battle with Netflix five years ago.

The Disney+ and Hulu streaming unit earned an operating profit of $47mn in the quarter to the end of March, compared with a $587mn loss a year earlier. Disney achieved the milestone months earlier than expected thanks to cost-cutting and the popularity of Hulu programmes including Shogun and The Bear.

But investors appeared to be more focused on a potential slowdown in the company’s theme parks, which have rebounded strongly since the pandemic restrictions began to lift.

Bob Iger, chief executive, highlighted the quarterly improvement in streaming and its experiences division, where theme parks outside the US, including Shanghai Disney, performed well. “We are turbocharging growth in our experiences business with a number of near- and long-term strategic investments,” he said.

In a call with investors, Hugh Johnston, Disney’s chief financial officer, said higher expenses from the launch of two new cruise ships would limit growth in the current quarter. He also said the post-pandemic travel boom could be running out of steam.

FedEx mistakenly delivered boxes of military-style rifles to a public high school in Pennsylvania– ca.movies.yahoo.com

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Excerpt from ca.movies.yahoo.com

  • A FedEx driver dropped off boxes containing .30 caliber M1 rifles at Chester High School.
  • The guns sat inside the school over the weekend before the driver returned to collect them.
  • The error was caused by the school having an address similar to the intended recipient’s.

A FedEx driver mistakenly left boxes containing a half-dozen military-style rifles at a public high school outside Philadelphia last Friday, according to police and school officials.

The guns, identified as .30 caliber M1 rifles, sat inside the Chester High School loading dock over the weekend, staff believing the unopened boxes to contain textbooks, CBS News reported.

The driver returned on Monday to collect the packages.

GM CEO committed to China and electric vehicles– www.theblaze.com

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Excerpt from www.theblaze.com

 

General Motors CEO Mary Barra said that the company will push forward with its operations in China despite a whopping loss in the country in the first quarter of 2024.

Barra recently visited China and promised that GM remained committed to the market, which has been a mainstay for the manufacturer since 1997. A $106 million loss in the first quarter in China was just GM’s third quarterly loss in the far east in the last 15 years, CNBC reported, but the company announced that it expects the numbers to turn around.

GM CFO Paul Jacobson reportedly told investors that the company expects similar or slightly lower than $446 million in profit, which is what it garnered in China in 2023.

However, 2023 was the lowest year for equity income for GM in China since at least 2012, but this has come at a much smaller market share. GM’s percentage of the market has shrunk from nearly 15% down to 8.6% in the last decade, lowering expectations.

Still, 2023’s numbers were more than $230 million lower than 2022, despite only losing 1.2% of the market share in that time. Comparatively, GM’s income in China stayed relatively the same between 2014 and 2018 despite its market share dropping by about 1%.

Woke CEO Backtracks After Company Loses MILLIONS– trendingpoliticsnews.com

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Excerpt from trendingpoliticsnews.com

Andrew Dudum, the CEO of telehealth company Hims & Hers, is facing backlash after expressing his desire to hire students who protested against Israel on college campuses. In the immediate aftermath of his comments, the company’s stock value plunged, wiping out nearly $210 million in market value.

The controversy began when Dudum, in a social media post on X (formerly Twitter), stated his willingness to employ students who participated in protests against Israel and faced disciplinary action from their universities. He framed the act as “moral courage” greater than a “college degree.” Encouraging protesters to continue their activism, Dudum said that there are many companies and CEOs eager to hire them, linking the post to the company’s job openings.

This caused outrage among many stakeholders, especially as protest actions were often linked to antisemitism and intimidation. The market quickly reacted. Hims & Hers stock fell 8% on May 3, as investors rushed to distance themselves from Dudum’s controversial comments. The company’s market value decreased from $2.62 billion to $2.41 billion in a matter of hours according to The New York Post.

New York judge tosses abortion-related Equal Rights Amendment from state ballot– thehill.com

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Excerpt from thehill.com

A Western New York judge on Tuesday invalidated a ballot measure known as the Equal Rights Amendment that would have codified reproductive rights and protections against other discrimination into the state constitution.

State Supreme Court Justice Daniel Doyle, a Rochester-area Republican, ruled that the state Legislature did not follow correct procedure when it passed the measure last year.

“The constitution is the supreme will of the people,” he wrote. “Its amendment should be undertaken by strict adherence to the will of the people.”

The ruling deals a blow to Democrats’ attempt to bring the issues before voters and boost turnout in November, when New Yorkers will vote on a handful of competitive House seats that could determine control of the chamber.

Is a tax on services in Illinois’ future? Pritzker no longer rules it out. – Shaw Local– www.shawlocal.com

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Excerpt from www.shawlocal.com

Gov. JB Pritzker unexpectedly moved away last week from his long-standing opposition to taxing services, saying he didn’t want to start taking ideas off the table as lawmakers search for ways to fund and reform the Chicago region’s mass transit system. A major business group predictably pushed back.

As you may know, Chicago area’s mass transit agencies are facing a $730 million “fiscal cliff” in 2026. The federal government’s COVID-era subsidies will expire that year. Also, ridership has declined as service worsens, operating costs have increased and average fare prices have fallen.

According to a report last year from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, imposing a service tax could be part of the solution. The CMAP report claimed adding a service tax to the state’s existing 6.25 percent state tax rate could generate $1.1 to $1.9 billion in 2026. Some legislators are proposing a $1.5 billion annual funding increase for transit, as part of a consolidation effort.

Microsoft building new AI model separate from OpenAI’s GPT to compete with the likes of Google, report says– amp.scmp.com

pgnewser May 7, 2024 0
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Excerpt from amp.scmp.com

Microsoft is training a new, in-house AI language model large enough to compete with those from Alphabet’s Google and OpenAI, the Information reported on Monday.

The new model, internally referred to as MAI-1, is being overseen by recently hired Mustafa Suleyman, the Google DeepMind co-founder and former CEO of AI start-up Inflection, the report said, citing two Microsoft employees with knowledge of the effort.

The exact purpose of the model has not been determined yet and will depend on how well it performs. Microsoft could preview the new model as soon as its Build developer conference later this month, the report said.

Jack Dorsey quits Bluesky board and urges users to stay on Elon Musk’s X | Jack Dorsey– amp.theguardian.com

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Excerpt from amp.theguardian.com

Jack Dorsey

Twitter co-founder’s decision to leave rival social network he helped start was apparently unexpected

 

The Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has left the board of Bluesky, the decentralised social network he helped start, and encouraged users to remain on his first site, now owned by Elon Musk and called X.

 

Dorsey confirmed he had cut ties with Bluesky on Sunday, telling a user on X that he was no longer on the social network’s board. The announcement was apparently unexpected, since Bluesky still listed him as a board member until late on Sunday evening.

Facebook political ad policies often ignored in India election– www.washingtonpost.com

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Excerpt from www.washingtonpost.com

Many political ads running on Facebook in India during its current election season are backed by organizations that hide their identity, according to civil society groups and recent studies, threatening the integrity of a process intended to enforce transparency in a system full of emotional appeals.

The world’s largest election and one of its most expensive, India’s voting season began last month and runs through June 1. Facebook has hundreds of millions of users in the country, which is the social network’s largest market, and is reaping a significant portion of an estimated $16 billion in campaign spending.