‘Bring back Dave,’ fumes Luke Littler as he demands Man Utd re-sign De Gea after Andre Onana’s horror blunderOptions Corner: Palantir Call Spreads Remain Compelling Despite Overvaluation Concerns
NoneThe five largest asset managers in the world are falling short of expected Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) commitments, according to a new report by the Global Unions’ Committee on Workers’ Capital (CWC). These five asset managers – BlackRock, Vanguard, Fidelity Investments, State Street Global Advisors, and J.P. Morgan Asset Management – are all U.S. based. Four of these five asset managers are among the top 40 money managers in Canada, according to the bi-annual report by the Canadian Institutional Investment Network. BlackRock is the second largest money manager in Canada, holding roughly $147.4 billion in Canadian Pension Assets in 2023. Fidelity is the sixth largest money manager in Canada and held about $37.3 billion in pension assets. In 2022, the CWC established baseline expectations it has for asset managers on fundamental labour rights. Asset managers are expected to engage with the corporations in which they have invested to ensure the elimination of forced or compulsory labour, the abolition of child labour, a safe and healthy working environment, the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation, and freedom of association, and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining. The world’s top five asset managers showed less than 22 per cent alignment with the CWC view for 2024 shareholder resolutions promoting freedom of association and collective bargaining. In contrast, top asset managers based outside of the U.S. showed a 71 per cent alignment with the CWC views. Given these numbers, the CWC is calling on workers to contact their client relationship manager and to the head of ESGstewardship at their asset managers, and ask that they review the report and respond to the key findings. ESG policies within a company can be greatly influenced by large asset managers, according to the CWC, because these managers are often the largest shareholders within a company. As such, asset managers have the capacity to vote for better labour practices or more concern for the environment. However, some asset companies do not make their level of commitment to ESG issues publicly available. While BlackRock, Canada’s second largest money manager, discloses the names of all the companies they engage with on an annual or quarterly basis, Fidelity Investments does not. Capitalists against ESG commitments often employ the argument that companies belong to the shareholders, not the community. A report by the American Institute for Economic Research criticized ESG advocates because they bring too many “conflicting” goals under one umbrella. They say ESG criteria are often vague and difficult to measure. This has been particularly true with attempts to create financially “superior” ESG index funds. The CWC argues that since pension assets are largely made up of payments from workers’ the management of these assets should reflect workers’ interests. As well, freedom of association and freedom to form trade unions are rights everyone is entitled to under the UN’s International Bill of Human Rights. Support rabble today! We’re so glad you stopped by! Thanks for consuming rabble content this year. rabble.ca is 100% reader and donor funded, so as an avid reader of our content, we hope you will consider gifting rabble with a donation during our summer fundraiser today. Nick Seebruch, editor Whether it be a one-time donation or a small monthly contribution, your support is critical to keep rabble writers producing the work you’ve come to rely on as a part of a healthy media diet. Become a rabble rouser — donate to rabble.ca today. Nick Seebruch, editor Support rabble.ca
NEW YORK (AP) — An early rebound for U.S. stocks on Thursday petered out by the end of the day, leaving indexes close to flat. The S&P 500 edged down by 0.1% following Wednesday’s tumble of 2.9% when the Federal Reserve said it may deliver fewer cuts to interest rates next year than earlier thought. The index had been up as much as 1.1% in the morning. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 15 points, or less than 0.1%, following Wednesday’s drop of 1,123 points, while the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1%. This week’s struggles have taken some of the enthusiasm out of the market, which critics had been warning was overly buoyant and would need everything to go correctly for it to justify its high prices. But indexes remain near their records , and the S&P 500 is still on track for one of its best years of the millennium with a gain of 23%. Traders are now expecting the Federal Reserve to deliver just one or maybe two cuts to interest rates next year, according to data from CME Group. Some are even betting on none. A month ago, the majority saw at least two cuts in 2025 as a safe bet. Wall Street loves lower interest rates because they give the economy a boost and goose prices for investments, but they can also provide fuel for inflation. Micron Technology was one of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500 Thursday. It fell 16.2% despite reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than expected. The computer memory company’s revenue fell short of Wall Street’s forecasts, and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said it expects demand from consumers to remain weaker in the near term. It gave a forecast for revenue in the current quarter that fell well short of what analysts were thinking. Lamb Weston, which makes French fries and other potato products, dropped 20.1% after falling short of analysts’ expectations for profit and revenue in the latest quarter. It also cut its financial targets for the fiscal year, saying demand for frozen potatoes is continuing to soften, particularly outside North America. The company replaced its chief executive. Such losses helped overshadow a 14.7% jump for Darden Restaurants, the company behind Olive Garden and other chains. It delivered profit for the latest quarter that edged past analysts’ expectations. The operator of LongHorn Steakhouses also gave a forecast for revenue for this fiscal year that topped analysts’. Accenture rose 7.1% after the professional services company likewise topped expectations for profit in the latest quarter. CEO Julie Sweet said it saw growth around the world, and the company raised its forecast for revenue this fiscal year. Amazon shares added 1.3%, even as workers at seven of its facilities went on strike Thursday in the middle of the online retail giant’s busiest time of the year. Amazon says it doesn’t expect an impact on its operations during what the workers’ union calls the largest strike against the company in U.S. history. In the bond market, yields were mixed a day after shooting higher on expectations that the Fed would deliver fewer cuts to rates in 2025. Reports on the U.S. economy came in mixed. One showed the overall economy grew at a 3.1% annualized rate during the summer, faster than earlier thought. The economy has remained remarkably resilient even though the Fed held its main interest rate at a two-decade high for a while before beginning to cut them in September. A separate report showed fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, an indication that the job market also remains solid. But a third report said manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region is unexpectedly contracting again despite economists’ expectations for growth. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.57% from 4.52% late Wednesday and from less than 4.20% earlier this month. But the two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for action by the Fed in the near term, eased back to 4.31% from 4.35%. The rise in longer-term yields has put pressure on the housing market by keeping mortgage rates higher. Homebuilder Lennar fell 5.2% after reporting weaker profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Stuart Miller said that “the housing market that appeared to be improving as the Fed cut short-term interest rates, proved to be far more challenging as mortgage rates rose” through the quarter. “Even while demand remained strong, and the chronic supply shortage continued to drive the market, our results were driven by affordability limitations from higher interest rates,” he said. A report on Thursday may have offered some encouragement for the housing industry. It showed a pickup in sales of previously occupied homes. All told, the S&P 500 slipped 5.08 points to 5,867.08. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 15.37 to 42,342.24, and the Nasdaq composite lost 19.92 to 19,372.77. In stock markets abroad, London’s FTSE 100 fell 1.1% after the Bank of England paused its cuts to rates and kept its main interest rate unchanged on Thursday. The move comes as inflation there moved further above the central bank’s 2% target rate, while the British economy is flatlining at best. The Bank of Japan also kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged, and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.7%. Indexes likewise sank across much of the rest of Asia and Europe. AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.Maine's voter-approved limit on PAC contributions triggers lawsuit in federal court
It looked like a recipe for disaster. So, when his country's swimmers were being accused of doping earlier this year, one Chinese official cooked up something fast. He blamed it on contaminated noodles. In fact, he argued, it could have been a culinary conspiracy concocted by criminals, whose actions led to the cooking wine used to prepare the noodles being laced with a banned heart drug that found its way into an athlete's system. This theory was spelled out to international anti-doping officials during a meeting and, after weeks of wrangling, finally made it into the thousands of pages of data handed over to the lawyer who investigated the case involving 23 Chinese swimmers who had tested positive for that same drug. The attorney, appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency, refused to consider that scenario as he sifted through the evidence. In spelling out his reasoning, lawyer Eric Cottier paid heed to the half-baked nature of the theory. People are also reading... "The Investigator considers this scenario, which he has described in the conditional tense, to be possible, no less, no more," Cottier wrote. Even without the contaminated-noodles theory, Cottier found problems with the way WADA and the Chinese handled the case but ultimately determined WADA had acted reasonably in not appealing China's conclusion that its athletes had been inadvertently contaminated. Critics of the way the China case was handled can't help but wonder if a wider exploration of the noodle theory, details of which were discovered by The Associated Press via notes and emails from after the meeting where it was delivered, might have lent a different flavor to Cottier's conclusions. "There are more story twists to the ways the Chinese explain the TMZ case than a James Bond movie," said Rob Koehler, the director general of the advocacy group Global Athlete. "And all of it is complete fiction." Something in the kitchen was contaminated In April, reporting from the New York Times and the German broadcaster ARD revealed that the 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine, also known as TMZ. China's anti-doping agency determined the athletes had been contaminated, and so, did not sanction them. WADA accepted that explanation, did not press the case further, and China was never made to deliver a public notice about the "no-fault findings," as is often seen in similar cases. The stock explanation for the contamination was that traces of TMZ were found in the kitchen of a hotel where the swimmers were staying. In his 58-page report, Cottier relayed some suspicions about the feasibility of that chain of events — noting that WADA's chief scientist "saw no other solution than to accept it, even if he continued to have doubts about the reality of contamination as described by the Chinese authorities." But without evidence to support pursuing the case, and with the chance of winning an appeal at almost nil, Cottier determined WADA's "decision not to appeal appears indisputably reasonable." But how did the drugs get into the kitchen? A mystery remained: How did those traces of TMZ get into the kitchen? Shortly after the doping positives were revealed, the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations held a meeting on April 30 where it heard from the leader of China's agency, Li Zhiquan. Li's presentation was mostly filled with the same talking points that have been delivered throughout the saga — that the positive tests resulted from contamination from the kitchen. But he expanded on one way the kitchen might have become contaminated, harkening to another case in China involving a low-level TMZ positive. A pharmaceutical factory, he explained, had used industrial alcohol in the distillation process for producing TMZ. The industrial alcohol laced with the drug "then entered the market through illegal channels," he said. The alcohol "was re-used by the perpetrators to process and produce cooking wine, which is an important seasoning used locally to make beef noodles," Li said. "The contaminated beef noodles were consumed by that athlete, resulting in an extremely low concentration of TMZ in the positive sample. "The wrongdoers involved have been brought to justice." New information sent to WADA ... eventually This new information raised eyebrows among the anti-doping leaders listening to Li's report. So much so that over the next month, several emails ensued to make sure the details about the noodles and wine made their way to WADA lawyers, who could then pass it onto Cottier. Eventually, Li did pass on the information to WADA general counsel Ross Wenzel and, just to be sure, one of the anti-doping leaders forwarded it, as well, according to the emails seen by the AP. All this came with Li's request that the noodles story be kept confidential. Turns out, it made it into Cottier's report, though he took the information with a grain of salt. "Indeed, giving it more attention would have required it to be documented, then scientifically verified and validated," he wrote. Neither Wenzel nor officials at the Chinese anti-doping agency returned messages from AP asking about the noodles conspiracy and the other athlete who Li suggested had been contaminated by them. Meanwhile, 11 of the swimmers who originally tested positive competed at the Paris Games earlier this year in a meet held under the cloud of the Chinese doping case. Though WADA considers the case closed, Koehler and others point to situations like this as one of many reasons that an investigation by someone other than Cottier, who was hired by WADA, is still needed. "It gives the appearance that people are just making things up as they go along on this, and hoping the story just goes away," Koehler said. "Which clearly it has not." Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!
JD Vance: The Silent Force Behind Trump's Cabinet PicksJowell Global Ltd. Announces First Half 2024 Unaudited Financial Results
A top Fed official leans toward December rate cut but says it depends on economic data WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Federal Reserve official says he is leaning toward supporting an interest rate cut when the Fed meets in two weeks but that evidence of persistent inflation before then could cause him to change that view. Speaking at George Washington University, Christopher Waller, a key member of the Fed’s Board of Governors, said he was confident that inflation is headed lower and that the central bank will likely keep reducing its key rate, which affects many consumer and business loans. But he noted that there’s a risk that inflation “may be getting stuck above” the Fed’s 2% target, which would support an argument for keeping the Fed’s rate unchanged this month. Cyber Monday shoppers expected to set a record on the year's biggest day for online shopping Consumers in the U.S. are scouring the internet for online deals as they look to make the most of the post-Thanksgiving shopping marathon on Cyber Monday. The National Retail Federation coined the term for the Monday after Black Friday in 2005. Even though e-commerce is now part and parcel of many people’s regular routine, Cyber Monday continues to be the biggest online shopping day of the year, thanks to steady discounts and a fair amount of hype. Several major retails actually started their Cyber Monday promotions over the weekend. Consumer spending for the online shopping days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday provides an indication of how much shoppers are willing to spend for the holidays. Supreme Court doesn't seem convinced FDA was unfair in blocking flavored vapes teen use increased WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority of Supreme Court justices didn’t seem convinced Monday that federal regulators misled companies before refusing to allow them to sell sweet flavored vaping products following a surge in teen e-cigarette use. The court did raise questions about an FDA crackdown that included denials on sales of more than a million nicotine products formulated to taste like fruit, desert or candy. The case comes a month before the start of the second Trump administration, which could change the FDA's approach after he vowed to “save” vaping. Can AI chatbots make your holiday shopping easier? Tired of thinking about what gifts to get everyone this year? Artificial intelligence chatbots might help, but don’t expect them to always give you the right answers. Scouring the internet for Cyber Monday deals may yield an encounter with more chattier iterations of the chatbots that some retailers built to provide customer service. Some companies have integrated models that allow shoppers to ask questions like “What’s the best wireless speaker?” Retailers hope consumers use these shopping assistants as virtual companions that help them discover or compare products. The technology is still in its infancy, though, and chatbots are prone to hallucinations, so most of the new tools sometimes get things wrong. Intel CEO Gelsinger retires; Zinsner and Johnston Holthaus named interim co-CEOs Struggling chipmaker Intel says in a surprise announcement that CEO Pat Gelsinger has retired. Two company executives, David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus, will act as interim co-CEOs while the company searches for a replacement for Gelsinger, who also stepped down from the company’s board. The departure of Gelsinger, whose career spanned more than 40 years, underscores turmoil at Intel. The company was once a dominant force in the semiconductor industry but has ben eclipsed by rival Nvidia, which has cornered the market for chips that run artificial intelligence systems. Nvidia’s ascendance was cemented earlier this month when it replaced Intel on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Stock market today: Rising tech stocks pull Wall Street to another record NEW YORK (AP) — Technology stocks pulled Wall Street to another record amid mixed trading. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% Monday after closing November at an all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1%. Super Micro Computer, a stock that’s been on an AI-driven roller coaster, soared after saying an investigation found no evidence of misconduct by its management or the company’s board. Retailers were mixed coming off Black Friday and heading into what’s expected to be the best Cyber Monday on record. Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market. Better drugs through AI? Insitro CEO on what machine learning can teach Big Pharma WASHINGTON (AP) — Artificial intelligence is changing the way industries do business. But executives in the pharmaceutical industry are still waiting to see whether AI can tackle their biggest challenge: finding faster, cheaper ways to develop new drugs. Despite billions poured into research and development, new medicines still typically take a decade or more to develop. Insitro is part of a growing field of AI companies promising to accelerate drug discovery by using machine learning to analyze huge datasets that could lead to new medicines. FTC opens Microsoft antitrust investigation that Trump administration must carry on or drop Antitrust enforcers with the Federal Trade Commission have opened a wide-ranging investigation into Microsoft’s business practices, starting off a big legal project that an incoming Trump administration must take up or abandon. The FTC is investigating Microsoft’s cloud computing business and related product lines such as artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, according to a person who was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. It’s the latest action of more than three years of aggressive antitrust enforcement shepherded by FTC Chair Lina Chan, who was elevated to lead the agency by President Joe Biden after he came into office pledging tougher scrutiny of monopolistic behavior by Big Tech companies. More than 3 million travelers screened at US airports in a single day. That's a record Travelers heading home after the Thanksgiving holiday are setting a record. The Transportation Security Administration says that it screened nearly 3.1 million travelers on Sunday, breaking the previous record by about 74,000. That mark was set on July 7, also a Sunday after a holiday, July Fourth. Hundreds of thousands of travelers were delayed or had their flights canceled. FlightAware says more 6,800 flights were delayed on Sunday, with the highest numbers at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. General Motors to sell its stake in Lansing, Michigan, battery factory to LG Energy Solution DETROIT (AP) — General Motors has reached an agreement to sell its stake in a nearly completed electric vehicle battery plant in Lansing, Michigan. The company said Monday that it has a nonbinding agreement for the sale to joint venture partner LG Energy Solution of South Korea. The companies expect to close the sale by the end of March. Financial details were not released Monday, but GM said it expects to recoup its investment. The company has spent about $1 billion on the Lansing factory. GM says it will rely on joint venture factories in Warren, Ohio, and Spring Hill, Tennessee, to supply factories that make seven electric vehicles now on sale in the U.S.After posting their payments on X, netizens couldn’t hold back from roasting a “pathetic” TikTok user for tipping a content creator over $1K. TikToker ‘cookinwitkya’ has garnered 1M followers for posting videos of herself cooking. While her TikTok content is similar to other food creators like Tini or Lynja , Kya uses her “pretty” looks and provocative dancing skills to promote her videos. She’s even posted about how ‘insecure’ the girlfriends of her fans have become, adding that women have allegedly contacted her with threatening language. In addition to her TikTok posts, which have gained millions of views, Kya often goes live while making meals like pancakes, shrimp alfredo, and more. During a livestream on December 9, a fan of the TikToker sent her five payments of $249.99, totaling about $1,250. $1K tipper says cookinwitkya “got the best of me” After the TikTok user dropped over a band on Kya to watch her cook, his payout went viral on X, prompting netizens to roast him for being “pathetic.” spending over 1k on a tiktok live is PATHETIC pic.twitter.com/FQmAyBoQb8 “I’m not going to lie y’all, cookinwitkya just got the best of me,” tweeted the tipper. Popular X user ‘kirawontmiss’ then reposted their tweet, adding, “Spending over $1K on a TikTok live is pathetic.” Netizens instantly began roasting the TikTok user for shoveling out so much money on the creator. “Mfs spend so much money on BS and wonder why they’re struggling at 30,” wrote one. “What possibly could she be doing to justify paying $1K?” asked another. what possibly could she be doing to justify paying 1k “He needs to stop being a simp and do something productive with his life,” added a third. Though social media seemed to have disapproved of the $1K payment, Kya isn’t the only influencer raking in the money. In 2024, YouTuber MrBeast made $85M by creating content. Meanwhile, Twitch streamers make hundreds of dollars, sometimes thousands, depending on how many subs they receive. Related:
CHESAPEAKE, Va. , Dec. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Greenwave Technology Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: GWAV ) (" Greenwave " or the " Company "), a leading operator of metal recycling facilities across Virginia , North Carolina , and Ohio , has taken a transformative step by acquiring the real estate for seven of its core facilities. This strategic iniative, facilitated through a purchase from Chief Executive Officer Danny Meeks , thereby reduces the Company's annual rent expenses by approximately $1.7 million , enhancing cashflow and positioning Greenwave for future growth and potential high-value strategic transactions. Unmatched Competitive Edge in the Metal Recycling Industry Greenwave holds a portfolio of highly coveted operational licenses for its metal recycling facilities. These licenses, often protected by grandfathered municipal codes, provide significant barriers to entry for competitors in tightly regulated markets. Key highlights include: Norfolk, VA Facility : Positioned near the largest U.S. Naval Base, Greenwave's Norfolk facility benefits from a steady influx of prime scrap metal and holds one of the only Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles automotive recycler/demolisher licenses in the city. Virginia Beach, VA Facility : Greenwave operates the sole metal recycling facility in the state's largest city, Virginia Beach , strategically located near NAS Oceana and the region's thriving industrial core. Portsmouth, VA Facility : A cost-effective hub for domestic and international shipments due to its proximity to the Port of Virginia , the Company's license for its Portsmouth facility is shielded by grandfathered regulations. For more information, please see the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on December 2, 2024 . About Greenwave – One of the Mid Atlantic's Leading Metal Recyclers As an operator of 13 metal recycling facilities, Greenwave Technology Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: GWAV ) supplies leading steel mills and industrial conglomerates with ferrous and non-ferrous metal. Because steel is one of the most commonly recycled materials worldwide, Greenwave supplies the raw metal utilized in critical infrastructure projects and U.S. warships vital to American national security interests. Headquartered in Chesapeake, VA , the Company has 167 employees with metal recycling operations across Virginia , North Carolina , and Ohio . For detailed financials and updates, visit www.GWAV.com . Forward-looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include, without limitation, statements about its revenue growth, opening of additional locations, margin expansion and cashflow projections. These statements are identified by the use of the words "could," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "expect," "may," "continue," "predict," "potential," "project" and similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that its plans, objectives, expectations and intentions reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements are reasonable, the Company can give no assurance that these plans, objectives, expectations or intentions will be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties (some of which are beyond the Company's control), assumptions and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical experience and present expectations or projections. Actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements and the trading price for the Company's common stock may fluctuate significantly. Forward-looking statements also are affected by the risk factors described in the Company's filings with the SEC. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. SOURCE Greenwave Technology SolutionsAWS, A&MPLIFY by Alvarez and Marsal, Energy Innovation Capital, JBG SMITH, and Virginia ...
