A United Airlines flight attendant wearing a face mask walks out of the international terminal at the San Francisco International Airport in Millbrae, California, January 31, 2020. Yichuan Cao | Sipa USA | AP Images No hot towel service. Disposable cups. Plenty of masks for passengers and crews. Paid leave. The largest flight attendants union […] More

In this articleCHWYAs homebound Americans waited out the coronavirus pandemic last year, people increasingly turned to animal shelters and adopted dogs and cats as lockdown companions.Though lockdowns have eased and the country has reopened, adoption rates have largely kept shape, according to Sumit Singh, CEO of Chewy.”Overall adoptions, we believe, [are] up still year over year by double-digit percentages both across dog and cat,” he told CNBC’s Jim Cramer Thursday.Additionally, it does not look like pets are being returned to shelters in elevated numbers, said Singh, who appeared for an interview on “Mad Money.” Chewy, a $33 billion online pet food and supply store, last month launched a pet adoption service and is currently working with 6,000 shelters, he noted.”The pets coming back into the shelters actually matches the rate that we were seeing in 2019, which actually would say that, when you balance out new adoptions and pets coming back, there’s still a whole lot more pets getting adopted right now, which is great for the industry.”While Singh did not cite any statistics, online searches for pets remain elevated and the pet owner market has expanded greatly, based on research from Piper Sandler. The firm reports that searches for terms like “petfinder” and “puppies for sale” are up on a two-year basis, though it began tapering in April.The pet products industry made $103.6 billion in sales in 2020, according to the American Pet Products Association. It’s the first time annual sales crossed the $100 billion mark, the trade group announced in March. The association projects that number to grow nearly 6% in 2021, which would exceed the historical average of about 3%.After the close Thursday, Chewy reported results from its fiscal first quarter that ended May 2. The company’s revenues grew 31.7% to $2.14 billion from $1.62 billion a year ago. Results topped Wall Street’s estimates on the top and bottom lines.Shares rose 2% during Thursday’s session to close at $79.35. The stock was down more than 1% in after-hour trading.Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBCWant to take a deep dive into Cramer’s world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter – Jim Cramer Twitter – Facebook – InstagramQuestions, comments, suggestions for the “Mad Money” website? madcap@cnbc.com More

Research associate Sachi Johnson works at Sorrento Therapeutics where efforts are underway to develop an antibody, STI-1499, to help in prevention of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in San Diego, California, May 22, 2020.
Bing Guan | Reuters

All the fundamentals are aligning for the life sciences industry, as Covid-19 accelerates already growing demand for real estate in the sector.
Rents are rising for lab space, vacancies are plunging and research and development, and employment and new development are expanding further, thanks to strong venture capital investment. 

In the top life sciences markets there’s currently about 13.9 million square feet of space under construction, but active tenant demand is outpacing that, running at about 14.7 million square feet, according to a new report from CBRE. Lab-space vacancy is historically low at less than 8% percent in most top life sciences markets, pushing rents higher.
“The biotech sector may be the single most attractive subsector within commercial real estate today,” said Spencer Levy, chairman of Americas research and senior economic advisor for CBRE. “Not only because of the pandemic, which accelerated many trends, but because of these mega trends which existed prior to it, including an aging demographic, the importance of personalized medicine, and the importance of venture capital in this sector which is only increasing.”
Venture-capital investment in the sector grew to a rolling annual total of $17.8 billion in the second quarter. That is the largest amount on record, according to a survey by PwC/CB Insights MoneyTree. Employment in U.S. biotechnology research and development professions is also growing at a fast clip and exceeded 220,000 in July.
Large institutional investors that had been in the four major asset classes — apartment, retail, office and industrial — are now looking for alternatives like biotech, data centers, student and senior housing, even though those have gotten beaten up.
Biotech is a bright spot because of the pandemic, but it also has a promising future because of all the venture capital in the space, as well as funding from the National Institutes of Health. There does not appear to be much downside risk to the sector, unless construction were to really overheat and outpace demand.

Major REITs in this space include Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Healthpeak Properties, and Ventas.
“Stocks that are in this sector are doing very well. And why is that? Because of the demand for biotech,” said Levy. “I would make the similar argument about data centers. I would make the same argument about industrial overall, but these subsectors where there’s massive demand and durability through phenomena like work-from-home, gives them a bright present and a long-term future.”
Largest U.S. life sciences real estate markets
1.)    Boston-Cambridge
2.)    San Francisco Bay Area
3.)    San Diego
4.)    Washington-Baltimore
5.)    Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
6.)    New Jersey
7.)    Philadelphia
8.)    New York City
Important to watch are some of the biggest emerging markets in the sector, which include Pittsburgh, Houston, Austin, Detroit, Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, St. Louis, Atlanta, Minneapolis and Portland, Oregon. More

A protester outside the White House urges the United States to take action to stop the oppression of the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples, on August 14, 2020 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images News | Getty Images

A Chinese dissident has targeted three American corporations after a report alleged that they lobbied the U.S. Congress to weaken a bill banning imports made using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang province.
Citing unnamed congressional staffers and lobbying records, the New York Times on Sunday reported that the bill, known as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, has come under pressure from multinational companies including Nike, Apple and Coca-Cola, as well as business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The bill is designed to crack down on alleged human rights abuses against Muslim minority groups in China’s far west. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2018 accused China of detaining at least 1 million Uighur and Turkic people in “so-called counter-extremism” camps that engage in “political and cultural indoctrination.”

Strong denial from China

In a statement to CNBC, China’s embassy in the United States denied that it uses forced labor.
“Some US politicians have concocted disinformation of so-called ‘forced labor’ in order to restrict and oppress relevant parties and enterprises in China as well as contain China’s development,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying.
“The US practice violates the international trade rules and market economy principles, destroys the global industrial chains and supply chains, and damages the interests of enterprises and consumers in various countries, including the United States,” said the statement, which added that, “All ethnic groups in Xinjiang choose their occupations according to their own will and sign “labor contracts” of their own volition in accordance with law on the basis of equality.”

Bi-partisan support

The forced labor bill gained bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, passing in the House by a vote of 406 to 3, but lobbyists have reportedly sought to water down its requirements, citing concerns that they could disrupt supply chains in China. The bill has not yet passed the U.S. Senate but has sufficient backing to do so, the New York Times reported.

Exiled Chinese dissident Badiucao, who in September was awarded the Vaclav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent, took to his 74,000 Twitter followers on Thursday to launch a series of satirical images targeting Nike, Apple and Coca-Cola for their alleged efforts to weaken the bill.
Speaking to CNBC via telephone from Australia on Thursday, Badiucao, who goes by a pseudonym, said he hopes the campaign will raise awareness of the persecution of Uighurs and encourage consumers to learn more about the brands they buy from.
“It is extremely disappointing to see those big corporations trying to block it with the lobbying action they are doing. I think this is really despicable and not acceptable,” Badiucao said.
“Ultimately, the customers will decide the reaction of the company, as they are only doing this to meet our desire, so the power is still within the consumer,” he said.

Nike, Coca-Cola respond

Nike in a statement to CNBC on Thursday denied lobbying for changes to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act or any other forced labor legislation, saying it has “long prioritized constructive discussions on issues of respecting human rights” with members of Congress. The company said it doesn’t source products from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, and its contract suppliers don’t procure textiles there.
Coca-Cola said it prohibits any type of forced labor in its supply chain and uses independent, third-party audits to enforce its guidelines. A facility in Xinjiang that supplies sugar to a local bottling operation “successfully completed an audit in 2019,” the company said Thursday.
Coca-Cola added that it does not import goods from that facility, called COFCO Tunhe, or the region of Xinjiang into the United States.
Apple, which was also targeted by dissident artist Badiucao, did not immediately respond to CNBC requests for comment.

‘Information black hole’

One of Badiucao’s satirical images tries to draw a contrast with Nike’s endorsement of former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s “take a knee” initiative. The Apple image mimics the company’s iPhone advertising, but changes the product name to “iChain.”
Badiucao suggested that corporations generally are able to “exploit this information black hole created by the Chinese government,” with consumers often unaware of events on the ground owing to the government’s control on information from the region.

A Nike Ad featuring football player Colin Kaepernick is on display September 8, 2018 in New York City.
Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images

On Wednesday, the U.S. government issued a ban on cotton and cotton products from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), one of China’s largest producers.
Badiucao’s collection also takes aim at apparel brand Zara, owned by Spain’s Inditex, and Japan’s Muji, alleging the presence of Xinjiang cotton in their supply chains. Clothing brands around the world have been accused by human rights groups of having links to cotton picked in Xinjiang camps.
Inditex said it takes a “zero-tolerance” approach toward forced labor and has policies in place to ensure that it doesn’t take place anywhere in its supply chain.
“We are aware of a number of such reports alleging social and labor malpractice in various supply chains among Uyghurs in Xinjiang (China) as well as in other regions, which are highly concerning,” the company said in a statement.
“Following an internal investigation,” the company said, “we can confirm that Inditex does not have commercial relations with any factory in Xinjiang.”
Muji said it does not tolerate any form of forced labor or human trafficking in its supply chains, and an independent third party audit had not found any “material violations” of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
“In addition, all of our cottons and yarns have obtained the international organic certification confirmed by a third-party organization, the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), which requires the compliance with working conditions set by the International Labor Organization (ILO),” a spokesperson told CNBC.
—CNBC’s Christine Wang contributed to this report. More

Johnson & Johnson announced Wednesday that it will develop and deliver 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine for the U.S. in a deal totaling more than $1 billion. More