In this articleFBronco SUVs in production at Ford’s Michigan Assembly plant, June 14, 2021.Michael Wayland | CNBCDETROIT – Ford Motor’s June and second-quarter sales were below analyst expectations as a global shortage of semiconductor chips caused significant production cuts and inventory constraints.Ford sold 475,327 vehicles during the second quarter, a 9.6% increase from a year earlier when the coronavirus pandemic caused Americans to shelter in place and temporarily closed auto dealerships. Edmunds expected Ford’s sales to rise by 10.5%, while Cox Automotive forecast an increase of 20.5%.For June, the automaker said Friday that its sales declined by 26.9%, including a roughly 30% drop in its F-Series pickups.Ford previously said it expected to lose half of its production in the second quarter due to the chip shortage. Earlier this week, it also announced additional production cuts throughout July due to the problem.Separately, The automaker said reservations for its electric F-150 Lightning pickup that’s due out next year have topped 100,000 since its debut in May.Ford’s sales follow GM and other automakers reporting significant increases in second-quarter sales but at a slower pace through the quarter due to low vehicle inventories caused by the chip shortage.”The quarter started off extremely strong, April broke a lot of sales records as far as over 18 million, and then we saw that inventory continue to dwindle,” said Jessica Caldwell, executive director of insights at Edmunds. “Consumer demand is still very strong, but the inventory is somewhat lacking.”June’s selling rate was about 15.5 million vehicles, according to analysts. Forecasts for the selling rate were between 15.7 million and 16.4 million, down from 17.1 million vehicles in May and 18.6 million vehicles in April.The sales pace for any given month measures how many cars the industry would sell for the year if it sold the same amount every month. It’s a main barometer of the industry’s health and consumer demand.The chip shortage is causing a shake-up in America’s automotive ranks. For the second quarter, Toyota Motor was the bestselling automaker in the U.S., ousting General Motors.The Japanese automaker on Thursday reported sales of 688,813 vehicles in the U.S. from April through June. That compares to GM at 688,236 vehicles during the second quarter. More

Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci speaks with Vice President Mike Pence as they participate in a news briefing with member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Thursday, Nov 19, 2020 in Washington, DC.Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty ImagesWhite House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday that Americans should begin to see a turning point in the pandemic “within a few weeks.”The United States has been averaging about 3 million Covid-19 vaccination shots per day, Fauci said. Meanwhile, the nation reported a seven-day average of 58,164 new Covid cases per day as of Sunday, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. That’s down 14% from a week ago.If the U.S. continues its vaccination pace, “literally within a few weeks, we’re going to start to see a turning around of the dynamics,” Fauci said Monday during a virtual event hosted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.”Not down to no infections,” he said. “If you’re waiting for classic measles-like herd immunity, that’s going to be a while before we get there. But that doesn’t mean we’re not going to have a significant diminution in the number of infections per day and a significant diminution in all of the parameters, namely hospitalizations and deaths.”The Biden administration has pushed Americans to get vaccinated as quickly as possible as new, highly contagious variants spread.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said earlier this month that the B.1.1.7 variant, which appears to be more deadly and spread more easily than other strains, is now the most common Covid strain circulating in the U.S.U.S. health officials say they are concerned the highly contagious variant, first identified in the U.K., could stall the nation’s progress on the pandemic. The outbreak has killed at least 572,287 Americans in a little over a year.CNBC Health & Science Read CNBC’s latest coverage of the Covid pandemic:Fauci says U.S. should see a turning point in the pandemic ‘within a few weeks’U.S. to share 60 million doses of AstraZeneca Covid vaccine with other countriesBiden administration set to relax outdoor mask guidancePhotos show the deadly toll of Covid in India as coronavirus cases top 17 millionStill, vaccinations are being administered at a rapid pace. More than 139 million Americans, or 42.2% of the total U.S. population, had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine as of Sunday, according to the CDC. Roughly 94.7 million people, or 28.5% of the population, are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.Last week, the Biden administration announced a massive campaign to persuade more Americans, particularly young people, to take the Covid-19 vaccines as supply begins to outpace demand in some parts of the U.S.Fauci has said the goal is to vaccinate between 70% and 85% of the U.S. population — or roughly 232 million to 281 million people — to achieve herd immunity and suppress the pandemic.But he said Monday that herd immunity is a “moving target.” The U.S. should just focus on getting as many Americans vaccinated as possible, Fauci said.”We don’t know what the durability of the infection-induced immunity is. We don’t know if someone who got infected last winter or in the early part of 2020 is going to be safe from a protected standpoint now,” he said. More

Major League Soccer and Adidas have renewed their partnership.
Adidas will also work with MLS on expanding the U.S. audience for soccer.
MLS kicks off its 28th season this week.

Major League Soccer and sportwear giant Adidas agreed to a multiyear extension of their partnership.
The deal, announced days before MLS kicks off its 28th season, goes through 2030 and is valued at $830 million, according to a person involved in the deal. It represents Adidas’ largest-ever investment in North American soccer.

Their current contract, set to expire next year, was signed in 2017. At the time, it marked a record-breaking deal for North American soccer for Adidas. That deal was valued at $700 million.
Under the terms of the new agreement, Adidas will continue to supply the league with branded apparel, footwear, training gear and the official match ball.
“We have sponsorship revenue of nearly a billion dollars over a period of time, lots of ticket revenue, lots of local sponsorship, getting the largest company in the world to give us the first global digital partnership — every game on a device,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Wednesday. “So that’s the pitch deck and obviously when you got a partnership like this it takes that to another level.”

Adidas renews its longtime partnership with Major League Soccer until 2030.
Source: Major League Soccer

The German sportswear giant will also work with MLS on various initiatives and financial investments to grow the sport and business on and off the field ahead of the 2026 World Cup that’s being held in North America.
“Looking ahead to the 2026 World Cup, we see many possibilities to build upon the strong foundation and positive momentum we have already created together. The league’s future is bright and we are proud to be part of it,” Rupert Campbell, president of Adidas North America, told CNBC.

The relationship between Adidas and MLS dates back to the league’s inception in 1996. Eight years later, Adidas became league-wide partners, an arrangement that has continued until the present.

Ups and downs

It has been a tumultuous year for Adidas, including the turmoil surrounding Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, following his antisemitic remarks. The company expects $1 billion in losses after dropping the rapper and fashion mogul. The brand is also under the new leadership of Bjorn Gulden, the former CEO of rival Puma.
These issues didn’t affect the negotiations, which took a year, according to a person familiar with the situation. MLS was also confident that Adidas would properly resolve the issues with Ye, said the person, who declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak on the matter.
Major League Soccer has seen rapid fan and financial growth since the last contract negotiations. The league has grown from 16 clubs in 2010 to 29 teams today. Since 2019, the average team value has jumped 85% to $579 million, according to Forbes. Earlier this month, Los Angeles Football Club became the first team in the league’s billion-dollar club, with a franchise valued at $1 billion. In 2008, the average club valuation was $37 million.
Attendance is also at all-time highs. The league saw a record 10 million fans in 2022, breaking the previous record of 8.6 million in 2019.
Investors have taken notice. The league has attracted a diverse group of celebrity owners that includes basketball star James Harden; actors Matthew McConaughey, Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon; musicians Ciara and Macklemore; and football stars Russell Wilson and Patrick Mahomes.
In June, the league entered into a 10-year deal with Apple TV to stream all MLS Leagues Cup matches through the MLS Season Pass exclusively. Commissioner Don Garber has said he hopes that the new partnership will help the league to continue to connect with a younger demographic. That deal is widely reported to be worth $2.5 billion, with Apple paying MLS $250 million annually.
The league and Adidas are trying to expand their cultural reach, as well. Adidas introduced a special Nashville SC Johnny Cash jersey last week. The team will wear it during its season opener, with Johnny Cash music blaring from the stadium. Nashville minority owner Witherspoon won an Oscar for playing June Carter Cash in 2005’s “Walk the Line,” which can be streamed through Apple.
The MLS season begins Saturday.

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More

People wait in a line stretching around the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on midtown Manhattan’s west side, to receive a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at the site which has been converted into a mass vaccination center in New York, March 2, 2021.
Mike Segar | Reuters

The U.S. is at a “critical nexus” in its response to the coronavirus pandemic as highly transmissible variants threaten to overturn the nation’s progress in a matter of weeks, even as more vaccines make their way into the arms of Americans, top health officials warned Wednesday.
The emergence of the new variants has largely coincided with the sharp decline in daily new cases across the U.S. since January, but those figures have since stalled.

The highly contagious variant first identified in the U.K., known as B.1.1.7, “looms ready to hijack” the nation’s success, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday.
“So much can turn in the next few weeks,” Walensky said at a White House Covid-19 response briefing. “How this plays out is up to us. The next three months are pivotal.”
The U.S. is reporting a daily average of roughly 65,422 new cases over the last week, a drop compared with the peak of nearly 250,000 daily cases the U.S. reported in January, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
However, the number of daily new infections is still above the rate the U.S. reported over the summer when the virus swept across America’s Sun Belt. Covid-19 cases are now growing by more than 5% in 14 states, up from only two states a week ago.

Arrows pointing outwards

CDC researchers released a study on Jan. 15 that predicted the B.1.1.7 strain would become the predominant strain in the U.S. by mid-to-late March. Health officials have since warned that the variants could reverse the current downward trajectory in infections in the U.S. and delay the nation’s recovery from the pandemic.

“Now more than ever, we must do all we can to stop the spread of the virus,” Walensky said.
Other variants loom
The B.1.1.7 variant first found in the U.K. isn’t the only strain concerning medical experts.
White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday noted the B.1.351 variant first identified in South Africa could “moderately to severely” reduce vaccine efficacy, and the P.1 variant found in Brazil may evade antibodies generated by previous infection or vaccination.
There are also new variants that have been discovered in the United States. Preliminary reports show that the B.1.427 variant found in California may be more transmissible than previous strains, Fauci said.
The infectious disease expert said earlier this week that U.S. officials are also taking the B.1.526 variant found in New York “very seriously,” raising the possibility that it could evade the protection of antibody treatments and vaccines.
Fauci reiterated that the vaccines should still protect against the disease, and drugmakers are working on booster doses to tackle the arising mutations. Clinical trials for a booster shot from Moderna to target the B.1.351 variant are planned to begin in mid-March, he said.
While the U.S. may see another surge from the B.1.1.7 variant in the future, Dr. Celine Gounder, a former member of President Joe Biden’s Covid advisory board, told CNBC she’s more concerned about the B.1.351 or P.1 variants mutating further and making the currently deployed vaccines less effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths.
“If you have the B.1.351 or the P.1 further mutate to where it’s no longer covered by the vaccine, and you have a window where we don’t yet have the updated vaccine available, we could find ourselves in a difficult spot in the fall,” Gounder said in a phone interview.
Covid fatigue sets in
The variants aren’t the only problem. Covid fatigue is winning, and fewer people are adhering the recommended public health measures necessary to curb the virus’s spread, Walensky said.
Despite recent warnings from the Biden administration, some states have continued to forge ahead with their reopenings as cases dip and more vaccines are administered. Texas and Mississippi announced Tuesday that they would fully reopen their states and nix their mask requirements.
“I would still encourage individuals to wear a mask, to socially distance and do the right thing to protect their own health,” Walensky said Wednesday.
In New York, large sports arenas were allowed to return with required testing, and restaurants in New York City have resumed indoor dining with limited capacity.
New York is reporting an average of roughly 7,399 new Covid-19 cases per day, the lowest daily number of cases the state has recorded since early December but hovering at nearly the same level when Gov. Andrew Cuomo closed the city’s indoor dining in December.
On Wednesday, Cuomo noted during a news briefing that the state’s Covid-19 hospitalizations have now “dropped to a level below where it was before it started to peak” in December amid the holidays.
Gounder, who’s a professor of medicine at New York University, said she felt it was “premature” for New York to reopen indoor dining.
“I think it was very unwise to be reopening restaurants, which are basically the highest risk public places at this time,” Gounder said. More

U.S banks including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley said Friday they plan to raise their quarterly dividends after clearing the Federal Reserve’s annual stress test.
JPMorgan plans to boost its payout to $1.05 a share from $1 a share starting in the third quarter, the New York-based bank said in a statement.
Goldman Sachs announced the largest per share boost among big banks, while Citigroup announced the smallest.

Jamie Dimon, CEO, JP Morgan Chase, during Jim Cramer interview, Feb. 23, 2023.

Large U.S banks including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley said Friday they plan to raise their quarterly dividends after clearing the Federal Reserve’s annual stress test.
JPMorgan plans to boost its payout to $1.05 a share from $1 a share starting in the third quarter, subject to board approval, the New York-based bank said in a statement.

“The Federal Reserve’s 2023 stress test results show that banks are resilient – even while withstanding severe shocks – and continue to serve as a pillar of strength to the financial system and broader economy,” JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in the release. “The Board’s intended dividend increase represents a sustainable and modestly higher level of capital distribution to our shareholders.”
On Wednesday, the Fed released results from its annual exercise and said that all 23 banks that participated cleared the regulatory hurdle. The test dictates how much capital banks can return to shareholders via buybacks and dividends. In this year’s exam, the banks underwent a “severe global recession” with unemployment surging to 10%, a 40% decline in commercial real estate values and a 38% drop in housing prices.
After they cleared the test, Wells Fargo said it will increase its dividend to 35 cents a share from 30 cents a share, and Morgan Stanley said it would boost its payout to 85 cents a share from 77.5 cents a share.
Goldman Sachs announced the largest per share boost among big banks, taking its dividend to $2.75 a share from $2.50 a share.

Small Citi

Meanwhile, Citigroup said it would boost its quarterly payout to 53 cents a share from 51 cents a share, the smallest increase among its peers.

That’s likely because while JPMorgan and Goldman surprised analysts this week with better-than-expected results that allowed for smaller capital buffers, Citigroup was among banks that saw their buffers increase after the stress test.
“While we would have clearly preferred not to see an increase in our stress capital buffer, these results still demonstrate Citi’s financial resilience through all economic environments,” Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said in her company’s release.
All of the big banks held back on announcing specific plans to boost share repurchases. For instance, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley each said they could buy back shares using previously-announced repurchase plans; Wells Fargo said it had the “capacity to repurchase common stock” over the next year.
Analysts have said that banks would likely be more conservative with their capital-return plans this year. That’s because the finalization of international banking regulations is expected to boost the levels of capital the biggest global firms like JPMorgan would need to maintain.
There are other reasons for banks to hold onto capital: Regional banks may also be held to higher standards as part of regulators’ response to the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in March, and a potential recession could boost future loan losses for the industry. More