Raphael Stevens

The Biden administration on Tuesday announced new energy efficiency regulations that will phase out old-fashioned incandescent lightbulbs.
The Energy Department’s rules, which reverse a Trump administration policy, will ban the sale of light bulbs that produce less than 45 lumens per watt and raise energy efficiency standards for various types of general service lamps.
The new standards will save consumers $3 billion each year in utility costs, the department said.

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks about climate change and protecting national forests on Earth Day at Seward Park in Seattle, Washington, April 22, 2022.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

The Biden administration on Tuesday announced new energy efficiency regulations that will phase out old-fashioned incandescent lightbulbs, a move that will drive down electricity use and curb greenhouse gas emissions from the country’s power sector.
The Energy Department’s rules, which reverse a Trump administration policy, will ban the sale of light bulbs that produce less than 45 lumens per watt and raise energy efficiency standards for various types of general service lamps.

The new standards will save consumers $3 billion each year in utility costs, the department said. The rules could also prevent 222 million tons of planet-warming carbon pollution from being emitted over the next 30 years. That’s about as much as 48 million vehicles emit in a year.
Incandescent bulbs, which are the widely recognized glass orbs with glowing wire centers, have been increasingly replaced with more energy-efficient alternatives in recent years. More climate-friendly alternatives include LED bulbs, which look like the traditional pear-shaped incandescent bulbs, but use one-fifth the energy.
The administration’s new rules will eventually phase out most incandescent and halogen bulbs on the market.
“By raising energy efficiency standards for lightbulbs, we’re putting $3 billion back in the pockets of American consumers and substantially reducing domestic carbon emissions,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said in a statement.
“The lighting industry is already embracing more energy-efficient products, and this measure will accelerate progress to deliver the best products to American consumers and build a better and brighter future,” Granholm said.

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Former President Donald Trump in 2019 rolled back requirements for more energy-efficient lightbulbs, arguing that the standards were not economically justified. The decision was supported by industry groups who argued that standards requiring consumers to use more efficient options would risk jobs and consumers’ ability to choose.
Joe Vukovich, an energy efficiency advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the announcement of new light bulb efficiency standards is “brilliant news” for consumers and the environment.
“We are long overdue to phase out inefficient old-fashioned light bulbs as this progress was illegally delayed by the Trump administration for more than two years,” Vukovich said in a statement.
The new efficiency standard will become effective 75 days after publication in the Federal Register. However, the Energy Department said it will allow companies to import noncompliant bulbs until January 2023 and allow retailers to continue selling them until July 2023.
“LEDs have become so inexpensive that there’s no good reason for manufacturers to keep selling 19th-century technology that just isn’t very good at turning electrical energy into light,” Steven Nadel, executive director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, said in a statement.
“These standards will finally phase out energy-wasting bulbs across the country,” Nadel said.
The Biden administration has committed to achieving a net-zero emissions electricity sector by 2030, and plans to complete 100 energy-efficiency actions this year.

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Life Changes

Your end-of-life experience may be very different depending on where you live, according to a Policygenius report.
The report ranks the best and worst U.S. places to die based on funeral costs and services, green burials, palliative care, Medicare providers, at-home deaths and probate shortcuts.

Your end-of-life experience may be very different depending on where you live, according to a Policygenius report that ranks the country’s best and worst places to die. 
The report gave each state and the District of Columbia a numerical score based on seven factors, including funeral costs and services, green burials, palliative care, Medicare providers, at-home deaths and probate shortcuts.

“I think the big takeaway of this project is to get people thinking about the costs associated with the end of life,” said Logan Sachon, senior managing editor of research at Policygenius. “Because some of them can be mitigated through planning.”

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Here’s a look at other stories offering a financial angle on important lifetime milestones.

“If you look at the top 10 and bottom 10, there aren’t any specific things they all have in common,” Sachon said. “They are each kind of unique in their own way.”
Indeed, Vermont, ranked as the No. 1 place to die, was among the most expensive for funeral costs but scored highest for palliative care, which focuses on pain relief, management and emotional support.
Florida, known for its high population of retirees, came in last place, with the fewest Medicare providers per capita, and scored low for at-home deaths and palliative care.
The best places in the U.S. to die

Vermont
Utah
Idaho
Ohio
South Dakota
Maine
Colorado (tie)
Illinois (tie)
New Hampshire
Washington

The worst places in the U.S. to die

Florida
Alaska
Texas
Hawaii
New York
Georgia
New Jersey
North Carolina
South Carolina
Connecticut

It’s never too early for older Americans to prepare for end of life, Sachon said.
While the Covid-19 pandemic has boosted awareness about the need to be proactive, 67% of Americans still don’t have an estate plan, according to senior living referral service Caring.com.  
Experts recommend an advanced directive, also known as a living will, covering your medical care preferences. You’ll also need a health-care proxy or power of attorney, naming someone to make medical decisions on your behalf if needed.

Estate planning

The report also focuses on each state’s probate process, which determines the cost and time it takes to settle your estate.
As of June 2021, only 17 states and the District of Columbia have an estate or inheritance tax, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
With different laws in every state, a local estate planning attorney may share some options to protect your assets and carry out your wishes, depending on where you live.

There’s no federal estate tax on wealth below $12.06 million for individuals in 2022, and with proper planning, married couples can transfer their unused exemption to their surviving spouse, effectively doubling it to $24.12 million. 
However, this reverts to an estimated $6 million exemption in 2026 when provisions from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act sunset. More

A team of scientists led by Mount Sinai in New York City shed light on how pre-malignant cells can spread from early stage breast cancer to other parts of the body.
These pre-malignant cells lie dormant and can later reactivate and cause disease relapse.
The NR2F1 gene normally prevents pre-malignant cells from spreading to other parts of the body.
A cancer gene, HER2, suppresses the NR2F1 gene, allowing pre-cancerous cells to move to other organs of the body where they can become cancerous.

A consultant analyzing a mammogram.
Rui Vieira | PA Wire | Getty Images

Scientists have shed new light on how early stage breast cancer spreads to other organs undetected, which can cause fatal metastatic cancer in some women years later.
Before a breast cancer tumor is even detected, cells that are not yet malignant can spread to other organs where they lie dormant and don’t replicate, according to new research led by Maria Soledad Sosa, a professor at Mount Sinai’s Tisch Cancer Institute in New York City.

The NR2F1 gene normally prevents pre-malignant cells from spreading to other parts of the body.
Sosa and a team of scientists found that a cancer gene, HER2, suppresses the NR2F1 gene, allowing pre-cancerous cells to move to other organs of the body where they can become cancerous.
“Evidence is suggesting that even before a primary tumor is detectable, you can have cells that disseminate also to secondary organs and they can eventually also form metastasis,” Sosa said. The lungs, the bones and the brain are common places for breast cancer to metastasize, or spread.
The team’s research was published Tuesday in the peer-reviewed journal Cancer Research. The lab study was conducted using samples of an early form of breast cancer known as ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS, as well as cancer lesions from mice.
Sosa, the study’s lead author, said understanding the mechanism that allows the pre-malignant cells to spread throughout the body could one day help determine which women are at a higher risk for breast cancer relapse. If a patient is showing low levels of NR2F1, it could be a sign that dormant cancer cells are spreading in the body where they can reactivate later and cause disease.

The study’s findings could have an impact on how women diagnosed with DCIS are treated. DCIS is an abnormal cell growth in the lining of the breast’s milk duct that has not developed into a malignant tumor. DCIS is traditionally considered noninvasive, meaning the abnormal cells haven’t spread yet. However, research by Sosa’s team and others is challenging that notion.
More than 51,000 women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with DCIS this year, according to the American Cancer Society. Many women diagnosed with DCIS undergo either surgery or radiation or both. However, women diagnosed with DCIS who undergo these treatments still have about a 3% chance of dying from breast cancer 20 years after their diagnosis, according to a seminal study published in Jama Oncology in 2015.
More than 150 women in the study who had their breast removed still died from cancer, which means disease had likely spread at the time of detection. The scientists concluded that the classification of DCIS as noninvasive should be reconsidered, warning that some cases of the carcinoma have an inherent potential for distant spread to other parts of the body.
“Even though they do the surgery of DCIS or sometimes it’s treated with radiotherapy, the mortality rate doesn’t change. This is telling you that it doesn’t matter what is there in your primary site,” Sosa said. The problem is that the abnormal cells are spreading from the carcinoma, she said.

CNBC Health & Science

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Delta says it will start paying flight attendants during boarding, a first for a U.S. carrier.
The announcement came amid a unionization drive.
Delta is the only major U.S. airline whose flight attendants aren’t unionized.

Flight attendants wearing protective masks walk through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday, April 7, 2021.
Elijah Nouvelage | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Delta Air Lines said it will start paying flight attendants during boarding, a first for a major U.S. airline and an initiative that comes during a unionization drive for the Atlanta-based airline’s biggest work group.
Usually, flight attendants are paid starting when the aircraft doors close.

Delta plans to begin the boarding pay, half of flight attendants’ hourly rates, on June 2, according to a company memo. The carrier is also increasing boarding time for narrow-body flights to 40 minutes from 35, which the company says is “one of several steps we’re taking to add resiliency to our operation.”
The pay changes were announced as a union campaign by the Association of Flight Attendants that started in late 2019 picks up steam again as the Covid pandemic crisis wanes for airlines.
Delta’s more than 20,000 flight attendants are not unionized, unlike at other major U.S. airlines.
“As we get closer to filing for our union vote, management is getting nervous,” the AFA said late Monday in a statement. The organization is the country’s largest flight attendants union, representing cabin crews at United, Spirit, Hawaiian, Alaska and Frontier, among others.
“In this case, they also know that changing domestic boarding time from 35 to 40 minutes without adding a benefit would create an uproar — just as the ‘test’ in Atlanta did back in October,” the AFA said, referring to a test of the new procedure last fall.
The boarding pay is on top of the 4% raises Delta announced in March, employees’ first annual increase since 2019.

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Warner Bros. Discovery reported a 13% revenue jump and consistent streaming subscriber growth for its fiscal first quarter Tuesday.
The results don’t include first-quarter performance from WarnerMedia, which Discovery bought this month.
Ahead of an HBO Max-Discovery+ combination, the company began winding down promotion around Discovery+.

David Zaslav
Anjali Sundaram | CNBC

Warner Bros. Discovery reported a 13% revenue jump and consistent streaming subscriber growth for its fiscal first quarter Tuesday. The results don’t include first-quarter performance from WarnerMedia, which Discovery bought this month.
The company reported revenue of $3.16 billion and net income of $456 million. Shares rose as much as 2% in premarket trading.

Here are the key numbers:

Earnings per share: 69 cents, compared with 21 cents in last year’s first quarter
Revenue: $3.16 billion, compared with $2.79 billion in last year’s first quarter
Discovery streaming customers: 24 million, up 2 million from the prior quarter

The newly combined Warner Bros. Discovery, a result of the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger that closed April 8, debuts as a pure-play media company that investors can compare to Disney, Netflix and Paramount Global. Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav hopes to show Wall Street the new entity’s assets, including streaming services HBO Max and Discovery+, can compete globally for market share against the biggest entertainment companies in the world.
“We are putting together the strategic framework and organization to drive our balanced approach to growing our businesses and maximizing the value of our storytelling, news and sports,” Zaslav said in a statement. “I could not be more excited about the massive opportunity ahead.”
The combined WarnerMedia-Discovery company has a market valuation of more than $50 billion.

Streamlining streaming

Zaslav took his first steps toward streamlining the company’s operations last week when he shut down CNN+ just weeks after its launch.

Zaslav plans to combine HBO Max and Discovery+ into a bundled streaming service. The company hasn’t announced if the new combined product will be renamed or when that change will take place.
“We will clearly take swift and decisive action on certain items, as you saw last week with CNN+,” Zaslav said on the company’s earnings call.
Ahead of that effort, Discovery began winding down promotion around Discovery+ during the first quarter. The company said selling, general and administrative expenses in the period dropped 25%, primarily due to lower marketing-related expenses for Discovery+ compared with last year’s launch period.
Warner Bros. Discovery said it added 2 million Discovery-related streaming subscribers in the quarter for a total of 24 million. That’s consistent with the 2 million added in the fourth quarter.
Last week, AT&T said HBO and HBO Max had 76.8 million subscribers at the end of the first quarter of 2022. The announcement marked the final time WarnerMedia would be part of AT&T’s earnings report.
WATCH: Why CNN+ is shutting down

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PepsiCo topped Wall Street’s estimates for its first-quarter earnings and revenue.
The company raised its full-year forecast for organic revenue growth.
Pepsi reported a $193 million impairment charge, after taxes, as it tries to discontinue or reposition some of its juice and dairy brands in Russia.

Pepsi products are displayed for sale in a Target store on March 8, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images

PepsiCo on Tuesday reported quarterly earnings and revenue that topped analyst expectations, as consumers paid more for their Doritos, Quaker oatmeal and Gatorade.
On the heels of its strong performance, the company raised its full-year forecast for organic revenue growth.

Shares of the company were essentially flat in premarket trading.
Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:

Earnings per share: $1.29 adjusted vs. $1.23 expected
Revenue: $16.2 billion vs. $15.56 billion expected

Pepsi announced first-quarter net income attributable to the company of $4.26 billion, or $3.06 per share, up from $1.71 billion, or $1.24 per share, a year earlier.
The food and beverage giant reported a $193 million impairment charge after taxes as it tries to discontinue or reposition some of its juice and dairy brands in Russia. The charge dragged down its earnings by 14 cents per share. An additional impairment charge of $241 million after taxes related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict weighed on its earnings by 17 cents per share.
“We don’t expect the business to deliver a lot of growth this year, given all of the challenges and the decisions we’ve made,” CFO Hugh Johnston told analysts on the conference call.

In March, Pepsi joined a host of other Western companies in suspending some of its Russian business but fell short of halting sales entirely like rival Coca-Cola. Pepsi generates roughly 4% of its annual revenue in Russia, making the country one of the few markets where it has a bigger presence than Coke. The company said it will keep selling some essential products, like baby formula, milk and baby food.
Excluding the sale of its juice business, the Russian impairment charge and other items, the company earned $1.29 per share, topping the $1.23 per share expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.
Net sales rose 9.3% to $16.2 billion, beating expectations of $15.56 billion. Organic revenue climbed 13.7% in the quarter, fueled largely by higher prices.
Executives said that convenience stores are seeing less foot traffic as fuel prices climb, but consumer behavior hasn’t changed meaningfully yet.
The company’s North American beverage business reported volume growth of 3%. This quarter marked the launch of Pepsi’s foray into alcohol with Hard Mtn Dew, made in partnership with Boston Beer. CEO Ramon Laguarta said the new drink has had a “pretty good response” from consumers, but it’s too early yet to call it a big success.
“There’s a lot of initial trial,” he said. “As always in these circumstances, we have to weigh it and see if it repeats and see really where the business stabilizes.”
Frito-Lay North America saw volume increase just 1% in the quarter, although the segment’s organic revenue climbed 14%. The company said Doritos, Lay’s, Ruffles and Cheetos all saw double-digit revenue growth.
Quaker Foods was the only North American business unit to report shrinking volume during the quarter. The segment has struggled to hold onto the consumers it gained during the early days of the Covid pandemic, when more people were eating breakfast at home. Still, Pepsi said it gained market share in the rice and pasta, light snacks, ready-to-eat cereal and snack bar categories.
For the full year, Pepsi now expects organic revenue growth of 8%, up from its prior forecast of 6%. Johnston said the revised forecast is due both to rising prices and increased volume. The company reiterated its forecast for full-year core earnings per share growth of 8%.
Read the full press release here.

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There’s growing concern among Wall Street analysts that higher costs and supply chain disruptions will put pressure on 2022 earnings for General Motors and Ford Motor.
Ahead of the Detroit automakers’ first-quarter earnings reports this week, several analysts cited such problems, including inflation and parts disruptions.
GM reports first-quarter results after the market close Tuesday, followed by Ford on Wednesday.

The General Motors world headquarters office is seen at Detroit’s Renaissance Center.
Paul Hennessy | LightRocket | Getty Images

DETROIT – There’s growing concern among Wall Street analysts that higher costs and supply chain disruptions will put pressure on 2022 earnings for General Motors and Ford Motor — even more than initially expected.
Ahead of the Detroit automakers’ first-quarter earnings reports this week, several analysts cited such problems, including inflation and parts disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, as concerns for the companies and broader automotive industry.

JPMorgan analyst Ryan Brinkman on Monday trimmed first-quarter estimates for both GM and Ford for the second time.
“Commodity prices have since stabilized but remain elevated and volatile and suppliers are surely requesting higher prices from both GM and Ford to help compensate for an increasing array of non-commodity supply chain costs,” he said.

JPMorgan now expects first-quarter earnings per share for GM of $1.52, down from $1.58 and below the $1.68 average of forecasts compiled by Refinitiv. It lowered its forecast for Ford to 41 cents a share, down from 52 cents but slightly higher than the 38 cents per share expected by Refinitiv consensus estimates.
GM reports first-quarter results after the market close Tuesday, followed by Ford on Wednesday.
Evercore ISI in a note to investors last week said it expects Ford to cut its 2022 outlook due to the growing number of problems facing the company. It cited the company’s exposure to supply chain problems in Europe due to the war and the increased cost of aluminum used in its top-selling F-Series pickups, among other issues.

In early March, Ford reaffirmed its expectations of a pretax profit between $11.5 billion and $12.5 billion for the year. However supply chain problems have only gotten more complex since then, according to analysts.

GM previously forecast a pretax profit of $13 billion to $15 billion for 2022, but Evercore ISI said it’s “not quite clear” whether the company would suffer “a small potential cut” to its top end guidance. GM has far less exposure to Europe than Ford and other automakers but continues to face supply chain problems in China and North America.
BofA Securities analyst John Murphy said, in general, initial guidance by many automotive companies are “now too optimistic” given the litany of problems facing the auto industry.
“Given the ongoing global semiconductor shortage, incremental Covid-19 outbreaks and subsequent shutdowns in Asia, heightened geopolitical tension because of the Ukraine-invasion, and a plethora of other supply chain disruptions, general sentiment across the industry (corporates, investors, etc.) remains very cautious,” he wrote last week in an investor note.
Europe-based BofA analyst Horst Schneider on Tuesday downgraded Stellantis from “buy” to “neutral” due to its exposure to Europe and supply chain problems.
Stellantis, which was formed by the merger of Fiat Chrysler and France-based Groupe PSA in January 2021, is scheduled to release its first-quarter shipments and revenue on May 5.
—CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.

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