Raphael Stevens

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    China’s electric car boom is expected to slow down in 2025

    China’s electric car market is headed for a sharp slowdown in 2025, according to analyst predictions, increasing pressure on companies trying to survive.
    Strong sales volumes have enabled “strugglers and stragglers” to hang on despite falling margins, Yuqian Ding, head of China autos research at HSBC, said in a report last week.
    China’s mix of subsidies and consumer purchase incentives have supported the rapid growth of new energy vehicles in recent years.

    New electric vehicles destined for Belgium at a port in Taicang city in eastern China’s Jiangsu province on Jan. 11, 2025.
    Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty Images

    BEIJING — China’s electric car market is headed for a sharp slowdown in 2025, according to analyst predictions, increasing pressure on companies trying to survive.
    Sales of new energy vehicles, a category which includes battery-only and hybrid-powered cars, surged last year by 42% to nearly 11 million units, according to the China Passenger Car Association. Market leader BYD’s NEV sales skyrocketed — up by more than 40% last year to nearly 4.3 million units, far above its internal target of at least 20% growth from 2023.

    But looking ahead, HSBC analysts forecast only a 20% increase in China’s new energy vehicle sales this year, alongside heightened industry consolidation. They predict BYD unit sales growth of around 14%.
    Strong sales volumes have enabled “strugglers and stragglers” to hang on despite falling margins, Yuqian Ding, head of China autos research at HSBC, said in a report last week. She pointed out that only BYD, Tesla and Li Auto made a profit in 2023.
    “In our view, this situation is unsustainable and we expect the pace of industry consolidation to accelerate rapidly,” Ding said.

    China’s mix of subsidies and consumer purchase incentives have supported the rapid growth of new energy vehicles in recent years.
    Shenzhen-based laser display company Appotronics didn’t even have an autos business until it started making an in-car projector screen that began deliveries in China early last year. The company shipped more than 170,000 units last year.

    But in a sign of a changing market, the company only expects similar volumes in 2025, Appotronics Chairman and CEO Li Yi told CNBC last week. He predicted the market wouldn’t pick back up until 2026.
    “A lot of customers, the automakers, they’re not in a good financial state. They cut the R&D budget. That will definitely have a negative impact on this industry,” Li said, also noting overcapacity issues.
    As automakers piled into China’s fast-growing electric car market, they began a price war in a bid to attract customers. Smartphone company Xiaomi launched its SU7 electric sedan last year at $4,000 less than Tesla’s Model 3, and with claims of a longer driving range.
    “When BYD and Tesla cut prices, most rivals have little choice but to follow suit. This has clearly squeezed the overall profit pool in the auto industry, especially now that EVs have all the momentum,” HSBC’s Ding said, noting that BYD has a net profit margin of only 5%, less than the low teens for top automakers when the traditional fossil fuel car was at its peak.
    NEV penetration of new cars sold had exceeded 50% by the second half of the year, association data showed.
    Because of the high penetration rate, the growth rate of new NEV car sales will likely slow to 15% to 20% in 2025, according to Fitch Bohua analyst Wenyu Zhou and a team. They expect so-called smart features will increasingly become a major point of competition.
    Automakers in China have increasingly turned to in-car entertainment features and driver-assist technology as ways to make their vehicles stand out.
    While the electric car market moderates its growth, Appotronics plans to bring a 4K-resolution projector to cars in China this year, along with a screen that has better contrast and privacy features, Li said.
    As for the longer term, the company intends to spend the next two to three years on developing new, laser-based uses for car headlights, Li said. He added the company is in talks with Tesla for a projector-type product in a next-generation vehicle, but could not say more because of a non-disclosure agreement. More

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    Netflix and Comcast among companies donating to LA wildfire relief effort

    Corporations have pledged millions in donations to Los Angeles fire relief efforts.
    Media companies, sports teams and actors are among those donating to funds.
    The donations come as the fires continue to burn.

    Evacuees from the Eaton fire look through boxes of clothes at a donation center in Santa Anita Park, Arcadia, California, Jan. 13, 2025.
    Etienne Laurent | AFP | Getty Images

    As Los Angeles continues to battle wildfires that have destroyed parts of the city and killed at least 24 people, companies are pledging millions in donations to aid in relief efforts.
    On Monday, Netflix and Comcast each announced $10 million donations, split between groups such as the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation, World Central Kitchen and the American Red Cross. Both companies also said they are assisting employees directly impacted by the fires.

    “The next few years will be a rebuilding time for many of us and it will require creativity, vision, grit and perseverance. Looking around at some of the hardest hit neighborhoods, it is hard to imagine rebuilding — but we will, and we will come back stronger than before,” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos wrote.
    Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which has a big footprint in Los Angeles with its studios.
    “We extend our deep appreciation to the first responders for their tireless and courageous efforts,” Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said in the announcement.

    Firefighters work as smoke rises above the growing Palisades fire in Los Angeles, Jan. 11, 2025.
    Ali Matin | AFP | Getty Images

    Other media and entertainment corporations, many of which have prominent presences in the Los Angeles area, had previously pledged to donate to relief efforts. The Walt Disney Company announced Saturday that it was committing $15 million to fire response and rebuilding. Fox News reported that its parent company, Fox Corporation, donated $1 million to the American Red Cross.
    Gambling platform FanDuel and its parent company, Flutter Entertainment, donated $250,000 to disaster relief organization Americares and the LA Fire Department Foundation, they announced.

    The NFL — which relocated a playoff game from SoFi Stadium in a suburb of Los Angeles to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, due to the fires — said its teams and ownership groups were providing a collective $5 million to relief efforts. Twelve Los Angeles sports teams, including the Lakers and the Dodgers, separately announced a donation of over $8 million to fire relief groups.
    Grocers Kroger and Walmart pledged $1 million and $2.5 million, respectively, toward relief efforts. Health insurer Anthem Blue Cross announced a $10 million donation.
    Reuters reported Monday that JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America are also providing some payment relief to mortgage customers affected by the wildfires.

    Patrick O’Neal sifts through the remains of his home after it was destroyed by the Palisades wildfire, in Malibu, California, Jan. 13, 2025.
    Brandon Bell | Getty Images

    Hollywood stars and entertainment figures have also said they are financially supporting fire relief.
    Actor Jamie Lee Curtis, a Los Angeles resident, announced on Instagram that her family pledged $1 million to relief funds, while singer Beyoncé’s BeyGood Foundation committed $2.5 million to its own fire relief fund. Socialite Paris Hilton said she would launch an emergency fund to assist displaced families and committed $200,000 to it, while actor Halle Berry said she donated clothes to victims of the fires.
    Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC. More

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    Eli Lilly CEO expects new weight loss pill to be approved next year

    Eli Lilly expects its experimental weight loss pill, orforglipron, to be approved as soon as early next year, CEO David Ricks told Bloomberg.
    Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, which dominate the market with their obesity injections Zepbound and Wegovy, respectively, are both looking to develop next-generation versions.
    A weight loss pill would offer more convenience to patients and would be easier to manufacture.

    David Ricks, CEO, Eli Lilly
    Scott Mlyn | CNBC

    Eli Lilly expects its experimental weight loss pill will get approved as soon as early next year, CEO David Ricks told Bloomberg TV on Monday.
    The company is set to release key late-stage trial data on the drug, orforglipron, by the middle of this year.

    Eli Lilly is pushing to get the pill to market as it competes with Novo Nordisk and smaller rivals for a major share of the booming weight loss drug market. Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy dominate the space, but the drugmakers and their competitors have been working to develop improved versions of the drugs.

    More CNBC health coverage

    Pills would be more convenient for patients than the current injectable forms. They would also be easier to manufacture at a time when Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have struggled to make enough drugs to keep up with spiking demand.
    Eli Lilly has said orforglipron helped patients lose up to 14.7% of their weight in a mid-stage trial, compared with 2.3% among people who took a placebo.
    Eli Lilly shares dipped slightly on Monday.

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    Iran is vulnerable to a Trumpian all-out economic assault

    On November 25th the Elva, a tanker flagged in São Tomé and Príncipe, clandestinely picked up 2m barrels of Iranian crude off Malaysia’s coast. Sailing from there to north-east China, the vessel’s likely destination, usually takes two weeks at most. But not this time. On December 3rd, alleging the Elva had breached sanctions, America blacklisted the ship, exposing anyone dealing with it to punishment. Six weeks on it is still stranded less than 20km from where it collected its cargo. More

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    Comcast and Harris Blitzer to build new NBA, NHL stadium in south Philadelphia

    Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment and Comcast are teaming up to build a new arena in south Philadelphia.
    They will also revitalize Market East, the original proposed location for a new arena.
    The deal will give Comcast a minority stake in the NBA’s 76ers and naming rights to the future arena.

    Joe Daniel Price | Moment | Getty Images

    Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment announced on Monday a joint venture with Comcast Spectacor to build a new arena in South Philadelphia for the NBA’s 76ers and the NHL’s Flyers.
    The deal represents a reversal from previous plans to build an arena in the Center City district of Philadelphia.

    Harris Blitzer and Comcast Spectacor have entered into a binding agreement for a 50-50 stake in the project at South Philadelphia’s Sports Complex, which is slated to open in 2031. It will include the revitalization of Market East in Center City, the original proposed location for an arena. In December, the Philadelphia 76ers received approval to build a $1.3 billion arena downtown after more than two years of contentious negotiations.
    The deal announced Monday will give Comcast a minority stake in the 76ers and naming rights to the arena. The Philadelphia-based company will also join HBSE’s bid to bring a WNBA team to the Liberty City.
    Comcast Spectacor is already majority owner of the Philadelphia Flyers.
    “From the start, we envisioned a project that would be transformative for our city and deliver the type of experience our fans deserve,” said HBSE’s Josh Harris, David Blitzer and David Adelman in a statement. “By coming together with [Comcast CEO Brian Roberts] and Comcast, this partnership ensures Philadelphia will have two developments instead of one, creating more jobs and real, sustainable economic opportunity.”
    In committing to both investments, the companies say they will create thousands of jobs and generate billions of dollars in economic activity for the region.

    “This has the potential to benefit our city for generations to come,” said Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker during a news conference Monday.
    Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of CNBC.

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    Investor Cliff Asness says bitcoin is a bubble unless uses besides speculation and criminality emerge

    Cliff Asness, co-founder of AQR Capital Management, believes bitcoin is in a speculative bubble after the cryptocurrency’s swift rally carried it above $100,000 following the November presidential election.
    Asness said there are three uses for crypto that he has identified: speculation, use in war-torn countries and paying cyber ransom.

    Cliff Asness.
    Chris Goodney | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Cliff Asness, co-founder of AQR Capital Management, believes bitcoin is in a speculative bubble after the cryptocurrency’s swift rally carried it above $100,000 following the November presidential election.
    “I’m on the bubble side, on net,” Asness said on CNBC’s “Money Movers” on Monday. “To move me off that, you really need not a price change, but a use case. That’s what could convince me to become maybe more of a crypto person when I find any use for it, aside from speculation and criminality.”

    Asness said there are three uses for crypto that he has identified: speculation, use in war-torn countries and paying cyber ransom.
    Bitcoin rallied 120% in 2024 after a huge year-end pop on the back of President-elect Donald Trump’s election. Investors hoped Trump would usher in a golden age of crypto, including supportive deregulation of the industry and a national strategic bitcoin reserve. The digital coin has dipped 3% in the new year, last trading near $90,000.
    “There’s no fundamental trend for crypto because I don’t know what the fundamentals are, but there is a price trend,” Asness said. “So I would guess most trend followers who have it in their universe are actually long.”

    Stock chart icon

    Bitcoin over the past year.

    Although Asness is bearish on crypto, he noted that he would not bet against it due to its volatility.
    “I wouldn’t short crypto only because shorting things with 100% annual volatility can be a little scary. I think we’ve all discovered what concentrated shorts can do to a portfolio,” he added.
    Asness co-founded AQR in 1998 after a stint at Goldman Sachs. He and his partners established the quant-driven firm’s investment philosophy at the University of Chicago’s Ph.D. program, focusing on value and momentum strategies.

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    Why you may be paying to help make the mattress industry more eco-friendly

    Four states now levy an extra fee of $16 to $22.50 when consumers buy a new mattress or box spring. The fees help fund mattress recycling efforts.
    Oregon launched its program Jan. 1. California and Connecticut raised their fees in 2025.
    Other states are considering the programs, an example of “extended producer responsibility” laws to boost the circular economy.

    Workers dismantling a mattress.
    Thomas Lohnes | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    Consumers in a handful of states are paying to help make the mattress industry more eco-friendly — and more states may follow suit?
    Four states — California, Connecticut, Oregon and Rhode Island — now levy a flat fee on any mattress or box spring residents purchase online or in a brick-and-mortar shop.

    The retail fees, which range from $16 to about $23, help finance state recycling programs that divert used mattresses from landfills — part of a growing policy initiative to boost the circular economy across common household items from plastic packaging to paper products and electronics.
    More from Personal Finance:How to buy renewable energy from your electric utilityHow climate change may impact your walletPeople are moving and building in Miami despite climate risk
    Americans discard about 15 million to 20 million mattresses each year — an average of 50,000 a day, according to the Mattress Recycling Council, a nonprofit formed by the bedding industry to operate state recycling programs.
    Yet, more than 75% of a mattress is recyclable, according to MRC: its wood, steel, foams and fibers can be stripped, sold and reused.

    Oregon implemented a recycling fee on Jan. 1. State residents who buy a new mattress or box spring pay an extra $22.50 per unit, reflected as a “stewardship assessment” on consumers’ receipts.

    California and Connecticut raised their retail fees to $16 per unit at the beginning of 2025, up from $10.50 and $11.75, respectively. Rhode Island raised its per-unit fee to $20.50 last year.
    The industry is also working with lawmakers in Massachusetts, Maryland, New York and Virginia to establish similar programs, according to MRC spokesperson Amanda Wall.

    Recycling options are few but expanding

    Douglas Sacha | Moment | Getty Images

    There are currently few options for Americans who want to recycle a used mattress or box spring.
    A directory compiled by the Mattress Recycling Council lists just 58 companies nationwide that recycle such products. Those in states that haven’t enacted recycling laws generally charge fees to consumers for drop-off and home pickup. (I recently paid $95 for such a service in New York City, for example.)
    Oregon officials say their program will make it easy for consumers to recycle unwanted mattresses and reduce illegal dumping.
    It aims to establish “new convenient locations in every county for residents to drop off their mattresses” and also create recycling sector jobs, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Quality website.

    The state recycling efforts are examples of “extended producer responsibility” laws gaining traction in the U.S.
    “With EPR, producers of products or packages become responsible for managing them when they become waste,” according to Reid Lifset, a resident fellow in industrial ecology at Yale University and editor of the Journal of Industrial Ecology. EPR programs provide a new source of funding to make the recycling system sustainable, Lifset said.
    In the case of state mattress programs, retailers pass along the consumer fees to the Mattress Recycling Council to fund each state’s respective program, Wall said.
    In Oregon, for example, more than half (about $12) of the $22.50 retail fee will fund program operational costs in 2025, with the remainder funding things like start-up costs, administration, and public education and advertising.
    There are more than 300 mattress collection sites in states with recycling programs, according to MRC. The sites accept discarded mattresses at no cost. (They may charge for home pickup, however.)

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    Moderna stock plunges 18% after company lowers 2025 sales forecast by $1 billion

    Moderna lowered its 2025 sales guidance by roughly $1 billion, as it continues to cut costs. 
    The biotech company now expects 2025 revenue to come in between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion, most of which will come in the second half of the year.
    The announcement comes as Moderna charts a path forward after the rapid decline in demand for its Covid vaccine.

    The Moderna Inc. headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, on Tuesday, March 26, 2024. 
    Adam Glanzman | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Moderna on Monday lowered its 2025 sales guidance by roughly $1 billion due to a few potential headwinds later this year, as the biotech company continues to cut costs and expand its portfolio.
    Moderna now expects 2025 revenue to come in between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion, most of which will come in the second half of the year. The majority of those sales will come from Moderna’s Covid shot and newly launched vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus, according to a release.

    The guidance is down from a prior forecast range of $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion issued in September. At the time, the company said it expects to break even on an operating cash basis in 2028 — pushed back from 2026 — with $6 billion in revenue.
    Shares of Moderna plunged 18% in premarket trading Monday.
    “As we head into 2025, there are a handful of uncertainties that we are planning for,” Moderna CFO Jamey Mock told CNBC. “As of this time period, we are planning for them to be headwinds. They could be tailwinds, but right now we’re seeing them as headwinds.” 
    Mock pointed to four factors that could weigh on sales, including increased competition in the Covid market. He said Moderna’s share of the U.S. retail market for Covid shots fell to 40% at the end of 2024 from 48% in 2023, and the company is preparing for another decline this year. 
    He noted Sanofi will co-commercialize Novavax’s Covid vaccine worldwide under a new agreement, which could potentially make that shot more competitive. 

    Mock said the second factor is falling vaccination rates, which were down around 7% overall in the U.S. retail market in fall 2024 compared to the same time in 2023. The last two factors are timing around manufacturing contracts with a handful of countries, and uncertainty around what advisors to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will recommend for RSV revaccination. 
    But Mock noted that the company expects to reduce 2025 cash cost expenses by $1 billion, with plans for additional 2026 cost reductions of $500 million. 
    “We are taking the right amount of cost to preserve our cash,” Mock said. “We’re excited to invest and diversify our portfolio.” 
    The announcement comes as Moderna charts a path forward after the rapid decline in demand for its Covid vaccine, its only commercially available product until its RSV shot entered the market last year. It also comes ahead of Moderna’s presentation at the annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, one of the largest gatherings of health-care executives in the world and a hotbed for deals activity for the industry. 
    Revenue from Moderna’s two shots met its forecast for 2024, coming in at around $3 billion to $3.1 billion. In November, the company said its updated Covid shot benefitted from gaining approval in the U.S. three weeks earlier than the previous iteration of the shot did in 2023. 
    Still, those sales represent a steep drop off from the $6.7 billion that Moderna’s Covid shot booked in 2023 and the $18 billion it generated in 2022, as fewer people rolled up their sleeves for updated jabs. 
    Moderna plans to beef up its portfolio with 10 new product approvals over the next three years, including a combination shot targeting Covid and the flu and a “next-generation” Covid shot. The company on Monday said it could see three approvals in 2025 alone. 
    The company is betting on a pipeline built around its messenger RNA platform, which is the technology used in its Covid vaccine and RSV shot. More