Raphael Stevens

In this articleFBStarbucks is seeing big upticks in business in places where vaccinations are on the rise, CEO Kevin Johnson said Thursday. “Consumer mobility shot through the roof and … we started seeing traffic increasing in our stores,” Johnson told CNBC’s Jim Cramer in a “Mad Money” interview. He also said that Starbucks’ same-store sales are surpassing pre-pandemic levels in regions where consumers are being vaccinated.The relation between higher business activity and increasing vaccination rates is simple, Johnson said. The company found that when at least 35% or more of adults were vaccinated against the virus in a market, governments begin easing Covid restrictions, making way for business to rebound.Johnson added the U.S. is acting as a bellwether for global markets as countries inoculate citizens against Covid-19 and roll back health restrictions.”We now see that happening in Mexico, we’re starting to see that happen in Europe,” he added. “Every market around the world is going to see exactly what the United States has experienced here over the last 90 days.”Seattle-based Starbucks has a presence in 80 countries and draws the majority of its revenues in the U.S.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? [email protected] More

China is actually fully committed to digital currencies and blockchain technology, but only its brand that it can control, Andreessen Horowitz general partner Katie Haun told CNBC on Thursday.The Chinese government’s five-year plan drafted earlier this year for the first time mentioned blockchain, which is the decentralized digital ledger technology that underpins cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.”China is actually all in on crypto. Make no mistake about that,” Haun said on “Squawk Box,” despite its latest crackdown on bitcoin mining and crypto services.However, she stressed that Chinese President Xi Jinping and other officials “are all in on their brand of crypto, which is a closed permission system. Kind of at odds with the open, decentralized protocols we see as the future of the crypto system.”China’s most recent actions to restrict bitcoin mining in the country and apply pressure to financial services firms against providing crypto-related services has weighed on sentiment in crypto markets.Bitcoin on Tuesday fell below $30,000 — and, at one point even further, briefly losing all of its 2021 gains. The world’s largest cryptocurrency has recovered somewhat, trading at nearly $34,000 on Thursday.Read more about cryptocurrencies from CNBC ProJPMorgan stays bearish on bitcoin, says big investors just aren’t buying the dipBitcoin drops below $30,000, then recovers: We asked 5 experts what they’re doingCathie Wood bought 1 million shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust during crypto’s drop below $30,000This is hardly the first time China has put restrictions on bitcoin, Haun noted. In 2017, the country moved to shutdown local crypto exchanges, which forced them to move offshore. It did not, however, put an end to the influence of Chinese bitcoin traders. China also has long been home to more than half of the world’s bitcoin mining capacity; so-called miners use high-powered computers to verify transactions across the blockchain network and are rewarded for their efforts with bitcoin. The fact China is now ratcheting up its crackdown, Haun said, ultimately reflects “the staying power of open decentralized crypto like bitcoin because we’ve seen this happen before.” “So, I think China is going all in on crypto in a big way and this is a big opening for western societies, and the U.S. included, to lean in,” she said. Haun’s appearance on CNBC came shortly after Andreessen Horowitz announced it was launching a $2.2 billion cryptocurrency-focused fund.The well-known Silicon Valley venture capital firm has been involved in the digital asset industry for years, debuting its first dedicated fund in 2018 even as bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies withered during the so-called crypto winter. Haun, also a former Justice Department prosecutor, and Chris Dixon, who founded and ran two start-ups, are in charge of Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto group.Andreessen Horowitz was also the largest outside investor in Coinbase at the time of the crypto exchange’s direct listing in April. Haun is a Coinbase board member.Bitcoin’s all-time high of nearly $65,000 came on the same day of Coinbase’s public debut. That day, April 14, was also when Coinbase hit its intraday record of $429.54 per share.Both the cryptocurrency and Coinbase shares are currently well below those levels. Coinbase traded at around $228 per share Thursday. More

In this articleFBWall Street saw a breakout moment in Thursday trading as stocks rallied after lawmakers in Washington agreed on an infrastructure deal, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said.”If you want to sum up today’s terrific action in a single word, that word is jailbreak,” Cramer said on “Mad Money.” “I call it a jailbreak because pretty much everyone was let loose today, instead of the usual I-win-you-lose pattern that has bedeviled so much of the action of late.”The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite posted record closing highs, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped more than 300 points to move closer to its all-time high.Cramer struck a bullish tone on the market as it turned its focus from the Federal Reserve’s forecasts on the economy and future interest rate hikes to a breakthrough in infrastructure negotiations that were in a logjam.President Joe Biden announced during the session that an agreement on “hard infrastructure” was reached with a bipartisan group of senators to dedicate substantial funding toward rebuilding roads and bridges and to expand broadband.Cramer warned that a rebalancing in the Russell indexes on Friday could cause a decline in stocks, but he expects it will only feed the bullish momentum.”Right now I think any decline will be bought because this is a positive, opportunistic moment, people, and there are many who want to put their money to work,” Cramer said. “Today’s jailbreak shows you the bulls are still in charge.”Cramer highlighted stocks across a range of industries that he said benefited from the news from the White House. They included the drugmaker Eli Lilly, carmaker Tesla, heavy equipment company Caterpillar and Darden Restaurants, the parent company of Olive Garden.Eli Lilly shares jumped more than 7%. Tesla and Darden advanced more than 3% each, while Caterpillar rose 2.6%.DisclaimerQuestions 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? [email protected] More

In this articleSBUXStarbucks CEO Kevin Johnson on Thursday denied reports that the coffee company is running low on key supplies, telling CNBC it has enough cups and coffee to serve customers.There is “no shortage of cups, no shortage of coffee,” Johnson said in an interview with Jim Cramer set to air on “Mad Money.”Johnson was responding to earlier reports — including one from The Wall Street Journal — that said some Starbucks stores were short on cups and coffee syrups, among other things, as traffic at Starbucks rebounds from last year’s slowdown. The article cited information from some store workers and an unnamed spokeswoman who said select markets were being hampered by the shortages.To be sure, Johnson said Starbucks continues to face operational challenges elsewhere that are testing the resiliency of the company’s supply chain.”We’ve had some shortages in the bakery case, that certainly is true,” he said. “If there’s one area we’ve been focused on it’s our supply partners who assemble breakfast sandwiches and some of the food items in our bakery case. That’s where we’ve seen some pressure.”Starbucks shares moved 0.39% higher Thursday to close at $111.99. The stock is up less than 5% year to date.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? [email protected] More

In this articleNKEA man walks in front of Nike products exhibit, on February 22, 2021 in New York City.John Smith | Corbis News | Getty ImagesNike on Thursday reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and sales that topped analysts’ estimates, fueled by record revenue in its largest market, North America.It also offered a better-than-expected sales outlook for the upcoming year, driven by optimism around its women’s category, apparel business and Jordan brand.Nike continues to benefit from consumers seeking out comfortable clothing to wear for workouts but also around the house. Even as people return to schools, offices and other social settings, many are still searching for relaxed options such as sneakers and stretchy pants.Nike also saw a boost to its wholesale business — something that was largely inactive a year earlier during the Covid pandemic, when shopping malls and department stores had to temporarily shut their doors and put orders for merchandise on pause. Some of Nike’s key wholesale partners include Dick’s Sporting Goods, Foot Locker and JD Sports.Nike shares jumped more than 12% in after-hours trading.Here’s how the company did during its fiscal fourth quarter, compared with what analysts were anticipating, using Refinitiv estimates:Earnings per share: 93 cents vs. 51 cents expectedRevenue: $12.34 billion vs. $11.01 billion expectedNike’s net income for the period ended May 31 rose to $1.5 billion, or 93 cents per share, compared with a loss of $790 million, or 51 cents per share, a year earlier. That topped analysts’ forecast of 51 cents per share, using Refinitiv data.Total revenue rose to $12.34 billion from $6.31 billion a year earlier, topping estimates for $11.01 billion. Sales were aided by the company selling more goods at full price and relying less on markdowns.In North America, Nike’s biggest market, sales more than doubled to a record $5.38 billion as the company surged from a year earlier when the Covid pandemic was hitting the retail industry the hardest. The region’s sales were up 29% on a two-year basis.In Greater China, sales were up just 17% at $1.93 billion. Though China is typically one of the fastest-growing markets for Nike, consumers in China have threatened a boycott after some Western brands including Nike expressed concern about allegations of forced labor in Xinjiang.Management said Thursday that Nike is seeing improvement in China sequentially month by month.”Building on our 40-year history in Greater China, we continue to invest in serving consumers with the best products Nike has to offer in locally relevant ways,” CFO Matt Friend said during a post-earnings conference call.Digital sales were up 41% compared with the prior year and rose 147% compared with the same period in 2019.The company said its membership model is helping to fuel its e-commerce business. Online purchases from Nike members, who receive first access to exclusive products and other perks, hit a record $3 billion during the fourth quarter. Nike said it now has more than 300 million members globally.”Fueled by our momentum, we continue to invest in innovation and our digital leadership to set the foundation for Nike’s long-term growth,” said Nike CEO John Donahoe.In fiscal 2022, Nike is expecting revenue to grow a low double-digit percentage, surpassing $50 billion. Analysts were looking for annual revenue of $48.5 billion.The company anticipates the first half of the year to grow faster than the second half, Friend said.”It’s important to note as we normalize our post-pandemic business and continue to reshape the marketplace, we do not expect quarter-by-quarter growth to be linear,” he said.Nike also anticipates supply chain delays and higher logistics costs will persist throughout much of fiscal 2022. The headaches have been plaguing much of the retail industry for months now. A shortage of containers and a dearth of truck drivers, among other factors, have stalled merchandise from getting from ports to warehouses to shoppers’ homes.Nike shares are down more than 5% year to date. The company has a market cap of $211 billion.Find the full earnings press release from Nike here. More

President Joe Biden said Thursday that Covid deaths in the United States will continue to rise due to the spread of the “dangerous” delta variant, calling it a “serious concern.””Six hundred thousand-plus Americans have died, and with this delta variant you know there’s going to be others as well. You know it’s going to happen. We’ve got to get young people vaccinated,” Biden said at a community center in Raleigh, North Carolina.The variant, Biden said, is more easily transmissible and potentially deadly, and is “especially dangerous for young people.”The president warned that Americans who are still unvaccinated are especially at risk.”The data couldn’t be clearer: If you’re vaccinated, you’re safe,” Biden said. “You are still at risk of getting seriously ill or dying if you in fact have not been vaccinated, that’s just the fact.”The delta variant now accounts for at least 20% of all new Covid cases in the U.S., according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. The variant has a doubling rate of about two weeks, setting it on a path to become the dominant strain in the U.S. in a few weeks, White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday.The agency has designated the more transmissible variant a “variant of concern.”Experts say the delta variant could also cause more severe disease in those infected, but more data is needed to be sure. More

People queue outside a vaccination center in Sydney on June 24, 2021, as residents were largely banned from leaving the city to stop a growing outbreak of the highly contagious Delta Covid-19 variant spreading to other regions.SAEED KHAN | AFP | Getty ImagesThe “delta variant” has come to dominate headlines, having been discovered in India where it provoked an extreme surge in Covid-19 cases before spreading around the world.But now a mutation of that variant has emerged, called “delta plus,” which is starting to worry global experts.India has dubbed delta plus a “variant of concern,” and there are fears that it could potentially be more transmissible. In the U.K., Public Health England noted in its last summary that routine scanning of Covid cases in the country (where the delta variant is now responsible for the bulk of new infections) has found almost 40 cases of the newer variant, which has acquired the spike protein mutation K417N, i.e. delta plus.It noted that, as of June 16, cases of the delta plus variant had also been identified in the U.S. (83 cases at the time the report was published last Friday) as well as Canada, India, Japan, Nepal, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland and Turkey.India third wave?As is common with all viruses, the coronavirus has mutated repeatedly since it emerged in China in late 2019. There have been a handful of variants that have emerged over the course of the pandemic that have changed the virus’s transmissibility, risk profile and even symptoms.Read more: The fast-spreading delta Covid variant could have different symptoms, experts saySeveral of those variants, such as the “alpha” strain (previously known as the “Kent” or “British” variant) and then the delta variant, have gone on to be dominant strains globally, hence the attention on delta plus.India’s Health Ministry reportedly said Wednesday that it had found around 40 cases of the delta plus variant with the K417N mutation. The ministry released a statement on Tuesday in which it said that INSACOG, a consortium of 28 laboratories genome sequencing the virus in India during the pandemic, had informed it that the delta plus variant has three worrying characteristics.These are, it said: increased transmissibility, stronger binding to receptors of lung cells and the potential reduction in monoclonal antibody response (which could reduce the efficacy of a lifesaving monoclonal antibody therapy given to some hospitalized Covid patients).India’s Health Ministry said it had alerted three states (Maharashtra, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh) after the delta plus variant was detected in genome-sequenced samples from those areas.CNBC Health & Science Read CNBC’s latest global coverage of the Covid pandemic:Covid is already deadlier this year than all of 2020. So why do many in U.S. think the problem’s over?Delta Covid variant has a new mutation called ‘delta plus’: Here’s what you need to knowMillions could be suffering from long Covid, study suggests CDC group says there isn’t enough data yet to recommend Covid booster shots CDC group finds likely link between rare heart inflammation after Covid shotThe detection of a variation to the delta variant largely blamed for India’s catastrophic second wave of cases has stoked fears that India is ill-prepared for a potential third wave. But some experts are urging calm.Dr. Chandrakant Lahariya, a physician-epidemiologist and vaccines and health systems expert based in New Delhi, told CNBC on Thursday that while the government should remain alert to the progress of the variant, there is “no reason to panic.””Epidemiologically speaking, I have no reason to believe that ‘Delta plus’ alters the current situation in a manner to accelerate or trigger the third wave,” he told CNBC via email.”If we go by the currently available evidence, Delta plus is not very different from Delta variant. It is the same Delta variant with one additional mutation. The only clinical difference, which we know till now, is that Delta plus has some resistance to monoclonal antibody combination therapy. And that is not a major difference as the therapy itself is investigational and few are eligible for this treatment.”He advised the public to follow Covid restrictions and to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Analysis from Public Health England released last week showed that two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines are highly effective against hospitalization from the delta variant.The WHO has said it is tracking recent reports of a “delta plus” variant. “An additional mutation … has been identified,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead said at a briefing last week.”In some of the delta variants we’ve seen one less mutation or one deletion instead of an additional, so we’re looking at all of it.” More