Raphael Stevens

In this articleDKSLauren Hobart, president and member of the board of directors at Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc., speaks during the Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019.Sarah Silbiger | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesAs Dick’s Sporting Goods switched into “preservation mode” in the early days of the pandemic, a surprising trend emerged that continues to fuel its business today, said CEO Lauren Hobart.People began to go for more walks and runs in the neighborhood. They took up golfing. They embraced a new work uniform of leggings and workout tops. And they converted garages and basements into fitness studios.Hobart said people have learned to dress and spend their time differently, and the sporting goods retailer is seeing signs that the habits will last. Sales of outdoor gear for hobbies like golfing and biking have not slowed down, she said.”I actually do think people have fundamentally changed their lifestyle,” Hobart said in an interview at CNBC’s Evolve Global Summit on Wednesday. “People will certainly go back and take vacations. There may be more discretionary income in the market, but I think there’s been a permanent shift toward outdoor living and active living and also athletic apparel.”Hobart stepped into the company’s top leadership role in February, as the pandemic continued to challenge many retailers and tamp down on store traffic. Yet Dick’s has stood out as a resilient retailer during the global health crisis. It sped up its roll out of curbside pickup and focused on e-commerce.The company’s momentum has continued in recent months. Same-store sales jumped 115% year-over-year in the fiscal first quarter, which ended May 1, as families stocked up on youth gear as kids’ team sports resumed and people spent stimulus checks. The strong quarter prompted the company to raise its full-year financial outlook.Dick’s shares are up about 66% year-to-date. As of midday Wednesday, the company’s shares were trading around $93.34 and its market value was $8.33 billion.As Dick’s looks to grow and fend off rivals, it debuted an exclusive athleisure line for men and opened a more experiential type of store this spring. The store, called House of Sport, is its biggest ever with an indoor rock climbing wall, a putting green and an outdoor track.However, Hobart said one challenge has remained persistent: Moving goods across the world. The problem of congested ports and Covid-19 outbreaks in other countries has plagued many retailers and forced companies like Home Depot to get creative to keep up with demand.”The supply chain issues, they never cease to amaze me,” she said. “It just keeps coming, where we think we’ve got things back in stock and under control, and then there’s new issues.”She said the retailer still has an “attack team” devoted to those issues. ln some cases, she said inventory has been flown in by air freight. In other cases, the company has retrieved truckloads of merchandise from ports instead of expecting brands to disperse products to distribution centers and it has waived typical standards like expecting merchandise to show up neatly organized or on hangers.After more than a year of practice, she said Dick’s has learned to be more nimble and flexible and ultimately “developed a pretty good muscle” with the new approach to supply chain.”It keeps me up — but not for very long — at night,” she said. More

In this articleBIIBThe exterior of the headquarters of biotechnology company Biogen in Cambridge, MA is pictured on March 21, 2019.John Tlumacki | Boston Globe | Getty ImagesA 70-year-old man from Rhode Island on Wednesday was the first person to receive an infusion of Biogen’s newly approved Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm, outside of a clinical trial.Marc Archambault of Wakefield was treated with the intravenous drug – which is priced at a whopping $56,000 per year –at Butler Hospital’s memory and aging program in Providence, a spokesperson confirmed to CNBC.The drug is “transforming how we treat Alzheimer’s,” Dr. Stephen Salloway, director of neurology and the memory and aging program at Butler Hospital, said at a news conference.Shares of Biogen surged last week after the Food and Drug Administration approved the biotech company’s drug, the first medication cleared by U.S. regulators to slow cognitive decline in people living with Alzheimer’s and the first new medicine for the disease in nearly two decades.Biogen’s drug targets a “sticky” compound in the brain known as beta-amyloid, which scientists expect plays a role in the devastating disease. The medication is expected to cost Medicare, which hasn’t yet determined how much of the drug’s cost it will cover, billions of dollars a year.Aduhelm by BiogenSource: BiogenThe FDA’s decision was controversial as it was a departure from the advice of its independent panel of outside experts, who unexpectedly declined to endorse the drug last fall, citing unconvincing data. At least three members of the panel have resigned in protest of the agency’s decision.Dr. Aaron Kesselheim, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and one of the three who resigned, said the agency’s decision “was probably the worst drug approval decision in recent U.S. history.””This will undermine the care of these patients, public trust in the FDA, the pursuit of useful therapeutic innovation, and the affordability of the health care system,” he wrote in resigning from the FDA’s Peripheral and Central Nervous System Advisory Committee.Federal regulators have faced intense pressure from friends and family members of Alzheimer’s patients asking to fast-track the drug, scientifically known as aducanumab, but the road to regulatory approval has been a controversial one since it showed promise in 2016.In March 2019, Biogen pulled development of the drug after an analysis from an independent group revealed it was unlikely to work. The company then shocked investors several months later by announcing it would seek regulatory approval for the medication after all.When Biogen sought approval for the drug in late 2019, its scientists said a new analysis of a larger dataset showed aducanumab “reduced clinical decline in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease.”Alzheimer’s experts and Wall Street analysts were immediately skeptical, with some wondering whether the clinical trial data was enough to prove the drug works and whether approval could make it harder for other companies to enroll patients in their own drug trials.Some doctors have said they won’t prescribe aducanumab because of the mixed data package supporting the company’s application. More

In this articleMCDChris Kempczinski, president of McDonald’s USA, speaks at the unveiling of McDonald’s new corporate headquarters during a grand opening ceremony on June 4, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. The company headquarters is returning to the city, which it left in 1971, from suburban Oak Brook.Scott Olson | Getty ImagesMcDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said he expects dining inside the fast-food giant’s restaurants to bounce back.”I think dine-in is always going to be here,” he said in a CNBC Evolve Conference panel that aired Wednesday. “Eating is such a social experience, and dine-in is a part of that social experience.” Over the last year, digital ordering and drive-thru sales have surged across the fast-food sectors, helping McDonald’s and its rivals recover from the crisis faster than the broader restaurant industry. McDonald’s, for example, saw its U.S. same-store sales turn positive by the third quarter of 2020. In its latest quarter, the company reported U.S. same-store sales growth of 13.6%.Other chains, such as Restaurant Brands International’s Burger King and Yum Brands’ Taco Bell, are building new locations with updated designs that feature less seating and focus more on the to-go experience, based on learnings from the pandemic. Still, most plan to keep at least some form of seating for dine-in customers.For McDonald’s, dine-in customers make up about a quarter of its U.S. sales, Kempczinski told CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla. In 2019, the company recorded $40.41 billion in systemwide sales in the United States, according to Technomic. In Europe, eating inside a McDonald’s restaurant is much more common, particularly because those restaurants are less likely to have a drive-thru lane.”I think in the U.S., we may see dine-in take longer to recover,” he said. “But we know and we’re certainly expecting that dine-in is also going to be an important part of the McDonald’s experience.”Shares of McDonald’s have risen 10% this year, giving it a market value of $183 billion. More

In this articleTRIPAs more Americans receive vaccine shots and states lift Covid-19 restrictions, Tripadvisor announced Wednesday the launch of Tripadvisor Plus, a travel subscription service that will provide U.S. customers with access to savings and other perks. The service is priced at $99 a year.U.S. airlines have already seen an increase in flight bookings for the summer, and the Transportation Security Administration recently screened more than 2 million people at U.S. airports, the most since the Covid pandemic began early last year.The resurging travel demand is also resulting in higher fares. Tripadvisor CEO Stephen Kaufer attributed the trend to the industry’s struggle to hire workers fast enough to keep up with the easing of coronavirus restrictions.”There is a little bit of a mismatch in supply and demand as the hotel industry gets back on its feet, trying to hire more people to deliver that great experience that hotels and the travel community is so known for,” Kaufer said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”Travelers should also expect that service throughout the industry may not be as great as usual and there are likely to be long waits, especially at airports, Kaufer said.”Pack a little patience on your vacation, the lines are going to be a bit longer at airports, I worry,” he said. “Some of the service at some of the properties isn’t quite up to the levels of expectations but really the whole industry is rebounding.”The company has seen an increase in travel bookings abroad, but travelers are holding off on reserving trips to countries where there is still uncertainty over travel restrictions. Tripadvisor anticipates that when these countries ease Covid restrictions for vaccinated Americans, there will be a rise in bookings, Kaufer said.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half of Americans have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine, and the number of new daily coronvirus infections is on the decline.In a recent survey commissioned by data provider Cirium, 78% of respondents said they will travel this year, with about 40% planning trips this summer. The survey polled 2,140 adults from May 11 through May 17.Tripadvisor’s new subscription service includes discounts on many tickets, tours and attractions, and personalized travel advice as well as discounted stays at more than 100,000 hotels around the world, the company said. The company said it estimates the service will save members an average of $350 per stay, which means some members will be able to recoup their annual fee on their first trip.Customers who sign up for the service will also receive a year of Hertz Five Star elite status, which will allow them to skip the counter, earn points toward free rentals, access upgrades and receive priority service at many airports. The subscription will also waive the young renter fee and provide subscribers with free child carseat rentals.Subscription services have been popular with companies as a way to build loyalty and drive business. The hope is that once website visitors sign up for the service, they will likely use Tripadvisor more frequently to book their travel. More

Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsRising consumer costs have helped push the latest estimate for next year’s Social Security cost-of-living adjustment to 5.3%.Whether that will actually be the bump retirees see to their monthly checks in 2022 depends a lot on the economy, including whether the Federal Reserve decides to raise interest rates.The 5.3% estimate was calculated by The Senior Citizens League, a non-partisan senior group, based on Consumer Price Index data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics through May.If that amount were to go through, it would be the highest annual adjustment since 2009, when benefits saw a 5.8% boost.In 2021, Social Security beneficiaries received a 1.3% increase to their monthly checks.More from Personal Finance: How climate change is impacting retiree portfolios Lost 401(k)s and pensions: How lawmakers want to fix the problem How to decide which debt you should tackle firstThe Senior Citizens League previously estimated the COLA for 2022 could be 4.7%, based on data through April.Social Security’s annual cost-of-living adjustment is calculated from the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, or CPI-W. There is still four more months of data before the official estimate for next year is determined.The month-to-month jump in The Senior Citizens League’s estimate is due to rising costs caused by inflation, according to Mary Johnson, Social Security and Medicare policy analyst at the Senior Citizens League.The price of gasoline saw the biggest hike, rising 56.2% from May 2020 to May 2021.Used car and truck prices rose by 29.7% in that one-year period.Other day-to-day items also saw a spike in prices. Bacon rose 13%, citrus fruits are up by 9% and milk is up 7.2%.Not everything rose, however.. The cost of ground beef, for example, declined by 5.8%.How those prices shape up in the coming months — and whether next year’s cost-of-living adjustment stays the same, goes up or declines — will depend on those consumer costs.Any action by the Federal Reserve could change the trajectory of those prices. Though the Federal Open Market Committee is meeting this week, the central bank is not expected to announce any changes. It could, however, signal how it is thinking about its plans going forward.”A lot is going to depend on what happens next,” Johnson said. “If they announce that they will be raising interest rates, it will be very interesting to watch how that would impact the COLA.” More

In this articlePFEPfizer CEO Albert Bourla addresses a press conference after a visit to oversee the production of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine at the factory of U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer in Puurs, Belgium April 23, 2021.John Thys | Pool | ReutersPfizer CEO Albert Bourla told CNBC on Wednesday he expects life could return to normal for developed countries by the end of this year and the rest of the world by the end of 2022.By the end of next year, there should be enough Covid-19 vaccine doses for most world leaders to successfully inoculate their populations against the virus, Bourla said during an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin at the CNBC Evolve Global Summit.”I think the whole world will have enough volumes [of vaccine doses] by the end of 2022 to vaccinate, to protect everyone,” he said. “And I think that by the end of this year, the developed world will already be in this situation.”Pfizer and German partner BioNTech reached the milestone of manufacturing 1 billion doses of their Covid vaccine last week, Bourla told CNBC. The two companies expect to produce up to 3 billion doses this year.The vaccine, one of three authorized for use in the U.S., has played a major role in driving down the number of new infections and hospitalizations across the country. As many states begin to lift their Covid restrictions and return to normal, leaders from other countries are urging the U.S. to donate leftover shots.CNBC Health & Science Read CNBC’s latest global coverage of the Covid pandemic:Africa sees 44% spike in new Covid infections, 20% increase in deaths  WHO says delta Covid variant has now spread to 80 countries, and it keeps mutating Pfizer CEO sees a return to ‘normal’ globally by the end of 2022Regeneron antibody ‘cocktail’ can save lives in hospitalized Covid patients, study finds Pfizer and BioNTech previously pledged to provide 2 billion doses of the vaccine to low- and middle-income countries.The drugmakers plan to provide the U.S. government with 500 million doses of the vaccine, enough to inoculate 250 million people since it requires two doses given three weeks apart. As part of the plan, the United States said it will allocate the vaccine doses to 92 low- and lower-middle-income countries.The U.S. has committed to donating 80 million Covid shots from four drugmakers. It plans to allocate the majority of the vaccines through COVAX, the World Health Organization-backed global vaccine sharing program.Bourla said Pfizer has contracts with more than 120 countries around the world. The majority of the vaccine doses so far have gone to developed countries, he said, because they placed their orders for the shots in advance.He said he expects more vaccines to go toward poorer countries in the second half of this year as developed nations finish vaccinating their populations.The company is also preparing to manufacture booster shots, he said. The CEO has previously told CNBC that people will likely need booster doses within 12 months of getting fully vaccinated and potentially additional doses annually.He also touted that the company is working on treatments for those who do get infected.Bourla told CNBC in April that the company’s experimental oral drug to treat Covid-19 at the first sign of illness could be available by the end of the year.Correction: Pfizer and BioNTech expect to produce up to 3 billion doses of their vaccine this year. An earlier version misstated the figure. More

In this articleGMGeneral Motors revealed its all-new modular platform and battery system, Ultium, on March 4, 2020 at its Tech Center campus in Warren, Michigan.Photo by Steve Fecht for General MotorsGeneral Motors CEO Mary Barra on Wednesday once again pushed back on the company spinning off its emerging electric-vehicle battery business.Keeping the unit within GM will create more value for the company than spinning it off, Barra said.”For an electric vehicle, it’s all about the battery,” she told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “I think keeping that technology close and leveraging the deep battery expertise we have at General Motors is the way we’re going to accelerate that value creation.”Barra touted the company’s plans to sell its Ultium battery cells as well as its Hydrotech fuel cell technology to other companies. GM has a deal with Honda Motor for two EVs. The company also announced this week the signing of a memorandum of understanding for GM to engineer and supply its Ultium battery and Hydrotec systems for Wabtec freight locomotives. CNBC’s Jim Cramer told Barra he thought the battery business may be worth more than the whole automaker, which currently has a nearly $90 billion market cap. He questioned why investors shouldn’t be allowed to buy into the battery business.GM isn’t currently producing its own battery cells for EVs. It has announced plans to build four plants for such production, including two currently under construction in the U.S. through a joint venture with LG Chem, by 2025.Speculation and pressure from Wall Street about a potential spinoff of GM’s electric vehicle operations has been rampant for some time. Deutsche Bank has said such a company would likely be valued at a minimum of $15 billion to $20 billion, and could potentially be worth up to $100 billion.GM President Mark Reuss said in November the automaker analyzed the potential of a spinoff and determined it would not be the right move for its business. He cited the cost of a spinoff as well as the benefits of having the EV operations a part of the larger company. More