Raphael Stevens

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    What will it cost to end the pandemic?

    ON MAY 2ND thousands of masked nurses, doctors and others who have battled against covid-19 watched Jennifer Lopez and other stars perform in the flesh at the “VAX live” concert in Los Angeles. Outside the venue, visitors could get their jab from the comfort of their own vehicles, while watching H.E.R., a singer-songwriter, perform the song “Glory” in the car park, surrounded by schoolkids stomping their feet. A live concert was possible only because many Americans (50% of adults) are now vaccinated. But a charity event of this kind was necessary only because most of the world is not.Listen to this storyYour browser does not support the element.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

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    When does transitory inflation become sustained?

    AT NEARLY 43 years old, the median American worker has never in her career experienced an annual rate of “core” inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, above 3%. That will soon change. Core consumer prices in America rose by 0.9% month-on-month in April, the highest jump since 1982, practically guaranteeing that the annual rate will exceed 3% in the near future. Some economists sense the first stirrings of an outbreak of sustained high inflation, like that which afflicted many countries in the 1970s. But prevailing theories of inflation suggest that, for now at least, this threat remains remote.Listen to this storyYour browser does not support the element.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

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    Dow futures gain more than 100 points as optimism over economic recovery grows

    Stock futures rose in overnight trading Thursday, as optimism over economic recovery grows amid strong labor market data.Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 123 points, or 0.36%. S&P 500 futures ticked 0.27% higher. Nasdaq-100 futures rose 0.19%.Salesforce shares gained roughly 5% in extended trading Thursday after the software company’s first-quarter earnings beat Wall Street expectations on its top and bottom lines. HP shares fell 5% despite the company’s better-than-expected second-quarter results.The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 141.59 points in regular trading, while the S&P 500 edged 0.1% higher. The Nasdaq Composite closed flat.Shares of Boeing gained nearly 4% amid optimism about the recovery economy. First-time jobless claims fell to a new pandemic low of 406,000, according to Labor Department data.”Two macro factors may be contributing to the increased confidence in the recovery today: signs of higher inflation and signs of better job placement,” Goldman Sachs managing director Chris Hussey said in a note.Meme stocks fueled by traders in Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum surged on Thursday, with AMC shooting up as much as 47%. Shares of the movie-theater chain closed 35.6% higher while another meme stock, GameStop, gained 4.8%.The major indexes are on track to close higher this week. The S&P 500 is up 1.08% week to date. The blue-chip Dow is 0.75% higher over the same time period, while the Nasdaq has gained nearly 2%.The moves higher this week come as investor monitor the back-and-forth in Washington over a comprehensive infrastructure package that could further boost the economic recovery. Senate Republicans unveiled a $928 billion infrastructure counteroffer to President Joe Biden on Thursday. However, that’s well below Biden’s most-recent offer of $1.7 trillion. More

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    John Cena's apology after Taiwan comment feels like a 'forced confession,' free speech advocate says

    Free speech advocate Suzanne Nossel said Thursday she found John Cena’s apology to China “troubling” after he called Taiwan a country during a promotional interview for his upcoming film, “Fast and Furious 9.””It felt like a forced confession,” Nossel, the CEO of nonprofit Pen America, told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith.” “This clear sense that he is under tremendous pressure, that what may have been barely a slip of the tongue is leading to potentially Draconian consequences for the film, for his own career, it’s illustrative of this very heavy hand and pressure that the Chinese applies when somebody crosses them.”Pen America aims to defends human rights and free speech around the world.Cena issued his apology Tuesday on Chinese social media. “I must say right now, it’s very, very, very, very, very, very important,” the movie star said in his video message. “I love and respect China and Chinese people. I’m very, very sorry for my mistake.” China claims Taiwan as its own territory. While the U.S. does not formally recognize Taiwan as a country, it does support the Taiwanese government in various informal ways. The self-governing island is China’s most-sensitive territorial issue and a major source of contention with Washington, which is required by U.S. law to help the island defend itself. Nossel added she thinks Hollywood studios should be more transparent when it comes to who is funding them and what portion of the profits are being made in China. “I think when something like this incident happens, that John Cena should have the backing of the studio and the filmmakers to not have to just effectively kowtow and make such an obsequious apology in order to seemingly save himself,” Nossel said.Universal’s latest installment in the “Fast and Furious” franchise kicked off with a massive $162 million in eight markets, including China, Korea and Hong Kong. Neither NBCUniversal nor the Chinese embassy could be reached for comment. A spokesman for Cena did not respond to a request for comment. Disclosure: Universal is owned by NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News and CNBC. More

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    Nike split with soccer superstar Neymar after the company started a sexual assault investigation, report says

    In this articleNKELionel Bonaventure | Getty ImagesNike’s partnership with soccer superstar Neymar da Silva Santos Jr. — better known simply as Neymar — came to an end last year because of a sexual assault investigation launched by the company that involved the player and an employee, The Wall Street Journal reported late Thursday.The company announced last summer it had parted ways with Neymar, but had not given a reason for the sudden move. According to the report, Neymar’s contract with Nike still had eight more years remaining.The report, which cites people familiar with the matter and reviewed documents, said the company was investigating an allegation that the Brazil native had sexually assaulted a female employee. A spokeswoman for Neymar told the WSJ he denies the allegations.The complaint was filed to Nike in 2018, the report said. In 2019, the company hired outside council to carry out an investigation. Nike later decided to stop featuring Neymar in its marketing, the report added.Nike did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.In 2017, Neymar left Spanish club FC Barcelona to join Paris Saint Germain for a record transfer fee of $263 million.Read the full report in The Wall Street Journal. More

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    Women could add $260 billion to Southeast Asia's e-commerce market by 2030, says gender expert

    Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market could grow by more than $260 billion by 2030 if major online shopping marketplaces do more to encourage and enable women entrepreneurs, a new report from the International Finance Corporation found.The “anonymity” of e-commerce has reduced many of the barriers to entry traditionally faced by women and afforded them the opportunity to thrive in new sectors, Amy Luinstra, the IFC’s gender program manager for East Asia and Pacific, told CNBC Thursday.Still, many of the inequalities faced by women in the traditional retail space “bleed into the online world,” she said, such as securing access to funding.Luinstra called on big e-commerce players to do more to support women vendors and capture the market opportunity.For platforms that have financing options, that is an excellent way to bring more women in and help them thrive.Amy Luinstragender program manager (East Asia and Pacific), IFCThat includes extending financing for women, providing training, and encouraging them to participate in higher value sectors like electronics, she said.”For platforms that have financing options, that is an excellent way to bring more women in and help them thrive by making sure they’re aware of the financing offers and they’re able to take advantage of them,” Luinstra told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”A woman wears a protective face mask as she waits for customers inside her shop in Jakarta, Indonesia on Tuesday, March 31, 2020.NurPhoto | Getty ImagesHer comments come against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is said to have disproportionately put women at a disadvantage.The IFC report, which drew on data collated from Southeast Asian e-commerce site Lazada, found that in 2019, women were on course to reach gender parity in e-commerce. But even with the surge in online retail in the past year, the additional caregiving duties and time constraints that women faced caused progress to take a step back.”Prior to the pandemic, women were holding their own — in some cases outselling men and even … out participating men,” said Luinstra.In the Philippines for instance, women previously accounted for 64% of sellers on Lazada’s site, but their sales dropped by 27% during the pandemic, the report found.”That has changed under the pandemic and that’s how we’re starting to get the gap, and the opportunity for closing that gap, that adds up to the big number $280 billion,” she said, referring to the market opportunity referenced in the report. More

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    Mondelez CEO calls $2 billion Chipita acquisition a win for both companies

    In this articleMDLZMondelez CEO Dirk Van de Put on Thursday called its latest acquisition a “win win” for both companies involved in the deal.The Oreo-maker announced Wednesday its acquisition of Chipita, a Greek company whose croissants and baked snacks helped it generate $580 million in sales last year. The purchase sets Mondelez back about $2 billion, which it plans to fund using new debt issuance and existing cash on hand.”We can use their distribution, their presence to build our distribution, but also to bring our brands to their products,” Van de Put told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on “Mad Money.” “Imagine a croissant with Cadbury chocolate or Milka chocolate.”Van De Put said that Chipita’s products, while popular mostly in Eastern Europe, have potential for growth around the rest of the globe, particularly in emerging markets.”It’s a real win win situation in my opinion,” he said.Shares of Mondelez have risen 8% this year, giving it market value of $89.2 billion.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

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    Salesforce's signature Dreamforce conference to be held in person this year, Benioff says

    In this articleCRMSalesforce’s annual Dreamforce conference will be held in person this year, CEO Marc Benioff told CNBC’s Jim Cramer in a “Mad Money” interview Thursday.The company held the high-profile convention entirely remotely in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and this year’s event, set for Sept. 21-23, will maintain a digital component.However, Salesforce’s decision to welcome back in-person attendees is a noteworthy development in corporate America’s recovery from the Covid crisis, which prompted companies to embrace widespread remote work in a way like never before and led to a sharp slowdown in business travel.Salesforce will require in-person attendees in the U.S. to be fully vaccinated against Covid, according to a company press release.Dreamforce will be held across multiple locations in 2021, including San Francisco, where the cloud software maker has its headquarters. The conference will also convene in New York City, Paris and London. Salesforce said the event will be “the first-ever global Dreamforce.”Dreamforce, now in its 19th year, is a big marketing opportunity for Salesforce. It’s also viewed as a significant driver of economic activity for San Francisco. Speakers in previous years include former President Barack Obama, who spoke in 2019. That year, more than 171,000 people registered to attend.Benioff’s interview on “Mad Money” came shortly after the company reported first-quarter fiscal results that beat Wall Street expectations on the top and bottom lines.”This was the best first quarter we have ever had. I think maybe it’s the best quarter we’ve ever had in the company history,” Benioff, who founded Salesforce in 1999, told Cramer. “The revenue, the margin, the cash flow all vastly exceeded our expectations.”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