Raphael Stevens

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Tuesday revealed he recently trimmed holdings in his charitable trust ahead of earnings season as he grows more concerned about potential market headwinds.The fund, ActionAlertsPlus.com, trimmed roughly $100,000 from its holdings in part because of the issues, he said.”I’m not a bear, but there are legitimate concerns here, which is why we sold a bunch of stock for my charitable trust on the eve of that conference call I gave last week,” he said on “Mad Money.” “This market can handle one or even two of these potential problems, but it can’t handle all of them.”Cramer laid out seven concerns that he has. Below are key takeaways that are driving his ambivalence:Earnings results”This week we have bank earnings and those stocks have run so much that their numbers need to be borderline perfect,” Cramer said. “Call me concerned that this red-hot group could hurt the tenor of earnings season.”Inflation”I think [Federal Reserve Chair] Jay Powell is right that the current inflation spike is transitory,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll have to tighten any time soon because of inflation, but I’ve been wrong before, and this is a legitimate concern even as the consumer price index numbers this morning don’t seem all that worrisome.”Stock glut”We’ve had so many IPOs and so many SPAC deals that I’m worried about the prospect of a $100 billion direct listing [from Coinbase] sucking money from everything else,” Cramer said. “Too much supply, too many questions, not enough discipline.”Covid-19″We’ve gotten complacent about Covid,” the former hedge fund manager said. “I know people are sick of quarantining, and vaccinations — save [Johnson & Johnson] — [are] going pretty well, though we’re not out of the woods.”S&P oscillator”We are indeed overbought on the S&P oscillator that I swear by,” he said. “We’ve had an incredible run, and I’d feel much, much more comfortable if we follow that up with a gentle decline rather than some sort of cliff jump. The longer the market stays overbought, the more worried I get.”Semiconductor shortage”These shortages really do worry me, especially the semiconductor shortage. Without chips, there isn’t anything most manufacturers can do to boost production,” Cramer said.Foreign policy”We have a new president and it feels like everyone, from Iran to North Korea to Russia and even China, wants to test his resolve. I’m most worried about China, which seems determined to show Biden that it doesn’t want to hear anything about human rights or it will make a move on Taiwan,” he said. “To me, this potential flashpoint is the most dangerous storyline in the world right now.”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 articleSFIXStitch Fix shares fell more than 5% Tuesday afternoon after the company announced that founder Katrina Lake would step down as CEO.The company’s president, Elizabeth Spaulding, will start as chief executive on Aug. 1, according to a news release.Lake founded the online styling service a decade ago when she was a student at Harvard Business School. The company adds a personal touch to e-commerce by having employees pick out clothing and accessories for customers who subscribe to the service or sign up for a “Fix.” The items, tailored to each person’s style, are delivered by mail and include a pre-paid envelope for returns. Customers only pay for what they keep and the styling fee is applied to their purchases.Since Lake started Stitch Fix, it has grown into a business with about 4 million clients in the U.S. and United Kingdom and roughly 8,000 employees. At the time when Stitch Fix debuted on the stock market three years ago, she was the youngest woman to take a company public. (That distinction now belongs to Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd.)However, the company has had an often tumultuous ride on Wall Street. Its earnings reports frequently prompt selloffs, even as its stock price has ultimately risen through the years. Its shares debuted on the Nasdaq at $16.90 in 2017 and were $49.49 at market close on Tuesday. Its market value is $5.26 billion.Stitch Fix has struggled recently with shipping delays and reduced spending by customers. In March, it missed analysts’ revenue expectations for the fiscal first quarter. It said its active clients spent an average of $467, down 7% compared with the same time a year ago.It also laid off 1,400 stylists in California, or about 18% of its workforce, last year. At the time, the company said it planned to hire 2,000 stylists in other parts of the U.S. with a lower cost of living, such as Dallas or Minneapolis. The company has expanded beyond its personal styling and subscription-based model to drive sales, too. Customers can now buy individual items, including some suggested based on prior purchases or recommended to complete an outfit.Shares of the company are down nearly 16% so far this year.Stitch Fix said in a news release that Lake will remain involved in the company as executive chairperson of its board. It said she will also focus on the personal styling service’s sustainability efforts and its marketing.In a company-wide email, Lake said it is a fitting time for a transition as more customers shop online for clothing and other goods.”Apparel retail is undergoing a reinvention, and Stitch Fix is exceedingly well-positioned to lead through it,” she said. “This moment of transformation in our business and our industry makes it the right time to think about the next generation of leadership at our company.”Prior to joining Stitch Fix, Spaulding was a partner at consulting firm Bain & Company. More

White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday that the Food and Drug Administration’s recommended pause on the use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine will give U.S. health regulators the time they need to thoroughly investigate how six women developed a rare blood clotting disorder that left one dead.Fauci said officials at the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention want to see if there are “any clues” and “find some common denominators among the women who were involved” that could be enabling the blood clotting disorder known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, or CVST.He also said the recommended pause will make physicians aware of the issue. Doctors typically treat that type of blood clot with heparin, a blood thinner, but Fauci said that could be dangerous in this case and noted health officials recommended a different treatment.”If someone comes in with this really rather rare syndrome of thrombotic thrombocytopenia where you get thromboses, the most common way to treat that would be with heparin,” Fauci said during a White House news briefing. “That would be a mistake in this situation because that could be dangerous and make the situation worse.” Out of the 120 million people in the U.S. who have had at least one dose, roughly 6.9 million have received J&J’s vaccine, Fauci said, noting that there haven’t been any “red flag signals” from the Pfizer or Moderna Covid-19 vaccines that rely on MRNA technology in their shots. Out of the 6.9 million people who got the J&J jab, six developed blood clots, he said.”We are totally aware that this is a rare event. We want to get this worked out as quickly as we possibly can and that’s why you see the world pause, in other words, you want to hold off for a bit,” Fauci said. “We want to leave that up to the FDA and the CDC to investigate this carefully. I don’t think it was pulling the trigger too quickly.”Fauci said the pause could last from a matter of days to a few weeks. The CDC will also convene a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Wednesday to further review the cases.During an earlier call Tuesday, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said officials learned the blood clotting generally occurs about a week after vaccination, but not more than three weeks after, with a median time frame of nine days.”We know that for these vaccines, that for the first several days after vaccination, there are flu-like symptoms that can include headache,” he said, adding that those are likely common side effects. “If someone presented to an emergency room with very severe headache or blood clots” doctors should ask whether they recently got a vaccine before putting together a plan of care. If the patient also has low platelets, doctors should consider that it may be related to the vaccine, he said.Marks told reporters that researchers haven’t yet found a specific cause for the blood clotting in J&J vaccine recipients, but they believed it was similar to other adeno viral vector vaccines. “That is an immune response that occurs very, very rarely after some people receive the vaccine and that immune response leads to activation of the platelets and the extremely rare blood clots,” he said.Correction: About 120 million people in the U.S. have received one dose of a vaccine. An earlier version mischaracterized the figure. More

More Americans will likely refuse to get Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine after U.S. health regulators said six women developed a rare blood-clotting disorder that left one dead and another in critical condition, experts on public health and vaccines told CNBC on Tuesday.The Food and Drug Administration asked states early Tuesday to temporarily halt using J&J’s single-shot vaccine “out of an abundance of caution” after six women, ages 18 to 48, out of the roughly 6.9 million people who received the shot developed a blood-clotting disorder known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, or CVST.All of the women developed the condition, which occurs when a blood clot forms in the brain’s venous sinuses, preventing blood from draining out of the brain back to the heart, within about two weeks of receiving the shot, health officials told reporters on a call.”For people who recently got the vaccine within the last couple weeks, they should be aware to look for any symptoms,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a press briefing Tuesday. “If you’ve received the vaccine and developed severe headaches, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath, you should contact your health-care provider and seek medical treatment.”CNBC Health & Science Read CNBC’s latest coverage of the Covid pandemic:FDA advises states to pause J&J Covid vaccine after rare blood-clotting issue affects 6 women, kills 1Covid cases are rising in more than half of U.S. states, despite ramp up in vaccinationsStates rush to replace J&J vaccine appointments after FDA recommends pauseCVS Health halts Johnson & Johnson vaccines, debates how to handle scheduled appointments    Shortly after the FDA issued the warning, more than a dozen states as well as some pharmacies took steps to halt inoculations with J&J’s vaccine, some replacing scheduled appointments with either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. Some doctors say they’re already fielding calls from worried patients.People were already skeptical about vaccines before the coronavirus emerged as a new pathogen in China in December 2019, infecting more than 31.2 million Americans and killing at least 562,718 in a little over a year. The warning from U.S. health officials to states is likely to fuel even more hesitancy in taking J&J’s shot and the other vaccines, threatening to stall the nation’s recovery from the pandemic, health experts told CNBC.”Sadly, it will likely exacerbate those who have some degree of hesitancy towards receiving a vaccine,” said Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist who has sat on several drug data and safety monitoring boards. “Senior public health officials have to continue to be open, honest, transparent and most importantly contextualize that this is low risk.”The goal, according to President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, is to vaccinate between 70% and 85% of the U.S. population — or roughly 232 million to 281 million people — to achieve herd immunity and suppress the pandemic.So far, more than 120 million Americans, or 36% of the total U.S. population, have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to data compiled by the CDC. Roughly 74 million Americans, or 22% of the total U.S. population, are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. Kids under age 16 are not yet authorized in the U.S. to take the shots, and some adults will likely refuse to get any vaccine.”This throws a wrench into the plans. It will slow down the rollout,” said Dr. Jeffrey Kahn, director of the Berman Institute of Bioethics at Johns Hopkins University. “People will say, ‘I don’t want that one, I want one of the others that doesn’t have that problem,’ even if it’s an extraordinarily rare event.”Some Americans, especially in Black, Hispanic and rural communities, were already hesitant to get the J&J vaccine in particular because they perceived it as inferior to Pfizer’s and Moderna’s. The J&J shot, which is highly effective, especially against severe disease, demonstrated 72% effectiveness in the U.S. in protecting against Covid about a month after the inoculation. That compares with the roughly 95% efficacy of Pfizer’s and Moderna’s two-dose vaccines.Single-dose vaccines such as J&J’s were crucial to “getting to communities where a two-dose regimen wasn’t practical or really even possible,” Kahn said. U.S. health officials were largely using J&J’s vaccine to reach poorer urban and rural areas where residents couldn’t easily get to a vaccine clinic or didn’t have reliable internet access.”Those communities also are the ones most severely affected by Covid,” Kahn said. “Pausing the use of J&J [is] a blow to doing that effectively and quickly.”Dr. Stephen Schrantz, who was part of the team that led a J&J vaccine trial at the University of Chicago Medicine, said he already had patients who did not want the J&J vaccine and said the news will give them further evidence to say, “See, I told you.””I suspect vaccine rollout and uptake will slow down, there will be a migration away from the J&J vaccine, even if the CDC and FDA conclude there is not a causal relationship,” he said. “And as mask-wearing wanes we may begin to see more cases, such as we have in Michigan, show up elsewhere.”Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who sits on Pfizer’s board, predicted the move will “fuel the hesitancy” of some people to get a Covid vaccine.”Even if there isn’t a causal relationship, even if this is exceedingly rare, I think we’re going to see that whole conversation now get ignited on social media,” he told CNBC in an interview.Dr. Purvi Parikh, a specialist in infectious disease allergy and immunology at NYU Langone Health, on Tuesday called the FDA warning a “double-edged sword,” saying it will likely add concerns to already hesitant Americans. She also said she has already gotten “panicked calls” from her own patients about the J&J vaccine.”But if anything, again, I want to reiterate: This only gives me more faith in our system because those safety checks and balances are working. So hopefully it gives some people peace of mind,” she added on “Squawk on the Street.” “Again, just to look at the big picture, the benefits still far outweigh the risks of this vaccination.”Dr. Archana Chatterjee, pediatric infectious diseases specialist and member of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, echoed Parikh’s remark. She added that there was nothing “unusual” in the way U.S. health regulators addressed the issue.”This is a normal procedure that occurs,” she said.”But obviously, anytime that serious adverse events are reported about any vaccine that raises concerns in the public’s mind,” she added. “When you talk about vaccine confidence or vaccine hesitancy, could that have an impact? It’s certainly possible.”Dr. Paul Offit, another member of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, said he hopes Americans think about the issue “rationally,” adding that the cases of blood clots appear to be extremely rare. He noted persuading folks in hard-to-reach communities could be a challenge.”It should be reassuring to people that officials are continuing to look [at the vaccine], even for rare side effects,” he said.— CNBC’s Kevin Stankiewicz contributed to this article. More

In this articleCGBeautycounter launched a direct-to-consumer business in 2013, selling through its own website and web of consultants, of which it has more than 65,000 today, many on social media.BeautycounterPrivate equity giant Carlyle Group is taking a majority stake in Beautycounter, best known for its “clean” makeup and skincare products. Carlyle’s backing officially labels the beauty brand a unicorn, valuing it at $1 billion — more than double its last reported valuation of $400 million in January 2018, according to PitchBook data.The investment comes as venture funding into private start-ups like Beautycounter soared to a record $64 billion in the first three months of the year — the highest amount ever for a single quarter and equivalent to 43% of all the venture money raised in 2020.It also comes as more consumer-facing companies like Beautycounter go all-in on long-term e-commerce solutions and direct-to-consumer efforts that have been largely validated throughout the pandemic.Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, the company launched as a direct-to-consumer business in 2013, selling through its own website and web of consultants, of which it has more than 65,000 today. Many of these consultants are better thought of as influencers who tout Beautycounter’s merchandise to their social media followers and can receive up to 35% commission on their retail volumes if successful.The company was first founded in 2011 by CEO Gregg Renfrew, who today is often lauded as a pioneer when it comes to transparency in the makeup industry.”I’m proud that we were able to navigate through the pandemic with a digitally-native mindset, fast-tracking our efforts to find new and innovative ways to enhance the online shopping experience,” Renfrew said in an email statement to CNBC. “We’ll continue to do so as we enter this next phase of growth for the company.”Beautycounter founder Gregg Renfrew lobbies in front of Congress for better government regulations on personal-care products.Source: BeautycounterAs an advocate for better government regulations on personal-care products, Renfrew’s company has a history of lobbying members of Congress for better laws to keep harmful chemicals out of the items that women and men are putting on their bodies daily.Beautycounter has published a list of 1,800 questionable chemical ingredients, dubbed The Never List, that the company vows will never be put in its products. Some of these include the disinfectant benzalkonium chloride and coal-tar hair dyes, a byproduct of coal processing. “ESG considerations play an increasing role in our investment processes and Beautycounter has authentically integrated these values — including sustainability, ethical sourcing, and diversity — into its brand, its products and into the way it conducts business,” Carlyle Group’s Jay Sammons, head of global consumer, media & retail, said in an email statement to CNBC. “We believe Beautycounter will continue to differentiate itself and serve consumers’ needs well into the future.”With their majority stake, Carlyle joins a roster of Beautycounter investors that include the U2 frontman Bono and private-equity firm TPG Growth, which the Wall Street Journal reports is exiting as part of the deal.Beautycounter ranked No. 48 on last year’s CNBC Disruptor 50 list of private, venture-backed start-ups that are positioned to transform industries. More

Signs show information for a vaccination site run by the Santa Clara County health department at Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers NFL football team, in Santa Clara, California, February 9, 2021.Brittany Hosea-Small | ReutersThe NFL is taking its strongest stance yet when it comes to returning to normal from the pandemic. The message? Get vaccinated. In a memo obtained by CNBC, Commissioner Roger Goodell said, “In light of expanded vaccine eligibility, it is appropriate now to take further steps to educate about and promote vaccine availability and acceptance within the NFL.”As part of that directive, the league says that all employees other than players (called Tier 1 and Tier 2 employees) are expected to get vaccinated unless they have an underlying medical or religious reason for not doing so. Tier 1 employees include coaches and trainers and Tier 2 employees include general managers, assistant coaches and football operations employees. The memo states that any employee who refuses to do so without an approved reason will not be permitted to access the “football only” restricted area and they won’t be able to work with players directly or in close proximity.While there is no required vaccination for players at this time, the memo instructs teams to report on a weekly basis the number of employees who have been vaccinated. It says they are actively working with the NFLPA on a set of protocol changes that would apply to clubs when vaccination levels reach a certain threshold that would allow them to loosen protocols put in place because of the pandemic. That would mean they could relax everything from quarantine restrictions to cafeteria and locker room use.The league is also encouraging teams to hold vaccine information sessions for players, families and staff to address any concerns they may have. “Educate your employees and communicate to them the work-related benefits of the vaccination,” the memo reads.The NFL has also been instrumental in getting the general public vaccinated. At its annual meeting recently, the NFL reported that more than 1.5 million doses have been administered at club facilities. The memo from Tuesday encourages teams to continue to use their stadium or training facilities to vaccinate employees, players and their families through “vaccination days” or something similar.”The overwhelming consensus among medical and public health experts is that the most effective way for someone to avoid the risk of contracting Covid-19 – and the risk of infecting others – is to be vaccinated,” the memo concludes. More