Raphael Stevens

Vials of AstraZeneca vaccine against coronavirus (COVID-19) during the first day of a mass vaccination of Police and Firefighters in the Wanda Metropolitan Stadium.Marcos del Mazo | LightRocket | Getty ImagesThe World Health Organization said Wednesday that coronavirus vaccination rollouts using the AstraZeneca-Oxford University shot should continue while it carries out a safety review.The latest guidance from the global public health body comes after a raft of European countries announced that they would suspend use of the shot over concerns that it could be linked to reported cases of blood clots in the region.WHO’s Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety has been reviewing the available data on the vaccine. On Wednesday, the WHO issued a statement in which it said that “vaccination against COVID-19 will not reduce illness or deaths from other causes.””Thromboembolic events are known to occur frequently. Venous thromboembolism is the third most common cardiovascular disease globally,” it said.It said that while it was routine for countries to signal potential adverse events following immunization, particularly in mass vaccination campaigns, “this does not necessarily mean that the events are linked to vaccination itself.”Nonetheless, it added, “it is good practice to investigate them. It also shows that the surveillance system works and that effective controls are in place.”The WHO is in regular contact with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and regulators around the world for the latest information on Covid-19 vaccine safety, it added.The WHO said it will immediately communicate the findings to the public once its review is complete. “At this time, WHO considers that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh its risks and recommends that vaccinations continue,” it added.’An ongoing process’Sweden, Lithuania and Latvia on Tuesday became the latest countries to suspend the use of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine over blood clot concerns, following in the footsteps of Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Ireland, among other European nations. More than a dozen European countries have temporarily paused use of the vaccine.Emer Cooke, the EMA’s executive director, said at a press briefing Tuesday that a review into the shot’s safety was “an ongoing process” but said that in a mass vaccination program of millions of people it was not unexpected to receive some reports of adverse events.Experts brought together by the EMA were tasked, she said, with deciding whether there was a causal link between the handful of adverse events involving blood clots, and the vaccine, however.”This requires a very thorough analysis of all the data,” Cooke said. “At present there is no indication that vaccination has caused these events,” she reiterated, adding that the crucial health benefits of the vaccination program, and the AstraZeneca shot within that, continued to outweigh the risks. “Thousands of people are dying every day across the EU … these are very rare thromboembolic events or blood clots.” A conclusion of the EMA’s review is expected Thursday.Baffled health expertsThe strategy from these EU nations has baffled health experts and has prompted concerns that the move could further damage confidence in the vaccine and slow down an already sluggish immunization program in the bloc, all while many countries are seeing a spike in infections due to more infectious coronavirus variants.Some analysts have questioned whether the decision has a political dimension given previous doubts over AstraZeneca’s trial data, efficacy in the over-65s (it has been proven in various studies to be highly effective at reducing Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths) and disputes over vaccine supplies.Not all European countries have stopped using the shot. Belgium, Poland and the Czech Republic have all said they will continue to use the shot, saying that the benefits outweigh the risks. Belgium went further, with its health minister saying that pausing the immunization program would be “irresponsible.”AstraZeneca has staunchly defended its vaccine, saying in a statement Sunday that the number of blood clots recorded post-vaccination were lower than could be expected to occur naturally. More

Getty ImagesDETROIT – A majority of Ford Motor’s roughly 86,000 global employees who haven’t returned to work yet are expected to start doing so this summer through a new hybrid work schedule that gives employees more flexibility over when they report to the office.The automaker informed staff of its plans Wednesday morning, a year after much of the company’s nonmanufacturing employees started working remotely to help slow the spread of Covid-19.The larger return to work isn’t expected before July, according to Kiersten Robinson, Ford chief people and employee experiences officer. She said how much an employee will be able to work remotely will be based on their job responsibilities as well as discussions with managers.”The nature of the work we do really is going to be a guiding element,” Robinson told CNBC. “If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the last 12 months, it is that a lot of our assumptions around work and what employees need has shifted.”Some 40% of employers that shifted to remote work at the start of the coronavirus pandemic are planning to have workers return to the office as early as this month, according to a recent report from the Conference Board. Most may make it voluntary for some and mandatory for others, the think tank found — or adopt some sort of flexible weekly schedule like Ford’s.About 100,000 of Ford’s 186,000 employees, primarily in manufacturing, have already returned to work. Work schedules are not expected to change much, if any, for workers who need to be at a certain facility to perform their duties.Ford’s largest crosstown rival, General Motors, expects to start bringing back remote employees in June or July, according to company spokesman David Caldwell. The company has not announced a plan to employees, but Caldwell said it “will likely be more flexible” based on a person’s responsibilities.VaccinationsFord’s decision follows several rounds of employee surveys over the last year regarding returning to work, according to Robinson. Questions included preferences about remote work and whether employees planned to get vaccinated.”We’ve been doing a lot of work in mining the lessons learned over the last 12 months and the impact on how we think about the evolution of work at Ford,” she said. She said the automaker surveys its employees almost every week.A majority of Ford’s employees are expected to get vaccinated, Robinson said. The company isn’t mandating it but is supplying information and resources to those who haven’t yet decided.Office changesThe company expects to continue requiring employees to wear masks and practice social distancing through at least the remainder of this year, Robinson said.Such practices as well as the flexibility regarding where and when employees can work aren’t rigid, she said. Instead, she said the company will continue to learn and adapt to employees’ desires as well as what health officials recommend.”We’re not calling this the ‘future of work,’ we’re intentionally calling it an ‘evolution’ because we’re going to continue to learn as we go and use those learnings to adapt our practices and policies around flexible work, as well as other areas,” Robinson said.Once employees return to work, Robinson said, the experience for many will be different. Instead of “somewhat mindlessly” going into work daily, it will be based on events such as meetings, presentations or projects that demand more collaboration than others.Ford has offered alternative work schedules, such as 10-hour days four times a week instead of the traditional five-day work week, but Robinson said the take rate for such programs was low. It’s one of the many things the company will be monitoring regarding its new plans, she said. More

A woman shops for Lands End brand sweaters in Niles, Illinois.Tim Boyle | Getty ImagesLands’ End shares jumped nearly 7% at one point in premarket trading Wednesday after the apparel and home-goods retailer reported fourth-quarter earnings and sales that topped analysts’ estimates.It also offered a better-than-expected outlook for the current quarter and said it anticipates sales and profits to grow for the full year.Here’s how Lands’ End did for the quarter ended Jan. 29 compared with what analysts were anticipating, using a poll by Refinitiv:Earnings per share: 60 cents vs. 56 cents expectedRevenue: $538.4 million vs. $530.9 million expectedNet income for the period fell to $19.9 million, or 60 cents per share, compared with $25.5 million or 78 per share, a year earlier. That came in better than the 56 cents per share expected by analysts.Revenue declined about 2% to $538.4 million from $549.5 million a year earlier. That also came in better than the $530.9 million forecast by analysts.Lands’ End said its online sales globally rose 7.5%, including a 38% increase in Europe and a 3.7% increase in the United States.”We were well positioned to capitalize on the accelerated shift to online as a digitally-led company,” Chief Executive Jerome Griffith said in a statement.The company expects its 2021 revenue to range from $1.52 billion to $1.57 billion, with earnings per share of 34 cents to 58 cents. In fiscal 2020, the company’s revenue was $1.43 billion, with earnings of 33 cents a share.It’s calling for first-quarter revenue of $275 million to $285 million, with a loss of 25 cents to 32 cents per share. Analysts had forecast the company’s revenue amounting to $240.6 million on a loss of 47 cents per share, according to Refinitiv.Shortly before the opening bell, Lands’ End shares were up 5%. Its price is up more than 670% over the past 12 months. The company has a market cap of $1.15 billion.Find the full press release from Lands’ End here. More

A worker assembles a box for delivery at the Amazon fulfillment center in Baltimore, Maryland, April 30, 2019Clodagh Kilcoyne | ReutersAmazon is rolling out its telehealth service known as Amazon Care for its employees in all 50 states starting this summer with plans to expand it to other employers later this year.”Amazon Benefits has been the enterprise customer that we’ve been serving to date. Now, looking at other enterprises, understanding their needs, we think a lot of the needs are similar,” said Kristen Helton, director of Amazon Care.Amazon Care launched as a pilot program two years ago to provide convenient urgent care visits virtually for the company’s employees in Washington state, with free telehealth consults and in-home visits for a fee from nurses for testing and vaccinations. The program has since expanded into more of a primary care service.”We have developed the ability to treat chronic conditions … you can see the same provider, have a care team, so that that group of clinicians really gets to know you and I would say, we’re also learning on the clinical side, we really need to give clinicians, the tools to provide excellent care,” said Helton.Amazon will roll out the virtual care part of the program for its employees and other companies nationwide this year, but the added in-person services will initially be offered only in Washington state and near its new second headquarters in the Washington, D.C., metro area.The move comes two months after Amazon said it was winding down Haven, its joint venture with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan. Haven had been touted three years ago as an incubator to improve employer health programs.In the interim, Amazon has developed and launched its own online pharmacy, after acquiring PillPack in 2018. Last year, the company partnered with employer health provider Crossover Health to launch in-person employee health clinics which now serve Amazon workers across 17 sites in Texas, Arizona, Kentucky, California and Michigan.The pharmacy, the employee clinics and Amazon Care are run as independent health care initiatives within Amazon. Asked whether she envisions the company putting some of the services together for other employers, Helton said she “won’t speculate about how this will evolve.”Employer telehealth marketAmazon is taking aim at the employer market, following tremendous growth in telehealth during the Covid pandemic that has helped fuel a series of deals in the sector over the last six months.In October, Teladoc reached an $18 billion deal to acquire diabetes management firm Livongo. Last month, Cigna’s Evernorth division announced it will acquire virtual care platform MD Live for an undisclosed amount. This week, privately held telemedicine provider Dr. on Demand announced it is merging with Grand Rounds, which provides health care navigation services.    “What we’re hearing from employers is that … they’re looking for platforms that can deliver a suite of services,” explained analyst Charles Rhyee, managing director at Cowen & Co., adding that most telemedicine has been focused on urgent care, “not really connected to your overall health care. Virtual primary care is that next step.”All three deals were focused on providing more integrated digital health services for employers as large companies increasingly look to make medical and mental health services more accessible both virtually and in person.”I think what we’ve learned is that a hybrid model is probably what we’re going to end up with; where sometimes we go to the doctor’s office, when we need a procedure done, when we need imaging done, when we’re not sure what’s going on with you,” said Dr. Bob Kocher, a partner at venture firm Venrock, who serves as a board observer at Dr. on Demand and Grand Rounds. “A lot of visits, in between, will be done virtually.”Health insurers are also getting in on telehealth expansion. CVS Health is conducting a virtual primary care pilot with a large employer using its Minute Clinic service, while UnitedHealth Group’s UnitedHealthcare unit launched its own employer virtual primary care service in January. Amazon is the new kid on the block in the employer market, but virtual primary care is also a developing business for its more established competitors which may even the playing field a bit.   “Healthcare is an incredibly large space, and there’s lots of opportunity. We see there’s room for more than one winner in the space,” said Helton.Given Amazon’s track record for winning big in retail, web services, and entertainment, investors and its competitors in health care will be watching its moves closely. More

PepsiCo’s new line of Mtn Dew Rise Energy drinksPepsiCoPepsiCo, with an assist from NBA superstar LeBron James, is hoping to win over coffee drinkers with a new line of energy drinks under its Mountain Dew brand by touting its taste and ability to invigorate consumers.Mtn Dew Rise Energy contains roughly the same amount of caffeine in one can as two cups of coffee. Every 16-ounce can also includes vitamins A and C and zinc to support the immune system. Its ingredients also include citicoline, which is often used in supplements that claim to boost memory. Pepsi has been leaning into functional beverages, like Driftwell, which is meant to help consumers sleep.Fabiola Torres, chief marketing officer of PepsiCo Energy, said the company knows that it’s got stiff competition in the energy-drink category, so it wanted to create a product line that would appeal to more than just the typical consumer who buys energy drinks. Mtn Dew Rise Energy will also help Pepsi compete against upstarts in the category that are touting healthier energy drinks such as MatchaBar or Mati Energy, which derive a caffeine punch from tea.The new line is available in six flavors: Pomegranate Blue Burst, Orange Breeze, Strawberry Melon Spark, Tropical Sunrise, Berry Blitz and Peach Mango Dawn.”There’s a lot of rejecters out there that think that energy drinks don’t taste good, so we … wanted to stand for a flavor-forward drink,” said Torres.Coca-Cola and Pepsi have been pushing into energy drinks as soda consumption has fallen. Energy drinks generated $14.15 billion in retail sales last year, according to Euromonitor International. In early 2020, Pepsi bought Rockstar Energy for $3.85 billion and revamped the brand.The company has also been leaning on the Mountain Dew brand, which is known for its high caffeine content, to launch new energy drinks. According to Euromonitor, Mountain Dew holds about 7% market share in carbonated soft drinks, putting it in fifth place. In 2018, Pepsi launched Mtn Dew Amp Game Fuel, aimed at video gamers.”It’s not about creating another extension under Mountain Dew, it’s about creating another brand under the Mountain Dew family,” Torres said.James will serve as the face for the new product. He signed an endorsement deal with PepsiCo earlier this year after 18 years with the company’s archrival Coke. Pepsi said James will endorse other products in its portfolio, including snacks. According to Torres, Pepsi will work with other influencers outside of James to promote the product. More

A picture taken on February 28, 2021 shows palm trees on the empty “Promenade des anglais” in Nice, on the French riviera.VALERY HACHE | AFP | Getty ImagesLONDON — The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, proposed Wednesday a vaccination certificate for citizens as a way to prop up tourism-related activities this summer.Tourism-reliant economies, such as Greece, have pushed for a common EU system that would restore some travel in the region this summer. These countries struggled with fewer visitors during 2020 and are keen to welcome people back to avoid more severe economic scarring.As a result, the commission suggested that EU citizens should be allowed to use a “digital green certificate” to prove that they have been vaccinated against the virus; that they have received a negative Covid-19 test; or they have recovered after contracting the coronavirus.The idea with the two other options on top of being vaccinated is to avoid criticism that the document will discriminate against those who have not yet received a shot. However, some nations, including France, are wary of the idea as young people are the in last line to get a vaccine.In addition, a vaccine certificate is somewhat of a difficult pill to swallow for some EU nations, given the region’s freedom of movement policy. Until coronavirus hit, and in most cases, European citizens could move from one country to another without a passport check.The European Commission also said Wednesday that all of the vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency should be automatically recognized by other member states under this new system. However, countries that wished to do so, could also recognize the vaccines that have not yet been approved by the European regulator.Hungary, for instance, is inoculating citizens with the Russian vaccine Sputnik V and the shot from China too. These have not yet been approved by the EMA.The document is expected to contain only a very specific set of data: the citizen’s name and date of birth, the certificate’s date of issuance, relevant information about a vaccine, test or recovery, and a unique identifier name.”This cannot be retained by visited countries,” the commission said in a statement on Wednesday.The Brussels-based institution also said that the certificate will be free of charge, available in the issuant country’s language as well as in English, and that it is only a temporary mechanism.”It will be suspended once the World Health Organization declares the end of Covid-19 international health emergency,” the commission said in a document.Wednesday’s proposal will be debated at the next European summit, later this month. Speaking in February, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that it could take three months to implement a digital certificate.The different EU countries and the European Parliament have to approve the commission’s proposal before it can be implemented. More

Shake Shack is rolling out its own nationwide delivery service in partnership with Uber Eats.Source: Shake ShackShake Shack is continuing to invest in its digital business after a major shift in consumer habits during the Covid pandemic, launching its own nationwide in-app delivery service as part of an exclusive partnership with Uber Eats.The move expands on its Shack Track service, which allows guests to preorder food for pickup at its walk-up windows, by the curbside or on in-store shelves. The nationwide launch follows tests done in Miami and New York.Customers who order in Shake Shack’s app will be able to track their order in real time and will pay either a 99-cent flat delivery fee or receive free delivery for orders over $35 — competitive pricing in a part of the industry known for high fees.”We found that they could do this incredibly well through this year, especially in the places where we’re strongest,” CEO Randy Garutti said of its decision to partner with Uber Eats.Shake Shack is testing a 5% upcharge on third-party delivery, which will make in-app ordering the best value for customers. Through the end of this month, it is offering free fries with orders of more than $15 placed on the Shack App.Shake Shack’s digital sales have surged over the past year, and made up nearly 60% of its total sales in the fourth quarter. Through the third week of February, year-to-date sales through its app and website were up more than 300% compared with the prior year. From March 2020 through January, Shake Shack added 2 million first-time customers to its digital channels, the company said.This growth is helping Shake Shack improve its performance. After its latest earnings report, its shares jumped as revenue rose to $157.5 million. Although same-store sales continued to struggle, falling 17.4%, the decline was not as steep as it had been in the third quarter.Shake Shack stock has risen more than 277% over the past year, bringing its market value to $5.2 billion, as of Tuesday’s market close.Garutti said the company has increased investments in digital to ease friction. He expects in-app delivery will help guide customers into Shake Shack’s infrastructure, helping the company better understand their preferences and making it easier to market directly to them. As part of its investment, Shake Shack is building out its technology development team in collaboration with Uber Eats’ fulfillment.”A year ago, we were a were a 20% digital company, and 80% in person, and overnight we switched to 80% digital, 20% in person,” Garutti said. “What we then built back to was really trying to ramp up and accelerate the digital toolbox. … We want to bring people into our ecosystem.”Although Shake Shack is preparing for more in-person business as vaccines rollout, the company wants to be prepared to fill customers’ orders in a vareity of ways, and digital will continue to be a part of the in-person experience as well, Garutti said.The playbook is similar at other restaurants seeing big growth in digital, including Domino’s, Papa John’s, Chipotle and Cava, as consumer preferences shift, likely permanently, as a result of the pandemic.Shake Shack has a smaller footprint than many of these competitors with under 200 locations in the U.S. In 2021, the company plans to open 35 to 40 company-operated Shake Shacks and 15 to 20 licensed restaurants.At the end of last year, Shake Shack’s suburban locations were performing better than its urban restaurants, but the company will develop new sites in both areas, Garutti said.”I want to do all of it. Our headline is ‘increased development everywhere.’ We’re about to open a restaurant next week in the Bryant Park area, and that’s the heart of Midtown — the hardest hit place,” he said. Meanwhile, it’s also working to open drive-thrus in the suburbs in the years to come as it expands its footprint.”I’m a firm believer that the great cities of the world will be back,” Garutti said. More

NFT non-fungible tokens art and collectables illustration, use blockchain technology to create unique digital items for crypto art, crypto-collectibles and crypto-gaming.holly harry | iStock | Getty ImagesThe NFT craze may come with a painful tax surprise for buyers and sellers who use cryptocurrencies, according to tax experts.Sales of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, have exploded in recent weeks, topping $500 million in 2021, according to NonFungible.com. Along with the sale of the $69 million Beeple NFT titled “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days” at Christie’s last week, and the $3 million NFT sneakers, NFTs of everything from NBA highlight videos to Jack Dorsey tweets have created a vast new market of blockchain-based digital assets to buy and sell.Yet experts say buyers and sellers aren’t likely aware aware of an Internal Revenue Service tax rule that could come back to haunt them — and cost them a big chunk of their gains. It involves a steep potential tax on anyone who uses their highly valued cryptocurrency to buy NFTs, which experts say is most NFT sales.”People’s knowledge of this tax in the U.S. is very poor,” said Shehan Chandrasekera, head of tax strategy at CoinTracker, a platform for tracking crypto portfolios and taxes. “I just don’t think people know about it.”At issue is recent IRS guidance on using cryptocurrencies to buy an asset, including an NFT. As part of its principle known as “disposition of assets,” the IRS states that “if you exchange virtual currency held as a capital asset for other property, including for goods or for another virtual currency, you will recognize a capital gain or loss.”Chandrasekera said this has major implications for the NFT craze, which is largely being fueled by collectors using bitcoin or ether to buy NFTs. For example, if someone bought a unit of ether for $100 in 2018 and it would worth around $1,700. If they used that ether unit to buy a $1,700 NFT, they might assume they pay no tax on the ether, since they’re simply using it to buy a good or service.”EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS” is a collage, by a digital artist BEEPLE, that is on auction at Christie’s, unknown location, in this undated handout obtained by Reuters.Christie’s Images LTD. 2021/BEEP | via ReutersBut under the IRS rules, the ether is a capital asset not a currency. So the holder would have to pay tax on the gain of $1,600 as part of the NFT purchase, since the act of exchanging it for another asset counts as a sale or “disposition.” So they would owe the IRS — assuming a top capital gains rate of 20% — a tax of $320. They might also owe state taxes, since many states like New York and California tax capital gains as income. (The rules around additional sales taxes in each state for NFTs are less clear.)”You’re not spending currency, you’re spending an appreciated asset,” Chandrasekera said. “So just spending it creates a taxable event.”If the NFT buyer later goes on to sell or “flip” the NFT at a higher price — which has become popular with NBA highlight videos and Beeple works — the seller would also pay a capital gains tax on any gain. And since NFTs are considered collectibles, they are taxed at the higher collectible capital gains rate of 28%.In other words, both buyers and sellers of NFTs likely face tax bills they didn’t consider when investing in NFTs.Another problem is inadequate reporting by companies at the center of the NFT boom. The big platforms that buy and sell NFTs, like Flow by Dapper Labs or OpenSea, can report a sale but they aren’t able to report a buyer’s gain on the crypto used for the purchase.”They don’t know what a buyer originally paid for their Ethereum or bitcoin, they can only report the sale price of the NFT,” said Chandrasekera.Tax experts say it’s almost impossible to know the total amount owed or unpaid to the IRS from the NFT boom. Some say it’s in the tens of millions, and perhaps hundreds of millions.Granted, NFT buyers who simply buy bitcoin or ether, and instantly use it to buy an NFT would not face a tax. The tax only applies to those who buy NFTs with crypto that has increased in value since its purchase.What’s more, the rules don’t apply to overseas investors in NFTs. The buyer of the $69 million Beeple NFT that sold at Christie’s last week, for instance, goes by the pseudonym Metakovan and is based in Singapore. Tax experts say that since Singapore doesn’t have a capital gains tax that would apply, Metakovan would not have owed tax on the appreciated ether he used to purchase the piece. If he had been a U.S. citizen, he could have owed more than $10 million in capital gains taxes as part of the purchase.The IRS, however, will get its share of the Beeple purchase. The artist who created and sold the work, Mike Winkelmann, who also goes by Beeple, will owe federal and state ordinary income taxes on the proceeds since he is an artist by profession. Depending on the fees paid to Christie’s and MakersPlace, he could owe tens of millions in dollars in taxes, experts say.When told that he could face such a significant tax bill, Winkelmann said to CNBC: “Holy sh–, that’s a lot of taxes.” More