Raphael Stevens

More stories

  • 175 Shares169 Views

    in Finance

    Tensions rise between banks and tech companies over online fraud liability in the UK

    Starting from Oct. 7, banks will be required to start compensating victims of online fraud a maximum £85,000 in the U.K.
    On Thursday, London-based digital bank Revolut accused Meta of falling “woefully short of what’s required to tackle fraud globally” when it comes to tackling fraud.
    Tensions have been running high between banks and tech companies for years as financial firms see themselves as bearing the brunt of the cost for scam attacks taking place virtually.

    Meta is facing calls from U.K. banks and payment firms like Revolut to financially compensate people who fall for scams on their services.
    Jaap Arriens | Nurphoto via Getty Images

    Tensions are escalating between banking and payment companies and social media firms in the U.K. over who should be liable for compensating people if they fall victim to fraud schemes online.
    Starting from Oct. 7, banks will be required to start compensating victims of so-called authorized push payment (APP) fraud a maximum £85,000 if those individuals affected were tricked or psychologically manipulated into handing over the cash.

    APP fraud is a form of a scam where criminals attempt to convince people to send them money by impersonating individuals or businesses selling a service.
    The £85,000 reimbursement sum could prove costly for large banks and payment firms. However, it’s actually lower than the mandatory £415,000 reimbursement amount that the U.K.’s Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) had previously proposed.
    The PSR backed down from its bid for the lofty maximum compensation payout following industry backlash, with industry group the Payments Association in particular saying it would be far too costly a sum tor the financial services sector to bear.
    But now that the mandatory fraud compensation is being rolled out in the U.K., questions are being asked about whether financial firms are facing the brunt of the cost for helping fraud victims.
    On Thursday, London-based digital bank Revolut accused Meta of falling “woefully short of what’s required to tackle fraud globally.” The Facebook-owner announced a partnership earlier this week with U.K. lenders NatWest and Metro Bank, to share intelligence on fraud activity that takes place on its platforms.

    Woody Malouf, Revolut’s head of financial crime, said that Meta and other social media platforms should help cover the cost of reimbursing victims of fraud and that, by sharing no responsibility in doing so, “they have no incentive to do anything about it.”
    Revolut’s call for large tech platforms to financially compensate people who fall for scams on their websites and apps isn’t new.

    Proposals to make tech firms liable

    Tensions have been running high between banks and tech companies for some time. Online fraud has risen dramatically over the last several years due to an acceleration in the usage of digital platforms to pay others and buy products online.
    In June, the Financial Times reported that the Labour Party had drafted proposals to force technology firms to reimburse victims of fraud that originates on their platforms. It is not clear whether the government still plans to require tech firms to pay compensation out to victims of APP fraud.
    A government spokesperson was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
    Matt Akroyd, a commercial litigation lawyer at Stewarts, told CNBC that, after their victory on lowering the maximum reimbursement limit for APP fraud down to £85,000, banks “will receive another boost if their efforts to push the government to place some regulatory liability on tech companies is also successful.”
    However, he added: “The question of what regulatory regime could cover those companies who do not play an active role in the PSR’s payment systems, and how, is complicated meaning that this issue is not likely to be resolved any time soon.”
    More broadly, banks and regulators have long been pushing social media companies for more collaboration with retail banks in the U.K. to help combat the fast-growing and constantly evolving fraud threat. A key ask has been for the tech firms to share more detailed intelligence on how criminals are abusing their platforms.

    At a U.K. finance industry event focusing on economic fraud in March 2023, regulators and law enforcement stressed the need for social media companies to do more.
    “We hear anecdotally today from all of the firms that we talk to, that a large proportion of this fraud originates from social media platforms,” Kate Fitzgerald, head of policy at the PSR, told attendees of the event.
    She added that “absolute transparency” was needed on where the fraud was occurring so that regulators could know where to focus their efforts in the value chain.
    Social media firms not doing enough to combat and remove attempts to defraud internet users was another complaint from regulatory authorities at the event.

    “The bit that’s missing is the at-scale social media companies taking down suspect accounts that are involved in fraud,” Rob Jones, director general of the National Economic Crime Centre, a unit of the U.K. National Crime Agency, said at the event.
    Jones added that it was tough to “break the inertia” at tech companies to “really get them to get after it.”

    Tech firms push ‘cross-industry collaboration’

    Meta has pushed back on suggestions that it should be held liable for paying out compensation to victims of APP fraud.
    In written evidence to a parliamentary committee last year, the social media giant said that banks in the U.K. are “too focused on their efforts to transfer liability for fraud to other industries,” adding that this “creates a hostile environment which plays into the hands of fraudsters.”
    The company said that it can use live intelligence from big banks through its Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE) initiative to help stop fraud and evolve and improve its machine learning and AI detection systems. Meta called on the government to “encourage more cross-industry collaboration like this.”
    In a statement to CNBC Thursday, the tech giant stressed that banks, including Revolut, should look to join forces with Meta on its FIRE framework to facilitate data exchanges between the firm and large lenders.
    FIRE “is designed to enable banks to share information so we can work together to protect people using our respective services,” a spokesperson for Meta said last week. “Fraud is a multi-sector spanning issue that can only be addressed by working collaboratively.” More

  • 75 Shares129 Views

    in Finance

    How bond investors soured on France

    When Michel Barnier, France’s new prime minister, submits his budget to parliament on October 10th he will be doing so against a painful market backdrop. A fortnight ago the yield on French ten-year government debt surpassed that of Spain, suggesting that investors see the euro zone’s second-largest economy as riskier than its southern neighbour’s (see chart 1). That is quite the turnaround. In January Spanish yields were around 0.4 percentage points higher than their French equivalents; at the worst of the euro-zone crisis, the gap was nearer five full percentage points. French borrowing costs are now well above the levels of Portugal and closer to those of Greece and Italy than they are to Germany’s. More

  • 138 Shares99 Views

    in Finance

    Fed rate cuts should favor preferred stocks, Virtus money manager says

    One financial firm is trying to capitalize on preferred stocks – which carry more risks than bonds, but aren’t as risky as common stocks.
    Infrastructure Capital Advisors Founder and CEO Jay Hatfield manages the Virtus InfraCap U.S. Preferred Stock ETF (PFFA). He leads the company’s investing and business development.

    “High yield bonds and preferred stocks… tend to do better than other fixed income categories when the stock market is strong, and when we’re coming out of a tightening cycle like we are now,” he told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week.
    Hatfield’s ETF is up 10% in 2024 and almost 23% over the past year.
    His ETF’s three top holdings are Regions Financial, SLM Corporation, and Energy Transfer LP as of Sept. 30, according to FactSet. All three stocks are up about 18% or more this year.
    Hatfield’s team selects names that it deems are mispriced relative to their risk and yield, he said. “Most of the top holdings are in what we call asset intensive businesses,” Hatfield said.
    Since its May 2018 inception, the Virtus InfraCap U.S. Preferred Stock ETF is down almost 9%.

    Disclaimer More

  • 213 Shares99 Views

    in Business

    A new Blue Origin: CEO Dave Limp is bringing urgency and ‘decisiveness’ to Jeff Bezos’ space company

    Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp told CNBC that he only had one question for Jeff Bezos when he interviewed for the top job last year: Is the space company “a hobby or a business?”
    “Jeff felt that [Blue Origin] needed manufacturing expertise; it needed decisiveness; it need a little bit of energy,” Limp said.
    Limp is confident that the long-awaited debut of the towering New Glenn rocket will happen before the end of the year, one of his top goals as he leads Blue Origin “to scale to be a world class manufacturer.”

    Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp, left, and founder Jeff Bezos look up at a New Glenn rocket on at the company’s LC-36 facility in Florida.
    Blue Origin

    Dave Limp had only one question for Jeff Bezos when he interviewed last year to become CEO of Blue Origin, the billionaire’s space venture.
    “Jeff, is Blue Origin a hobby or a business?” Limp asked.

    After 14 years as a senior Amazon executive, Limp told CNBC he made it clear to Bezos that he wasn’t interested in leading Blue Origin if the nearly 25-year-old venture wasn’t intended to be a serious company.
    “I don’t know how to run a hobby,” Limp said, adding that “if it was a hobby, it’s not right for me.”
    But he said Bezos was adamant that Blue Origin needed to be a business.

    Read more CNBC space news

    Limp admitted that it took some convincing from Bezos for him to make the move over to the space sector. “My initial reaction was: It’s not the right role for me because I’m not an aerospace engineer,” he said. But he decided to take the leap of faith.
    “Jeff felt that [Blue Origin] needed manufacturing expertise; it needed decisiveness; it need a little bit of energy,” Limp said.

    Limp has now been the CEO of Blue Origin for nine months and counting. He took the reins from prior leadership who had widely expanded the company’s workforce and infrastructure but had fallen years behind on several major programs and lost competitions for key government contracts.

    CEO Dave Limp, third from the left, with Blue Origin employees at the company’s New Glenn facility in Florida.
    Blue Origin

    Blue Origin for years has been flying tourists and research to the edge of space on short jaunts, including Bezos himself. And over the past two decades, Bezos has been spending billions of dollars a year to turn Blue Origin into a space sector powerhouse. The company’s projects reach from rockets and spacecraft to space stations and lunar landers.
    Yet in the industry table stakes of orbital missions, Blue Origin has not entered the serious rocketry game, as the U.S. launch market remains dominated by SpaceX, followed by United Launch Alliance, Rocket Lab and Firefly Aerospace.
    But the company said it’s closer than ever to the long-awaited debut of its New Glenn rocket. Towering about 320 feet tall, the launch vehicle is advertised as lifting as much as 45,000 kilograms (or over 99,000 pounds) to low Earth orbit — double that of SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.

    A New Glenn rocket stands at LC-36 for the firs time for tanking and mechanical system testing on Feb. 21, 2024.
    Blue Origin

    Like Falcon 9, New Glenn is designed to be partly reusable. Blue Origin aims to return and land the rocket’s booster, its largest and most valuable section, to unlock the kind of cost and time efficiencies that SpaceX claims with its rockets.
    New Glenn’s first launch attempt is slated for November. Blue Origin is in the final stages of putting it all together, including conducting a recent crucial test firing of the rocket’s upper stage last month.
    Originally the company was aiming for the audacious feat of flying NASA’s ESCAPADE mission to Mars on New Glenn’s debut. But with a dwindling launch window, the agency delayed ESCAPADE to a later launch. In the mission’s place, Blue Origin will fly a demonstration of its spacecraft Blue Ring on the first New Glenn launch.

    Culture shift

    Company employees stand below a New Glenn rocket during testing in February 2024.
    Blue Origin

    Headquartered in the Seattle suburb of Kent, Washington, Blue Origin has over 10,000 employees there and in half a dozen other major locations around the country, including in industry strongholds of Texas, Florida and Alabama. Speaking plainly, Limp said Blue Origin has been “in kind of an R&D phase for a long time,” an aspect of the company’s culture he’s trying to change.
    “We were very, very good at building shiny factories and very good at building high fidelity prototypes. And some of those prototypes even flew … but that’s not what we want to do to scale to be a world class manufacturer,” Limp said. 
    “We need to be able to build things a lot,” he added.
    But he said he sees genuine excitement for space across Blue’s workforce, calling that passion the foundation of a “missionary culture.” In Limp’s view, Amazon’s customer-centric principles drive the tech giant’s culture — but Amazon doesn’t have “the vehement mission that exists at Blue.”
    “People’s eyes light up, almost to a T. They grew up thinking about space, they always wanted to work in the space industry and here they are at Blue working on space,” Limp said.
    Now he’s trying to install Amazon’s customer-centric focus as a key part of Blue Origin. While Blue’s customers — the likes of NASA, ULA, and suborbital astronauts — are quite a bit different than the consumers Limp used to focus on, his message to Blue’s employees is to make delivering for its customers the top priority.
    “Even if the technology is really nice and fun … the customer has to be front and center,” Limp said.
    To further shift Blue’s culture, Limp highlighted a number of key leadership additions: Allen Parker as CFO after past executive finance roles at Zillow and Amazon; Jennifer Pena-Leanos as chief people officer, after running human resources in Limp’s prior Amazon Devices team; Ian Richardson as senior vice president of manufacturing operations after a long stint as SpaceX production director; and Tim Collins as the vice president of global supply chain after previously leading global operations for Flexport and Amazon.
    Limp also made a change by moving more of the company’s headcount to the factory floor.
    “You can walk into a factory and know when it’s running well and know when it’s not,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how much capex you put in place, what kind of machines you have, if you’re not using them the right way. It’s like having a shiny new car that just sits in the driveway — what fun is that?” 

    2024 top priorities

    A test of a BE-4 engine at Blue Origin’s Launch Site One facility in West Texas, Aug. 2, 2019.
    Blue Origin

    Limp has two main goals for his first year as CEO: Launch New Glenn and get Blue’s engine production humming.
    “We aren’t going anywhere without engines, and we had to figure out how to build engines at rate,” Limp said.
    Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine powers both its New Glenn rocket as well as ULA’s Vulcan rocket. The latter requires two engines per launch.
    With ULA aiming for four Vulcan launches this year — with two down and two to go — Blue has delivered eight flight-ready BE-4 engines to ULA, as well as seven BE-4 engines for its first New Glenn launch. On the first two Vulcan launches, the BE-4 engines performed as expected.
    “We’d like to [be delivering] about an engine a week by the end of the year. I’m not sure we’ll get exactly to a week, but it’ll be sub-10 days … [and] by the end of 2025, we have to be faster than that,” Limp said.

    A United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket launches from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 7:25 a.m. on October 4, 2024 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
    Paul Hennessy | Anadolu | Getty Images

    Limp has “a very high level of confidence” that New Glenn will launch before the end of the year. And Blue plans to scale the cadence of New Glenn missions quickly, wanting to perform as many as 10 New Glenn launches next year. Yet it still has a ways to go to rival SpaceX, which is targeting nearly 150 Falcon rocket launches this year.
    Perhaps even more optimistically, Blue aims to land New Glenn on its very first launch, cheekily naming the booster “So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance.” No company has stuck the landing on the first try with an orbital rocket booster, and New Glenn will be aiming for a 200-foot-wide pad on a vessel named Jacklyn in the Atlantic Ocean.
    “It’ll be adventurous. It’ll be fun. I’m excited about it … but if we [don’t] stick the landing the first time, that’s OK. We’ve got another booster right behind it. We’ll build more,” Limp said.

    The first flight New Glenn rocket booster.
    Blue Origin

    It seems almost inevitable that New Glenn’s future will involve a crew spacecraft — especially given Blue’s long-standing mission: “We envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth.” Currently, only SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is certified by NASA to fly astronauts to-and-from orbit after Boeing’s Starliner suffered another setback this summer. 
    But Limp deferred when asked about development of a New Glenn crew capsule: “Nothing to say about that.”
    Blue Origin has gained experience in the lower-risk, suborbital realm of human spaceflight with its New Shepard rocket and capsule. Limp noted that Blue Origin is working to get “New Shepard back to a cadence of regular flights,” flying both crews and research cargo.
    It’s done two New Shepard missions this year, and is aiming for a third next week. That mission will also feature a new rocket booster and capsule to add a second vehicle “to better meet growing customer demand,” the company said, having lost a booster during a cargo flight failure in September 2022.
    Beyond New Glenn and engine production, Blue’s making more progress: Last year it won a $3.4 billion NASA contract to build a lunar lander for the agency’s astronauts. In the spring, Blue got entry into the Pentagon’s lucrative National Security Space Launch program, a turnaround from having missed out on the previous phase of NSSL in 2020.
    As for Limp, he’s spending his time on “a little bit of a round trip between” Blue Origin’s facilities every 2½ weeks. He goes from its Seattle headquarters, to meeting with customers in Washington, D.C., to seeing engine production and testing in Huntsville, Alabama, and finally checking out New Glenn work at Cape Canaveral, Texas. It’s all part of his interest in leading a proper space company, rather than a billionaire’s hobby.
    “Let’s have the financial discipline to build a business that we love, and let’s make decisions quickly, knowing that we’ll make some mistakes. But let’s not make the same mistakes, and let’s cure them quick,” Limp said. More

  • 125 Shares99 Views

    in Business

    Stellantis files federal lawsuit against UAW union over strike threats

    Stellantis is suing the United Auto Workers, escalating a monthslong battle between the trans-Atlantic automaker and American union, CNBC has learned.
    In an internal message to employees that was confirmed to be authentic, the company said it is suing the UAW as well as a local chapter in California.

    Carlos Tavares, chief executive officer of Stellantis NV, speaks to the media at the Stellantis auto manufacturing plant in Sochaux, France, on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. 
    Nathan Laine | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    DETROIT — Stellantis is suing the United Auto Workers, escalating a monthslong battle between the trans-Atlantic automaker and American union, CNBC has learned.
    In an internal message Friday to employees that was confirmed to be authentic, the company said it is suing the UAW as well as a local chapter in California that participated in a strike authorization request vote at Stellantis’ Los Angeles Parts Distribution Center.

    “This lawsuit would hold both the International and the local union liable for the revenue loss and other damages resulting from lost production due to an unlawful strike,” Tobin Williams, Stellantis senior vice president of North America human resources, said in the message.
    A supermajority of UAW members at Stellantis’ Los Angeles Parts Distribution Center voted to request strike authorization from the International Executive Board if the company and union can’t reconcile, the union said Friday morning.

    United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain speaks to the attendees during a campaign rally for U.S. Vice President and Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz in Romulus, Michigan, U.S., August 7, 2024. 
    Rebecca Cook | Reuters

    The complaint is intended to “prevent and/or remedy a breach of contract” by the UAW, according to a copy of the lawsuit that was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California.
    The lawsuit argues that if the union does strike, the court “should award Stellantis monetary damages” that result from a breach of contract.
    UAW President Shawn Fain addressed the lawsuit Friday in a letter to union leadership at Stellantis. He called it and other actions by the company “desperate actions from a desperate executive who has lost control.”

    “Our legal team has complete confidence in our right to strike. The company’s legal threats are just that—threats intended to intimidate us, so we won’t fight back,” Fain said.
    The dispute between the two sides centers on the union alleging Stellantis has not kept contractual obligations as part of a deal the two sides reached late last year. It comes after Stellantis has made several cuts to plant production, conducted worker layoffs and delayed potential investments outlined as part of the 2023 contract.
    Fain has routinely said the union will strike if needed, however Stellantis has argued that would be unlawful under the contract.
    The automaker has contended that there’s language in the contract that gives it leniency to change plans based on market conditions, plant performance and other factors.
    The company reiterated that stance in its lawsuit and cited “Letter 311,” which includes the company’s expected investments: “The planned future investments in the letter are conditional, require Company approval, and are subject to change based on these business factor contingencies.”
    The lawsuit came the same day Fain and union members held their latest rally against Stellantis in suburban Detroit.
    “We’re here today for one reason. Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares is out of control and it’s once again up to UAW members to save this company from itself,” Fain said during the event. “A strike will cripple this company. And if we have to strike, it’s Stellantis’ decision to do so because they are not honoring their commitment.”
    The union and several local chapters have filed grievances against the automaker regarding contract obligations and other issues.
    Stellantis, in the lawsuit, called the grievances a sham designed to “justify mid-contract strikes against Stellantis that otherwise would violate the [contract’s] no strike clause.”

    Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO More

  • 138 Shares189 Views

    in Business

    Zillow adds climate risk data to home listings as threats rise

    First Street just launched a suite of climate risk data for every for-sale property listed on Zillow.
    Each for-sale listing on Zillow now displays First Street risk scores for flood, fire, wind, air and heat. They also show those same risk percentages estimated 15 years and 30 years into the future.
    More than 80% of buyers now consider climate risk when purchasing a home, according to a survey by Zillow. Respondents ranked flood risk as their highest concern, followed by fire.

    Insured losses for Hurricane Helene are now estimated at over $6 billion, but the uninsured losses are far higher. That’s because the vast majority of homes impacted by the storm, especially in hard-hit North Carolina, did not have flood insurance.
    New risk-assessment technology is designed to help change that for the future.

    Most homeowners in North Carolina do not have flood insurance, because they are not in flood zones designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Government-backed mortgages require flood insurance in those designated areas.
    Just 4% of North Carolina homes are in a FEMA flood zone. But climate risk firm First Street, which incorporates the effects of climate change into its property risk scores, shows nearly 12% of homes in the state at flood risk.
    First Street just launched a suite of climate risk data for every for-sale property listed on Zillow.
    “Climate risks are now a critical factor in home buying decisions,” said Skylar Olsen, chief economist at Zillow, in a release. “We’re providing buyers and sellers with clear, property-specific climate data so they can make informed decisions. As concerns about flooding, extreme temperatures, and wildfires grow, this tool also helps agents inform their clients in discussing climate risk, insurance, and long-term affordability.”

    A house along the Broad River in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on October 1, 2024 in Bat Cave, North Carolina. 
    Sean Rayford | Getty Images

    Each for-sale listing on Zillow now displays First Street risk scores for flood, fire, wind, air and heat. They also show those same risk percentages estimated 15 years and 30 years into the future — the standard lengths for fixed-rate mortgages.

    On properties with some risk now, it often shows that risk rise over time, as First Street incorporates the effects of climate change. This is especially true for the flood risk, because climate change is already intensifying the severity of rainfall, even in minor storms.
    The data also includes a recommendation as to whether the homeowner should have flood insurance and a link to the First Street site, which will help estimate insurance costs.
    “A lot of people think that they are safe from flood if they’re not in a FEMA flood zone, and that’s decidedly not true. Heavy rainfall can affect many, many people across the country, and there’s no indication from the FEMA flood zone designation that that is a risk for you,” said Ed Kearns, chief science officer at First Street. “We’ve created these new flood maps that do bring that into account, that will allow consumers to make that informed choice about whether they need flood insurance.”
    More than 80% of buyers now consider climate risk when purchasing a home, according to a survey by Zillow. Respondents ranked flood risk as their highest concern, followed by fire.
    A Zillow analysis of August listings found that more homes nationwide had a major climate risk than did those listed for sale five years ago. That was true across all five climate risk categories, the analysis found. For new listings in August, 16.7% are at major wildfire risk and 12.8% show a major risk of flooding, according to Zillow and First Street data.
    As more and more consumers consult these climate scores in their purchase decisions, the effect on home values will surely increase. The cost of insurance is already factored into home prices, and as both the cost and necessity of insurance rise, home values in the most affected areas will fall.
    “I think that’s going to be the most direct impact of having scores on homes that quantify risk is that there may be some direct impact on real estate values, but a lot of that is going to go through the amount of insurance necessary to cover that home,” Kearns added. More

  • 88 Shares99 Views

    in Business

    Mortgage rates spike after stronger-than-expected jobs report

    The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage is now 6.53% according to Mortgage News Daily.
    That is 42 basis points higher than the day before the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rate by half a percentage point. 

    The average rate on the 30-year-fixed mortgage jumped 27 basis points Friday morning following the release of the government’s monthly employment report. The rate is now 6.53%, according to Mortgage News Daily.
    That is 42 basis points higher than Sept. 17, the day before the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rate by half a percentage point. Mortgage rates do not follow the Fed, but they loosely follow the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury.

    For mortgage rates, it is all about what the expectation is next for the Fed. As such, there was a lot of anticipation leading up to this particular monthly report, since the last two pointed to weaker labor market conditions.
    “Indeed, the Fed’s decision to cut by 0.50 vs 0.25 last month had much to do with the fear/expectation that reports like today’s would be in shorter supply going forward,” wrote Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily. “The only salvation here would be the notion that this is just one jobs report in a recent run that’s been mostly weaker and that perhaps the next one won’t be so damning for bonds.”
    However, the report does shift the outlook slightly for rates going forward, since most had assumed the trajectory would be lower.
    “MBA’s forecast is for longer-term rates, including mortgage rates, to remain within a relatively narrow range over the next year,” the Mortgage Bankers Association’s chief economist, Michael Fratantoni, wrote after the jobs report was released. “This news will push mortgage rates to the top of that range, but we do expect that mortgage rates will stay close to 6% over the next 12 months.”
    Today’s homebuyers are highly sensitive to rate moves, as house prices continue to rise from year-ago levels. There is also still very low inventory on the market, which has only served to keep prices higher. Rates are a full percentage point lower than they were a year ago, but the housing market has not seen much of a boost yet.

    Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO More

  • 138 Shares169 Views

    in Business

    Tiger Woods’ logo dispute with Tigeraire escalates with federal court filing

    Tiger Woods’ apparel company Sun Day Red sued Tigeraire in federal court.
    Tigeraire claims that Sun Day Red’s logo is too similar to its own.
    Trademark attorney Josh Gerben said the escalation could lead to costly litigation.

    USA’s Tiger Woods lines up a putt on the 2nd during day two of The Open at Royal Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland. Picture date: Friday July 19, 2024. 
    Jane Barlow | PA Images | Getty Images

    A logo dispute between Tiger Woods’ apparel company Sun Day Red and Tigeraire, a company that makes cooling products for athletes, is now in the hands of the federal court system.
    Last week, Tigeraire filed a notice of opposition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office against Sun Day Red’s Tiger logo, saying the golf legend’s company “unlawfully hijacked” Tigeraire’s design into its own branding.

    In a subsequent court filing, Woods’ legal team sued Tigeraire, accusing the company of trying to capitalize off Sun Day Red’s status as a bigger brand. Sun Day Red has filed a motion to dismiss the patent claim.
    “This case, unfortunately, presents the time-worn circumstance of an opportunistic, misguided business attempting to extract an unwarranted financial windfall from a larger and more successful brand, based on threats of legal action and demands for exorbitant sums,” the suit says.

    Arrows pointing outwards

    Applicant’s Marks and the Registered Mark.
    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

    According to the lawsuit, which was filed last week in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Sun Day Red says it has attempted in good faith to resolve the infringement claims though negotiation and that Tigeraire has sent “outrageous monetary demands” to Sun Day Red, which is owned by TaylorMade.
    The suit also says Tigeraire recently started attending golf tournaments and changed its website’s homepage to prominently feature golfers in an attempt to demonstrate market overlap.
    Tigeraire did not immediately respond to request for comment on the lawsuit. A representative for Woods and TaylorMade declined to comment on the matter.

    A detail of hats and a club cover during the launch of Tiger Woods and TaylorMade Golf’s new apparel and footwear brand “Sun Day Red” at Palisades Village on February 12, 2024 in Pacific Palisades, California. 
    Kevork Djansezian | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

    Trademark attorney Josh Gerben called the lawsuit an “aggressive response” to the trademark dispute.
    He noted bringing a case to federal court makes the matter much for expensive for a smaller company like Tigeraire.
    “A lot of time these cases favor the party with the resources to litigate, and that can make it a challenge,” Gerben said.
    Sun Day Red was launched in May after Woods ended his 27-year partnership with Nike.
    The brand’s name pays homage to the fact that Woods always wears red on Sundays, and the logo is a tribute to the 15 majors he’s won over the course of his career, Woods said previously. More