Raphael Stevens

Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey said an E. coli outbreak linked to its biggest restaurant customer, McDonald’s, isn’t likely to hurt the beverage company’s sales at this stage.
The CDC said its investigation has linked the outbreak to the fast-food chain’s Quarter Pounder burger.
The burger will be temporarily unavailable in some McDonald’s locations, and the company said it’s also taken steps to remove onions that might also be contaminated.

Coca-Cola President and CEO James Quincey attends a press conference with International Olympic Committee (IOC) president and China Mengniu Dairy CEO and Executive Director, as part of the 134th Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the SwissTech Convention Centre in Lausanne, on June 24, 2019.
Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty Images

Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey said the company doesn’t expect an E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s to hurt the beverage company’s sales.
“When one looks at what’s in the media so far, in terms of the states that have been affected, I would say at this stage it’s not going to be a large, significant impact to the business,” Quincey said on Coke’s third-quarter earnings call Wednesday.

McDonald’s is Coke’s largest restaurant customer, and the two companies’ symbiotic relationship has existed for nearly seven decades. Most recently, CNBC reported that Coke contributed marketing funds to McDonald’s this summer for its $5 value meal, which includes a small soft drink, to make it more attractive to franchisees who can otherwise be wary of steep discounts.
“We’re a big partner of McDonald’s, they’re a big partner of ours,” Quincey said. “We’ll be helping them in any way we can as they work through whatever’s happening here.”
On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that it has linked an E. coli outbreak in 10 states to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burgers. The agency said 49 cases have been reported, with one fatality.
CDC investigators have narrowed in on two ingredients as the potential cause: the burger’s onions and its fresh beef patties. Both ingredients are unique to the Quarter Pounder burgers, although cooking the patty at the correct internal temperature should kill the bacteria.
McDonald’s said in a statement on Tuesday that Quarter Pounders will be temporarily unavailable in several Western states, including Colorado, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming, and portions of other states. The company also said it’s instructed all local restaurants to remove slivered onions from their supply and has paused the distribution of that ingredient in the affected area.

“We are very confident that you can go to McDonald’s and enjoy our classics. We took swift action yesterday to remove the Quarter Pounder from our menu,” McDonald’s USA President Joe Erlinger said on NBC’s “TODAY” show on Wednesday morning.
At this point, it’s unclear what impact the outbreak will have on McDonald’s own sales.
The outbreak comes as consumers broadly have been spending less at restaurants, hurting both McDonald’s and Coke. McDonald’s and its fast-food rivals have been leaning into discounts in the hopes that deals will bring back customers, while Coke has been chipping in to market the combo meals to boost its own sales.
Despite sluggish consumer spending, Coke’s third-quarter earnings and revenue topped Wall Street’s estimates, thanks to higher prices. Shares of the company fell more than 2% in morning trading.

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McDonald’s said the CDC told the company late last week about a potential link between its Quarter Pounder burgers and an E. coli outbreak.
Company spokespeople said McDonald’s decided to pull the menu item from restaurants in the affected area before the CDC issued its advisory notice.
Roughly a fifth of McDonald’s U.S. restaurants are not selling Quarter Pounder burgers at this time.

A customer walks out of a McDonald’s restaurant in Omaha, Nebraska, on Oct. 23, 2024.
Mario Tama | Getty Images

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told McDonald’s late last week about a potential link to an E. coli outbreak, company spokespeople said Wednesday.
At that time, the number of connected cases was smaller than it is now, though the company did not say how many cases there were then. As of Tuesday, the CDC has attributed 49 cases and one fatality across 10 states to the outbreak, which has been linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burgers.

Once notified about the link, McDonald’s started working with the CDC, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. By the time the CDC had issued its advisory notice Tuesday afternoon, McDonald’s had already decided to pull the Quarter Pounder burgers from restaurants in the affected areas, the spokespeople said.
Roughly a fifth of McDonald’s U.S. restaurants are not selling Quarter Pounder burgers at this time.
The CDC has interviewed 18 people with confirmed cases, as of Tuesday. Of those patients, 12 recalled eating a Quarter Pounder burger before falling ill.
The outbreak comes as McDonald’s tries to win back diners who balked at years of price increases. It adds to the risks facing the company at a time when it hopes a $5 value meal deal will drive consumers back to its restaurants.
The fast-food chain issued a statement on the outbreak Tuesday evening, shortly after the CDC issued its advisory. Cesar Pina, the company’s North American chief supply chain officer, said in the statement that the company is removing the Quarter Pounder from restaurants in the affected area, which includes Colorado, Kansas, Utah, Wyoming and parts of eight other states.

The CDC is investigating both the Quarter Pounder’s uncooked onions and its beef patty as the potential culprit for the outbreak. However, McDonald’s uses multiple beef suppliers in the region, and its burgers are supposed to be cooked to an internal temperature that would kill the bacteria.
That would leave the onions as the more likely contaminant. In that geography, McDonald’s uses a single onion supplier, which washes and slices the vegetable. The company has paused its distribution of the ingredient and asked local restaurants to remove their onion supply.
Based on reported cases so far, the outbreak took place between Sept. 27 and Oct. 11. Over a two-week period, McDonald’s typically sells roughly one million Quarter Pounders in the affected region, the company spokespeople said.
Shares of McDonald’s are trading down 5% in afternoon trading, as investors worry that the outbreak could lead to a sales slump for the fast-food giant.

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Novo Nordisk asked the Food and Drug Administration to prevent compounding pharmacies from making cheaper versions of its popular weight loss injection Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic.
The Danish drugmaker contends the medications are too complex for those manufacturers to make safely. 
The FDA still has to make a final decision on whether to bar those unapproved versions of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy.

Boxes of Ozempic and Wegovy made by Novo Nordisk are seen at a pharmacy.
Hollie Adams | Reuters

Novo Nordisk on Tuesday asked the Food and Drug Administration to prevent compounding pharmacies from making unapproved and often cheaper versions of its popular weight loss injection Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic, arguing that the medications are too complex for those manufacturers to make safely. 
The FDA still has to make a final decision on whether to bar compounded versions of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy. In a statement, the agency said it is reviewing the petition and will respond directly to Novo Nordisk.

The move is Novo Nordisk’s latest attempt to crack down on potentially harmful copies of semaglutide after it filed 50 lawsuits against several clinics, compounding pharmacies and other manufacturers over the last year. It comes as the Danish drugmaker tries to ramp up the supply of semaglutide to meet unprecedented demand in the U.S.
Patients have turned to compounded versions of semaglutide amid intermittent U.S. shortages of the branded drugs, which carry hefty price tags of $1,000 per month before insurance and other rebates. Many health plans don’t cover semaglutide for weight loss, making compounded versions a more affordable alternative.
Compounded medications are custom-made alternatives to branded drugs designed to meet a specific patient’s needs. When a brand-name medication is in shortage, compounding pharmacies can prepare copies of the drug if they meet FDA requirements. 
The active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic, semaglutide, has been in intermittent shortages over the past two years. The lowest dose of Wegovy is currently in short supply, but all other doses of the drug and Ozempic are listed as available, according to the FDA’s drug shortage database. 
But Novo Nordisk late Tuesday nominated semaglutide to the FDA’s “Demonstrable Difficulties for Compounding” lists, which include complex drugs that compounders are not allowed to make, even during shortages, because they could potentially pose safety risks. 

“Semaglutide products fit this description due to their inherent complexity and the potential dangers associated with attempting to compound them,” Novo Nordisk said in a statement. 
The Danish drugmaker cited several risks with compounded versions of semaglutide, including unknown impurities, incorrect dosage strengths and instances where a compounded product contained no semaglutide at all. 
“These drugs are inherently complex to compound safely, and the risks they pose to patient safety far outweigh any benefits,” Novo Nordisk said in a statement. The company said its “aim with this nomination is to ensure that patients receive only FDA-approved, safe, and effective semaglutide products.”
The FDA has previously warned about the risks of using compounded versions of so-called GLP-1s such as semaglutide. That refers to a buzzy class of medications that mimic hormones produced in the gut to tamp down a person’s appetite and regulate their blood sugar. 
Earlier this month, the FDA said compounded versions of semaglutide and similar drugs can be risky for patients because they are unapproved, meaning the agency does not review their safety, effectiveness and quality before they are put out in the market. 
The FDA in August also said it had received reports of patients overdosing on compounded semaglutide due to errors such as patients self-administering incorrect amounts of a treatment. 
Both Wegovy and Ozempic are under patent protection in the U.S. and abroad, and Novo Nordisk and its rival Eli Lilly do not supply the active ingredients in their drugs to outside groups. The companies say that raises questions about what some manufacturers are selling and marketing to consumers.
Tirzepatide is the active ingredient in Eli Lilly’s weight loss injection Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro. 
Like Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly has sued several weight loss clinics, medical spas and compounding pharmacies across the U.S. over the past year. 
Notably, the FDA took tirzepatide off its shortage list earlier in October after more than a year, even as some pharmacies say they are still struggling to stock up on the branded versions of that drug. A trade group representing some compounders sued the FDA, which led the agency to say it will reconsider its decision to remove tirzepatide from its shortage list.

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The median price of an existing home sold in September was $404,500, an increase of 3% year over year.
Inventory rose 1.5% month to month to 1.39 million homes for sale at the end of September.

Sales of previously owned homes fell 1% in September compared with August, to a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 3.84 million units, the slowest pace since October 2010, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Sales were 3.5% lower than in September 2023. Sales fell in three out of four U.S. regions, with just the West region seeing a gain.

This count is based on closings, representing contracts signed likely in July and August. Mortgage rates started July near 7% on the 30-year fixed and then fell slowly through August to just below 6.5%. Rates are now more than a full percentage point lower than they were a year ago.
“Home sales have been essentially stuck at around a four-million-unit pace for the past 12 months, but factors usually associated with higher home sales are developing,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors.

A “For Rent, For Sale” sign is seen outside of a home in Washington, U.S., July 7, 2022. 
Sarah Silbiger | Reuters

Inventory rose 1.5% month to month to 1.39 million homes for sale at the end of September. That represents a 4.3-month supply at the current sales pace. Inventory was 23% higher from September 2023.
“More inventory is certainly good news for home buyers as it gives consumers more properties to view before making a decision,” Yun said. “However, the inventory of distressed properties is minimal because the mortgage delinquency rate remains very low. Distressed property sales accounted for only 2% of all transactions in September.”
The pressure of still low inventory continues to push prices higher. The median price of an existing home sold in September was $404,500, an increase of 3% year over year and the 15th consecutive month of annual price gains.

Cash continues to be king in this market, making up 30% of September sales. Pre-Covid, cash buyers made up about 20% of sales. Yun noted that it is not just investors using cash, as investors actually pulled back slightly in September to just 16% of sales, down from 19% in August.
Homes are sitting longer, an average of 28 days compared with just 21 days a year ago. First-time buyers pulled back again, making up just 26% of September sales. That matches the all-time low from August.  More

Coca-Cola posted earnings and revenue that topped expectations.
Higher prices helped to offset sluggish demand for beverages.
Coke said it now expects organic revenue growth of about 10% this year, the high end of its previous range.

Coca-Cola on Wednesday reported quarterly earnings and revenue that topped analysts’ expectations, thanks to a boost from higher prices that offset sluggish demand.
Shares of the company fell 2% in premarket trading.

Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: 77 cents adjusted vs. 74 cents expected
Revenue: $11.95 billion adjusted vs. $11.60 billion expected

Coke reported third-quarter net income attributable to shareholders of $2.85 billion, or 66 cents per share, down from $3.09 billion, or 71 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, the company earned 77 cents per share.
Adjusted net sales of $11.95 billion were roughly flat from a year earlier. Coke’s organic revenue, which strips out the impact of acquisitions, divestitures and currency, climbed 9% during the quarter.
Unit case volume fell 1% in the quarter, driven by weakening demand in some international markets. The metric strips out the impact of pricing and foreign currency to reflect demand. Consumer companies, including Coke, have reported in recent months that customers are more price sensitive, leading to sluggish demand for its products as prices remain high.

Even so, Coke in recent quarters has been besting rival PepsiCo, which has been dealing with the fallout from Quaker Foods recalls, in addition to a U.S. consumer who has been snacking and drinking less. Pepsi said volume for its North American beverage business fell 3% in its third quarter, fueled by weakening demand for energy drinks.
Coke’s unit case volume in North America was flat for the quarter, as shrinking demand for its water, sports, coffee and tea products offset growth in its namesake soda, juice, dairy, plant-based beverages and sparkling flavors.
But unit case volume fell 2% in both the company’s Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia-Pacific regions. The company called out volume declines in China and Turkey specifically. Like North America, Latin America reported flat volume.
Globally, volume for Coke’s sparkling soft drinks, like Sprite, and for its namesake soda were both flat for the quarter. The company’s juice, dairy and plant-based beverages division reported a 3% decline in volume. Its water, sports, coffee and tea segment saw volume fall 4%, fueled by a 6% drop in bottled water.
Coke said its pricing rose 10%. Roughly 4% of that increase comes from markets experiencing intense inflation, like Argentina, while the rest is the result of price hikes and customers trading up to pricier options.
For 2024, Coke now expects organic revenue growth of roughly 10%, on the high end of its prior range of 9% to 10%. The company reiterated its projection that comparable earnings per share will rise 5% to 6%.
Coke will provide its full 2025 outlook when it reports fourth-quarter earnings, but the company is already expecting currency to hurt its results next year. Coke is projecting a low-single-digit headwind for comparable revenue and a mid-single-digit headwind for earnings per share.

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