Business

China is caught in the grip of a devastating heatwave that could have a serious impact on its economy, according to a chief economist at Hang Seng Bank China.
The heatwave “is a quite dire situation,” Dan Wang told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Thursday, adding it probably could last for the next “two to three months easily.” 
“It will affect those big energy intensive industries and it will have[a] knock-on effect throughout the economy and even to the global supply chain,” she said.

A citizen wearing a breathing mask to escape heat rides on the road on May 23, 2019 in China. The electricity load in the Chinese province of Henan reached a new record on Monday, primarily driven by air-conditioning demand, as scorching heat waves spread across regions north of the Yangtze river.
Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images

China is currently caught in the grip of a devastating heatwave that could have a serious impact on its economy, according to the chief economist of Hang Seng Bank China.
The heatwave “is a quite dire situation,” Dan Wang told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Thursday, adding it probably could last for the next “two to three months easily.” 

China is facing record-breaking heatwaves and is battling a power outage in the Yangtze River area. Extreme temperatures have disrupted crop growth and threatened livestock.
“It will affect those big energy-intensive industries and it will have [a] knock-on effect throughout the economy and even to the global supply chain,” she said.
“We already see a slowdown in production in the steel industry, in chemical industry, in fertilizer industry. Those are very important things when it comes to construction, to agriculture and also to manufacturing in general.,” Wang added.

According to a state media report, most areas of the Yangtze River basin have seen extremely high temperatures since July. Rainfall in the area fell about 45% compared to the average over recent years, based on data from the Ministry of Water Resources.
The report also cited Liu Weiping, vice-minister of water resources, as saying Wednesday that reservoirs have replenished 5.3 billion cubic meters of water in the middle and lower parts of the Yangtze River since August.

The latest heatwave and power outages were reminiscent of the major blackout last year that enveloped many of China’s key manufacturing hubs such as Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu.
“Last year, as we have estimated, the power shortage period has caused China about a 0.6% point of GDP growth,” Wang said. “This year we think this number will be a lot higher… I would say 1.5% point lower.”
“Right now, we are giving 4% of GDP growth for the full year. If the current situation continues, then I have to say the growth rate is probably below [3%],” she added.

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It’s that time again! “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer rings the lightning round bell, which means he’s giving his answers to callers’ stock questions at rapid speed.

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Atkore Inc: “I’ve been fascinated by this. … I’m going to look into them deeper.”

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Paramount Global: “It is ridiculously cheap. I like the stock. … I think it’s worth the house of pain for the ultimate [house of pleasure].”

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Ammo Inc: “I don’t recommend these gun stocks. They don’t make anybody any money.”

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Zoetis Inc: “I say it is [a buy]. … I like Zoetis.”

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Moderna Inc: “I like Moderna very much. I think it’s undervalued.”

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Warner Bros Discovery Inc: “I have a certain corner of my garden where I throw my rotten tomatoes. … You know what I’m going to call that corner? The Warner Bros corner.”

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CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday advised investors to accept that companies will most likely continue struggling to plan for the future as they adjust to quick, constantly evolving changes in the economy.
“In that kind of environment, you can’t really plan — you just have to guess,” the “Mad Money” host said.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday advised investors to accept that companies will most likely continue struggling to plan for the future as they adjust to quick, constantly evolving changes in the economy.
“In that kind of environment, you can’t really plan — you just have to guess,” the “Mad Money” host said. “And 2022 will be known as the year when many businesses and portfolio managers guessed dead wrong.”

An unrelenting bevy of headwinds, including persistent inflation, the Federal Reserve’s interest rate increases and surges in Covid cases have rocked the economy this year as companies struggle to procure supplies and consumers as costs and shortages hit them on every level.
At the same time, these firms have had to contend with changing consumer habits spurred by changes in workplace norms and reopening economies.
Sales of personal computers have slumped since the height of the pandemic as people return to the office, Cramer pointed out. At the same time, gaming companies have struggled to keep their pandemic gains as consumers spend less time indoors.
Consumers have also scaled back on discretionary spending in general as skyrocketing inflation has hit their wallets hard this year, creating excess inventory at retailers such as Walmart and Target. 
At the same time, even companies offering in-demand products and services are seeing headwinds. Automakers are struggling to fulfill orders for electric vehicles due to the ongoing chip shortage and climbing costs for batteries.

“We have never seen so many booms and busts occurring almost simultaneously,” Cramer said.
On the experiences side of consumer spending, airlines have had to scale back after taking on more than they could handle during the summer travel rebound, leading to flight cancellations, delays and lost baggage. 
“These changes are happening everywhere with miserable consequences. … No one knows what to do,” he said.

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Investor Toolkit

President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest climate spending package in U.S. history.
Investors flocked into “green” funds in the runup to Biden signing Democrats’ legislation.
But it can be a challenge to pick a so-called ESG fund. Here are some tips for investors.

Simonskafar | E+ | Getty Images

ESG funds have become more popular

Steve Cicero | Photographer’s Choice | Getty Images

Funds that allocate investor money according to ESG issues held $357 billion at the end of 2021 — more than four times the total three years earlier, according to Morningstar, which tracks data on mutual and exchange-traded funds.
Investors poured $69.2 billion into ESG funds, also known as sustainable or impact funds, last year, an annual record, according to Morningstar.
These funds come in a variety of flavors. Some may seek to promote gender or racial equality, invest in green energy technology or avoid fossil fuel, tobacco or gun companies, for example.
Investors most likely to be interested in ESG investments are women and people under age 40, according to Cerulli Associates survey data. About 34% of financial advisors used ESG funds with clients in 2021, up from 32% in 2020, according to the Financial Planning Association.

At the heart of the continuing surge in demand for coal is the shortage of gas as the European Union moves to reduce the use of Russian gas — stopping short of a gas ban — while Russia responds by cutting supplies to the continent.
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Not every ESG fund is as ‘green’ as you might think

There are more than 550 ESG mutual and exchange-traded funds available to U.S. investors — more than double what was available five years ago, according to Morningstar.
“An individual investor has a lot more [ESG options] and can build a portfolio in ways they couldn’t 10 years ago,” Michael Young, manager of education programs at the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, has told CNBC. “Almost every [asset] category I can think of has a fund option, so we’ve come a long way.”
But fund managers may use varying degrees of rigor when investing your money — meaning that environment-focused fund you bought may not necessarily be as “green” as you might think.
Here’s an example: Some fund managers may “integrate” ESG values when picking where to invest money, but that strategy may only play a supporting, not a central, role. Conversely, other managers have an explicit ESG mandate that acts as the linchpin of their investment decisions.
But investors may not know the difference between those approaches.

The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed rules in May that would increase transparency for investors and help make it easier for them to select the ESG fund that best conforms with their values. The rules would also crack down on “greenwashing,” the practice in which money managers mislead investors about ESG fund holdings.
More recently, the Supreme Court in a 6-3 ruling in June stripped away some of the EPA’s authority to rein in planet-warming carbon emissions from U.S. power plants. Fossil fuel-fired power plants are the country’s second-largest source of carbon pollution in the U.S., behind transportation.

How investors can get started with ESG

All this might leave you thinking: How can I get started? And how can I be confident my investments truly align with my values?
There are some simple steps investors can take, according to ESG experts.
One way to start is by examining the asset manager, which serves as a good “shorthand” for investors, according to Willskytt at Align Impact.
Some firms are focused on ESG and have a long history of investing this way — both of which are encouraging signs for people serious about values-based investing, he said.

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Investors can get a sense of a firm’s commitment by looking at its website and whether it displays ESG as a major focus, he added. From there, investors can pick from that firm’s available funds.
“It’s a definitely a red flag if you can only find the barest of [website] information,” said Jon Hale, director of sustainability research for the Americas at Sustainalytics, which is owned by Morningstar. “It suggests the commitment maybe isn’t as high as with other funds.”
Examples of ESG-focused firms include Calvert Research and Management and Impax Asset Management, Willskytt said. Nuveen, which is owned by TIAA, also has a relatively long track record of ESG investing, he added.

If you have confidence in the manager, the funds will be more or less strong from an ESG perspective.

Fabian Willskytt
associate director of public markets at Align Impact

Morningstar rated Calvert and Pax, along with four others — Australian Ethical, Parnassus Investments, Robeco and Stewart Investors — as the category’s asset-management leaders, according to an ESG Commitment Level assessment issued in 2020. However, not all cater to U.S. individual investors.
An additional six, including Nuveen/TIAA, ranked a tier below in the “advanced” ESG category.
“If you have confidence in the manager, the funds will be more or less strong from an ESG perspective,” Willskytt said. “Then it’s about finding the flavors that work for you.”
There is a drawback, however. Despite ESG fund growth, investors may not yet be able to easily find a fund that corresponds with a specific issue, depending on the niche. There are plenty of climate-focused funds and broad ESG funds that account for many different value-based filters, for example, but something like a gun-free fund is harder to find, experts said.

Most, 70%, of sustainable funds are actively managed, according to Morningstar. They may carry a bigger annual fee than current funds in your portfolio, depending on your current holdings.
Investors who want to learn a bit more about ESG before taking the plunge can review a free course on the basics from the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment.

Use tools to gauge how well investments align with ESG

Thomas Barwick | DigitalVision | Getty Images

Investors can also start by sifting through a few free databases of mutual funds and ETFs.
The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment has one database that lets investors sort ESG funds according to categories, such as asset class — for example, stock, bond and balanced funds; issue type, and investment minimum.
This list isn’t exhaustive, though — it includes funds from the forum’s member firms. However, the fact that the firm is a member may be a reliable screen for the asset manager’s ESG rigor, Young said.
As You Sow is another organization that can help investors find funds that are fossil fuel-free, gender-equal, gun-free, prison-free, weapons-free and tobacco-free, for example. It maintains rankings of the top funds by category.

An individual investor has a lot more [ESG options] and can build a portfolio in ways they couldn’t 10 years ago.

Michael Young
manager of education programs at the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment

Alternatively, investors can also use As You Sow’s website to gauge how well their current investments align with their values. They can type in a fund’s ticker symbol, which generates a fund score according to different value categories.
Other firms also assign ESG ratings to specific funds. Morningstar, for example, assigns a certain number of “globes” — “5” being the best score — so investors can assess the fund’s ESG scope. Morningstar has an ESG Screener that also lets investors filter for funds according to certain parameters.  
One caveat: The globe system and other third-party ratings don’t necessarily signal an asset manager’s ESG intent. In theory, a fund could have stellar ESG ratings by accident, not due to a manager’s focus.  
Investors also can use fund databases to identify ESG investments they might like, then research the asset-management firm to see how committed the firm is to ESG overall.
For investors who aren’t as do-it-yourself oriented, working with a financial advisor well-versed in ESG may be the most surefire way to know your investments most square with your values and mesh with your overall portfolio and investment goals. Advisors may have more advanced screening tools at their disposal relative to a retail investor, for example. More

Home Depot has named CEO Ted Decker as the chair of the board, the company announced Thursday.
He replaces former CEO Craig Menear, who will retire as chair Sept. 30. Decker took over as CEO in March, when Menear stepped down from that role.

Ted Decker, Home Depot
Source: PRNewswire

Home Depot has named CEO Ted Decker as the chair of the board, the company announced Thursday.
He replaces former CEO Craig Menear, who will retire as chair Sept. 30. Decker took over as CEO in March, when Menear stepped down from that role. Prior to that, Menear had been the company’s chief executive since 2014.

The announcement comes two days after Home Depot’s second-quarter earnings report, which reflected strong performance even as consumers grappled with high inflation. The company’s statement didn’t give a reason for Menear’s retirement.
Home Depot on Thursday also announced a new $15 billion share-buyback program.
The board thanked Menear for his service with the company, and praised Decker’s performance thus far as CEO.
“During Ted’s tenure as CEO and a member of the board, we have witnessed firsthand his passion for the customer experience and our associates, and we look forward to continuing to work with him as chair,” Greg Brenneman, the board’s lead director, said in a news release.
Both men are company veterans. Menear started at Home Depot in 1997, and Decker began his tenure there in 2000. Decker began as a director of business valuation and served as executive vice president of merchandising before being named chief operating officer and president in October 2020.
Shares of the company were effectively flat after hours.

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Madison Square Garden Entertainment announced Thursday it’s exploring a spinoff of its live entertainment business.
The new company would also control the Garden’s licensing agreements with the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers.
It would leave MSG Entertainment with Tao Group Hospitality and the MSG Sphere business.

Fans arrive to Madison Square Garden before the game between the Golden State Warriors and New York Knicks on February 23, 2021 in New York City.
John Smith | Corbis News | Getty Images

Madison Square Garden Entertainment announced Thursday it’s exploring a spinoff of its live entertainment business, including its iconic New York City arena, and MSG Networks.
The spinoff would consist of the company’s performance venues – including Madison Square Garden, the Hulu Theater, Radio City Music Hall, the Beacon Theatre and the Chicago Theatre – as well as its entertainment and sports bookings, the Radio City Rockettes and the “Christmas Spectacular” production, the company said in a release.

The new company would also control the Garden’s licensing agreements with the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers, along with its regional sports and entertainment networks.
It would leave MSG Entertainment with Tao Group Hospitality, which owns restaurants and nightclubs around the world, and the MSG Sphere business, which encompasses “multi-sensory” performance venues, the first of which is currently under construction in Las Vegas.
Shares of Madison Square Garden Entertainment rose about 7% in extended trading Thursday.

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Homebuilder sentiment dropped into negative territory in mid-August.
Home Depot and Lowe’s nonetheless reported relatively strong numbers from professionals in the second quarter.
According to one analyst, these housing effects could hit home improvement late this year or early next year.

A customer enters a Home Depot store on August 16, 2022 in San Rafael, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Spending on home improvement doesn’t appear to have taken a big hit with the slowdown in the U.S. housing market, but analysts say the strength may not last.
Home Depot and Lowe’s this week cited strong second-quarter sales from professionals such as contractors, plumbers and electricians. The retailers said those customers have a healthy backlog of projects and plenty of pent-up demand for home improvement.

The companies are chalking up the continued strength coming out of the height of the pandemic to housing market conditions because, they say, people staying put in their homes longer could spur renovations. Since the start of this year, the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage has nearly doubled and housing starts have declined significantly. This month, the National Association of Homebuilders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index dropped into the negative territory for the first time since early in the pandemic.

“Oftentimes, what is bad for the home builder is not necessarily bad for the home improvement,” Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison told CNBC.
Ellison said low housing starts and high mortgage rates could incentivize homeowners to stay where they are and choose to renovate their current homes. He noted more than half of U.S. homes are over 40 years old. 
Home Depot’s chief financial officer, Richard McPhail, also noted that the rise in home prices is “probably the strongest underpinning” of home improvement demand. 
“We’ve seen home prices appreciate by almost 40% over the last two years, which has really transformed the balance sheet of the North American homeowner,” McPhail told CNBC. “When you see your home increase in value, you are more likely to invest more in it.”

Appreciating home prices can also allow for larger home equity loans, which homeowners use to fund renovations. KeyBanc analyst Bradley B. Thomas noted that Home Depot cites home prices as “one of the most important leading indicators of home improvement demand.” The median price for a home sold in July was $403,800, which is nearly 11% higher than during the same month a year earlier.

But with interest rates now higher, home equity loans are falling after hitting their highest level since 2007 in the first quarter of the year, said Piper Sandler analyst Peter Keith.
“There’s a bit of a lag effect,” Keith told CNBC. “We do think this drop off in home equity extraction will eventually show up in the pro spending.”
Keith said the drop off could hit contractors and other home improvement professionals by the end of this year or the beginning of next.
Bobby Griffin, an analyst from Raymond James, sees the risk to home equity extraction, but similarly has most of his focus on home prices.
“Rates go up, it’s not as attractive to take money out of your home anymore,” Griffin told CNBC. “But you still have that equity, so it is still attractive to invest.”

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BJ’s Wholesale Club (BJ) reported second-quarter results that easily surpassed Wall Street estimates Thursday morning, offering positive readthroughs to Club holding Costco (COST) ahead of next month’s earnings release. Bottom line We’ll get into the differences between the two companies — namely in scale and sales mix — but, at a high level, BJ’s strong results indicate wholesaler retailers that operate under a membership-fee model are in a position to thrive in this inflationary environment. We’ve been making this point about its much larger rival Costco for a while, and BJ’s numbers — combined with solid results from Walmart -owned Sam’s Club earlier in the week — only serve to bolster our conviction. We maintain a 1 rating on Costco, meaning see it as a buy at these levels. Costco has a market cap is more than $248 billion. BJ’s quarter Massachusetts-based BJ’s earned an adjusted $1.06 per share on quarterly revenue of $5.01 billion, when analysts were looking for EPS of 80 cents and revenue of $4.57 billion, according to FactSet. Drilling down on key metrics for wholesalers, quarterly membership fee income grew 11.3% year to year to $98.8 million and topped estimates by nearly $2 million. Overall member count grew 6% year over year. Same-store sales, excluding gasoline, rose 7.6% year over year, much better than FactSet estimate of 4.2%. Gross margin rate on merchandise sales, which excludes gas and membership fees, came in at 15.2% versus estimates of 13.4%. That was down from 16.5% in the year-ago quarter, however, as factors such as freight costs and merchandise markdowns weighed on profitability. BJ’s management also raised its full-year comparable sales guidance, saying it now expects growth in the 4% to 5% range, up from its old forecast of “low single digit.” Full-year EPS guidance is now between $3.50 and $3.60, up from approximately $3.25. Shares of BJ’s surged more than 8% Thursday, hitting a new 52-week high, as investors cheered the quarter. So impressed by the results, Bank of America upgraded BJ’s to buy from hold in a note to clients after the opening bell — not something that happens often. BJ’s is a $10 billion market cap company. Sam’s Club quarter Before we got Thursday’s results from BJ’s, we also saw solid Sam’s Club results Tuesday along with better-than-feared numbers from its parent company Walmart. (Remember, like BJ’s and Costco, Sam’s Club is a wholesaler that uses a membership-fee model.) Sam’s Club membership hit an all-time high in the quarter ended July 29, and income from those fees rose 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. “Sam’s added more new members in Q2 than any other quarter in recent years, benefiting from membership campaigns,” CFO John Rainey said on WMT’s earnings call. Sam’s Club revenue of $21.9 billion exceeded FactSet estimates of $21.52 billion, although $427 million in operating income fell well below analyst expectations of $701.4 million. Management said operating income was dragged down by higher-than-usual markdowns to clear excess goods and a $123 million accounting charge related to inflationary impacts on inventory. Comparable store sales at Sam’s Club, excluding gas, increased 9.5% year over year, slightly missing FactSet estimates of 10.1%. The number of transactions in the quarter rose 9.8% compared with the year-ago period. Goldman Sachs analysts liked what they saw in Sam’s Club’s results, writing in a note to clients Tuesday they thought the “strong” numbers foretold positive things for BJ’s Wholesale when it reported in two days. That proved to be a good call. What about Costco? The BJ’s and Sam’s Club results show the benefits of operating a members-only wholesale chain with a reputation for providing customers value. This is central to why many people sign up to be members at the likes of Costco, BJ’s and Sam’s Club to begin with. But following months of scorching-hot inflation, the value proposition these wholesale retailers offer can be spotted from a country mile away. “Our members are increasingly relying on us to fulfill their shopping needs,” BJ’s CEO Bob Eddy said Thursday on the earnings call, an illustration of our point above. To that end, Eddy said “significant gains in traffic and market share,” led by the grocery category, were big drivers of BJ’s results. People are looking for value, which all three wholesalers are in a position to provide by nature of their membership models. There are some differences between the three companies that are important to consider when making readthroughs, though, in addition to our belief in Costco’s top-notch management team. Scale is the first. Costco is the largest of the trio with 837 warehouse stores globally, and roughly 82% of them are located in the U.S. or Canada. BJ’s has 229 club locations in just 17 states, with a heavy concentration in northeast states like New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey. Costco, for comparison, is in 46 states and Puerto Rico. Sam’s Club has 600 locations across 44 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, according to Walmart’s latest annual report. (Fun fact: Sam’s Club does not have locations in Massachusetts or Washington, the home states of BJ’s and Costco, respectively.) The sales mix varies across the three companies, as well, which is crucial to keep in mind when trying to understand how the current retail operating environment of value-seeking consumers and inventory markdowns impacts each wholesaler. (Segment names, as reported by the company, are in bold.) Grocery accounted for 71% of BJ’s merchandise sales in its fiscal 2021, according to the company’s annual report. BJ’s grocery category is broad, including both meat and fresh produce in addition to packaged foods and even things like beauty care and paper products. General merchandise and services represented 14% of sales, with gasoline and other contributed 15%. Costco’s two food-related categories combined for 54.4% of its fiscal 2021 merchandise sales, while non-foods — which includes appliances, apparel and more — accounted for 29.2%. Warehouse ancillary and other businesses — gasoline, pharmacy, food court, and more — represented 16.5% of merchandise revenue. Grocery and consumables were 63.7% of Sam’s Club’s merchandise sales in its latest full fiscal year, followed by fuel, tobacco and other categories at 15%. Home and apparel represented 11.9% of merchandise sales. Health and wellness — consisting of pharmacy, over-the-counter drugs and optical and hearing services— accounted for 5.4%. The remaining 4.1% came from technology, office and entertainment . What stands out is BJ’s has the largest sales exposure to food, followed by Sam’s Club then Costco. This is noteworthy because in general a rise in food prices means a larger share of consumers’ discretionary income is going toward necessities like groceries, leaving less money left over for discretionary purchases. That dynamic has been felt most acutely by lower-income consumers in recent months. However, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon told CNBC on Tuesday that “people are really price-focused now, regardless of income level.” One thing to watch will be how Costco’s smaller food share impacts its results, given concern about spending on discretionary items. Perhaps members will choose to do more of their food shopping at Costco, forgoing stops at other grocers to capitalize on the wholesaler’s value offerings. Under this scenario, it could help offset less spending in other categories, thought it could impact profits since food is lower-margin. Another possibility is that the higher-income mix of Costco members could mean they’re in a position to keep buy things like new clothes, books and patio furniture, putting less pressure on more general merchandise categories. We know that Costco’s members tend to be “middle- to upper-middle income,” in the words of CEO Craig Jelinek, who spoke to CNBC last month and indicated members appeared to beholding up well despite recession concerns. While we don’t have Costco’s overall earnings yet, we do have individually monthly sales data for May, June and July that back up Jelinek’s remarks. In May, Costco’s company-wide comparable sales rose 11.8% year over year , followed by a 13% jump in June and a 7% gain in July. In July, in particular, Costco saw “low double digit” growth in its food and sundries category, which includes frozen foods and so-called dry grocery items like pasta. Fresh foods, led by bakery and produce, rose low to mid-single digits. On BJ’s earnings call Thursday, management noted on multiple occasions how the recent spike in fuel prices helps the company demonstrate its value to customers and drive foot traffic into stores. This is a dynamic that Costco management has spoken to in the past, and all signs indicate it will have continued to help Costco in its 16-week fourth quarter (which started in May 9 and ends Aug. 28). What’s more, Eddy, the BJ’s CEO, said the company’s earnings were helped by a “higher-than-normal” profit per gallon once gas prices started to roll over in June. The CEO attributed that to the way prices at the pump lag falling input costs, providing a lift to profits when combined with an overall increase in people buying gas at BJ’s. This is another layer to the gas dynamic that could help Costco on the earnings front. As a reminder, membership fees are generally Costco’s most important source of profits. They are primarily what allows Costco — and BJ’s and Sam’s Club, for that matter — to offer competitive prices on other products. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long COST. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

Customers carry their items after shopping at Costco in Washington D.C., May 5, 2021.
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