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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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Dropbox Inc: “Nothing ever happens to the stock, and I think that that’s because nothing’s going to happen to the stock. … I’m going to have to say, pass.”

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23andMe Holding Co: “The stock has no mojo. That’s a technical term for ‘not going anywhere.'”

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The FDA will allow health-care providers to administer the shots through intradermal injection, or between the layers of the skin, for adults.
This will increase the supply of monkeypox shots by as much as fivefold, according to the FDA.
The emergency authorization also allows people under age 18 to receive the vaccine if they are at high risk of monkeypox infection.
People under age 18 would receive the shot through subcutaneous injection, or beneath the skin.

A health worker administers a dose of the Bavarian Nordic A/S Jynneos monkeypox vaccine at a vaccination site in West Hollywood, California, on Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022.
Jill Connelly | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday expanded its authorization for the monkeypox vaccine in a way that would significantly boost the limited supply of shots.
The FDA is also now allowing children to receive the vaccine if they are at high risk of monkeypox infection. Dr. Peter Marks, head of the FDA’s vaccine division, said there has been an increase in possible exposures among children over the past week.

Health-care providers can now administer the shots to adults through intradermal injection, or between the layers of the skin. This will increase the supply of doses by as much as fivefold, according to the FDA. The vaccine is traditionally administered through subcutaneous injection, which goes into the fat layer beneath the skin.
The intradermal injections for adults use a lower volume dosage that will allow 400,000 vials in the strategic national stockpile to provide up to 2 million shots, according to Robert Fenton, the White House monkeypox response coordinator.

Children will receive the vaccine through the typical subcutaneous injection. Marks said there isn’t enough data to allow intradermal injections for kids and this method is also difficult to administer to very young children.
Jynneos is the only FDA-approved monkeypox vaccine in the U.S. The shots are administered in two doses 28 days apart. Jynneos is manufactured by Bavarian Nordic, a biotech company based in Denmark.
FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said there isn’t data on how well the vaccine prevents disease because there were no smallpox cases and monkeypox outbreaks have been small in the past. The vaccine was approved by the FDA in 2019 based on immune response data.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the public health agency is launching various studies to collect real-world effectiveness data as the shots roll out across the country.
Demand for the shots has outstripped available supply as the monkeypox outbreak grows. People have struggled to get appointments, which book up quickly, and there have been long lines outside clinics around the country.
The U.S. is fighting the largest monkeypox outbreak in the world with nearly 9,000 cases across 49 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, according to the CDC. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra declared the outbreak a public health emergency last week.
Monkeypox is rarely fatal, and no deaths have been reported in the U.S. so far. But the virus causes lesions that can be very painful. Some patients need hospitalization to manage the pain.
Monkeypox is primarily spreading through skin-to-skin contact during sex, according to public health officials. But people can also catch the virus through close physical contact in general, such as hugging and kissing, as well as through contaminated materials such as towels or bedsheets.
Gay and bisexual men are at the highest risk of infection right now. About 98% of patients who provided demographic information to clinics identified as men who have sex with men, according to the CDC. But monkeypox could begin to spread more in the broader population if the outbreak is not contained.
Children at a day care center in central Illinois may have been exposed to the virus last week after a caretaker at the facility tested positive. Walensky said infections and exposures among children are still relatively rare. Walensky said public health authorities want to make sure the vaccine is available to kids if they are exposed to the virus.
HHS has made more than 1 million doses available to state and local health departments since May. More than 620,000 doses have been shipped to jurisdictions so far, according to HHS.

CNBC Health & Science

Read CNBC’s latest global health coverage:

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Monday – Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET

High inflation and the money-making opportunities it’s created have driven workers back to the restaurant industry, Danny Meyer told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Tuesday.
“If you do have a tipping model in your restaurants, servers are making more money than they’ve ever made before,” the restaurateur said in an interview on “Mad Money.”

High inflation and the money-making opportunities it’s created have driven workers back to the restaurant industry, Danny Meyer told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Tuesday.
“There’s no question that menu prices are higher than they’ve ever been. But guess what that translates to – if you do have a tipping model in your restaurants, servers are making more money than they’ve ever made before,” the restaurateur said in an interview on “Mad Money.”

The Union Square Hospitality Group founder added that the company’s restaurants give a cut of their revenue to cooks since they are in non-tip eligible positions.
The opportunity to make more money now than during low-inflationary times has driven workers back to restaurants, according to Meyers.
“For the first time, we’re actually on equal footing in terms of our talent count, as we were in 2020 when we first had to stop doing business,” he said.
Restaurants struggled with labor shortages after the Covid pandemic’s onset in 2020 drove stores to shutter and reduce staffing levels. While the industry has recovered since the devastating blow with stores reopening, restaurants are still working to rebuild their employee rosters.
The industry was still down about 6.1% of its workforce from pre-pandemic levels as of May, according to the National Restaurant Association.

Meyers acknowledged that high inflation and higher price increases are serious concerns for consumers, despite the advantages it gives workers.
“We’ve got to pass [higher costs] on because we can’t go out of business. It’s got to stop somewhere,” he said.
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Monday – Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Tuesday warned investors to avoid buying money-losing stocks in a bet against short sellers.
“In a market that’s presenting you with ample opportunities to lose money, I can’t endorse buying these money-losing stocks in the hope of engineering a short squeeze,” the “Mad Money” host said.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Tuesday warned investors to avoid buying money-losing stocks in a bet against short sellers.
The market went in favor of short-sellers on Tuesday after the major indices fell. The market teetered earlier in the day as it digested disappointing financial reports from companies and prepared for key inflation numbers later this week.

“In a market that’s presenting you with ample opportunities to lose money, I can’t endorse buying these money-losing stocks in the hope of engineering a short squeeze. Sooner or later, you end up with a day like today where that tactic just blows up in your face,” the “Mad Money” host said.
Here are the stocks Cramer referred to:

Bed Bath & Beyond
Upstart
AMC
Beyond Meat
Wayfair
GameStop

More investors appear to be trying their luck with short-selling. The GS Most Short Index, which measures stocks that investors are shorting, or betting against, rose more than 18% over the last five days. It’s currently at its highest level since last January, when the meme stock craze was at its peak.
Cramer warned investors that this action is making money-losing stocks look deceptively attractive as long-term plays.
“When good things happen to bad stocks, I get nervous. We’ve seen a lot of low quality stocks rallying purely because too many hedge funds shorted them at the same time and those shorts ended up getting squeezed,” he said.

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New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that Chipotle will pay $20 million to 13,000 workers for violating their right to predictable schedules and paid sick leave.
Adams’ office said it’s the largest fair workweek settlement in the U.S. and the largest worker protection settlement in the city’s history.
The investigation was initiated after Chipotle employees and the 32BJ Service Employees International Union filed complaints against the company.

Chipotle restaurant in New York City
Scott Mlyn | CNBC

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and city officials announced Tuesday that Chipotle has agreed pay about $20 million to roughly 13,000 workers for violating their right to predictable schedules and paid sick leave.
The mayor’s office said it is the largest fair workweek settlement in the U.S. and the largest worker protection settlement in the history of New York City. Chipotle will also pay $1 million in civil penalties, Adams’ office said.

The settlement is the result of a city investigation that was initiated after 160 Chipotle employees and the 32BJ Service Employees International Union filed complaints against the company, according to the mayor’s office.
The investigation found that Chipotle failed to give employees their schedules 14 day in advance, requiring them to work extra time without advance written consent, and failed to allow employees to use accrued safe and sick leave, among other violations that overworked employees.
Those were violations of New York City’s Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law, which went into effect in 2014, and its Fair Workweek Law, which went into effect in November 2017.
The settlement stipulates that anyone who worked in an hourly position for Chipotle in New York City will receive $50 for each week worked between November 26, 2017 and April 30, 2022. Former Chipotle employees must file a claim to receive their payments, the mayor’s office said.
Scott Boatwright, Chipotle’s chief restaurant officer, said in a statement that the company is pleased to have resolved the matter.

“We have implemented a number of compliance initiatives, including additional management resources and adding new and improved time keeping technology, to help our restaurants and we look forward to continuing to promote the goals of predictable scheduling and access to work hours for those who want them,” Boatwright said.
Read the statement from the City of New York here.

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Shares of Norwegian Cruise Line fell more than 10% on Tuesday.
The company reported second-quarter results that lagged pre-pandemic levels and warned of persistent volatility ahead.
Norwegian, however, announced lighter Covid protocols that is calls “meaningfully positive” for bookings.

The Norwegian Pearl uses the turning basin as it docks at PortMiami on January 05, 2022 in Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images

Shares of Norwegian Cruise Line fell more than 10% on Tuesday after the company reported second-quarter results that lagged pre-pandemic levels and warned of persistent volatility ahead.
The company reported revenue of $1.19 billion and an adjusted loss per share of $1.14 for the period, improvement from the second quarter of 2021 before voyages had resumed, but still far short of the $1.66 billion in revenue and earnings per share of $1.30 from the same quarter in 2019.

It expects third-quarter revenue between $1.5 billion and $1.6 billion, down from $1.9 billion in Q3 2019, and still anticipates a net loss due to costs associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, Ukraine-Russia conflict, inflation, fuel prices and foreign exchange.
Norwegian, however, announced lighter Covid protocols that is calls “meaningfully positive” toward expanding the cruise market and catalyzing the company’s recovery from the pandemic.
The company said it will welcome unvaccinated passengers who present a negative Covid test starting September 3, subject to local regulations.
As a result, Norwegian expects cruise occupancy to be in the “low 80% range” in the current quarter, up from 65% during the second quarter.
The cruise company also reported a nearly 20% jump in revenue per passenger cruise day compared with 2019.
Read the full report here.

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The Inflation Reduction Act, which Senate Democrats passed on Sunday, would extend a tax limitation on pass-through businesses for two more years.
The limitation on how businesses can use losses to reduce taxes is supposed to expire at the start of 2027.
The measure wasn’t in Democrats’ initial legislative proposal.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., discusses the Inflation Reduction Act on Aug. 7, 2022 in Washington, D.C.
Kent Nishimura | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

Senate Democrats curtailed a tax break for certain pass-through businesses as part of the Inflation Reduction Act passed Sunday.
A pass-through or flow-through business is one that reports its income on the tax returns of its owners. That income is taxed at their individual income tax rates. Examples of pass-throughs include sole proprietorships, some limited liability companies, partnerships and S-corporations.

Democrats’ legislation — a package of health-care, tax and historic climate-related measures — limits the ability of pass-throughs to use big paper losses to write off costs like salaries and interest, according to tax experts.
More from Personal Finance:How carried interest works and how it benefits high-income taxpayersInflation Reduction Act aims to trim insulin costs for Medicare usersReconciliation bill includes nearly $80 billion for IRS
That limit — called the Limitation on Excess Business Losses — is currently already in place. It was scheduled to end starting in 2027, but the new bill would extend the restriction for an additional two years. That extension wasn’t in Senate Democrats’ initial version of the legislation, but it was added during the subsequent negotiation and amendment process.
The Inflation Reduction Act passed along party lines and now heads to the House.

Wealthy real estate owners likely impacted most

Republicans originally enacted the pass-through limitation in the 2017 tax law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Specifically, the law disallowed pass-through owners from using business losses exceeding $250,000 to offset non-business income. That dollar threshold is for single taxpayers; the law set a $500,000 cap for a married couple filing a joint tax return.
Those caps are higher in 2022 due to an inflation adjustment: $270,000 and $540,000, respectively.

“The business losses can only offset other business income, not salaries and interest and investment gains,” Steve Rosenthal, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, said of the measure.
The provisions hurt “rich guys” who were using business losses to take tax write-offs against bonuses, salaries and investment income, for example, said Rosenthal.
The limitations can theoretically apply to any pass-through business that runs up a big operating loss each year. But real estate businesses — which can use rules around depreciation to consistently rack up big losses on paper — are likely among the most affected categories, according to Jeffrey Levine, a certified financial planner and certified public accountant based in St. Louis.

It’s a really big deal for uber-wealthy people with a ton of real estate.

Jeffrey Levine
chief planning officer at Buckingham Wealth Partners

“It’s a really big deal for uber-wealthy people with a ton of real estate, and then the occasional business that loses a ton of money every year,” said Levine, who is also chief planning officer at Buckingham Wealth Partners.
The limitation for pass-throughs was initially scheduled to expire after 2025, along with the other provisions of the Republican tax law that affected individual taxpayers.
However, Democrats extended the limit for an additional year in the American Rescue Plan, which President Biden signed into law in 2021. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that that one-year extension would raise about $31 billion.

The Inflation Reduction Act’s additional extension would presumably raise a roughly similar amount of money each year, Rosenthal said.
However, the business losses don’t necessarily disappear forever. Owners may be able to defer the tax benefits to future years, if Congress doesn’t extend the limitation again.
“The losses almost always get claimed later,” Rosenthal said.

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Ford Motor is increasing the starting prices of its electric F-150 Lightning pickup due to “significant material cost increases and other factors.”
The starting prices for the 2023 F-150 Lightning will now range from about $47,000 to $97,000, up between $6,000 and $8,500, depending on the model
Ford is the latest automaker to increase pricing of its newest electric vehicles amid rising inflation and commodity costs.

Ford F-150 Lightning trucks manufactured at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn Michigan.
Courtesy: Ford Motor Co.

DETROIT – Ford Motor on Tuesday said it is increasing the starting prices of its electric F-150 Lightning pickup due to “significant material cost increases and other factors.”
The Detroit automaker said the price increases – between $6,000 and $8,500, depending on the model – will not impact customers who have ordered a vehicle and are awaiting delivery. They will affect an undisclosed number of reservation holders who have not yet ordered a truck.

The starting prices for the 2023 F-150 Lightning will now range from about $47,000 to $97,000, up from roughly $40,000 to $92,000 for the 2022 model year. Prices exclude taxes and shipping/delivery costs.
Ford is the latest automaker to increase pricing of their newest electric vehicles amid rising inflation and commodity costs. General Motors previously raised the price of its Hummer EV pickup by $6,250, while EV startups Rivian Automotive and Lucid increased the costs of their vehicles substantially more than that. Tesla also has raised pricing this year on its vehicles.
Raw material costs for batteries for electric vehicles more than doubled during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a recent report by consulting and research firm AlixPartners.
Ford’s pricing increases come ahead of the automaker on Thursday reopening ordering for the F-150 Lightning. The company late last year announced it had closed orders for the vehicle after receiving more than 200,000 nonbinding reservations for the truck.
It’s unclear how long customers will have to wait for a new truck after they place an order. Ford has only sold about 4,400 vehicles since beginning deliveries in May. A spokeswoman for the company said deliveries of new orders are scheduled to begin this fall.
Starting this fall, Ford on Tuesday also said the electric range of F-150 Lightning models with a standard battery is expected to increase by 10 miles to 240 miles. Trucks with a larger battery have a range of up to 320 miles.

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