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The RSV vaccine was 83.7% effective at preventing lower respiratory tract disease, defined as two or more symptoms, in people ages 60 and older, according to Moderna.
RSV infections kill between 6,000 and 10,000 older adults every year and result in 60,000 to 120,000 hospitalizations, according to the CDC.
Moderna’s RSV vaccine uses the same messenger RNA technology as its successful Covid-19 shots.

Moderna on Tuesday said its vaccine that targets respiratory syncytial virus is effective at preventing disease in older adults.
The vaccine was 83.7% effective at preventing lower respiratory tract disease, defined as two or more symptoms, in people ages 60 and older, according to the Boston biotech company. It was 82.4% effective at preventing lower respiratory tract disease with three or more symptoms.

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No safety concerns have been identified during the clinical trial of the vaccine, according to Moderna. The safety and efficacy data from the trial will be published in a peer-reviewed journal, according to the company. The clinical trial has enrolled about 37,000 people across 22 countries.
Moderna said it plans to file an application for approval by the Food and Drug Administration in the first half of this year. There currently is no FDA-approved vaccine for RSV.

A woman receives a booster dose of the Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at a vaccination centre in Antwerp, Belgium, February 1, 2022.
Johanna Geron | Reuters

Moderna’s stock rose nearly 7% in extended trading.
RSV infections kill between 6,000 and 10,000 older adults every year and result in 60,000 to 120,000 hospitalizations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The U.S. suffered an unusually severe RSV season in the fall among children and older adults as the public largely stopped practicing public health measures implemented in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, such as masking and social distancing.

Moderna’s RSV vaccine uses the same messenger RNA technology as the company’s successful Covid shots. The Covid vaccine turned Moderna into a global name and delivered windfall profits, but it remains the company’s only commercially available product and demand is fading.
The Boston biotech company faces growing pressure to demonstrate that other products in its pipeline will successfully come to market. Morgan Stanley estimates the market for an adult RSV vaccine is $7 billion to $10 billion.

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CNBC’s Jim Cramer told investors not to discard their traditional, steady stocks after Tuesday’s trading session.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 fell on Tuesday on the back of weaker-than-expected bank earnings, which ended a four-day winning streak.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer told investors not to discard their traditional, steady stocks after Tuesday’s trading session.
“It is so easy to panic out of stocks on the first sign of weakness,” he said, adding, “I’m urging the opposite.”

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 fell on Tuesday on the back of weaker-than-expected bank earnings, which ended a four-day winning streak. The Nasdaq Composite was the only major index to end up on the day.
So far, the tech-heavy Nasdaq is leading the way year to date at 6.01%, with gains driven by Wall Street’s hopes that signs of softening inflation means a better year is in store for growth stocks.
Cramer reiterated his stance that investors shouldn’t rush into tech stocks, warning that most companies haven’t taken the cost-reduction steps necessary for their stocks’ recent runs to be sustainable.
He added that Tuesday’s losses represent a buying opportunity for another group of stocks.
“I remain more partial to those traditional cyclical stocks. You’re getting a chance to buy them ahead of what I believe will be better earnings comparisons than you’re going to see from tech,” he said.

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Peloton has hired Leslie Berland to serve as its new chief marketing officer effective Wednesday.
Former CMO Dara Treseder left the company in a broader executive exodus in September.
The announcement comes as Peloton tries to regain profitability after a rough year.

Leslie Berland, chief marketing officer of Twitter Inc., speaks during the company’s #HereWeAre Women In Tech event at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018.
Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Peloton is bringing in Leslie Berland, Twitter’s former marketing head, as its next chief marketing officer, effective Wednesday.
Berland left Twitter in November amid a slew of executive departures after Elon Musk’s takeover, which has led to significant restructuring and revenue drops at the social media giant. She previously helped lead marketing at American Express for 10 years.

Berland will report to Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy and oversee several of the fitness equipment maker’s divisions including marketing, membership and global communications. Former CMO Dara Treseder left the company in a broader executive exodus in September.
Berland said in an announcement Tuesday that she is “thrilled” to join the company at this “unique moment in its transformation journey.”
Peloton is trying to shift the tides after a rough 2022, when its stock dropped more than 75%. The company in November posted wider losses than analysts expected for its first fiscal quarter.
McCarthy, who took the helm in February, said during the first-quarter earnings call that the company’s new strategy for attracting customers and boosting recurring revenue was a “work in progress.”
In his first year as CEO, McCarthy has overseen recalls on defective treadmills, mass layoffs and significant leadership shifts — all as he tries to steer the pandemic darling stock back to profitability. Shares hit a high of $167.42 in January 2021 and are now trading at about $11.

“As we continue our pivot to growth, showcasing the magic that drives people to Peloton and keeps them so passionate and engaged is essential. [Berland] and the marketing team will play a central role in broadening our reach, appeal, and impact,” McCarthy said in a statement Tuesday.
In August, Peloton struck a deal with Amazon to sell products, venturing out of its traditional direct-to-consumer business model.
McCarthy is also overseeing a gradual rollout of a national bike rental program, which allows customers to rent the company’s bike and subscribe to on-demand workout classes and then return the bike when they want.
The company is also trying to expand its digital app presence, including with a “freemium” model that would allow users to access its content library on third-party hardware.

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United Airlines’ fourth-quarter profit topped Wall Street estimates thanks to strong demand and high fares.
United expects to expand flying 20% in the first quarter from a year ago.
United executives will hold a call with analysts and media on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. ET.

United Airlines’ fourth-quarter profit and outlook for early 2023 topped Wall Street estimates thanks to strong travel demand and high fares.
Consumers’ appetite for air travel and willingness to pay higher fares has helped airlines return to profitability despite higher costs for fuel, labor and other expenses tied to ramping their networks back up. Meanwhile, aircraft delivery delays and training backlogs have constrained airlines’ growth, keeping fares high.

United reported an $843 million profit for the last three months of 2022, a 31% increase compared with three years earlier, on revenue of $12.4 billion. That revenue was almost 14% higher than the same period in 2019, before the pandemic, despite flying 9% less, helping it post a profit despite a 21% increase in unit costs from three years earlier.
United shares gained about 2% in extended trading Tuesday.
The quarterly update is another sign of a strong year-end for airlines, despite severe winter storms and disruptions during the popular holiday travel period.

A grounds crew member directs an United Airlines airplane to a gate at Terminal A at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in Newark, New Jersey, US, on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023.
Aristide Economopoulos | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Last week, Delta Air Lines’ profit and revenue surpassed Wall Street’s expectations though higher costs, partly due to an expected pilot labor deal, weighed on its first-quarter profit forecast. Also last week, American Airlines, which reports on Jan. 26, hiked its profit and sales forecast for the fourth quarter.
Here’s how United performed in the fourth quarter compared with what Wall Street expected, based on average estimates compiled by Refinitiv:

Adjusted earnings per share: $2.46 versus an expected $2.10
Total revenue: $12.4 billion versus expected $12.2 billion

For the first three months of 2023, United expects to generate revenue 50% higher than the same period of 2022. It expects first-quarter earnings per share to be between 50 cents and $1, above analyst consensus of 25 cents, according to Refinitiv.
United expects to expand flying 20% in the first quarter from a year ago, it said in a filing.
It forecast capacity growth in the high teens for the full year over 2022. It forecast unit revenues, or revenue per available seat mile, for the full year to come in flat compared with 2022, a sign that air fares’ sharp rise this year could continue to abate as airlines add back more flights.
United also said in an investor presentation that staffing issues, plane shortages and outdated tech would restrict industry capacity this year.
As the airline industry confronts a Covid-induced labor shortage, United and others are hoping to boost pilot and crew counts into the next fiscal year. The company on Tuesday noted the debut of its Calibrate apprenticeship program, which it launched in November, and the United Aviate Academy which started in early 2022. The airline also on Tuesday said it opened a renovated and expanded flight attendant training facility in Houston.
United hasn’t yet reached a new labor agreement with its pilots. Delta and its pilots’ union have reached a preliminary agreement for big raises, but pilots haven’t yet voted on it.
CEO Scott Kirby told CNBC’s “Fast Money” that the airline’s pilots union is working on electing a new leader after its last head resigned, which should be finalized later this month. Once the new leader has been selected, Kirby expects negotiations to resume, which he estimated to be by Feb. 7.
He said an agreement on a pilot contract “ought to be done pretty quickly once we get back to the table.”
United said in its investor presentation that it expects new contracts with pilots, flight attendants, technicians and airport employees to keep its non-fuel costs steady over 2022.
Kirby also said the industry’s supply constraints reflect a broader infrastructural problem, displayed in the recent Federal Aviation Administration system outage. He said that the FAA’s expansion into space and drones has strained the resources it would typically use to support flight infrastructure.
“They’ve had to rob Peter to pay Paul,” Kirby said. “They just don’t have enough resources.”
Kirby said he is in Washington, D.C., twice a month, lobbying for more resources.
United executives will hold a call with analysts and media at 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.

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A former fugitive accused of falsely telling investors he was a billionaire, a Harvard MBA and a special forces veteran appears set to plead guilty in Seattle in connection with an alleged $35 million fraud.
Would-be cannabis mogul Justin Costello is accused in federal court in Washington state of swindling thousands of investors and others with a slew of bogus and extravagant claims.
Costello, who fled after learning he had been indicted in late September, has been held without bail since early October when an FBI SWAT team arrested him in a remote area outside San Diego.

Source: FBI

A former fugitive accused of falsely telling investors he was a billionaire, a Harvard MBA and a special forces veteran appears set to plead guilty on Wednesday in connection with an alleged $35 million fraud, a court filing suggests.
Would-be cannabis mogul Justin Costello, 42, is accused in federal court in Washington state of swindling thousands of investors and others with a slew of bogus and extravagant claims about himself.

Costello, who fled after learning he had been indicted in late September, has been held without bail since early October when an FBI SWAT team arrested him in a remote area outside San Diego.
At the time, authorities said, he was carrying a backpack containing $12,000 worth of gold bars, $60,000 in U.S. currency, $10,000 in Mexican pesos and an ID featuring his photo and someone else’s name.
Costello later pleaded not guilty in the case.
But a court filing says Costello is now scheduled to appear for a change of plea hearing on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Such hearings are typically scheduled when a defendant plans to plead guilty.

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Costello’s lawyer, Dennis Carroll of the federal defender’s office, wrote, “No comment at this time,” when CNBC emailed him to ask about the hearing.

Emily Langlie, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, which is prosecuting Costello, declined to comment.
Costello is charged with 22 counts of wire fraud and three counts of securities fraud in his criminal case. He also faces civil charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in a separate lawsuit accusing him and another man of defrauding investors in a penny stock promotion scam.
Nick Brown, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, has previously said that Costello “allegedly told many tall tales to convince victims to invest millions of dollars — money he then used for his own benefit.”
Prosecutors say Costello used one of his companies, Pacific Banking Corp., to illegally divert at least $3.6 million to himself and other firms he owned while offering banking services for three marijuana companies.

Cash and gold bars as detailed in court filing in US District court in San Diego in case of former fugitive Justin Costello.
Source: US District Court

They also accuse him of a scheme that cost more than 7,500 investors about $25 million by making false claims about purported plans by one of his firms to purchase nearly a dozen other companies. Almost 30 investors lost $6 million after directly investing with Costello based on his false claims.
The indictment of Costello says that he falsely claimed to have graduated from the University of Minnesota, to have a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard, to have served two tours as a member of the U.S. special forces in Iraq and to have been wounded during that time.
Costello also falsely claimed to be a billionaire, to have managed money for wealthy people who included a Saudi sheikh and to have had “14 years of experience on Wall Street,” according to the indictment.

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Generation Y, also known as millennials, and Generation Z accounted for all of the luxury market’s growth last year.
Analysts and luxury executives say the appeal of luxury brands to ever-younger consumers is tied to a surge in wealth creation over the past few years, along with social media.
Luxury sales have so far been largely immune to rising interest rates, a slowing economy and high inflation.

Peter Cade | Stone | Getty Images

Luxury shoppers are getting wealthier and younger, with purchases by some of the newest consumers expected to grow three times faster than older generations over the next decade, according to a new report.
Generation Y, also known as millennials, and Generation Z accounted for all of the luxury market’s growth last year, according to a report from Bain & Co. Spending by Gen Z and the even younger Generation Alpha, or those under 13, is expected to make up a third of the luxury market through 2030, reflecting “a more precocious attitude toward luxury” among the younger ranks than older generations, the report said.

Gen Z consumers are starting to buy luxury goods — everything from designer handbags and shoes, to watches, jewelry, apparel and beauty products — at age 15, three to five years earlier than millennials did, the report said.
“By 2030, younger generations (Generations Y, Z, and Alpha) will become the biggest buyers of luxury by far, representing 80% of global purchases,” it said.
Luxury sales have so far been largely immune to rising interest rates, a slowing economy and high inflation. Bain estimates that global sales of personal luxury goods sales surged 22% in 2022, to 353 billion euros, or roughly $381 billion.
This year, luxury sales are expected to grow between 3% and 8%, depending on China’s recovery and the economies in the U.S. and Europe.
The U.S. regained the top spot for luxury sales in 2022, surpassing China, with 25% sales growth and total sales of 113 billion euros, or about $121 billion. China’s luxury sales dropped 1% due largely to Covid lockdowns. Europe also saw strong growth, at 27%, helped in large part by American tourists spending on luxury goods in Europe over the summer.

Accessories, led by handbags, led the growth in 2022 and are expected to continue driving luxury goods sales in the coming years.
Sales of leather goods soared 23% to 25% last year, and were up over 40% from pre-Covid levels. While new models and “hero products” accounted for some of that growth, the biggest driver of growth came from price increases — such as the Chanel small Classic Flap bag, which is now priced over 60% higher than before the pandemic. Bain estimates that 70% of sales growth in leather goods in 2022 came from price increases.
Analysts and luxury executives say the appeal of luxury brands to ever-younger consumers is tied to a surge in wealth creation over the past few years, along with social media.
“What has changed is the affluence level of the U.S. customer, and the prevalence of social media that tells the customer what is cool, ” said Jan Rogers Kniffen, CEO of retail consulting firm J Rogers Kniffen WWE. “The generation before the Z’s pushed the age of first luxury purchase to 18 to 20. Wasn’t 15 to 17 the next logical stop? Is that the bottom? Probably not.”
Buying luxury shoes and handbags online has become much more accessible in recent years as luxury companies have embraced online sales and a host of secondhand luxury good websites have emerged.
Bain said Web 3.0, including the metaverse and NFTs — a type of digital asset called nonfungible tokens — will help future luxury sales to younger consumers even further.

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An Arizona suburb has filed a lawsuit against the city of Scottsdale after the city cut off the community from its municipal water supply amid extreme drought conditions and declining water levels in the Colorado River.
In the lawsuit, filed Thursday in Maricopa County Superior Court, residents in the unincorporated community of Rio Verde Foothills are seeking an injunction against Scottsdale to force the city to resume water services.
Scottsdale said it must focus on water conservation for its own residents and would not continue to sell water to the roughly 500 homes in Rio Verde Foothills.

A saguaro-cactus lined road where new homes are being built in in Rio Verde Foothills, Arizona, on January 7, 2023.
The Washington Post | Getty Images

An Arizona suburb has filed a lawsuit against the city of Scottsdale after the city cut off the community from its municipal water supply amid extreme drought conditions and declining water levels in the Colorado River.
In the lawsuit, filed Thursday in Maricopa County Superior Court, residents in the unincorporated community of Rio Verde Foothills are seeking an injunction against Scottsdale to force the city to resume water services.

The dispute comes after the federal government last year announced unprecedented water cuts in Arizona due to water shortages along the Colorado River. The Biden administration has urged seven states to reduce water usage 2 to 4 million acre-feet, up to a third of the river’s average flow, as drought conditions grow worse in the Colorado River basin.
The river’s decline has prompted the loss of three quarters of the water from the country’s largest reservoirs. Last week, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs unveiled a report showing that the desert west of Phoenix doesn’t have enough groundwater supplies to move forward plans to construct homes in the area.
Scottsdale warned Rio Verde Foothills more than a year ago that the town’s water supply would be cut off as it faced projections of a historic drought and dwindling reservoir levels in the western U.S. Scottsdale said it must focus on water conservation for its own residents and would not continue to sell water to the roughly 500 homes in Rio Verde Foothills.
Earlier this month, hundreds of homes outside of Scottsdale could no longer access water from the city, leaving residents with no reliable source of water.

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Rio Verde Foothills residents said Scottsdale is in a position to accept delivery of water from EPCOR, a water utility company, and treat the water for domestic use at EPCOR’s expense so that residents have water during the 24-to-36-month time period that the company needs to get the necessary approval to do so, according to the lawsuit.

However, Scottsdale has said it would not work with any external companies to provide Rio Verde Foothills residents with water, arguing that it’s not legally obligated to continue providing water service to Rio Verde Foothills since the town lies beyond Scottsdale’s municipal boundaries.
Scottsdale, in a statement issued on Monday, said that Rio Verde Foothills is a separate community governed by Maricopa County and the city’s action does not preclude Rio Verde Foothills residents from purchasing water from other sources.
“Scottsdale has warned and advised that it is not responsible for Rio Verde for many years, especially given the requirements of the City’s mandated drought plan,” the statement read. “The city remains firm in that position, and confident it is on the right side of the law.”

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Developers planning to build homes in the desert west of Phoenix don’t have enough groundwater supplies to move forward with their plans, a state modeling report found. 
Plans to construct homes for people located west of the White Tank Mountains will require alternative sources of water to proceed as the state grapples with a historic megadrought.
Amid a nationwide housing shortage, developers are flooding Arizona with plans to build homes even as drought conditions intensify and water shortages worsen.

home is being built in in Rio Verde Foothills, Arizona, U.S. on January 7, 2023.
The Washington Post | Getty Images

Developers planning to build homes in the desert west of Phoenix don’t have enough groundwater supplies to move forward with their plans, a state modeling report found. 
Plans to construct homes west of the White Tank Mountains will require alternative sources of water to proceed as the state grapples with a historic megadrought and water shortages, according to the report.

Water sources are dwindling across the Western United States and mounting restrictions on the Colorado River are affecting all sectors of the economy, including homebuilding. But amid a nationwide housing shortage, developers are bombarding Arizona with plans to build homes even as water shortages worsen.
The Arizona Department of Water Resources reported that the Lower Hassayampa sub-basin that encompasses the far West Valley of Phoenix is projected to have a total unmet demand of 4.4 million acre-feet of water over a 100-year period. The department therefore can’t move to approve the development of subdivisions solely dependent on groundwater.

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“We must talk about the challenge of our time: Arizona’s decades-long drought, over usage of the Colorado River, and the combined ramifications on our water supply, our forests, and our communities,” Gov. Katie Hobbs said in a statement last week. 
Developers in the Phoenix area are required to get state certificates proving that they have 100 years’ worth of water supplies in the ground over which they’re building before they’re approved to construct any properties. 
The megadrought has generated the driest two decades in the West in at least 1,200 years, and human-caused climate change has helped to fuel the conditions. Arizona has experienced cuts to its Colorado River water allocation and now must curb 21% of its water usage from the river, or roughly 592,000 acre-feet each year, an amount that would supply more than 2 million Arizona households annually. 
Despite warnings that there isn’t enough water to sustain growth in development, some Arizona developers have argued that they can work around diminishing water supplies, saying new homes will have low flow fixtures, drip irrigation, desert landscaping and other drought-friendly measures. More than two dozen housing developments are in the works around Phoenix.

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