Business

Disney shares hit a 52-week low, after James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” fell short of box office expectations over the weekend.
Disney stock is down more than 40% in the past year.
The company is in the midst of restructuring its streaming business after Bob Iger returned as CEO in November.

Avatar: The Way of Water
Courtesy: Disney Co.

Shares of Disney dropped on Monday following a weaker-than-expected opening box office weekend for James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water.”
Disney shares closed down more than 4% at $85.78, after hitting a 52-week low. The company has seen its stock fall more than 40% in the past year.

Industry analysts pegged the long-awaited “Avatar” sequel as a box office winner for Disney and are viewing the holiday season as a make-or-break period for the film.
The film notched $134 million at the domestic box office during its opening weekend, falling short of analyst expectations of $175 million and Disney’s own forecast of between $135 million and $150 million.

Still, box office analysts aren’t concerned yet. Internationally, “Way of Water” raked in $300.5 million, bringing its total opening weekend number to $434.5 million. The original film, released in 2009, made just $77 million during its first weekend but went on to become the highest-grossing film of all time.
In the backdrop, Disney has been facing challenges since the start of the pandemic, when movie theaters and theme parks were shut down for months. The movie theater industry is still crawling back, with the exception of hits like Paramount Global’s “Top Gun: Maverick.” Disney theme-park goers have also been contending with rising prices.
While Disney’s stock had risen during the pandemic when former CEO Bob Chapek helped weather the storm — reaching above $200 per share at one point in 2021 — it has since fallen.

Chapek and Disney have faced scrutiny in recent months, particularly over the company’s performance. During its most recent quarterly earnings report, Disney fell short of profit and key revenue segment expectations, with both its media and parks divisions missing estimates. At the time, Chapek warned Disney’s streaming business may also see tapered growth in the future.
Shortly after, Disney’s board ousted Chapek and reinstalled Bob Iger as CEO of the company. Soon after being reinstated, Iger released some of Chapek’s top lieutenants and said the company would focus on a restructuring of its media division.

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Homebuilder sentiment dropped for the 12th straight month to the lowest level since 2012, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
Regionally, sentiment was strongest in the Northeast and weakest in the West, where prices are highest.
About 62% of builders are using incentives to bolster sales, including providing mortgage rate buy-downs, paying points for buyers and offering price reductions.

A worker walks on the roof of a new home under construction in Carlsbad, California.
Mike Blake | Reuters

Homebuilders were less confident about their business in December, but they are starting to see potential green shoots.
Builder sentiment in the single-family housing market dropped 2 points to 31 in December on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. Anything below 50 is considered negative.

This is the 12th straight month of declines and the lowest reading since mid-2012, with the exception of a very brief drop at the start of the Covid pandemic. The index stood at 84 in December of last year.
“The silver lining in this HMI report is that it is the smallest drop in the index in the past six months, indicating that we are possibly nearing the bottom of the cycle for builder sentiment,” said the NAHB’s chief economist, Robert Dietz. “Mortgage rates are down from above 7% in recent weeks to about 6.3% today, and for the first time since April, builders registered an increase in future sales expectations.”

Of the index’s three components, current sales conditions fell 3 points to 36, buyer traffic was unchanged at 20, but sales expectations in the next six months increased 4 points to 35.
Regionally, sentiment was strongest in the Northeast and weakest in the West, where prices are highest.
The NAHB continues to blame high mortgage rates, which despite the recent drop are still about twice what they were a year ago. That has caused affordability to plummet.

“In this high inflation, high mortgage rate environment, builders are struggling to keep housing affordable for home buyers,” said NAHB Chairman Jerry Konter, a builder and developer from Savannah, Georgia. “Our latest survey shows 62% of builders are using incentives to bolster sales, including providing mortgage rate buy-downs, paying points for buyers and offering price reductions.”
But Konter noted that with construction costs up more than 30% since the beginning of this year, builders are still having a hard time cutting prices. Roughly 35% of builders reduced homes prices in December, down from 36% in November. The average price reduction was 8%, up from 5% to 6% earlier in the year.
“NAHB is expecting weaker housing conditions to persist in 2023, and we forecast a recovery coming in 2024, given the existing nationwide housing deficit of 1.5 million units and future, lower mortgage rates anticipated with the Fed easing monetary policy in 2024,” said Dietz.

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THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES sits on a rich fossil bounty. ADNOC, the national oil company, is one of the world’s top hydrocarbon producers. Two months ago the uae hosted some 140,000 delegates at the planet’s largest oil-and-gas jamboree. Against the backdrop of the worst energy crisis in decades, you might have expected much gloating about how the Persian Gulf’s carbon-spewing exports helped avert a bigger shock. That made the keynote address by Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE’s minister of industry, all the more remarkable. Mr Al Jaber repeatedly highlighted the importance of greening this brownest of industries. “ADNOC is making today’s energy cleaner while investing in the clean energies of tomorrow,” he intoned. In the past the grandees of the Gulf’s energy industry limited themselves to defending fossil fuels. Now many, like Mr Al Jaber, profess a commitment to decarbonisation. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have announced targets of net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2060. The UAE and Oman say they will get there by 2050. Qatar has no net-zero target, but says it will cut emissions by a quarter by 2030 relative to a scenario that assumes business as usual. All the Gulf countries have signed the Global Methane Pledge, which commits them to reduce emissions of that potent greenhouse gas. The UAE will even host the annual UN climate summit in 2023. Some suspect this is greenwash: all soothing noises and toothless targets after years of denying climate science and obstructing efforts to tackle global warming. On this view, the Gulf’s governments are too reliant on the revenues generated by the national energy firms—which account for a big share of state budgets—to be serious about decarbonisation. Yet an examination of the leading companies’ investment plans reveals a genuine—and in some cases rather large—bet on green technologies. This is worth scrutinising, because the firms behind the effort matter beyond their region. National energy companies in other parts of the world look to the Gulf behemoths, and especially to ADNOC and Saudi Aramco, the Arab kingdom’s oil colossus, as examples to emulate. Where two of the world’s biggest energy firms go technologically and strategically, their state-run peers elsewhere often follow.The Gulf oil champions’ approach rests on two pillars. The first is deep brown: it involves doubling down on oil and gas. Bolstered by high crude prices, the region’s energy firms are investing heavily to expand output. Aramco’s capital expenditure in 2022 will come to $40bn-50bn. It is promising even bigger sums in the next few years, as it aims to lift its oil-production capacity from roughly 12m barrels per day (b/d) to 13m by 2027. ADNOC will spend $150bn on capital projects by 2027 with the goal of boosting capacity from roughly 4m to 5m b/d. Qatar Energy will plough $80bn between 2021 and 2025 into expanding production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by two-thirds by 2027. For most energy firms, doubling down on fossil fuels during the transition to a carbon-constrained world would be financial folly. Every national oil company in the world “wants to be the last one standing”, observes Patrick Heller of the Natural Resource Governance Institute, an American NGO. Naturally, “not all of them can be.” The Gulf giants, with their vast, low-cost reserves, are the likeliest to prevail. As such, their huge investments in new production could pay off, Mr Heller thinks, “even if global demand declines dramatically in the years to come”.Oilmen betting on oil is nothing new. But the Gulf giants’ latest wagers suggest they no longer have their heads in the sand about the future of oil demand. They are keenly aware that their best customers in the developed world are going to crack down on carbon emissions, argues Mariam Al-Shamma of S&P Global, a research firm. Policies like the EU’s carbon border tax, the details of which EU member states approved on December 18th, are a sign of things to come. “To be the last producer standing, you need more than just the lowest cost,” she says. To help ensure their longevity, the Gulf’s oil champions also intend to be the cleanest producers of fossil fuels. They enjoy a natural advantage. Their hydrocarbon reserves are among the least carbon-intensive to extract (see chart). The Emiratis and the Saudis have also made an effort to reduce this carbon intensity further with high operational efficiency and low gas flaring, notes Olga Savenkova of Rystad Energy, a research firm. ADNOC is spending $3.6bn on subsea power cables and other kit to replace natural gas burned at its offshore facilities with clean energy from shore. This is both green and, potentially, good business: Ms Al-Shamma reckons that grades of crude made with fewer emissions will fetch a premium in future, a trend already seen in the LNG market.The second pillar of the Gulf’s strategy is more intriguing. It involves investing part of today’s fossil windfall in the clean-energy technologies of tomorrow. The region’s governments are making some of the world’s biggest bets on carbon capture and storage, renewables and hydrogen. “A wave of low-carbon projects is building in the Middle East,” marvels one analyst.“Saudi Arabia holds major advantages in decarbonisation,” says Jim Krane of Rice University in Texas. He points to vast tracts of empty, sunny land with a geology tailor-made for storing carbon emitted in adjacent industrial areas. Aramco plans to develop capacity to capture, store and utilise 11m tonnes of carbon dioxide a year and install 12 gigawatts (GW) of wind and solar power by 2035. Overall, Saudi Arabia aims to build 54GW of renewable capacity by 2032. Not to be outdone, the UAE is eyeing 100GW of renewable-energy capacity by 2030, at home and abroad, up from investments in 15GW-worth in 2021. That would make Masdar, a state-controlled clean-energy outfit in which ADNOC has a stake, the world’s second-biggest developer of clean energy. It recently bought a British firm developing energy-storage technology. The Gulf’s biggest green bets concern hydrogen. If made using renewables as opposed to natural gas, hydrogen is a clean fuel. Investments in the needed infrastructure are proliferating the world over, from Gujarat to Texas. In 2021 the UAE inaugurated its region’s first such “green hydrogen” plant. ACWA Power, a Saudi utility, has almost completed financing for a $5bn green-hydrogen project. Oman, whose oil reserves are smaller and costlier to exploit than those of its bigger neighbours, is talking of a $30bn investment in what could be the world’s largest hydrogen plant. It has launched a state-owned hydrogen entity to offer green-hydrogen projects concessions in its special economic zones.The Saudis and Emiratis are also looking abroad. Masdar is investing in a $10bn hydrogen venture in Egypt; developing 4GW of green-hydrogen and renewables projects in Azerbaijan; and has invested in a firm developing green hydrogen in northern England. ACWA Power is eyeing multibillion-dollar green-hydrogen projects in Egypt, South Africa and Thailand. By 2030 both the UAE and Saudi Arabia want to control a quarter or more of the global export market for clean hydrogen.Ben Cahill of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a think-tank, sees the two countries moving aggressively on hydrogen and ammonia (which can serve as a less fiddly medium to transport the gas). They want to acquire first-mover advantage by securing deals with buyers from Asia and Europe. Qatar is spending over $1bn on a plant to make “blue ammonia” from natural gas. It is scheduled to open in 2026. If the hydrogen economy takes off, estimates Roland Berger, a consultancy, it could produce between $120bn and $200bn in annual revenues for Gulf countries by 2050. That is far less than they now make from oil and gas; Aramco alone had sales of over $300bn in the first half of 2022. But it is serious money—and, given the real risk of an end to the oil bonanza, suggests the Gulf’s green efforts ought to be taken seriously. ■ More

Millionaire Survey

American millionaires are trimming their holiday spending and becoming more budget-conscious as a result of inflation.
Millennial millionaires are the most likely to cut back, with 100% saying they plan to spend less.
Millionaires are split when it comes to inflation-driven changes in their investment portfolio.

American millionaires are trimming their holiday spending and becoming more budget-conscious as a result of inflation, a sign that spending cuts are now rising up the wealth ladder, according to a CNBC survey.
The CNBC Millionaire Survey found 80% of millionaire respondents — those with investible assets of $1 million or more — say they plan to spend less this holiday season due to inflation. Millennial millionaires are the most likely to cut back, with 100% saying they plan to spend less, compared with 78% of baby boomers.

When asked about how they’re responding to inflation, a majority of millionaires (52%) said they are “more price conscious” when shopping and a third said they are dining out at restaurants less often.
“They’re becoming more cautious about how they’re spending their money,” said George Walper, president of Spectrem Group, which conducts the Millionaire Survey with CNBC.
Walmart Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said in November that nearly three-quarters of the company’s gain in grocery market share during the quarter ended Oct. 31 came from shoppers with incomes of more than $100,000, suggesting even affluent shoppers are looking for the lowest prices.
Retailers that cater to a wealthier clientele — like Lululemon and RH — have also recently lowered their guidance or sales expectations, providing early hints of weakness at the top.
While inflation has impacted their spending, millionaires are split when it comes to inflation-driven changes in their investment portfolio. When asked about making changes to their portfolio due to inflation, 29% reported they have made changes, while another 11% said they are planning to make changes. Nearly a third (30%) said they “might or might not” make changes, and 31% said they are not planning any changes.

Walper said that while millionaire investors are keenly aware of the impact of higher rates on their investments and the need to shift their portfolios, they’re uncertain about what exact actions to take.
“They’re not sure where they should make changes,” he said. “People don’t want to try to market time.”
Millionaires also expect inflation to remain high well into 2023. When asked how long they expect the current rate of inflation, about 7% year over year, to continue, most respondents said at least a year, with 12% saying between two and five years.
Still, millionaires generally have faith in the Federal Reserve’s ability to bring down inflation. Most respondents (58%) said they are confident or “very confident” in the Fed’s ability to manage the increasing rate of inflation. Only 37% said they are “not at all confident.”
Yet belief in the Fed varies widely by age and political party: A majority of millennial millionaires (55%) are “very confident” in the Fed, compared with only 5% of baby boomers. The disparity, Walper said, may be due to baby boomers’ recollection of the 1970s, when the Federal Reserve struggled for years to bring runaway inflation under control.
“Millennials just haven’t experienced this kind of inflation or these levels of interest rates before,” he said.
Democrats are also more assured by the Fed. More than 80% of Democratic millionaires said they are “confident” or “very confident” in the central bank, while 56% of Republican millionaires said they are “not at all confident.”
The CNBC Millionaire Survey was conducted online in November. A total of 761 respondents, representing financial decision-makers in their households, qualified for the survey. The survey is conducted twice a year, in the spring and in the fall. More

A $58,808,000 mansion overlooking the Pacific Ocean is one of the largest homes for sale in Malibu. 
The modern glass-and-concrete architecture is built around an open-air courtyard with lush palms and a koi pond.
The six-bedroom, 10-bath home is being marketed in the midst of some very challenging headwinds.

This $58,808,000 mansion overlooking the Pacific Ocean is one of the largest homes for sale in Malibu. 
At 16,600 square feet, it’s the grandest single-structure residence in town and a whopping 4,100 square feet bigger than the next-largest home on the market.

The Bali-inspired residence at 11870 Ellice Street, named the Kaizen House after a Japanese term meaning “continuous improvement,” is perched above the Pacific Coast Highway at County Line Beach. The modern glass-and-concrete architecture is built around an open-air courtyard with lush palms and a koi pond.

Aerial view of the home’s open-air courtyard and koi pond.
Simon Berlyn

While the newly developed residence on Ellice Street has a Malibu address and postal code, it’s located 2 miles outside of the city of Malibu, where four residences on the PCH have sold for $100 million or more —including the record-breaking compound purchased by billionaire Marc Andreessen in 2021 for $177 million.
Ellice Street is located in Ventura Country, less than a mile west of Los Angeles County. Here, sales north of $15 million are few and far between.
And yet, the street that spans under a half-mile has seen five smaller mansions, each one older than the Kaizen House, sell for between $15 million and $24.7 million. The hot neighborhood’s top sale closed in October commanding just over $2,500 per square foot, according to public records, way above average for Malibu.

The Kaizen House spans two levels and 20,000 sq ft with a 95-foot infinity pool in the backyard.
Simon Berlyn

At the current asking price, the newest listing is more than 10 times pricier than the $5.8 million average sales price achieved in Malibu during the third quarter. The average price per square foot hovered just under $1,400, according to the Elliman Report compiled by Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants.

Public records show developer-owner Kris Halliday of MKH Developments purchased the one-acre lot at 11870 Ellice Street back in 2018 for $5.4 million.
After completing the Kaizen House, he listed it in March for $74.8 million — or more than $4,500 a square foot. There were no takers at the initial ask, and over the following eight months it saw three price reductions that took the asking price down by more than 21%.

The mansion at 11870 Ellice St sits above the Pacific Coast Hwy in Malibu overlooking the ocean.
Simon Berlyn

Last month, the ask settled just under $59 million, or about $3,500 a square foot. That price tag would still be an all-time high for the section of Malibu that sits in Ventura County.
“We brought it down from $75 million to $58 million, so right now this is looking like a really good deal,” said co-listing agent Branden Williams, co-founder of The Beverly Hills Estates.

Glass walls on the home’s lower level open to the sun deck and swimming pool.
Simon Berlyn

The six-bedroom, 10-bath home is being marketed in the midst of some very challenging headwinds: rising mortgage rates, skyrocketing inflation and the potential for recession. Still, Williams told CNBC he remains confident.
“Is it challenging? Of course, will this house sell? Yes,” he said.
What’s more, Williams said the house can command a premium in light of its sheer size, the high-end materials inside, and the fact that it’s new construction, which is rare in Malibu.

Here’s a look around the $58.8 million Kaizen House:

The home’s dramatic entrance delivers fire, water, and intricately carved Belgian bluestone walls
Simon Berlyn

Halliday infused the mansion with Indonesian influences that are evident even before stepping inside. 
A glass entryway is flanked by a pair of carved stone statues and two fire features that appear to dance on water. The large glass-paneled doorway is framed by walls covered in Belgian blue stone intricately carved in Asia, listing agent Williams said.
The stone artwork is a design element that’s repeated in other areas throughout the home. Williams calls the architecture “Zen modern tropical.”

The upper half of the foyer’s 25-foot walls are clad in onyx imported from Asia.

The double-height foyer is drenched in sunlight that streams though a 30-foot-wide sky light.
The lower portion of the foyer’s 25-foot walls is covered in fluted oak, while the upper half is wrapped in an eye-catching dragon onyx from Asia, Williams said. 

A stone path leads into the open-air courtyard and across the koi pond.
Simon Berlyn

Passed the foyer is the home’s tropical-themed courtyard, where lush greens are punctuated by red flowering plants and glass lamps that double as heaters.

Water cascades down the courtyard’s intricately carved Belgian bluestone wall into the koi pond.

The main wall in the central garden is clad in more of the intricately carved blue rock. Water cascades down the stone’s surface and trickles into the pond, filling the space with the soothing echo of a running stream.

Dining room
Simon Berlyn

The 14-guest dining room table is centered between a living wall of leafy green vegetation on one side and a 2,000-plus-gallon aquarium on the other. The saltwater tank offers a watery window into a vibrantly colored living area on the other side.

The brightly-colored living area has a trifecta of water views including the 2,000 gallon aquarium, infinity pool and Pacific Ocean.
Simon Berlyn

At the press of a button, most of the home’s glass walls spring into motion and open to the outdoors.
The automated luxury opens the dining room, kitchen and two first-floor living areas to an impressive pool deck.
The 95-foot infinity pool in the backyard features a 12-person hot tub, partially submerged sun loungers and underwater stools that offer a refreshing spot from which to access the poolside bar.

The swimming pool includes a sun lounging area and sunken conversation pit with fire feature.
Simon Berlyn

The main kitchen features two islands entirely wrapped in a distinctive green bamboo onyx.

Main kitchen
Simon Berlyn

Hidden behind the kitchen’s fluted-oak cabinetry is a second full kitchen for the private chef. And like most of the stone featured in the residence, the stone-clad islands have lights embedded inside which ignite the onyx with a luminous glow after dark.  

The the home cinema features a state-of-the-art Dolby Atmos sound system, carpeting imported from New Zealand and more illuminated stone.
Simon Berlyn

Primary suite
Simon Berlyn

The home’s upper level includes six ensuite bedrooms, each with its own terrace.
In the primary suite voice-controlled glass walls can be commanded to slide away for access to a private terrace that overlooks the ocean. 

Primary suite bath.
Simon Berlyn

The suite includes a stone-covered bath and a pair of walk-in closets, which also feature impressive views of the Pacific.

The primary suite’s walk-in closets include a floor-to-ceiling window with impressive views of the ocean.
Simon Berlyn

Along with Williams, the listing is represented by agents Rayni Williams and Tony Barsocchini of The Beverly Hills Estates and Kurt Rappaport of the Westside Agency.

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In addition to being a time for celebration, the year-end holidays are a good time to reevaluate your finances in partnership with your financial advisor.
Asking these five key questions about your money management and your advisor relationship could get you in financial shape for 2023 and beyond.
Top considerations are advisor strategy and services, tax planning opportunities, effectiveness of current investment approach and the possibility of tweaks and changes.

Delpixart | Istock | Getty Images

The end of the year is a time to give thanks and celebrate the holidays with our families. It’s also an opportunity to reevaluate the previous 12 months and ask your financial advisor some very productive questions.

1. What’s your investment decision process?

We often judge the merits of a decision by the outcome, when the process could be more important. If you were to outperform the market by throwing darts, that would be driven more by luck than skill and would not be repeatable over an extended period.

Instead, you should be just as interested in what method your advisor uses to build a portfolio as you are in the result. Do they use macroeconomic indicators to select asset classes or review the balance sheets of companies in search of a certain metric?
More from Personal Finance:Why ‘early filers’ should wait to submit tax returns in 2023Here’s what another rate hike from the Fed means for you5 moves to make now to ensure financial success in 2023
Many investors lost significant capital in both 2001 and 2008 because their advisor lacked a repeatable process to make investment decisions in different economic conditions.

2. Should we do anything to mitigate my tax exposure?

There are several options to reduce your taxes that you may have overlooked, including contributing to a retirement account, depreciating rental property or harvesting tax losses. Ask your advisor to review the holdings and transactions throughout the year to determine if it makes sense to capture capital gains and match it against a loss.
To the extent that you have an opportunity to increase deductions next year, now would be a good time to schedule some tax planning for 2023 when there’s finally a lull in the action.

3. What am I paying for that I’m not utilizing?

Sometimes I must remind clients that I can help them with other areas of their life because they’re so focused on the investments. A financial planner does more than invest your hard-earned money; we also provide estate, long-term care and education planning. Take advantage of all the services your advisor offers and maximize the relationship.

4. Am I on track to meet my goals?

When we experience a declining market, it’s natural to review how much you’ve lost, but it may prove more worthwhile to know how it has impacted your ability to meet established goals. This will put the year into perspective, allow you to focus on a long-term vision and hopefully prevent a knee-jerk reaction that may undo years of hard work and planning.

5. Should we do anything different?

Your goals evolve over time, and that should change how an advisor manages your affairs. Did you have a life-changing event, find a new passion or experience a health event that requires a different approach?
There are times when clients choose to work longer in a lower-paying career that they find more rewarding. To the extent that you suffered losses in a retirement account, you’ll want to find out how that impacts your ability to retire while you still have time to adjust.

Define what you want your life to look like and enlist your team of advisors to help you get there.
This is the perfect time to identify how your advisor intends to respond to an economy with a higher cost of capital, higher cost of living and historically low liquidity, all of which reduces the odds of an immediate market rebound.
Your financial advisor drives the bus, but it’s still your bus. Make sure you tell them where you’re trying to go.
— By Ivory Johnson, certified financial planner and founder of Delancey Wealth Management, LLC

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Monthly drug overdose deaths nearly tripled among adolescents from 2019 through the end of 2021, according to the CDC.
Fentanyl was involved in 84% of the deaths while opioids of any type were involved in 91%.
There was evidence that 25% of adolescent overdose deaths may have involved counterfeit pills.

The Faces of Fentanyl gallery of photos of fentanyl victims are seen at the DEA Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, Thursday, December 8, 2022.
Salwan Georges | The Washington Post | Getty Images

Drug overdose deaths among adolescents surged during the Covid-19 pandemic, driven overwhelmingly by illicit fentanyl, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Monthly drug overdose deaths nearly tripled among adolescents ages 10 to 19 during the first two years of the pandemic. Deaths rose from 31 in July 2019 to a peak of 87 in May 2021 and then fell to 51 in December 2021.

“Although deaths appear to have begun declining in late 2021, they are still alarmingly higher than in 2019,” the authors wrote in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which published Thursday.
More than 2,200 adolescents overdosed during the 2½ year period, 96% of whom were teenagers ages 15 to 19. Fentanyl was involved in 84% of the deaths while opioids of any type were involved in 91%.
Fentanyl deaths among adolescents nearly quadrupled from 21 in July 2019 to a peak of 78 in May 2021 and then declined to 44 in December 2021.
About 70% of the victims were boys and 30% were girls. Some 60% of those who died were white, 21% were Hispanic and 13% were Black.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that’s up to 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. It’s used as a prescription drug in the U.S. to treat people suffering from severe pain after surgery. But illegally manufactured fentanyl, often consumed as a pill, has become an increasingly common cause of overdose deaths.

There was evidence that 25% of adolescent overdose deaths may have involved counterfeit pills that often resemble OxyContin or Xanax but frequently include fentanyl as well. This is likely an underestimate because pills present at the scenes weren’t always tested, according to the study.
“Whether adolescents intended to take legitimate pharmaceutical medications or were aware pills were counterfeit is unclear,” the authors wrote.
About 41% of those who overdosed had a previous history mental health issues. Some 24% had mental health treatment before, 19% were diagnosed with depression, and 15% had a prior history of suicidal or self-harm behavior.
The authors of the CDC study said its crucial to educate teenagers on the dangers of fentanyl and to expand access to naloxone, a drug that can reverse an overdose. Teens should also be educated about the potential presence of illicit fentanyl in pills that may resemble prescription drugs.
If you are having suicidal thoughts or are in distress, contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for support and assistance from a trained counselor.

CNBC Health & Science

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Sustainable Energy

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Global coal use is slated to increase by 1.2% to hit a record high this year, according to a report from the International Energy Agency.
The price of fossil fuels has seen a substantial jump this year, the IEA says, “with natural gas showing the sharpest increase.”
“This has prompted a wave of fuel switching away from gas, pushing up demand for more price competitive options, including coal in some regions,” it adds.

Workers photographed on top of a train loaded with coal in China. Global use of coal is projected to increase by 1.2% this year and hit a record high, according to the International Energy Agency.
VCG | Visual China Group | Getty Images

Global coal use is on course to increase by 1.2% to hit a record high this year, according to a report from the International Energy Agency.
It comes at a time of significant volatility and uncertainty in global energy markets, with the IEA stating that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2022 had “sharply altered the dynamics of coal trade, price levels, and supply and demand patterns in 2022.”

“Coal markets have been shaken severely in 2022, with traditional trade flows disrupted, prices soaring and demand set to grow by 1.2%, reaching an all-time high and surpassing 8 billion metric tons for the first time,” the IEA said in its Coal 2022 report, published Dec. 16.
The price of fossil fuels saw a substantial jump this year, the agency said, “with natural gas showing the sharpest increase.”
“This has prompted a wave of fuel switching away from gas, pushing up demand for more price competitive options, including coal in some regions,” it added.

Read more about energy from CNBC Pro

Despite the increase in coal demand, the picture is a complex one. The IEA noted that “higher coal prices, strong deployment of renewables and energy efficiency, and weakening global economic growth are tempering the increase in overall coal demand this year.”
It said that coal use in electricity generation was set to rise by a little over 2% this year. Coal usage in industry is actually slated to fall by more than 1%, with this decline attributed to lower steel and iron production.

“The world is close to a peak in fossil fuel use, with coal set to be the first to decline, but we are not there yet,” IEA Director of Energy Markets and Security Keisuke Sadamori said in a statement. “Coal demand is stubborn and will likely reach an all-time high this year, pushing up global emissions.”
“At the same time, there are many signs that today’s crisis is accelerating the deployment of renewables, energy efficiency and heat pumps — and this will moderate coal demand in the coming years,” he added.
Government policies would be “key to ensuring a secure and sustainable path forward,” he said.

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Coal use has a substantial impact on the environment, with environmental organization Greenpeace describing it as “the dirtiest, most polluting way of producing energy.”
The U.S. Energy Information Administration, meanwhile, lists a range of emissions from coal combustion, including carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulates and nitrogen oxides.
The debate around coal and its continued use remains charged. Just this month, plans for a deep coal mine in the northwest of England were given the green light by the U.K. government, in a decision that earned both endorsement and criticism.
Uncertainty ahead
The IEA report painted a picture of uncertainty moving forward.
It forecast global coal demand plateauing near the 2022 level of 8 billion metric tons through 2025, but noted that “given the current energy crisis with all its uncertainties, a lurch into growth or contraction is possible.”
Russia was the biggest supplier of natural gas and petroleum oils to the European Union in 2021, according to Eurostat. EU-bound exports of Russian gas have slid this year, prompting major European economies to make efforts to shore up supplies for the colder months. More