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CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday said that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s inflation remarks the day before confirmed that inventors shouldn’t exit the market over recession fears.
Nevertheless, reading the “Fed tea leaves” will continue to be critical for determining which areas of the economy will be crushed by the central bank’s tightening, according to Cramer.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday said Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s inflation remarks the day before confirmed that inventors shouldn’t exit the market over recession fears.
“Unless the super hawkish Fed heads who want to raise short rates to 5% to 7% are silenced, we must be ready with a quarter of one foot out the door,” he said, later adding, “Yesterday, Powell … muzzled the hard-liners. To me, that’s a green light to stay in stocks.”

Powell said on Wednesday that the central bank could start slowing down its pace of interest rate hikes as soon as December, sparking a rally that fizzled out on Thursday ahead of a key labor report.
Nevertheless, reading the “Fed tea leaves” will continue to be critical for determining which areas of the economy will be crushed by the central bank’s tightening and which will remain intact, according to Cramer.
He called on Powell to crush speculative stocks that became inflated during the height of the pandemic and to discourage investing in crypto. 
“It is touch and go until we get some indication as to whether he’ll be willing to declare victory after he crushes speculation, hoarding, profiteering and inefficiency without ruining the rest of the economy,” Cramer said.

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“The vaccination of elderly has not been well performed and the vaccine they have has been not a particularly effective vaccine,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told The Washington Post.
Fauci criticized China’s Covid lockdowns as “draconian.”
Rare protests broke out across the country over the weekend against Covid lockdowns and strict quarantine procedures.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies hearing to discuss President Biden’s fiscal year 2023 budget request for the National Institute of Health on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 17, 2022.
Anna Rose Layden | Pool | Reuters

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the U.S., criticized China’s Covid lockdowns as “draconian” and said the Beijing government should focus on vaccinating the elderly.
“The vaccination of the elderly has not been well performed and the vaccine they have has been not a particularly effective vaccine,” Fauci told The Washington Post in an interview on Thursday, as he prepares to step down as director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases later this month.

Fauci said lockdowns are only justifiable as a temporary measure to serve a larger public health goal that will make society safer when it reopens. But China’s strict Covid controls don’t seem to have any endgame, he said.
“If there was any advice, it’s pretty simple and it’s not just coming from me — it’s coming from any number of people involved in this outbreak: Do whatever you can to get your people vaccinated and boosted with a highly effective vaccine,” said Fauci, who has decades of experience in responding to infectious diseases, from the HIV pandemic to the emergence of Ebola.

Rare protests broke out across China over the weekend against Covid lockdowns and strict quarantine procedures. While most of the world is relying on vaccines to prevent severe disease so that society can return to normal despite ongoing circulation of the virus, China has enforced a zero Covid policy that aims to crush outbreaks.
China uses a domestically developed vaccine called CoronaVac manufactured by Sinovac. The shots contain killed virus that induce an immune response. Beijing has not approved Pfizer’s and Moderna’s messenger RNA vaccines.
“The efficacy of the China-made vaccines are not at the level of the vaccines that have been used in the United States, particularly the mRNA vaccines of Moderna and Pfizer,” Fauci said.

A person walks past a poster encouraging elderly people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), near a residential compound in Beijing, China March 30, 2022. Picture taken March 30, 2022. 
Tingshu Wang | Reuters

Data on Sinovac-CoronaVac’s effectiveness against the omicron variant is limited, according to the World Health Organization. Omicron has evolved into increasingly immune-evasive subvariants that have eroded the effectiveness of all the Covid vaccines.
Hong Kong scientists, in a study published in Lancet Infectious Diseases, found that two doses of CoronaVac were about 58% effective at preventing severe disease or death in people ages 80 and older during an omicron BA.2 wave from December 2021 through March 2022. Two doses of Pfizer’s vaccine were 87% effective at preventing severe disease or death in this age group, according to the study.
People ages 80 and older who received three doses of CoronaVac had 97% protection against severe disease and death. This was equivalent to the 97% protection provided by three doses of Pfizer, according to the study.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in a September report, said vaccination rates for older adults are lower in China than other nations because the elderly are skeptical of the country’s domestically developed vaccine.
The clinical trials for China’s vaccine did not enroll enough adults age 60 and over so there’s insufficient data on its safety and effectiveness in this age group, according to the report.
The vaccination campaign in China began with people in essential positions, followed by adults ages 18 to 59, and only later opened up to older adults.
Chinese officials on Tuesday said about 66% of adults over age 80 have received a booster shot, up from 40% as of Nov. 11.

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VICI Properties has agreed to buy Blackstone’s stake in MGM Grand Las Vegas and Mandalay Bay. VICI was already the largest property owner on the Las Vegas Strip.
The deal values the two properties at $5.5 billion.
Both buyer and seller say they’re bullish on the prospects in Las Vegas.

The largest property owner on the Las Vegas Strip is doubling down and taking full ownership of the MGM Grand Las Vegas and Mandalay Bay, which the deal values at $5.5 billion.
VICI Properties, a real estate investment trust based in New York, has agreed to buy Blackstone’s 49.9% stake in the two Las Vegas casino resorts. VICI currently owns a 50.1% stake in the property, which it acquired when it bought MGM Growth properties in May.

The transaction is expected to close in early 2023.
Appearing on CNBC’s Power Lunch, VICI Properties CEO Ed Pitoniak said Blackstone approached him just a couple weeks ago, and that the deal came together quickly.
“We were very excited about the opportunity. Obviously it simplifies our structure, but it gives us total ownership of two of the most iconic assets on the Las Vegas strip the MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay,” Pitoniak said.
Blackstone Real Estate Investment Trust, known as BREIT, said Thursday that it decided to limit withdrawals after it saw redemptions in October that exceed their monthly limits. Blackstone shares dropped almost 10% on the news.
But what was a problem for Blackstone may be a piece of good luck for VICI.

“We like the deal as it simplifies VICI’s structure and highlights VICI’s multiple paths for growth despite the company’s larger base and a rising interest rate environment,” Truist analyst Barry Jonas wrote in a client note.
Gaming REITS such as VICI own the buildings and the land of casinos and resorts. Gambling companies, such as Caesars and MGM Resorts − both tenants of VICI − own the operations.
MGM Grand Las Vegas and Mandalay Bay, located on the south end of the Strip, include more than 11,000 hotel rooms, 321,000 square feet of gaming floor, and 3 million square feet of meeting facilities.
VICI is putting in more than a $1 billion in cash, and assuming more than $3 billion of Blackstone debt at a 3.56% rate through 2032. Pitoniak called that a good deal at a time when VICI might have expected to pay 6%.
VICI’s CEO says he’s bullish on Las Vegas’s continued growth, pointing to a packed convention and entertainment calendar next year, and attention-getting sports events including F1 in November 2023.
Despite the sale, Blackstone COO Jay Gray said Las Vegas continues to be a high conviction market for Blackstone, which also owns the physical property of the Cosmopolitan and Bellagio.
Many analysts and investors are also bullish on the opportunities for growth in Las Vegas.
October marked the 20th straight month of $1 billion or more in state gaming revenue, according to figures released by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
Strip casinos are seeing a 20% surge in revenue through October to $6.8 billion in gaming revenue from a year ago.
Las Vegas is also attracting a record number of visitors. Harry Reid International saw more than 5 million passengers for the first time ever in October.
“It’s further evidence that Las Vegas remains amongst the most in-demand destinations in the world,” said Rosemary Vassiliadis, Clark County’s director of aviation.
And hotel revenue in Las Vegas was up 51% in October compared with October 2019, before the pandemic, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
Deutsche Bank, which has a “buy” rating on the stock, raised its price target to $38 following news of the transaction.

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Conservative social media company Parler said Thursday its deal to be bought by Ye has been called off.
The rapper, formerly known as Kanye West, agreed to buy the app in October for an undisclosed amount.
Ye has made repeated and public antisemitic comments in recent months, and several business partnerships involving the musician have been terminated.

This illustration photo shows the Parler social network app logo on a cell phone screen with a picture of US rapper Kanye West in the background in Los Angeles, October 17, 2022.
Chris Delmas | AFP | Getty Images

Conservative social media company Parler said Thursday its deal to be bought by Ye has been called off.
The rapper, formerly known as Kanye West, agreed to buy the app in October for an undisclosed amount. Ye has made repeated and public antisemitic comments in recent months, and several business partnerships involving the musician have been terminated.

“The company has mutually agreed with Ye to terminate the intent of sale of Parler,” the app’s parent company said in a statement to CNBC. “This decision was made in the interest of both parties in mid-November. Parler will continue to pursue future opportunities for growth and the evolution of the platform for our vibrant community.”
Parler has attempted to position itself as a right-wing alternative to Twitter, which suspended Ye’s account shortly before he announced his intent to buy Parler.
“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial, we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” Ye said at the time in a statement released by Parler.
Ye’s Twitter account has since been restored, and he’s continued to spread hateful comments toward Jewish people. Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, has emphasized the platform’s commitment to free speech.
Earlier this fall, retailers Gap and Adidas ended their dealings with Ye and his Yeezy clothing line. Ye expressed discontent with the partnerships, saying he wasn’t granted enough creative control over his fashion line.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
— CNBC’s Ryan Browne contributed to this report.

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Google’s Waze has roughly 140 million active users.
But since Covid the crowdsourced navigation app has become more in use for errand runs and travel than for commuting.
It’s also become more integrated with other popular driving experience apps, such as Spotify.

Waze app with icon showing police
Source: Waze

In this weekly series, CNBC takes a look at companies that made the inaugural Disruptor 50 list, 10 years later.
Nobody enjoys sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic jams, getting an arrival time delayed due to street construction and gaining more road rage by the minute as a result. Waze, the crowdsourcing navigation app, is continuing to find ways to make frustrating road bumps a little more bearable.

Waze users – also known as “Wazers” – provide information on things like stopped cars, road work, gas prices and police activity during their commutes. The app then collects this real-time data and updates its maps accordingly, giving users the most up-to-date information on travel times and other potential traffic burdens. What was once a small Israeli startup now has more than 140 million monthly users worldwide.
In 2013 – shortly after the app made the inaugural CNBC Disruptor 50 list – Alphabet’s Google acquired Waze, reportedly for more than $1 billion. The addition of Waze to the Google portfolio was expected to help Google improve features on its own navigation app, Google Maps. Google Maps is still the most popular navigation app today and relies more heavily on historical data to map out the best path to one’s destination. On the other hand, Waze’s unique crowdsourcing technique allows it to determine the fastest route with the most recent information, and it’s only available for car and motorbike use.
The app’s innovation has had led to backlash in the past, for potentially distracting drivers, who must use their phones behind the wheel to make reports on Waze. In 2018, it faced threats of legal action by Los Angeles lawmakers for suggesting shortcuts that ended up causing more congestion on side roads not prepared to handle high amounts of traffic. Uri Levine, co-founder and former Waze president, said at the time that he disagreed with the complaints.
“All roads are the public domain and therefore the right of everyone to use,” Levine said. “In that sense, Waze redistributes traffic to create a better traffic situation for everyone.”
The company also struggled at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. With a decrease in individuals traveling, Waze reported in April 2020 that its users across the globe were driving 60% fewer miles compared to two months prior, with driving in Italy – one of the first countries to see the impacts of Covid-19 – dropping more than 90%. As a result, Waze laid off 5% of its global workforce in September 2020 and permanently closed offices in the Asia-Pacific and Latin America regions.

The company also shutdown Waze Carpool in September, a service connecting Wazers with similar commutes to carpool. The six-year-old service was intended to help Wazers cut down on gas costs while creating less traffic congestion during busiest travel times each day, but the pandemic caused too many changes in work driving patterns to be a priority, with errand trips and travel now the dominant uses for Waze.
Despite these challenges, innovations within the app have kept Waze users consistently coming back to the platform. It’s one of the top navigation choices among Uber and Lyft drivers. Drivers using Waze can be entertained as they’re directed to their desired location through voices from celebrities like DJ Khaled, Arnold Schwarzenegger and T-Pain. Partnerships with popular music streaming services such as Spotify, Pandora and iHeartRadio allow Waze users to stream music directly through the Waze app as they navigate to their destination.
Waze also flaunts its ability to do more for the greater good. The app was used by FEMA during Hurricane Sandy to provide information on available fuel locations in the midst of gas shortages; it helped provide accurate information on Covid-19 testing centers at the beginning of the pandemic.
Local governments are also able to partner with Waze through a program called Waze for Cities, which establishes two-way data sharing through the app and government partners that helps communities with city planning and Waze with more accurate traffic monitoring.
New top officials have joined the company relatively recently, with Neha Parikh taking on the role of CEO in June 2021 and CMO Harris Beber joining in April 2022. Beber previously served as CEO at Vimeo, while Parikh was the president of Expedia-owned Hotwire and currently sits on the board of Carvana.
“Why should anybody feel emotional about a navigation app? Yet people do, including me,” Parikh said at the Skift Global Forum in October. “It’s not just a one-way app that uses technology. It is a two-way ecosystem where people actually contribute to help each other.”

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Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch is scheduled to appear for a deposition Monday as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit.
Dominion has said Fox News and Fox Business made false claims that its voting machines rigged the 2020 election. Fox News argues it’s protected by the First Amendment.
Network anchors faced questioning earlier this year.

Lachlan Murdoch, co-chairman and chief executive officer of Fox Corp., attends the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, July 11, 2019.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch is slated to appear for a deposition on Monday as the Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit against the company and its cable networks moves forward.
Dominion’s lawsuit against Fox, which is seeking $1.6 billion in damages, has argued Fox News and Fox Business made false claims its voting machines rigged the results of the 2020 election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

Fox personalities including Maria Bartiromo, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Jeanine Pirro were deposed earlier this year.
Murdoch will be the highest-ranking executive to be questioned so far. A Fox Corp. spokesman declined to comment on Thursday.
In June, a Delaware judge overseeing the case had reportedly ruled that Dominion’s lawsuit could be expanded beyond the cable TV networks to include their parent company, meaning Fox Corp.’s chair and Lachlan’s father, Rupert Murdoch, could also be deposed. Dominion has argued the parent company and its top brass played a role in Fox’s hosts in spreading misinformation about voter fraud.

Requests to dismiss the case have been denied. Neither side has shown signs of entering settlement talks, although that could change before the trial’s expected start in April, CNBC previously reported. Fox has vigorously denied the claims.
The depositions are private, as are the documents that Dominion has been collecting through the discovery process. Fox has previously asked the court to keep all collected materials private, claiming Dominion mischaracterized what the documents show as actual malice.
First Amendment experts and advocates have been closely watching the case, in part because of Dominion’s lengthy list of examples that Fox network hosts repeatedly made false claims, even after facts came to light. Such cases are often settled out of court or dismissed.

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Ulta Beauty on Thursday boosted its outlook and surpassed Wall Street’s quarterly earnings and sales expectations.
Comparable sales soared by 14.6% year over year.
The company said its strong third quarter was due in part to selling products at a higher price point.

Shoppers line up outside of Ulta Beauty before the 6am opening on Black Friday.
Aimee Dilger | LightRocket | Getty Images

Ulta Beauty on Thursday boosted its outlook and surpassed Wall Street’s expectations for quarterly earnings and sales, as shoppers kept replenishing their makeup bags even while paying more at the grocery store.
CEO Dave Kimbell said as shoppers weigh their purchasing decisions and face rising prices, they are still choosing to spend on beauty. On a call with investors, he said customer spending went up across all income levels.

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“While it’s hard to know with certainty if we are starting to see consumers trade down — as the only beauty retailer that offers a wide variety of prices from entry-level mass to high-end luxury and everything in between, Ulta Beauty is uniquely positioned to capture any consumer shifts within price points in the beauty category,” he said.
Here’s how the company did in the three-month period ended Oct. 29, compared with Refinitiv consensus estimates:

Earnings per share: $5.34 vs. $4.15 estimated
Revenue: $2.34 billion vs. $2.21 billion estimated

As shoppers pick where to splurge and where to cut back, beauty has jumped out as a more resilient category. Target, for example, called out the category as a bright spot even as it disappointed on third-quarter earnings and cut its holiday-quarter outlook. Many of its big-box stores have a mini Ulta shop inside. Kohl’s, which pulled its full-year forecast, also said beauty is driving sales. It has mini Sephora shops inside of its stores.
At Ulta, comparable sales soared by 14.6% year over year. That growth comes on top of a 25.8% jump in the year-ago period and far surpasses the 8.8% increase that analysts expected for the third quarter, according to StreetAccount.
Kimbell said makeup, skincare, hair care and the fragrance and bath category all delivered double-digit comparable sales growth year over year. He said shoppers snapped up foundation, concealers and blushes in its makeup category. They restocked skincare products to keep up their routines, and they tried newer brands and bought holiday fragrance gift sets early.

Net income rose 27.5% to $274.6 million, or $5.34 per share, from $215.29 million, or $3.94 per share, a year ago.
Ulta said it now anticipates full-year earnings of between $22.60 and $22.90 per share and full-year revenue of between $9.95 billion and $10 billion. That’s well higher than a prior forecast of between $20.70 and $21.20 per share on revenue of between $9.65 billion and $9.75 billion.
The increased guidance also topped Wall Street expectations: Analysts had been looking for full-year projections of $21.40 earnings per share and $9.77 billion in revenue.
The retailer is estimating for the full year its comparable sales will come in 12.6% to 13.2% higher than the year-ago period, versus a prior forecast of 9.5% to 10.5% growth.
Along with seeing growing sales, the company said its strong third quarter was also due in part to selling products at a higher price point.
Ulta reported a profit margin of 41.2%, significantly above the 39.6% it reported in the year-ago period and the 39.3% that analysts had forecast, according to StreetAccount estimates.
Ulta is geared up for the holiday season, a time when shoppers turn to its stores to get ready for parties and to look for gifts. So far, Chief Financial Officer Scott Settersten said, the retailer is pleased with trends it saw during Thanksgiving weekend, including Cyber Monday.
He acknowledged, however, that the company still has key sales weeks ahead. He said its fourth-quarter outlook factors in “the expected resilience of the beauty category as well as potential risksfrom shifts in consumer spending, increased points of distribution for prestige beauty and higher promotional activity.”
As of Thursday’s close, Ulta shares are up about 15% so far this year. That compares to the S&P 500, which is down about 14% year to date.
Shares of the company touched a 52-week high and closed at $472.53, bringing the company’s market value to about $24 billion.

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The FCC issued a key authorization to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, granting approval to launch up to 7,500 of its next-generation Starlink internet satellites.
“Our action will allow SpaceX to begin deployment of Gen 2 Starlink,” the FCC wrote in the order.
The decision is crucial to SpaceX’s plans to expand its satellite network.

A batch of Starlink satellites deploy in orbit after a launch on Nov. 13, 2021.

The Federal Communications Commission issued a key authorization to Elon Musk’s SpaceX on Thursday, granting approval for the company to move forward with launching up to 7,500 next-generation satellites in its Starlink internet network.
“Our action will allow SpaceX to begin deployment of Gen 2 Starlink,” the FCC wrote in the order.

The FCC did not grant SpaceX’s full application, which included deployment of nearly 30,000 satellites in low Earth orbit, and it placed some conditions on the company’s plan to deploy the satellites. It deferred decision on the application to launch the full number.
The FCC imposed a limit on the number of satellites in SpaceX’s second-generation of the Starlink constellation, also known as Gen2, in order “to address concerns about orbital debris and space safety.”

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SpaceX is also required to coordinate with other satellite operators, as well as with NASA and the National Science Foundation to protect science missions and radioastronomy, respectively.
The FCC’s decision is crucial to SpaceX’s plans to expand its satellite network, which have been hotly contested in filings with the regulator from companies including Viasat, DISH and Amazon.
To date SpaceX has launched about 3,500 first-generation Starlink satellites into orbit. The service had about 500,000 subscribers as of June. The company has steadily expanded Starlink’s product offerings as well, selling services to residential, business, RV, maritime and aviation customers.

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