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Doug Ramsey, who was Beyond Meat’s operating chief, was arrested for allegedly biting a man’s nose after a college football game.
In September, Ramsey was charged with making terroristic threats and third-degree battery after allegedly assaulting a driver in a parking garage near Razorback Stadium in Arkansas.

Douglas Ramsey
Source: Washington County, Arkansas

Beyond Meat Chief Operating Officer Doug Ramsey, who had been suspended following an arrest for assault, has left the company.
Ramsey left the company effective Friday, weeks after he was arrested for allegedly biting a man’s nose following a college football game in Arkansas, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The company had originally suspended Ramsey after the arrest became public last month. The next court date in the case is Nov. 14. CNBC has reached out to Ramsey for comment.
The announcement came as Beyond Meat, whose sales and share price have been struggling, unveiled broad layoffs and the departures of other top executives.
In September, Ramsey was charged with making terroristic threats and third-degree battery after allegedly assaulting a driver in a parking garage near Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Police said Ramsey punched through the back windshield of a Subaru after it hit the front tire of Ramsey’s car, according to a police report. Ramsey then allegedly punched the Subaru driver and bit his nose, “ripping the flesh on the tip of the nose,” the report said. Police also said the victim and a witness also claimed Ramsey told the Subaru driver he would kill him.
Ramsey joined Beyond Meat in December. He spent three decades at Tyson Foods, where he oversaw its poultry and McDonald’s businesses.

The company said in the filing said Jonathan Nelson, its senior vice president of manufacturing operations, will permanently oversee Beyond’s operations activities. He took over Ramsey’s role on an interim basis last month.
Beyond Meat did not immediately return a request for comment.
– CNBC’s Amelia Lucas contributed to this report.

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Chilean stocks this year are leapfrogging those in other countries, including the U.S.
The iShares MSCI Chile exchange-traded fund (ECH) is up more than 3% year to date, while the U.S. benchmark S&P 500 is down more than 20% — officially trading in a bear market.
There are several catalysts driving this outperformance, including the rejection of a proposed new constitution.

A supporter of Chilean presidential candidate Gabriel Boric carries a Chilean flag as supporters celebrate after their candidate won the presidential election, in Santiago, Chile, December 19, 2021.
Ivan Alvarado | Reuters

For the most part, stocks around the world have taken a beating this year. But there’s one corner of the global market that’s bucking that trend: Chile.
Chilean stocks this year are leapfrogging those in other countries, including the U.S.

The iShares MSCI Chile exchange traded fund (ECH) is up more than 3% year to date, while the U.S. benchmark S&P 500 is down more than 20% — officially trading in a bear market.
The S&P IPSA, an index that tracks the largest and most liquid stocks listed on the Santiago Exchange, is up 8.2% in 2022.

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Stocks in Chile are also outperforming the broader emerging markets. The iShares MSCI Emerging Market ETF (EEM) is down more than 28% for the year.
There are several catalysts contributing to the outperformance in the South American country, one of the more recent ones being last month’s rejection of a proposed new constitution that would have represented a deeper pivot leftward under President Gabriel Boric away from the free market model that has defined Chile for decades.
“As it became clearer since the beginning of this year that the population is not going to support the draft of that constitution, markets have been performing really well,” said BCA Research emerging market strategist Arthur Budaghyan. “And we think that’s the main reason behind this rally.”

The run-up in commodities
There’s another reason Chilean stocks have outperformed: higher commodity prices.
A look inside the ECH shows that an overweight allocation to commodities helped the ETF this year, even as rising interest rates dinged emerging markets across the board. As of October, materials stocks made up roughly 30% of the ECH ETF, which has 25 holdings.
The top holding is Sociedad Quimica Y Minera De Chile. It’s a major lithium producer that counts for 24.2% of the ETF that enjoyed the spike in prices this year. According to Benchmark Minerals, lithium prices are up 123% in 2022. Consequently, Sociedad has surged 71%.
“Chile’s market is very tied to commodity outcomes,” said Andrew Daniels, associate director of equity strategies at Morningstar. “Generally, you’ll see the market do well when commodities do well, and they’ll see the market not do well when commodities kind of falter.”
A run-up in commodities prices also benefited other Latin American countries, such as Brazil.
Getting exposure to Chile
Gaining direct exposure to Chilean equities is challenging for most U.S. investors, as the country — like other emerging markets — comes with greater volatility and deeper liquidity issues. BCA’s Budaghyan said most of the rally is limited to large-cap stocks, likely driven by buying from foreign investors.
“It’s not developed to the same degree,” Daniels said. “There’s not as many public companies on the stock exchange.” 
Apart from the iShares MSCI Chile ETF, which helps investors gain exposure to the total addressable market, Chile makes up just a small part of other funds. The country comprises just 0.2% of the Morningstar global markets index, for example, and only about 0.6% of its emerging markets index. 
Even the T. Rowe Price Latin America fund, which is rated four stars on Morningstar, has just a 2.3% allocation to Chile in the entire portfolio.
Daniels advised investors to stay diversified, and warned against allocating directly into the country. “Focus on getting exposure to broader mandates such as emerging markets option that you can trust the manager to navigate those markets accordingly over a full market cycle,” he said.
‘Stock picker’s dream market’
Still, investors could benefit from greater exposure to Chilean stocks.
“We think it’s like a stock picker’s dream market,” said Richard Cook, portfolio manager at Cook & Bynum Capital Management, calling it “a fantastic place for a good fundamental stock picker to be looking if they could get access.”
Cook said he is optimistic about investing in the country, where he first started taking research trips back in 2009. As a concentrated value investor, he’s particularly interested in small-cap stocks, instead of the commodities companies that Chile ETFs are heavily exposed to, in order to identify differentiated opportunities. Cook said his firm manages about $250 million in assets.
To be sure, Cook said investing in Chile is not for everyone. Someone who wants to invest in the market will have to consider a long time horizon should liquidity issues, or macroeconomic or political disruptions, sour investments in the short term.
They should also thoroughly research opportunities on the ground. Cook said his fund currently has eight holdings, with only one position in Chile — a highly concentrated portfolio that could mean more volatility for investors.
“I think if you’re going to express it, it probably ought to be in a relatively more concentrated way,” he said. “Because otherwise you’re just sort of indexing. I don’t think you should pay active managers to index for you.”
What’s next?
For macro investors, Chile is one of the interesting countries in the emerging market universe to deploy, according to BCA Research’s Budaghyan.
However, investors should be wary of possible challenges on the horizon as global markets deal with the fallout from rising inflation and the rate-hiking campaigns undertaken by central banks around the world. BCA forecasts corporate profits in Chile will start to contract.
“Domestically, we have a very negative profit outlook, and I think that is going to matter over next few months till end of this year, so the market most likely will go down to end of this year,” Budaghyan said. “But by next year, the market will be discounting already a lot of profit recession, the central bank will turn dovish, interest rates will be coming down next year, and it’s a positive for the market.
“Chilean stocks are reasonably cheap. So if they weaken over the next few months, they will provide good value for next year,” he added.

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Kroger is the second-largest grocer by market share in the United States, behind Walmart, and Albertsons is fourth, after Costco.
The companies said Kroger agreed to buy Albertsons for $34.10 a share in a deal valued at $24.6 billion.
Combined, Kroger and Albertsons employ more than 700,000 people across about 5,000 stores.

Albertsons and Kroger supermarkets
Bridget Bennett | Bloomberg | Getty Images; Brandon Bell | Getty Images

Rival grocers Kroger and Albertsons on Friday announced plans to team up.
The companies said Kroger agreed to buy Albertsons for $34.10 a share in a deal valued at $24.6 billion. Albertsons shares had closed Thursday at $28.63 after surging on reports that a deal was imminent.

Kroger is the second-largest grocer by market share in the United States, behind Walmart, and Albertsons is fourth, after Costco. Together, Kroger and Albertsons would be a closer second to Walmart.
Both companies’ boards unanimously approved the agreement, which will also need regulatory approval.
The tie-up comes during a challenging time in the grocery industry. Supermarkets have raced to keep up as shoppers embrace new ways of restocking the fridge. Companies have had to invest in automation, employee training and more as consumers bounce between browsing store aisles, ordering home deliveries and using curbside pickup.
Grocers have also been hit hard by inflation. Food prices have jumped 11.2% from a year ago, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Companies have had to weigh when to pass on higher costs to customers and when to absorb them to stay competitive.

Kroger and Albertsons by the numbers

KROGER

2,800 stores in 35 states
420,000 employees
25 banners, including Fred Meyer, Ralphs, King Soopers and namesake stores
$33.3 billion market capitalization

ALBERTSONS

2,200 stores in 34 states and Washington, D.C.
290,000 employees
22 banners, including Safeway, Acme, Tom Thumb and namesake stores
$15.2 billion market capitalization

Source: Company websites, FactSet

The grocery industry is highly fragmented. Privately held regional grocers, such as H-E-B in Texas and Publix in Florida, remain power players and command strong loyalty. Relative newcomers such as discounters Aldi and Lidl, and Amazon’s Amazon Fresh, have attracted customers, too. Plus, some Americans stock up on food at warehouse clubs such as Costco, Walmart-owned Sam’s Club and B.J.’s Wholesale.
Kroger and Albertsons also each have numerous store banners, including names that the operators have acquired over the years. Kroger’s banners include Fred Meyer, Ralphs and King Soopers, and Albertsons’ banners include Safeway, Acme and Tom Thumb.
Combined, Kroger and Albertsons employ more than 700,000 people across about 5,000 stores.

Kroger captured about 9.9% of the U.S. grocery market in the 12 months ended June 30, according to market researcher Numerator. Albertsons’ share was 5.7%. The next three big players after Albertsons are Ahold-Delhaize, Publix, Sam’s Club and Target. Ahold Delhaize’s banners include Food Lion and Stop & Shop, along with Fresh Direct, an online grocer that it acquired.
To team up, Kroger and Albertsons would need regulators to sign off. Regulators would look at where the companies have dominance and weigh if they would have too much power if combined, said Eleanor Fox, a New York University professor who specializes in antitrust and competition policy. A merger would be less likely to get approved if they are the top two grocers in many markets, she said.
Some of the companies’ markets have significant overlap, such as Southern California, Colorado, Seattle and parts of the Midwest and Texas, Simeon Gutman, a retail analyst for Morgan Stanley, wrote in a research note Thursday. Other regions, such as the Northeast and Southeast, have very little overlap.
“Albertsons Cos. brings a complementary footprint and operates in several parts of the country with very few or no Kroger stores,” Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen said in a news release announcing the deal.
The combination will likely undergo a lengthy review period by regulators and may require store divestitures, Morgan Stanley’s Gutman said.
Gutman also cautioned on the financial upside of the deal. Consolidation in the grocery industry has not historically paid off in the form of higher profits, he said. However, he said the industry could be at a tipping point where a big merger could also lift margins.

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Sony Honda Mobility aims to start taking pre-orders for its vehicle in the first half of 2025.
SHM says it will look to explore “new entertainment possibilities through digital innovations such as the metaverse.”
According to the International Energy Agency, electric vehicle sales are on course to hit an all-time high this year.

Yasuhide Mizuno, the chairman and CEO of Sony Honda Mobility Inc., speaks during a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, on Oct. 13, 2022.
Kiyoshi Ota | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The Sony-Honda joint venture focused on electric vehicles plans to begin deliveries to the United States and Japan in 2026.
Sony Honda Mobility, as it’s known, aims to start taking pre-orders for its vehicle in the first half of 2025, and hopes to start sales before the end of that year. “For sales, SHM plans to focus on online sales,” a statement released Thursday said.

U.S. deliveries are slated to start in the spring of 2026, with deliveries to the Japanese market happening in the latter half of the same year.
SHM said it was aiming to develop a “Level 3 automated drive under limited conditions and to enable Level 2+ driver assistance in even more situations such as urban driving.”
Five levels of driving automation have been defined by SAE International, an association made up of technical experts and engineers. On its website, the SAE refers to Level 2 as providing “Partial Driving Automation.”

At Level 3, automated driving features “can drive the vehicle under limited conditions and will not operate unless all required conditions are met.”
If asked to do so, drivers must take control of Level 3 vehicles. The SAE says one example of Level 3 driving would be a “traffic jam chauffer.”SHM said it would also look to explore “new entertainment possibilities through digital innovations such as the metaverse.”

Thursday’s announcement, which confirmed that SHM had now been established, did not contain information related to the vehicle’s range or cost, but did state it would be built at a Honda factory in North America.

Read more about electric vehicles from CNBC Pro

This week’s news builds on previous communications about the joint venture.
In March 2022, the two firms signed a memorandum of understanding centered around a “strategic alliance” in the field of mobility. In June, a joint venture agreement to set up Sony Honda Mobility was signed.
In April, Honda said it planned to roll out 30 electric vehicle models worldwide by 2030. The automotive powerhouse said it would be allocating roughly 5 trillion Japanese yen (around $33.9 billion) to electrification and what it called “software technologies.”
Honda’s electric vehicle plans put it in competition with firms such as Elon Musk’s Tesla as well as companies like Volkswagen, Ford and Stellantis. In 2020, Sony showcased a prototype electric car at a press event during CES 2020 in Las Vegas.
According to the International Energy Agency, electric vehicle sales are on course to hit an all-time high this year. More

President Joe Biden recently claimed the “pandemic is over,” but the extension of the public health emergency indicates the administration does not believe the U.S. is out of the woods yet.
The public health emergency, first declared in January 2020 by the Trump administration, has been renewed every 90 days since the pandemic began.
The powers activated by the emergency declaration have had a vast impact on the U.S. health-care system and social safety net.

A medical worker collects a swab sample from a woman at a COVID-19 testing site in New York, the United States, March 29, 2022.
Wang Ying | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

The U.S. has extended the Covid public health emergency through Jan. 11, a clear demonstration that the Biden administration still views Covid as a crisis despite President Joe Biden’s recent claim that the pandemic is over.
The public health emergency, first declared in January 2020 by the Trump administration, has been renewed every 90 days since the pandemic began. The powers activated by the emergency declaration have had a vast impact on the U.S. health-care system and social safety net, allowing hospitals to act more nimbly when infections surge and keeping millions enrolled in public health insurance.

Biden, in a September television interview, claimed the “pandemic is over” though he said Covid will continue to present a health challenge. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in August said high levels of immunity in the U.S., combined with the wide availability of vaccines and treatments, has significantly reduced the threat that Covid poses to the nation’s health.
But hospitals and pharmacies called for the Health and Human Services Department to keep the public health emergency in place until the U.S. has a sustained period of low Covid transmission. Hospitals in particular have been slammed with patients every fall and winter since the pandemic began, at times pushing them to the breaking point.
White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, in an interview earlier this month, said the president’s comments were “problematic” because some people might let their guard down and not stay up to date on their vaccines.
“It’s obvious that could be problematic because people would interpret it as it’s completely over and we’re done for good, which is not the case — no doubt about that,” said Fauci, who is stepping down in December.
The emergency declaration gives federal agencies broad authority to expand certain programs without congressional approval. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, under HHS, dramatically expanded enrollment in Medicaid, public health insurance for low-income people, to a historic record of more than 89 million people. HHS also expanded telehealth services and gave hospitals flexibility in how they can deploy staff and beds when a surge of patients stresses capacity.

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HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra told reporters in a call last week he would give 60 days’ notice to states, health-care providers and other stakeholders before lifting the public health emergency. This means HHS should inform them in November if the agency plans to lift the emergency in January.
Whenever the public health emergency does finally end, it will have dramatic impact on health care in the U.S. HHS estimates that as many as 15 million people will lose their Medicaid coverage. Hospitals also risk losing the flexibility they have come to rely on during Covid. Millions of struggling families will also lose supplemental money through the federal government’s nutrition program.
HHS has also vastly expanded the role of pharmacies in administering vaccines in the U.S. by temporarily overriding state laws that, in some cases, limited which vaccines pharmacists could administer to certain age groups. It’s not yet clear whether the nationalization of pharmacy vaccine rules will expire when HHS decides to lift public health emergency.
The Biden administration is relying on pharmacies to administer updated boosters for people ages 5 and older that target the dominant omicron BA.5 subvariant. Federal health officials believe the new shots will provide better protection against infection and disease compared with the old ones, which are not performing as well as they once did because the virus has mutated so much.
Public health officials are worried about another major Covid surge this winter as people head indoors, where the virus spreads more easily, to escape the colder weather and as families gather during the upcoming holiday season.
Infections, hospitalizations and deaths have declined dramatically since the peak of the massive omicron surge in January, but more than 300 people are still dying every day from Covid on average and nearly 3,500 patients are hospitalized with the virus daily, according to CDC data.
Dr. Ashish Jha, head of the White House Covid task force, said last week that 70% of those dying from Covid are age 75 and older. The vast majority of those dying are either not up to date on their vaccines or are not receiving treatments such as Paxlovid when they have breakthrough infections, Jha said.
“This is unacceptable, particularly because we can now prevent almost every Covid death in the country with vaccines and treatments that we have,” Jha told reporters during a call. “If you are up to date on your vaccines and you get treated when you have a breakthrough infection, your chances of dying are close to zero even in that high-risk population,” he said.
Fauci said earlier this month that the U.S. is heading in the right direction, but Covid deaths are still too high. It’s also possible a new variant could emerge this winter that can evade immunity even more than the omicron variants the U.S is dealing with right now, he said.
“Although we can feel good that we’re going in the right direction, we can’t let our guard down,” Fauci said.

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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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Royalty Pharma PLC: “I like it, and I’m going to stick with it. It’s not big, but it’s not bad.”

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Tellurian Inc: “It’s at $2, and stocks stop at $0. They don’t go to minus $2. So, I’m okay with Tellurian.”

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Zoetis Inc: “I think the stock is now undervalued. … It’s a buy.”

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CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday gave investors his blessing to buy shares of L3Harris Technologies, an aerospace and defense play.
“Recently, the stock’s come down dramatically from its highs. I think it’s gotten to levels where you have to pounce,” he said.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday gave investors his blessing to buy shares of L3Harris Technologies, an aerospace and defense play.
“Recently, the stock’s come down dramatically from its highs. I think it’s gotten to levels where you have to pounce,” he said.

Cramer said that the stock, which he’s liked since three years ago when Harris Corp and L3 Technologies merged into one firm, is also particularly attractive right now because it’s fairly recession proof. 
“They’re not tied to the consumer at all or even the enterprise. They feed at the federal trough, meaning they don’t have to care too much about the broader economy,” he said.
He added that the stock has come down dramatically since its highs in March, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine propelled the stock from $210 to just under $280. The stock closed at $227.53 on Thursday.
Cramer did acknowledge that the company is contending with supply chain issues. CEO Christopher Kubasik in July cited supply chain disruptions as a headwind to its top line in the company’s second-quarter letter to shareholders. 
However, Cramer said that he’s still bullish on L3Harris Technologies long-term, especially because of the demand that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will likely create for governments looking to replenish their arsenals after sending aid to Ukraine.

“In the end, L3Harris is a company with some real short-term woes, but it’s also winning big long-term business that should pay off in 2023 and 2024,” he said.

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CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday said that there were three indicators during Thursday’s trading session that suggested the initial market sell-off would fizzle out.
“We have to remember there are always people who want to get out, but there are also people who want to get in at the right price, or never sell at all,” Cramer said.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday said that there were three indicators during Thursday’s trading session that suggested the initial market sell-off would fizzle out.
Stocks made a stunning reversal on Thursday after the market fought off a hotter-than-expected consumer price index report to snap a six-day losing streak. 

The Dow rebounded over 1,300 points after the volatile trading sessions’ early-morning declines, while the S&P 500 saw its widest trading range since March 2020.
“We have to remember there are always people who want to get out, but there are also people who want to get in at the right price, or never sell at all,” Cramer said.
Here are the three signals he spotted that suggested the market would bounce:

The S&P 500 Short Range Oscillator, Cramer’s favorite market indicator, came in at a little more than minus 5%, which means a big sell-off likely wouldn’t have much staying power. Anything above plus 4% indicates the market is overbought, while anything below minus 5% indicates the market is oversold.
The CBOE Volatility Index — which is also known as the VIX, Wall Street’s fear gauge — didn’t spike when the market initially fell. That means traders weren’t spooked and is usually a sign the market is dealing with a “misdirection play,” according to Cramer. 
Most importantly, the market didn’t go lower than where the futures took it, he said. This means that there was no follow-through with the sell-off.

In other words, Thursday’s sell-off had no staying power because the investors who chose to sell off their portfolios after seeing the inflation data underestimated the bulls’ resilience, according to Cramer.
“The people who are still left in this miserable, horrible, no-good market aren’t going to dump stocks over something they already knew — that the consumer price index is too hot. I mean, no kidding,” he said.

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