GisermanGroup.com #BreakingNews
📲#China vs U.S.: Your #Apple StockThe Loser
⛽️Stocks ⬇️ As Gas Pumps Higher
🏈Biden Tackles Economy In NFL Opener
🏠Mortgage Demand Hits 27 Year Low
🎥#Trump Jury Wanted To Charge #LindseyGraham
📺TV Wars: Disney vs Spectrum
🦠COVID’s Back
🎾It’s So Hot U.S. Open Star Warns Tennis Player Is Going To Die
📲China vs US:Your Apple Stock Is Loser
Apple shares losing 7% in just two days.
It’s the latest tit-for-tat: China is banning iPhone use by government workers. It comes seemingly in response as the Biden administration is warning American business to steer clear of investing in Chinese chips.
GisermanGroup.com client, Exiger CEO Brandon Daniels tells Fox Business Network politics like this will continue to influence markets in the coming months:
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⛽️Stocks Lower As Gas Pumps Higher
Stocks down for the week as gas prices hit their highest seasonal levels in more than 10 years due to supply cuts from Russia and Saudi Arabia. AAA pegged the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline at $3.81, the highest post-Labor-Day price since 2012.
The S&P 500 is still up about 18% so far this year, even after falling in August for its first monthly decline since February, but inflation threats may reverse that.
So what could surprise investors and be a positive market catalyst? Excitement around AI, cash on the sidelines, and Apple’s brand-new iPhone may be enough to buck September's usual downward trend.
GisermanGroup.com client, Mario Veneroso, of Kingsview Wealth Management tells Fox Business stocks had a bang-up first half of the year:
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🏈Biden Tackles Economy In NFL Opener
The Biden campaign is ran a new TV ad during the NFL season opener focusing on the president's economic record.
A new Wall Street Journal poll finds a majority of American voters disapprove of the president's handling of the economy and inflation.
The new Biden campaign ad, titled "Got to Work," highlights President Biden's economic achievements amid inflation.
The ad ends by noting that inflation is down to 3% and that unemployment levels have reached "the lowest in decades."
The Lions beat the Chiefs in a 21-20 upset.
📺TV Wars: Disney vs Spectrum
Disney’ Bob Iger vs Charter’s John Malone.
Disney pushing Spectrum Cable customers to switch to a live TV option from Hulu as part of its ongoing fight with Charter Communications. Disney has pulled its channels — including ESPN and ABC — off Charter’s Spectrum as the companies battle over contract fees. The blackout for 15 million Spectrum subscribers over came in the middle of U.S. Open tennis coverage and ahead of Thursday’s first NFLgame of the season. Charter’s dispute with Disney stems in part from the fees Disney is seeking for its programming at a time when cable TV viewership is on the decline and streaming is on the rise. Disney owns a majority stake in Hulu .
The financial dispute between Disney and Charter highlights the growing tensions between content providers and cable and satellite operators as cord-cutting threatens to permanently unravel the cable tv business. If this fight doesn't get resolved, the entire business model for the traditional cable TV industry could be on the verge of collapsing.
Charter has offered customers a $15 rebate but only if they call in to customer service.
Shares in Warner Bros. Discovery are down 9%, Paramount Global shares are down nearly 8%, and shares in Comcast and Fox Corporation are each respectively down 3%.
🪙Bitcoin ETF
Bitcoin initially jumped as Grayscale Investments moved closer to launching a spot-based Bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the US., but delays in the action sent it down to around $26k. It’s a potential watershed moment in the cryptocurrency industry’s quest to tap billions of dollars from everyday investors. Coinbase shares also up big time as a result.
Exiger’s Samar Pratt, a GisermanGroup.com client, Client, on FinTechTV says Crypto has also gained a foothold at BNY Mellon:
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🏠Mortgage Demand Hits 27 Year Low
Mortgage demand drops to a 27-year low as interest rates pull back. Housing affordability is at its lowest level in 40 years. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage decreased to 7.21% from 7.31%, still to high for most homebuyers.
SitusAMC’s Tim Rood, a GisermanGroup.com client, breaks it all down to Fox’s Neil Cavuto:
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Demand for homes around the country continues to outpace supply, despite a rapid rise in borrowing costs.
Rood, on Scripps News says Housing is the Cinderella Story of the Year:
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🎾It’s So Hot U.S. Open Star Warns Tennis Player Is Going To Die
Soaked with sweat as the temperature neared 95 degrees at the U.S. Open, 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev walked slowly to towel off between points of his victory, looked into a courtside camera and issued a warning:
“You cannot imagine,” he said. “One player is gonna die, and they’re gonna see.”
“The only thing that is a little bit, let’s call it dangerous, is that the question is: How far could we go?” Medvedev, a 27-year-old Russian seeded No. 3, said after eliminating Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 at Ashe Stadium to reach the semifinals at Flushing Meadows for the fourth time.
“I’m not sure what can we do. Because probably we cannot stop the tournament for four days — because it’s been, what, three, four days it’s been brutal like this? — because then it basically ruins everything: the TV, even the tickets, everything. It ruins everything,” said Medvedev, who said he needed an ice bath and something to eat after leaving the court.
“So I don’t think this could be done.”
Meantime, The U.S. Open women’s semifinal between American Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova was delayed for nearly 50 minutes due to disruptive protesters — including one who glued his feet to the ground — in the upper decks of Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Gauff, who eventually won in straight sets, was leading 1-0 in the second set when play was interrupted by four fans protesting climate change.
🚘Your EV Made By Chinese Slave Labor
Your Electric Car and Truck may include parts manufactured by Chinese Slave-Labor.
Electric-vehicle batteries and other car parts are the latest products under scrutiny in Washington's effort to stamp out U.S. links to forced-labor in China.
China and Supply Chain Expert, Exiger CEO Brandon Daniels, a GisermanGroup.com client, says, "If you're a car manufacturer and you have not started mapping your supply chains for the parts made in China and where they are getting their goods from, you are running a real peril as we go into the back half of the year.”
Daniels says, “Increased inspection of products destined for auto assembly plants by U.S. Customs and Border Protection could signal difficult times ahead for automakers who will need solid proof that their supply chains are free of links to a region where Chinese authorities have established labor camps for Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups.”
💻TikTok Ban
New York City has banned China-owned TikTok on government devices, citing security concerns, joining a number of cities and states that have put such restrictions on the app.
The Biden administration is demanding TikTok’s Chinese-owners sell their stakes in the video-sharing app or face a full U.S. ban.
Matt Hayden Former Cybersecurity Czar at the Department of Homeland Security and a GisermanGroup.com client on Scripps News says TikTok is dangerous:
It’s a trying time for all of us.
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Ozempic-Maker Europe’s Most Valuable Company
The pharma giant behind popular weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy assumed the top spot as Europe’s most valuable company on Friday, overtaking French luxury empire LVMH, according to a report.
Novo Nordisk, the Danish multinational company, saw its market capitalization surge to $424.7 billion during Friday trading in London, beating out the luxury retail conglomerate owned by the family of Bernard Arnault.
So many people have turned to drugs used for weight loss that some employers are cutting off insurance coverage to head off climbing bills. Use of drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy has exploded as word has spread about their weight-loss benefits. Demand has risen so high so fast that Novo Nordisk, the maker of the drugs, hasn’t been able to manufacture enough, while analysts have been revising multibillion-dollar sales estimates upward.
LVMH, brands include Louis Vuitton, Dior, Sephora, and Dom Pérignon.
💉COVID’s Back-New Strains, Vaccines
First Lady Jill Biden has what the White House says is a mild case of Covid, the President has reportedly tested negative.
A late-summer wave of coronavirus infections has touched schools, workplaces and local government, as experts warned the public to brace for even more Covid-19 spread this fall and winter.
Hospitalizations have increased 24 percent in a two-week period ending Aug. 12, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wastewater monitoring suggests a recent rise in Covid infections in the West and Northeast.
Three new COVID-19 variants are now spreading across the country.
Levels of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths for now remain far below previous peaks seen during past summer and winter waves of the virus, but have been climbing steadily for several weeks.
Public health officials have said that they're well-equipped for the latest seasonal uptick in the virus, with COVID-19 tests and forthcoming vaccines expected to work for the variants on the rise around the country.
But the appearance of a new "highly mutated" variant has raised questions among virus trackers about what the coming months could hold.
Proud Boy Leader Sentenced
Enrique Tarrio, leader of the Proud Boys, has been sentenced to 22 years in prison for organizing his pro-Trump followers to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
It’s the most severe penalty handed down so far to any of the more than 1,100 people charged in connection with the Capitol attack and likely to remain that way, given that no other defendants currently face accusations as serious as the ones he did.
📺Rats Abandon Ship Agree To Testify Against Trump
The Georgia grand jury that investigated Donald Trump recommended criminal contempt charges against three of his Senate allies: GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, according to the panel’s report just released.
Mar-a-Lago IT worker Yuscil Taveras has struck a cooperation agreement with the special counsel’s office in the federal case over former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents, Taveras’ former defense attorney said in a new court filing.
Trump’s racketeering trial will be televised, the Fulton County, Georgia, judge who will be presiding has ruled.
Judge Scott McAfee says that all court proceedings in the case will be livestreamed on the Fulton County Court Youtube channel, and there will be pool coverage for television and radio.
Trump capitalizing on his mugshot after being arrested and processed at Atlanta’s Fulton County Jail to the tune of a $7.1 million fundraising bonanza.
Trump’s 2024 campaign released a line of merchandise with his mugshot and the slogan, “NEVER SURRENDER!”
A new Emerson College Polling survey following the August Republican Primary debate finds half of Republican Primary voters (50%) plan to vote for Donald Trump, the lowest support to date for the former President in Emerson national polls. Trump’s support has dropped by six percentage points since last week’s pre-debate national poll.
Trump is now Fulton County Jail inmate #P01135809. He has been booked on felony charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020.
Trump was photographed, fingerprinted and if you bet on his weight via an online gambling site, the ‘under’ bet won. Authorities listed him as having “blond or strawberry” hair, a height of 6-feet-3inches and a weight of 215 pounds — 24 pounds less than the White House doctor reported Trump weighing in 2018. These numbers were filled out in advance by aides, according to someone familiar with the preparations, not by officials at the jail.
Trump’s weight left many users on X, formerly known as Twitter, incredulous. “215? That’s an insane lie,” tweeted Rick Wilson, co-founder of the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump political action committee.“If Trump weight (sic) 215lbs, then I have flowing blond locks past my shoulders,” Wilson, who is bald, snarked in a second tweet.
This is Trump's fourth indictment this year, but it's the first time he's had his mugshot taken. “He’s scared $hitless,” former White House chief of staff John Kelly told the Washington Post.
🗓️Trump’s Trial Date ‘Dance Card’ is filling up:
August 28:Federal Court DC Hearing
Oct. 2: New York civil fraud trial
Jan. 15: Second E. Jean Carroll civil defamation trial, NY
March 4 Wash, DC Election Conspiracy trial
March 25: Manhattan hush-money trial
May 20: Federal classified documents trial in Florida
🧨Hunter Biden Indictment
Hunter Biden is expected to be indicted on a federal gun charge by the end of September, Special Counsel David Weiss' team told U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika.
The expected charges come after an original plea agreement collapsed in July. Hunter Biden was expected to plead guilty in July to two misdemeanor tax counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax as part of a plea deal to avoid jail time on a felony gun charge.
🎶Billionaire, Jimmy Buffett Dead
Jimmy Buffett, whose brand of island escapism on hits like “Margaritaville” and “Fins” made him something of a latter-day folk hero, died Saturday. Buffett was more than a musician, he was a shrewd businessman. Margaritaville” became not only Buffett’s biggest hit but the cornerstone of a lucrative branding empire that included restaurants, resorts, housewares, a Broadway musical and retirement communities. Buffett, according to Forbes achieved billionaire status this year.
Buffett died of cancer, according to a new report. After the musician was diagnosed with skin cancer four years ago, the disease progressed to lymphoma. This was his cause of death, according to TMZ.
Buffett’s genial songs conjured a world of sun, saltwater and nonstop parties animated by the calypso country-rock of his limber Coral Reefer Band. His live shows abounded with singalong anthems and festive tropical iconography, making him a perennial draw on the summer concert circuit, where he built an ardent fan of ‘Parrot Heads’.
Jimmy Buffet was 76
🥶McConnell Freezes Again
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell released a letter from the attending physician of Congress pronouncing him “medically clear” to continue his schedule as planned, a day after he appeared to freeze again during a news conference in his home state of Kentucky.
Video showed the Republican senator speaking in Covington when he was asked by reporter about whether he will run for reelection in 2026. McConnell trailed off and was seen staring ahead for more than 30 seconds before an aide stepped in to ask if he'd heard the question.
The aide then turns to the room and says," Alright, I am sorry you all. We are going to need a minute."
An aide for the senator said while McConnell feels fine, he will be consulting a physician out of caution before his next event.
📺New CNN Chief
Mark Thompson, the former chief executive of The New York Times and director general of the BBC, has been named CNN chief executive and chairman.
CNN, one of the world’s leading news organizations, has been buffeted by a nearly endless string of crises for the last 18 months. Ratings have plunged, profits have fallen, and the network is still reeling from Chris Licht’s tenure as chief executive, which was terminated in June amid sagging staff morale.
“Mark is a true innovator who has transformed for the digital age two of the world’s most respected news organizations,” David Zaslav, the chief executive of CN Parent Warner Bros. Discovery, said in a statement. “His strategic vision, track record in transformational leadership and sheer passion for news make him a formidable force for CNN and journalism at this pivotal time.”
🍫Why Your Chocolate Fix Will Cost More
Chocoholics take notice.
Consumers have seen a 20% rise in prices and are starting to cut back on the amount of chocolate they buy.
The industry has enjoyed bumper profits over the past couple of years as demand for chocolate held up despite price hikes, but data seen by Reuters shows this trend may be breaking just as prices for cocoa hit 46-year-highs and sugar prices are near their highest in more than a decade.
🍀Government Calls To Ease Marijuana Restrictions
Government Health officials are recommending easing restrictions on marijuana, a move that sets the stage for potentially expanding the cannabis market.
A top official at the Department of Health and Human Services wrote Drug Enforcement Agency Administrator Anne Milgram calling for marijuana to be reclassified as a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Substances Act, according to a letter dated Aug. 29 seen by Bloomberg News.
It’s a trying time for all of us.
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📉Shocker: Christie Beats DeSantis in NH Poll
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has surpassed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the critical early presidential primary state of New Hampshire, according to an Emerson College survey.
Christie leapfrogged DeSantis for second place in the Granite State, garnering 9 percent support. DeSantis’s support, on the other hand, fell to 8 percent from 17 percent in March.
Trump still leads with 49% of Republican New Hampshire voters.
🐖Pig Kidney Working In Human
A genetically modified pig kidney transplanted into a brain-dead patient over a month ago is still working normally..
The procedure was carried out by a team of surgeons in New York on 14 July, and researchers are now tracking the kidney's performance for a second month.
It is the longest period a gene-edited pig kidney has functioned in a human.
"Is this organ really going to work like a human organ? So far it's looking like it is," said Dr Robert Montgomery, director of NYU Langone's transplant institute.
The deceased patient, Maurice "Mo" Miller from upstate New York, died suddenly at 57 with a previously undiagnosed brain cancer - ruling out routine organ donation.
The possibility that pig kidneys might one day help ease a dire shortage of transplantable organs is what persuaded his family to donate his body for the research.
But is it Kosher?
🎄Christmas Sales Starting Now
Ho, ho, ho or no, no, no?
Lowe's announcing that it's starting to sell Christmas-themed items including wreaths, inflatables and trees. The move comes after Home Depot's holiday merchandise debuted.
Look for hot toy lists in the coming weeks.
Amazon will hold a sale for Prime members in October — well ahead of Black Friday.
This is the earliest we can remember. Deck the halls
✋Amazon’s Pay-By-Hand Tech
Ready to Hand it to Amazon?
Amazon rolling out new technology that allows you to scan your palm to pay, instead of using a credit card or your cell phone. And the company has plans to expand use of the tech all the way to accessing your medical records.
Instead of pulling out a credit card or even a phone for Apple Pay, subscribing customers hover their palms over an Amazon One device to pay.
The technology is already available at 200 locations across the U.S. from supermarkets to stadiums.
Not everyone is happy with the idea of one of the world’s biggest tech conglomerates scanning everyone’s hands and storing that data in its cloud.
🚕RoboTaxis Get Green Light
RoboTaxis now have the green light to operate in San Francisco.
After a contentious public hearing with hours of public comment, the California Public Utilities Commission has authorized GM’s Cruise and Google’s Waymo to begin offering paid rides to the public at all hours of the day and across San Francisco.
The historic decision makes San Francisco the first city in the world to have two companies offering fully operational paid autonomous driving taxi services and put autonomous vehicles on the fast track towards widespread use in California
Self-driving cars are popping up in more cities in the U.S. but as they spread, so do concerns about their safety.
🎥Actors Strike
Tens of thousands of Hollywood Television and Movie Actors are on Strike
SAG-AFTRA’s national board of directors voted unanimously to approve a strike action, widening the scope of labor unrest in an entertainment industry that is already facing numerous headwinds.
Media titan Barry Diller delivered a devastating forecast for Hollywood, if the writers and actors’ strikes are not resolved soon.
Appearing on CBS’ Face the Nation Sunday, Diller — the head of the media conglomerate IAC, who previously served as CEO for Paramount and 20th Century Fox — weighed in on the state of the industry amid the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes. Diller called the current challenges facing the industry a “perfect storm.”
“You had Covid, which sent people home to watch streaming television and killed theaters,” Diller said. “You’ve had the results of huge investments in streaming which have produced all these losses for all these companies that are now kind of retrenching. So at this moment, it’s kind of a perfect storm.”
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🏛️Newsom, Kennedy In?
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s rising media profile in recent weeks has renewed speculation over his Democratic presidential aspirations.
He’s made appearances on the national media with NBC’s “Today” show and Fox News’s “Hannity,” raising renewed interest in his political future.
Some of that national spotlight has been used to go after Republican Presidential candidate Rob DeSantis over several dozen migrants who were flown to California.
Meantime, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaccine activist with a celebrated Democratic lineage has emerged with unexpected strength in early polls even as he spreads conspiracy theories and consorts with right-wing figures and billionaire donors.
Kennedy’s support from Democrats, as high as 20% in some surveys, serves as a bracing reminder of voters’ appetite for a Biden alternative.
💻U.S. Government Hacked
Several U.S. government agencies, including the Energy Department, have been hacked, and a Russian group is demanding ransom.
The data-stealing cyberattack exploitEd a software bug that had already compro-mised major businesses in the U.K. and elsewhere is blamed. So far none of the information has shown up on the dark web or elsewhere.
🏓PickleBall Coming To YOUR Mall
Pickleball is coming to your local mall, replacing shuttered Bed Bath & Beyond, Old Navy and Sears stores.
It’s an effort to fill vacant spaces and draw in customers to shop.
Consumers are craving fun, social experiences after years of limited gatherings during the pandemic, and they have shifted their spending from goods to experiences like theaters, arcades and amusement parks.
Malls are responding to these trends by turning to a wider range of tenants and activities to draw traffic, real estate investment firm JLL said in a report this week that malls are drawing on the huge PickleBall crowds and building courts.
🍀Americans Spend More On Weed Than On Beer & Chocolate Combined
U.S Legal sales of marijuana and marijuana products -- like edibles -- reached an estimated $30 billion in 2022, according to a report from MJBizDaily.
That total is more than Americans spent on chocolate and craft beer combined, -- $20 billion and $7.9 billion, respectively.
And get this — legal sales are still vastly outweighed by illicit ones – Whitney Economics estimates that legal transactions constituted just 25% of total cannabis market in 2021.
💻They Want Your Password
Warning-New Scams to steal your passwords.
If you've had a password hacked recently, you aren't alone. The volume of password attacks has soared to an estimated 921 attacks every second. That's a 74% rise in one year, according to the latest Microsoft Digital Defense Report.
Exiger's Robert Kolasky with more on Bloomberg & CBS:
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