Tag: Pandemic

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Health

From the Wastewater Drain, Strong Pandemic Knowledge

From the Wastewater Drain, Solid Pandemic Data

Although Covid-19 is primarily a respiratory disease, research early in the pandemic found that people infected with the coronavirus frequently toss it in their stools. This finding, coupled with the magnitude and urgency of the crisis, immediately sparked interest in tracking the virus by sampling wastewater.

By finding and then counting specific coronavirus genes in wastewater, the researchers hoped to determine if the virus was present in a particular region and how widespread it was. It wasn’t long before sewage monitoring projects started popping up all over Kansas City, Missouri, until Kathmandu, Nepal.

The resulting data, which now appears in a flurry of academic papers and preprints, has provided strong evidence of the principle. Scientists have detected the virus in all sorts of environments: in treated and untreated water, in sludge and settled solids, in sewers and septic tanks, in pit latrines and open drainage systems. They found it in water that ran into huge wastewater treatment plants and out of schools, dormitories, and nursing homes. “It’s just amazing how robust this tool has become,” said Peter Grevatt, executive director of the Water Research Foundation.

Teams around the world – in the US, France, Portugal, India, Iran, Brazil, Canada and elsewhere – also found that the sewage data appeared to be an accurate indicator of what was happening in the real world. As the number of diagnosed Covid-19 cases increased in an area, more coronavirus appeared in wastewater. Virus levels fell when areas were closed and increased when they were reopened.

Several teams have also confirmed that wastewater can serve as an early warning system. Virus concentrations in wastewater often peaked days before doctors saw a peak in official Covid-19 cases.

This lead time, which can range from a few days to two weeks, depends in part on the robustness of local clinical testing programs. Scientists say, if more people are tested for the virus more often, the sewage data will offer less warning. The lead time is also because infected people often start shedding the SARS-CoV-2 virus before they experience symptoms and then often delay seeking medical care once they get sick.

“I think wastewater has proven to be one of the most objective means of understanding what SARS-CoV-2 is doing in our society,” said Gertjan Medema, a microbiologist at the KWR Water Research Institute in the Netherlands.

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Health

Covid Pandemic Forces Households to Rethink Nursing Dwelling Care

Covid Pandemic Forces Families to Rethink Nursing Home Care

Even before the pandemic began 14 months ago, nursing homes had become the source of rampant, antibiotic-resistant infections. The facilities also faced systemic problems, such as the high turnover of nursing home staff and the game of the federal government’s rating system, which made it difficult for families to judge the quality of the homes.

For years, federal health officials and some insurers have been trying to encourage more home care, and the pandemic has created a sense of urgency.

“It really changed the paradigm of how older adults want to live,” said Dr. Sarita Mohanty, the executive director of the SCAN Foundation, a nonprofit group that addresses issues older adults face. The vast majority of these adults would prefer to stay home in old age, she said.

“What happened is a welcome kind of market correction for nursing homes,” said Tony Chicotel, an attorney for California Attorneys for San Francisco Nursing Home Reform. Some families, he said, “eventually agreed to a nursing home without thinking too much about it.” But after many families tried to provide home care during the pandemic, they found that leaving an elderly relative at home was a viable alternative.

Nursing homes grew out of the poor houses in England and America caring for the poor. In the United States, the passage of the Social Security Act in 1935 provided money to states that care for the elderly. Thirty years later, the Medicaid program expanded funding and made nursing homes a central part of elderly care, said Terry Fulmer, president of the John A. Hartford Foundation, an advocacy group for older adults. “If you pay the nursing homes, go there,” said Dr. Fulmer.

It wasn’t until the 1970s that some programs to fund home care began, and nursing home residents across the country slowly began to decline, with occupancy falling to about 80 percent in recent years, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

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Health

The pandemic has made some People rethink the each day bathe.

The pandemic has made some Americans rethink the daily shower.

Robin Harper, an administrative assistant at a Martha’s Vineyard preschool, grew up taking a shower every day. “It’s what you did,” she said.

But when the pandemic forced her inside and away from the public, she started showering once a week. The new practice felt environmentally virtuous, practical, and liberating – and it’s stayed.

“Don’t get me wrong – I like showering,” said Ms. Harper, 43, who has returned to work. “But it’s an off my plate thing. I’m a mom, I work full time and it’s one less thing to do. “

The pandemic has turned the use of zippered pants on its head and changed the eating and drinking habits of many people. And there is now evidence that some Americans have become more Spartan about ablutions.

Parents say their teenage children don’t take daily showers. After the UK news media reported a YouGov poll showing that 17 percent of people in the UK had given up daily showers during the pandemic, many on Twitter said they did the same.

Heather Whaley, 49, a writer in Redding, Connecticut, said her shower use fell 20 percent over the past year. After the pandemic forced her to lock down, she began to wonder why she showered every day.

“Do I? I want you to say.” Taking a shower was less a question of function than a question of doing something for myself that I enjoyed. “

(In a previous version of this article, the city name was misspelled.)

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Business

Pandemic Aid Fund for Eating places Is Open, however Money Will Go Quick

Pandemic Relief Fund for Restaurants Is Open, but Cash Will Go Fast

Restaurants, bars, caterers, and other food companies devastated by the pandemic filed for help on Monday for a new federal aid program worth $ 28.6 billion, but the money is not expected to last long.

Despite some glitches after thousands appeared on the Restaurant Revitalization Fund application website when it went online at noon, the process was fairly straightforward, according to applicants.

This was a welcome change from the technical issues plaguing other small business administration utilities that manage the restaurant fund.

“It was impressively smooth,” said Sarah Horak, who owns three bars and restaurants in Grand Forks, ND. She was able to submit her first application just 10 minutes after signing up on the website.

Congress created the restaurant fund as part of the $ 1.9 trillion relief bill passed in March. For the first 21 days, the Small Business Administration will only approve claims from companies that are majority-owned by individuals who fall into one of the priority groups set by law: women, veterans, and individuals who are considered both socially and economically disadvantaged.

That latter group includes those who meet certain income and wealth limits and are Blacks, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Americans in the Asia-Pacific region, or Americans from South Asia, according to the agency.

Applicants from these groups are asked to certify their own eligibility for the exclusivity period. This three-week priority period alone should exhaust the fund.

The money allocated by Congress “probably won’t be enough to meet the demand that is out there,” admitted Patrick Kelley, who heads the SBA’s Capital Access Office, in a webinar last week. He hoped that Congress would provide more money if needed.

The fund offers grants of up to $ 10 million. The amount each company can receive is the difference between 2019 and 2020 gross earnings minus certain other federal aids such as loans from the paycheck protection program.

Ms. Horak went into debt more than $ 300,000 last year to keep her restaurants alive. She hopes the scholarship will help repay those loans and hire additional staff when customers return to their newly opened stores.

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May 5, 2021, 6:26 p.m. ET

“We’re seeing some positive trends in traffic, but it’s still not nearly normal,” she said.

Applicants who are not eligible during the priority period nervously wait to see if there is anything left for them. Jeremy Yoder and his wife Barbie Yoder opened the Alaska Crepe Co. in Ketchikan, Alaska in 2019. He applied for a scholarship on Monday.

“We had to learn to run really lean last year,” said Yoder. The Yoders’ business relies heavily on cruise-goers, and this year – like last year – could be an almost complete loss on the tourism front.

Mr. Yoder took a full-time job in the tech industry last year to support his family and business. “We’re doing enough to keep the doors open, but we’re certainly not profitable,” he said. “We lose money every day when we’re open.”

Tamra Patterson, the owner of Chef Tam’s Underground Cafe in Memphis, was still trying to complete her application late Monday afternoon. She made it through several steps but received a message that her responses had failed the agency’s “knowledge-based authentication” test.

The SBA said in a Twitter post that it was having problems with this part of the application process. “Your place in line is reserved and you will be able to complete your application shortly,” she informed those concerned.

Ms. Patterson, who is Black, said she hadn’t been approved for any other federal assistance programs, including the paycheck protection program. “Every time I tried to apply, I ran into some kind of hiccups,” she said.

Ms. Patterson’s restaurant had sales of more than $ 1 million in 2019, she said. Shortly before the pandemic, she moved her once tiny company to a much larger area of ​​7,000 square meters and expanded her workforce to 38 employees.

She had to fire almost everyone after the pandemic hit. Take-out and delivery brought some revenue, but their sales fell by at least 80 percent last year, she said.

Ms. Patterson hopes the grant will give her company some breathing space. She wants to give her eleven workers who have worked “non-stop” time off and catch up on bills, such as the payments she owes her grocery vendors and other creditors.

“Just to be able to pay my rent in full and on time would be amazing,” she said.

The Small Business Administration said their goal is to respond to applicants within 14 days. An SBA spokesman declined to comment on Monday afternoon how many applications had been received.

This is the second funding program that the agency recently started. Applications were made last week for the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, a $ 16 billion relief fund for theaters, music clubs, and other live events businesses. Almost 9,500 companies applied for this relief on the first day of the program, but the agency has not yet made any grant decisions.

Categories
Business

Berkshire Hathaway Reveals a Rebound From the Pandemic

Berkshire Hathaway Shows a Rebound From the Pandemic

Berkshire Hathaway, the Warren E. Buffett-led conglomerate, posted net income of $ 11.7 billion in the first quarter on Saturday and made a gain on a loss of $ 49.7 billion a year ago as the paper value its investment income increased.

Using Berkshire’s preferred financial metric, operating income, the company grew nearly 19 percent year over year as its numerous subsidiaries – from power generation to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad to consumer brands – improved their performance.

Among the companies that saw the biggest improvements was the railroad, which benefited from higher freight volumes as the American economy recovered from the pandemic. Berkshire’s construction products and consumer subsidiaries also saw higher sales as home construction and retail purchases increased.

However, other parts of Mr. Buffett’s empire continued to suffer, particularly industrial manufacturers like Precision Castparts, whose aerospace parts were less in demand due to the decline in travel associated with Covid.

Berkshire’s extensive insurance business painted a mixed picture. Geico auto insurance claims declined in the quarter, although other parts of the insurance business were impacted by increased claims related to the devastating North American winter storm in February.

Berkshire posted capital gains of $ 2.8 billion for the quarter, compared to losses of $ 54.5 billion in the 2020 quarter.

The conglomerate also repurchased $ 6.6 billion in shares during the quarter as Mr Buffett continues to spend his company’s enormous cash supply – currently more than $ 145 billion – on buying back Berkshire stocks rather than making large acquisitions to do.

The earnings report came hours before Berkshire prepared for its annual investor meeting, when Mr. Buffett’s loyal supporters flew to the company’s hometown, Omaha, Neb., For decades to celebrate one of the world’s most famous investors.

However, this year it will be held virtually again to bow to the pandemic and collect restrictions. And for the first time, it’s not in Omaha, but in Los Angeles, where Charles T. Munger, Berkshire’s 97-year-old vice chairman, lives.

Annual meetings in Berkshire are known for providing a forum for the company’s shareholders to ask 90-year-old Mr. Buffett for their thoughts.

Topics expected this year include multi-year topics such as politics, potential takeover targets for Berkshire, and succession as CEO once he steps down. Questions also arise about how the conglomerate’s stock performance can be improved – it has outpaced the S&P 500 for the past five years.

Investors are also likely to ask about topics that are more uncomfortable for Mr. Buffett, such as efforts to get American companies to take more action on environmental and social issues. Mr Buffett urged shareholders this year to turn down proposals to force Berkshire to report more on its subsidiaries’ efforts to combat climate change and workplace diversity, and ask questions about whether its approach is inconsistent.

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Business

U.S. Economic system Rebounds as Ache Brought on by Pandemic Eases: Stay Updates

Here’s what you need to know:

The economy picked up speed last quarter, shaking off some of the lingering effects of the pandemic as consumer spending grew, bolstered by government stimulus checks and an easing of restrictions in many parts of the country.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the economy expanded 1.6 percent in the first three months of 2021, compared with 1.1 percent in the final quarter last year.

On an annualized basis, the first-quarter growth rate was 6.4 percent.

Gross domestic product,

adjusted for inflation and

seasonality, at annual rates

Gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation

and seasonality, at annual rates

“This was a great way to start the year,” said Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. “We had the perfect mix of improving health conditions, strong fiscal stimulus and warmer weather.”

“Consumers are now back in the driver’s seat when it comes to economic activity, and that’s the way we like it,” he added. “A consumer that is feeling confident about the outlook will generally spend more freely.”

Looking ahead, economists said they expected to see even better numbers this quarter.

“It’s good news, but the better news is coming,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. “There’s nothing in this report that makes me think the economy won’t grow at a gangbusters pace in the second and third quarter.”

The expansion last quarter was spurred by stimulus checks, he said, which quickly translated into purchases of durable goods like cars and household appliances.

“This demonstrates the value of government intervention when the economy is on its knees from Covid,” he added. “But in the coming quarters, the economy will be much less dependent on stimulus as individuals use the savings they’ve accumulated during the pandemic.”

Cumulative percent change in

G.D.P. from the start of the

last five recessions

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Cumulative percent change in G.D.P.

from the start of the last five recessions

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before

recession

5 quarters

into recession

Overall economic activity should return to prepandemic levels in the current quarter, Mr. Anderson said, while cautioning that it will take until late 2022 for employment to regain the ground it lost as a result of the pandemic.

Still, the labor market does seem to be catching up. Last month, employers added 916,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 6 percent, while initial claims for unemployment benefits have dropped sharply in recent weeks.

Tom Gimbel, chief executive of LaSalle Network, a recruiting and staffing firm in Chicago, said: “It’s the best job market I’ve seen in 25 years. We have 50 percent more openings now than we did pre-Covid.”

Hiring is stronger for junior to midlevel positions, he said, with strong demand for professionals in accounting, financing, marketing and sales, among other areas. “Companies are building up their back-office support and supply chains,” he said. “I think we’re good for at least 18 months to two years.”

Spending on goods like automobiles led the way in the first quarter, but demand for services like dining out should revive in the second quarter, said Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics. “I think we will see a surge in services spending,” she said.

As more Americans become vaccinated, many economists expect a decline in new unemployment claims.Credit…James Estrin/The New York Times

Initial jobless claims fell last week to yet another pandemic low in the latest sign that the economic recovery is strengthening.

About 575,000 people filed first-time claims for state unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department said Thursday, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week’s revised figure. It was the third straight week that jobless claims had dropped.

In addition, 122,000 new claims were filed for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a federal program that covers freelancers, part-timers and others who do not routinely qualify for state benefits. That was a decline of 12,000 from the previous week.

Neither figure is seasonally adjusted. On a seasonally adjusted basis, new state claims totaled 553,000.

“Today’s report, and the other data that we got today, signals an improving labor market and an improving economy,” said Daniel Zhao, senior economist with the career site Glassdoor. “It is encouraging that claims are continuing to fall.”

Although weekly jobless claims remain above levels reached before the pandemic, vaccinations and warmer weather are offering new hope. Most economists expect the slow downward trend in claims to continue in the coming months as the economy reopens more fully.

But challenges lie ahead. The long-term unemployed — a group that historically has had a more difficult time rejoining the work force — now make up more than 40 percent of the total number of unemployed. Of the 22 million jobs that disappeared early in the pandemic, more than eight million remain lost.

“The labor market is definitely moving in the right direction,” said AnnElizabeth Konkel, an economist at the online job site Indeed. She noted that job postings as of last Friday were up 22.4 percent from February 2020.

Still, she cautioned that industries like tourism and hospitality would probably remain depressed until the pandemic was firmly under control. She also stressed that child care obligations might be preventing people ready to return to work from seeking jobs.

“We still are in a pandemic — the vaccinations are ramping up but there is that public health factor still,” Ms. Konkel said. “We’re not quite there yet.”

Microsoft will decrease the share of money it charges independent developers that publish computer games on its online store, starting in August, the company said on Thursday.

Developers will keep 88 percent of the revenue from their games, up from 70 percent. That could make Microsoft’s store more attractive to independent studios than competitors like Valve’s gaming store, called Steam, which typically starts by taking a 30 percent cut. Epic Games’ store takes 12 percent.

“We want to make sure that we’re competitive in the market,” said Sarah Bond, a Microsoft vice president who leads the gaming ecosystem organization. “Our objective is to have a leading revenue share and really a leading platform.”

The share of revenue that developers get to keep has come under greater scrutiny across the tech industry. Google and Apple have faced antitrust questions for the 30 percent fees they charge developers whose programs appear in their app stores.

Last year, Epic sued Apple and Google separately, claiming they violated antitrust laws by forcing developers to use their payment systems. Epic had tried to bypass the fees by letting customers pay for items in its Fortnite video game directly through Epic. That caused Apple and Google to boot Fortnite from their app stores.

Apple and Google have since reduced fees for some developers. Epic’s lawsuit against Apple is set to head to trial on Monday in U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif.

A Shell recharging station for electric vehicles in the Netherlands. Despite investments in renewable energy, Shell’s profit last quarter was largely the result of rising oil and gas prices.Credit…Koen Van Weel/EPA, via Shutterstock

Strong profit increases from two of Europe’s largest energy companies, Royal Dutch Shell and Total, demonstrated that what really matters for the financial performance of these companies remains the price of oil and natural gas.

Their recent investments in clean energy, described by company officials as essential for the future, remain marginal.

Total said that adjusted net income rose by 69 percent compared with the period a year earlier, when the effects of the pandemic were beginning to kick in, to $3 billion, while Shell said that what it calls adjusted earnings rose by 13 percent to $3.2 billion.

The main factor in the improved performance by both companies was a roughly 20 percent rise in oil prices along with an increase in natural gas prices, leading to higher revenues. During a news conference to discuss the results, Jessica Uhl, Shell’s chief financial officer, said that a $10 jump in oil prices would translate into a $6.4 billion increase in cash for the company’s coffers on an annual basis.

Shell, which cut its dividend last year for the first time since World War II, confirmed that it would increase the payout for the quarter by 4 percent, to about 17 cents a share.

Both companies have tethered their futures to generating and distributing renewable sources of energy. Shell in February said its oil production had peaked in 2019, and it has been investing in various clean energy ventures, including a network of 60,000 charging stations for electric vehicles. And Total has, among other things, invested in options to build offshore wind farms off Britain.

In its earnings statement, Total took the lead among the oil majors in providing details on its investments in renewable energy like wind and solar. The company said these businesses brought in $148 million for the quarter, measured as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. This figure was about 2 percent of the overall total for the company of $7.3 billion, according to analysts at Bernstein, a research firm.

Although Airbus reported a quarterly profit after a full-year loss for 2020,  “the market remains uncertain,”  said Guillaume Faury, the company’s chief executive.Credit…Chema Moya/EPA, via Shutterstock

Airbus announced Thursday that it had returned to a profit in the first quarter following a 1.1 billion euro loss last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, but its top executive warned that the economic toll would continue.

“The first quarter shows that the crisis is not yet over for our industry, and that the market remains uncertain,” Guillaume Faury, chief executive of the world’s largest airplane maker, said in a statement.

Airbus booked a net profit of 362 million euros ($440 million) between January and March, compared with a loss of 481 million euros a year earlier, as cost-cutting measures — which included more than 11,000 layoffs announced last year for its global operations — bolstered the bottom line. Revenue fell 2 percent to 10.5 billion euros.

Airbus delivered 125 commercial aircraft to airlines in the three-month period, up from 122 a year earlier. Over all, Airbus delivered 566 aircraft to airlines in 2020, 40 percent less than expected before the pandemic.

Airbus has previously warned that the industry might not recover from the disruption caused by the pandemic until as late as 2025, as new virus variants delay a resumption of worldwide air travel.

Given the uncertain outlook, Airbus won’t ramp up aircraft deliveries this year. The company said it expected to deliver 566 aircraft on back order from airline companies, the same number as last year.

It maintained its forecast for an underlying operating profit of two billion euros for the year.

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Source: Factset

Stocks on Wall Street jumped on Thursday, rising with European stock indexes, amid indications that the economy is moving toward a recovery to prepandemic levels.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the U.S. economy expanded 1.6 percent in the first three months of 2021, compared with 1.1 percent in the final quarter last year, or 6.4 percent on an annualized basis.

A day earlier, the Federal Reserve said that the outlook was improving and that it would continue to provide substantial monetary support, easing investors’ concerns that it would soon start easing the stimulus efforts it launched a year ago when the Covid-19 crisis forced a near shutdown of many parts of the economy.

“While the level of new cases remains concerning,” Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, said, “continued vaccinations should allow for a return to more normal economic conditions later this year.” The central bank kept interest rates near zero and said it would continue buying bonds at a steady clip.

The S&P 500 rose 0.7 percent. Market sentiment continued to rise after President Biden detailed more of his spending plans — which total $4 trillion — to fund expanded access to education and reduce the cost of child care, among other things.

Oil prices rose. Futures of West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, climbed more than 2 percent to above $5 a barrel.

The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.3 percent as a measure of economic confidence for the eurozone surged higher.

  • Facebook shares rose nearly 6 percent after the company said on Wednesday that profit nearly doubled to $9.5 billion in the first quarter as advertising revenue and user numbers increased.

  • Apple shares rose about half a percent after the iPhone maker’s profit more than doubled to $23.6 billion in the first quarter. The company also said it would buy back $90 billion of its own stock, part of its continued program to return much of its earnings to shareholders.

  • Qualcomm, which makes chips for smartphones, rose nearly 6 percent after the company said its revenue increased 52 percent in the first three months of the year compared with the previous year.

  • Airbus shares rose 2.7 percent after the French plane maker said it had returned to a profit in the first quarter following a 1.1 billion euro loss last year. But the company’s chief executive added that the crisis was not over for the industry.

Amazon announced raises for half a million employees in its warehouses, delivery network and other fulfillment teams.Credit…Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Amazon will increase pay between 50 cents and $3 an hour for half a million workers in its warehouses, delivery network and other fulfillment teams, the company said on Wednesday.

The action follows scrutiny of Amazon from lawmakers and an unsuccessful unionization push that ended this month at its large warehouse in Alabama. In 2018, Amazon raised its minimum pay to $15 an hour. In recent months, it has publicly campaigned to raise the federal minimum to $15, too.

Amazon has been on a hiring spree during the pandemic. As more customers ordered items online, the company added 400,000 employees in the United States last year. Its total work force stands at almost 1.3 million people.

Amazon typically revaluates wages each fall, before the holiday shopping season. But this year, it moved those changes earlier, said Darcie Henry, an Amazon vice president of people experience and technology. The new wages will roll out from mid-May through early June. Ms. Henry said the company was hiring for “tens of thousands” of open positions.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and chief executive, recently told shareholders in his annual letter that he recognized the company needed “a better vision for how we create value for employees — a vision for their success.” He said that Amazon had always striven to be “Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company,” and that now he wanted it to be “Earth’s Best Employer and Earth’s Safest Place to Work” as well.

Amazon is scheduled to report quarterly earnings on Thursday.

Gary Gensler’s tenure leading the Securities and Exchange Commission is off to a rocky start: Alex Oh, who he named just days ago to run the regulator’s enforcement division, has resigned following a federal court ruling in a case involving one of her corporate clients, ExxonMobil.

In her resignation letter on Wednesday, Ms. Oh said the matter would be “an unwelcome distraction to the important work” of the enforcement division.

Ms. Oh’s resignation letter followed a ruling on Monday from Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia over the conduct of Exxon’s lawyers during a civil case involving claims of human rights abuses in the Aceh province of Indonesia.

According to Judge Lamberth’s ruling, Exxon’s lawyers claimed without providing evidence that the plaintiffs’ attorneys were “agitated, disrespectful and unhinged” during a deposition. He ordered Exxon’s lawyers to show why penalties were not warranted for those comments.

The ruling did not single out any lawyers by name. Ms. Oh was one of the lead lawyers for Exxon.

The judge’s order also granted the plaintiffs’ motion that Exxon pay “reasonable expenses” associated with litigating their request for sanctions and with an accompanying motion to compel additional testimony from Exxon related to the deposition.

Ms. Oh’s resignation letter did not mention the Exxon case by name, but a person briefed on the matter confirmed that the ruling from Judge Lamberth had prompted her to step down.

Ms. Oh, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan who worked for the elite firm Paul, Weiss for nearly two decades, was picked by Mr. Gensler to oversee the S.E.C.’s 1,000-attorney enforcement division on April 22. The same day, she filed a notice with the court in the Exxon case saying she had withdrawn from the matter because she had resigned from the firm to join the federal government.

The civil litigation involving Exxon is nearly two decades old and involves allegations by the plaintiffs that Exxon’s security personnel “inflicted grievous injuries” on them. The lawsuit was brought under the federal Alien Tort Claims Act, which enables residents of other countries to sue in the United States for damages arising from violations of U.S. treaties or “the law of nations.”

Mr. Gensler said in a news release that Melissa Hodgman, who had been the enforcement division’s acting chief since January, will return to that position. Ms. Hodgman has been an enforcement attorney with the agency since 2008. He thanked Ms. Oh for her “willingness to serve the country.”

Ms. Oh could not immediately be reached for comment.

Brad Karp, chairman of Paul, Weiss, said the firm would not comment on the matter because it involved ongoing litigation. “Alex is a person of the utmost integrity and a consummate professional with a strong ethical code,” he added.

Ms. Oh is a highly respected lawyer, but her selection had been criticized by the Revolving Door Project, a good-government group, because she had been in private practice for so many years and had defended some of the largest U.S. companies.

  • Apple said on Wednesday that its profits more than doubled to $23.6 billion in the most recent quarter. Apple said its revenues soared by 54 percent to $89.6 billion. As usual, the main driver of Apple’s success was sales of the iPhone, which rose by 66 percent to $47.9 billion, its steepest increase in years. In the latest quarter, iPhones accounted for 54 percent of Apple’s revenues.

  • Facebook said on Wednesday that revenue rose 48 percent to $26.2 billion in the first three months of the year, while profits nearly doubled to $9.5 billion. Advertising revenue, which makes up the bulk of Facebook’s income, rose 46 percent to $25.4 billion. Nearly 3.5 billion people now use one of Facebook’s apps every month, up 15 percent from a year earlier.

  • Ford Motor said on Wednesday that the global shortage of computer chips will take a greater toll on its business than previously expected and would likely cut its vehicle production in the second quarter by about half. Ford expects the shortage to lower its operating profit this year by $2.5 billion, to between $5.5 billion to $6.5 billion. The company made a $3.3 billion profit in the first quarter, a turnaround from a year ago when the company lost $2 billion as the coronavirus pandemic was starting to shut down much of the world’s economy.

Increased supply-chain and freight costs for cereal makers could translate into higher retail prices for customers.Credit…Sara Hylton for The New York Times

Before the pandemic, when suppliers raised the cost of diapers, cereal and other everyday goods, retailers often absorbed the increase because stiff competition forced them to keep prices stable.

Now, with Americans’ shopping habits having shifted rapidly — with people spending more on treadmills and office furniture and less at restaurants and movie theaters — retailers are also adjusting, Gillian Friedman reports for The New York Times.

The Consumer Price Index, the measure of the average change in the prices paid by U.S. shoppers for consumer goods, increased 0.6 percent in March, the largest rise since August 2012, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Procter & Gamble is raising prices on items like Pampers and Tampax in September. General Mills, which makes cereal brands including Cheerios, is facing increased supply-chain and freight costs that could translate into higher retail prices for customers.

At the beginning of the pandemic, companies were focused on fulfilling demand for toilet paper, cleaning supplies, canned food and masks, said Greg Portell, a partner at Kearney, a consulting firm. The government was watching for price-gouging, and customers were wary of being taken advantage of.

Now that the economy is beginning to stabilize, companies are starting to rebalance pricing so that it better fits their profit expectations and takes into account inflation. “This isn’t an opportunistic profit-taking by companies,” Mr. Portell said. “This is a reset of the market.”

Gary Gensler, the chair of the Securities Exchange Commission, has some expertise with cryptocurrencies.Credit…Kayana Szymczak for The New York Times

For many cryptocurrency supporters and investors, regulatory approval of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the United States represents the holy grail. It would allow the crypto-curious to get exposure to Bitcoin without having to buy the tokens themselves, signifying that digital assets are really, truly mainstream.

But it’s not meant to be — yet. On Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission delayed a decision on a Bitcoin E.T.F. proposal from the investment manager VanEck, saying it needs more time but offering no other explanation.

Delay is not denial, and it may be a good sign, Todd Cipperman, the founder of the compliance services firm CCS, told the DealBook newsletter. When considering the concept of a crypto E.T.F. in 2018, the S.E.C. raised questions about investor protection issues and put a “wet blanket on the whole idea,” he said.

Now, crypto is much bigger, and Gary Gensler, who taught courses about blockchain technology at M.I.T., is chair of the S.E.C. His expertise doesn’t guarantee success for crypto E.T.F.s, but it will be easier for an expert in the field to approve them, Mr. Cipperman suggested.

The S.E.C. gave itself until mid-June, with the option to take more time, but it must decide before year’s end. The regulator has rejected every proposal to date, starting with the first Bitcoin E.T.F. pitch in 2013, presented by the Winklevoss twins, which was eventually dismissed in 2017 (and again in 2018). There are several E.T.F. proposals on the table now, including one from the traditional finance giant Fidelity.

Canada is moving faster, approving all kinds of crypto E.T.F.s, after allowing its first Bitcoin E.T.F. in February. Hester Peirce, an S.E.C. commissioner and vocal crypto champion, told DealBook earlier this month that she has been “mystified” by her agency’s response to some prior applications, which met the standards in her view. With more players now engaging in the process, approval could be looming — eventually.

The acceleration of the vaccine rollout will allow more Americans to return to restaurants.Credit…Ariana Drehsler for The New York Times

The first-quarter economic recovery was powered by spending. Specifically, by spending on stuff.

Consumer spending rose 2.6 percent in the first three months of the year, with a 5.4 percent increase in spending on goods accounting for most of the growth. Americans ramped up spending on cars, furniture, recreational vehicles and other long-lasting items, as well as on clothes and food. Spending on services, which has slumped throughout the pandemic, rose by a more modest 1.1 percent.

Services spending is likely to pick up in the second quarter, as the acceleration of the vaccine rollout allows more Americans to return to restaurants, airplanes and other activities that they avoided during the pandemic. The data released Thursday by the Commerce Department largely predates that surge.

What the first-quarter data does capture is the impact of two rounds of relief checks from the federal government. After-tax personal income, adjusted for inflation, jumped 12.7 percent in the first quarter, with the government payments accounting for most of the increase. There was a similar jump in income when the first round of relief checks hit last year, which was followed by a similar surge in spending on goods.

“To some extent, when people have money, they’re going to spend it,” said Ben Herzon, executive director of IHS Markit, a forecasting firm. “If they’re not spending on services because they’re not going to movies or amusement parks, they’re going to derive utility from goods.”

He said he expected goods spending to ease in the second quarter as services spending begins to rebound more strongly.

Americans still have plenty of cash to spend. Households were sitting on a collective $4.1 trillion in savings in the first quarter, up from $1.2 trillion before the pandemic began — although such aggregates can obscure the fact that many families have seen their finances wiped out by the crisis.

Ample savings and rising consumer optimism are giving businesses the confidence to bet on the future as well. Business investment rose 2.4 percent in the first quarter and is now above its prepandemic level. The housing market has been juiced by low interest rates and strong demand; residential construction spending rose 2.6 percent in the first quarter.

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Business

TV Manufacturing Tailored to Climate the Pandemic. Now What?

TV Production Adapted to Weather the Pandemic. Now What?

“Law & Order: SVU” has been a merit in the Playbill biographies of stage actors for many years, but when Broadway closed it became an even more important part of their work diet – also because flying into the stars was made difficult by quarantine rules, and in part out of a conscious effort to help the New York theater community.

“When everything was shut down, we all said, ‘What do we do now? “Said Adriane Lenox, a Tony Prize winner who played a judge on SVU just a few months after testing positive for the virus at the start of the pandemic. Ms. Lenox said, like many other actors, she would have to get unemployed at some point tried to make ends meet by searching for jobs like dog walking on sites like ZipRecruiter.

According to Warren Leight, her showrunner, she was one of more than 100 local stage actors to appear on the show this year.

“I just called early on, ‘Let’s make this the year the first pool of actors we go to is the Broadway actors, the off-Broadway actors,” he said. “It really seems to be the right thing to do. From a logistical point of view, it is easier to rent on site. “

The effects of the pandemic were felt most clearly in cities like Los Angeles and New York, which at least during the prepandemic period were home to about two-thirds of the country’s film, television and theater assignments. In New York City, for example, officials have estimated that employment in the arts, entertainment and leisure sectors fell 66 percent from December 2019 to December 2020.

But there are signs of recovery. According to FilmLA, the official film bureau for the city and county of Los Angeles, television shooting days in Los Angeles had rebounded to around 62 percent from 2019 by the end of last year. After a winter hiatus when a California outbreak hobbled, TV production in the city is nearing normal pre-pandemic levels, FilmLA reported last week, although other sectors of the entertainment industry are lagging behind.

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Business

Pandemic booms and busts will make outcomes troublesome to gauge

Pandemic booms and busts will make results difficult to gauge

A shopper walks past shelves in a paper product aisle of a store in Burbank, California on November 19, 2020.

Robyn Beck | AFP | Getty Images

In a typical profitable season, the rules of the game for investors can be relatively simple: rising profits and strong year-on-year sales growth signal success.

This formula won’t work in the quarters to come.

Some companies, including Walmart and Dollar General, have started making challenging year-over-year comparisons. That means sales growth and ecommerce gains can look disappointing compared to the rising numbers during the height of the pandemic. Others, like clothing retailers like Macy’s and Kohl’s, major airlines like Delta Air Lines, and hotel chains like Wyndham, are facing growth that will look stunning compared to a time when malls were closed and nearing the bottom.

Due to the pandemic, investors will again be navigating in uncharted waters. You need to work out the importance of companies’ quarterly performance, as the way people lived, worked and spent a year ago skewed the numbers. And they need to filter out factors that reflect unusual times rather than sustained demand, such as shopping sprees fueled by stimulus checks and a reopening economy.

“Welcome to the upside-down world,” said Jharonne Martis, director of consumer research at Refinitiv. “We’ve never had a comparable time. What’s good doesn’t mean it’s good. And what’s negative could actually mean they are.” [the companies] well done.”

Customers shop in the meat department of the Kroger Marketplace in Versailles, Kentucky, USA on Tuesday, November 24th, 2020.

Scotty Perry | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Different approaches

Investors are excited to see how companies do on the rebound. The question is: compared to what?

Some pandemic beneficiaries like Dollar General and Kroger share a new metric: a two-year stack that ties comparable sales for the past year and this year. Comparable sales, also known as sales in the same store, are an industry term that measures year-on-year growth, with the exception of locations that are newly opened or renovated.

Dollar General, for example, saw above-average sales growth in the same store during the pandemic, but expects some of that to fade as consumers become more free to spend their dollars. For example, some shoppers went into stores and refilled larger baskets because they were stopping for safety reasons or because the competitors were temporarily closed.

CFO John Garratt said during a profit call that the discounter expects sales in the same store to decline 4% to 6% year over year. In two years, however, the same performance looks better: Dollar General expects sales in the same store to grow by around 10% to 12% over two years.

The airlines took a different approach and, depending on the data point, provided a mix of 2019 and 2020 comparisons in the results reports. Delta Air Lines attributed its approach to “the drastic and unprecedented impact of the pandemic”.

“Comparing our results from 2021 to 2019 will provide an understanding of the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the progress of our recovery,” the airline said.

The pandemic ravaged the travel industry perhaps more than any other, and US airlines combined lost more than $ 35 billion in 2020. The number of passengers dropped more than 60% to about 370 million people, the lowest number since 1984, and the airlines reduced flight operations In Response.

Demand for air travel has rebounded from the depths of the pandemic as more people are vaccinated, governments lift travel restrictions and open more tourist attractions, but it is still far from pre-pandemic levels as people continue to be largely on business and long haul forego international travel.

The Transportation Security Administration examined an average of 1.4 million people from April through Wednesday. That’s more than 13 times the 103,000 people screened a year ago when the US first closed, but it’s a 35% decrease over the same period in 2019.

Savanthi Syth, an airline analyst at Raymond James, said she’s comparing results and projections with 2019 but will use year-on-year comparisons next year. In a research report, she said comparing this year to 2019 “gives you an idea of ​​how 2021 compares to” normal “”.

Coca-Cola and CarMax have also compared their numbers with pre-pandemic numbers. Coke, in its call for a profit this week, stressed that global case volume fell back to 2019 levels in March, although aggregate demand in the first quarter was still below pre-health crisis levels as Europe and North America rebounded.

Bill Nash‌‍, CEO of CarMax, said the used car dealer’s “very volatile year” reflected government restrictions, not consumer demand. Because of this, on a earnings call earlier this month, he said 2019 was a better reference point.

For example, he said, CarMax’s California locations lagged significantly behind the rest of the company as the state’s demand for lower occupancy restricted customer pedestrian traffic – and ultimately revenue.

“Smooth”

When companies excavated from the global financial crisis in 2010, there were unusually high growth rates, said John Butters, senior earnings analyst at FactSet. Just like then, investors need to “keep the growth rate in context”.

“The result is improving, but you are comparing it to a very weak base and so some of those numbers are much larger than we normally see,” he said.

After the pandemic, however, there will be different groups: companies that are booming from extremely weak sales and companies that have slowed or worsened sales growth as the pandemic tailwind wears off, and possibly a third group: companies that have the Maintain momentum.

Martis from Refinitiv pointed out two examples that capture this “wrong” dynamic. Delta’s revenue growth rate is expected to more than quadruple year over year in the second quarter of fiscal year, according to Refinitiv. However, estimated revenue for the quarter is $ 6.22 billion – less than half of the $ 12.54 billion reported in the same quarter of 2019 before the pandemic.

On the other hand, Walmart’s revenue growth rate is expected to decline 2.2% year over year in the first quarter of fiscal year – a decline that usually indicates weakness and is cause for concern. However, the estimated revenue of $ 131.66 billion is likely to be higher than the pre-pandemic revenue of $ 123.93 billion in the same quarter of 2019.

Even so, Refinitiv doesn’t plan to use two-year stacks, Martis said.

“It masks the dramatic changes we see in percentage changes. It smooths them out,” she said. “But it really doesn’t compare to the old days.”

Martis and Butters both said their financial data firms would instead try to explain what the numbers mean – and how to jump or drop off sharply with a grain of salt.

She said she saw 2021 as a year of transition. She anticipates consumption patterns to evolve rather than snap back as people gradually start receiving vaccines, becoming comfortable in changing rooms again, or realizing the need to buy new pairs of shoes or work clothes. It could be early next year for companies and investors to see more predictable patterns, she said.

“2021 is almost like pressing a reset button,” she said.

“Your worst enemy”

For many, the worst pandemic comparisons won’t begin until the second quarter, said Matt Miskin, co-chief investment strategist at John Hancock Investment Management. Only a week or two of home behavior were recorded in the first calendar quarter.

First, he said, the comparisons will make some companies that have seen a sharp downtrend during the pandemic look good – only to potentially bite them when spending patterns turn into some sort of normal. For home based businesses, this will come first. It could kick in again for those experiencing a shopping spree in 2021 that will cool off in 2022.

“The comps will go from your best friend to your worst enemy,” he said.

Other data points will also be meaningful, said Martis of Refinitiv. Among them, she said, is e-commerce growth. She will see retailers cling to recent profits. She said she’ll also watch companies’ margins to see how much money everyone can make. This will show whether discounts were needed to move goods and whether retailers learned to juggle brick and mortar and online stores efficiently.

Forecasts are back

Butters of FactSet said it would help if many companies returned to forecasting – something that was largely discontinued last year. The analysts’ guidelines and estimates provide helpful benchmarks, and it remains a positive sign if companies can outperform these benchmarks.

Even more than in the past, assessing a company’s strengths or weaknesses will be “a very company-specific task,” said Zack Fadem, senior equity analyst at Wells Fargo. The background for the industry is different, he said. Some companies are in hot sectors – like home improvement retailers – who will continue to benefit from the real estate market even as the pandemic-induced “nesting” subsides. For these, he said, the “wall of concern” could be postponed until next year for comparable numbers.

Also, consumer spending could rise across the board if Americans put money they put in savings or received from the government. He said if the overall pie is growing, it’s important to compare a company to its competitors and see if its market share grows or shrinks.

“With the benefits of incentives and heavy consumers, you have to comb through other sounds to see if business has gotten better or worse,” he said.

– CNBC’s Leslie Josephs contributed to this story. Nate Rattner contributed to the data visualization.

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Entertainment

‘Peter Grimes’ Sails on Uneven Seas of Brexit and the Pandemic

‘Peter Grimes’ Sails on Choppy Seas of Brexit and the Pandemic

In Madrid, the British singers welcomed the opportunity to appear in a major “Peter Grimes” production with about 150 artists at a time when most opera houses in Europe and the United States were closed, but they also sounded concerned about what would come after that would come .

James Gilchrist, who sings the role of a priest in Britten’s opera, said 90 percent of his work was in the European Union rather than the UK, which worried him not only about his own future but also about the prospects for younger artists. “If you’re a promoter in Frankfurt or something, you’re not going to want to put a British artist on the top of your list because it’s such a hassle,” he said.

“For very established artists this is probably less of a problem as their name on the poster gets people in, but if you are more early in your career I think this will be very, very difficult. ”

Matabosch said the Teatro Real strives to have the best possible line-up regardless of nationality. He predicted that post-Brexit travel rules would be easier to navigate, but conceded that British artists risked losing substitution work, which is an important part of their income.

“I’m sure that in the end we will know exactly how to get a British singer across, just like people from Australia or Canada come here. The problem, however, is that if you need a last minute replacement and you have to fly over someone that same morning it is not really feasible from the UK at the moment, ”said Matabosch.

Another British member of the Peter Grimes cast, John Graham-Hall, thanked the Teatro Real for helping them overcome travel hurdles that left him with “a very bad feeling that the British government was not interested in the arts “. He also gave a brief summary of the twin hurdles posed by Brexit and the pandemic: “It’s a bloody nightmare.”

Alex Marshall contributed to coverage from London

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Health

Rising From the Pandemic With Pimples, Facial Hair and Physique Odor

Emerging From the Pandemic With Acne, Facial Hair and Body Odor

Some children will be bigger, some will be more developed, some boys will have changing voices while others will not. “This is all a normal part of puberty, but it might appear a little more suddenly,” said Dr. Josefson.

Updated

April 19, 2021, 5:23 p.m. ET

Families should talk to children about how these changes are normal, how every body changes, but not in harmony. Dr. Coble suggested, “Start with the basics, how do you eat, how do you sleep?”

If your children have been truly isolated, remember to help them recover – perhaps by encouraging them to spend socially distant time outside with a good friend. Pandemic or no pandemic, children and families need reliable information about puberty. Dr. Adiaha Spinks-Franklin, Developmental Behavioral Pediatrician at Texas Children’s Hospital and Associate Professor at Baylor College of Medicine, sends families to Amaze.org with videos for children and the Healthy Bodies Toolkit website developed by Vanderbilt University.

Even in times without a pandemic, life is often more difficult for early developers, who remain emotionally and intellectually the same age as their peers, but who may look significantly older. Dr. Carol Ford, professor of pediatrics and director of adolescent medicine at Philadelphia Children’s Hospital, said the children who develop early need more and more support, and that may be especially true now when the changes could be more pronounced after a year interval away. Parents need to be ready to have concrete and detailed discussions on topics such as personal hygiene (yes, your sweat smells different) and the developments ahead (menstruation, wet dreams).

Some adolescent specialists have raised questions about whether the emotional intensity of the lockdown and the pandemic year might actually have contributed to early puberty. Dr. Spinks-Franklin said, “I had some of my girls who started their periods during the pandemic.” She wondered if stress had anything to do with it or if it was just a regular development.

A preliminary analysis from Italy published in March found that referrals for early puberty among girls increased significantly in the first six months of the pandemic compared to the same half of 2019. From March to September 2020, 246 children, almost all girls, were referred to the Bambino Gesù children’s hospital in Rome to investigate suspected precocious puberty, compared with 118 in the same months of 2019. The authors asked questions about possible links with Use stress, higher caloric intake, and increased screening to be addressed with further research.

If you think your child may be developing prematurely, make an appointment for a personal exam and ask the pediatrician to discuss issues related to puberty and body image. After the 10-year-old’s mother raised the issue, Dr. McFadden with her patient and reiterated the message that the changes in the body during puberty are normal and healthy. She talked to the mother about talking to the child’s teachers. “So there will be a group of people looking for her when she comes back to personal school.” And she and the mother discussed the risks that can be associated with early development in girls who may be older than them or to whom they may be victims.