Fashion retailers including ASOS and Saks have started permanently banning customers with excessive return rates. TikTok haulers are shaking.
The S&P 500 closed at a record high yesterday as investors mostly shrugged off Trump's plan to slap 25% tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico (the US's largest trading partners), plus an extra 10% on Chinese imports.
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Tit for tat… California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to offer electric-vehicle rebates in the Golden State if POTUS-elect Trump scraps the federal EV tax credit — but said Teslas likely wouldn't be eligible for the incentive. Tesla stock sank after word that its cars might be excluded. Trump's reportedly considering ditching Uncle Sam's tax credit of up to $7.5K for EV buyers, and his staunch ally Elon Musk has suggested he supports the plan. If Trump goes through with it, Newsom said he'd try to institute rebates to incentivize Californians to buy electric cars (just not Teslas).
The reasoning: Newsom's office cited efforts to encourage competition in the EV market as the reason Tesla (and potentially others) may be left out of the program.
Petty cash: Musk called Newsom's move "insane," saying that Tesla is the only company that manufactures EVs in California.
Electric beef… Newsom has set ambitious targets to tackle the climate crisis, and Trump threatens to derail those goals. Trump has said that he would end California's plan to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. In his first term, Trump eliminated CA's power to set its own standards on air pollution (the Biden admin restored that ability). Trump also loosened federal environmental regs and removed the US from the Paris climate agreement. Musk was a driving force behind making EVs mainstream, but appears to have toned down his climate ambitions since allying himself with Trump.
THE TAKEAWAY
The electric transition needs help… The shift to clean energy is slow going and needs all the juice it can get. Tesla, America's biggest EV seller, accounted for over half of new electric-car sales in California last quarter. By excluding the biggest player from its incentive program, the state may be doing a disservice to its own environmental goals. Still, there's speculation that Musk supports ending EV tax credits because it could help Tesla stay in the lead.
That's that me espresso… Coffee's getting es-pensive. Arabica-bean futures hit a 27-year high this week, while futures for the lower-cost robusta (think: instant coffee) reached their highest price since the '70s. Bean prices are jumping as the industry deals with a double shot of supply-chain probs. An extreme drought in Brazil (the top arabica producer) has devastated crops. Its bean haul this season is expected to be 26% smaller than last year's. In Vietnam (the leading robusta grower) a lack of rainfall shrank shipments; this quarter the region could reap half of its typical supply.
Perk down: Budget-strained shoppers are skipping pricey beans. Sales of at-home coffee dipped more than 1% this year after surging in 2020 (remember dalgona coffee?).
Know your customer… Some shoppers are trading down to budget brands to get their caffeine fix. But when it comes to treating themselves to primo beans and fancy lattes, discounts don't seem to affect coffee-buying cadences. When an item has "treat yourself" status, customers may buy it less often, but be willing to stomach higher prices when they do.
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Solutions like YouSolar's PowerBloc® make utility power optional. Solar is its primary energy source, but PowerBloc is multi-source and can even integrate your electric vehicle.
TIME magazine ranked YouSolar as one of "America's Top GreenTech Companies" for 2024. More than 3,000 shareholders have put theirtrust in YouSolar and invested over $12.5 million.
YouSolar's investment offering closes soon — don't miss the opportunity. Invest now.1
 
What else we're Snackin'
Trump's proposed 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada could affect the price of oil, cars, food, and beer (including Constellation Brands' Modelo).
Kohl's stock plunged 17% after the struggling department store reported its worst quarterly profit since at least 1999 (barring 2020).
Abercrombie reported another quarter of fierce sales growth and gave a high-rise forecast, expecting holiday demand to be far from distressed.
JM Smucker said it expects to sell more than $900M worth of Uncrustables this year, after sales of the sandwiches grew 16% last quarter.
Best Buy didn't have its best earnings, reporting its 12th straight quarter of slipping same-store sales as shoppers shunned appliances and electronics.
As ChatGPT becomes increasingly popular in the workplace, the employees best poised for success will be the ones who can harness its power wisely. Supercharge your productivity, with HubSpot's "How to Use ChatGPT at Work" guide.
Personal Consumption Expenditures, the Fed's fave inflation index
Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Starbucks and Tesla
Advertiser's disclosures:
1 This is a paid advertisement for YouSolar's Regulation CF Offering. This Reg CF offering is made available through StartEngine Capital, LLC. Please read the offering circular and related risks at https://www.startengine.com/offering/yousolar.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Start-up investments are speculative and involve a high degree of risk. Those investors who cannot afford to lose their entire investment should not invest in start-ups. Companies seeking startup investment tend to be in earlier stages of development and their business model, products and services may not yet be fully developed, operational or tested in the public marketplace. There is no guarantee that the stated valuation and other terms are accurate or in agreement with the market or industry valuations. Further, investors may receive illiquid and/or restricted stock that may be subject to holding period requirements and/or liquidity concerns.
This was a paid for ad. Sherwood Media has been compensated for this ad by the YouSolar Reg CF Campaign hosted on StartEngine.
 
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