Business and Finance News - 7.19.24

Bud Light Falls to No. 3 as Modelo Especial and Michelob Ultra Surge Amid Retailer Boycott

• Bud Light fell to the No. 3 spot in U.S. beer sales.

• Michelob Ultra climbed to second place behind Modelo Especial.

• Bud Light accounted for 6.5% of beer sales in the four weeks ending July 6.

• Retailers reduced shelf space for Bud Light after the boycott.

• Modelo Especial outsold Bud Light in dollar sales and volume.

• Anheuser-Busch InBev's overall U.S. beer market share is declining.

• Michelob Ultra's sales growth is part of Anheuser-Busch's sports marketing push.

*Anheuser-Busch (BUD) - Anheuser-Busch is a major brewing company that produces and distributes a wide range of alcoholic beverages, including well-known beer brands such as Budweiser, Bud Light, and Michelob, as well as craft beers and non-alcoholic beverages, with a focus on sustainability and innovation in the beverage industry.

Ford Invests $3 Billion to Expand Super Duty Truck Production, Adding 100,000 Units in Canada by 2026

• Ford will invest $3 billion to expand Super Duty truck production.

• $2.3 billion will be invested in the Oakville Assembly Complex in Ontario, Canada.

• The Canadian plant will add 100,000 units of annual capacity by 2026.

• The Oakville plant was previously slated for all-electric vehicle production.

• Ford's Super Duty trucks are currently produced in Ohio and Kentucky.

• The expansion is part of Ford's strategy to meet high demand for Super Duty trucks.

• Ford Pro's commercial business earned $7.2 billion in 2023, despite losses in the EV unit.

*Ford (FORD) - Ford Motor Company is a global automotive manufacturer that designs, produces, markets, and services a full line of cars, trucks, SUVs, electrified vehicles, and luxury vehicles under the Ford and Lincoln brands.

OpenAI Unveils GPT-4o Mini: Cost-Efficient Model 60% Cheaper, Outperforms Rivals, Available Thursday

• OpenAI launches cost-efficient small AI model GPT-4o mini.

• GPT-4o mini is 60% cheaper than GPT-3.5 Turbo.

• Priced at 15 cents per million input tokens, 60 cents per million output tokens.

• GPT-4o mini scored 82% on Massive Multitask Language Understanding (MMLU).

• MMLU score of GPT-4o mini surpasses Google's Gemini Flash and Anthropic's Claude Haiku.

• Smaller models require less computational power, suiting companies with limited resources.

• ChatGPT's Free, Plus, and Team users can access GPT-4o mini starting Thursday.

*OpenAI - OpenAI is an artificial intelligence research organization and company with a mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity.

SunPower Halts Solar Installations and Shipments, Shares Plunge 24% Amid Market Value Decline and Financial Troubles

• SunPower halts new solar installations and shipments.

• Shares dropped as much as 24%, trading at $1.94.

• SunPower has lost more than half its market value this year.

• As of Sept. 17, SunPower stops supporting new leases and PPA sales.

• The suspension may be indefinite, not temporary, per JPMorgan analysts.

• SunPower needs to restate nearly two years of financial results.

• TotalEnergies SE owns about 65% of SunPower.

*SunPower (SPWR) - SunPower is a solar energy company that designs, manufactures, and installs high-efficiency solar panels and energy solutions for residential, commercial, and utility-scale customers, aiming to provide sustainable and cost-effective renewable energy options.

Warner Bros. Discovery Considers Spinoff of Streaming and Studio Assets, Shares Surge 7%, Amidst Stock Decline and New Layoffs

• Warner Bros. Discovery might spin off its streaming and studio assets from cable network business.

• Shares rose 7% on Thursday after news of potential spinoff emerged.

• CEO David Zaslav is exploring strategies to boost the company's share price.

• Warner Bros. Discovery's stock has dropped 70% since the 2022 merger.

• Bank of America analysts proposed the spinoff strategy.

• Proposed spinoff would leave $39 billion debt with the linear TV assets.

• Company started new round of layoffs this week.

*Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) - Warner Bros. Discovery is a global media and entertainment company that creates, produces, and distributes a wide range of content across multiple platforms.

Here’s how the markets closed yesterday:

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 40,665.02 -533.06 (-1.29%)

• S&P 500: 5,544.59 -43.68 (-0.78%)

• Nasdaq Composite: 17,871.22 -125.70 (-0.70%)

• Russell 2000: 2,198.29 -41.38 (-1.85%)

• CBOE Volatility Index (VIX): 15.93 +1.45 (+10.01%)

• Bitcoin (BTC): $63,835.23 (3:00PM PST on 7/18/24)

• Ethereum (ETH): $3,420.50 (3:00PM PST on 7/18/24)

Here’s how leading market ETFs did yesterday:

• SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY): 552.66 -4.28 (-0.77%)

• iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV): 555.60 -4.43 (-0.79%)

• Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): 507.94 -3.85 (-0.75%)

• Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI): 272.76 -2.40 (-0.87%)

• Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ): 479.49 -2.28 (-0.47%)

Here’s how the THE SUPER SIX STOCKS did yesterday:

• Apple (AAPL) [3.438T]: 224.18 -4.70 (-2.05%)

• Microsoft (MSFT) [3.273T]: 440.37 -3.15 (-0.71%)

• Nvidia (NVDA) [2.984T]: 121.09 +3.10 (+2.63%)

• Alphabet (GOOG) [2.215T]: 179.22 -3.40 (-1.86%)

• Amazon (AMZN) [1.912T]: 183.75 -4.18 (-2.22%)

• Meta Platforms (META) [1.207T]: 475.85 +13.86 (+3.00%)