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What Stocks To Buy Right Now? 5 Consumer Discretionary Stocks To Watch

Things could be heating up for these consumer discretionary stocks this summer.
The post What Stocks To Buy Right Now? 5 Consumer Discretionary Stocks To Watch appeared first on Stock Market News, Quotes, Charts and Financial Information | StockMarke…

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Do You Have These Top Consumer Discretionary Stocks In Your June Watchlist?

With the economy reopening and the current surge in consumer spending, consumer discretionary stocks could be worth watching now. Among the consumer-related stocks in the stock market today, this segment stands to benefit the most from summer spending tailwinds. After all, most consumers spent their summer staying at home hiding away from the pandemic last year. If anything, this would contribute to the pent-up demand for travel we are seeing now. In April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) found that prices for travel-based activities continue to rise. According to the BLS, this includes secondhand and rental car fees, airline fees, and lodging away from home. Because of this, investors could be eyeing top travel companies such as Tripadvisor (NASDAQ: TRIP) and American Airlines (NASDAQ: AAL).

Aside from travel, other consumer markets continue to expand as well. Take Ford (NYSE: F) for instance. The company recently launched its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck, providing more electric vehicle (EV) options for consumers. Another recent example would be the supposed rise in the hard seltzer industry now. Based on data from the U.S. Distilled Spirits Council, premixed cocktail sales grew by 50% in the U.S. in 2020. According to Bank of America Securities (NYSE: BAC), this category could rake in a staggering $4 billion in revenue in the foreseeable future. In particular, beverage companies like Diageo (NYSE: DEO) would also be in focus because of this.

All in all, consumers seem to have more options to spend their discretionary funds than ever. With that in mind, here are five of the top consumer discretionary stocks to watch in the stock market this week.

Consumer Discretionary Stocks To Watch

Apple Inc.

Starting us off is the leading name in the consumer handheld electronics industry, Apple. From its flagship line of iPhones to its growing tablet and personal computer offerings, the company brings a lot to the table. On the software front, Apple develops and manages its own operating systems and related services. These include its cloud storage, video streaming platform, and mobile gaming store, to name a few. In terms of scale, the company reported a total revenue of over $89 billion in its recent quarter fiscal back in April. With AAPL stock down by 3.7% year-to-date, could now be the time to invest in it?

Source: TD Ameritrade TOS

According to Forbes, Apple appears to be hard at work on getting its iPhone 13 to the market. Firstly, production for the iPhone 13 is reportedly ahead of schedule by several months. Moreover, the company is also looking to add a larger camera module on the back of the phone. This would synergize well with its existing top-of-the-line camera software. Coupling all this with the current weakness in AAPL stock, would you consider adding it to your watchlist?

[Read More] Best Industrial Stocks To Buy Right Now? 3 Trending Names To Watch

Tesla Inc.

Next up, we will be looking at Tesla, the largest EV company in the world now. Aside from EVs, the company is also a prominent player in the clean energy home grid industry. For one thing, Tesla’s core offerings could gain momentum over time as global green initiatives kick into high gear. In its latest quarter fiscal, the company produced over 180,000 EVs and delivered 185,000. Citing strong demand for its Model Y EV in China, Tesla saw its total quarterly revenue surge by 73% year-over-year. As it stands, TSLA stock is currently up by over 230% in the past year.

best consumer discretionary stocks (TSLA stock)
Source: TD Ameritrade TOS

While most would focus on Tesla’s EV division, the company continues to grow its energy storage business as well. To begin with, Tesla reported an 83% increase in its solar energy battery deployments in 2020. Namely, the company’s Megapack utility energy storage system is to thank for this. With the transition towards green energy looming over the horizon, I could see Tesla’s clean energy offerings being in demand. For a sense of scale, Grand View Research estimates that the grid-scale battery storage market could be worth $15 billion by 2027. With TSLA stock being involved in that, would you consider keeping an eye on it now?

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American Eagle Outfitters

Another top consumer discretionary company to watch now would be American Eagle Outfitters (AEO). In short, the Pennsylvania-based company is a global specialty retailer with a focus on American lifestyle, clothing, and accessories. In fact, AEO operates physical stores in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Hong Kong. Through its e-commerce division, the company’s merchandise is available at over 200 international locations and ships to 81 countries worldwide. Now, AEO stock is currently looking at gains of over 240% in the past year.

consumer discretionary stocks to buy (AEO stock)
Source: TD Ameritrade TOS

As with most retailers, AEO appears to be firing on all cylinders now as shoppers return to the mall in droves. In its first-quarter fiscal report last week, the company reported solid figures across the board. Specifically, AEO posted a total revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, marking a significant 87% increase year-over-year. Would all this make AEO stock a top stock to watch now?

[Read More] 6 Top Dividend Stocks To Watch For Your Retirement Plan

Canopy Growth Corporation

Following that, we have the Canopy Growth Corporation (CGC). For the uninitiated, CGC is a world-leading diversified cannabis and cannabinoid (CBD) based consumer product company. Indeed, as the recreational weed market continues to expand at a steady rate this year, CGC stock would be in focus. For the most part, this is thanks to CGC’s massive portfolio of marijuana-based products. Aside from conventional cannabis, the company is also in the health and wellness consumer market.

top consumer discretionary stocks to watch (CGC stock)
Source: TD Ameritrade TOS

On the operational front, CGC continues to bolster its already impressive portfolio. Particularly, the company signed Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits as a distributor for its CBD-infused beverages. This move would play well with the recent launch of CGC’s Quatreau-brand CBD beverage line. According to CGC, Southern Glazer’s established distribution network will, notably, help bring Quatreau to consumers across the U.S. market. Having read all that, will you be watching CGC stock ahead of the company’s earnings call tomorrow?

[Read More] 5 Tech Stocks To Watch In June 2021

Sea Limited

Last but not least, we have Singaporean internet company, Sea Limited. For some context, the company primarily operates through its e-commerce, gaming, and fintech arms. In particular, these are its Shopee, Garena, and Sea Money services, respectively. Seeing as all of these businesses revolve around consumers, SE stock would be a viable consumer discretionary play right now. Besides, Sea Limited’s current hold on the fast-growing Southeast Asian market is rather significant. Because of all this, SE stock has already more than tripled in value over the past year. Could it have more room to grow moving forward?

best consumer discretionary stocks to buy now (SE stock)
Source: TD Ameritrade TOS

We could take a closer look at its recent quarter fiscal to get a clearer picture of this. In detail, Sea Limited saw massive year-over-year surges of 146% in total revenue and 121% in cash on hand. The company cites massive growth across the board from its main business divisions for this solid performance. Time will tell if Sea Limited can keep up its current momentum. Regardless, would you consider SE stock a top consumer discretionary stock to buy now?

The post What Stocks To Buy Right Now? 5 Consumer Discretionary Stocks To Watch appeared first on Stock Market News, Quotes, Charts and Financial Information | StockMarket.com.

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CCP-Linked Virologist Fired After Transferring Ebola From Winnipeg To Wuhan Resurfaces In China – And Is Collaborating With Military Scientists

CCP-Linked Virologist Fired After Transferring Ebola From Winnipeg To Wuhan Resurfaces In China – And Is Collaborating With Military Scientists

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CCP-Linked Virologist Fired After Transferring Ebola From Winnipeg To Wuhan Resurfaces In China - And Is Collaborating With Military Scientists

A virologist who had a "clandestine relationship" with Chinese agents and was subsequently fired by the Trudeau government has popped back up in China - where she's conducting research with Chinese military scientists and other virology researchers, including at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where she's allegedly studying antibodies for coronavirus, as well as the deadly Ebola and Niaph viruses, the Globe and Mail reports.

Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng were fired from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Canada and stripped of their security clearances in July of 2019.

Declassified documents tabled in the House of Commons on Feb. 28 show the couple had provided confidential scientific information to China and posed a credible security threat to the country, according to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

The Globe found that Dr. Qiu’s name appears on four Chinese patent filings since 2020, two with the Wuhan Institute of Virology whose work on bat coronaviruses has placed it at the centre of concerns that it played a role in the spread of COVID-19 – and two with the University of Science and Technology of China, or USTC. The patents relate to antibodies against Nipah virus and work related to nanobodies, including against coronaviruses. -Globe and Mail

Canadian authorities began questioning the pair's loyalty, as well as the potential for coercion or exploitation by a foreign entity, according to more than 600 pages of documents reported by The Counter Signal.

Highlights (via CTVNews.ca):

  • Qiu and Cheng were escorted out of Winnipeg's National Microbiology Laboratory in July 2019 and subsequently fired in January 2021.
  • The pair transferred deadly Ebola and Henipah viruses to China's Wuhan Institute of Virology in March 2019.
  • The Canadian Security Intelligence Service assessed that Qiu repeatedly lied about the extent of her work with institutions of the Chinese government and refused to admit involvement in various Chinese programs, even when evidence was presented to her.
  • [D]espite being given every opportunity in her interviews to describe her association with Chinese entities, "Ms. Qiu continued to make blanket denials, feign ignorance or tell outright lies."
  • A November 2020 Public Health Agency of Canada report on Qiu says investigators "weighed the adverse information and are in agreement with the CSIS assessment."
  • A Public Health Agency report on Cheng's activities says he allowed restricted visitors to work in laboratories unescorted and on at least two occasions did not prevent the unauthorized removal of laboratory materials.
  • Cheng was not forthcoming about his activities and collaborations with people from government agencies "of another country, namely members of the People's Republic of China."

Following their firings, Qiu returned to China despite it being under a pandemic travel lockdown until January, 2023.

"It’s very likely that she received quite preferential treatment in China on the basis that she’s proven herself. She’s done a very good job for the government of China," said Brendan Walker-Munro, senior research fellow at Australia’s University of Queensland Law School. "She’s promoted their interests abroad. She’s returned information that is credibly useful to China and to its ongoing research."

More via the Globe and Mail;

Documents reviewed by The Globe show that Dr. Qiu is most closely aligned with the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in Hefei. In March, 2023, a document posted by a Chinese pharmaceutical company listed Dr. Qiu as second amongst “major completion personnel” on a project awarded by the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association for study related to an anti-Ebola virus therapeutic antibody. Most of the other completion personnel were associated with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

USTC was founded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and initially established to build up Chinese scientific expertise useful to the military, which at the time was pursuing technology to build satellites, intercontinental ballistic missiles and atomic bombs. The university has continued to maintain close military ties.

The document says Dr. Qiu works for USTC. Jin Tengchuan, the principal investigator at the Laboratory of Structural Immunology at USTC, lists her as a co-inventor on a patent. Mr. Jin did not respond to requests for comment.

A person who answered the phone at USTC told The Globe, “I don’t have any information about this teacher.”

In 2012, USTC signed a strategic co-operation agreement with the Army Engineering University of the People’s Liberation Army, designed to strengthen research on cutting-edge technology useful for communications, weaponry and other national-defence priorities.

Dr. Qiu is also listed as a 2019 doctoral supervisor for students studying virology at Hebei Medical University.

Well, that makes me wonder what circumstances she was under when she emigrated to Canada. Why did she come?” asked Earl Brown, a professor emeritus of biochemistry, microbiology and immunology at the University of Ottawa’s faculty of medicine who has worked extensively in China in the past. “People leave for more freedom from China, or to make more money. But China keeps tabs on most people so I am not sure if she came over to infiltrate or whether she came and the infiltration happened later through contact with China.”

It may be impossible to answer that question. Three former colleagues at the National Microbiolgy Lab have indicated that Dr. Qiu and her husband were diligent and pleasant to deal with, but largely kept to themselves outside of work. They say Dr. Qiu was a brilliant scientist with a strong work ethic, although her English was weak. The Globe is not identifying the three who did not want to be named.

Dr. Qiu is a medical doctor from Tianjin, China, who came to Canada for graduate studies in 1996. She started at the University of Manitoba, but began working at the national lab as a research scientist in 2006, working her way up to become head of the vaccine development and antiviral therapies section in the National Microbiology Laboratory’s special pathogens program.

She was also part of the team that helped develop ZMapp, a treatment for the deadly Ebola virus, which killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa between 2014 and 2016.

“My sense is this was part of a larger strategy by China to get access to our innovation system,” said Filippa Lentzos, an associate professor of science and international security at King’s College London. “It was a way for them to to find out what was going on in Canada’s premier lab.”

Initially trained as a medical doctor, Dr. Qiu graduated in 1985 from Hebei University in the coastal city of Tianjin, which lies southeast of Beijing. Dr. Qiu went on to obtain her master of science degree in immunology at Tianjin Medical University in 1990.

Her career at Canada’s top infectious disease lab in Winnipeg began in 2003, only four years after Ottawa opened this biosafety level 4 facility at the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health.

Over time, she built up a reputation for academic collaboration, particularly with China. It was welcomed by management who felt her work was helping build a name internationally for the National Microbiology Lab.

By the time Canadian officials intervened in 2018 and began investigating, documents show, Dr. Qiu was running 44 separate projects at the Winnipeg lab, an uncommonly large workload.

Her work with former colleague and microbiologist Gary Kobinger vaulted Dr. Qiu into the international spotlight. The pair developed a treatment for Ebola, one that in its first human application led to the full recovery of 27 patients with the infection during a 2014 outbreak in Liberia.

Mr. Kobinger’s career continued to soar and he is now director of the Galveston National Laboratory, a renowned biosafety level 4 facility in Texas. In 2022, he told The Globe that it was “heartbreaking” to see what had happened to his colleague. He declined to speak for this article.

“She had lost a lot of weight with all the stress. She was so convinced that this was all a misunderstanding … and she would go back to her job,” he said in 2022. “ Her career has been destroyed with all this. She was one of the top female Canadian scientists of virology and Canada has lost that.”

Over a period of 13 months, though, the Chinese-Canadian microbiologist and her biologist husband’s lives were turned upside down.

She went from being feted at Ottawa’s Rideau Hall with a Governor-General’s Award in May, 2018, to being locked out of the Winnipeg lab in July, 2019 – the high-security facility where she had made her name as a scientist in Canada. By January, 2021, she and Mr. Cheng were fired.

Last month, after being pressed into explaining what happened, the Canadian government finally disclosed the reasons for this extraordinary dismissal: CSIS found the pair had lied about and hid their co-operation with China from Ottawa.

A big question remains following their departure: Why would Dr. Qiu risk her career, including the stature associated with developing an Ebola treatment, for China?

Read the rest here...

Tyler Durden Thu, 03/21/2024 - 18:40

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International

You can now enter this country without a passport

Singapore has been on a larger push to speed up the flow of tourists with digital immigration clearance.

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In the fall of 2023, the city-state of Singapore announced that it was working on end-to-end biometrics that would allow travelers passing through its Changi Airport to check into flights, drop off bags and even leave and exit the country without a passport.

The latter is the most technologically advanced step of them all because not all countries issue passports with the same biometrics while immigration laws leave fewer room for mistakes about who enters the country.

Related: A country just went visa-free for visitors with any passport

That said, Singapore is one step closer to instituting passport-free travel by testing it at its land border with Malaysia. The two countries have two border checkpoints, Woodlands and Tuas, and as of March 20 those entering in Singapore by car are able to show a QR code that they generate through the government’s MyICA app instead of the passport.

A photograph captures Singapore's Tuas land border with Malaysia.

Here is who is now able to enter Singapore passport-free

The latter will be available to citizens of Singapore, permanent residents and tourists who have already entered the country once with their current passport. The government app pulls data from one's passport and shows the border officer the conditions of one's entry clearance already recorded in the system.

More Travel:

While not truly passport-free since tourists still need to link a valid passport to an online system, the move is the first step in Singapore's larger push to get rid of physical passports.

"The QR code initiative allows travellers to enjoy a faster and more convenient experience, with estimated time savings of around 20 seconds for cars with four travellers, to approximately one minute for cars with 10 travellers," Singapore's Immigration and Checkpoints Authority wrote in a press release announcing the new feature. "Overall waiting time can be reduced by more than 30% if most car travellers use QR code for clearance."

More countries are looking at passport-free travel but it will take years to implement

The land crossings between Singapore and Malaysia can get very busy — government numbers show that a new post-pandemic record of 495,000 people crossed Woodlands and Tuas on the weekend of March 8 (the day before Singapore's holiday weekend.)

Even once Singapore implements fully digital clearance at all of its crossings, the change will in no way affect immigration rules since it's only a way of transferring the status afforded by one's nationality into a digital system (those who need a visa to enter Singapore will still need to apply for one at a consulate before the trip.) More countries are in the process of moving toward similar systems but due to the varying availability of necessary technology and the types of passports issued by different countries, the prospect of agent-free crossings is still many years away.

In the U.S., Chicago's O'Hare International Airport was chosen to take part in a pilot program in which low-risk travelers with TSA PreCheck can check into their flight and pass security on domestic flights without showing ID. The UK has also been testing similar digital crossings for British and EU citizens but no similar push for international travelers is currently being planned in the U.S.

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International

This country became first in the world to let in tourists passport-free

Singapore has been on a larger push to speed up the flow of tourists with digital immigration clearance.

Published

on

In the fall of 2023, the city-state of Singapore announced that it was working on end-to-end biometrics that would allow travelers passing through its Changi Airport to check into flights, drop off bags and even leave and exit the country without a passport.

The latter is the most technologically advanced step of them all because not all countries issue passports with the same biometrics while immigration laws leave fewer room for mistakes about who enters the country.

Related: A country just went visa-free for visitors with any passport

That said, Singapore is one step closer to instituting passport-free travel by testing it at its land border with Malaysia. The two countries have two border checkpoints, Woodlands and Tuas, and as of March 20 those entering in Singapore by car are able to show a QR code that they generate through the government’s MyICA app instead of the passport.

A photograph captures Singapore's Tuas land border with Malaysia.

Here is who is now able to enter Singapore passport-free

The latter will be available to citizens of Singapore, permanent residents and tourists who have already entered the country once with their current passport. The government app pulls data from one's passport and shows the border officer the conditions of one's entry clearance already recorded in the system.

More Travel:

While not truly passport-free since tourists still need to link a valid passport to an online system, the move is the first step in Singapore's larger push to get rid of physical passports.

"The QR code initiative allows travellers to enjoy a faster and more convenient experience, with estimated time savings of around 20 seconds for cars with four travellers, to approximately one minute for cars with 10 travellers," Singapore's Immigration and Checkpoints Authority wrote in a press release announcing the new feature. "Overall waiting time can be reduced by more than 30% if most car travellers use QR code for clearance."

More countries are looking at passport-free travel but it will take years to implement

The land crossings between Singapore and Malaysia can get very busy — government numbers show that a new post-pandemic record of 495,000 people crossed Woodlands and Tuas on the weekend of March 8 (the day before Singapore's holiday weekend.)

Even once Singapore implements fully digital clearance at all of its crossings, the change will in no way affect immigration rules since it's only a way of transferring the status afforded by one's nationality into a digital system (those who need a visa to enter Singapore will still need to apply for one at a consulate before the trip.) More countries are in the process of moving toward similar systems but due to the varying availability of necessary technology and the types of passports issued by different countries, the prospect of agent-free crossings is still many years away.

In the U.S., Chicago's O'Hare International Airport was chosen to take part in a pilot program in which low-risk travelers with TSA PreCheck can check into their flight and pass security on domestic flights without showing ID. The UK has also been testing similar digital crossings for British and EU citizens but no similar push for international travelers is currently being planned in the U.S.

Read More

Continue Reading

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