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Investopedia
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Major U.S. equities indexes fell on the final day of the trading week as investors mulled the financial implications of Thursday's presidential debate.
Meanwhile, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, a gauge of inflation closely monitored by the Federal Reserve, showed that prices increased in May at their slowest rate in more than three years, boosting probabilities for interest rate cuts in the coming months.
Despite initially rising in the wake of the increasingly favorable monetary policy outlook, the S&P 500 ended the day down 0.4%. The Nasdaq was down 0.7%, while the Dow ticked 0.1% lower.
Nike (NKE) shares plunged 20.0%, falling more than any other S&P 500 component. The athletic footwear and apparel maker reported lower-than-expected revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter. Nike's CEO said the difficult quarter prompted an update to the company's outlook for the current year, but the firm did not provide any specific new figures.
The CEO of French cosmetics company L'Oréal (LRLCY) warned slowing sales in China could drag down growth in global beauty markets. Shares of U.S.-based rival Estée Lauder (EL) sank 4.0%.
Shares of credit card and loan provider Synchrony Financial (SYF) jumped 6.7%, notching Friday's top performance in the S&P 500. Investment firm Robert W. Baird initiated coverage of the stock with an "outperform" rating. Analysts highlighted the leading position of Synchrony's domestic private-label credit card platform and its partnership with large retailers. Shares of fellow credit card issuer Discover Financial Services (DFS) added 5.9%.
Shares of flooring provider Mohawk Industries (MHK) gained 5.1%, recovering from losses posted earlier in the week amid concerns about the outlook for companies in the home improvement industry. Mohawk has a global presence and caters to both commercial and residential customers.
Regional bank stocks moved higher after the PCE report lifted expectations that lower interest rates could be on the horizon. Shares of Regions Financial (RF) and KeyCorp (KEY) were up 4.4% and 4.3%, respectively.
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Instablog9ja
2 hrs
9
A twitterati has revealed how a man’s life changed for the worse after getting married.
He said the guy was br%ke and constantly b£gging for many years and finally he got married, he went from br%ke to becoming a church rat, from p%verty to penury.
Instablog9ja
4 hrs
14
Delta State Police PRO, Bright Edafe has revealed that a s3x¥al intercours3 with either a boy or a girl under the age of 13 years is defil3ment and the p¥ni§hment if found guilty is life Imprisonment.
In this case, consent is immaterial and such offences can’t be compounded. So going to court and swearing to an affidavit won’twork. Any parent who tries to cover defil3ment could be charged to court for aiding and abetting
Investopedia
9 hrs
12
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Toyota Motor (TM) and its Chinese state-owned joint venture (JV) partner Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC) reportedly expect to release an electric vehicle (EV) capable of autonomous driving in 2025, after Tesla (TSLA) recently won tentative approval to launch its Full Self-Driving (FSD) system in the country.
GAC Toyota said its Bozhi 3X SUV will be its first model equipped with an advanced self-driving system for navigating highways and city streets, as well as parking. The JV is designing the system with Momenta Global, which has also worked on autonomous driving software for Mercedes-Benz.
GAC Toyota also announced plans to launch an iron phosphate lithium battery between 2026 and 2027 that could help slash the production cost of its bZ4X EV by 40%.
Toyota's plans to launch vehicles with advanced self-driving capabilities in China come after Tesla received tentative approval in April to launch its FSD system in the country.
Tesla’s FSD system is a source of revenue for the EV maker in the U.S., with users paying a monthly fee, and expanding to China could be a boon for the company’s bottom line amid concerns about growth. Tesla is reportedly targeting a launch of its FSD system in China later this year.
However, Tesla's FSD notably still requires driver attention despite its name, and U.S. regulators have opened investigations into the software and its role in accidents involving Tesla vehicles.
Toyota shares edged 0.5% higher Friday to close at $204.97, and have gained close to 12% since the start of the year. Tesla shares were little changed Friday at $197.88 and have lost over one-fifth of their value since the start of 2024.
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Investopedia
16 hrs
16
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Amazon (AMZN) appears set to take aim at Chinese e-commerce giants like Shein and PDD Holdings' (PDD) Temu, with reports this week indicating that the dominant force in U.S. online retail has begun pitching Chinese suppliers on a new section of its website that would sell low-cost clothes and home goods to U.S. consumers directly from China.
Amazon reportedly held a meeting with Chinese sellers this week, showing a presentation that included images of what the platform would look like and highlighting clothing and everyday items like phone cases and coffee mugs. The meeting and concept of the service was first reported by , with later reports from and
An Amazon spokesperson told Investopedia the company is "always exploring new ways to work with our selling partners" to offer customers "more selection, lower prices, and greater convenience.”
The discount service would have a dedicated section on Amazon's website, and orders would ship directly from Chinese suppliers to customers in the U.S., with orders projected to take nine to 11 days to arrive, according to the reports. Part of why Temu and Shein can offer such low prices is the length of their delivery times.
Currently, products that come from China and are sold on Amazon will typically spend time in Amazon's vast warehouse network before being delivered. The has reported previously that Amazon has had internal debates over whether to organize search results by prioritizing items that are less expensive, or by those that have the fastest delivery times.
CEO Andy Jassy said during Amazon's April earnings call and in his annual shareholder letter that the strategy to regionalize its warehouse network to make deliveries faster has worked, with some 4 billion packages arriving the same day or one day after the order was placed in the U.S. in 2023.
Shein and Temu have grown substantially in the U.S., with Temu parent PDD routinely doubling or nearly doubling its revenue and profits year-over-year in recent quarters.
Considering the criticism Shein and Temu have faced from U.S. regulators and politicians, including allegations of forced labor likely being used by some of the platforms' suppliers, it's unclear how the U.S. government would react to one of the country's largest companies shipping China-made products straight to U.S. consumers. Temu and Shein have denied that any of their products are made using forced labor.
Shein's attempts to receive a public listing on American stock exchanges have hit several roadblocks since the company confidentially applied in November 2023, ranging from political criticism to rejections of its attempts to join the National Retail Federation, according to
The fast-fashion retailer is reported to have filed for a listing on the London Stock Exchange earlier this month, according to , highlighting Shein's belief that it may not receive a U.S. listing.
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Healthwatch
17 hrs
28
Last year, headlines describing a study about artificial intelligence (AI) were eye-catching, to say the least:
At first glance, the idea that a chatbot using AI might be able to generate good answers to patient questions isn't surprising. After all, ChatGPT boasts that it passed a final exam for a Wharton MBA, wrote a book in a few hours, and composed original music.
But showing more empathy than your doctor? Ouch. Before assigning final honors on quality and empathy to either side, let's take a second look.
What tasks is AI taking on in health care?
Already, a rapidly growing list of medical applications of AI includes drafting doctor's notes, suggesting diagnoses, helping to read x-rays and MRI scans, and monitoring real-time health data such as heart rate or oxygen level.
But the idea that AI-generated answers might be more empathetic than actual physicians struck me as amazing — and sad. How could even the most advanced machine outperform a physician in demonstrating this important and particularly human virtue?
Can AI deliver good answers to patient questions?
It's an intriguing question.
Imagine you've called your doctor's office with a question about one of your medications. Later in the day, a clinician on your health team calls you back to discuss it.
Now, imagine a different scenario: you ask your question by email or text, and within minutes receive an answer generated by a computer using AI. How would the medical answers in these two situations compare in terms of quality? And how might they compare in terms of empathy?
To answer these questions, researchers collected 195 questions and answers from anonymous users of an online social media site that were posed to doctors who volunteer to answer. The questions were later submitted to ChatGPT and the chatbot's answers were collected.
A panel of three physicians or nurses then rated both sets of answers for quality and empathy. Panelists were asked "which answer was better?" on a five-point scale. The rating options for quality were: very poor, poor, acceptable, good, or very good. The rating options for empathy were: not empathetic, slightly empathetic, moderately empathetic, empathetic, and very empathetic.
What did the study find?
The results weren't even close. For nearly 80% of answers, ChatGPT was considered better than the physicians.
Notably, the length of the answers was much shorter for physicians (average of 52 words) than for ChatGPT (average of 211 words).
Like I said, not even close. So, were all those breathless headlines appropriate after all?
Not so fast: Important limitations of this AI research
The study wasn't designed to answer two key questions:
And it had some serious limitations:
The bottom line
Could physicians learn something about expressions of empathy from AI-generated answers? Possibly. Might AI work well as a collaborative tool, generating responses that a physician reviews and revises? Actually, some medical systems already use AI in this way.
But it seems premature to rely on AI answers to patient questions without solid proof of their accuracy and actual supervision by healthcare professionals. This study wasn't designed to provide either.
And by the way, ChatGPT agrees: I asked it if it could answer medical questions better than a doctor. Its answer was no.
We'll need more research to know when it's time to set the AI genie free to answer patients' questions. We may not be there yet — but we're getting closer.
Want more information about the research? Read responses composed by doctors and a chatbot, such as answers to a concern about consequences after swallowing a toothpick.
Source: Harvard Health Publishing
