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Men of the Intelligence Response Team have arrested an Abuja-based disc jockey, Raymond Terver, popularly known as DJ Ice, for allegedly purchasing expensive drinks and other goods from a restaurant using fake alerts.

Parading the suspect before newsmen on Monday, September 17, the spokesperson of the Police Force, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said the suspect sold the drinks and other goods through intermediaries to conceal his identity.

He said DJ Ice who started the crime in June 2023, met his Waterloo after he purchased drinks from a hotel in August using a fake alert.  He said the suspect made over N8 million from the scheme, which he used to purchase DJ equipment.

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Tupperware Brands (TUP) plans to file for bankruptcy as early as this week, according to a report citing people familiar with the company.

The food-storage maker has been working with lenders on how to deal with its more than $700 million in debt and violated the terms of its loan agreement, the report said. This comes after Tupperware warned last year that certain conditions and events "raise substantial doubt” about its ability to stay in business. 

Several other well-known brands have already bit on the bankruptcy bullet this year. 

Red Lobster declared bankruptcy in June, closing at least 50 locations and asking a judge for permission to shutter 100 more. The seafood chain had been plagued by troubles including questionable management by the private equity firm that owned it and an Endless Shrimp promotion gone wrong, according to reports. It was acquired as part of a restructuring deal earlier this month.

Joann, the fabrics and crafts retailer, filed for bankruptcy in March. A bankruptcy judge approved a restructuring deal that slashed the company’s $505 million in debt and kept open its 815 stores.

Clothing retailer Express filed for bankruptcy in April before being acquired by a consortium led by brand management firm WHP Global. The move came roughly a year after it acquired the Bonobos brand from Walmart (WMT) for $25 billion.

Discount retailer 99 Cents Only declared bankruptcy in April. Nearly 200 of its stores reopened as Dollar Tree (DLTR) locations following bankruptcy proceedings, according to reports.

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, the parent company of movie rental service Redbox, filed for bankruptcy in June and revealed it owed millions to more than 500 creditors, including Sony Group (SONY) and Walmart. The company's Chapter 11 case became a Chapter 7 liquidation proceeding in July, shutting down the roughly 24,000 Redbox kiosks in the U.S.

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They’re hearing wedding bells—and cash registers. 

Signet Jewelers (SIG) had been seeing slower-than-usual engagement ring sales. It usually takes about three years between the time a couple meets and gets engaged, Signet CEO Virginia Drosos said Monday, but that timeline was extended by the pandemic, affecting engagements through early 2024.

“But now, we're seeing that come back,” Drosos said. “We've seen it come back a little slower than we expected because of this choppy consumer.” More recently, she said, unit sales of engagement rings are on the rise. 

“We're seeing all the signs of that engagement recovery,” Drosos said during a Monday appearance at a CL King conference, a transcript of which was made available by AlphaSense. 

That helped lift shares of Signet, owner of the Zales and Kay chains, on Tuesday. The stock remains down more than 10% this year, though it recently changed hands at levels last seen about three months ago, lifted recently by an upbeat outlook for the third quarter. 

Drosos offered other reasons for optimism on Monday, including a year-over-year increase in visits to its web sites—though she also said shoppers appear to be more cautious with their buying decisions at present. Executives at jeweler Brilliant Earth (BRLT) said something similar at a Goldman Sachs conference recently, while also reporting higher average selling prices for engagement rings. 

“But they're still moving forward to engagement, which is what we've been waiting for and are excited about,” Drosos said. “It creates a three-year tailwind in our business.”

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JPMorgan Chase (JPM) could take over as the backer of Apple’s (AAPL) credit-card program after the tech giant and Goldman Sachs (GS) moved to part ways last year, according to .

Goldman and Apple have reportedly had discussions with a number of other banks—including Synchrony Financial (SYF), Capital One (COF) and American Express (AXP)—about taking over as the iPhone maker's banking partner.

A deal with J.P. Morgan isn't guaranteed, the Journal reported, with details including what JPMorgan would pay still being discussed. J.P. Morgan declined to comment on the report. Apple didn't immediately respond to Investopedia's request for comment.

The bank reportedly wants to pay "less than the full face value" of the estimated $17 billion of balances across Apple's millions of credit cards, and wants to make other changes to the program that Goldman previously took issue with, like billing dates, which Apple has signaled a willingness to compromise on.

The deal would build on existing partnerships between Apple and JPMorgan Chase, the country's largest bank, including discounts on Apple products for Chase customers and payments to Apple whenever a Chase customer uses one of its cards with Apple Pay, the reported.

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Social media and stores are full of products that promise perfect skin. Increasingly, these products are being marketed not just to adults but to teens and tweens. Many are benign, but some can cause skin irritation — and can be costly. And even if these products are benign, does buying them support unhealthy notions about appearance and beauty?

It's worth looking at this from a medical perspective. Spoiler alert: for the most part teens and tweens do not need specialized skin products, especially expensive ones. But let's talk about when they may make sense.

When can a specialized skin product help tweens and teens?

So, when should your child buy specialized skin products?

What about skin products for acne?

It's pretty rare to go through adolescence without a pimple. Many teens aren't bothered by them, but if your child is bothered by their pimples or has a lot of them, it may be helpful to buy some acne products at your local pharmacy.

Ask questions and help dispel myths

If your teen or tween doesn't fall into one of these groups, chances are they don't need anything but plain old soap and water and the occasional moisturizer if their skin gets dry.

If your child has normal, healthy skin yet is asking for or buying specialized skin products, ask them why. Do your best to dispel the inevitable marketing myths — like that the products will prevent problems they do not have. Let them know that should a problem arise, you will work with them — with the advice of their doctor — to find and buy the best products.

Use it as an opportunity, too, to talk about self-image and how it can be influenced by outside factors. This is an important conversation to have whether or not your child is pining for the latest cleanser they see on Instagram. Helping your child see their own beauty and strengths is a key part of parenting, especially for a generation raised on social media.

Source: Harvard Health Publishing

While market participants are anything but certain about the specifics of the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates rate tomorrow, there is one thing they know for sure: rates are about to come down. 

That conviction has boosted small-cap stocks in recent days. The Russell 2000 index was up for the fifth consecutive session on Tuesday. The small-cap benchmark has risen more than 5% in those five days, putting it ahead of the large-cap S&P 500, which has advanced about 2.5%.

Small caps' outperformance comes as investors await the Federal Reserve's first interest rate cut in more than four years. The cut, due Wednesday, is expected to be the first in a series of reductions that Wall Street thinks will lower the benchmark federal funds rate by at least a full percentage point before the end of the year.  

Rate cuts are broadly supportive of stocks, as long as the economy isn’t in a recession. Small-cap stocks are thought to benefit more than their large-cap peers from monetary policy easing because they’re more likely to hold floating-rate debt. That assumption underpinned the small-cap rally that propelled the Russell 2000 more than 10% higher in July, its best month all year. 

However, as analysts at Oxford Economics recently noted, small-cap performance has been mixed after previous interest rate cuts. At best, rate cuts have helped to moderate small caps’ underperformance relative to large caps in the late stages of tightening cycles. 

Though, they say, this time could be different. Oxford expects small caps to be “outsized beneficiaries of the upcoming rate cuts…due to their relatively weak balance sheets.” Lower borrowing costs, easier financial conditions, and resilient consumer and business spending, they said, should alleviate some of small caps’ balance sheet pressure.

Others, however, advocate caution. Bank of America (BofA) on Monday said its "Regime Indicator," a measure of market sentiment, declined for a second consecutive month in August, indicating a general risk aversion in markets. Small-cap stocks, due to their sensitivity to economic conditions and typically weaker balance sheets, are often riskier investments than comparable large caps.

Quarterly earnings are also, according to BofA analysts, an overhang for small caps. The small-cap S&P 600, they note, may have exceeded second-quarter earnings expectations, but the group’s aggregate profits still declined 10% from a year ago. Total sales also missed estimates and the outlook for the remainder of the year was bleaker than previously forecast. That, they said, could limit near-term upside from this week’s rate cut. 

BofA analysts instead recommended mid-cap stocks as a near-term hedge against market weakness. Mid caps, they said, offered better second-half earnings guidance than small caps, and tend to outperform small and large caps in the year after rate cuts.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs were similarly bullish on mid caps in a note last week. The group offered investors, they wrote, "superior earnings growth at a reasonable price compared with large-caps," and stronger income statements and balance sheets than small caps.

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