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The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the Monkey pox (mpox) outbreaks in Congo and other parts of Africa a global health emergency on Wednesday, August 14, 2024.

There have been cases confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen countries and a new form of the virus spreading with few vaccine doses available on the continent.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had announced earlier this week that the mpox outbreaks were a public health emergency, with more than 500 d3aths, and called for international help to stop the virus’ spread.

“This is something that should concern us all. The potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is very worrying,” said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The Africa CDC previously said mpox, also known as monkeypox, has been detected in 13 countries this year, and more than 96% of all cases and d3aths are in Congo. Cases are up 160% and d3aths are up 19% compared with the same period last year. So far, there have been more than 14,000 cases and 524 people have d+ed.

“We are now in a situation where (mpox) poses a risk to many more neighbors in and around central Africa,” said Salim Abdool Karim, a South African infectious diseases expert who chairs the Africa CDC emergency group. He said the new version of mpox spreading from Congo appears to have a d3ath rate of about 3-4%.

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Candy giant Mars’ $35.9 billion offer for  Pop-Tarts and Pringles maker Kellanova (K) is a fresh burst of energy for the mergers and acquisitions market.

The Mars transaction is the largest M&A deal this year, according to Dealogic, ahead of Capital One Financial’s (COF) $35.3 billion offer to acquire Discover Financial Services (DFS), which was announced in February. 

It’s also the largest transaction in the food space since Heinz acquired Kraft Foods in 2015 — and the third-largest transaction in the food and beverage segment excluding spin-offs like Altria's separation of Kraft Foods in 2007. Here are the top five, dominated by deals for Kraft.

The deal comes as M&A plunged in 2023 to the lowest levels in a decade. This year, global M&A by dollar value is already above last year's levels, though still below 2022. Elevated interest rates have dampened deal activity, while economic uncertainty has also put off acquirers.

In 2015, Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) announced its purchase of SABMiller for $134.2 billion, a deal that made the mega brewer even bigger. It combined SABMiller’s Castle Lager with AB InBev’s Budweiser, Stella Artois, and Corona brands.

2015 was a blockbuster year for food and beverage transactions. That was when Kraft Heinz Company (KHC), the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world, was formed, with HJ Heinz buying Kraft Foods.

It may have been the year of the global financial crisis, but 2008 was also the year the world's biggest beer maker, Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD), was created. InBev, which made Stella Artois and Beck's, that year acquired Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser, for $62.6 billion.

The transaction, combining two companies that dominate the grocery aisle, if approved, will see closely held confectionary giant Mars expand into the snacks space.

At the start of the 21st century, French water utility Vivendi SA took a huge step in expanding in entertainment and liquor when it acquired conglomerate Seagram Co., maker of Absolut vodka. The deal, completed in 2000, was valued at $31 billion.

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Delta Police PRO, Bright Edafe, has reacted to a report that police officers sh%t a man because he refused to give them money.

He said, the father of this boy came to the station with the boy and told us that his son was not sh%t. And if you take a careful look at the video, you will notice that there is no blo%d either on his body or the ground. Please kindly debunk. Let’s remember the issue of 2020, after all the fake videos that went viral, it became clear that the boy was not even sh%t. Let’s be mindful of how we use social media, so it doesn’t destroy us

He added that all for clout chasing he guess. Does this guy look like someone shot? In the entire video did you see any blood either in his body or on the ground?

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Victoria's Secret (VSCO) shares jumped in intraday trading Wednesday after the company appointed a new chief executive and posted preliminary second-quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) that topped prior guidance.

The fashion retailer has tapped Hillary Super for the top job, effective Sept. 9. Super most recently served as CEO of the Rihanna-founded lingerie company Savage X Fenty and, before that, Global CEO of Anthropologie Group.

Super will be replacing Martin Waters as CEO. Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Timothy Johnson will serve as interim CEO. 

Victoria's Secret, which reports second-quarter earnings Aug. 29, now expects adjusted EPS of 34 cents to 39 cents, well above its initial guidance of 5 cents to 20 cents, as it sees North American sales improving for a fourth consecutive quarter.

"Improving product acceptance and disciplined inventory management led to strong margin performance and our teams continue to relentlessly focus on improving our cost structure, the combination of which has driven year-over-year quarterly operating income growth for the first time since 2021," Johnson said.

Victoria's Secret stock was trading up 13% at $21.54 as of 12;40 p.m. ET Wednesday. Despite today's gains, the company's shares are down roughly 19% year-to-date.

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Starbucks (SBUX) shares will likely remain on watchlists Wednesday after surging 25% yesterday on news the company had appointed Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) CEO Brian Niccol as its new CEO, replacing Laxman Narasimhan, who had served in the role for just 17 months.

During Narasimhan’s tenure, the coffeehouse chain contended with a plethora of challenges including contracting sales, increasing competition in China and discerning spending from price-weary customers. That prompted activist investors to reportedly push for changes in a bid to boost the share price.

Below, we take a closer look at Starbucks’ chart and turn to technical analysis to identify important price levels likely to attract investors’ attention.

Starbucks shares forged a double bottom between May and July, a classic chart pattern that signals a reversal from a prior down move to a new uptrend. 

Indeed, the coffee chain’s news-driven pop on Tuesday confirmed the formation, with the stock gapping above the double bottom’s neckline and closely watched 200-day moving average. Crucially, the move occurred on trading volume of more than 150 million shares, the highest daily turnover in the stock since June 7, 2000, indicating active participation from larger maker players, such as institutional investors and hedge funds.

Despite the bullish technicals, the relative strength index (RSI) indicates overbought conditions, with a reading above the 70 threshold, increasing the chances for short-term profit-taking.

Amid the likelihood for further price fluctuations in Starbucks shares after Tuesday’s surge, investors should keep a close eye on several important support and resistance levels in upcoming trading sessions.

An initial pullback could see the price revisit $90, where it would likely attract buying interest around a horizontal line joining the prominent October swing low with an array of comparable trading levels between March and April. Interestingly, this location also aligns with the key 50% Fibonacci retracement level when applying a grid from the November high to the May low.

A deeper retracement may see the stock decline to the double bottom’s neckline around the $83 level, an area likely to attract support upon the price filling a gap between the April swing low and June swing high. 

The first higher level on the chart to monitor sits near $98, where the shares could run into overhead selling pressure from a trendline linking multiple peaks and troughs from March 2023 to February this year.

A more bullish upside move could test the $107.50 area, a region on the chart that may provide resistance around the November countertrend swing high that formed within the stock’s broader downtrend over the past 15 months.

Starbucks shares were down 0.3% at $95.60 in recent premarket trading.

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