Fewer people in the US plan to buy EVs this year, study shows

  The number of buyers in the U.S. considering an electric vehicle purchase in 2024 has fallen from a year ago due to a shortage of affordable cars, inadequate charging infrastructure and ignorance about EV benefits, a study by J.D. Power has shown.

Other factors contributing to waning EV demand in the United States include stubborn inflation, high interest rates and underwhelming growth in model availability, the study said.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

U.S. automakers invested billions in developing EV models and ramping up production. But they have had to slow down some of those plans as demand for EVs softened over the last few quarters.

CONTEXT

Falling demand for EVs has pressured sales at U.S. automakers. In April, EV leader Tesla said its quarterly revenue fell for the first time since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hampered production and deliveries.

The same month, Ford Motor recorded a $1.3 billion operating loss in the first quarter for its EV and software division.

BY THE NUMBERS

The study showed that 24% of prospective vehicle buyers were "very likely" to consider purchasing an EV in 2024, down from 26% a year ago.

The percentage of those who said they were "overall likely" to consider purchasing an EV this year decreased to 58%, from 61% in 2023, the report said.

KEY QUOTES

"Approximately 40% of shoppers say they do not have a solid understanding of incentives," said Stewart Stropp, executive director of EV intelligence, J.D. Power.

"In previous years, the number of viable EVs that met shoppers' needs increased substantially year over year. This year, it's been more incremental," he said.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fewer-people-us-plan-buy-141953488.html

'US establishes Gaza pier'

 The United States anchored a temporary floating pier to a beach in Gaza on Thursday to boost aid deliveries. U.S. President Joe Biden announced the plan for the pier in March as aid officials implored Israel to improve access for relief supplies into Gaza over land routes.

By opening a route to deliver aid by sea, the U.S. hopes to combat the humanitarian crisis that has put hundreds of thousands of people at risk of famine. Below is a timeline of events leading to the arrival of the pier off Gaza.

March 7 - Biden says in his State of the Union speech the U.S. military will build a temporary port on Gaza's Mediterranean coast to receive humanitarian aid by sea. The announcement came as he seeks to cool anger among many in his Democratic Party over his support for Israel in its offensive in Gaza since Oct. 7, given the steep toll on civilians.

March 8 - The Pentagon says Biden's plan could take up to 60 days to become a reality and involve more than 1,000 American troops. Officials say a floating pier would be installed in place off Gaza and attached to land by a temporary causeway. Aid will be shipped to it from Cyprus where Israeli officials will inspect it, as they currently do at the land borders, to stop anything going into Gaza that they deem to have a possible military use.

April 3 - The U.S. State Department says an attack that killed seven Work Central Kitchen aid workers on April 1 would not affect U.S. efforts to build the pier.

April 25 - A United Nations team in Gaza visiting the site for the pier and the staging area for maritime aid operations had to seek shelter in a bunker "for some time" after the area came under fire, a U.N. spokesperson says.

April 25 - The Pentagon says U.S. troops have begun construction of the pier off the coast of Gaza, as international officials warn of the risk of famine in northern Gaza. Concerns about the risk to American troops getting caught up in the Israel-Hamas war were underscored as news emerged of a mortar attack near the area where the pier will eventually touch ground. No U.S. forces were present, however, and Biden has ordered U.S. forces to not step foot on the Gaza shore.

April 29 - A U.S. defense official says cost estimate to build the pier has risen to $320 million, illustrating the massive scale of a construction effort.

May 1 - The Pentagon says the U.S. military has so far constructed over 50% of the pier, which has several different components. "The floating pier has been completely constructed and setup. The causeway is in progress," a spokesperson said.

May 2 - White House says the pier should be open within a matter of days, despite poor weather hampering preparations.

May 3 - The U.S. military said it was temporarily pausing the offshore construction of the pier because of weather conditions and instead would continue building it at the Israeli port of Ashdod.

May 9 - The U.S. flagged vessel Sagamore carrying aid to be unloaded at the pier sets sail from the port of Larnaca, Cyprus in the morning.

May 15 - A British shipment of nearly 100 tonnes of aid has left Cyprus bound for the temporary pier, the British Foreign Office says.

May 15 - The U.S. military starts moving the pier towards the Gaza coast, a U.S. official says.

May 16 - The pier is anchored to a beach in Gaza.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/us-establishes-gaza-pier-try-151239552.html

'Democratic divide on Gaza war, campus protests hurting Biden, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds'

 Democrats are deeply divided over President Joe Biden's handling of both the war in Gaza and the U.S. campus protests against it, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found, fraying the coalition that he relied on four years ago to defeat Republican Donald Trump.

Some 44% of Democratic registered voters responding to the May 7-14 poll said they disapprove of Biden's handling of the crisis. Democrats who disapproved of his response were less likely to say they would vote for Biden in the Nov. 5 election -- no small concern given his tight rematch with Trump.

Biden has faced heavy criticism from some members of his own party for continuing to provide arms to Israel even though more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the country's offensive in Gaza. The offensive began following the Oct. 7 attack where Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and abducted 252 others, according to Israeli tallies.

The flow of weapons has continued even after Biden last week delayed a shipment of 2,000-pound (907-kg) bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs to Israel over concerns they might be used for a major invasion of Rafah, a town in southern Gaza.

The widespread campus protests, including some that have ended in violence when university officials called in police to clear campus, have undermined Biden's 2020 campaign pledge of a return to stability after Trump's chaotic four years in office.

Trump, meanwhile, has been working to exploit the unrest over the issue, urging Jewish voters, young voters and others unhappy with Biden's performance in the White House to cross over to him.

Overall, just 34% of registered voters approve of Biden's handling of the war, including 53% of Democrats, 31% of independents and 22% of Republicans.

Demonstrations against the war have not been limited to college campuses, with protesters targeting Biden and other members of his administration at public events for months.

The poll, conducted online, surveyed 3,934 U.S. adults nationwide, including 3,208 registered voters. It had margins of error of about 2 percentage points for responses from all registered voters, about 3 points for registered Republicans and Democrats and about 4 points for independents.

"This issue is a stone-cold loser for Biden," said Douglas Schoen, a pollster and strategist who reviewed the Reuters/Ipsos poll results. "He's losing votes from the left, right and center."

RFK FACTOR

Among the registered Democrats who disapprove of Biden's response to the Gaza conflict, about 77% said they would vote for him in November, compared to about 93% of those who approved of his Gaza response.

While those voters might not turn to Trump, they could choose not to vote at all or cast a ballot for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose independent campaign garnered the support of about 13% of registered voters in the poll.

Schoen said there was a strong likelihood that the Gaza issue could inflict serious damage on Biden in Michigan, a key battleground state with a large Arab-American population and where Kennedy is on the ballot.

Americans are also uncertain what U.S. policy toward Israel should look like. When asked which party has the better policy, 39% of Democrats and 43% of independents said they didn’t know.

Some 38% of registered Democrats say they support the pro-Palestinian protests at U.S. universities and cities over Gaza, compared to 38% who said they do not. Registered independents leaned against supporting the protests 58% to 23%, while Republicans overwhelmingly opposed the protests 81% to 8%.

Some 33% of Democrats agreed with a statement that the protests reflected an antisemitic view, while 37% disagreed. Some 45% of independents agreed with that statement and 30% disagreed. Some 67% of Republicans agreed and 14% disagreed.

Trump has courted Jewish voters for years through efforts such as relocating the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. But he has also blasted Jewish Democrats by suggesting they are disloyal to Israel.

Sam Markstein, political director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, pointed to exit polls that show his party’s share of the Jewish vote has been rising since 2016 and contended it would grow further this year.

"This isn't a flash in the pan. It's a trend, long in the making," Markstein said.

Kenneth Wald, who studies the Jewish-American vote at the University of Florida, said he was skeptical the conflict or the protests would generate a large-scale shift away from Democrats.

Secular Jews in particular, Wald said, are likely to stay aligned with Democrats if the alternative is Trump.

With regard to young voters, Wald said, "when the choice is between Trump and Biden, they will vote for Biden even if they are unhappy with the things he’s doing."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/democratic-divide-gaza-war-campus-101131063.html

'Anti-Putin Russian paramilitaries join Ukraine's fight in Kharkiv region'

 Peeking out from under a hat and with his face covered, the Russian fighting for Kyiv described unrelenting battles in the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv where Moscow's forces opened a new front last week.

"The situation is difficult, the intensity is very high, there is fighting almost every ten minutes," said the mortarman, who identified himself only by his callsign, Winnie.

The soldier is part of the Freedom of Russia Legion, a group of Russians opposed to President Vladimir Putin who are fighting for Ukraine.

Ukraine has sent reinforcements, including the legion and two other units made up of Russian nationals, to shore up its defence against a Russian ground incursion into the northern reaches of Kharkiv region that began nearly a week ago.

"It's an unbelievable meat grinder that they're still (sending) their people into," Winnie said, describing Russian losses as Moscow's infantry tries to storm deeper into Ukraine. Both sides say that the other is suffering heavy casualties in the war, claims that cannot be independently verified.

The Freedom of Russia Legion's deputy commander Maksimilian Andronikov, who is also known by his callsign Caesar, said Russia's fighters have become more innovative.

"They've learnt the lessons of the war, they're using rather intelligent tactics," he said.

One particularly grim innovation has been the expansion in the use of aerial bombs, which are dropped from planes and usually pack several hundred kilograms of explosives or more. Russia has vast Soviet-era stocks of the relatively cheap bombs.

Over the past several months, Russia has been able to grind out battlefield gains by hammering frontline towns and infantry positions with aerial bombs.

"Today, four guided aerial bombs came in, about 500 metres away. I was on the ground, and it started vibrating, I was thrown upwards - and I'm not small," Winnie said.

SHORTAGE OF WEAPONS

The Russian assault, which is driving towards the towns of Lyptsi and Vovchansk north of Ukraine's second-largest city Kharkiv, began last Friday.

The Russians appear to have been able to advance by at least several kilometers in some places, one of the fastest advances either side has seen since 2022, the first year of Russia's full-scale invasion.

"The enemy has the advantage in manpower, although they do not have as many vehicles as before," Andronikov said about the Kharkiv front.

The Russians, he said, were sending in noticeably fewer armoured vehicles, but even so were able to launch several times more artillery shells and FPV drones than Ukraine.

"We feel the deficit. We understand well that if it didn't exist, the enemy wouldn't have these successes here or in the Donbas," he said of the artillery imbalance, a problem felt acutely by Ukraine over the past six months.

He blasted the limits placed by some Ukrainian allies on the use of their weapons to strike Russia, saying the restriction handicapped Kyiv's ability to fight back on the northern front where the lines are a few kilometres from Russian territory.

Ukrainian soldiers have long complained the restriction gives Russia a shield, enabling its forces to launch attacks from across the border without putting their logistics at risk.

"It's a problem. There is a whole list of weapons which we receive, but until recently we didn't have the right to use them on the territory of Russia… with impunity, the enemy is using the fact that Russian territory can't be hit."

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/anti-putin-russian-paramilitaries-join-123843024.html

US to favor existing investors for Venezuela oil licenses, say sources

 The U.S. is preparing to prioritize issuing limited licenses to operate in Venezuela to companies with existing oil production and assets over those seeking to enter the sanctioned OPEC nation for the first time, two people close to the discussions said.

The move appears designed to encourage companies that have projects frozen because of U.S. sanctions, such as Italy's Eni and Spain's Repsol, to expand operations, recoup pending debt and add oil to global markets.

It will, however, avoid licensing firms with no prior investments in the country, putting a cap on how much revenue Venezuela could collect from its oil industry.

Some companies with long-standing energy projects in Venezuela, including U.S.-based Chevron and France's Maurel & Prom, have authorizations to expand oil and gas production in the OPEC-member nation. Trinidad & Tobago and Shell also last year received a U.S. license to develop a gas field with Venezuela.

Other firms such as India's Reliance Industries and customers of state firm PDVSA with no assets in the country have been hoping to gain U.S. approvals.

The U.S. Treasury Department last month said it would offer some individual authorizations to companies to operate in the South American nation after it did not renew a broad license that had eased oil and gas trade restrictions. The sanctions resumption came after the U.S. decided Venezuela had not fully met its promises to secure a competitive presidential election.

A Treasury spokesperson said the department would not comment on specific licenses as its evaluation process and criteria are not public.

Treasury "generally relies on foreign policy guidance from the U.S. Department of State and take into consideration the national security interests of the United States," the spokesperson said. The State Department declined to comment.

PDVSA did not immediately comment.

OPTIMISM FADES

Venezuela's Oil Minister Pedro Tellechea had said the proposed U.S. authorizations would allow many foreign firms to expand joint ventures with PDVSA, while new partners could start fresh projects seeking capital.

But the limited U.S. exemptions under consideration will cut the opportunity for Caracas to use partners of PDVSA to expand the nation's crude production in the near term. Venezuela's oil exports climbed to about 900,000 barrels per day in March, before the U.S. decided not to renew the election-linked license.

Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodriguez on Tuesday slammed the impact of U.S. sanctions in the last five years, which she said have cut billions of dollars from Venezuela's GDP.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-us-favor-existing-investors-140131166.html

'Trump, allies are laying the groundwork to contest potential election loss'

  Donald Trump and his allies are laying the groundwork to contest a potential loss in November, stoking doubts about the election's legitimacy even as opinion polls show the Republican presidential candidate leading in battleground states.

In recent interviews, Trump has refused to commit to accepting the election results. At his rallies, he has portrayed Democrats as cheaters, called mail-in ballots corrupt and urged supporters to vote in such large numbers to render the election "too big to rig."

He also backed a new Republican-sponsored bill aimed at keeping foreigners from voting, seeking to link his false election fraud claims with the issue of illegal immigration, even though voting by non-citizens is already unlawful and studies show it is exceedingly rare.

Trump's tactics are an intensified version of the strategy he used during the 2020 election, when his baseless voter fraud claims inspired his supporters to assault the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn his election defeat.

Rather than being cowed by looming criminal trials over his conduct in the wake of the 2020 election, Trump is repeating the falsehoods that polls show resonate with his supporters while readying the legal firepower needed to launch a similar challenge to the validity of the vote this year.

His critics worry he is setting the stage for another turbulent post-election period by conditioning his supporters to once again believe the system is rigged against him. Trump has refused to rule out the potential for violence after November's election, telling Time magazine in April in response to a question about that prospect: "If we don't win, you know, it depends."

Trump has instructed the Republican National Committee, now led by his daughter-in-law and a close ally, to prioritize building out a team of poll watchers and lawyers to monitor the vote and litigate potential post-election challenges, according to a person familiar with the matter. As part of that effort, the RNC announced in April that it will recruit 100,000 volunteers and attorneys - double the figure promised during the 2020 cycle. It called the effort "the most extensive and monumental election integrity program in the nation's history."

RNC lawyers already have filed dozens of lawsuits since last year aimed at limiting the window for counting mail-in ballots and other voting rules seen as giving Democrats an advantage.

"We are working around the clock to ensure it is easy to vote and hard to cheat," an RNC spokesperson said.

Democrats have criticized the recruitment plan as unrealistic and an attempt to intimidate voters, while also building up a legal team.

President Joe Biden, Trump's Democratic rival in the Nov. 5 election, called the prospect of Trump not honoring the election results "dangerous."

"This is absolutely the same play book that he ran before the 2020 election," said Olivia Troye, a former aide to Vice President Mike Pence who became a vocal critic of Trump. "The potential for anger, division, political violence -- all of that groundwork is being laid out again."

A spokesperson for Trump rejected such concerns without directly addressing Reuters' questions about the prospect of Trump contesting election results or the specter of political violence.

"President Trump has always advocated for free and fair elections where every legal vote is counted and any instance of fraud is rooted out," said Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung. "Democrats are the real existential threat to democracy."

STIRRING ELECTION FEARS

Some of Trump's most prominent allies are helping plant seeds of doubt about the election in the minds of his supporters.

Congress's top Republican, House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, last week unveiled the bill aimed at prohibiting noncitizens from voting in federal elections. The legislation, likely to be dead on arrival in the Democratic-led Senate, was a clear attempt to aid the Trump campaign, which has falsely claimed Democrats are allowing migrants into the country to boost their electoral support.

Earlier this month, two of Trump's potential running mates – Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum – declined in TV interviews to commit to accepting the results in November.

Another, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, said in an interview with CNN on Sunday that he would honor the outcome if the election was "free and fair" but said Republicans should be ready to pursue any problems.

One Republican donor told Reuters he was worried the RNC was putting too much emphasis on so-called election integrity initiatives over get-out-the-vote efforts where the party has fallen behind Democrats.

In the midst of a staff overhaul at the RNC earlier this year, the new leadership asked some employees whether they believed the 2020 election was stolen, in what the employees viewed as a kind of litmus test, a person familiar with the questions said.

RNC officials have denied using litmus tests and said questions were asked to test critical thinking about alleged problems with voting in battleground states in 2020.

The loudest voice on the issue is Trump's. Far from being deterred by the two criminal cases he faces for his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, Trump has urged his supporters to "go into" Democratic-run cities to "guard the vote" and portrayed 2024 as the "final battle" for his base.

Opinion polls point to a very close race against Biden, with some surveys giving Trump an edge in the seven swing states expected to determine the election's outcome.

At a rally on Saturday in Wildwood, New Jersey, Trump said the only thing Biden was good at was cheating on elections and called Democrats fascists while promising he was "not going to allow them to rig the presidential election in 2024."

For many of his supporters, Trump's messages go beyond mere rhetoric and are taken literally, said Tim Heaphy, the lead investigator on the House committee that conducted a deep probe into the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

A majority of Republican voters believe Trump was robbed of a second White House term due to systemic voter fraud, Reuters/Ipsos polling shows.

"So when he talks about cheaters and he talks about a rigged election, that is influential," said Heaphy, a partner at law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher. "As we saw on Jan. 6, there are people out there that will act upon his words."

Former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton, who served in Trump's White House but is now one of his fiercest critics, thinks it will be harder for Trump to mount a challenge to the 2024 results.

Unlike in 2020, he will not be the sitting president with the government at his disposal. And after dozens of Trump's allies were indicted for trying to overturn his loss, Bolton says he believes others will be less inclined to do the same this time around.

Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans who served on the committee to investigate the Capitol attack, said he was still worried about the possibility that Trump's allies would try to help him overturn a loss, stoking chaos or violence.

"We are in a dangerous moment," said Kinzinger, who retired from Congress last year.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-allies-laying-groundwork-contest-100734000.html

Walmart Soars To Record High After Beating Estimates, Guiding Higher As Consumers "Trade Down"

 WMT stock surged in premarket trading after the company not only reported Q1 earnings that blew away expectations, but guided even higher than consensus, and now expects the full year to be slightly better than planned as the big-box retailer attracts price-conscious consumers looking for essentials and discounts.  

In the quarter ended April 26, Walmart sales rose 3.8%, higher than what Wall Street was anticipating. With inflation easing, the average ticket was flat but the number of transactions rose by 3.8% from a year ago. E-commerce was a big driver, jumping 22% during the same period, as well as upper-income households that the retailer said drove the bulk of its gains.

• Revenue $161.51 billion, +6% y/y, beating the estimate $159.58 billion, driven by ha higher number of transactions even as average tickets were unchanged.
  • Walmart-only US comparable transactions +3.8%, estimate +3.17%
  • Walmart-only US comparable ticket 0%, estimate +1.32% (2 estimates)
• Adjusted EPS 60c, beating estimate 53c (and excludes a net gain of $0.05 on equity and other investments and business reorganization charges of $0.02).
• Total US comp sales ex-gas +3.9%, beating estimate +3.42%
  • Walmart-only US stores comparable sales ex-gas +3.8%, beating the estimate +3.45%
  • Sam's Club US comparable sales ex-gas +4.4%, beating the estimate +3.33%
• The company said that "globally, eCommerce penetration is higher across all markets led by store-fulfilled pickup & delivery and marketplace"

Summarized:

While the current quarter results were solid, Wall Street was more impressed with the company guidance: Walmart now expects adjusted earnings to come in at the high end or slightly above its original guidance of $2.23 to $2.37 per share and revenue growth of 3% to 4% for the full year. Analysts were expecting adjusted earnings of $2.37 per share and a revenue increase of nearly 4% for the full year.

• For Q2, Walmart now sees adjusted EPS in the range of 62c to 65c, vs estimate 64c
• For the full year, the retail giant expects EPS at high-end or slightly above $2.23 to $2.37 (saw $2.23 to $2.27) and vs the estimate $2.37
• Still sees FY capex about 3% to 3.5% of net sales

And visually:

CFO John David Rainey said that sales growth has been fueled by traffic and unit increases,

“We are seeing customers trade into Walmart,” he said of higher-income households who were the largest cohort behind share gains in nearly every category. “We’ve historically been thought of for value, but now it’s value, quality and convenience.”

While the grocery business has been fueling Walmart’s growth, general merchandise has lagged according to Bloomberg, which is to be expected after consumer sentiment crashed in early May to a six-month low due to concerns about inflation and the job market, while retail sales stagnated in April.

And with prices soaring, consumers have been prioritizing staples over larger, discretionary purchases: this has dented sales of competitors such as Home Depot and Target. But as higher-income consumers trade down or search for deals, Walmart is benefiting from a decision to roll out more discounts and new products and revamp stores. Lower-income consumers are buying in similar patterns at Walmart, Rainey said, purchasing more groceries and other necessities than general merchandise.

Meanwhile, Walmart continues to breathe down Amazon's neck as it expanded its e-commerce business and shipped about 4.4 billion units for same-day or next-day delivery over the past 12 months, Rainey said. About 44% of those orders were delivered to customers in less than four hours after ordering. By comparison, Amazon.com Inc. said last month that it shipped more than 4 billion items to Prime members via same or next-day deliveries in 2023.

CFO Rainey said the company has also been focused on keeping costs down, pointing to a 4.2% decline in inventory levels in the US for the quarter as supply normalizes after the pandemic.

Earlier this week, Walmart announced plans to shutter smaller offices and lay off hundreds of employees who are still working from home or can’t move to bigger office hubs. Most relocations will be to the retail giant’s corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, where Walmart is building a 350-acre campus.  Some employees will be able to work from offices in the San Francisco Bay Area or in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Rainey said the recent relocation moves are about having staff work together and that most of the changes will be done by the third quarter of this year.

“We, like a lot of companies, have relaxed those policies during Covid in the last few years and we think it’s important to get back together. We see the benefit of that,” he said.

Walmart is also investing in non-retail businesses, including advertising, that have faster growth and higher margins than core operations, while exiting areas like health clinics that are proving costly. Newer business lines, including its Walmart+ membership program, fueled the company’s operating income growth for the quarter.

WMT shares surged more than 5% in premarket trading trading, hitting a new all time high The stock has gained 14% so far this year through Wednesday’s close, outpacing the 11% rise in the S&P 500 Index.

Walmart's full Q1 investor presentation can be found here.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/walmart-soars-record-high-after-beating-estimates-guiding-higher-consumers-trade-down