(NEW YORK) — PepsiCo, which releases bottled Starbucks coffee drinks, has announced a recall for one of its products.
Select lots of 13.7-ounce glass bottled Starbucks Frappuccino Vanilla drinks have been voluntarily recalled, a representative for PepsiCo, on behalf of the North American Coffee Partnership, said in a statement to ABC News.
More than 25,000 cases of the glass bottles have been recalled, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The drinks were distributed nationwide.
“The impacted products have best buy dates of March 8, 2023; May 29, 2023; June 4, 2023; and June 10, 2023 and were distributed across the United States,” the statement read. “The removal of these products from the marketplace is currently underway. The products are not sold at Starbucks retail locations.”
The representative did not explain to ABC News why the recall was initiated, though the FDA said it was due to “foreign objects (glass)” in the bottles.
“The North American Coffee Partnership is committed to a high level of quality in the products we serve. Delivering a quality experience to our consumers is our top priority and we always act with an abundance of caution whenever a potential concern is raised,” the statement continued. “If a consumer has purchased a product and has questions or concerns, they can call Consumer Relations at 1-800-211-8307.”
(NEW YORK) — Inflation has eased in recent months but remains sky-high, especially for some household items like eggs and flour.
Price hikes for other products, however, have not only slowed but reversed altogether, offering much-needed relief for buyers, government data released this week showed.
Used cars, for instance, cost roughly 10% less than they did a year ago. The price of bacon has dropped 4% over that time, the data showed.
Still, the overall surge in prices traces back to the pandemic-induced supply bottlenecks that made it harder to access a slew of goods, including essentials like gas and food.
Meanwhile, COVID forced billions worldwide indoors, shifting demand away from concert tickets and restaurant meals and toward the exact goods in short supply. The Russia-Ukraine war has exacerbated the shortages and sent prices even higher, experts said.
Some price drops show an easing of the dynamics behind inflation, but many items reveal a unique dynamic playing out in a corner of the economy with little connection to broader economic headwinds, experts said.
“Every good, every service has its own story,” Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told ABC News. “Whether you’re talking about a pound of ground beef, a gallon of milk, an iPad or a medical procedure.”
Here’s what you need to know about which prices are falling and why:
Steaks and bacon
Grocery shoppers may have noticed a friendlier price tag on some meat products.
The price of uncooked beef steaks has fallen 3% over the past year; while the cost of bacon has dropped nearly 4% in that period. Other pork products, like roasts and ribs, have undergone a price decline of almost 2%.
Those price decreases may appear slight but they contrast starkly with the cost of another protein staple: Eggs. The cost of eggs has jumped 70% over the past year, government data showed.
The decline in meat prices owes to a drought in the Western U.S. that has made it more expensive for farmers to raise some animals, said Zandi. In response, farmers have culled their herds and delivered a glut of meat, sending prices downward temporarily, he added.
“For the time being, we’re enjoying falling prices because they’re slaughtering more cattle,” he said. “That means ultimately smaller herds and prices will rise more in the future.”
Smartphones, televisions and home assistants
The most dramatic price drops have arisen in consumer electronics, where some popular items cost much less than they did a year ago.
The cost of a smartphone has fallen nearly 24% over the past year, while the price of a TV has dropped about 13%. Smart home assistants cost 6% less than they did a year ago, the government data showed.
The drop in electronics prices owes to a decadeslong trend in the sector: Over time, a new product or technology loses its novelty and its price falls, Elizabeth Renter, a data analyst at personal finance research firm NerdWallet, told ABC News. At the same time, companies often find more cost-effective ways of producing a given technology, further reducing its price.
The price of televisions, for instance, has declined annually by double-digit percentage points for decades, Renter said. Smartphones, meanwhile, have fallen in price since the government began collecting consumer price data on them in 2019, she added.
“It’s not so novel to have a smartphone or a flatscreen anymore,” Renter said. “Prices tend to come down.”
A pandemic-era financial force has amplified the longstanding cost savings in electronics, however, Zandi said. At the outset of COVID, consumers forced indoors shifted from buying services to goods, such as televisions; but they’ve reversed that shift, cutting demand for and pushing down the price of electronics.
“In the teeth of the pandemic we were buying stuff – now we’re not,” Zandi said. “We’re buying trips to Europe or going to see the Eagles play or going to a restaurant.”
Used cars
The easing of another pandemic-related price pressure has slashed the cost of used cars, which has fallen more than 11% over the last year, Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com, told ABC News.
A COVID-induced supply chain disruption led to a shortage of auto parts, especially the electric chips used in many car models, McBride said.
As some of the supply bottlenecks have loosened up, car parts have become more accessible and the supply of cars has moved back up toward pre-pandemic levels.
“In the early stages of inflation taking off, used car prices were one of the big contributors,” McBride said. “As there’s been an easing of some of the manufacturing backlogs, we’re seeing downward pressure on used car prices.
Renter acknowledged the improvement of some supply challenges but also attributed the price drop to a base effect, in which price changes appear to be an improvement because the current price is compared to the highly elevated price point where products stood a year ago.
“We’re seeing a return to something closer to normal after historic highs,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in New York on Thursday raised the possibility of revoking bail and remanding Sam Bankman-Fried into custody for possible witness tampering but opted to give his attorneys and federal prosecutors more time to propose stricter conditions of his pre-trial release.
Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges that accused him of misappropriating billions of dollars from the crypto exchange he founded, FTX, and he has been free on a $250 million bail package.
Federal prosecutors have sought to prevent Bankman-Fried from contacting potential witnesses and restrict his use of encrypted communications and the internet but, during a hearing, the judge expressed concern the government’s proposed rules did not go far enough.
There may be probable cause to believe Bankman-Fried “committed or attempted to commit a federal felony,” witness tampering, by contacting FTX’s general counsel and others associated with the case, the judge said.
“There is a solution,” Lewis Kaplan said, but noted that prosecutors had not asked him to revoke Bankman-Fried’s bail.
“Having him live with his parents is a check against some other risks,” said assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Roos, who said the government was trying to balance a need to ensure Bankman-Fried behaves himself with the defendant’s First Amendment rights and his ability to prepare a defense.
“We’re trying to find the right balance,” Roos said, proposing Bankman-Fried be limited to using one mobile phone and one computer that are each equipped with monitoring software.
Kaplan wondered about other phones, computers and internet-connected electronics in the Palo Alto, California, home of Bankman-Fried’s parents, where he is confined.
“Why am I being asked to turn him loose in this garden of electronic devices,” Kaplan asked.
Alarmed by the prospect of bail revocation, the defense signaled it would agree to additional restrictions.
“We understand from your comments today there is no margin for error,” defense attorney Marc Cohen said.
Bankman-Fried is barred from using a VPN to access the internet after the government raised concerns about him trying to conceal his online activities. Kaplan was skeptical of the defense excuse that Bankman-Fried was merely trying to watch the Super Bowl by using his online NFL Game Pass account.
“What was he doing watching a football game on a VPN that anyone can turn on a television and watch for free,” Kaplan asked.
(WASHINGTON) — Tesla is recalling up to 362,758 cars equipped with its Full Self-Driving Beta software or pending installation over concerns it can increase the risk of a crash, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced Thursday.
“The FSD Beta system may allow the vehicle to act unsafe around intersections, such as traveling straight through an intersection while in a turn-only lane, entering a stop sign-controlled intersection without coming to a complete stop, or proceeding into an intersection during a steady yellow traffic signal without due caution,” the agency said.
The recall will affect some Model S, Model X, Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. Tesla will offer a software update free of charge to customers, the agency said.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(LONDON) — Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco on Thursday warned against using TikTok, citing data security issues raised about the China-owned app.
“I don’t use TikTok and I would not advise anybody to do so because of these concerns,” Monaco said at a panel on technology and national security at the Chatham House in London.
Companies that operate in China must comply with laws that require them to share data with the government, Monaco said.
“The bottom line is China has been quite clear that they are trying to mold and put forward the use and norms around technologies that privilege their interests,” she said. “There’s a reason we need to be very concerned.”
TikTok, which has more than 100 million monthly active users in the U.S., has faced growing scrutiny from state and federal officials over fears that American data could fall into the possession of the Chinese government.
In December, Congress banned TikTok from all devices owned by the federal government. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is scheduled to appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in March on the company’s data security practices, the committee said last month.
More than half of U.S. states have taken steps toward a partial or full ban of TikTok on government devices.
The Biden administration and TikTok wrote up a preliminary agreement to address national security concerns posed by the app but obstacles remain in the negotiations, The New York Times reported in September.
TikTok did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
The company previously said that it stores the data of U.S. users outside of China, and has never removed U.S. posts from the platform at the request of the Chinese government.
Recent news stories have called into question the security of user data on TikTok.
Buzzfeed reported in June that TikTok engineers based in China gained access to intimate information on U.S. users, such as phone numbers. Forbes reported in October that ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, intended to use the app to access information on some users.
The Trump administration tried to ban TikTok in 2020, eventually calling on ByteDance to sell the app to a U.S. company. However, the sale never took place.
Speaking on Thursday, Monaco said the concerns over TikTok exemplify a larger conflict between the U.S. and other countries over digital security.
“Today, autocrats seek tactical advantage through the acquisition, use and abuse of disruptive technology,” she said.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. risks defaulting on its debts as early as July unless the borrowing limit is raised, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in a report on Wednesday.
The federal government on Jan. 19 reached its approximately $31.4 trillion debt ceiling — which legally caps how much the U.S. can borrow to pay for what tax and other revenue doesn’t cover — and the Treasury Department has since been using “extraordinary measures” along with its current cash flow to keep the government’s obligations paid.
“CBO estimates that under its baseline budget projections, the Treasury would exhaust those measures and run out of cash sometime between July and September of this year,” according to the report.
The CBO projection adds urgency to an ongoing political dispute in Congress over the debt ceiling. Some Republicans in the House have resisted an increase of the debt limit unless Democrats agree to spending cuts. The Biden administration, however, has repeatedly said that it will not negotiate over the debt ceiling and that a discussion over spending should occur separately.
Speaking with “Good Morning America” last week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called on Congress to raise the debt limit.
“America has paid all of its bills on time since 1789, and not to do so would produce an economic and financial catastrophe,” Yellen said. “Every responsible member of Congress must agree to raise the debt ceiling.”
She added, “It’s something that simply can’t be negotiable.”
Failure to raise the debt limit and the ensuing default on U.S. debt — which have never happened before — would cause immense harm to the U.S. and global economies, since the trustworthiness of U.S. Treasury bonds amounts to a cornerstone of domestic and international investment, economists and budget analysts previously told ABC News.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — The culture wars, fought nationwide in school board meetings and college classrooms, have entered a new arena: Wall Street.
A sharp political divide has emerged over environmental, social and governance investing, or ESG, a type of investing that takes into account non-financial information about a company, such as its climate impact and staff diversity.
Prominent Republican politicians, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have assailed ESG as “woke” capitalism that prioritizes liberal goals over investor returns, harming U.S. companies deemed insufficiently progressive and, in turn, hindering the wider economy.
Supporters of ESG, including financial firms that manage trillions in assets, have said considerations beyond the bottom line deliver the best financial gains. In weighing the economic threat posed by climate change, for instance, investors ensure the long-term health of their portfolio.
“There’s some risk that we could have red and blue banks, red and blue supermarkets,” Witold Henisz, faculty director of the ESG Initiative at The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, told ABC News. “America is more and more polarized.”
Here’s what to know about ESG and the political backlash against it:
What is ESG investing?
For decades, prevailing corporate wisdom held that companies face a choice between actions that are socially beneficial and ones that maximize shareholder value, said Alison Taylor, a professor of business at New York University who focuses on corporate responsibility and ethics.
ESG, by contrast, is an approach to investing that examines a company’s social or environmental impact precisely because it considers non-financial information useful for determining whether the company would deliver strong investor returns.
“The business would do good for the world and make more money,” Taylor told ABC News.
Depending on a given investor or policy, ESG takes into account a range of business practices, such as the release of carbon emissions or pollution, the treatment of employees and the presence of minorities within a company’s leadership.
Sustainable investment based on ESG criteria has grown to a $35.5 trillion industry, according to a study from the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance in 2020.
How has ESG risen to prominence on Wall Street?
Over roughly the past 15 years, ESG has shifted from an upstart financial trend to a mainstream strategy touted by industry titans, experts said.
The rise of ESG has been propelled by growing awareness about the negative effects of some corporate practices, in part due to the rise of social media, said Taylor of New York University. She also credited a young generation of investors, which has brought a focus especially on the role that companies play in exacerbating climate change.
Financial leaders have also taken up the cause. One major promoter of ESG, Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has highlighted for years the importance of non-financial information in assessing investment opportunities.
“Stakeholder capitalism is not about politics,” Fink said last year in a letter to CEOs. “It is not a social or ideological agenda. It is not ‘woke.’ It is capitalism, driven by mutually beneficial relationships between you and the employees, customers, suppliers, and communities your company relies on to prosper.”
The surge of ESG adoption has also coincided with a slew of studies that demonstrate its effectiveness in yielding stronger returns than traditional investing, as well as a host of findings that question its comparative benefit, Taylor said.
“There have been thousands of studies,” she said. “The jury is out on whether ESG delivers higher returns.”
Why have some Republican officials criticized ESG investing?
Republican politicians have criticized ESG because they say they consider it an effort to use financial tools for the purpose of advancing liberal political goals.
In some cases, Republicans have condemned the investing approach as a departure from free market capitalism, since it takes into account non-financial factors.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed last year, former Vice President Mike Pence said, “The woke left is poised to conquer corporate America and has set in motion a strategy to enforce their radical environmental and social agenda on publicly traded corporations.”
“For the free market to thrive, it must be truly free,” he added.
In response to such attacks, proponents of ESG reject the notion that they’re deviating from investment fundamentals, since looming threats like climate change will have a profound impact on how the economy operates, Taylor said.
“Whether you’re on the left or right, you’re currently making the argument that you’re the rational capitalist and your opponent is the partisan hack,” she said.
Criticism leveled at ESG has not only come from the right, however. Progressives have criticized the practice for imposing vague or weak standards on companies, offering the imprimatur of virtue without the requirement of substantive action.
“Everybody hates ESG,” Taylor said. “The left hates ESG because they say we should not just think about issues when they have an impact on a company’s bottom line. There’s an imperative to address racism and climate change.
In response to criticism of ESG, BlackRock told ABC News in a statement: “Over the past year, BlackRock has been subject to campaigns suggesting we are either ‘too progressive’ or ‘too conservative’ in how we manage our clients’ money. We are neither. We are a fiduciary.”
“We put our clients’ interests first and deliver the investment choices and performance they need. We will not let these campaigns sway us from delivering for our clients,” the statement added.
What have Republican officials done to oppose ESG?
So far, attacks on ESG have primarily arisen at the state level, where some Republican-led states have divested their pension funds from firms that engage in ESG investing, while others have put forward legislation that would ban any public entity from carrying out financial business with such firms, including routine local policy decisions like raising money through selling bonds.
In August, 19 state attorneys general sent a letter to Fink criticizing the firm’s use of ESG criteria in overseeing state pension funds. That month, DeSantis approved a resolution that eliminates the consideration of ESG from decisions used in managing Florida’s pension investments.
On Monday, DeSantis took the effort further, proposing a set of measures that prohibit the consideration of ESG criteria by financial institutions in Florida, as well as banning the use of such criteria in all investments made at the state and local level, among other provisions.
“By applying arbitrary ESG financial metrics that serve no one except the companies that created them, elites are circumventing the ballot box to implement a radical ideological agenda,” DeSantis said in a statement on Monday.
Republican states face financial consequences for such measures, Henisz said, noting the higher fees charged by smaller financial institutions that forego ESG investing. Texas cities will pay between $303 million and $532 million in additional interest on $32 billion in bonds due to the state’s ESG ban, a Wharton School of Business study found in July.
“The cost to the taxpayers in these states will limit how far they go,” Henisz said. “It’s more rhetoric than reality in terms of how divided the financial services sector gets.”
(NEW YORK) — Tesla plans to open a portion of its U.S. charging network to competing electric vehicle makers, the Biden administration said on Wednesday.
The carmaker plans to open about 7,500 charging stations across the U.S. before the end of 2024, officials said on Wednesday.
The update from Elon Musk’s car company comes as the White House rolls out new measures to expand EV charging across the country.
The Biden administration announced it had partnered with Tesla and other companies — including General Motors and Hertz — as part of a two-year project that aims to use “private funds to complement federal dollars and putting the nation’s EV charging goals even closer within reach.”
Tesla plans to install about 3,500 new stations on highways across the country, the White House said. Those new charges are expected to be open to other vehicles.
“All EV drivers will be able to access these stations using the Tesla app or website,” the White House said. “Additionally, Tesla will triple its full nationwide network of Superchargers, manufactured in Buffalo, New York.”
(NEW YORK) — Romance scammers raked in big bucks in 2022, deceiving almost 70,000 people out of $1.3 billion, according to a new report from the Federal Trade Commission.
According to the FBI, romance scammers create an online identity to gain a person’s trust and affection and then use that relationship to steal or manipulate them.
Last year, romance scammers stole from tens of thousands of victims with a median reported loss of $4,400 each, the FTC said.
Romance scammers use dating apps to target people, but are more likely to send people a private message to establish a relationship, according to the FTC.
Approximately 40% of people who lost money in 2022 said scammers contacted them on social media, while 19% said it began on an app or a website, according to the FTC. The FTC noted that popular messaging apps such as Google Chat, Telegram and WhatsApp were used to continue conversations.
According to the FTC report, romance scammers often use specific lies to scam people.
Approximately 24% of romance scammers tell potential victims that they or a loved one is “sick, hurt, or in jail;” 18% offer to teach how to invest; another 18% say they’re in the military; and 12% use lies surrounding getting married, according to the FTC.
The FTC said that last year 24% of people reported paying scammers using gift cards, 19% paid in cryptocurrency, and 14% paid using a bank wire transfer or payment.
Over 60% of reported losses stemmed from bank wire transfers and cryptocurrency payments, the latter making up the largest reported dollar amount in 2022, according to the FTC.
Last month, a Florida woman was arrested for planning a years-long romance scam that defrauded an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor.
According to federal prosecutors, Peaches Stergo stole $2.8 million over four years from the victim, whom she met on a dating website.
“Stergo deceived an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, maliciously draining his life savings so she could become a millionaire through fraud,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
The FTC does provide ways to spot a romance scammer in action:
Nobody legit will ever ask you to help — or insist that you invest — by sending cryptocurrency, giving the numbers on a gift card, or wiring money. Anyone who does is a scammer.
If someone tells you to send money to receive a package, you can bet it’s a scam.
Talk to friends or family about a new love interest and pay attention if they’re concerned.
Try a reverse image search of profile pictures. If the details don’t match up, it’s a scam.
(NEW YORK) — As the Easter season nears, with Ash Wednesday on Feb. 22, fast-casual restaurant chains have released specialty seafood-forward menu items ideal for practicing Christians during Lent.
For those unfamiliar, Lent is the six-week period between Ash Wednesday and Easter during which many Christians abstain from eating meat on the holy days of obligation and Fridays. Traditionally, it has marked a period or reflection, fasting and penitence, with many giving up specific things in the weeks leading up to the Easter holiday.
For years, McDonald’s has been a popular Lent option for its Filet-O-Fish sandwich, and now more competitors are wading in.
Below, check out some of the Lent-friendly menu items that are available now nationwide:
Lent 2023 food specials
Popeyes
The fast food spot known for its fried chicken has brought back two fan-favorite seafood offerings for a limited time: the Flounder Fish Sandwich and the Shrimp Tackle Box.
The Flounder Fish Sandwich, first introduced in 2021, now comes in both classic or spicy varieties. It’s made with a light, flakey flounder fillet marinated in Louisiana herbs and spices, dusted in crispy coating and fried, served on a warm, buttery toasted brioche bun with pickles and classic tartar sauce or spicy spread.
The $6 Shrimp Tackle Box comes with eight crispy butterfly shrimp seasoned in Louisiana herbs and spices, served crispy in a Southern breading, paired with a regular side, a hot buttery biscuit and classic tartar sauce.
From Valentine’s Day through Feb. 19, customers can buy one sandwich combo and get another a la carte sandwich for free on the Popeyes app and online for mobile orders.
Long John Silver’s
The seafood-centric fast-casual chain announced new savings for seafood-loving families with three seasonal specials through April 23.
Shrimp fans have three varieties to choose from for $6 shrimp baskets: a six-piece grilled shrimp basket served on a bed of savory rice with a side; six-piece batter-dipped shrimp served with a choice of one side and two hushpuppies; or crispy breaded popcorn shrimp served with one side and two hushpuppies.
All three of the above shrimp preparations are also available in a $10 shrimp sea-shares box, which includes 15 pieces grilled or battered, or the popcorn shrimp.
Long John Silver’s is also offering a fish and shrimp family feast with 12 batter-dipped shrimp, eight hand-battered, wild-caught Alaska pollock fillets, two family-size sides, and eight hushpuppies.
7-Eleven
For a limited time 7-Eleven, Speedway and Stripes are offering rewards members a “fin-tastic” deal with $2 fish sandwich Fridays.
The garlic herb Wild Alaska Pollock fillet is topped with American cheese and tartar sauce and served on a warm brioche bun, made in partnership with the Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers.
