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2025-01-10   

fish clipart black and white Global stocks mostly rose Thursday following strong earnings from artificial intelligence leader Nvidia as bitcoin prices zoomed near $100,000 and oil prices rose. Nvidia itself had a volatile day, finishing modestly higher after several reversals. The chip company reported a whopping $19 billion in profits, although investors wondered if its current rate of stupendous growth is sustainable. All three major US indices rose, led by the Dow, which won more than one percent. The pickup on US markets also helped European bourses shake off early weakness. O'Hare called Thursday's rally a "broad-based move," noting nine of 11 US sectors rose and adding that investors are hopeful about a year-end rally. But worsening tensions between Russia and Ukraine also loom as a risk. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the conflict in Ukraine had characteristics of a "global" war and did not rule out strikes on Western countries. Putin spoke out after a day of frayed nerves, with Russia test-firing a new generation intermediate-range missile at Ukraine. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky branded the strike a major ramping up of the "scale and brutality" of the war by a "crazy neighbor", while Kyiv's main backer the United States said that Russia was to blame for escalating the conflict "at every turn". The tension helped push oil prices up around two percent and played a role in lifting natural gas prices to their highest level in a year. The dollar also continued to push higher, boosted by the falling odds of further Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, as well as the greenback's status as a haven currency. But the day's most impressive action may have been bitcoin, which soared above $99,000. The cryptocurrency has been lifted by expectations that Donald Trump, spurred by cryptocurrency cheerleader Elon Musk, will bring it further into everyday use upon re-entering the White House in January. "Will Americans be able to use crypto to pay their taxes in the future? There is a bigger possibility of this happening now than before the election," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB. In Asia, shares in Indian conglomerate Adani Group tanked after US prosecutors charged its owner Gautam Adani with handing out more than $250 million in bribes for key contracts. Flagship operation Adani Enterprises dived almost 20 percent, while several of its subsidiaries -- from coal to media businesses -- lost 10 to 20 percent. Among other companies, Google parent Alphabet tumbled 4.6 percent after the Justice Department asked a federal court to order Google to sell its widely used Chrome browser in a major antitrust crackdown. DOJ also asked the court to ban deals for Google to be the default search engine on smartphones and prevent it from exploiting its Android mobile operating system. - Key figures around 2130 GMT - New York - Dow: UP 1.1 percent at 43,870.35 (close) New York - S&P 500: UP 0.5 percent at 5,948.71 (close) New York - Nasdaq: UP less than 0.1 percent at 18,972.42 (close) London - FTSE 100: UP 0.8 percent at 8,149.27 (close) Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 7,213.32 (close) Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.7 percent at 19,146.17 (close) Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.9 percent at 38,026.17 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.5 percent at 19,601.11 (close) Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 3,370.40 (close) Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0476 from $1.0544 on Wednesday Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2587 from $1.2652 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 154.54 yen from 155.44 yen Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.20 pence from 83.33 pence Brent North Sea Crude: UP 2.0 percent at $74.23 per barrel West Texas Intermediate: UP 2.0 percent at $70.10 per barrel bur-jmb/mdI’m A Celebrity fans furious over ‘new low’ on show during gruesome eating trial as Rev Richard Coles and Tulisa gag

In this month’s edition of our comparison series, we take a look at two upstream powerhouse producers. The first, Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY), is in the process of digesting a large acquisition and carries a lot of debt as a result. Is the share price fully discounting this factor? We will see. The second is EOG Resources, (NYSE:EOG) a company that in recent years has chosen to grow organically, eschewing the M&A craze that has brought a lot of consolidation into the sector. There is a reasonable comparison between the two even though EOG is priced at about 2.5X OXY. Both have big acreage positions in the Delaware basin that are the cornerstone of their income. Both have international exposure with operations in Middle East-OXY, and in Trinidad-Tobago-EOG. Both have catalysts for growth in the coming year. And, like many comparisons, there isn’t necessarily a bad choice. So let’s dive in. Are we near a bottom in upstream oil and gas stocks? I think we are. It should be understood that oil production is a cyclic business -production rises until prices stabilize - and then it begins to decline as activity tapers off. We've had a step change from technology-driven cost and efficiency improvements that have extended the period of production semi-levitation at current levels that must come to an end. Sometime. Without going through a lot of verbiage and reference citations, it just makes sense that we are nearing a peak in the last reservoir to show significant growth - the Permian. If you think about it, since 2010 we have stuck a straw in the Permian, and production has risen from about 1 mm BOEPD to over 6.2 mm BOEPD. Today we are extracting 2.23 bn BOE annually from the Permian, and that just can't go on forever. Estimates are that we are well past the midpoint of production from the key reservoirs that deliver this oil and gas to us. put out a newsletter in conjunction with Novi Labs recently that discussed some aspects in detail that largely agrees with this thesis. Concerns about demand-which has actually stayed fairly robust recently, have offset the plateauing of output in traders' minds, and led to a weakening of prices. Does that reflect reality? My core macro for upstream oil and gas investing is that North American producers are undervalued due to a lack of understanding about the fragility of current shale production levels. Shale is also called 'short-cycle'-meaning that output is related to activity and can be controlled thereby. Obviously less so now due to technology, but the principle remains valid up to a point. The point is growth may be constrained by lower-tier development not being as productive and other logistics impacts-water injection may put a damper on output. The incoming administration's plan to increase production by 3 mm BOPD may also be putting a ceiling on crude and upstream E&P's. I view this as a near impossibility in liquids, and highly doubtful in gas-which is increasing all by itself as the reservoirs being drilled are gassier. There simply aren't enough rigs to generate this kind of growth, and no sign the industry is willing to build them up to that level. When the disconnect between what the incoming administration wants to do and what is possible becomes evident, the drag on prices will evaporate. I think there will be extreme winners, and extreme losers when the real impact of declines in the Permian are noticed by the market. In that scenario, I think we are near a bottom for stocks in the upstream sector, particularly ones with the critical mass that OXY and EOG possess. Occidental Petroleum, (NYSE:OXY) was one of the big wins for investors coming out of the pandemic. Many recognized the value Anadarko brought and loaded up in the teens. It’s been a rough ride since late 2022. The fact those who bought at the 2020 bottom are still in the black after a 35% capital implosion since April of this year, doesn't ease the pain of seeing all that money shifted over into the loss column. Now with the post-election jitters of "Drill Baby, Drill" roiling the market, if anything the slope has gotten worse. Notably absent from the market since midyear, has been Uncle Warren, who over the last couple years has been busy, amassing, a 29% stake at prices well above $50 in some June-24 buys, above $60. Until the other day we were wondering what was it about OXY that Warren liked in $50s that he didn't in the $40s? That curiosity was resolved last week with news of his in OXY shares. and holds; warrants that would let him add another 90 mm shares bringing his position to about 40% of the float. If you have any faith in domestic energy at all, it would seem that this is the time to be adding to upstream positions. Buffett may have put a floor on OXY shares with his vote of confidence last week, as the company navigates softer commodity prices. Energy comprises only a tiny fraction of the SP-500 index now, thanks to multiple compressions over the last couple of years. Does that make sense? I don't think so, but things are what they are, and the decline in the sector weighting certainly has a rationale to it as commodities have underperformed. OXY has struggled in comparison to a loose peer group over the past year, only slightly outperforming, bottom-hugging Devon. Only a couple, EOG and Diamondback Energy, (NYSE:FANG) have managed to deliver any growth, while other Delaware basin-focused producers, OXY, Devon Energy, (NYSE:DVN), and ConocoPhillips, (NYSE:COP) are down. FANG and EOG top the list with Operating Margins (OMs) of 42% and 35% respectively. DVN comes in right behind EOG at 32%. This article isn't about DVN, but I must say it makes the negative sentiment toward the company all the more odd. The company is an oil and gas producing juggernaut with total output currently at 1.42 mm BOEPD and guiding to 1.47 mm BOEPD in Q-4. OXY’s cornerstone is in the Permian’s Delaware basin, but through the CrownRock deal has a significant foothold in the Midland basin. It also has production from the U.S. GoM, and internationally in the Middle East. The company also has a chemicals-caustic soda business that operates in the black and actually is symbiotic to their nascent Direct Air Capture-DAC business - in that caustic drives a reaction to liberate the carbon for capture. The company is successfully integrating the CrownRock purchase into their operations which is receiving an increasing share of D&C capex this year - the goal being to increase the overall oil percentage of total production. It was also noted that legacy CrownRock water infrastructure is contributing about $10 mm in savings this year. OXY is successfully managing LEO costs down through production increases, leveraging infrastructure around new pads, and actively engaging with service providers to minimize the white space-slack time, between TD'ing a well and rigging up to frac. The Delaware continues to perform with the company increasingly drilling secondary benches and seeing better than anticipated performance. Speaking for OXY, s as they wring superior performance out of low-tier benches-Wolfcamp B & C as an example. “These secondary benches that we have second and third and fourth benches that we can develop in the Permian in the Delaware and the Midland Basin, and we're still continuing to get more out of those reservoirs. I expect though in the near-term with weaker prices that what we used to think as a peak in say in three years, moves further out because with weaker prices I think there's going to be less growth in the Permian.” I don't think this is true for all companies (if my prognostication that the Permian peaking in the nearer term is way out of whack), as OXY has some of the best Delaware dirt around, thanks to the Anadarko deal. All in all, OXY is generating $3.1 in AFFO and netted $1.5 bn in free cash for the quarter. Pretty much every nickel they take in is going toward debt reduction, which is as it should be. OXY's cashflow priorities are shown in the slide below. Once LT debt is less than $15 bn, then the focus shifts to buying back shares and redeeming Warren's 10% yielding Preferred stock. This puts holders of the common stock at the end of a multiyear list for any significant boost to the dividend. This could be problematic for the stock affecting any chance of a price recovery. I also think that this mindset on the part of management may be contributing the weakness in OXY shares, as investors look for steady cash. A noted that in turbulent times, investors shift from growth stocks to dividend payers. “Investors typically flock to the dividend payers in down markets or when the economic outlook turns cloudy. Indeed, many companies with big payouts, including utilities and consumer staples, produce stable earnings in any weather.” Ok now let’s review EOG. The company has a reputation as being one of the best-run shale drillers and has consistently returned capital to shareholders through the cycle. This shows in the value creation claimed by the company in the slide below. If WTI sees the gain projected over the next couple of years the free cash available for distribution could be enormous. Analysts rate EOG as , but I doubt that rating takes into account the swoon since early November. The Q-4 EPS forecast for the company is $2.57 per share. This is down from the $2.78 per share forecast for Q-3, which they crushed at $2.89. If they beat on Q-4, it will be consistent with their performance over the entire year. Share price forecasts range from $146-$170, with a median of $144, making an entry point sub-$120 a very reasonable short-term prospect. Particularly when the shareholder-friendly plans for capital returns are factored in. The company has just made a triple-bottom sub-$120, and with a Q-4 beat is unlikely to get much cheaper. I think there will be extreme winners, and extreme losers when the real impact of declines in the Permian are noticed by the market. In that scenario, I think we are near a bottom for stocks in the upstream sector. The company is banging on the door of the million barrel-a-day equivalent producer club. One of the things that sets it apart from other shale players is its well-distributed legacy positions in key shale plays that date from early shale E&P activity in the 2010's. The company has first class assets which are shown in the company graphic below. Recently it’s made a big push into the long-neglected Utica shale. EOG has mostly legacy acreage positions that date back to the Enron days pre-shale revolution when dirt was cheap, and thus have avoided the need for big capital outlays to snag competitors at $50-100K per acre. The last , which they comparatively ‘stole’ for $5,400 an acre. Deal execution like this shows on the balance sheet with a paltry $3.6 bn of long-term debt presently. On DE basis none of its peer group even comes close. EOG has some of the best dirt in the Delaware, thanks to the Yates deal. Perhaps you’ve seen the Wolfcamp white paper put out by the EIA. If not . It shows that some of the best Wolfcamp A, and Bone Spring benches are in southern Eddy and Lea County New Mexico, and in Loving County, Texas. A recent discussed the intensity of drilling in these areas. We're a fan of good dirt around here as it drives cost impacts from logistics and technology. This enables EOG to be pretty selective in the projects they sanction, putting a 30% after-tax rate of return at $40 per barrel. That's a pretty steep hill to climb, but it insulates the company from all but the wildest swings in commodity prices. It also enables price realizations that top the peer group at $77 for Q-3, 2024. I think most of us get the idea behind stock buybacks and their intrinsically increasing the value of remaining shares. That has to be balanced though with the fact that much of this is fraught with peril at squandering capital. This is done by buying back stock in one quarter and seeing the price continue to decline. That is certainly the scenario extant these days. I am surprised equity analysts don't pursue this in conference calls more. EOG has been bitten by the share buyback bug-noting that it will be done ‘opportunistically’, but shows a much more shareholder-friendly attitude with its robust $3.90 per share annual dividend, than many companies that have totally scrapped special dividends in favor of buybacks. The Yield on Cost (YOC) is actually pretty decent at 3.28%. Bottom-line management at EOG knows shareholders need to eat while waiting for the stock float shrinkage to drive share prices higher. EOG's entry into the with relatively little fanfare. Things seem to be going pretty well from the comments in the slide below. EOG has a huge acreage position, and the Utica is far less developed than the Marcellus. The northeast is gas hungry from the explosive growth in AI data centers and the demand coming from the Cove Point LNG terminal on the Chesapeake Bay. On the horizon, new East Coast plants are creating a potential uplift in demand. It is fair to say that EOG isn't cheap here. But against a cohort of near-million barrel producers, it's reasonably priced. Things can always get cheaper, so this multiple might shrink. I am betting there is less elasticity in EOG than in others. I don't think there is any doubt that OXY is a buy for long-term capital appreciation at current levels. As I have noted, I feel strongly that American oil and gas companies are undervalued in terms of their true impact on society, here at home and globally, and lack only a catalyst to rerate higher. This would totally change the dynamic for owners of these assets, but there is no date certain as to when this will occur. The question is, can we wait that out while receiving peanuts for our capital? That leaves us looking for income while we wait for growth, and the money coming quarterly from OXY will not buy Porterhouse steak at Kroger. It may not even buy chicken breasts without a coupon. Chicken leg quarters are the immediate future of OXY holders as we wait on capital appreciation in the commodity rerating I expect. The problem I see is management's dogged determination not to pay a respectable dividend to reward shareholders now. Let's review. First, they had the debt from Anadarko. Ok, that transformed the company...while almost killing it. They got through that and then rising oil prices worked their magic and we had a 5-bagger in appreciation, with the stock price peaking at $75 in late 2022. Holders of OXY stock will listen to any song management sings with that kind of growth in their portfolio. Then came the CrownRock debt and dilution. As I have noted, the company is rightly knocking down the debt, but their single-minded focus on buying back stock at multiples where no one else, except Warren Buffett, is buying does investors no service. The YOC is under 2% and there are no special dividends planned to spread a little cash among shareholders. Since reinstituting the regular dividend in 2022 it's been raised twice and I expect it will be raised again when Q-4 earnings are announced. By another 4-5 cents. To continue our chicken metaphor, this is chicken feed. OXY trades at 5.5-6X EV/EBITDA and $48K per flowing barrel. Not terribly cheap on either metric, so it's probably a toss-up,-pay interest on debt or capitalize on a 30% downdraft in stock prices...since April of this year. Now let’s look at EOG. EOG is trading at a flowing barrel price of $69 per barrel. Again not give away prices. You can buy shale cheaper. EOG has a reputation of being one of the best-run companies in this sector and most of the metrics I've seen substantiate that notion. I've always been willing to pay up for quality, and that's the recommendation here. Buy EOG. EOG has 4.43 bn bbl of 2P reserves as of the end of 2023. During the year they replaced 202% of production with new discoveries. Both are solid metrics and justify the current prices for the stock. At $40 per bbl, EOG has a net present value (NPV) of $179.00 per share, which comes for the share price. This doesn't take into account future revenue from the Utica play, so I regard it as conservative. Also, investors entering EOG before 1-17-25 will receive the previously announced and just raised regular dividend of $0.98 per share on Jan-31st. I regard the timing as auspicious. The yield is admittedly not spectacular-3.08% but I am expecting a special dividend at some point in the coming year that will improve the overall yield on cost. I think EOG is an outstanding bargain for future growth and immediate shareholder returns. Every serious investor in upstream E&P companies should have a position in the company. Accordingly, I rate EOG as the winner of this month’s comparison.

BEIRUT — Hezbollah fired about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel on Sunday, wounding seven people in one of the militant group's heaviest barrages in months, in response to deadly Israeli strikes in Beirut while negotiators pressed on with cease-fire efforts to halt the all-out war. An Israeli bomb squad policeman carries the remains of a rocket that was fired from Lebanon on Sunday in Kibbutz Kfar Blum, northern Israel. Some of the rockets reached the Tel Aviv area in the heart of Israel. Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on an army center killed a Lebanese soldier and wounded 18 others in the southwest between Tyre and Naqoura, Lebanon's military said. The Israeli military expressed regret, saying that the strike occurred in an area of combat against Hezbollah and that the military's operations are directed solely against the militants. Israeli strikes have killed over 40 Lebanese troops since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, even as Lebanon's military has largely kept to the sidelines. Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the latest strike as an assault on U.S.-led cease-fire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war. Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups. The Israeli police bomb squad inspects the site after a missile fired from Lebanon hit the area Sunday in Petah Tikva, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel. Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes at Hezbollah, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war as Israel launched airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The Israeli military said about 250 projectiles were fired Sunday, with some intercepted. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said it treated seven people, including a 60-year old man in severe condition from rocket fire on northern Israel, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast in the central city of Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, and a 70-year-old woman who suffered smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire there. In Haifa, a rocket hit a residential building that police said was in danger of collapsing. The Palestine Red Crescent reported 13 injuries it said were caused by an interceptor missile that struck several homes in Tulkarem in the West Bank. It was unclear whether injuries and damage were caused by rockets or interceptors. Sirens wailed again in central and northern Israel hours later. Israeli airstrikes without warning on Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 29 people and wounding 67, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. A flock of birds flies above the smoke from Israeli airstrikes Sunday in Dahiyeh, Beirut. Smoke billowed above Beirut again Sunday with new strikes. Israel's military said it targeted command centers for Hezbollah and its intelligence unit in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, where the militants have a strong presence. Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,700 people in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population. On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardment in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north. The EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called for an "immediate ceasefire" in the Israel-Hezbollah war while on a visit to the Lebanese c... The European Union’s top diplomat called Sunday for more pressure on Israel and Hezbollah to reach a deal, saying one was "pending with a final agreement from the Israeli government.” U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region last week. Josep Borrell spoke after meeting with Mikati and Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who has been mediating with the group. Borrell said the EU is ready to allocate $208 million to assist the Lebanese military. But Borrell later said that he did not “see the Israeli government interested clearly in reaching an agreement for a cease-fire" and that it seemed Israel was seeking new conditions. He pointed to Israel’s refusal to accept France as a member of the international committee that would oversee the cease-fire's implementation. The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the monthlong 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol with the presence of U.N. peacekeepers. With talks for a cease-fire and hostage release deal in Gaza stalled, freed hostages and families of those held marked a year since the war's only hostage-release deal. “It’s hard to hold on to hope, certainly after so long and as another winter is about to begin," said Yifat Zailer, cousin of Shiri Bibas, who is held along with her husband and two young sons. Around 100 hostages are still in Gaza, at least a third believed to be dead. Most of the rest of the 250 who were abducted in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack were released in last year's cease-fire. Talks for another deal recently had several setbacks, including the firing of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who pushed for a deal, and Qatar’s decision to suspend its mediation. Hamas wants Israel to end the war and withdraw all troops from Gaza. Israel has offered only to pause its offensive. The Palestinian death toll from the war surpassed 44,000 this week, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. On Sunday, six people were killed in strikes in central Gaza, according to AP journalists at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. How often do you buy something online ? A couple of times a month? A couple of times a week? A couple of times a day? Everybody's answer will be different, but collectively, it's done a lot: Online retail accounted for over $1 trillion of purchases in the U.S. in 2022 and a record $277.6 billion in the second quarter of 2023 alone. Retailers ranging from titans like Amazon and Walmart, down to local small-town shops work very hard to land their share of that business. Sadly and inevitably—so do criminals and scammers. At any given moment, they operate millions of bogus sites. So how can you spot those fake online shopping sites? Spokeo provides a guide. In the early days of the internet , it took some genuine skills to set up a website, but those days are gone. A quick search will show that there are lots of apps and services offering websites on a prefabricated "fill in the blanks" basis, and most web hosts provide those tools as part of the service when someone signs up with them. It's even easier on social media . If you were opening a "side hustle" business tomorrow from your home, you could set up your own Facebook page tonight in under an hour, with exactly zero knowledge of websites. Once that page is set up, you just need to throw a few dollars in the direction of Facebook's advertising department, and they'll start advertising your page to users. It's no harder to promote a website, except in that case, you'd give your advertising dollars to Google. This is a simplified overview, but the main point holds: Establishing a presence online has become a very democratized process, open to anyone with minimal skills and even the smallest budget for advertising. That's been a boon for legitimate entrepreneurs, but it also makes life very easy indeed for scammers. There are multiple types of bogus websites . Some are imposters, created to look very much like a legitimate commercial or government site that you're familiar with, such as Amazon or Netflix. Others don't imitate a specific site, but instead attempt to capture the look and feel of those sites in general (whether that be a retail site, a government or bank page, or even something relatively shady like a gambling or porn site). Next, scammers find ways to drive traffic to their site. Often that's through phishing texts or emails, but deceptive ads on social media or search engines like Google and Bing work just as well. Once a browser arrives at the criminals' site (or, in some cases, downloads their app), any number of bad things can happen. One is that they'll download malware onto your devices, which can capture passwords or steal personal information. A more straightforward risk is that the browser will cheerfully enter their personal and banking/credit card information, thinking they're making a legitimate purchase. That's largely why fake online shopping sites are so dangerous, and so useful to scammers and identity thieves. Most bogus sites share some or all of those characteristics, but shopping sites are a very specific type of bogus site with some quirks of their own. One characteristic to count on—whether the website directly impersonates a major retailer like Amazon, a niche retailer like MEC, or just positions itself as an anonymously general retail site—is that it will offer unusually low pricing on high-demand products. That might be a mass-market item like the latest gaming console, a suddenly in-demand item that's unavailable through normal channels (remember trying to get masks and sanitizing wipes during COVID-19?), or something as mundane as disposable diapers or high-capacity computer drives. Whatever the product, the advertised price will be low enough to get attention. The bogus site will have any number of ways to transfer a browser's money to its coffers, depending on the scammers' intentions and skillset. A few of the most common include: These are all aside from the potential to infect devices or steal payment information . Sites focused on identity theft might consider a faux purchase to be just the added gravy. How common is online shopping fraud? Well, the news is pretty bad. The FTC's 2022 Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book recorded over 327,000 online shopping complaints, the fourth-highest category for overall complaints and second among fraud categories. You would expect these sites to be more prevalent during the final quarter of the year, corresponding to the holiday gift-giving season—Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas itself—and they are, but that doesn't mean you can relax during the other nine months of the year. The Anti-Phishing Working Group, or APWG, identified nearly a million fake or phishing websites during the first quarter of 2022 alone (not a busy time of year for shopping), for example. To be clear, only 14.6% of those were eCommerce sites, but that still translates to well over 140,000 bogus shopping sites. The true number is almost certainly higher because the APWG only tracks the ones that use a phishing approach. Many opt to simply buy advertising instead (or as well), and those won't be captured in the APWG's statistics. However you slice it, there's a definite risk of encountering these sites when you shop. The good news is that bogus shopping sites aren't hard to spot, once you're aware of the risk. They aren't built for permanence; scammers pull them together quickly and cheaply and then abandon them once they stop producing.That "just good enough" approach leaves plenty of visible signs you can detect. Below, here's what to look for when recognizing fake online shopping sites. Bad images Bogus sites don't have direct access to the real products' manufacturing images, so they resort to copying and pasting from legitimate sites. \That means bogus sites' product images (and often their fake logos, if they impersonate a legitimate site) are fuzzy and low-res. A URL that's slightly "off" Imposter sites obviously can't have the same URL as the legitimate site, so they'll usually have a URL that looks right, but isn't quite. They might have a typo in the name, or incorporate the real company's name into their URL in a non-standard way ("myfakesite.amazon.com.123xyz.com"), or—sneakiest of all—use a letter from a different language's character set , which looks the same to the eye, but not to the computer. Broken links The scammers may have simply copied and pasted user interface elements from a legitimate site, in which case many links on the site may be broken (or simply not clickable). Lots of missing elements A legitimate retail website will have several pages of legalese, often starting with a pop-up about its cookie policy or privacy policy. You should certainly expect to see a detailed document spelling out shipping policies, return and refund policies, and similar details. If those are missing or brief and vapid, it's probably a fake site. Limited options for payment Sites that plan to take your money and run will often show oddly specific payment options, from wire transfers to gift cards to cryptocurrency. The thing those payment methods have in common is that it's very difficult to get money back once it's spent. Sites geared around capturing your personal or payment information, on the other hand, may insist on getting your credit card. Typos, grammar, and linguistic errors Simple, silly language errors are often a red flag. Scammers may not be native English speakers, and it shows up in awkward or sometimes inappropriate phrasing. Errors in actual product listings aren't necessarily a smoking gun—you'll see them frequently on real Amazon pages—because they come from the manufacturers, who are often not English speakers. Language errors on the rest of the site are more of a concern. HTTP vs. HTTPS In the address bar of your browser, a legitimate retail site's URL will start with HTTPS, rather than HTTP, and will show a closed lock symbol. The majority of fake sites now also have an HTTPS URL and will show the lock (so this isn't as helpful as it used to be), but less-sophisticated scammers may miss that detail. You can automatically rule those ones out. And, of course, the biggest red flag of all is an unrealistically low price on the product you're looking for. We all want to get a really good deal, but that impulse will often lead you astray. If a shopping site fails those basic "eyeball" tests, the smart thing to do is just close that browser tab and walk away. If you want to dig deeper, or if you aren't sure, there are a few quick and easy ways to verify a site's legitimacy. Use a URL/website checker Remember those really sneaky fake URLs that use a letter from another alphabet? The best way to check those (and other problematic elements in a URL) is through a URL verifier/website reputation service, like the ones from URLVoid and Google . Just copy (don't click!) the link, and paste it into the checker. If the site is sketchy, they'll tell you. Look up the site on a registry Domain names all need to be registered and there are several lookup tools to check this, like ICANN's registration lookup (think of it as Spokeo for websites). If a site claims to be Amazon but was registered just a few weeks ago, that's a really big red flag. Similarly, if the site isn't located where it should be, or if the ownership data is obscured, that's grounds for concern. Turn to Google If you have a bad feeling about a particular site, do a quick Google or Bing (or whatever) search that pairs the site's name with keywords like "scam," "fraud," "bogus" or "ripoff" and see what comes up. If you get a lot of hits, that's definitely grounds for concern. Go Forth and Shop (Safely) If a given site fails any or all of those tests, then keeping your wallet in your pocket is definitely the smart choice. Instead of making the purchase, report the site instead to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center and the FTC's Report Fraud website. That will get the investigative wheels turning and may help protect someone less wary from falling victim to the scammers. As always, wariness and skepticism are your friends when it comes to avoiding scams. Don't click on links in emails, texts , or social media messages; instead, go to the company's site by typing the URL directly. If you search a company's page on Google, scroll down through the actual search results until you find it instead of clicking on the sponsored results or advertisements at the top. Most of all, remember the golden rule of scam avoidance: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Keeping those principles in mind, and using the tips given here to screen out dubious sites means you'll be able to shop 'til you drop (safely), despite the vast number of scammers out there. And that—as the credit card ads like to say—is priceless. This story was produced by Spokeo and reviewed and distributed by Stacker. Get local news delivered to your inbox!Energy experts slam Labour's controversial 'boiler tax' plan and say eye-watering climate change targets are 'unachievable' By JASON GROVES POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 17:03 EST, 21 November 2024 | Updated: 17:26 EST, 21 November 2024 e-mail 68 View comments Ed Miliband has revived controversial plans for a ‘boiler tax’ in a bid to meet Labour’s eye-watering climate change targets. The Energy Secretary has signed off on a proposal to impose swingeing taxes on boiler manufacturers if they fail to meet his targets for installing heat pumps – targets that industry sources have branded ‘unachievable’. A similar plan was scrapped by the Conservative government this year after the sector warned it would add £120 to the cost of a new boiler – leading it to be dubbed the ‘boiler tax’. But Mr Miliband, who toughened Britain’s climate change targets this month, yesterday revived the idea, prompting fears the price of a gas boiler will increase next year. Tory energy spokesman Claire Coutinho, who scrapped the move while in government, condemned the move. She accused ministers of trying to force people to instal heat pumps by driving up the price of gas boilers. ‘Labour have quietly introduced a new tax on boiler companies that don’t sell enough heat pumps,’ she said. ‘It gives Ed Miliband open-ended powers to force heat pumps on people by making the price of gas boilers unaffordable. Ed Miliband (pictured) has revived controversial plans for a ‘boiler tax’ in a bid to meet Labour’s eye-watering climate change targets The Energy Secretary has signed off on a proposal to impose swingeing taxes on boiler manufacturers if they fail to meet his targets for installing heat pumps – targets that industry sources have branded ‘unachievable’ (stock image) Mr Miliband’s department also slipped out new guidance that will allow people to install a heat pump less than a metre from their neighbour’s boundary, despite warnings it will lead to a flood of complaints about noise (stock image) ‘The climate change lobby have been itching to get this on the statute book for years because it uses higher costs to force people to buy heat pumps. We need to put living standards first.’ Industry chiefs say the new targets for installing heat pumps are ‘unachievable’ because of high costs and public scepticism. Mr Miliband’s department acknowledged that a majority of those responding to a consultation on the issue ‘did not support’ the target and that ‘several suggested the target was unachievable’. But a government source said ministers had decided to press ahead regardless and were ‘confident that the target is realistic and achievable’. Mr Miliband’s department also slipped out new guidance that will allow people to install a heat pump less than a metre from their neighbour’s boundary, despite warnings it will lead to a flood of complaints about noise. Current limits on the size of the ugly boxes will also be removed as ministers try to spark a huge increase in installations. And plans to ban the installation of gas boilers in new homes from next year will go ahead. Read More Expert shares 6 tips on how use apps to save cash - saying you could cut up to £140 off energy bills The last government set a target of installing 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028. But a recent National Audit Office review of the scheme found that, despite heavy subsidies, in its first year in 2022/23 just 18,871 heat pumps were installed, far below the 50,000 target for that year. By contrast, roughly 1.5 million gas boilers were installed, mostly to replace worn-out models. Under the new target, which will come into force from April, at least 6 per cent of all domestic heating installations will have to be heat pumps – equal to around 90,000 new systems. Indicative targets published by the Government suggest this will rise to 10 per cent the following year, 17 per cent the year after and 27 per cent – around 400,000 installations – in 2028. However, the regulations leave Mr Miliband free to raise the targets even higher. Firms that fail to install enough heat pumps will be hit with fines of £500 for every additional gas boiler they sell, rising to £3,000 the following year. Mike Foster, of the Energy and Utilities Alliance, said: ‘The challenge the Government faces is not the lack of supply of heat pumps – you can buy one today if you want – it is the lack of consumer demand. ‘As officials have acknowledged, they cost considerably more to buy than a gas boiler; they cost more to run than a gas boiler and they are more disruptive to fit in the home compared to simply replacing a boiler. 'These things need addressing.’ Sir Keir Starmer yesterday said the Government was right to unilaterally toughen Britain’s climate targets, requiring this country to cut emissions by 81 per cent by 2035. But Tory leader Kemi Badenoch questioned the value of the target – and pointed out the PM had yet to publish a plan to hit it or said what it will cost to achieve. She told MPs that the Government was putting ‘press releases before practicality’. Why the 'boiler tax' is such a heated debate What has Ed Miliband proposed? From next April, boiler manufacturers will have to ensure that heat pumps account for at least 6 per cent of installations. They will be fined £500 for every extra gas boiler over this limit, with the fines rising to £3,000 the following year. The proportion of new heat pumps is also expected to rise the following year to at least 10 per cent. How much will the cost of a new boiler go up? Industry sources said this year that the plans would drive up the average price by up to £120 to cover the cost of paying new fines. The Government yesterday cut the proposed fines from £3,000 to £500 for the first year. But the level of heat pump installations required has risen from 4 per cent to 6 per cent. Why are they doing this? Heating accounts for 40 per cent of all gas use in the UK. Mr Miliband’s target to cut UK emissions by 81 per cent by 2035 will require a big shift away from gas boilers over the next decade. But the boiler industry says the plan will work only if ministers can persuade the public to embrace heat pumps. Otherwise, it will simply push up the cost of gas boilers. How is it going so far? The National Audit Office found that just 18,871 new heat pumps were installed in 2022/23, compared with 1.5million new gas boilers. But last year’s decision to raise the £5,000 installation grant by 50 per cent has led to a surge in interest, with a record 3,223 people applying for a grant in September. Why has take up of heat pumps been so slow? On average they are four times as expensive to install and remain more costly even after a government grant worth £7,500 is taken into account. Critics claim they are also more expensive to run and struggle to produce enough heat in winter, although supporters insist these problems can be overcome with better insulation. Labour Share or comment on this article: Energy experts slam Labour's controversial 'boiler tax' plan and say eye-watering climate change targets are 'unachievable' e-mail Add comment

Through a rights issue, Access Bank Plc, Nigeria's biggest lender by assets, raised N351 billion ($228 million) Its new capital is 20% over the bare minimum required for foreign banks operating in the West African country The bank also stated that both the CBN and the SEC have approved the fresh capital influx with their regulatory licenses PAY ATTENTION: Follow our WhatsApp channel to never miss out on the news that matters to you! Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has 5-year-experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market. Access Bank Plc, the largest lender in Nigeria by assets, raised N351 billion ($228 million) in a rights sale to raise its capital over a new regulatory level as it commences its expansion strategy. It stated in an emailed statement on Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that the lender's share capital, at 600 billion naira , is now 20% more than the minimum needed for foreign banks doing business in the West African nation. According to the statement, the Securities Exchange Commission and the Central Bank of Nigeria have both granted their regulatory licenses for the new capital inflow. Read also CBN explains Access Bank, Zenith, UBA, others' health status in 2024 PAY ATTENTION: Follow us on Instagram - get the most important news directly in your favourite app! The money raised would assist Access Bank, which is owned by Access Holdings Plc, double its share of assets outside of its home market by 2027 and speed up its entry into new markets like Morocco, Egypt, and the US. Access Bank is to raise $1.5 billion through the rights sale to help comply with regulatory standards after the central bank mandated that big commercial lenders increase their capital by ten times, to 500 billion naira, by March 2026. Following an ambitious expansion into new markets, the lender now operates in 23 nations. After more than doubling in 2023, Access Bank's shares have increased 6.7% this year. In order to support the Nigerian lender's expansion in South Africa , the bank agreed earlier this month to pay roughly 2.8 billion rand ($159 million) to acquire Bidvest Bank Holdings Ltd. Access Holdings releases performance breakdown in 9 months Read also Ecobank sends warning to customers as fraudsters steal money from Nigerian banks Legit.ng reported that Access Holdings Plc, the parent company of Access Bank , has reported a gross revenue of N3.4 trillion in 2024. This represents a 114.5% increase from the N1.6 trillion in nine months of 2023. Access Holdings' unaudited results for the third quarter (Q3) showed strong growth with gains across its banking and non-banking subsidiaries, including Access ARM Pensions, Hydrogen Payments, and Access Insurance Brokers. PAY ATTENTION: Сheck out news that is picked exactly for YOU ➡️ find the “Recommended for you” block on the home page and enjoy! Source: Legit.ng

Molly-Mae Hague shares future baby plans after devastating split from Tommy Fury

The Haaretz newspaper called the decision ‘another step in Netanyahu’s journey to dismantle Israeli democracy’. Israel has approved a resolution to cut ties with the Israeli news outlet Haaretz and ban government funding bodies from communicating or placing advertisements with the newspaper. The government said its decision was due to “many articles that have hurt the legitimacy of the state of Israel and its right to self-defence, and particularly the remarks made in London by Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken that support terrorism and call for imposing sanctions on the government,” Haaretz reported on Sunday. The left-leaning news outlet added that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the decision, which did not appear on the government’s agenda for the weekly cabinet meeting. In response to the decision, Haaretz said it was an “opportunist resolution to boycott Haaretz, which passed in today’s government meeting without any legal review ... [and] another step in Netanyahu’s journey to dismantle Israeli democracy”. “Like his friends [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, and [Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orban, Netanyahu is trying to silence a critical, independent newspaper. Haaretz will not balk and will not morph into a government pamphlet that publishes messages approved by the government and its leader,” the outlet added. Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy told Al Jazeera that the government sanctions on the outlet “send a very bad message, both politically and morally”. “Many view it [Haaretz] as the only newspaper in Israel because, especially [in] this war, almost all the media outlets totally recruited themselves to the narrative of the government and the army,” and did not show Israelis what was happening in Gaza, he said. The government’s dispute with the organisation intensified last month at a conference in London, where publisher Schocken said Netanyahu’s government did not care about “imposing a cruel apartheid regime on the Palestinian population”. “It dismisses the costs of both sides for defending the settlements while fighting the Palestinian freedom fighters that Israel calls ‘terrorists’,” he added. Following an Israeli public outcry over the comments, Schocken said that his mention of Palestinian freedom fighters did not mean Hamas. However, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, who proposed the sanctioning of the news outlet, launched a renewed campaign against Haaretz, calling for a boycott of the newspaper. Last year, Karhi approached the Israeli cabinet secretary with a draft resolution to halt all subscriptions to Haaretz by state employees, including the army. Israel has clamped down on the media as the war continues, and has killed dozens of Palestinian journalists in Gaza, including Al Jazeera’s Ismail al-Ghoul, Rami al-Rifi, Samir Abudaqa, and Hamza Dahdouh. Several other Al Jazeera journalists have been threatened by Israel, and the network has been forced to shut its bureaus in Israel and the occupied West Bank .At least 1 man in custody after police standoff on Feild Street in St. John's

UDC wins three accolades at Abu Dhabi Maritime Awards 2024

SEAN JANSEN’S red card was costly as Connacht lost to the Bulls at Dexcom Stadium in Galway. Both sides finished with 14 but the Westerners played most of the game with a man gone. And the Bulls were clear when Celimpilo ka Gumede saw red after 56 minutes. The South Africans took an early lead when Sebastian de Klerk touched down in the corner. Johan Gosen added the extras.Jansen was then dismissed for an elbow to the head of Marcel Coetzee in the 21st minute. And the Bulls made Connacht pay with three unanswered tries from Embrose Papier, David Kriel and Canan Moodie. Late tries from Connacht duo David Hawkshaw and Caolin Blade meant little. SCORERS — Connacht: Tries, Hawkshaw, Blade; cons, Forde 2. Bulls: Tries, De Klerk, E Papier, Kriel, Moodie; cons, Goosen 4. Elsewhere, Cian Healy became Ireland’s most-capped player with his 134th appearance against Australia in Dublin on Saturday. The Leinster prop was presented the history-making cap by IRFU President Declan Madden after the 22-19 win at Aviva Stadium. The Belvedere college man broke the long-standing recording for that was previously held by Brian O'Driscoll . Ireland's win was the third of their Autumn Nations Series 2024 in their last game of the calendar year - the win always marked the IRFU's 150th anniversary. Andy Farrell's men came back in the second half after a disjointed opening period that saw them trail by eight points at the break with Healy coming from the bench to break BOD's record.

Adele has finally concluded her two-year residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. On Saturday, Adele paid tribute to her loved ones as she bid farewell after concluding her show. In the videos shared by fans on social media, the Someone Like You songstress shared, “to my son, I chose to do a residency maybe because I f------ hate touring.” “But I chose to do a residency so I could keep his life normal. And I did do that. But I also wouldn't change it for the world, but I get to be with him on the weekends now because obviously he can't always come. So I love you to bits.... Thank you for being patient with me,” she added. The songstress also talked about Paul, whom she recently referred to as husband, saying, “Thank you for always bugging me up and making me feel like I could do whatever I wanted to do.” “There's been times when I'm too tired or I'm too emotionally drained ... so I appreciate that,” Adele added.Romanian elections 23rd Nov-1st December

Aston Villa 3-2 RB Leipzig (11 Dec, 2024) Game Analysis - ESPNMumbai: Marred By Delays And Glitches, MU's PET And LLM Entrance Exams Finally ConcludeThe All-England Lawn Tennis Club’s decision to replace Wimbledon’s human line judges with AI fundamentally changes the customer experience. For some people, this will be a welcome change. Judges will no longer have to argue with volatile players over close calls. For others — particularly people at the event — this will significantly change the traditional pomp and circumstance of introducing players and judges at the opening ceremony While this technology promises to improve accuracy and efficiency, it also raises questions about the impact on people’s interactions with a brand. This is just one example of AI’s growing role in customer experience, which is happening amidst an increase in customer expectations of that experience. say they will pay more for a great customer experience. Some research suggests people are willing to pay a premium of up to 13% (and as high as 18%) for luxury and indulgence services. Marketers are now at the mercy of algorithms that shape everything from visible customer-facing interactions to behind-the-scenes operations. This means the marketer’s role is to ensure the right balance between technological advancements and human connection. “You have to have an entrance and an exit ramp for your customers,” said , a consultant in customer-focused management and a certified customer experience professional. So marketers must understand the entire customer journey – from the first engagement to the last to see how AI can improve it. The dual nature of AI in customer experience AI can be categorized into two primary types: visible and invisible. Visible AI directly interacts with customers, such as chatbots and virtual assistants. These tools can provide instant support, answer queries and even engage in casual conversation. Invisible AI operates behind the scenes, analyzing data, optimizing processes and personalizing experiences. The best customer experiences combine these in a seamless journey. Look at the simple process of purchasing a dress for a wedding, for example. The transaction goes beyond ordinary problem resolution, so it will need to be handled by multiple parties. The visible AI chatbot may handle initial queries, but unseen AI assesses the customer’s mood and urgency. AI can escalate the issue to a human agent, providing them with data on the customer’s history, sentiment and potential solutions. This can resolve issues faster and with more empathy. Marketers and customer experience leaders must be vigilant about how AI transitions between visible and invisible interactions. These handoffs must avoid frustrating customers with things like forcing them to repeat their name, account number, or issue at each step. AI-powered sentiment analysis can identify if a customer is satisfied or frustrated, and this data should be passed to the relevant teams to respond. Similarly, in customer support, AI should ensure that when a bot hands off to a human agent, the agent has access to all the necessary information, including the customer’s sentiment. Where can you improve your customer experience? Here’s an exercise to document your customers’ experience and identify places within the process that could be improved: Look for processes that are well understood within the company, but may cause customers problems. Involve the people who know the most about the journey being investigated. For example, an upgrade program for software needs to involve the product and support managers. Team members should concentrate on what they see the customer (not the process) doing and how the customer is reacting. For example, billing matters go to accounts receivable, product inquiries to product marketing. Have each department document improvements for their part of the customer’s interaction. giving the most attention to handoffs in the process. Remember, the objective is to document the best customer experience possible. While AI is improving personalization, efficiency and customer support, it also presents challenges. AI systems can sometimes lack empathy, misinterpret context, or raise concerns about data privacy. Overreliance on technology can lead to impersonal interactions or reinforce biases. Email:Hezbollah fires about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel in heaviest barrage in weeks

Hydraulic Cranes Market Driven by Demand for Immersive Technologies Across Industries

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