Month: December 2021

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San Francisco restaurant that kicked out cops says it ‘handled this badly,’ won’t rule out doing it again

Defense Attorney Ted Williams joins ‘Kennedy’ to discuss the crime surge in the Golden State.

The owners of a San Francisco restaurant are now apologizing after denying service to three uniformed police officers who were on-duty.

Hilda and Jesse initially denied service to the three San Francisco Police Department officers on Friday after they were seated at the restaurant. 

According to ABC7 News, one of the owners said that the on-duty police officers’ “presence” made staff at the restaurant feel “uncomfortable.”

“It’s not about the fact that we are anti-police,” co-owner of Hilda and Jesse, Rachel Sillcocks said. “It is about the fact that we do not allow weapons in our restaurant. We were uncomfortable, and we asked them to leave. It has nothing to do that they were officers. It has everything to do that they were carrying guns.”

SAN FRANCISCO RESTAURANT DEFENDS DENYING SERVICE TO ARMED POLICE OFFICERS: ‘WE WERE UNCOMFORTABLE’

Hilda and Jesse Storefront (Fox 2 San Francisco)

According to Sillcocks, the officers are welcome to come back and dine in the restaurant but without their weapons.

In a new Instagram post on Sunday afternoon, the co-owners apologized for asking the on-duty officers to leave.

“We made a mistake and apologize for the unfortunate incident on Friday when we asked members of the San Francisco Police Department to leave our restaurant,” co-owners Rachel Sillcocks and Kristina Liedags Compton said. “We are grateful to all members of the force who work hard to keep us safe, especially during these challenging times.”

The co-owners continued, stating that they hope the incident will be a “teachable moment” but stopped short of saying whether on-duty officers are welcome in the establishment.

San Francisco police officers (Fox 2 San Francisco)

SAN FRANCISCO GUARD, A FORMER COP, SHOT AND KILLED PROTECTING NEWS CREW COVERING A SMASH-AND-GRAB

The online restaurant review platform Yelp announced they are temporarily suspending the ability for individuals to make reviews for the Hilda and Jesse restaurant because of “increased public attention.”

“This business recently received increased public attention, which often means people come to this page to post their views on the news. While we don’t take a stand one way or the other when it comes to this incident, we’ve temporarily disabled the posting of content to this page as we work to investigate the content you see here reflects actual consumer experiences rather than the recent events,” the announcement reads.

Logo for the Hilda and Jesse restaurant in San Francisco. (KTVU FOX 2)

After the incident on Friday, the business received a number of one-star reviews bashing the restaurant for asking the on-duty police officers to leave.

“Given that this business has decided to Discriminate against first responders, I reserve the right to Call For A Boycott Of Hilda and Jesse,” one Yelp user wrote.

The San Francisco Police Department Chief William Scott said in a Twitter post on Saturday that he found the incident “discouraging and personally disappointing.”

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San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott speaks to reporters. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File) (AP Newsroom)

“The San Francisco Police Department stands for safety with respect, even when it means respecting wishes that our officers and I find discouraging and personally disappointing,” Scott said on Twitter. “I believe the vast majority of San Franciscans welcome their police officers, who deserve to know that they are appreciated for the difficult job we ask them to do – in their uniforms – to keep our neighborhoods and businesses safe.”

A spokesperson for Yelp told FOX Business that the company takes a very “proactive approach” when dealing with “review bombing.”

“For years, Yelp has taken a very proactive approach to dealing with ‘review bombing’ incidents through our Consumer Alerts program. We place Unusual Activity Alerts on a Yelp page when we uncover an influx of activity in response to a business gaining public attention, caused by people coming to Yelp to express their views on an issue instead of describing their actual interaction with a business. It’s our policy that all reviews on Yelp must be based on a first-hand consumer experience with the business.  After this activity has dramatically decreased or stopped, our moderators will remove the alert and clean up the page so only first-hand consumer experiences are reflected. Factoring this type of content out of the equation protects the interests of both consumers and business owners,” the spokesperson said.

FOX Business reached out to Hilda and Jesse for comment.

Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report

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CI Financial Acquiring $6 Billion RIA RegentAtlantic

CI Financial will acquire RegentAtlantic, a New York-based RIA with $6 billion in managed assets. The deal will push CI over $100 billion in U.S. assets only two years after its first U.S. acquisition, according to the Canadian financial services firm.

RegentAtlantic has offices in New York City and Morristown, N.J., and offers an array of wealth planning services to a wide range of clients, including focuses on business owners, corporate executives, women on Wall Street, retirees and food and beverage industry entrepreneurs. CI Financial CEO Kurt MacAlpine said RegentAtlantic’s success emanated from its “disciplined wealth management process” that built client loyalty.

Related: CI Financial to Launch U.S. Headquarters in Miami

“RegentAtlantic is a great strategic and cultural fit with the existing firms and leadership within CI Private Wealth and fully supports our vision of building the country’s leading wealth management firm,” MacAlpine said.

As a result of the deal, RegentAtlantic’s leadership will become equity partners in CI Private Wealth, which holds CI’s U.S. wealth management business. Fiduciary Network previously owned RegentAtlantic, originally investing in it in 2007 (Emigrant Bank later acquired Fiduciary Network in 2018, and merged RegentAtlantic with the NYC-based wealth management firm Hillview Capital Advisors the following year).

Related: CI Financial to Acquire $7.5B Gofen and Glossberg

The CI/RegentAtlantic deal is projected to close later this month, and will mark CI’s third RIA affiliate with offices in New York City. The Asset & Wealth Management Investment Banking Group of Raymond James & Associates advised RegentAtlantic during the deal, while Hogan Lovells US served as CI’s advisor.

The acquisition will bring CI’s total U.S. assets past $100 billion to about $105 billion, while the Canadian financial services firm’s total global assets are expected to hit about $291 billion. The firm’s made quick work since first entering the U.S. market in the beginning of 2020 when it acquired a majority stake in the Phoenix, Ariz.-based RIA Surevest Wealth Management, becoming one of the few Canadian wealth management firms operating in the U.S. space at the time. 

“The U.S. RIA market—it is a competitive marketplace, but it is also a very accessible marketplace,” MacAlpine said during an earnings call around the time of the Surevest deal. “So, our aspirations for the RIA market are really two-fold. One, it allows us to provide a true cross-border experience for clients that are doing business with CI today. And second, it allows us to participate in this fast growing segment of the market, overall.”

CI Financial proceeded to announce a new acquisition of the $1.6 billion Calif.-based RIA One Capital just several weeks later. In all, the firm has made more than 20 U.S.-based acquisitions in the two years since entering the market. Some of the latest acquisitions include Gofen and Glossberg, a Chicago-based wealth management firm with approximately $7.5 billion in total client assets. In October, CI announced its first deal in the Pacific Northwest, acquiring McCutchen Group, a Seattle-based RIA with about $3.4 billion in AUM.

The firm is also planning to open its new U.S. headquarters in Miami in 2023, announcing in September that it leased 20,000-square-feet of office space in the city’s Bricknell Financial District with available space for core C-suite executives and personnel. According to Miami Mayor Frances Suarez, CI’s purchase made it the largest financial institution to locate its headquarters in South Florida.

“It serves as the next logical step for our expansion plans as we work to build the leading wealth management platform in the country,” MacAlpine said at the time.

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Q&A: How to Manage Climate-Change Risk in Fixed-Income Portfolios | Financial Advisors

Climate-change risk is present in nearly every industry – so ubiquitous, in fact, that investors cannot diversify away from it. That means that investors must learn how to manage the risk in both their equity and fixed-income portfolios.

We spoke with Ognjen Sosa, chief investment officer at Breckinridge Capital Advisors, an asset management firm specializing in investment-grade fixed income and environmental, sustainable and governance, or ESG, integration. The asset manager focused its 2021 issuer engagement program on climate-change risk, speaking with nearly 60 subject matter experts in addition to the routine interactions its analysts have during security research and selection for their fixed-income portfolios. Sosa shares how financial advisors and investors should think about climate-change risk in fixed-income portfolios.

How is climate-change risk a risk multiplier for corporate, municipal and securitized bonds? 

Climate risk is sometimes suggestive of higher event risk or a more challenging long-term credit environment.

For example, in the municipal bond market, communities in one coastal state face higher-than-average, climate-driven disaster risks relative to U.S. peers. Right now, most issuers are insulated from disaster risk: The population is growing, most communities have strong reserves, and states’ catastrophe funds and subsidized federal flood insurance insulate many homeowners from material credit risk in the wake of a hurricane or extreme flooding.

But the insurance environment may become less generous. Some communities may become less likely to rebuild certain areas of their tax bases after large storms. Issuers with lower reserves and less ability to finance infrastructure hardening will be more at risk as climate change accelerates.

Corporations face physical climate risks. For instance, the real estate sector has heavy investments in coastal office properties that may be at risk from rising sea levels. Corporations that do not consider climate change may miss out on growth opportunities as the world transitions to a low- or no-carbon future. Utilities that miss out on renewable energy investments may have longer-term growth challenges as fossil fuel power plants decline in utilization.

Energy companies may face rising risks and opportunities related to climate transition as their business model shifts in response to investors and regulators. Large U.S. bank lenders to the energy sector may also face risk and opportunities through better pricing carbon risk and financing green energy.

Securitized bonds also face risks associated with climate change. For mortgage-backed securities, properties backed by underlying mortgage pools are subject to risks from droughts, wildfires or flooding.

How does climate-change risk impact fixed income specifically?

Climate-change risk – in addition to inflation risk, credit risk, default risk and liquidity risk – is another long-term risk for fixed-income investors that should be considered and ideally be priced and managed.

Specifically, climate-change risk can impact creditworthiness and the ability of a borrower to repay fixed obligations as they come due over time. Climate-transition risk can render certain assets stranded or business segments obsolete, which could also impact cash flows, creditworthiness and the ability of an issuer to pay back fixed-income instruments.

How should financial advisors incorporate climate change in their clients’ fixed income portfolios?

Advisors may want to explore with clients their concerns about climate change and their investments.

The advisors can make appropriate recommendations of strategies that reflect a client’s risk tolerance, investing horizons and financial goals while integrating the client’s views on climate risk. For example, strategies that are centered on fossil-fuel-free or values-based themes may align with the investor’s goals.

Finally, monitor and report to clients on the performance of their climate-risk-related allocations. Look for specific data within the selected portfolios that are responsive to the client’s climate-change concerns, as revealed during the initial fact-finding discussions.

Disclosure around climate risk continues to be a challenge for investors and advisors. How can financial advisors address this challenge?

Look for asset managers experienced in climate-related investing. Managers who can explain how their investment process integrates ESG risk analysis and climate-risk considerations typically can point to a repeatable approach to security selection. This also helps to avoid investment approaches that are potentially inauthentic – so-called “greenwashing.”

Select managers who report performance in accordance with climate-related objectives. This can facilitate personalization as the advisor subsequently monitors and discloses performance.

Finally, look for asset managers that demonstrate commitment to sustainability in their own operations. Ask, “Do you produce an annual corporate sustainability report? Do you report according to protocols provided by the United Nations or the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, for example?” These can be additional indicators of commitment.

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Stock futures build on gains after rally

Stock futures opened higher on Monday after a rally earlier in the session, with volatility stemming from concerns about the Omicron variant at least momentarily abating. 

Contracts on the Dow extended gains. Earlier, the index ended higher by nearly 650 points, or 1.9{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}, as cyclical names that had underperformed in the recent session rebounded strongly. The jump marked the Dow’s best day since March. 

More upbeat commentary suggesting the Omicron variant may not produce as severe of infections as previously feared helped boost markets. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told CNN on Sunday that “thus far it does not look like there’s a great degree of severity” to the Omicron variant relative to prior mutations of the virus. 

The CBOE Volatility Index (^VIX) decreased to just over 28 on Monday as investors digested the remarks, bringing the so-called “fear gauge” down from its peak of more than 35 on Friday, or its highest level since January. 

“The level of volatility is somewhat logical here because a lot of this started prior to the Omicron variant really emerging. We knew that [Fed Chair Jerome] Powell was changing course in terms of his policy actions, he was speaking more hawkishly. Markets were already in the process of re-pricing a bit,” Jim Caron, Morgan Stanley Investment Management fixed income portfolio manager, told Yahoo Finance Live on Monday. 

“I know after Thanksgiving [news about Omicron] came out and that created a pretty big volatile event, but I think the initial conditions where valuations were pretty full, we knew the Fed was starting to change course and starting to tighten financial conditions a bit, and that’s going to mean that asset prices are going to have to reprice,” he added. “You start to get somewhat of a perfect storm when you add a health risk.”

Even amid the broad market rally on Monday, technology stocks were still the laggards, rising less than 1{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} compared to the S&P 500 and Dow’s at least 1.2{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} gains during the session. 

Alongside concerns of the Omicron variant, investors have also been ascertaining when and how robustly the Federal Reserve will move to accelerate its asset-purchase tapering program and raise interest rates from their current near-zero levels as inflationary pressures continue to mount. On Friday, the Labor Department is set to release its November Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is expected to show the fastest year-over-year rise in core consumer prices since 1991, at a 4.6{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} annual gain. 

“Tech and growth stocks are the longest-duration assets, which means they’re going to be the most negatively impacted in valuation by any bump up in inflation which would take interest rates up,” Paul Meeks, portfolio manager for Independent Wealth Solutions Management, told Yahoo Finance Live. “But on the other hand, what the Fed is doing and is even talking about doing, which is going from accommodative to more restrictive monetary policy, is a known.”

“It is well-broadcasted,” he added. “So despite that and even despite Omicron … which I actually think is starting to look more transitory and a lot less of a threat than we had with COVID back in the spring of 2020, I’m starting to feel again … more sanguine about the tech sector.” 

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6:06 p.m. ET Monday: Stock futures open higher after rally 

Here were the main moves in markets in late trading on Monday: 

  • S&P 500 futures (ES=F): +4.75 points (+0.1{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}), to 4,594.75

  • Dow futures (YM=F): +41 points (+0.12{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}), to 35,253.00

  • Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): +9.5 points (+0.06{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to 15,852.25

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., December 3, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., December 3, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

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Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter

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Metaverse will disrupt human life — here are 7 companies that may win big

The metaverse will be disruptive to society once it gains its true form over the next decade Jefferies analyst Simon Powell argues. But several companies could be poised to benefit greatly from the new digital ecosystem. 

“A single metaverse could be more than a decade away, but as it evolves it has the potential to disrupt almost everything in human life that has not yet already been disrupted,” said Powell in a lengthy research note on Monday titled “The Digitization of Everything.” 

“The pandemic accelerated the adoption of various technologies. Many people were forced to spend even more of their lives online from socializing to working, from education to entertainment. This shift to an online world will continue.”

The metaverse arguably burst into the public lexicon for the first time this year as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has hyped the digital world’s potential (and changed its holding company name to Meta in a show of support). Microsoft (Yahoo Finance’s Company of the Year) has also talked increasingly about the metaverse and how it will play in it moving forward. 

In its simplest form, the metaverse is an online world that includes augmented reality, virtual reality, and 3D avatars. As this world takes form, how things are done stand to change dramatically. Explains Powell, “The digitization of everything will create a new world that we can all move in and out of. The metaverse can be viewed as a new platform for the digital age. We see it as a wrapper that will roll up other digital platforms. It will not replace the internet, but instead build on top of it and, when combined with other technologies and interfaces, will allow us to essentially step into, and perhaps live in it.”

INDIA - 2021/11/30: In this photo illustration, a Metaverse logo seen displayed on a smartphone with a facebook logo in background. (Photo Illustration by Avishek Das/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

INDIA – 2021/11/30: In this photo illustration, a Metaverse logo seen displayed on a smartphone with a facebook logo in background. (Photo Illustration by Avishek Das/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

This virtual environment is not only expected to change how people interact with the physical world, but also how we work with other. 

“We are building towards a metaverse. I am really excited about the vision,” said Dropbox founder and CEO Drew Houston recently on Yahoo Finance Live. “Where Dropbox fits in if you are working in that kind of environment or in the metaverse, you need stuff. So for your digital content, Dropbox could help and that is what we are building towards. It is very early. It is a long journey, but it is exciting.”

Jefferies’ Powell acknowledges it’s still early for investors to pick definitive metaverse winners. But investors could begin mapping out a plan of attack. 

“Focus initially on the hardware needed to lift the internet to become the metaverse. Then look at the software that will design and host it, and ultimately the businesses that create use cases on it,” adds Powell. 

The analyst outlines several potential winners from the metaverse, mostly relegated to the social media and gaming sectors. 

“Facebook (Meta) /SNAP are both working on hardware to access the metaverse while having social platforms with significant reach. Roblox (RBLX) is the closest to being an early stage metaverse. TakeTwo (TTWO) is currently running three games that arguably could be early stage metaverses. Electronic Arts (EA) has several IPs that would be ripe to be turned into walled garden metaverses: Skate, Sims, SimCity, and even its sports franchises. Activision Blizzard (ATVI) has one of the innovators in early metaverse with World of Warcraft in its library. Moreover, Call of Duty could use many of the tools in building a metaverse to better monetize and engage users (cross platform, cross universe, single currency economy). Music will likely play a role along the way from here to there … Warner Music (WMG) already sees this as it has invested in several start ups that are building tools/platforms in the metaverse,” notes Powell.

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.

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ASIC says financial market cyber resiliency remained steady but fell short of target

Firms in Australia’s financial market have continued to be resilient against cyber threats, with improvement rates in cyber resiliency remaining steady, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) reported on Monday.

This finding was published in the corporate regulator’s latest report [PDF], which compiled trends from self-assessment surveys completed by financial markets firms. The report, titled Cyber resilience of firms in Australia’s financial markets: 2020–21, is an update to a similar cyber resilience report published by ASIC two years ago.

In both 2020 and 2021, ASIC asked participants to reassess their cyber resilience against the National Institute of Standards in Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework. The NIST Framework allows firms to assess cyber resilience against five functions: Identify, protect, detect, respond, and recover, using a maturity scale of where they are now and where they intend to be in 12-18 months.

In the new report, ASIC identified that cyber resiliency among firms operating within Australia’s financial market increased by 1.4{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} overall, but this fell short of the 14.9{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} improvement targeted for the period. It was also lower than the 15{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} improvement that was achieved between 2017 and 2019.

ASIC attributed the shortfall to a combination of reasons including overly ambitious targets, a rise in the cyber threat environment, and disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in organisations directing resources towards enabling secure remote working and ensuring products and services could be delivered to customers as supply chains were burdened with growing cyber activists.

asic-cybersecurity-financial-firms-2021.jpg

Improvement in cyber resilience preparedness between cycles (by function).


Image: ASIC

Overall, 2021 saw improvements in the management of digital assets, business environment, staff awareness and training, and protective security controls.

“Firms operating in Australia’s markets continue to be resilient against a rapidly changing cyber threat environment. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased opportunities for threat actors to target remote workers, and access remote infrastructure and supply chains critical to the delivery of products and services. However, the response from firms has been robust,” ASIC commissioner Cathie Armour said.

The report said 90{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} of firms strengthened user and privileged access management, 88{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} of firms ensured users were trained and aware of cyber risks, and 86{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} had mature cyber incident response plans in place.

Other key findings from the report included the gap between large firms and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) continued to close, with an overall improvement of 3.5{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}. In contrast, larger firms reported a slight drop in confidence of 2.2{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}, ASIC said.

“This comes off a strong base and can be attributed to large firms reassessing their response and recovery capabilities in light of: Increased complexity of their business operating models [and] a significant increase in threats to critical products and services reliant on third parties and supply chains,” the corporate regulator said.

ASIC also highlighted the greatest gaps between larger firms and SMEs continued to be in supply chain risk management where 40{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} of SMEs indicated weak supply chain risk management practices, but a majority of firms identified that this would be an ongoing priority over the next period.

Investment in cyber resiliency by credit rating agencies increased during the period, ASIC said, triggered by the 2017 Equifax incident, while investment banks continued to set high targets for all NIST Framework categories.

The release of the reports follows ASIC recently putting forward a recommendation for market operators and participants to simulate outages and recovery strategies to improve resiliency. It was off the back of an investigation into the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) software issues that arose when the refresh of its trade equity platform went live in November last year, causing the exchange to pause trade.

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