- BAT expresses disappointment at FDA Marketing Denial Order for Vuse Alto Menthol and Mixed Berry and will immediately seek a stay of enforcement British American Tobacco
- FDA Bans Sales of Vuse Menthol E-Cigarettes The Wall Street Journal
- FDA issues ban on RJ Reynolds menthol-flavoured vapes in US Financial Times
- FDA Denies Marketing of Six Flavored Vuse Alto E-Cigarette Products Following Determination They Do Not Meet Public Health Standard PR Newswire
- UPDATE 2-US FDA blocks some flavors of British American Tobacco’s key vape brand Vuse Yahoo Finance
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: tobacco
These healthy diets were associated with lower risk of death, according to a study of 119,000 people across four decades
Eat healthy, live longer.
That’s the takeaway from a major study published this month in JAMA Internal Medicine. Scientists led by a team from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that people who most closely adhered to at least one of four healthy eating patterns were less likely to die from cardiovascular disease, cancer or respiratory disease compared with people who did not adhere as closely to these diets. They were also less likely to die of any cause.
“These findings support the recommendations of Dietary Guidelines for Americans that multiple healthy eating patterns can be adapted to individual food traditions and preferences,” the researchers concluded, adding that the results were consistent across different racial and ethnic groups. The eating habits and mortality rates of more than 75,000 women from 1984 to 2020 over 44,000 men from 1986 to 2020 were included in the study.
The four diets studied were the Healthy Eating Index, the Alternate Mediterranean Diet, the Healthful Plant-Based Diet Index and the Alternate Healthy Eating Index. All four share some components, including whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes. But there are also differences: For instance, the Alternate Mediterranean Diet encourages fish consumption, and the Healthful Plant-Based Diet Index discourages eating meat.
The Alternate Mediterranean Diet is adapted from the original Mediterranean Diet, which includes olive oil (which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids), fruits, nuts, cereals, vegetables, legumes and fish. It allows for moderate consumption of alcohol and dairy products but low consumption of sweets and only the occasional serving of red meat. The alternate version, meanwhile, cuts out dairy entirely, only includes whole grains and uses the same alcohol-intake guideline for men and women, JAMA says.
The world’s ‘best diets’ overlap with study results
The Mediterranean Diet consistently ranks No. 1 in the U.S. News and World Report’s Best Diets ranking, which looks at seven criteria: short-term weight loss, long-term weight loss, effectiveness in preventing cardiovascular disease, effectiveness in preventing diabetes, ease of compliance, nutritional completeness and health risks. The 2023 list ranks the top three diets as the Mediterranean Diet, the DASH Diet and the Flexitarian Diet.
The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) Diet recommends fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, poultry, fish and low-fat dairy products and restricts salt, red meat, sweets and sugar-sweetened beverages. The Flexitarian Diet is similar to the other diets in that it’s mainly vegetarian, but it allows the occasional serving of meat or fish. All three diets are associated with improved metabolic health, lower blood pressure and reduced risk of Type 2 diabetes.
Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health and co-author of the latest study, said it’s critical to examine the associations between the U.S. government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans and long-term health. “Our findings will be valuable for the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which is being formed to evaluate current evidence surrounding different eating patterns and health outcomes,” he said.
Reducing salt intake is a good place to start. In 2021, the Food and Drug Administration issued new guidance for restaurants and food manufacturers to, over a two-and-a-half-year period, voluntarily reduce the amount of sodium in their food to help consumers stay under a limit of 3,000 milligrams per day — still higher than the recommended daily allowance. Americans consume around 3,400 milligrams of sodium per day, on average, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people consume less than 2,300 milligrams each day.
Related: Eating 400 calories a day from these foods could raise your dementia risk by over 20%
Study shows link between vaping and risk of caries
A vaping habit could end up leading to a tarnished smile, and more frequent visits to the dentist.
Research by faculty from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine found patients who said they used vaping devices were more likely to have a higher risk of developing cavities. With CDC surveys reporting that 9.1 million American adults-;and 2 million teenagers-;use tobacco-based vaping products, that means a lot of vulnerable teeth.
The findings of this study on the association between vaping and risk of caries-;the dental term for cavities-;serve as an alert that this once seemingly harmless habit may be very detrimental, says Karina Irusa, assistant professor of comprehensive care and lead author on the paper. The study was published November 23 in The Journal of the American Dental Association.
Over the last few years, public awareness has increased about the dangers of vaping to systemic health-;particularly after the use of vaping devices was tied to lung disease. Some dental research has shown ties between e-cigarette use and increased markers for gum disease, and, separately, damage to the tooth’s enamel, its outer shell. But relatively little emphasis has been placed on the intersection between e-cigarette use and oral health, even by dentists, says Irusa.
Irusa says that the recent Tufts finding may be just a hint of the damage vaping causes to the mouth. “The extent of the effects on dental health, specifically on dental decay, are still relatively unknown,” she says. “At this point, I’m just trying to raise awareness,” among both dentists and patients.
This study, Irusa says, is the first known specifically to investigate the association of vaping and e-cigarettes with the increased risk for getting cavities. She and her colleagues analyzed data from more than 13,000 patients older than 16 who were treated at Tufts dental clinics from 2019-2022.
While the vast majority of the patients said they did not use vapes, there was a statistically significant difference in dental caries risk levels between the e-cigarette/vaping group and the control group, Irusa found. Some 79% of the vaping patients were categorized as having high-caries risk, compared to just about 60% of the control group. The vaping patients were not asked whether they used devices that contained nicotine or THC, although nicotine is more common.
It’s important to understand this is preliminary data. This is not 100% conclusive, but people do need to be aware of what we’re seeing.”
Karina Irusa, assistant professor of comprehensive care and lead author on the paper
Further studies need to be done, and Irusa wants to take a closer look at how vaping affects the microbiology of saliva.
One reason why e-cigarette use could contribute to a high risk of cavities is the sugary content and viscosity of vaping liquid, which, when aerosolized and then inhaled through the mouth, sticks to the teeth. (A 2018 study published in the journal PLOS One likened the properties of sweet-flavored e-cigarettes to gummy candies and acidic drinks.) Vaping aerosols have been shown to change the oral microbiome making it more hospitable to decay-causing bacteria. It’s also been observed that vaping seems to encourage decay in areas where it usually doesn’t occur-;such as the bottom edges of front teeth. “It takes an esthetic toll,” Irusa says.
The Tufts researchers recommend that dentists should routinely ask about e-cigarette use as part of a patient’s medical history. That includes pediatric dentists who see adolescents-;according to the FDA/CDC, 7.6% of middle- and high-school students said they used e-cigarettes in 2021.
The researchers also suggest patients who use e-cigarettes should be considered for a “more rigorous caries management protocol,” which could include prescription-strength fluoride toothpaste and fluoride rinse, in-office fluoride applications, and checkups more often than twice a year.
“It takes a lot of investment of time and money to manage dental caries, depending on how bad it gets,” Irusa says. “Once you’ve started the habit, even if you get fillings, as long as you continue, you’re still at risk of secondary caries. It’s a vicious cycle that will not stop.”
Steven Eisen of Tufts University School of Dental Medicine is senior author on the paper. Complete information on authors and conflicts of interest is available in the published paper.
Source:
Journal reference:
Irusa, K.F., et al. (2022) A comparison of the caries risk between patients who use vapes or electronic cigarettes and those who do not. The Journal of the American Dental Association. doi.org/10.1016/j.adaj.2022.09.013.
Chesapeake Walmart shooting: At least 6 people were killed, officials say. The shooter is also dead
CNN
—
[Breaking news update, published at 8:21 a.m. ET]
The gunman who killed six people at a Walmart in Virginia on Tuesday night was an employee at the store, Chesapeake Police Chief Mark Solesky said Wednesday. Solesky said the gunman is believed to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but his identity has not been released because his next of kin has not been notified.
[Previous story, published at 7:31 a.m. ET]
At least six people were shot dead Tuesday night inside a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, in an attack that unfolded within an hour of the store’s scheduled closing time, city officials said early Wednesday.
The shooter is dead, city officials said.
Investigators were sweeping the store overnight into Wednesday to search for victims or people who may have been hiding, Chesapeake Police spokesperson Leo Kosinski told CNN earlier. Police earlier reported people injured.
Investigators believe the shooter was an employee or former employee of the store who opened fire on other employees in a break room, a law enforcement source told CNN.
Officials believe the shooter at some point turned the gun on himself, according to the source.
Officers responded to the Walmart around 10:12 p.m. – less than an hour before it was set to close – and found victims and evidence of a shooting, Kosinski said.
Five patients were being treated at Sentara General Hospital in nearby Norfolk, Virginia, a spokesperson for Sentara Healthcare told CNN affiliate WTKR. An update on their conditions was not immediately available.
A news conference was scheduled for 8 a.m. Wednesday, Chesapeake city officials said on Twitter.
The shooting, which came two days ahead of Thanksgiving as customers were doing last-minute shopping, is yet another instance of how gun violence erupts in American life in places traditionally seen as safe, from schools to stores and even hospitals.
At the University of Virginia in Charlottesville – which is about 170 miles west of Chesapeake – a 22-year-old student allegedly opened fire on fellow students this month, killing three of them on a bus returning to campus from a field trip to Washington, DC.
Last weekend, a 22-year-old shot and killed five people at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and 19 others were injured, authorities said.
Tuesday’s shooting happened as the US has recorded more than 600 mass shootings so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The archive and CNN tally a mass shooting as one involving at least four killed or injured, not including the shooter.
Joetta Jeffery told CNN her mother, Betsy Umphlett, sent her texts from inside the store during the shooting, alerting her that someone had opened fire.
“I’m crying, I’m shaking,” Jeffery told CNN. “I had just talked to her about buying turkeys for Thanksgiving, then this text came in.”
Jeffery said her mother is uninjured but in shock, and they’ve been reunited.
Chesapeake city officials have asked people to stay away from the store during the investigation.
“Our first responders are well-trained and prepared to respond; please give them space to do so,” the city said in a tweet.
A reunification center was set up at the Chesapeake Conference Center, city officials said. They are asking that only immediate family and emergency contacts for people who were in the store go to the center.
In a statement, Walmart said it’s shocked at the tragedy that unfolded in one of its stores.
“We’re praying for those impacted, the community and our associates. We’re working closely with law enforcement, and we are focused on supporting our associates,” the company said in the statement.
The Washington, DC, field office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives is assisting local police in the investigation, the bureau said on Twitter.
Marijuana smoke harms lungs in tobacco smokers, study finds
CNN
—
Smoking weed while being a tobacco smoker may increase damage to the respiratory system, a new study found.
“There’s a public perception that marijuana is safer than tobacco, and this study raises concern this may not be true,” said lead study author Dr. Giselle Revah, an assistant professor in the department of radiology at the University of Ottawa in Ontario.
“The American Lung Association says the only thing that should go into your lungs is clean air, so if you’re inhaling anything, it could potentially be toxic to your lungs,” she said.
The preliminary study, published Tuesday in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America, compared computed tomography (CT) chest scans from 56 people who smoked marijuana and tobacco with lung scans of 33 people who had been heavy cigarette smokers for over 25 years.
Scans from an additional 57 nonsmokers with no preexisting lung disease, chemotherapy or other history of lung damage were used as controls.
Some 75% of the people in the study who smoked marijuana and tobacco had emphysema, a disease of the small airways that causes damage to the air sacs in the lungs. About 67% of the tobacco-only smokers had emphysema, while only 5% of the nonsmokers had the disease, she said.
A difference of 8 percentage points between weed plus tobacco and tobacco-only smokers may not seem like a huge difference, but it was significant, Revah said.
“It suggests that marijuana has additional effects on the lungs than tobacco alone,” Revah said. “Is it the combination of the marijuana and tobacco that makes more holes in the lungs and airway inflammation or just the marijuana itself?”
Another concern was the age of the marijuana smokers — many were much younger than 50, she said.
“These patients presumably had less lifetime exposure to smoke, except they’re even sicker than those who are heavy tobacco smokers and have been doing it longer,” Revah said. “We just don’t know if it’s a synergistic effect between the marijuana and the tobacco versus the marijuana alone.”
Airway damage from smoking can quickly become permanent, she said.
“Airway inflammation early on is reversible,” she said. “When I see mucus and thickening of the airways, if you stop the exposure that should improve. But sometimes that can lead to dilatation of the airways and when it’s dilated, then it’s irreversible.”
The study had some limitations, Revah noted. It was small. There was little information on how much marijuana was smoked or how it was inhaled — bong, blunt or joint.
However, there are several differences in how weed and tobacco are consumed that could provide clues for further investigation, Revah said. For example, tobacco is typically smoked with a filter, while weed is not.
“If you’re smoking an unfiltered joint, let’s say, more particulates will reach the airways, get deposited and become irritants, which is why you see the mucus and the inflammation,” she said.
In addition, tobacco smokers quickly exhale, while marijuana smokers often inhale and hold their breath to maximize the high, she said.
“People usually have a longer breath hold and a higher puff volume, so they are holding in the larger volume of smoke for a longer period of time,” she said. “That could lead to micro-trauma of those airspaces. These are all questions for future research.”
This isn’t the first study to find lung damage from inhaling marijuana. A June study found cannabis users were 22% more likely than nonusers to visit an emergency department or be hospitalized. The main reason was physical injury, but respiratory concerns were a close second.
A 2021 study found teens are about twice as likely to report “wheezing or whistling” in the chest after vaping marijuana than after smoking cigarettes or using e-cigarettes.
“I often am approached by both parents and teens who believe vaping cannabis is ‘OK’ and better than smoking (a joint, blunt, doobie etc.),” Carol Boyd, founding director of the Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking & Health at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor told CNN in a prior interview.
“And so, they ask, ‘Vaping is safe — right?’ My reaction: ‘You are fooling yourself. We know that inhaling hot tobacco/cannabis smoke into your lungs is unhealthy and can cause bronchitis or life-threatening breathing problems,” said Boyd, who is also professor emerita in the department of health behavior and biological sciences at the University of Michigan’s School of Nursing.
“And yet, you seem to believe that heating chemicals (including carcinogens) into a vapor and inhaling them is healthy? My answer is, ‘No, it is not a healthy behavior,’ ” she said.
Highly Processed Foods Can Be Considered Addictive Like Tobacco Products
Summary: Based on the criteria set for tobacco addiction, a new study reports that highly-processed foods can be addictive.
Source: University of Michigan
Can highly processed foods be addictive?
It’s a question that researchers have debated for years as unhealthy diets are often fueled by foods loaded with refined carbohydrates and added fats.
To find a resolution, a new University of Michigan and Virginia Tech analysis took the criteria used in a 1988 U.S. Surgeon General’s report that established that tobacco was addictive and applied it to food.
Based on the criteria set for tobacco, the findings indicate that highly processed foods can be addictive, said lead author Ashley Gearhardt, U-M associate professor of psychology, and Alexandra DiFeliceantonio, assistant professor at Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech.
In fact, the addictive potential for food such as potato chips, cookies, ice cream and French fries may be a key factor contributing to the high public health costs associated with a food environment dominated by cheap, accessible and heavily marketed highly processed foods, the researchers said.
The research, published in the current issue of Addiction, offers evidence that highly processed foods meet the same criteria used to identify cigarettes as an addictive substance:
- They trigger compulsive use where people are unable to quit or cut down (even in the face of life-threatening diseases like diabetes and heart disease)
- They can change the way we feel and cause changes in the brain that are of a similar magnitude as the nicotine in tobacco products
- They are highly reinforcing
- They trigger intense urges and cravings
“Of note, there is no biomarker in the brain that tells us whether something is addictive or not,” Gearhardt said. “Identifying that tobacco products were addictive really boiled down to these four criteria, (which) have stood up to decades of scientific evaluation. Highly processed foods meet every single one of these criteria.”
DiFeliceantonio said the ability of highly processed foods to rapidly deliver unnaturally high doses of refined carbohydrates and fat appear key to their addictive potential.
Highly processed foods contain complex substances that cannot be simplified to a single chemical agent acting through a specific central mechanism. The same can be said for industrial tobacco products, which contain thousands of chemicals including nicotine, Gearhardt said.
When the Surgeon General’s report was released more than 30 years ago, tobacco products were the largest cause of preventable death. But many people and tobacco manufacturers resisted accepting their addictive and harmful nature.
“This delayed the implementation of effective strategies to address this public health crisis, which cost millions of lives,” said Gearhardt, who directs U-M’s Food and Addiction Science and Treatment lab.
“When we realized tobacco products were addictive, it made us realize that smoking wasn’t just an adult choice, but that people were getting hooked and couldn’t stop even when they really wanted to. This same thing appears to be happening with highly processed foods and this is particularly concerning because kids are a major target of advertising for these products.”
Poor diets dominated by highly processed foods now contribute to preventable deaths on par with cigarettes. Similar to tobacco products, the food industry designs their highly processed foods to be intensely rewarding and hard to resist, the researchers said.
See also
“It is time to stop thinking about highly processed foods just as food, but instead as highly refined substances that can be addictive,” DiFeliceantonio said.
About this food and addiction research news
Author: Press Office
Source: University of Michigan
Contact: Press Office – University of Michigan
Image: The image is in the public domain
Original Research: Open access.
“Highly processed foods can be considered addictive substances based on established scientific criteria” by Ashley N. Gearhardt et al. Addiction
Abstract
Highly processed foods can be considered addictive substances based on established scientific criteria
Background
There is growing evidence that an addictive-eating phenotype may exist. There is significant debate regarding whether highly processed foods (HPFs; foods with refined carbohydrates and/or added fats) are addictive. The lack of scientifically grounded criteria to evaluate the addictive nature of HPFs has hindered the resolution of this debate.
Analysis
The most recent scientific debate regarding a substance’s addictive potential centered around tobacco. In 1988, the Surgeon General issued a report identifying tobacco products as addictive based on three primary scientific criteria: their ability to (1) cause highly controlled or compulsive use, (2) cause psychoactive (i.e. mood-altering) effects via their effect on the brain and (3) reinforce behavior. Scientific advances have now identified the ability of tobacco products to (4) trigger strong urges or craving as another important indicator of addictive potential. Here, we propose that these four criteria provide scientifically valid benchmarks that can be used to evaluate the addictiveness of HPFs. Then, we review the evidence regarding whether HPFs meet each criterion. Finally, we consider the implications of labeling HPFs as addictive.
Conclusion
Highly processed foods (HPFs) can meet the criteria to be labeled as addictive substances using the standards set for tobacco products. The addictive potential of HPFs may be a key factor contributing to the high public health costs associated with a food environment dominated by cheap, accessible and heavily marketed HPFs.
‘The new tobacco’: Cannabis is as bad for the heart as cigarettes, new research reveals
‘The new tobacco’: Cannabis is as bad for the heart as cigarettes, new research reveals
- Cannabis was found to increase blood pressure and heart rate, like cigarettes
- Scientists in Canada warned it could increase the risk of heart attacks
- Recreational cannabis is legal in 19 US states but remains illegal in the UK
Cannabis has been dubbed ‘the new tobacco’ by doctors after a raft of new research revealed it is as damaging to the heart as smoking cigarettes.
In regular users, the drug was found to increase blood pressure and heart rate significantly in a similar way that heavy smoking does, according to the results of one study.
In the trial, scientists in Canada – where recreational use is legal – gave 21 otherwise healthy volunteers who smoked cannabis frequently a ‘vape’ containing the drug.
A single session of inhaling it was enough to alter the part of nervous system responsible for blood pressure and pulse, according to scans.
Cannabis has been dubbed ‘the new tobacco’ by doctors after a raft of new research revealed it is as damaging to the heart as smoking cigarettes (file image)
The changes could be enough to increase the risk of a heart attack in less healthy patients, they warned.
New Jersey-based cardiologist Dr Abbas Alshami, who has been involved in the research, said: ‘When the tobacco industry first began, we didn’t know the damage smoking caused.
‘It was only once it was in widespread use that we started seeing the health consequences, and acted to try to limit it. Unfortunately, millions of people died avoidable deaths before that happened.
‘I feel like we are going through the same thing with cannabis now. We’re alarmed by what we’re seeing, and would like to see much tougher restrictions reimposed. Many people here [in the US] have no idea the cannabis is harmful but, clearly, it is.’
In regular users, the drug was found to increase blood pressure and heart rate significantly in a similar way that heavy smoking does, according to the results of one study (file image)
In another study, American researchers examined almost 35 million hospital admission records.
It found that the odds of cannabis users developing acute coronary syndrome – an umbrella term for conditions in which the blood supply to the heart becomes compromised, including heart attacks and angina – was the same as for heavy cigarette smokers.
Other research found older cannabis users who had common conditions such as chronic kidney disease, which affects 3.5 million Britons, were more likely to suffer heart attacks than those who didn’t touch the drug, and over-60s who used it were also more likely to have a stroke.
A study found the odds of cannabis users developing acute coronary syndrome – an umbrella term for conditions in which the blood supply to the heart becomes compromised, including heart attacks and angina – was the same as for heavy cigarette smokers (file image)
American Heart Association medicines expert Professor Robert Page said he believed cannabis was ‘absolutely the new tobacco’ in terms of heart risk.
He said: ‘Cannabis is a psychotropic drug that not only has an impact on the brain but also the nervous system, so what we’re seeing in these studies makes a lot of sense.
‘The worry is that we’re observing an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes even in younger adults, who are the biggest recreational users of cannabis. This is a huge signal that warrants more research.’
Recreational cannabis use is legal in 19 US states. However, it remains illegal for recreational purposes in the UK.
He nailed three big S&P 500 moves this year. Here’s where this strategist sees stocks headed next, with beaten down names to buy.
A Wall Street hat trick may not be on the cards, with stocks in the red for Wednesday.
A two-day rally was never a guaranteed exit out of the bear woods anyway, as some say signs of a durable bottom are still missing.
Enter our call of the day, from the chief market technician at TheoTrade, Jeffrey Bierman, who has made a string of prescient calls on what has been a roller coaster year for the index thus far. He’s also a professor of finance at Loyola University Chicago and DePaul University.
Bierman, who uses quant and fundamental analysis to determine market direction, sees the S&P 500
SPX,
-1.62%
finishing the year between 4,000 and 4,200, maybe around 4,135. “Fourth-quarter seasonality favors bulls following a weak third quarter. Not to mention most stocks are priced for no growth,” he told MarketWatch in a Monday interview.
In December 2021, he forecast the S&P 500 might see a 20% decline within six months, toward 3,900 — it hit 3,930 in early May. In June, he forecast a rally and recovery to 4,300 — the index hit 4,315 by mid-August.
Speaking to MarketWatch on Aug. 25, Bierman saw a retest of around 3,600 for the index, citing an often rough September for stocks. It closed out last month at a new 2022 low of 3,585.
“I think we’re going to end up for the quarter. [The market is] deeply oversold and some stocks are completely mispriced in terms of their valuation metrics,” said Bierman, who is looking squarely at retail and technology sectors.
“The valuations on half the chip stocks are trading below a multiple of seven. I’ve never seen that ever…but what that means is when the semiconductor sector comes back, the multiple expansion is gonna be like a volcanic eruption to the upside,” he said of the sector known for its boom/bust cycles.
For example, he owns Intel
INTC,
-2.53%,
which hit a five-year low on Friday. Eventually, the company that has invested $20 billion in a new U.S. plant will come roaring back alongside rivals like Advanced Micro
AMD,
-4.65%.
“People will look back on this and go ‘Oh, my God, I can’t believe Intel was at five times earnings,’ which is insanity for this stock.”
For the S&P 500 as a whole next twelve months price/earnings is currently 16.13 times, so Intel’s would be less than half of the broader index, according to FactSet
As for retail, he’s been looking at Urban Outfitters
URBN,
-1.06%,
Macy’s
M,
-1.94%
and Nordstrom
JWN,
-0.67%,
all places where millennials don’t shop, but the middle class does, with the all-important holiday shopping period dead ahead.
“There are 100,000 people being hired to work part time at these companies, and their margins are not coming down at all,” with no markdowns and decent sales, he said, noting those companies are being priced at a multiple of 5 times forward earnings.
“It means that you don’t think that Macy’s can put together for the Christmas quarter a comparative quarter, year over year of greater than 5%? If you don’t then don’t buy it, but I do,” said Bierman. “That’s why I’m willing to stick my neck out and buy these things. I bought Abercrombie & Fitch
ANF,
-3.78%
at 10 times earnings…I’ve never seen it that low.”
For those who aren’t comfortable picking stocks, he says they can still get exposure through exchange-traded funds, such as SPDR S&P Retail
XRT,
-2.58%
or the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF
XLK,
-1.70%.
Bierman adds that investors need to be careful not to be overly concentrated in the top stocks, given “10 stocks accounted for 45% of the Nasdaq and the fact that 25% of the S&P almost accounted for about 50% of the S&P movement.”
“Everbody’s concentrated in 10 stocks that can still fall another 30% or 40%, like Apple and Microsoft. The idea of concentration risk is that everybody owns Apple, everybody owns Amazon,” he said.
And that could force the hand of passive and active managers heavily invested in those big names, driving a 10% drop for markets that “washes away all other stocks.”
The markets
Stocks
DJIA,
-1.21%
SPX,
-1.62%
COMP,
-2.19%
are in the red, and bond yields
TMUBMUSD10Y,
3.783%
TMUBMUSD02Y,
4.199%
are up, along with the dollar
DXYN,
.
Silver
SI00,
-5.00%
is retracing some of this week’s big gains, and bitcoin
BTCUSD,
-2.62%
is also off, trading at just over $20,000. Hong Kong stocks
HSI,
+5.90%
surged 6% in a catch-up move following a holiday. New Zealand’s central bank hiked rates a half point, the fifth increase in a row.
The buzz
Oil prices
CL.1,
-0.02%
BRN00,
+0.28%
are flat as OPEC+ reportedly agreed to cut oil production by 2 million barrels a day. Some say don’t be too impressed by any output reduction.
Amazon
AMZN,
-2.34%
will reportedly freeze corporate hires in its retail business for the remainder of 2022.
Mortgage applications fell to the lowest pace in 25 years in the latest week.
The ADP private-sector payrolls report showed 208,000 jobs added in September. The trade deficit narrowed, which should be good news for third-quarter GDP. The Institute for Supply Management’s services index is due at 10 a.m. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic will also speak.
Expect the spotlight to stay on Twitter
TWTR,
-2.53%
after Tesla
TSLA,
-5.16%
CEO Elon Musk committed to the $44 billion deal. But will it feel like a win once he owns it?
Plus: Elon Musk’s legal battle with Twitter may be over, but his war with the SEC continues
EU countries agreed to impose new sanctions on Russia after the illegal annexation of four Ukraine regions. Those moves will include an expected price cap on Russian oil.
South Korea’s missile fired in response to North Korea’s weapon launch over Japan, crashed and burned.
Best of the web
Russians fleeing Putin’s mobilization are finding haven in poor, remote countries.
Consumers are throwing away perfectly good food because of ‘best before’ labels.
The CEO of an election software company has been arrested on accusations of ID theft.
Top tickers
These were the top-searched tickers on MarketWatch as of 6 a.m. Eastern:
| Ticker | Security name |
|
TSLA, -5.16% |
Tesla |
|
GME, -7.59% |
GameStop |
|
AMC, -9.56% |
AMC Entertainment |
|
TWTR, -2.53% |
|
|
NIO, -5.92% |
NIO |
|
AAPL, -1.77% |
Apple |
|
APE, -8.40% |
AMC Entertainment preferred shares |
|
BBBY, -8.52% |
Bed Bath & Beyond |
|
AMZN, -2.34% |
Amazon |
|
DWAC, -0.64% |
Digital World Acquisition Corp. |
The chart
More market-bottom talk:
Random reads
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Teens Are Getting Into Vapes and Weed, Losing Interest in Booze and Other Drugs
Teens have been using less and less drugs over the past few decades, with two important exceptions, new research this week suggests. Reported levels of drug use have declined for most substances since the early 1990s, the study found, but rates of cannabis use and vaping have gone up. The findings also indicate that having less free time and greater parental supervision may help kids stay away from using drugs in the first place.
The research was led by scientists from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. They analyzed decades of data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s Monitoring the Future survey, which regularly asks 8th, 10th, and 12th graders across the country about their drug use and attitudes toward drugs (the questionnaire is intended to be filled out anonymously for the 8th and 10th graders and is supposed to be fully confidential for the 12th graders).
They specifically wanted to see how the social lives of teens might have affected their drug use. So they divided the respondents into different groups, based on how socially engaged they were, how much free time they had and how it was spent, and the level of parental involvement outside of school. More social teens, for example, might report playing sports, attending parties often, or having a part-time job.
From 1991 to 2019, the researchers found, reported substance use went down for drugs like alcohol, cigarettes, and most illicit substances. This drop was seen across all the groups of teens, but there were differences in how these patterns changed over time. The most social teens reported the highest levels of drug use, for instance, but also saw the biggest drops by the late 2010s. In 2019, about 27% of teens reported drinking alcohol in the past month, while 15% reported binge drinking in the past two weeks. The findings were published Wednesday in the journal Substance Use and Misuse.
“Substance use prevalence decreases across decades were largest for the groups defined by significant paid employment or high levels of social time, either with low engagement in other activities or lower levels of supervision, though these groups had the highest initial prevalence of each variety of substance use,” said lead author Noah Kreski, an epidemiologist at Columbia, in a statement from the university.
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As to why this decline is happening, Kreski and his colleagues argue that social trends might be an important factor. Based on this data, teens today seem to be spending less unstructured time with their peers or older adults than they did in the 90s, including having parties, dating, or just working. And community programs focused on deterring kids from smoking or drinking may have also played a role.
While teens have begun to drink and smoke nicotine less, their levels of cannabis use and vaping have gone up over time. By 2019, 13% of teens reported using cannabis, 12% reported nicotine vaping, and 6% reported cannabis vaping in the past month. These trends were seen across all groups, but especially in socially engaged teens or those with a job. It’s possible that cannabis and vaping might have become alluring alternatives to alcohol and other drugs among teens as cultural norms have shifted over time, but the authors say that more research is needed to understand the exact drivers behind this rise and fall of teen drug use.
“Uncovering these links between complex patterns of time use and substance use outcomes could reveal new opportunities for intervention and education of adolescents surrounding substances, helping to promote declines in use,” said Kreski.
More recent data from the Monitoring the Future Survey suggests that these trends are continuing in both directions. While overall reported teen drug use once again declined between 2020 and 2021, cannabis use rose to an all-time high.
Study shows almost half of fatal cancer cases linked to avoidable risk factors
Almost half of all cancers that lead to death can be attributed to risk factors that are avoidable, a new study found, with researchers advising that governments invest in supporting environments that minimize exposure to certain cancer risk factors.
The study, which looked at cancer cases from 2019 and was published in The Lancet, found that 44 percent of cancer deaths were what researchers referred to as risk-attributable cancer deaths, meaning cancers that could be linked to higher exposure to certain risk factors for the disease.
On a global scale, the leading risk factors were smoking, alcohol and high BMI in descending order. These risk factors were the same for both male and female patients.
The same study found that 42 percent of cancer-related disability-adjusted life-years — the number of years lost to not living at full health or with a disability — could be attributed to risk factors.
The burden of risk-attributable cancers varied across regions, with smoking, unsafe sex and alcohol being the leading risk factors in lower-income, socially disadvantaged countries. Higher-income countries tended to reflect the global risk factors, according to researchers.
“Although some cancer cases are not preventable, governments can work on a population level to support an environment that minimises exposure to known cancer risk factors,” researchers said.
“Primary prevention, or the prevention of a cancer developing, is a particularly cost-effective strategy, although it must be paired with more comprehensive efforts to address cancer burden, including secondary prevention initiatives, such as screening programmes, and ensuring effective capacity to diagnose and treat those with cancer.”
Researchers noted that “substantial progress” has been made in reducing tobacco exposure, particularly through interventions like taxation, regulations and smoke-free policies globally. Similar efforts have been made to address risks such as alcohol use and unsafe sex.
“Behavioural risk factors are strongly influenced by the environment in which people live and individuals with cancer should not be blamed for their disease,” said researchers.