Amazon Black Friday device deals revealed: Sales on Echo, Kindle, Fire TV, Fire tablets and more start Nov. 22 - CNET

Way back in October, we told you there were 6 big categories of products that you shouldn't buy until Black Friday. High up on that list was any Amazon device including Fire tablets, Kindle Paperwhite and Echo speakers and smart displays. And now we can happily say: We told you so. Amazon reps just emailed us with an early list of what's expected to go on sale, and when -- and it includes some of the best prices this side of Prime Day, back in July.

We've listed the full swath of great deals below. It's a rolling Black Friday sale: Some deals start Nov. 22 (the Friday before Thanksgiving), with more devices being added every few days through Thanksgiving Day.

Note that we've included the sales pricing and links, but the sale prices are not available until the dates indicated. Plan your shopping accordingly. Can't wait? Here are the best deals on Amazon now.

Starting Nov. 22: Fire tablets, Kindle Paperwhite and more

The price drops start Nov. 22 -- that's the Friday before Thanksgiving, one week before Black Friday proper.

Save $50 on the Fire HD 8 Kids Edition tablet. This is the same hardware as above, but with 32GB of storage built-in, a rubberized case, a year of FreeTime Unlimited (kid-friendly content) and a two-year no-questions-asked replacement warranty for any damage. See our Amazon Fire 8 Kids Edition Tablet review.

The Amazon Fire 7 Tablet, updated for 2019, usually costs $50. During this Black Friday sale, it will be just $30. That said, we highly recommend you upgrade to the 8-inch model below for just $20 more. See our Amazon Fire 7 Tablet review.

Starting Nov. 24: Fire TV products

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, Amazon adds more devices to its sale list.

Starting Nov. 27: Blink cameras, Ring doorbells and $5 smart plugs

The day before Thanksgiving means even more stuff goes on sale.

Amazon

The Blink XT2 is a weatherproof security camera with a battery that can supposedly last for two years. Getting a two-pack for $100 is a good deal. (There was a two-pack offered during Prime Day at a lower price.) See our hands-on preview of the Blink XT2.

Starting Nov. 28: Echo speakers and smart displays

Happy Thanksgiving! While you're basting the turkey, you can buy a good chunk of Amazon's updated Echo line at some very discounted prices.

Back to its Prime Day low, the Echo Dot (without the clock) puts all of the smarts of Amazon's assistant Alexa into a small and affordable package. Even at its normal price of $50, it's a good deal, so the $22 price is still something to celebrate. With voice commands, you can control your smart home, check the weather, play music, search the internet and more. You lose some sound quality with the smaller size, but you can plug it into your own speakers to make up for the difference. See the Amazon Echo Dot 2018 review.

James Martin/CNET

But c'mon... you want the newer, cooler version with the clock built-in, right? It was just introduced in September at $60, but now it'll be at its lowest price yet: Just $35. Read our Echo Dot with Clock review.

Ben Fox Rubin/CNET

If you want a smart speaker with Alexa that has a little more oomph to its sound quality, the latest version of the original Echo might be the right choice for you. The older version of this puppy was selling for $50 at one point on Prime Day, but with a list price of $100, $60 isn't half bad.  See our Amazon Echo 2019 review.

Tyler Lizenby/CNET

With a a 5.5-inch touchscreen and the ability to wake you up with a nifty sunrise animation, this is our favorite smart display with Alexa. And at this price, it's a no-brainer.  See our Amazon Echo Show 5 review.

Tyler Lizenby/CNET

The second gen Echo Show refined the design of the first model and offers better sound quality and a 10-inch HD screen. It combines the functionality of a smart speaker like the Echo Dot with a touchscreen you can use for video calls and controlling your smart home with a tap. We like the Echo Show 5 a little better, but at $150 for the full-sized Show -- $10 less than Prime Day, which looks to be its lowest ever -- is a tempting offer.  See our Amazon Echo Show review.

Tyler Lizenby/CNET

Do you need Alexa in your car? Probably not. But who are we to judge? If you always wanted Amazon's personal assistant on the road, now you can have it for half price. That's the lowest since it first became available to buy earlier this year. See our Echo Auto review.

Now playing: Watch this: How to win Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2019

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https://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-black-friday-2019-device-deals-revealed-sales-on-echo-kindle-fire-tv-fire-tablets-and-more-start-nov-22/

2019-11-09 16:16:00Z
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Scandinavian Wine? A Warming Climate Tempts Entrepreneurs - The New York Times

SKAERSOGAARD, Denmark — On a mild autumn morning, Sven Moesgaard climbed a sunbathed hill and inspected an undulating expanse of neatly planted vines. A picking crew was harvesting tons of hardy Solaris grapes that he would soon turn into thousands of bottles of crisp white and sparkling Danish wine.

A decade ago, winemaking was regarded as a losing proposition in these notoriously cool climes. But as global temperatures rise, a fledgling wine industry is growing from once-unlikely fields across Scandinavia, as entrepreneurs seek to turn a warming climate to their advantage.

“We’re looking for the opportunities in climate change,” said Mr. Moesgaard, the founder of Skaersogaard Vin, cradling a cluster of golden grapes. “In the coming decades, we’ll be growing more wine in Scandinavia while countries that have traditionally dominated the industry produce less.”

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“In the coming decades, we’ll be growing more wine in Scandinavia while countries that have traditionally dominated the industry produce less,” said Sven Moesgaard, the founder of Skaersogaard Vin.Credit...Charlotte de la Fuente for The New York Times

Nordic vintners are betting that they can develop what were once mainly hobbyist ventures into thriving commercial operations. The dream is to transform Scandinavia into an essential global producer of white wines, which are beginning to flourish along Europe’s northern rim.

The growth has been rapid: Denmark now boasts 90 commercial vineyards, up from just two 15 years ago, and around 40 have sprung up in Sweden. Nearly a dozen vineyards are operating as far north as Norway.

But many are in the start-up stage and are tiny compared with established wineries in Europe, which has 10 million acres of vineyards — enough to cover almost all of Denmark. Producers in France, Italy and Spain own three-quarters of that land, dominating the European industry. By contrast, Denmark and Sweden have European Union approval to grow less than 1,000 acres of vineyards, and questions persist about quality and price.

“We’re still a drop in the bucket,” said Hans Münter, the head of the Danish Wine Association. “Right now, we don’t have the volume to evaluate if this is a good business or just a business.”

Yet in 50 years, Scandinavia’s climate is forecast to be more like northern France’s, as regional temperatures climb as much as 6 degrees Celsius. In the last decade alone, warming has produced milder winters, a longer growing season — and a small but rising number of award-winning wines.

“You’re seeing a natural progression of pioneers looking for cool climate limits for viticulture, and we will likely see more development,” said Gregory Jones, a climatologist who is the director of the Evenstad Center for Wine Education in Oregon. “Whether a strong vibrant industry will emerge, time will tell.”

Nordic vintners are emboldened to invest as they watch Southern European wine producers struggle with a more volatile climate. Grapes, including sensitive varieties used for white wine, burned on the vine this summer in parts of France, Spain and Italy as temperatures topped 105 degrees Fahrenheit.

Climatologists say the global wine map could be transformed by 2050. Dominant producing countries in Europe and Latin America, along with parts of California and Australia, may become too hot to grow grapes, while areas not traditionally known for winemaking — including China — take off.

Winemakers in France are experimenting with grapes from warmer countries like Tunisia to see if they can retain the blockbuster tastes and yields that generate billions of euros in worldwide sales. Spanish and Italian winemakers are planting higher on mountainsides or on shaded north-facing slopes to keep wine flavors recognizable.

But half a century from now, those regions may no longer be a safe haven, while the climate for growing in Denmark and neighboring countries may improve. Already, winemakers here are credited with creating white wines with crisp, structured flavors that are fading in southern climes where heat is reducing grape acidity.

“We’re trying to define the Nordic style of wine,” said Tom Christensen, who founded Dyrehoj Vingaard, Denmark’s largest winery, a decade ago with his sister, Betina Newberry. That includes investing in grape varieties with an acidic, fresh quality and an organic production without pesticides and sprays.

“People expect Nordic products to be cleaner,” he said.

The winery, on the lush Rosnaes peninsula, produces 50,000 bottles of premium white and sparkling wines, and he plans to expand. “If I had a Spanish vineyard, I’d hedge my bets by buying land here,” Mr. Christensen said. “In 20 years, you’d have a leading business in Europe.”

The hurdles are steep. Rising temperatures have improved growth conditions but are increasingly volatile, bringing acute heat one year and excess rain the next. That makes for uneven harvests. The amount of wine produced is still small, and most is consumed domestically, leaving little for export. Revenue from wine in Denmark, Norway and Sweden was an estimated €14 million this year, compared with €28 billion in France.

More wine will have to be produced for an industry to be sustainable, said Odd Wollberg, a winemaker in Norway. Mr. Wollberg, a former mechanic, and his wife took over the Lerkekasa Vingard winery, once considered Europe’s northernmost vineyard, in December from owners who planted vines a decade ago. Nearly a dozen other vineyards were established nearby in recent years.

So far, Mr. Wollberg has squeezed just 350 liters of wine from Riesling and other cool-weather grapes, and he is losing money. But volumes could surge with an improving climate, he said.

“If it gets warmer, we can produce more, and more wineries will open when people see that others have succeeded,” he said.

To capture consumers, though, the price must drop. Nordic wines average €30 to €40 ($33 to $44) a bottle because of labor costs that are triple those in France, Italy and Spain. Southern winemakers also get billions in European Union subsidies, which help them improve pricing and dominate the market. Denmark won European Union approval for winemaking only by promising to forgo subsidies.

Some experts say that the quality does not yet justify the cost, and that investments in grapes that will produce superior tastes in the Nordic climate are needed. At Fiskebaren, a bustling seafood restaurant in Copenhagen, only two out of nearly 300 wines offered are Danish.

“They’re improving, but they still have a ways to go,” said Frederik Kordt Lassen, the chief sommelier.

In Sweden, winemakers are looking to build business by refining the wine. “People now are just happy they can produce something drinkable,” said Sveneric Svensson, head of the Swedish Wine Association. Businesses are “focusing on optimizing the quality” by advancing vine management and winemaking techniques, he said.

Nordic vintners point to southern England, where a world-class sparkling wine industry has emerged around a warming climate. Companies including Taittinger of France have invested in land in Britain to hedge against the effect of temperature spikes in Champagne.

Mr. Moesgaard, who produces 20,000 bottles a year — including 6,000 bottles of bubbly — is betting that foreign wine houses will one day do the same in Denmark. His Don’s label, named after the Dons region where his vines are planted, won high ratings from the wine critic Robert Parker and at festivals in France and Germany — proof, he said, that quality is there.

Last year, the European Union approved 1,200 acres near his property to be labeled authentic terroir for producing distinctive wines. He purchased 185 acres of that land, which will allow him to double output, and is hoping that daring wine pioneers will cultivate the rest.

“It’s an investment in the future,” he said, eyeing a tract of rolling green hills quilted with vines.

The hills sloped toward a majestic fjord, where cows grazed on a grassy meadow and fishermen caught trout under gold-leafed birch trees. The land near the fjord was damp and muddy. But on the hills where his vines are planted, the soil was sandy with stones and no clay — good for growing grapes.

“We are going to produce wine where it was not possible before,” Mr. Moesgaard said. “No one can say they are happy about climate change,” he added. “But we should take advantage of the opportunities it brings.”

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/09/business/wine-scandinavia-climate-change.html

2019-11-09 08:00:00Z
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This Red Alert Is Now Flashing on the Bond Trader’s Radar Screen - Bloomberg

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This Red Alert Is Now Flashing on the Bond Trader’s Radar Screen  Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-09/this-red-alert-is-now-flashing-bright-on-the-bond-trader-s-radar

2019-11-09 05:00:00Z
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Gap's Old Navy spinoff plans in doubt with CEO Art Peck out - CNBC

Traffic passes by an Old Navy and GAP stores in Times Square, March 1, 2019 in New York City.

Drew Angerer | Getty Images

Gap Inc.'s plans to spin off its once-star Old Navy brand are being called into question with the ouster of CEO Art Peck.

The San Francisco-based apparel retailer announced Thursday evening that Peck has stepped down from the position he had held since 2015. Peck has been replaced temporarily by  Robert Fisher, son of Gap's founders Donald and Dorothy Fisher.

With Peck's abrupt departure, analysts are doubting a looming split of Old Navy and Gap will go through, especially with the Old Navy brand in such poor shape.

Gap shares were down 7% Friday morning. The stock as of Thursday's market close had tumbled nearly 30% this year. Gap is valued at roughly $6.9 billion.

The company announced in February it planned to split Gap into two publicly traded companies — Old Navy and Gap, which would still have been led by Peck and would include Banana Republic and athletic performance brands Athleta and Hill City. The separation had been scheduled to be completed next year.

Until recently, Old Navy had been the star of Gap's portfolio, bringing in about $8 billion in annual sales. It has been successful at offering basic apparel like white tees, jeans and logo hoodies at lower prices, rivaling the likes of T.J. Maxx and Ross Stores.

Today's shoppers have countless options for finding less-expensive apparel online and at fast-fashion players like H&M, which recently reported a return to sales growth. Shopping at second-hand merchants and clothing rental options are also cutting into apparel sales.

Gap said Thursday that same-store sales fell 4% companywide in the third quarter, including a disappointing 4% drop at Old Navy.

"We have to think this new development will make the original timeline of the planned Old Navy separation extremely difficult," Evercore ISI analyst Omar Saad said in a note to clients.

"An already skeptical market is going to have a hard time embracing [a] fundamentally challenged Gap/Banana Republic combination without a leader and clearly articulated turnaround plan," he added.

"What about the spin?!" RBC Capital Markets analyst Kate Fitzsimons said. "With the CEO departure, while there is no update on the Old Navy spin planned for 2020, we think the board may be re-evaluating their options."

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https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/08/gaps-old-navy-spinoff-plans-in-doubt-with-ceo-art-peck-out.html

2019-11-08 14:29:00Z
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A Recession Warning Reverses, but the Damage May Be Done - The New York Times

The message from Wall Street is clear: The American economy is not in the kind of trouble that investors feared earlier this year.

Stocks are at all-time highs and climbing. Yields on long-term government bonds, which reflect expectations for growth and inflation, are also rising. Corporate bond spreads show that investors are more confident in the prospects for businesses.

Then there’s the yield curve, an indicator from the bond market that just a few months ago set off alarms about the risk of a recession. It has gone back to normal, and that signal has been met with relief in the markets.

But as far as the economy is concerned, it might not matter. Once the yield curve has predicted a recession, one usually follows even if that signal changes later.

To understand why, it’s important to remember what the fuss over the yield curve was about in the first place.

Remind me: What is the yield curve?

The yield curve measures the difference between interest rates on short-term government bonds and long-term government bonds (like three-month Treasury bills and 10-year Treasury notes).

Usually, long-term interest rates are higher because, like any borrower, the government ought to be paying more to borrow for 10 years than for three months. But every once in a while, things get flipped around in the bond market and short-term interest rates rise above the long term, in a sign that investors expect slower economic growth or interest rate cuts — or both.

When it does, the yield curve becomes what economists call “inverted.” It happened this year, starting in March, and it got attention because an inverted yield curve is considered one of the financial world’s most reliable predictors of a recession.

In fact, each recession of the last 60 years was preceded by a yield curve inversion.

So the return to normal, what’s referred to as a “steep” yield curve, is being taken as a good sign.

“A steep curve is a signal that people think that the future is bright, and that is very important to investors,” said Jonathan Golub, chief United States equity strategist at Credit Suisse Securities. “This was an incredibly important thing for us to see.”

What’s with the change in outlook?

It’s important to note that the mood in financial markets can change overnight, and that all these feel-good signals could evaporate if investors are confronted with evidence that they’re wrong.

The recent optimism overlooks the fact that economists continue to see the global economy, including in the United States, decelerating as trade slows and manufacturing contracts.

But there are some reasons investors are right to relax a little, after months of anticipating the damage of the trade war on the United States economy: The job market is holding up, corporate profit reports have been better than expected, and the hope is that the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates three times so far this year will help keep things going.

Lately, officials in Beijing and Washington have telegraphed that they’re making progress in de-escalating the trade war. On Thursday, yields on the 10-year Treasury note rose to their highest level since July, and the S&P 500 closed at a new high.

So was the recession signal from the yield curve wrong?

Those who have studied the yield curve and its relationship to the economy stress that, historically speaking, it doesn’t matter if the yield curve returns to normal. The recession predictor is that it inverted at all — though the downturn can take as long as two years to arrive.

“In a way, the damage is done,” said Campbell Harvey, a Duke University finance professor whose research first showed the predictive power of the yield curve in the mid-1980s. “If you look at the track record, if you’ve got an inversion, there is a recession that follows.”

One reason is that the yield curve has a real-world impact on the banking system. Banks borrow money at short-term rates and then lend it out — in a 30-year home mortgage, for example — at long-term rates.

So when short-term rates are higher than long-term rates, bank profits are crushed and they cut back on lending. That’s bad news for the economy.

Then there’s the market’s feedback loop, which can stymie decision-making by executives, discouraging new investments.

“When the yield curve is inverted, investors pull in risk taking,” Mr. Golub of Credit Suisse said.

Mr. Harvey stressed, however, that history didn’t always repeat precisely.

And this time, something is slightly different. Since the yield curve inverted, the Fed’s three rate cuts have largely been seen as effective ways to keep the economic expansion rolling.

The first of those, in July, came just a few months after the yield curve first inverted.

That’s a marked difference from the last time the yield curve inverted, in 2006. Then it was roughly a full year before the Fed began to lower short-term rates. (The last recession began in December 2007.)

“In the face of the inversion, it did nothing,” Mr. Harvey said, referring to the Fed. “This inversion, they actually did cut.”

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/08/business/yield-curve-recession-indicator.html

2019-11-08 14:16:00Z
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'It seems insane now' — WeWork employees bought into cofounder Adam Neumann's vision but grew worried as red flags mounted - Business Insider

Michael Kovac/Getty Images for WeWork

• WeWork employees were swept up by cofounder and then-CEO Adam Neumann's wild ambitions and enthralled by his startup's cool culture and lavish perks, according to the New Yorker.
• "In retrospect, there's no way this could have worked," a WeWork software engineer told the magazine. "People were high. It seems insane now, but at the time it made so much sense."
• WeWork flew 8,000 employees to London for a company retreat where Lorde performed and Deepak Chopra led a meditation, and Neumann floated the idea of a WeWork on water called WeSail, the New Yorker reported.
• Read more of Business Insider's WeWork coverage here.

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WeWork employees were swept up by cofounder and then-CEO Adam Neumann's wild ambitions and enthralled by his company's cool culture and lavish perks, but grew concerned as red flags mounted, according to the New Yorker, which interviewed several WeWork staff.

"In retrospect, there's no way this could have worked," a WeWork software engineer told the magazine. "People were high. It seems insane now, but at the time it made so much sense."

The shared-workspace startup plowed money into growing its business without setting realistic targets.

"It was chaos," a WeWork architectural designer told the New Yorker. Trying to organize the large teams "was like herding cats," she said, and WeWork's sales staff "were always promising insane things like 'We'll get it done by October!' And it's July."

WeWork also splashed its cash on flying 8,000 employees to a company retreat in London last summer, where Lorde performed and Deepak Chopra led a meditation, the New Yorker reported. The event was a warning sign for some employees.

"OK, this is $2,500 a head just for the flights," a WeWork designer told the magazine. "From a business perspective, there were some red flags there."

WeWork staff, increasingly worried about their employer's scattershot approach and reckless spending, hoped there were adults pulling the strings.

"There was always this assumption that, behind Adam, there was someone intelligent — a group of people — who were watching and making the practical, financial decisions," a WeWork development worker told the magazine. "That someone was taking care of it."

However, that idea was dashed at another WeWork gathering in Los Angeles in January — figure skater Adam Rippon and actor Jaden Smith made appearances — where Neumann floated the idea of a WeWork on water called WeSail, and creating a WeBank.

"That was when it hit me," the development worker told the New Yorker. "There wasn't anyone else running the company. It was just Adam and his wife."

WeWork, which secured a private valuation of $47 billion in January, scrapped its planned IPO in September after investors attacked its business model, mushrooming losses, governance, and Neumann's controversial behavior. Running short of cash, it agreed a $9.5 billion rescue deal with SoftBank last month.

The Japanese conglomerate slashed its valuation of WeWork by more than 80% to below $5 billion in the three months to September 30, it revealed this week.

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https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/wework-employees-startup-rise-fall-new-yorker-2019-11-1028672772

2019-11-08 11:25:07Z
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Two Sears, two Kmart stores in NH set to close - WMUR Manchester

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1. Two Sears, two Kmart stores in NH set to close  WMUR Manchester
2. Sears and Kmart store closings: 51 Sears, 45 Kmart locations to shutter. See the list  USA TODAY
3. Sears to close 96 stores, including 3 South Florida locations  WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports | Fort Lauderdale
4. Sears at Whitehall Mall closing, the last in Lehigh Valley  Morning Call
5. Hagerstown Kmart to close in February  Herald-Mail Media
6. View full coverage on Google News

https://www.wmur.com/article/two-sears-two-kmart-stores-in-nh-set-to-close/29731934

2019-11-08 05:38:00Z
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