INSURERS yesterday warned Bahamian leaders “don’t play politics” over the financial devastation and injuries caused by uninsured drivers amid mass “confusion” over whether traffic law changes have taken effect.
Anton Saunders, RoyalStar Assurance’s managing director, told Tribune Business that reforms permitting the police to confiscate unlicensed and uninsured vehicles are “the only thing” likely in the new Road Traffic Act to “change the mindset” of the estimated 30-40 percent of Bahamian drivers who are either totally uninsured or lack proper coverage.
He hit back after Michael Pintard, the Opposition’s leader, slammed the amendments as a “punitive approach” by the Government to tackling the indiscipline and lawlessness on the country’s roads. The Marco City MP, attacking the “stricter
compliance measures like vehicle seizures and fines”, on Monday instead called for a lighter or ‘soft touch’ enforcement approach that would not result in lawbreakers’ cars being seized.
Mr Saunders, though, argued that impounding offenders’ vehicles until they
produce evidence they are both licensed and insured was the only way to enforce compliance and combat the financial and bodily carnage that often results when uninsured drivers cause serious accidents.
Disclosing that he has personally witnessed the “tremendous suffering” that victims and their families undergo when unable to claim on insurance, the RoyalStar chief urged politicians to “give me a
Bahamas broker chief demands $20m SEC sanctions cut to $12k
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor
A BAHAMIAN broker/ dealer’s principal yesterday argued a minuscule fraction of the $20m-plus financial sanctions demanded by US regulators should be imposed against him for violating securities laws.
Guy Gentile, head of Mintbroker International, which was placed into full liquidation by the Bahamian Supreme Court in December 2021, asserted in legal filings that the southern Florida federal court should “limit” the penalties sought against him by the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to just $11,524. Arguing that the capital markets regulator failed to supply evidence showing
US clients of his broker/ dealer, which was based in Bay Street’s Elizabeth on Bay plaza, had suffered $29.69m in trading losses, he argued that its calculations that he earned $13.13m in net income over the four-and-a-half years to the 2019 third quarter were fundamentally flawed. That latter sum forms the bulk of the financial sanctions that the SEC is urging the south Florida court to impose against Mr Gentile after a jury last year found him and Mintbroker International liable for violating US securities laws by actively soliciting American clients despite not being registered with their regulator.
However, Mr Gentile is arguing that the SEC’s sanctions calculations ignore $30m in “legitimate
expenses” that his Bahamian broker/dealer incurred between March 2016 and December 19. And, given that so-called “disgorgement” is limited to “net profits from wrongdoing” once legitimate expenses are deducted, he is asserting that the $30m largely wipes out or “absorbs” and negates the financial penalties sought by the SEC.
To back up his $30m expenses claim, Mr Gentile produced a 14-page list of vendor payments made by Mintbroker International, which was previously also called SureTrader and Swiss America Securities. These payments included $75,000 to the Davis & Company law firm for legal services, plus six-figure sums to the likes of Bahamas Power & Light (BPL), Cable Bahamas and Bahama Health.
And Mr Gentile, in his latest legal filings, again sought to portray himself as a victim of a 13-year persecution or witch-hunt by the SEC that has spanned several US courts
despite allowing the regulator, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to use Mintbroker International and its predecessors as a “honeypot” to ensnare securities law violators.
And he also blamed the US regulator’s pressure for “forcing” the broker/dealer into liquidation in The Bahamas, which meant Mintbroker was “blocked” from defending itself and was hit by a default judgment because it no longer existed as a corporate entity.
Bahamian innovation untapped by ‘hard strapped’ entrepreneurs
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
A BAHAMIAN software
firm’s founder yesterday said this nation must urgently “figure out” ways to “free-up capital” and bring more viable commercial and entrepreneurial ideas to life.
Duran Humes, also chief executive of Plato Alpha Design, a software consulting firm, told Tribune Business that a recent Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report had reinforced the view that Bahamian business creativity and ingenuity is being stifled by an inability to secure the financing necessary to bring concepts and proposals to reality.
Pointing out that many local small and medium-sized enterprises are “hard strapped”, and struggle to access or attract external forms of financing, he
added that “a lot of potential is untapped” and potentially going to waste despite the best efforts of the Small Business Development Centre (SBDC) and others.
And Mr Humes also told this newspaper that The Bahamas needs a “cultural” change whereby politics, and changes in administration every five years, no longer stifle innovation and creativity based on which “side of the aisle” an entrepreneur supports.
Disclosing that this has impacted multiple firms, individuals and industries besides technology, he warned that it simply acts as a disincentive for Bahamian innovators and drives them to take their products, processes and ideas to other countries which results in a loss for this country’s economy.
NEIL HARTNELL
INSURERS yesterday revealed there is mass public and industry confusion over whether Road Traffic Act reforms have taken effect amid suggestions 2025 could now be treated as a “transition year”.
Anton Saunders, RoyalStar Assurance’s managing director, told Tribune Business he had seen a draft amendment to the reforms - passed by Parliament last year - which would give both the insurance sector and public a further 12-month period in which to adjust to the changes. They would then take effect in 2026, but he emphasised that this has yet to be debated or passed by law-makers.
Meanwhile, Bruce Ferguson, president of Professional Insurance Consultants (PIC), an insurance brokerage, said he had seen a Road Traffic Department circular that referred solely to the new legal requirement that drivers must obtain a minimum six months’ coverage.
He told this newspaper he has interpreted this as a signal that only this aspect of the Road Traffic Act reforms, which were set to take full effect from January 1, 2025, have been implemented while other elements such as drivers taking out or renewing coverage in their birth month has been delayed.
Jobeth Coleby-Davis, minister of energy and transport, did not respond to Tribune Business messages seeking comment before press time last night. But Mr Saunders, reiterating that RoyalStar as a motor insurance underwriter is “in the total dark” and has “no clue” what to do in relation to the reforms, urged “someone in authority” to urgently clarify the rules that presently apply so all parties are “on the same page”.
Police warn on rising social media scams
By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net
A SENIOR Bahamian police officer yesterday renewed warnings about an increase in social media scams and a “concerning number” of other online incidents currently under investigation.
Chief Superintendent Anton Rahming, head of the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s Criminal Investigations Department (CID), spoke out as the Ministry of Energy and Transport issued an alert warning the public of a social media scam using their likeness to gain personal information. It said a Facebook page with the user name ‘Bahamas Public Transport’ was promoting a ‘Smart Pass’ initiative and encouraging users to register via a linked website. Officials warned that the Government is not behind the scheme and currently has “no arrangement” for the introduction of a ‘Smart Pass’ system for the transport industry at this time.
“The Ministry of Energy and Transport is aware of a Facebook page under the title of ‘Bahamas Public Transport’ that appears to promote a Smart Pass and invites persons to
MICHAEL PINTARD
AUTO DEALER CONFIRMS PORTFOLIO’S EXPANSION
A BAHAMIAN auto dealer yesterday confirmed the expansion of its brand portfolio through the exclusive MG distributorship for The Bahamas.
Omega Motors, part of the Auto Mall group, and the dealer for both BMW and Mini in The Bahamas, said in a statement that it will handle both sales and after-sales operations for a vehicle brand that is celebrating its 100th anniversary.
Founded in 1924, MG has also moved into the electric vehicle (EV) market, which Omega Motors said aligns with its commitment to expanding
environmentally-friendly auto options for Bahamian consumers as it bids to meet evolving customer needs.
L.J. Albury, Omega Motors general manager, said: “We’re honoured and excited to once again collaborate with our partners at the ATL Automotive Group in Jamaica to expand our brand portfolio and offer even more vehicle options to our customers in The Bahamas.
“MG brings a centurylong legacy of excellence, and we’re thrilled to introduce its affordable, extensive range of petrol engine and electric vehicles
that are perfectly suited for The Bahamas.”
MG’s current model line-up includes SUVs, sedans and hatchbacks,
with manufacturer plans to introduce more models in the future. Its diverse range of gas, electric and hybrid vehicles are designed in
Marylebone, London, and manufactured worldwide.
Omega Motors said MG’s introduction to The Bahamas will create new job
opportunities, strengthen the dealership network to support vehicle and parts distribution, and provide improved service for Bahamian customers. It added that the complete range of MG passenger vehicles, including MG 5, MG HS, MG EHS, MG ONE, MG RX9 and MG4, will be available for pre-order with deliveries set to begin in February. The official showroom is slated to open in 2025.
Omega Motors was established in 2011 as the local dealer for BMW and Mini.
CARNIVAL HIRES EX-ATLANTIS EXECUTIVE AS GB PORT GUEST EXPERIENCE CHIEF
CARNIVAL Corpora-
tion has hired a former Atlantis employee as senior guest experience manager for its new Grand Bahama cruise port destination, Celebration Key.
The cruise line, in a statement, said Daniel Belton brings more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry to a role where he will oversee all aspects of guest services, including cabana services, shore excursions, entertainment, activities and beach club operations.
Carnival added that Mr Belton’s focus will be on ensuring guests enjoy a seamless experience from the moment they disembark at a destination that is set to open this summer. He will work closely with more than 700 on-site staff across various departments to ensure that every guest interaction exceeds expectations.
“The experience visitors have at Celebration Key, from the moment they step off the ship until they leave, is incredibly important,” Mr Belton said. “I want guests to depart having enjoyed the ultimate vacation, filled
CELEBRATION
with incredible memories of friendly service, fun activities and exceptional hospitality.
“This is vital not only for Celebration Key, but for the economy of Grand Bahama and The Bahamas as a whole. Tourism is the lifeblood of our country, and I’m proud to be part of this initiative alongside other incredible Bahamians in bringing Carnival’s vision to life.
“To apply my skills and knowledge to a landmark project of this magnitude is both exciting and rewarding. Witnessing the planning, construction and operation of a project like this, along with Celebration Key’s commitment to supporting the community of Grand Bahama, reassures me that we will deliver a world class experience that will make the country proud.”
A graduate of Lynn University, with a degree in hospitality management and a specialisation in sports and recreation, Mr Belton began his career at Atlantis where he was promoted to various posts culminating in his appointment as executive director of resort programming and activities. He has also been involved in entrepreneurial ventures in woodworking and art.
“We are elated to have Daniel lead the guest experience team,” said Amanda Felts, general manager, Celebration Key. “His creativity and innovation for delivering unique guest experiences will be an asset for our valued Carnival
guests. Not to mention his passion for developing people. He is a great addition to the dynamic team we are building.”
Celebration Key’s $100m pier extension brings Carnival’s total investment in the cruise port to $600m. The cruise line reiterated that at least 75 percent of outlets at the port will be owned and operated by Bahamians. More than 700 permanent local jobs will be created, including around 400 Bahamians directly hired by Carnival.
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Key’s guest experience manager, Daniel Belton.
Amazon threat looms for ‘luxury’ jewellery retail
By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net
AMAZON’S ‘free delivery’ service to this nation is posing an increased threat to local businesses by providing “affordable” alternatives to Bahamian-made brands.
Pointing to online stores, including Amazon, Shein and Temu, Chevette Williamson, owner of Beading and Craft Gallery, a jewellery-centric retail business, said many consumers are now looking for affordable alternatives versus luxury items given the current state of the economy.
She added that Amazon, especially since its introduction of direct shipping to The Bahamas, has become stiff competition and contributed to a “slow” 2024 that forced her “to do a lot more marketing in order to really promote our product”.
“With jewellery and selling hardware for handbags and craft, it was definitely very slow,” Ms Williamson said. “And I am saying this because I really believe that our competition is now Amazon. A lot of people who have been my customers have been purchasing their products online.
“And so it has been slow. And I’ve found that we’ve had to do a lot more marketing in order to really promote our product. And that’s where my business saw the challenge in terms of traffic. And so when you’re looking at luxury jewellery like my jewellery, that’s where the challenge is.
“So it has not been a very good year because of that. A lot of people have access to cheaper jewellery. That and then, too, with the economy being the way that it is, everybody’s looking for ways to stretch their monies,” Ms Williamson continued.
“A lot of small businesses are experiencing the same thing, and so we just have to be creative in trying to find jewellery that is different and still being able to keep the price down where it’s affordable. So when
you look at my boutiquetype jewellery, I have to scale back and try to find companies that would be interested in my brand, my style jewellery.
“And so when you look at 2024, it was a challenge. The business has not been as good as I would have hoped. But again, when you look at the kind of business I have, it’s not a need.”
Ms Williamson said that, in 2025, clients can expect more statement jewellery. She added that she will be teaching more this year for those interested in jewellery-making and learning new techniques.
“Customers can expect more fabulous statement jewellery,” Ms Williamson said. “My customers can also expect me teaching more because I had a lot of customers who would have seen my advertising, ask if I’m still teaching classes.
“And so for the first quarter, I will be teaching so that people who are interested in jewellery-making as well as persons who find themselves about to retire, they’re able to pick up a hobby and be ready for Mother’s Day. And so I will be teaching different jewellery-making techniques along with making beautiful statement jewellery, as well as offering jewellery wholesale to stores that sell to the tourists on the port.”
“A lot of times when customers take classes, they want to know where they’re able to get the products from. So we sell the products that they need for the jewellery-making as well. And so we will be teaching at our store on Lincoln Boulevard,” Ms Williamson continued.
“And the classes we’ll be offering this quarter will be basic of jewellery-making, pearl knotting and another technique that is trending is where you’re able to capture a coin with wire. And
so we’ll also be teaching because a lot of men love these big coin pendants that are caged with wire. And so we’ll also be teaching that technique so more people can get in on the dollars that are being spent for that type of jewellery.
“I’ll have a flyer being distributed by this weekend. Each class will have a price and it will include the material for the class. And so for the month of January, February and March, for the first quarter of the year, I will be teaching,” she added.
“I’ll have a sponsored ad as well. I’ll be circulating a flyer with all of the information with the prices of each class and the technique, and they will be able to reach out to me and I will direct them on how to pay for the class. And then once they’ve paid for the class, I direct them, give them information on where the class will be held.”
Speaking to the slow period last year, Ms Williamson said: “I want to take my hat off to the Mall at Marathon” who afforded her the opportunity to showcase her products with a pop-up event during the Christmas season. She noted an uptick in Bahamian support during that time, adding that she used that momentum to market some of her products while ensuring that “the price was right”.
“The tactics I have used were just trying to market the jewellery that I knew my customers liked and they weren’t able to purchase abroad,” Ms Williamson said. “So during the holidays I had a pop-up store at the Mall at Marathon and I advertised my coin charm bracelets, stainless steel.
“And that was the popular seller. I sold more of those items than the regular boutique-style jewellery,
which was a little bit more expensive. And so that was the marketing tool I used, and which is very nice. It’s nice to see that Bahamians are now all excited about Bahamian-made jewellery. They’re becoming more loyal to their own. So that is good to see.
“When we look at Bahamian-made jewellery and the price is right, you would have more customers purchasing. Like I’m sure people, the companies that would have made the straw bags, because it’s different, you can’t get it from away. And then some people like unique gifts. And so we just had to make sure that the price was right because of the economy. And because people are looking to stretch their dollar.”
“The response has been very good and I want to take my hat off to the Mall at Marathon for giving Bahamian businesses, small businesses, an opportunity to showcase their products over the holidays. Because we had very good response. We’ve been able to have so much more eyes on our products,” Ms Wiliamson said.
“And so I am hoping that they continue with that so that more local Bahamian artisans are able to get that opportunity to get more eyes on their products. I also had a tourist who came to the mall and they were so excited to be able to find hand-made products in the mall because they told me that they were walking all over and they wanted to get a few gifts to take to their friends, but they saw that everything was commercial. And so hats off to the Mall at Marathon for giving us that opportunity to showcase our goods.”
BAHAMIAN FIRM TARGETS OUT ISLAND PARTNERSHIPS
By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net
A BAHAMIAN business yesterday said it is pushing for a stronger year following a “slow” 2024 by partnering with stores on the Family Islands to sell its products.
“We want to also locate boutique stores on every island because we want our products in every island, primarily because we have designs that highlight every island,” principal of Cultureware, Gina Luree, said.
“So we want to be in every island. We’re not looking to open stores. We’re looking to partner with stores to sell the product.
“We want to locate stores that sell Bahamian products in the islands, even if it’s the airport that can carry our products. So we want to partner with someone to do that. Right now, we are in Eleuthera. We are in Harbour Island. We are in Freeport. And so this year we’re going to be hitting more and more of the Family Islands to locate boutique stores that would be willing to carry the line.”
The retailer, which sells “uniquely designed ceramics that portray the Bahamian culture”, is looking to expand to Exuma, Andros and Abaco through these partnerships. Ms Luree, looking back on 2024, said it was a slow year but it prompted her to hold a first art show since the COVID-19 pandemic, which is where she unveiled the design of Cultureware’s new Junkanoo line for feedback.
“So 2024 was a little slow, but what we did in December, we had a show, an art show, and that helped to boost us and make people more aware of what we were doing,” Ms Luree said.
“Luckily for us, we were able to have a few sales from one or two ministries
that were having events, and so we were able to produce stuff for them.
“So the art show, it was called Culture is Me. I put the show on, and it was the first time we did a show after COVID. So the first time we did an art show was in 2019, and then very shortly after that, COVID came, and we were not able to do a lot of stuff.
So we thought that it would be a great time to go ahead and to introduce ourselves again to the local market.
“At that time, what we also did was use that opportunity to unveil our 2025 design. We introduced to those that came the opportunity that we are going to afford every home in The Bahamas. We have designed a line of dinnerware that is going to come boxed, a 20-piece set, four settings of Junkanoo dinnerware.”
Adding that there was not enough time to push and promote the line “the way we wanted to”, Ms Luree said she is looking at an official launch date for either the end of February or March 1.
“So what we’re going to do is right now we’re having them boxed,” Ms Luree said. “I designed the box and we’re going to bring in the boxes. And so what we want to do is we want to have a launch, like any launch, like when John Bull will have the launch for Fendi. We want to invite the press, we want to invite persons to be able to purchase them on the spot.
“For those persons that came to our show in December and they bought a mug from us, we’re going to put their name in a draw so they’re going to be able to win a set. And then we want to invite different people, the Government, whoever we could get to be a part of the launch. And then we want to have music, like a live band and hors d’oeuvres. We want to do something really big.”
‘Transition year’ confusion on Road Traffic Act reform
“From our side, RoyalStar, we are in a state of confusion,” he disclosed. “I’ve seen an amendment to the amendments that has not been passed by Parliament yet, but is being circulated, where there’s going to be a transition period to next year. We’ve seen it, but it’s not been passed by Parliament.
“That is saying the status quo remains, but gives everyone time to adjust to the minimum six months’ coverage and to renew in your birth month. That is what we are hearing, what we have seen but that has not been passed by Parliament yet. What is the law and status quo right now, I cannot tell you.
“Someone needs to step forward and say: ‘These are the rules that have been implemented’ so we have clarity. No one has that clarity. It is so sad. It is communication; proper communication, from someone in authority. I can speak for RoyalStar. We are in the dark, total dark. We have no clue what to do right now. We have put all our system changes on hold. I’m guessing just like you. Say something to clarify.”
The Road Traffic Act reforms involve changes such as mandating insurance policy renewals occur in the same month as persons licence their vehicle. This will act as another check by, in theory, forcing all drivers to ensure they have coverage otherwise their autos will not be licensed by the Road Traffic Department as part of a bid to crack down on the estimated 30-40 percent of Bahamian drivers who are uninsured.
Mr Saunders, though, said consumers are just as confused and uncertain as the Bahamian insurance industry over whether the reforms are in force wholly, in part or not at all. “For the general public, the issue is some people are going
through and renewing their policies as is, while other people are being told other things,” he told Tribune Business.
“I think the Road Traffic Department is just as confused as everyone else. The agents are taking the brunt of the complaints. They are the ones who are the face, they are on the front line. Consumers are mad and have no clarity on what to do. Some are being asked to go to the Road Traffic Department twice.
“It is just that, in the 21st century, someone in authority has to communicate with us, communicate with Bahamians and say these are the rules we are following so that everyone is on the same page. Consumers are not happy. They are frustrated and taking it out on the agents. The agents are saying this is the law as we know it today.”
Mr Ferguson, meanwhile, said the confusion had resulted in Bahamian insurance brokers and agents receiving different guidance from different property and casualty underwriters as to how to implement the Road Traffic Act reforms. He lamented that this process had been left until “the last possible second” and the Christmas/New Year holiday period.
“It’s all very confusing,” he confirmed to Tribune Business. “We’ve had different comments and different instructions from different carriers. The Insurance Commission also chimed in with their own draft guidelines and the Bahamas Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) replied to them. Without going into detail, a lot of it’s extremely unclear.
“They were draft guidelines, and the Commission gave the industry three days to reply over the Christmas holiday.” Mr Ferguson then revealed he had seen a Road Traffic Department circular that only mentioned the requirement that all auto insurance policies last for a minimum six months.
“They seem to be ignoring, at this stage, having to take out insurance in the same month as your birth,” he added. “We’ve already anticipated that will cause massive problems because people will not be able to afford insurance and licensing in the same month. All
that suggests to us they are probably not doing that.
“It [the circular] advised there must be a minimum of six months’ cover from now on; nothing about the birth date. That, combined with the fact the Insurance Commission did not comment on the birth date issue, which could be the biggest problem for insurance companies as it could lead to more uninsured drivers, leads us to think it is not being enforced at this stage...
“In a nutshell, we are playing it by ear. Quite honestly, they’ve taken the most sensible approach at this stage because to do otherwise would cause absolute chaos and have the unintended effect of having more people uninsured.”
Describing the minimum six months’ coverage as “not a problem”, given that most auto insurance policies last for a year, Mr Ferguson said the Government might have been able to develop a better solution for cracking down on uninsured drivers had it consulted with the insurance sector in developing the reforms.
“They had the right idea, but it was the wrong way to go about it,” he added. “If the authorities had come to the industry before rushing to Parliament and rushing these amendments through, we could have told them that and come up with a good solution to reduce the number of uninsured drivers.”
“A policy of insurance shall be renewable annually within the birth month of the insured person,” the Road Traffic (Amendment) Act 2024 stipulates. The “policy of insurance” definition includes a 90-day cover note, but this cannot be extended and no other ‘cover note’ can be obtained for the same vehicle for six months.
Persons cancelling their insurance must surrender the certificate to the insurer, with the latter having just 48 hours to inform the Road Traffic Controller of this and provide all relevant details on the client involved as well as the reasons for the cancellations. Failure to do so could result in the insurer being fined up to $5,000.
‘Don’t play politics’ over uninsured driver carnage
break” over suggestions that coverage is unaffordable given that the average third-party premium in The Bahamas is around $350 per year.
The Road Traffic Traffic Act reforms passed by Parliament last year were due to take effect from January 1, 2025, but Mr Saunders and other insurance executives yesterday revealed there is mass “confusion” among the industry and its customers about whether the measures have been implemented at all, in part or in full (see other article on Page 1B). However, the RoyalStar managing director argued that one key element in the reforms that may force positive change in vehicle owner and driver behaviour is the power granted to the Royal Bahamas Police Force to impound autos until they are brought into compliance with the law by being properly insured, licensed and inspected.
Pointing out that such a move is “not unique”, with multiple other countries having already adopted similar enforcement measures, Mr Saunders pushed back against Mr Pintard’s
position by asserting: “The unfortunate thing is this. The only thing in that Act that changes the mindset of people is if the police enforce the rules and, if you are not insured, not licensed and registered, impound the car.
“I know politicians are out there saying ‘x, y and z’ but, when one of those people [uninsured drivers] hits someone, that’s a family burdened financially for life. There are plenty of examples throughout The Bahamas. Don’t play politics with this.”
The Royal Bahamas Police Force last year said around 50 percent of all traffic accidents involve uninsured vehicles, and Mr Saunders emphatically rejected assertions that basic third party coverage is priced out of reach of many Bahamian drivers.
“For third party premiums, for which the average price is around $350, give me a break,” he argued. “Don’t play politics with this. I reiterate this. Families have suffered tremendously, and I know some of these families. It’s enforcement by the police. People caught without these things, their car is impounded.
“It happens all over the world. It’s nothing unique. This is about those people who are injured in hospital, with no financial means to help themselves, which puts the burden back on the state and all the taxpayers.”
The Road Traffic Act reforms passed by Parliament last year introduce a new section 60A which allows police officers to seize, confiscate and impound vehicles where the driver either “fails to produce a valid certificate of insurance” and/or it is unlicensed and lacks a valid inspection certificate.
To secure the vehicle’s release, the owner has to both pay a $300 fine and produce evidence that “a valid certificate of insurance” and licence has been obtained and is in effect. If a vehicle is impounded for one year and not claimed, the Royal Bahamas Police Force can sell it and use the proceeds to cover the cost of holding it.
“Clause five of the Bill empowers the police to impound a vehicle where the person driving the vehicle fails to produce a valid certificate of insurance or the vehicle is unlicensed and the conditions for release,” the Road Traffic
Bahamian innovation untapped by ‘hard strapped’ entrepreneurs
The IDB, in its latest Caribbean quarterly bulletin, revealed that the “sluggish” Bahamian economy’s growth under-performed its regional rivals by five percentage points over the decade to 2023 due largely to declining productivity and lack of “technological progress”.
It blamed The Bahamas’ under-performance on declining total factor productivity (TFP), which is described as a measurement of an economy’s technological progress, adding that this has been falling steadily ever since the 21st century began.
And, warning that the number of Bahamian firms “planning to innovate” is some 15 percent behind the Caribbean average, based on the Innovation, Firm Performance, and Gender (IFPG) survey conducted by Compete Caribbean in 2020, the IDB assessment added that there was also “a more pronounced trend” in this nation for the
number of SMEs to decline as innovation increases.
Mr Humes, agreeing with the report’s findings that access to credit and capital is “critical” for Bahamian business growth and job creation, acknowledged it is well-known that financing sources in this nation are “fairly limited” when compared to the world’s most-developed capital market in the US.
“Most of the businesses are hard strapped, which can be a good thing and a bad thing,” he added.
“There’s a lot of good ideas and concepts which Bahamians have that they may not be able to execute on. We have to figure this out and make these concepts come to life, but a lot of potential is untapped.
“Going into the future, hopefully we can see the SBDC go into that space, and the banks will help out to free-up some capital for businesses to help bring some of those ideas and concepts to reality. “ When it came to obstacles to innovation, more
(Amendment) Act 2024 stipulates. However, it is unclear whether this element and other parts of the reforms have yet been brought into effect.
Mr Pintard, in his statement, called for a softer approach to law-breaking on the road that does not involve the seizure and confiscation of offenders’ vehicles. He argued that the legal reforms appear designed to turn transportation into an “unaffordable burden” for Bahamians and accused the Government of being more focused on revenue collection.
“With every Budget cycle, this government finds new ways, directly or indirectly, to impose taxes and fees on the very people they promised to support. The latest increases in land and sea taxes, coupled with stricter compliance measures like vehicle seizures and fines, are the clearest evidence yet of a government more focused on revenue collection than fostering relief for hardworking citizens,” the FNM leader said.
“There are ways to strengthen the rule of law on the road without sacrificing fairness and compassion. Transportation
constrained and 9 percent partially constrained. Interestingly, only 19 percent of Bahamian non-innovative firms are fully credit-constrained versus 67 percent in the Caribbean.”
than 60 percent of both ‘innovative’ and ‘potentially innovative’ Bahamian companies cited the local market’s size as being too small to justify the cost plus the lack of required skills and qualifications among the workforce. And almost three-quarters of companies deemed ‘innovative’ or ‘potentially innovative’ said they were unable to access external credit or financing sources.
“It is clear that the two prevalent issues for Bahamian firms in terms of innovation are costs (implementation and financing) and skills,” the IDB assessment confirmed. “Firms trying to innovate report that they are constrained by lack of financial resources - 78.2 percent in The Bahamas versus 90.3 percent in the Caribbean.
“Around 72 percent of Bahamian firms, innovative and potentially innovative, are fully credit-constrained and 15 percent partially credit-constrained, coinciding with the regional average of 71 percent fully
As for workforce development and skills, the report added: “Even though firms consider the qualification of employees a pervasive constraint, Bahamian workers are on par with the regional average for skilled workers as a proportion of the total workforce, with around a half of workers from all types of innovative firms being considered skilled.
“Expanding into what Bahamian firms believe to be the causes affecting workers’ skills, the most frequently mentioned is poor quality education and training by local institutions, which particularly affect potentially innovative firms (82 percent), followed by shortages of local professionals (roughly 66 percent) and lack of training in soft skills by local institutions (60.7 percent for potentially innovative and 68.4 percent for innovative firms).”
Mr Humes, though, argued that The Bahamas “definitely has the skills locally” to execute on software and technology-based
is not a luxury but a necessity for many. Yet, this Davis administration seems intent on turning it into an unaffordable burden.”
Warning that increased penalties will “push low income Bahamians further into financial hardship”, the Opposition leader argued that the Road Traffic Act changes will lead to an “erosion of trust” in the authorities because “strict enforcement measures, such as vehicle seizures, foster resentment rather than co-operation”.
“Financial pressures may lead to increased evasion of licensing fees, further reducing compliance rates,” Mr Pintard said. “Higher taxes and non-compliance may lead to more unlicensed and uninsured vehicles on the road, increasing the likelihood of hit-and-run accidents and leaving law abiding citizens vulnerable.”
Calling for offenders to have access to an appeals process, and “ensure fines align with individual circumstances and provide a hardship appeal process for those in genuine need”, he called for Bahamians to be allowed to pay vehicle licensing and related fees in installments or deferred
projects, arguing that the IDB report - and Compete Caribbean survey findings from which it draws heavily - “does under-rate our abilities a bit”.
He said: “We do have the skills or highly-skilled Bahamians. That’s part of the reason why a company like ours strives to only hire Bahamians and doesn’t go outside the country for any of our staff. Other companies do what we do. We reinvest money back into the country rather than just pulling money out.”
The Plato Alpha chief also warned that the “politically hot climate” that is often typical in The Bahamas acts as a further barrier and obstacle to innovation/ creativity by Bahamian companies as progress too often depends on “what side of the aisle you choose to go on”.
“That happens a lot,” he added. “Everyone knows it happens. Most of the time, when your side of the aisle is in office, you push forward, but when the other side of the aisle comes in, those innovations are thrown out. That’s a cultural thing that, hopefully, we can make progress on and get thrown out - hopefully in my lifetime.
payment plans to ease the financial burden and boost compliance.
A limited-time “amnesty”, which would allow Bahamians to register their vehicles and “settle past dues” without having to pay penalties, was also proposed by Mr Pintard along with greater use of digitisation “to make compliance easier, cheaper and more accessible”.
“To ensure these recommendations are practical, we propose engaging the public through consultations, working with local governments and community leaders to understand the root causes of noncompliance, piloting programmes in select areas to test their impact, and closely monitoring outcomes to strike the right balance between compliance and citizen relief,” the Opposition leader added.
“This government must abandon its punitive approach and instead build policies that align with the economic realities of Bahamians. As the Opposition, we remain committed to advocating for policies that work for all Bahamians, not against them.”
“You have persons who spend five, seven, ten years working on a project just for the other side to come in and suspend the project. It’s happened multiple times in multiple areas, not just in technology but a whole bunch of different things. We’ve got to see it where the country does better, and not just do it for ego.”
Emphasising that he stays clear of politics, Mr Humes warned that such attitudes “drives people from innovating locally” and they develop their ideas and concepts in other countries. “We need them to be here and do what they do,” he added, “not in the US, Canada or China.” However, he agreed with the IDB that “all hope is definitely not lost” when it comes to Bahamian innovation and entrepreneurial creativity.
BAHAMAS BROKER CHIEF DEMANDS $20M SEC SANCTIONS CUT TO $12K
“The SEC has fabricated ‘disgorgement’ and ‘penalty’ amounts so they are equal to those it sought in the original dismissed District of New Jersey cases based on alleged conduct from 2007–2008,” Mr Gentile and his US attorneys argued. “The relief sought against Gentile is punitive, intended to punish him for alleged conduct from 17 years ago.
“But Congress has not authorised the SEC to seek, or the court to order, such punitive relief. As explained below, the court should deny the SEC’s requested punishment and limit the SEC’s relief to a tier one penalty against Gentile: $11,524.
“To begin with, the SEC’s request for almost $20m
in disgorgement, penalties and interest exceeds the SEC’s equitable powers. It is legally deficient. As explained below, it is also factually deficient. The SEC fails to even meet the threshold of showing that any losses were attributable to the supposed violation here, let alone the $29.69m in losses that the SEC claims investors incurred ‘trading with SureTrader’,” they argued. “There is no connection between SureTrader’s lack of SEC registration and investors’ decisions to pay commission and enter into certain trades using selfdirected accounts. And, in fact, SureTrader charged significantly lower commissions than US registered broker/dealers.”
Turning to the alleged net income that he allegedly
received from the trading commissions paid by US investors, Mr Gentile argued: “The SEC’s proposed award includes over $13m, reflecting the percentage of SureTrader’s commission purportedly derived from US residents and customers. But the SEC has no evidence that Gentile ever received any of this commission revenue.
“It even concedes that ‘[b]y 2018, SureTrader had nearly 75 employees’.... The SEC disregards the [US] Supreme Court’s holding that disgorgement is limited to ‘net profits from wrongdoing after deducting legitimate expenses’.. by failing to deduct any of SureTrader’s expenses despite recognising that SureTrader had nearly 75 employees by 2018.
“Indeed, deduction of SureTrader’s $30m in legitimate expenses between March 2016 and December 2019 - including payroll, taxes paid to the IRS and registration fees for the Securities Commission of the Bahamas - should absorb the entire sought ‘disgorgement”.”
Expanding on the latter point, Mr Gentile and his US attorneys argued that the SEC had totally ignored Mintbroker International’s legitimate Bahamian expenses in its financial sanctions demands. “This included fees for registering with the Securities Commission of the Bahamas and for compliance with government fee, tax and penalty requirements,” they reiterated.
“SureTrader’s expenses also included salary paid
POLICE WARN ON RISING SOCIAL MEDIA SCAMS
register at www.corewayformst.com,” it said in a statement.
“Members of the public are advised that the Government of The Bahamas is not involved in this scheme. Further, there is currently no arrangement with stakeholders in the transport industry for a ‘Smart Pass’ at this time.”
The statement advised the public to avoid the website as it is “not legitimate and unsafe”, and a complaint will be made to the Royal Bahamas Police Force about this.
“The Ministry strongly urges the public to avoid accessing the website and providing any personal financial information. This website is not legitimate and unsafe. The public is further advised that a complaint will be made to the Royal Bahamas Police Force,” it added.
Chief Superintendent Rahming said there has been a rise in social mediarelated scams recently, but added that there are also a “concerning number” of social media-related incidents that the police are probing.
“There is a rise, but there are a concerning number
NOTICE
International Business Companies Act N o.45 of 2000
AIRLEASE THIRTEEN LIMITED ( the “Company”)
Notice is hereby given that, in accordance with Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act, No.45 of 2000, the Dissolution of AIRLEASE THIRTEEN LIMITED has been completed, a Certificate of Dissolution has been issued and the Company has therefore been struck off the Register. The date of completion of the dissolution was the 20th day of December, 2024.
NOTICE
NextWave Group Ltd.
NOTICE NextWave Group Ltd.
of social media issues that we are looking at,” he confirmed. Social media users have also sounded the alarm over an alleged Facebook Marketplace scam that lures in victims via pages that advertise apartment rentals and vehicles at extremely low prices. The fake accounts usually copy the pictures and identity of Bahamians, and request personal information or a down payment before viewing the merchandise. Chief Superintendent Rahming confirmed that police have an individual in custody that is assisting in a number of
matters including some that “stem from a time back”. He advised the public to be “very careful” when making purchases online and warned that if the price of an item being advertised appears “too good” they should be wary of the transaction. “You have to be very careful with how you make purchases,” said Chief Superintendent Rahming. “Sometimes, if the value of that item, the price that is being offered, it seems to be too good, then maybe it is too good to make that purchase. So you have to do your background checks before you make those purchases.”
NOTICE
International Business Companies Act No.45 of 2000
AIRLEASE TWENTY NINE LIMITED ( the “Company”)
Notice is hereby given that, in accordance with Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act, No.45 of 2000, the Dissolution of AIRLEASE TWENTY NINE LIMITED has been completed, a Certificate of Dissolution has been issued and the Company has therefore been struck off the Register. The date of completion of the dissolution was the 20th day of December, 2024.
NOTICE
International Business Companies Act No.45 of 2000
to the ‘nearly 75 employees’ that the SEC concedes SureTrader had, in addition to rental fees for SureTrader’s 8,000 square foot office space, software fees, trading fees, and other legitimate business expenses.
“Thus, any potential award of disgorgement against SureTrader or Gentile should be subject to a deduction of approximately $30m in business expenses. And Gentile personally paid approximately $5.7m in taxes in 20172018, which is not only a legitimate expense but also demonstrates his personal commitment to complying with the law and repatriating money to the US,” the Mintbroker chief added.
“The violation is a failure to register with the SEC, which is irrelevant to the maintenance of office
space, paying taxes, compensating employees and other legitimate expenditures. Further, as the SEC concedes, a significant portion of SureTrader’s business during the relevant period did not even involve servicing accounts for US clients.
“Regardless, SureTrader was registered in the Bahamas and registered with the IRS, and the SEC knew all of this in 2011..... Yet the SEC seeks to penalise Gentile for the amount that SureTrader purportedly failed to pay by not registering with the SEC, although SureTrader paid all registration and related fees in The Bahamas as well as US IRS-related fees and taxes.”
NOTICE
International Business Companies Act No.45 of 2000
AIRLEASE THIRTY ONE LIMITED ( the “Company”)
Notice is hereby given that, in accordance with Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act, No.45 of 2000, the Dissolution of AIRLEASE THIRTY ONE LIMITED has been completed, a Certificate of Dissolution has been issued and the Company has therefore been struck off the Register. The date of completion of the dissolution was the 20th day of December, 2024.
NOTICE
International Business Companies Act No.45 of 2000
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the Registration Number 211524 B (In Voluntary Liquidation)
ATLANTIC AIRCRAFT HOLDING TWO LTD ( the “Company”)
ATLANTIC AIRCRAFT HOLDING LTD ( the “Company”)
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under Registration Number 211524 B
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and winding-up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and winding-up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this day of 2024
Dated this 13th day of December, 2024.
Eduardo Alberto Cano Aviles Liquidator
NOTICE
is complete.
Kim
Notice is hereby given that, in accordance with Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act, No.45 of 2000, the Dissolution of ATLANTIC AIRCRAFT HOLDING TWO LTD has been completed, a Certificate of Dissolution has been issued and the Company has therefore been struck off the Register. The date of completion of the dissolution was the 20th day of December, 2024.
NOTICE
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS COMPANIES ACT, 2000 URIELLA COMPANY LIMITED (IN VOLUNTARY LIQUIDATION)
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that in accordance with section 138(6) of the International Business Companies Act, 2000, as amended, the winding up and dissolution of URIELLA COMPANY LIMITED is complete.
Kim D Thompson Sole Liquidator
Notice is hereby given that, in accordance with Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act, No.45 of 2000, the Dissolution of ATLANTIC AIRCRAFT HOLDING LTD has been completed, a Certificate of Dissolution has been issued and the Company has therefore been struck off the Register. The date of completion of the dissolution was the 20th day of December, 2024.
NOTICE
KERZNER INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT SERVICES LIMITED
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 138 (8) of the International Business Companies Act 2000, notice is hereby given that the abovenamed Company has been dissolved and struck off the Register pursuant to a Certifcate of Dissolution issued by The Registrar General on the 27th day of November, 2024
Dated the 8th day of January A.D., 2025.
Kirvy Ferguson Liquidator of KERZNER INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT SERVICES LIMITED
Canada’s Liberal Party in search of a new leader while dealing with Trump threats, pending election
By ROB GILLIES Associated Press
CANADIAN Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party finds itself in search of a new leader while dealing with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's threats to impose steep tariffs on Canadian goods and with Canada's election just months away.
Trudeau announced his resignation after facing an increasing loss of support both within his party and in the country. The 53-yearold scion of Pierre Trudeau, one of Canada's most famous prime ministers, became deeply unpopular with voters over a range of issues, including the soaring cost of food and housing as well as surging immigration.
What's next for Canada?
Trudeau said he plans to stay on as prime minister until a new party leader is chosen, but a new Canadian leader is unlikely to be named before Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20.
The political upheaval comes at a difficult moment for Canada. Trump keeps calling Canada the 51st state and has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian good s. He is preoccupied with the U.S. trade deficit with Canada, erroneously calling it a subsidy.
Trump said Tuesday he would not use the military to force Canada to join the U.S., but would rely on "economic force." If Trump applies tariffs, a trade war looms and Canada has vowed to retaliate.
"There isn't a snowball's chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States," Trudeau posted on X. "Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other's biggest trading and security partner."
Trump said the U.S. doesn't need anything from Canada. About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, which is also the top export destination for 36 U.S. states. When will there be a new prime minister?
The Liberals need to elect a new leader before Parliament resumes March 24 because all three opposition parties say they will bring down the Liberal government in a no-confidence vote at the first opportunity, which would trigger an election.
The new leader might not be prime minister for long: A spring election would very likely favor the opposing Conservative Party. Who will be the next leader of Trudeau's party?
It's not often that central bank governors get compared to rock stars. But potential Liberal leader Mark Carney, the former head of the Bank of Canada, was considered just that in 2012. He was named the first foreigner to serve as governor of the Bank of England since it was founded in 1694. The appointment of a Canadian won bipartisan praise in Britain after Canada recovered faster than many other countries from the 2008
NOTICE
ATH NEGOCIOS LTD.
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the registration number 210130 B.
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this 7th day of January A.D. 2025.
ATHOS PERUZZOLO LIQUIDATOR
NOTICE BLU ROCKS LTD.
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the registration number 210863 B.
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this 7th day of January A.D. 2025.
SILVIA FERNANDA GIACOMET LIQUIDATOR
NOTICE
PALAS ATENA CAPITAL GROUP LTD.
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the registration number 205548 B.
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this 7th day of January A.D. 2025.
MARCELO CHAVES DE MELLO LIQUIDATOR
financial crisis. He gained a reputation along the way as a tough regulator.
Few people in the world have Carney's qualifications. He is a highly educated economist with Wall Street experience who is widely credited with helping Canada dodge the worst of the 2008 crisis and helping the U.K. manage Brexit. Carney has long been interested in entering politics and becoming prime minister but lacks political experience. He said in a statement he is encouraged by support he has had, and that he's considering his decision with family over the next few days. Former finance minister Chrystia Freeland is also a front-runner. Trudeau told Freeland last month he no longer wanted her
to serve in that position but that she could remain deputy prime minister and the point person for U.S.-Canada relations. An official close to Freeland said she couldn't continue serving as a minister knowing she no longer enjoyed Trudeau's confidence. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. The person added it's far too early to make declarations but said Freeland would talk to her colleagues this week and discuss next steps.
After she resigned, Trump called Freeland "totally toxic" and "not at all conducive to making deals." Freeland is many things that would seem to irritate Trump: a liberal Canadian former journalist.
NOTICE Bela Idea Ltd.
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the registration number 204273 B.
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this 7th day of January A.D. 2025.
CAROLINA MACHADO TEIXEIRA LIQUIDATOR
NOTICE
BLUE OCEAN RGP LTD
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the registration number 201531 B.
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this 7th day of January A.D. 2025.
REGINALDO GOMES PANTOJA LIQUIDATOR
NOTICE AGUIA LTD.
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the registration number 211753 B.
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this 7th day of January A.D. 2025.
She is a globalist who sits on the board of the World Economic Forum. Freeland, who is of Ukrainian heritage, also has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Another possible candidate is the new finance minister, Dominic LeBlanc. The former public safety minister, and a close friend of Trudeau, LeBlanc recently joined the prime minister at a dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. LeBlanc was Trudeau's babysitter when Trudeau was a child.
Is it too late for the Liberals?
"Trudeau's announcement might help the Liberals in the polls in the short run and, once a new leader is selected, things could improve further at least for a little while but that would not be so hard because, right now, they're so low in the polls," said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.
"Moreover, because Trudeau waited so long to announce his resignation, this will leave little time to his successor and the party to prepare for early elections," Béland said.
Many analysts say Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre will form the next government. Poilievre, for years the party's go-to attack dog, is a firebrand populist who blamed Canada's cost of living crisis on Trudeau. The 45-yearold Poilievre is a career politician who attracted large crowds during his run for his party's leadership. He has vowed to scrap a carbon tax and defund the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Recent polls suggest the Liberals' chances of winning the next election look slim. In the latest poll by Nanos, the Liberals trail the opposition Conservatives 45% to 23%.
NOTICE Blackcomb Ltd.
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the registration number 203616 B.
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this 7th day of January A.D. 2025.
GUSTAVO ABRAMIDES BASSETTI LIQUIDATOR
NOTICE CAIO & VICENTE INVESTIMENTOS LTD.
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the registration number 206958 B.
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this 7th day of January A.D. 2025.
CAIO CESAR COPETTI LIQUIDATOR
NOTICE Aldeia da Praia Ltd.
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the registration number 211662 B.
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this 7th day of January A.D. 2025.
PRESIDENT Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pose for a photo as Trudeau arrives at the White House in Washington, on Oct. 11, 2017.
Photo:Carolyn Kaster/AP
How removing unpaid medical bills from credit reports could help consumers
By CORA LEWIS Associated Press
LENDERS will no longer be able to consider unpaid medical bills as a credit history factor when they evaluate potential borrowers in the U.S. for mortgages, car loans or business loans, according to a rule the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized Tuesday.
Removing medical debts from consumer credit reports is expected to increase the credit scores of millions of families by an average of 20 points, the bureau said. The CFPB says its research showed that outstanding health care claims are a poor predictor of someone's ability to repay a loan yet often are used to deny mortgage applications.
The three national credit reporting agencies — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — said last year that they were removing medical collections under $500 from U.S. consumer credit reports.
The government agency's
new rule goes further by banning all outstanding medical bills from appearing on credit reports and prohibiting lenders from using the information. The rule is set to take effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, although President-elect Donald Trump has proposed sweeping changes and limits to the CFPB's regulatory reach. Here's what to know: How many people will this affect?
The CFPB estimates the rule will remove $49 million in medical debt from the credit reports of 15 million Americans. According to the agency, one in five Americans have at least one medical debt collection account on their credit reports, and over half of collection entries on credit reports are for medical debts.
The problem disproportionately affects people of color, the CFPB has found: 28% of Black people and 22% of Latino people in the U.S. carry medical debt versus 17% of white
NOTICE
Jacob & Sons Ltd.
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the registration number 212447 B.
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this 7th day of January A.D. 2025.
RODRIGO CORREA JACOB LIQUIDATOR
NOTICE
SBF
VENTURES LTD.
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the registration number 206764 B.
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this 7th day of January A.D. 2025.
RAFAEL BERGER FRADE LIQUIDATOR
NOTICE ZIZO LTD.
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the registration number 205961 B.
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this 7th day of January A.D. 2025.
people. While the national credit reporting agencies voluntarily agreed to disregard medical debt below $500, many consumers have amounts much higher than this threshold on their reports.
What will the impact be for consumers?
The CFPB says its action will give millions of consumers increased access to loans and lead to the approval of approximately 22,000 additional mortgages a year. Americans with outstanding medical bills may see their credit scores rise by an average of 20 points, according to the bureau.
The rule was also drafted to increase privacy protections and to help keep debt collectors from using the credit reporting system to coerce people into paying bills they don't owe. The CFPB has found that consumers frequently receive inaccurate bills or are asked to pay bills that should have been covered by insurance or financial assistance programs.
What's more, lenders will be barred from using
information about medical devices, such as prosthetic limbs, to make them serve as collateral for a loan and subject to repossession, according to the CFPB's announcement.
How are advocates responding?
Nonprofits in the healthcare space are pleased.
"This decision is great news for everyday Americans," said Carrie Joy Grimes, founder of personal finance organization WorkMoney. "Medical debt is not a reflection of being bad with money — any one of us can experience illness or injury. With this new rule, Americans will now be able to focus less on the strain of medical debt and more on getting back on their feet."
Patricia Kelmar, health care campaigns director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, said the rule would help "many financially responsible families who have accumulated medical debt from
NOTICE
FBSobreira Investments Ltd.
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the registration number 208477 B.
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this 7th day of January A.D. 2025.
FERNANDO BARROS SOBREIRA LIQUIDATOR
NOTICE
MARCO MONTE INVEST LTD.
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the registration number 208956 B.
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this 7th day of January A.D. 2025.
Marco Antonio Camara Firjam Do Monte LIQUIDATOR
NOTICE HJVN LTD.
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the registration number 212447 B.
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this 7th day of January A.D. 2025. HEGLER KELSER DE ARAUJO ROCHA LIQUIDATOR
unpredictable health issues, high out-of-pocket costs, insurance claim denials and billing errors."
What should you do after receiving an unexpectedly high medical bill?
While high medical bills are common in the US, including for individuals and households with insurance, there are ways to get relief.
First, determine whether you qualify for charity care.
Federal law requires nonprofit hospitals to lower or write off bills for individuals depending on household income. To determine if you qualify, do an internet search for the hospital or health care provider along with the phrase "charity care" or "financial assistance policy." The nonprofit organization Dollar For also provides a simplified online tool for patients.
Also: Always ask for an itemized bill. Medical billing is notoriously complicated and rife with errors. An itemized bill includes the billing codes of all care received. If something is off between these codes and the care provided, contesting your bill can yield changes.
Another approach — comparing the bill with insurance companies' estimates of fair charges for services can also help. If the price you were charged is more than average, you may have your costs lowered. You could even take the provider to small claims court over the discrepancyor let them know you have a case.
Next, appeal under the provisions of the No Surprises Act, a federal law that says insurance companies must reasonably cover any out-of-network services related to emergency and some non-emergency medical care. If you're being charged more than you're used to or expect when you receive in-network services, that bill may be illegal.
NOTICE
Decourt Investimentos Ltd.
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the registration number 209489 B.
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this 7th day of January A.D. 2025.
LUCIANO DECOURT LIQUIDATOR
NOTICE
Lema Partners Ltd.
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the registration number 204870 B.
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this 7th day of January A.D. 2025. Leonardo Mäder Furtado Dos Santos LIQUIDATOR
NOTICE Vela Southern Ring Ltd.
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the registration number 209513 B.
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this 7th day of January A.D. 2025. ALEJANDRO UBILLA SCHAURICHT LIQUIDATOR
MEDICAL bills are seen in Temple Hills, Md., on June 26, 2023. Photo:Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Nvidia’s new GPU series led an avalanche of entertainment-related announcements at CES
By SARAH PARVINI AP Technology Writer
IN a packed Las Vegas arena, Nvidia founder Jensen Huang stood on stage and marveled over the crisp real-time computer graphics displayed on the screen behind him. He watched as a dark-haired woman walked through ornate gilded double doors and took in the rays of light that poured in through stained glass windows.
"The amount of geometry that you saw was absolutely insane," Huang told an audience of thousands at CES 2025 Monday night. "It would have been impossible without artificial intelligence."
The chipmaker and AI darling unveiled its GeForce RTX 50 Series desktop and laptop GPUs — powered by its new Blackwell artificial intelligence chip — kicking off a string of entertainmentrelated AI announcements and discussions at the trade show.
"Blackwell, the engine of AI, has arrived for PC
gamers, developers and creatives," Huang said, adding that Blackwell "is the most significant computer graphics innovation since we introduced programmable shading 25 years ago." Blackwell technology is now in full production, he said.
Semiconductor maker AMD unveiled its latest Ryzen 9 and AI series processors Monday morning, boasting unprecedented performance for gamers and content creators. The new chips help AMD to further compete with rivals like Nvidia, Intel and Qualcomm in the budding AI PC space.
"With the next generation of AI-enabled processors, we are proliferating AI to devices everywhere, and bringing the power of a workstation to thin and light laptops," said Jack Huynh, senior vice president and general manager of computing and graphics group at AMD. Google, meanwhile, previewed new AI tools for Google TV that use Gemini to make "interacting with
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION WITHDRAWS OLDGROWTH FOREST PLAN AFTER GETTING PUSHBACK FROM INDUSTRY AND GOP
By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press
THE BIDEN administration on Tuesday abruptly dropped its nascent plan to protect old-growth forests after getting pushback from Republicans and the timber industry.
The move was announced by U.S. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore in a letter to forest supervisors.
It brings a sudden end to a yearslong process to craft a nationwide plan that would better protect old trees that are increasingly threatened by climate change. The effort had been supported by some conservationists as one of the most significant forest preservation efforts in decades.
President Joe Biden launched the initiative with an executive order on Earth Day in April 2022. The proposal went through extensive public comment periods and internal analyses by government officials and was due to be finalized any day.
The plan would have limited logging in old-growth forests, with exceptions to allow logging in some oldgrowth areas to protect against wildfires.
But those exceptions were not enough for the timber industry and Republicans in Congress who bitterly opposed the administration's proposal. They said it wasn't needed since many forested areas already are protected. And they warned it could be devastating to logging companies
that rely on access to cheap timber on public lands. GOP lawmakers introduced legislation while the administration's plans were still in the works to block them from going into effect. Moore said in his letter that much was learned from the first-of-its-kind effort to identify old-growth trees on public lands across the nation. But he also acknowledged criticism from those who said the administration's approach to old-growth forests was flawed since they can vary greatly between different types of ecosystems.
"There is strong support for, and an expectation of us, to continue to conserve these forests based on the best available scientific information," Moore wrote.
"There was also feedback that there are important place-based differences that we will need to understand in order to conserve oldgrowth forests."
Old-growth forests, such as the storied giant sequoias of California, have layer upon layer of undisturbed trees and vegetation.
Most old-growth stands fell to logging as the nation developed. Yet pockets of ancient trees remain, scattered across the U.S. including in California, the Pacific Northwest and areas of the Rocky Mountains. Larger expanses of old growth survive in Alaska, such as within the Tongass National Forest.
There's wide consensus on the importance of preserving them — both
your TV more intuitive and helpful." Users, the company said, will be able to have a "natural" conversation with their TVs to ask about things like travel and history, or ask the TV for an overview of the day's news.
Samsung also showed off its foray in AI and announced its "Samsung Vision AI" that includes a click to search feature allowing users to do things like identify an actor on screen, and a translation feature that provides real-time subtitles. It also integrates with the rest of the company's smart home ecosystem.
SW Yong, president and head of visual display business at Samsung Electronics, said the company sees TVs as "interactive, intelligent partners" rather than "one-directional devices for passive consumption."
"We're reimagining what screens can do, connecting entertainment, personalization and lifestyle solutions into one seamless experience to simplify your life," he said.
But not all of the AI discussion revolved around gadgetry at CES.
Leaders in technology and entertainment discussed current trends in generative AI ahead of Tuesday's conference opener. In one panel discussion on entertainment copyright and AI, some attorneys and experts gave their opinions on whether whether the federal government would pass regulations on the technology this year, especially around the issue of gen-AI created deep fakes.
Some believe the courts and individual states would tackle the issue before the government would.
"There have been no major decisions on this issue. They will be litigated and tried in the next year or so," said Chad Hummel, an attorney at McKool Smith.
Lisa Oratz, an attorney at Perkins Coie who represents clients in the publishing, arts and entertainment industries, acknowledged that AI technology should be regulated but noted it has an "upside." She said many of her tech clients' jobs are being made easier because AI helps alleviate iterative work.
symbolically as marvels of nature, and more practically because their trunks and branches store large amounts of carbon that can be released when forests burn, adding to climate change.
Wildfires in recent years decimated blocks of
old-growth forest in states throughout the U.S. West and killed thousands of giant sequoias.
Wildfires, insects and disease have been the main killers of old-growth trees since 2000, accounting for almost 1,400 square miles (3,600 square kilometers)
N O T I C E
DUBERRY HOLDINGS LIMITED
N O T I C E IS HEREBY GIVEN as follows:
(a) DUBERRY HOLDINGS LIMITED is in voluntary dissolution under the provisions of Section 138 (4) of the International Business Companies Act 2000.
(b) The dissolution of the said company commenced on the 2nd January, 2025 when the Articles of Dissolution were submitted to and registered by the Registrar General.
(c) The Liquidator of the said company is Leeward Nominees Limited, of Vistra Corporate Services Centre, Wickhams Cay II, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands.
Dated this 8th day of January A. D. 2025. Leeward Nominees Limited Liquidator
NOTICE
ROBOREUS CORPORATION LTD.
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the registration number 203169 B.
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this 7th day of January A.D. 2025.
DANIEL SA CARVALHO
of losses, according to government research. Logging on federal lands cut down about 14 square miles (36 square kilometers) of oldgrowth forest — and timber industry representatives have said that figure shows further restrictions aren't needed.
However, Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists executive director Duncan CrabtreeIreland said that digital replication was central to their 2023 film and television strike, and that a lack of protections around the unregulated use of AI is core to negotiations between their video game performers and the industry.
"It is a tool and it is also an existential threat," he said.
"You can make content creation faster, easier and more affordable. You can do things like reduce barriers to entry and democratize content," she said.
The Biden administration conservation plan faced a doubtful future if it had been finalized. During the first term of President-elect Donald Trump, federal officials sought to open up huge areas of West Coast forests to potential logging. Federal wildlife officials under Biden reversed the move in 2021. They found that political appointees under Trump relied on faulty science to justify drastically shrinking areas of protected forest considered crucial habitats for the imperiled northern spotted owl. The owl has been in decline for decades as oldgrowth forests were cut in Oregon, Washington and California.
N O T I C E
TRI S
ASSETS LTD.
N O T I C E IS HEREBY GIVEN as follows:
(a) TRI S ASSETS LTD. is in voluntary dissolution under the provisions of Section 138 (4) of the International Business Companies Act 2000.
(b) The dissolution of the said company commenced on the 2nd January, 2025 when the Articles of Dissolution were submitted to and registered by the Registrar General.
(c) The Liquidator of the said company is Bukit Merah Limited, The Bahamas Financial Centre, Shirley & Charlotte Streets, P.O. Box N-3023, Nassau, Bahamas
Dated this 8th day of January A. D. 2025.
Bukit Merah Limited Liquidator
NOTICE
PIER MANAGEMENT LTD.
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the registration number 210060 B.
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.
Dated this 7th day of January A.D. 2025. ALEXANDRE ZEN LIQUIDATOR
NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang speaks during a Nvidia news conference ahead of the CES tech show Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas.
Photo:Abbie Parr/AP
PETER BEEDLOW, a scientist at the Environmental Protection Agency, stands among a group of old-growth Noble fir trees in the Willamette National Forest, Ore., Oct. 27, 2023.
Photo:Amanda Loman/AP
Flying taxis are on the horizon as aviation soars into a new frontier
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer
WHEN he was still a boy making long, tedious trips between his school and his woodsy home in the mountains during the 1980s, JoeBen Bevirt began fantasizing about flying cars that could whisk him to his destination in a matter of minutes.
As CEO of Joby Aviation, Bevirt is getting closer to turning his boyhood flights of fancy into a dream come true as he and latterday versions of the Wright Brothers launch a new class of electric-powered aircraft vying to become taxis in the sky. The aircraft — known as "electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle, or eVTOL — lift off the ground like a helicopter before flying at speeds up to 200 miles per hour (322 kilometers per hour) with a range of about 100 miles (161 kilometers). And these craft do it without filling the air with excessive noise caused by fuel-powered helicopters and small airplanes.
"We are just a few steps from the finish line. We want to turn what are now one- and two-hour trips into five-minute trips," Bevirt, 51, told The Associated Press before a Joby air taxi took off on a test flight in Marina, California — located about 40 miles south from where he grew up in the mountains.
Archer Aviation, a Silicon Valley a Silicon Valley company backed by automaker Stellantis and
to sell up to 200 of its aircraft to United Airlines.
Flying taxis have made enough regulatory inroads with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to result in the recent creation of a new aircraft category called "powered lift," a step that the agency hadn't taken since helicopters were introduced for civilian use in the 1940s.
But there are more regulatory hurdles to be cleared before air taxis will be allowed to carry passengers in the U.S., making Dubai the most likely place where eVTOLs will take commercial flight — perhaps by the end of this year.
"It's a tricky business to develop a whole new class of vehicles," said Adam Lim, director of Alton Aviation Consultancy, a firm tracking the industry's evolution. "It is going to be like a crawl, walk, run situation. Right now, I think we are still crawling. We are not going to have the Jetsonstype reality where everyone will be flying around everywhere in the next two to three years."
China is also vying to make flying cars a reality, a quest that has piqued President-elect Donald Trump's interest in making the vehicles a priority for his incoming administration during the next four years.
If the ambitions of eVTOL pioneers are realized in the U.S., people will be able to hop in an air taxi to get to and from airports serving New York and Los Angeles within the next few years.
Because its electric taxis
“You will see highways in the sky. There will be hundreds, maybe thousands of these aircraft flying in these individual cities and it will truly change the way cities are being built.”
Archer Aviation CEO Adam Goldstein
United Airlines, has been testing its own eTVOLs over farmland in Salinas, California, where a prototype called "Midnight" could be seen gliding above a tractor plowing fields last November.
The tests are part of the journey that Joby Aviation and other ambitious companies that collectively have raised billions of dollars are taking to turn flying cars into more than just pie-in-the-sky concepts popularized in 1960s-era cartoon series, "The Jetsons," and the 1982 science fiction film, "Blade Runner."
Archer Aviation and nearby Wisk Aero, with ties to aerospace giant Boeing Co. and Google co-founder Larry Page, are also at the forefront in the race to bring air taxis to market in the United States. Joby has already formed a partnership to connect its air taxis with Delta Air Lines passengers while Archer Aviation has lined up a deal
can fly unimpeded at high speeds, Joby envisions transporting up to four Delta Air Lines passengers at a time from New York area airports to Manhattan in about 10 minutes or less. To start, air taxi prices almost certainly will be significantly more that the cost of taking a cab or Uber ride from JFK airport to Manhattan, but the difference could narrow over time because eVTOLs should be able to transport a higher volume of passengers than ground vehicles stuck in traffic going each way.
"You will see highways in the sky," Archer Aviation CEO Adam Goldstein predicted during an interview at the company's San Jose, California, headquarters. "There will be hundreds, maybe thousands of these aircraft flying in these individual cities and it will truly change the way cities are being built."
Investors are betting Goldstein is right, helping Archer raise an additional
PUBLIC NOTICE
INTENT TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL
The Public is hereby advised that I, RENAY YVONNE MUSGROVE-BASTIAN, of f #4 McKinney Clove, Off McKinney Avenue, Nassau, The Bahamas, intend to change my name to RENAY YVONNE MISSICKBASTIAN If there are any objections to this change of name by Deed Poll, you may write such objections to the Chief Passport Offcer, P.O.Box N-742, Nassau, The Bahamas no later than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice.
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NOTICE is hereby given that ASHLEY PE of Barcardi Road, New Providence, The Bahamas, applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 8th day of January, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
$430 million late last year from a group that included Stellantis and United Airlines. The infusion came shortly after a Japanese automaker poured another $500 million into Joby to bring its total investment in that company to nearly $900 million.
Those investments were part of the $13 billion that eTVOL companies have raised during the past five years, according to Alton Aviation.
Both Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation went
public in 2021 through reverse mergers, opening up another fundraising avenue and making it easier to recruit engineers with the allure of stock options. Both companies have been able to attract workers away from electric automaker Tesla and rocket maker SpaceX and, in Archer's instance, raiding the ranks of Wisk Aero.
The Wisk defections triggered a lawsuit accusing Archer of intellectual property theft in a dispute that was resolved with a 2023 settlement that included
NOTICE
Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 8th day of January, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
an agreement for the two sides to collaborate on some facets of eTVOL technology.
Before going public, Joby also acquired eTVOL technology developed by ride-hailing service Uber in an $83 million deal that also brought those two companies together as partners.
But none of the deals or technological advances have stopped the losses from piling up at the companies building flying cars. Joby, whose roots date back to 2009 when Bevirt founded the company, has
sustained $1.6 billion in losses since its inception while Archer has amassed nearly $1.5 billion in losses since its founding in 2018.
While they moved to commercial air taxi services, both Joby and Archer are trying to bring in revenue by negotiating contracts to use their eTVOLs in the U.S. military for deliveries and other other short-range missions. Archer has forged a partnership with Anduril Industries, a military defense technology specialist founded by Oculus headset inventor Palmer Luckey, to help it win deals.
The uncertain prospects have left both companies with relatively low market values by tech industry standards, with Joby's hovering around $7 billion and Archer's $6 billion.
But Bevirt sees blue skies ahead. "eVTOLs are going to transform the way we move," he said. "It's a dramatically better way to get around. Seeing the world from the air is better than being stuck in the traffic on the interstate."
is hereby given that
applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 8th day of January, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship,
AN “electric vertical take-off and landing” aircraft built by Joby Aviation is parked at an airfield in Marina, Calif. on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024.
Photo:Terry Chea/AP
NOTICE
JOSEPH EDMOND FARLEY of #1 Blenheim CL Stapledon Gardens, New Providence, The Bahamas,
Wall Street slumps as good news for the economy is once again bad for stocks
By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer
GOOD news on the U.S. economy is back to being bad for Wall Street, and the stock market slumped Tuesday following betterthan-expected reports on the job market and business activity.
The S&P 500 fell 1.1% after giving up an early gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 178 points, or 0.4%, while the Nasdaq composite tumbled 1.9%.
Stocks dropped under the weight of rising yields in the bond market, which jumped immediately after the release of the encouraging reports on the economy.
One said U.S. employers were advertising more job openings at the end of November than economists expected. The other said activity for finance, retail and other services businesses grew much faster in December than expected.
The strong reports are of course good news for
workers looking for jobs and for anyone worried about a possible recession that earlier seemed inevitable to pessimists. But such a solid economy could also keep up pressure on inflation, and it could make the Federal Reserve less likely to deliver the cuts to interest rates that Wall Street loves.
The Fed began cutting its main interest rate in September to give the economy a boost, but it’s hinted a slowdown in easing is coming. The threat of tariffs from President-elect Donald Trump has raised worries about possible upward pressure on inflation, which has stubbornly remained just above the Fed’s 2% target. Tuesday’s report on U.S. services industries from the Institute for Supply Management also contained discouraging trends on inflation, saying price increases accelerated in December.
TRADERS work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York’s Financial District Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025.
Expectations for fewer cuts to interest rates in 2025 had already been building for weeks, which sent longer-term Treasury yields upward. So have worries about other possible Trump policies, such as tax cuts, which could swell the U.S. government’s debt and likewise push yields higher.
Seth Wenig/AP
Those higher yields make Treasury bonds more attractive to investors who might otherwise buy stocks, which in turn puts downward pressure on stock prices, and the super-safe bonds are paying notably more. The yield on a 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.69% from 4.63% shortly before the release of Tuesday’s reports and from
just 4.15% in early December. High yields can put heavy pressure on stocks seen as the most expensive, which pulls the lens toward Nvidia and other Big Tech stocks that have soared in the frenzy around artificialintelligence technology.
Nvidia had been on track to set another all-time high in morning trading, after CEO Jensen Huang unveiled a suite of new products and partnerships the night before. He talked up the potential for AI technology in robotics, among other opportunities for big growth. But after Tuesday morning’s economic reports, which hit the market after its first half hour of trading, Nvidia swung to a loss of 6.2% and became the heaviest weight on the S&P 500. Losses for Amazon, Tesla, Apple and Microsoft were the next-strongest forces dragging the index lower.
Now that worries from the summer about a potentially slowing U.S.
economy have abated and the 10-year Treasury yield is firmly above 4.50%, “we believe the market is shifting into a ‘good news is bad news’ environment again,” according to Bank of America strategists led by Ohsung Kwon.
That raises the stakes for Friday’s coming update on the U.S. job market, which economists expect will show a slowdown in overall hiring. They’re looking for growth of 156,500 jobs in December, according to FactSet.
A “Goldilocks” reading for the U.S. stock market that would be solid but not too strong for the Fed would likely be in the 125,000 to 175,000 range, along with an unemployment rate of 4.2%, according to Bank of America.
Helping to keep Tuesday’s losses for U.S. stock indexes in check was Cintas, which rose 2% after making public its offer to buy its smaller rival, UniFirst, for $275 per share in cash.
