Fidelity asserts no ‘one-year wonder’: Eyeing $20m profit
• Alleges Govt directing new hires where to bank
• Pre-Xmas borrowing surge failed to materialise
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
A BISX-listed bank is targeting a return to $20m profits for full-year 2025 despite falling narrowly short of its 2024 target after the traditional Christmas borrowing surge failed to materialise.
Gowon Bowe, Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief executive, told Tribune Business that while the 2024 fourth quarter failed to meet expectations the lender is optimistic it can beat global banking industry standards by generating return on equity (ROE) of between 20-25 percent for the 12 months to endDecember 2025.
While the anticipated pre-Christmas credit rush failed to occur, he conceded this “may be a good thing” if Bahamians are becoming more prudent about over-extending themselves. And, with qualified new
Bahamian airline fear over six-fold fee hikes
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
BAHAMIAN airlines are voicing fears they will be “strangled” by six-fold and greater fee increases proposed as part of adjustments to this nation’s air navigation services regime charges.
Domestic carriers told Tribune Business that the Bahamas Air Navigation Services Authority’s (BANSA) new fee regime, which it is proposing to implement for the next four fiscal years through 20282029, threatens to further eradicate already-slim industry margins while deterring route expansion and fresh investment via a rebalancing that places the financial burden disproportionately on their operations.
BANSA’s “cost base review and charges adjustment” proposal, dated February 2025 and which has been seen by this newspaper, is shifting the fee burden away from overflight fees - levies paid almost entirely by international carriers that fly through Bahamian air space without stopping
• Alarm at take-off/ landing charge rises of 294-679%
• Operators say they will be ‘strangled’ by latest rise
• Regulator shifts burden from foreign to Bahamians
in this nation - to so-called origin/ destination charges.
The latter are fees levied on planes that take-off and land in The Bahamas, and BANSA’s own consultation paper revealed that 77 percent of such flights between May 2021 and December 2023 were operated by locally-owned carriers or charters. All origin/destination charges are
proposed to suffer between four-fold and more than six-fold increases, ranging from a minimum of 294 percent to a high of 679 percent. In contrast, all overflight fee categories will enjoy reductions in both absolute dollar and percentage terms, with the latter involving cuts ranging from 36 percent to a maximum of 69 percent. The BANSA paper, citing the example of an ATR72-600, said the overflight fee rate will be reduced from $29.60 per 100 nautical miles to just $9.16, representing a 69 percent drop or a rate equivalent to 12 cents per passenger seat.
And, for a Boeing 777, the Authority is proposing to reduce the rate for transiting Bahamian air space from $51.60 per 100 nautical miles to $33.01, which marks a 36 percent reduction. And, given that the rate will be spread over a greater number of seats due to that aircraft’s capacity, economies of scale kick-in with the charge per seat or passenger dropping to just eight cents.
However, when it comes to the origin/destination charges (take-off and landing in The Bahamas), the
Doctors targets lower costs in Health City’s $5m investment
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
DOCTORS Hospital shareholders were last night told to anticipate a dividend policy change in 12-15 months’ time as the BISX-listed healthcare provider unveiled a near-$5m investment from a premier Cayman provider.
Dennis Deveaux, its chief financial officer, told Tribune Business that Health City Cayman Islands’ acquisition of 500,000 shares comes at an “an important strategic inflexion point” in Doctors Hospital’s bid to make healthcare more affordable and accessible while, at the same time,
cutting multi-million dollar bad debts that have builtup due to unpaid medical treatments.
Affirming that Health City’s investment will drive service expansion and a lowering of costs, as well as greater collaboration that will see more Bahamians sent to the Cayman Islands for treatments Doctors Hospital does not provide, he added that exploiting synergies and driving economies of scale will be a key focus.
And, as Doctors Hospital starts to “descend” from the rapid expansion and growth mode that it has been on post-COVID, Mr Deveaux signalled to this newspaper
‘Chips are down’: Ex-Atlantis worker wins $121k for firing
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
AN EX-ATLANTIS table gaming supervisor has won $120,960 in damages for wrongful and unfair dismissal after he was fired over “irregularities” involving the handling and alleged theft of $500 casino chips.
Jonathan Clarke, a 20-year veteran of the Paradise Island mega resort, was awarded $35,280 more than his original $85,680 claim after the Industrial Tribunal found “clear discrepancies” in Atlantis’ case against him while branding the casino surveillance footage it relied on as “inconclusive”.
As a result, Ingrid Cooper-Brooks, the Tribunal’s vice-president, ruled that both Atlantis and Paradise Enterprises, the latter being the subsidiary that holds the casino operation, had failed to achieve the standard of having “reasonable grounds” to believe Mr Clarke had “committed gross misconduct/theft” and thus justify his termination. And, having found he was wrongfully fired, she also ruled the former table gaming supervisor was unfairly dismissed because the “inconclusive” video was all Atlantis had to support the termination. Ms Cooper-Brooks thus awarded him $56,160 for
GOWON BOWE
DPM demands Caribbean unity to attract extra airlift
THE deputy prime minister has called for greater Caribbean collaboration to attract more airlift and route expansion to the region from Europe, the Middle East, South and Central America.
Speaking at the Routes Americas 2025 conference, Chester Cooper, minister of tourism, investments and aviation, was among ministers from Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) member states who
discussed ‘Shaping the future of Caribbean tourism’.
Other panelists included Valerie Damaseau, commissioner of tourism and culture, Saint Martin; Kenneth Bryan, deputy premier and minister for tourism and ports, Cayman Islands; and Ian Gooding-Edghill, minister of tourism and international transport, Barbados. The session was moderated by Dona Regis-Prosper, secretary-general and chief executive, the Caribbean Tourism Organisation.
Mr Cooper called for “less talk and more action”, while urging regional airport and airline operators to collaborate on a unified approach to attracting additional flights from Europe, the Middle East, South and Central America and other areas.
He stressed: “Airlines are losing money, and therefore they must collaborate and bring technical expertise to minimise losses. They need to broaden their strategy and invest in the Caribbean region. The southern Caribbean will benefit through the work of CTO’s airlift strategy and, hopefully, The Bahamas will become a hub that attracts additional flights from Europe, the Middle East, South and Central America and others.”
Mr Cooper said The Bahamas has its challenges as a 16-island destination, with each island offering a unique flavour within the overall tourism product. He added that Bahamasair
ensures local connectivity around the Family Islands, as well as regionally to destinations such as Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica.
As for the Family Islands Airports Renaissance project, the deputy prime minister added: “We have a 14-airport programme totaling $300m. We are executing an arrangement for the management of four airports, and once that is completed, we will make an announcement.”
He said doubling The Bahamas’ 15,000-room hotel inventory over the next ten years is “achievable” and necessary to facilitate growth. “We have roughly 15,000 rooms. I have said I would like to see that number double over the next ten years. I think that’s achievable. Every resort will contribute toward achieving that goal,” Mr Cooper said.
“Resorts that are not fully operational now will come on stream but, certainly, it takes time to develop a resort. We won’t achieve an additional 10,000 to 15,000 rooms immediately, but over time, this has to be the sustained strategy.”
Routes Americas 2025 brought together more than 1,023 attendees from 63 countries to define the region’s air service networks. The event was hosted by the Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation; Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board; and Nassau Airport Development Company.
PICTURED L-R: Dr Kenneth Romer, deputy director-general of tourism and director of aviation; Latia Duncombe, directorgeneral of tourism; Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister and minister of tourism, investments and aviation; Basil McIntosh, minister of state for aviation; Lisa Adderley-Anderson, acting permanent secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation; Valery Brown-Alce, deputy director-general for the US, Canada and Europe; and Paul Bevans, chairman, Airport Authority.
CHESTER COOPER, deputy prime minister and minister of tourism, investments and aviation, and Kenneth Bryan, deputy premier and minister for tourism and ports, Cayman Islands, pose for a photo at Routes Americas.
CHESTER COOPER, deputy prime minister and minister of tourism, investments and aviation, making a point at Routes Americas 2025.
Photos:Kemuel Stubbs/BIS
GOV’T IN EGG BUYBACK SCHEME AS PRICES SOAR
By ANNELIA NIXON
THE Government is seeking to boost domestic egg production via a buyback initiative as food stores report a tripling in import prices due to bird flu’s sharp impact on availability and the supply chain.
Neil Campbell, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources, said the Government is providing birds to farmers on condition that they produce a certain number of eggs. “It’s an industry. And so we have other persons, like, for example, Essential Farms and one or two other places that we also giving 100 birds to,” he explained.
“And it’s like a buy back programme. So all of them will be responsible for raising, rearing and everything else with the birds. For example, we want 100 eggs from them a week. If they get 150 eggs, the 50 eggs they could do anything with. But we have to buy about 100, and they have to sell it at the same cost to us in order for us to sell it to the public.
“And that will be done through BAMSI (the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute) or BAIC stations. So we’ll always have the hedge price on the chicken eggs. So we got birds in already for that programme as well. So we give it to 10 different farmers.
“Then the next side of that is where we go full blast into what we call the ‘Golden Yolk’, but
all of this is a part of that because it’s going to a special purpose vehicle as you call it, where they actually are going to have it set up like with different farmers managing each house,” Mr Campbell added.
“It will be ten houses so it will be ten farmers managing it, and then they will do likewise. They’ll have the birds, the feeding and everything else. And then it’s based on a quota where we’ll get a certain amount of eggs from them in order to sell back to Bahamians at a hedge price.
“So we have the schools involved, we have community, individuals like I said with Essential Farms, and somebody in West End and there’s two different persons in New Providence. It’s ten farmers who we’re going to give 100 birds to. And then with the schools... I think we’re giving to 20 to 30 schools this time around and they, too, will be involved with the same thing. So it’s at every angle. We’re trying everything.”
Mr Campbell added that the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources is set to make two Family Islands “self-sufficient” in egg production as part of the expansion. He did not disclose which islands are being targeted, but said they are in the northern and central Bahamas.
He visited one of the locations last month and the other this past weekend, adding: “We have an agent there and then they will do the same thing where they buy from that school, and the school that would make funds from the chicken laying programme.”
Jomo Campbell, minister of agriculture and marine resources, recently said the Golden Yolk programme has experienced some delays in acquiring equipment, sourcing, getting documents and working with other government ministries. He suggested the initiative will begin in earnest by September going into the 2025 fourth quarter.
“I think a lot is going on around the world - getting equipment, sourcing specialised individuals,” Mr Campbell said. “So a lot was going on. Then we needed some sort of regulations in place, too, even down to getting permits for persons to come in. We almost working with every ministry. We’re working with Ministry of Works to get the drawings. Then we get technical persons to come in and do that.
“Then we need Immigration in order to give permits to help us with these specialised individuals. We need health, we need BAHFSA (The Bahamas Agricultural Health and Food Safety Authority) in order to make sure these persons are certified. Then we got to work with the police in order to screen these persons. We can’t let any and everybody come into the country.”
Bahamian consumers, food stores and all companies reliant on eggs for ingredients have been grappling with soaring prices resulting from bird flu-driven supply shortages in the US as chickens are culled to eradicate the virus. Several US food store chains have begun rationing the amount of eggs
consumers can purchase with the US Department of Agriculture projecting a further 20 percent jump in egg prices.
Bronson Beneby, manager of Courtesy Supermarket, and Horace Miller-Major, Centreville Food Market proprietor, both said they have seen a jump in prices while buying eggs wholesale. Noting that 30 dozen eggs normally come in a case, Mr Beneby said the “increase actually started from roughly about $100 a case, and then it continued to escalate” resulting in him having been quoted $300.
Meanwhile, Mr MillerMajor said he is currently paying $260 for a case of 30 dozen eggs. Both reported selling eggs to customers for around $10.50, equalling an estimated $7 rise in price. The high cost of eggs has not only hit grocers’ pockets but also those of their customers, leading to a decrease in egg sales.
“There’s always a concern because when the prices get too high, then basically the people who could afford to buy it will buy it,” Mr Miller-Major said. “Those who can ‘t afford to buy it are relegated to buying something else. And so hence, you know, it is a concern for everybody, not just us as grocers but the consumers at large. I’ve noticed it’s trending in, you know, in the high $10-plus for a dozen eggs.
“It’s trending and what can we do? It’s a catastrophe what is happening out there with the bird flu and everything else. And that’s why we really need a farm here in The Bahamas or
PICTURED from L to R: Hans van de Velde, chief executive, Windward Islands Airways International (Winair); Dr Kenneth Romer, deputy director-general of tourism and director of aviation; Trevor Sadler, chief executive, InterCaribbean Airways; and Aaron Karp, contributing editor, Aviation Week Network.
Photo:Anthon Thompson/BIS
AVIATION CHIEF TALKS ON REGIONAL COMPETITIVENESS
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
THE Government’s aviation sector head participated in a panel discussion on ‘Aviation competitiveness in the Caribbean’ during the Routes Americas 2025 conference last week.
Dr Kenneth Romer, deputy director-general of tourism and director of aviation, was joined by Trevor Sadler, chief executive, InterCaribbean
Airways; and Hans van de Velde, chief executive, Windward Islands Airways International (Winair). The moderator was Aaron Karp, contributing editor, Aviation Week Network. During this discussion, the trio provided insights into the competitive landscape for airlines and airports in the Caribbean. They also covered the region’s progress on air traffic and financial recovery post-COVID, plus future development opportunities, offering a comprehensive
overview of the current state and future potential of aviation in the region.
Routes Americas 2025 brought together more than 1,023 attendees from 63 countries to define the region’s air service networks. The event was hosted by the Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation, Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board, and Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD). The conference was held at Atlantis, Paradise Island, from February 10-12.
hatchery that produces eggs.” Both grocers back the concept of the Golden Yolk prgramme, which aims to transform two Family Islands into hubs for the egg industry as well as involving communities, schools and local farmers. According to Mr Miller-Major, he has tried purchasing eggs from a local farmer at a cheaper rate. While it was a shortterm solution, he noted that the demand became too high for the farm as they also serviced bigger-named stores.
“I think we do really need to get into our own farming of eggs because we used to have them back in the day in the 70s and 80s,” Mr Miller-Major said. “We had a lot of farms around here that produced eggs. All those were obliterated as well. The storm came in and destroyed a lot of them, and so it was very costly for them to really put them back together, but we really need it.
“Now there’s a local producer who does something on a small scale. I’ve been buying some from him, which are organic eggs grown right here in The Bahamas. But he hasn’t been able to keep up with the demand. And he said he’s servicing Solomon’s and them. And so I haven’t gotten anything from the last month. I had purchased something which was a
cheaper price, and was able to sell them at a very good price, but they didn’t last too long on the shelf with that kind of price.”
Mr Beneby, stating he wouldn’t mind switching from wholesalers to farmers, added: “I mean, obviously a programme like that [Golden Yolk] would definitely help to have your eggs produced here locally.
I’ve visited a few of the local farms that were actually here [in] Nassau. Several of them, from my understanding, I guess the only real challenge they really had was the cost to feed and the cost of supplies.
“Those farms, they don’t exist any more. They already closed. But years ago that’s where we used to get our eggs from. If that’s [wholesalers] the only source of getting eggs, which are being imported into the country, then you don’t really have a choice because you don’t have any more of the local farms producing eggs any more.”
Both grocers also noted that the profit margin on eggs is “minimal”, with Mr Beneby adding that he still sells them simply “for the convenience of the customer.”
“It’s a necessity for some businesses,” Mr Beneby said. “There’s people who use eggs on a daily basis... We only carry eggs just for
Bahamian airline fear over six-fold fee hikes
fees for small planes with a maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of less than 10,000 kilograms - the likes of Piper Aztecs, Cessna 402s and Piper Navajosare increasing from $10 to $65.09 - a 551 percent or more than six-fold jump.
The per seat charge for a Cessna 525, a small jet, is shown as $10.85.
While private planes with a single piston have been exempt from both overflight and origin/destination charges, the two categories that make up The Bahamas’ air navigation services regime, all those planes mentioned are twin engine and will likely be captured by it.
As for commercial planes, the origin/destination fee for an ATR 72-600 is proposed to increase by 294 percent from the present $35 to $137.92equivalent to $1.84 per seat.
And charges for a Boeing 777 will jump more than seven-fold - from $61 to a new capped maximum of $477.05 - which represents a 679 percent hike.
Paul Aranha, founder of Trans-Island Airways, told Tribune Business that the issue was not necessarily the proposed origin/destination
fee hikes by themselves but the ‘bigger picture’ for a Bahamian aviation industry that has faced a barrage of multiple new and increased fees in the years following Hurricane Dorian and COVID-19.
Besides the up to threefold and six-fold increases in Customs ‘inbound’ and ‘outbound’ fees unveiled in last May’s Budget, the sector has also faced the imposition of airport infrastructure improvement fees at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) and jumps in landing and other fees. Further fee increases, along the lines of those implemented in Bimini, are almost certain to follow to pay for upgraded Family Island airports.
Mr Aranha explained that while the dollar amount of the BANSA increases by themselves may seem small, it quickly adds up given the multiple daily flights Bahamian carriers and charter operators make. And, when combined with other fee increases and more likely to come in the near future, they represent a significant burden for an industry that operates with relatively low margins.
“What’s happening is every single agency is acting
independently,” he said.
“Each agency is increasing their charges and fees in silos. The same action is being taken by Customs, Civil Aviation, BANSA, the airports. All these things individually are seemingly tiny, but collectively they represent a very large percentage of each flight or charter.
“There are three areas of concern that I see. One, aviation is a highly capitalintensive business that has very small margins. However, capital requirements often cloud external bodies’ opinions of the industry’s ability to sustain price increases.
“The problem is those fees impact the very small margins that operators have every single day. For people flying scheduled flights, it shifts the needle as to whether they will add extra routes or not. It makes scheduling additional routes, particularly in the Family Islands, a harder sell,” Mr Aranha added.
“For people looking to make investments in the aviation industry, it makes an already marginally attractive industry in a challenging business environment even less appealing, therefore further reducing investment in the industry. It also strains local operators and impacts their ability to invest their cash flow to acquire newer and safer planes because the Bahamian aviation industry does face an ever-aging fleet.”
Rick Gardner, a Bahamas Flying Ambassador, told Tribune Business that while he had not studied BANSA’s proposed fee adjustments in detail it seemed as if the changes were designed to incentivise commercial traffic and private pilots to fly over The Bahamas rather than land in the country to spend money for the economy’s benefit.
“It appears to be more bad idea that will just further alienate the aviation market,” he added of the cut in fee rates to transit Bahamian air space. “Think about it. You are raising fees to visit The Bahamas yet making it less expensive to overfly. What a great incentive to visit Turks & Caicos, Dominican Republic etc.”
Tribune Business understands that the BANSA
fee proposals are due to be discussed further with the aviation industry and its stakeholders at an upcoming meeting on March 5.
One source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said smaller planes were those “most sensitive” to any increase, and they added: “A 550 percent increase in fees is not a small number.”
Citing a Nassau to North Eleuthera round-trip as an example, they said domestic operators or charters would likely charge between $1,600 to $2,000 depending on whether the plane was an Aztec or Cessna. With the new $65.09 route, they pointed out that this would be incurred twice - upon landing in Eleuthera and landing back in Nassau - for a total $130.18.
Should the same plane fly this route multiple times per day or week, they added that this fee increase compared to the present $10 will rapidly add up and result in an annual expense increase worth thousands of dollars. In contrast, international carriers would only pay the origin/destination charge once when they land in The Bahamas.
“The origin/destination charge is really going to hurt local airlines,” they said. “You risk strangling your aviation sector for these fees. You are creating a fee structure that depends on domestic aircraft movement but you are strangling this at the same time by adding all these fees and taxes.”
The source suggested BANSA’s fee rebalancing, and increased origin/destination charges, also seems to run directly counter to The Bahamas’ efforts to reduce airlift costs which represent the price to access the destination. In particular, they will impact Family Island airlift costs and tourism and, inevitably, the extra expense will most likely almost all be passed on to consumers via higher ticket prices.
Kerry Fountain, the Bahama Out Island Promotion Board’s executive director, who last week called for a reduction in airline ticket taxes and fees, said he was aware of the BANSA fee proposal as he called for a rebalancing of the tourism tax burden towards lower-spending cruise passengers and away from stopover visitors.
“I think we really need government and all private sector partners that bring expertise to this area.. we really need to sit down and figure out a way to look at what I said earlier this [last] week - to convert our proximity to affordability,” he said.
“We’re not going to be able to do that by only looking at increasing taxes or burdening our air stopovers that are spending the most money with increased taxes time after time after time. It’s not government bashing but we want to sit down as partners to figure out the best way to help the Government find the revenue it needs to govern the country.
“If it means looking at visitors who make the largest footprint, and that’s the eight to nine million cruise passengers visiting Nassau and their private islandshow they can share in the tax burden that our stopovers are constantly being burdened to lift. That’s my take on it. How do we level the playing field there?”
Several Bahamian aviation sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the rebalancing from ‘overflight’ fees to place a much greater burden on themselves through the jump in origin/destination charges appears designed to appease the US government and foreign airlines.
“This has 100 percent been done to appease the Americans,” one source, speaking of condition of anonymity, said.
The US Department of Transportation previously voiced “serious concerns” about the level of the fees and whether they are excessive when compared to the actual expenses The Bahamas incurs for providing air navigation services.
And it also challenged whether the level of charges is compliant with the Air Transport Agreement treaty agreed between The Bahamas and US, sparking discussions at the diplomatic level between the two countries over revising the BANSA fee structure. The proposed new fees appear to the product of those discussions plus three “consultations” with industry stakeholders.
The US Department of Transportation’s concerns over whether The Bahamas’ fees are excessive likely
Japan’s economy grows more than expected on strong exports and moderate consumption
By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer
JAPAN'S economy grew at a better-than-expected annual rate of 2.8% in October-December, underlined
by steady exports and moderate consumption.
On a quarter-to-quarter basis, the world's fourth largest economy grew 0.7% for its third straight quarter of growth, the Cabinet Office reported Monday in its preliminary data.
For 2024, the Japanese economy eked out 0.1% growth in seasonally adjusted real GDP, or gross domestic product, which measures the value of a nation's product and service. That's the fourth straight year of expansion.
Private consumption grew at an annual rate of 0.5% during the three months through December,
holding up while losing momentum. Exports jumped 4.3%, and capital investment increased 0.5%.
The positive data sent Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 higher, as well as other Asian markets.
Some analysts think the anticipation of President Donald Trump's tariffs may have lifted trade.
Unlike the U.S. and some other nations, Japan has been dogged by deflation, and these lower prices stifle growth. But recent wage growth has kept deflationary trends in check.
Recent data show inflation is at about the Bank of Japan's target of 2%.
stem from the fact that this nation, in 2021, agreed a 10-year deal where the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) continue managing Bahamian air space above 6,000 feet. The FAA also agreed to waive the cost of air navigation services it was providing and accept a mere $80,000 fee per annum. As a result, both the US government and members of the Airlines4America consortium - the likes of American Airlines, Jet Blue, FedEx, Delta, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, and the United Parcel Service - are arguing that The Bahamas is presently offering very little in services for the money it is taking in.
Asserting that the fees should only cover the cost of providing the service, they allege here was no justification for “the tens of millions of dollars” that The Bahamas is collecting given that it is just paying, at most, $80,000-$100,000 to the FAA - sum equivalent to 1 percent of the charges. They claim this “runs afoul” of global best practice and agreements, plus the US International Air Transport Fair Competitive Practices Act 1974.
The commercial passenger and cargo airlines, especially, have been using regulatory challenges and other aggressive lobbying/pressure tactics to force The Bahamas to back down. And it is they who stand to benefit most from the proposed cut in the rates for transiting Bahamian air space as they constantly have flights moving between the North and South America continents.
The Bahamas, though, will argue that it needs the air navigation services revenue to build the human, financial and physical resources necessary to eventually take over management of its entire air space from the FAA. And the monies raised are also designed to ensure its civil aviation regulatory regime - Civil Aviation, BANSA etc - no longer has to be financed and subsidised by Bahamian taxpayers via the Budget.
Civil Aviation, for example, is due to receive an $8m subsidy during the current 2024-2025 financial year.
Higher prices are crimping consumer spending, which makes up for more than half the economy.
The central bank may move to further raise interest rates, which were at zero or below zero for years to wrest the economy out of deflation. It raised its key interest rate to about 0.5% from 0.25% last month, noting that inflation is holding at a desirable target level. The next monetary policy meeting is in March.
"Stronger growth may reinforce expectations for the Bank of Japan to push through with further hikes, while the slowdown in private consumption growth may be addressed by the prospects of higher wages ahead," said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG.
‘Chips are down’: Ex-Atlantis worker wins $121k for firing
wrongful dismissal, consisting of a year’s pay plus one month in lieu of notice, and $64,800 for unfair dismissal calculated as three weeks’ pay for each of his 20 years at Atlantis.
The Industrial Tribunal’s verdict, noting that Mr Clarke earned a weekly salary of $1,080, revealed that he was terminated on January 29, 2020, just prior to the COVID-19 lockdown that shut Bahamian tourism and the wider economy down.
“On January 13, 2020, the applicant [Mr Clarke] was escorted to the casino manager’s office by security personnel where he was informed that a guest had reported that he put a $500 casino chip in his pocket,” the Industrial Tribunal noted. “The applicant was asked to remove his jacket and empty his pockets, but no chip was found. He offered to take off his underwear, shoes and socks but was told that was not necessary.”
This resulted in Mr Clarke’s suspension for four days from January 18, 2020, pending a probe into this incident. This was then extended for a further seven days to January 29, 2020, whereupon his return to work he was dismissed for “a major breach of conduct/theft”.
Atlantis, explaining the reason for his firing, wrote:
“During our investigation it was observed by management on our surveillance footage on December 24,
2019, on six different incidents you removed a chip from the $500 stack on roulette. Such behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.” Mr Clarke was thus dismissed for an alleged Christmas Eve incident that occurred a month before the event that resulted in suspension.
The table gaming supervisor asserted that he was fired “without having any prior knowledge or recollection of the allegations” relating to the incidents that Atlantis management alleged occurred on Christmas Eve 2019. As a result, he launched his claim for wrongful and unfair dismissal, and demanded $85,680 compensation.
Reasserting that no chip was found when searched on January 13, 2020, Mr Clarke in his evidence said Cathy-Ann Cromarty-Johnson, Atlantis’ executive director of labour relations, brought him a sheet of blank paper to sign two days later. After signing it, he alleged he learnt it was a recommendation for him to be trained in how to handle ‘live chips’, but no training was provided. Given the absence of such training, Mr Clarke alleged his dismissal was “premature” and he refused to sign the ‘Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance’ forms relating to his suspension and dismissal. And he added that his dismissal was when he learnt of the Christmas Eve 2019 allegations against himself for the first time.
ATLANTIS RESORT AND CASINO
George Daley, Atlantis’ vice-president of casino operations, in his evidence asserted that video footage of the January 13, 2025, incident showed Mr Clarke “handling cash chips” in breach of both Atlantis policies that they are not to be touched “except in exceptional circumstances” and Gaming Board of The Bahamas regulations.
“More specifically, the applicant was seen with a clipboard in his left hand while reaching over to remove a dealer’s tip from the roulette wheel and, in the process, knocking down a stack of cash chips and removing a $500 chip,” Ms Cooper-Brooks wrote in her verdict. This triggered an investigation by Atlantis’ surveillance department on January 16, 2020.
However, Mr Clarke countered in his evidence by explaining “that when observed in the footage touching the chips he was ‘chipping up’ or stacking chips to assist the dealer, which he was authorised to perform when the casino
Fidelity asserts no ‘one-year wonder’: Eyeing $20m profit
FROM PAGE B1
borrowers still in relatively short supply, the Fidelity chief said he believes a significant amount of 2025’s growth will come from “rehabilitated” clients whose previously writtenoff loans are brought back into good standing.
Disclosing that Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) recovered $4m of such loans in 2024, Mr Bowe also revealed to this newspaper that “competition” concerns have arisen over the Government’s recent policy to encourage new civil service hires to “bank with a particular bank”.
While not naming the rival to whom the Government is directing new recruits, he argued that as the largest employer in The Bahamas it “has an obligation to promote competition” and consumer/ personal choice as well as ensuring efficiency with its payment systems.
Speaking after the BISX-listed institution generated unaudited profits of $17.971m for the 2024 fullyear, just $29,000 short of its $18m target, Mr Bowe said: “I think we were quite pleased. We thought originally we would do a bit better based on where we were in the third quarter but the expectation of a more buoyant fourth quarter did not materialise.
“The traditional uptick in holiday season borrowing did not materialise. From a social point of view it may be a good thing that people didn’t over-extend themselves but, from a banking perspective, it didn’t really help. It didn’t contribute to profits but, for social value and social progress, hopefully that’s an indication of people being a bit more diligent in spending around the holidays.”
Mr Bowe said Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) pre-Christmas experience, with $3.813m in net income generated during the final three months of 2024, appeared to match feedback from Bahamian retailers who - while enjoying a profitable holiday season - were not generally overwhelmed by consumer spending or foot traffic.
While enjoying a $4.211m, or 30.4 percent, year-over-year profits rise compared to 2023’s $13.78m bottom line, Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) achieved the improvement despite a net loan portfolio that declined by just over $1m to $358.01m at end-December
2024. Much of the profit growth was driven by a $3.124m surge in fee and commission income generated by its merchant services and card business.
Mr Bowe, noting that new lending opportunities will likely continue to be limited in 2025, said: “If the Central Bank had statistics showing new borrowing versus how much is rehabilitation of delinquent loans that would be a very telling story. Particularly in terms of our experience, we’re not seeing new borrowing.” That, he added, applies equally to public sector as well as private sector workers.
“Government doesn’t have a freeze, but is being more diligent in hiring,” the Fidelity chief told Tribune Business. “The Government has also taken a policy position where they are not as accommodating with salary deductions for new employees.”
Such positions have been adopted within the past year, Mr Bowe revealed, adding: “They are encouraging new employees to bank with a particular bank so, for other banks, they are unable to obtain salary deductions and those people are unable to initially bank with their chosen bank.
“That’s going to put restrictions on growth coming from new employees in the Government sector. That’s a policy government needs to consider as competition. It has a role as an employer, and can make decisions on payment efficiency and effectiveness, but as the largest employer in the country it has an obligation to promote competition.
“When it makes an internal decision as to who employees bank with or borrow from, that’s not competitive behaviour but is probably unintentional
was busy”. And he claimed that, when Mr Daley and Ken Lightbourne, another senior Atlantis executive, were asked how many chips were stolen, both replied that they did not know.
Mr Daley, though, said Mr Clarke was permitted in the presence of Atlantis executives to view surveillance footage of himself at work on ten different dates between early December 2019 and January 2020.
“He [Mr Daley] explained that the video dated December 24, 2019, in particular, showed several irregularities and suspicious activity by the applicant, whose actions appeared intentional as he was observed checking out his surroundings before he acted,” the Industrial Tribunal said of Atlantis’ evidence.
“Such activities included holding a blank clipboard, which is only used to take tokens of appreciation (tokes) or tips to another table when there was no need for him to be carrying one around; reaching
because it’s not considering engaging ownership participation and capital markets participation.”
The practice of directing workers to open accounts with a certain bank has emerged just as the Davis administration has begun promoting plans to complete and enact antitrust legislation for The Bahamas, having repeatedly argued that a lack of competition in certain industries - which it has yet to identify - has contributed to high prices, inflation and the country’s cost of living woes.
“We equally are not seeing a large number of new employees in the private sector,” Mr Bowe said. “While there may be the lowest unemployment in several years, when we look at the actual number of persons who were [employed] in the workforce in 2024 it’s less than 2019.” The actual size of the workforce has
in with his right hand to spin the roulette wheel while placing his left hand with the clipboard over the $500 chips and, when his left hand was withdrawn, a short stack of $500 chips were no longer visible; knocking over chips with the clipboard; or flipping them with his fingers and removing chips while masking them with the clipboard.”
Mr Clarke, though, denied stealing any chips.
Mrs Cromarty-Johnson argued that his dismissal was justified because the mega resort had, based on its investigation and evidence, formed “an honest and reasonable belief” he was stealing the $500 chips while also permitting the accused a chance to respond to the allegations.
The Industrial Tribunal, though, did not agree as Ms Cooper-Brooks found “clear discrepancies” in Atlantis’ evidence. She identified, in particular, differences between what was said to have been the reason for Mr Clarke’s dismissal and what was allegedly observed in the surveillance footage.
Mr Daley’s witness statement, which said Mr Clarke was terminated for “touching and removing chips”, was contradicted by the discharge notice which stated that “it appeared to the trained eye that the applicant was removing chips or attempting to move them, so on that basis we decided to terminate him”.
decreased since Hurricane Dorian and COVID-19.
But, while lending opportunities may be restricted, the Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief said this is being more than offset by the continued expansion of its merchant services and card business. “We certainly have as our baseline $20m,”
Mr Bowe replied, when asked about the bank’s profit targets for 2025. “And then return on equity, we’re comfortable at 20-25 percent. Return on equity, while the industry standard for banking is 15-20 percent, our target is 20-25 percent. It’s our personal target for Fidelity. We know the industry is at 15-20 percent, but we believe based on our understanding of the marketplace and the opportunities we see ahead, we believe 20-25 percent is achievable.
“All of the initiatives in 2024 that did work together for positive results, it’s
When challenged under cross-examination, the Atlantis casino chief confirmed Mr Clarke was fired for “removing”, rather than touching, chips. However, he then contradicted himself by saying: “The footage is inconclusive. We cannot confirm he actually removed the chips. We didn’t see that in the footage.”
The Industrial Tribunal found: “Notably, on reviewing the surveillance footage during the hearing, the Tribunal observed that there was no evidence that the applicant removed or stole any chips. The Tribunal also observed that the video clips were not clear and obscured either by distance or poor lighting.
“While the applicant [Mr Clarke] was observed knocking over a stack of chips in one of the clips, there was no evidence of any chips being missing after they were re-stacked, which Mr Daley acknowledged in cross-examination.” It also recalled that Mr Daley has discredited the video evidence as “inconclusive”, while admitting it was impossible to determine whether any were taken by Mr Clarke.
As a result, Ms CooperBrooks ruled that the Atlantis investigation was not reasonable and that Mr Clarke had been wrongfully dismissed. And the resort’s reliance on “inconclusive” video evidence also meant his dismissal was unfair.
about pushing those forward and having greater success,” he added. “Last year we ended up with recovering defaulted loans worth $4m. It was a little bit below what we were striving for, $4.5m.
“We have $90m in loans that were written-off over many years. The efforts to pursue those have proven fruitful, and have been a major contributor to our having success. We’re not looking for one-year wonders that will not continue. There are not many new borrowers but enough delinquent borrowers to keep us busy.
“They represent loan book growth because, if we can rehabilitate them and make sure they are consistent with their repayments, those are new loans. We also have historical data on them, so we are a little bit ahead on those persons than we are with new borrowers.”
Doctors targets lower costs in Health City’s $5m investment
that investors can look forward to more consistent dividend payments as cash flow and profits stabilise.
He added that Doctors Hospital had issued 500,000 additional new ordinary shares to facilitate the Health City deal, with the purchase price of $4.99m equating to $9.98 per share. That represents a discount of just over 5 percent to the $10.49 price at which the healthcare provider’s stock closed on the Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX) on Friday.
Mr Deveaux said the deal was structured to that Doctors Hospital deepened its relationship with a leading healthcare provider without unduly diluting the holdings of existing shareholders.
“The question was how do we put together a deal that doesn’t dilute existing shareholders but brings in a world class partner with significant value to add to Doctors Hospital and, by extension, healthcare delivery in The Bahamas,” he added.
“We have now got to get busy going after synergy
opportunities with them that, ultimately, can expand service offerings. Bahamians can get the healthcare they require that they have to go into the US for. We want this to be a viable option that is seamless to access through better co-ordination from Doctors Hospital and through Health City; the same high quality care but at a fraction of the cost.”
Mr Deveaux had foreshadowed the Health City investment and tie-up at last week’s Grand Bahama Business Outlook conference where he pledged that Doctors Hospital will “work aggressively” to direct Bahamians to lower cost, equivalent-quality care in the Cayman Islands as an alternative to higher costs in the US.
“We have to look consistently at where national capacity is reached. We have to look at two things: High quality care and value for money... The US continues to be a very high quality market for that but it continues to be very high cost and we are going to work aggressively to steer Bahamians that are receiving care beyond what we
can provide to our relationship with Health City in Cayman,” he said then. Healthcare affordability, and insurance coverage, has become a growing concern for many Bahamians due to ever-escalating costs. Doctors Hospital in its 2024 financials warned of “a material headwind” to profitability after it was forced to more than triple provisions to cover medical bill non-payment by government patients and insurers to $12.7m.
The BISX-listed healthcare provider disclosed that allowances for unpaid medical bills had jumped almost 263 percent year-over-year, compared to the prior year’s total $3.5m patient provisions, for the 12 months to end-January 2024. As a result, Mr Deveaux last night said Doctors Hospital has reached “quite an important strategic inflexion point for us to get it right” in balancing affordable care with cutting “bad debt”.
As for the $4.99m proceeds from Health City’s investment, he added: “We haven’t earmarked it for a specific project but it will most likely go in the area of surgical services, which is an area of Health City’s considerable strength. We are probably looking at
surgical capacity, and the surgical capacity we have nationally.
“It will most likely be in the area of surgical services. It will definitely not go into working capital. We’ll probably put it into a 90-day investment vehicle and revolve it until we need to deploy it.” Mr Deveaux said Health City’s intent will be to help Doctors Hospital grow and be more profitable via its investment, as he added: “You do that by adding new service lines or lowering costs.
“That’s what is going to result for Bahamians. More service offerings and lower costs, whether for self-pay patients or lower costs hitting insurance premiums.”
And he urged shareholders to be patient with Doctors Hospital just a little longer.
“We are coming out of this rapid growth mode,” Mr Deveaux told Tribune Business. “As we start to descend and get into a more normal state of operations, we will start to look at a dividend policy change. Shareholders should pay attention to changes with respect to the dividend policy as cash flows and net income stabilise.
“We have probably got 12-15 months of growth to go through, and then will look at stable dividends.
Gov’t in egg buyback scheme as prices soar
FROM PAGE B3
convenience, the customers, so they wouldn’t have to go look elsewhere. Another thing is the profit margin on eggs for grocery store owners and convenience stores. It’s price controlled so it’s not a huge margin.
Eggs has been price controlled for years.
“It’s just recently been increased [by] 23 percent, but eggs was 10 percent. The profit margin on a case of eggs was only 10 percent for years. The profit on eggs is really minimal. That was really the only item that had a 10 percent profit
That will be the priority. Bahamians are familiar with Health City but maybe as second choice. If the US is not viable it really ought to put us right up there as the primary consideration so we will try to make it a little more seamless.”
Health City’s acquisition of its Doctors Hospital equity stake took effect on February 12, 2025.
“This relationship with Dr Devi Shetty, renowned cardiac surgeon and chairman of the Narayana Health network, Health City’s parent company, has grown significantly in recent years through his excellent team at Health City” said Dr Charles Diggiss, Doctors Hospital’s president and chief executive, in a statement.
“Health City is a ‘gold standard’ partner that recognises the ‘best-in-class’ value of our Doctors Hospital brand. We are honoured by this vote of confidence from such a remarkable Caribbean healthcare organisation. Through this relationship, we are already benefiting from improved economies and better purchasing costs, which will contribute to the enhanced affordability of our main hospital services in Nassau.
“As a dedicated partner, Health City has now
margin. You carry eggs for just for the convenience of the customer. But in terms of profit, it’s not a profitable item. Easily damaged also.
“There’s 30 dozen eggs in a case of eggs. If two of those cartons get damaged, that’s your profit right there. So a lot of people, they may not be knowledgeable about that, but that’s how it is. That’s how minimal the profit is on a case of eggs.” Mr Beneby also empathised with other businesses that are impacted by the price of eggs.
formally aligned its vision with that of Doctors Hospital Health System (DHHS), enabling the mutual success of both organisations across the region. Most importantly, this partnership provides patients in and from The Bahamas with referral access to advanced, extended and more affordable healthcare services at Health City in the Cayman Islands.”
“Health City Cayman Islands is committed to becoming a vital solution for those in the Caribbean seeking high-quality tertiary specialist care at an affordable cost. This partnership with Doctors Hospital Health System not only enhances our ability to serve the Bahamian community but also empowers Doctors Hospital to advance its mission for the future,” said Dr Binoy Chattuparambil, clinical director and Shomari Scott, chief business officer, at Health City Cayman Islands.
Together, we are paving the way for improved healthcare access and exceptional patient care across the region.” Mr Deveaux added: “The relationship with Health City should lead to lower purchasing cost for Doctors Hospital, as broad economies of scale are leveraged.
“This will be felt by patients who will see more affordable price points for private healthcare services when they show up at a Doctors Hospital clinic or emergency room. Further, where certain critical services are not available on island, Health City will present as a more affordable destination for Bahamian patients looking to access care regionally.” KPMG Cayman Islands advised Health City on the transaction.
“You have businesses, bakeries and people who normally sell breakfast, they are majorly affected by the price increase because people who used to sell a 99 cent breakfast or $1.50 breakfast, now they can’t. If they use one egg now that same carton is now costing you about $3 to $5,” he added.
“The local bakeries, people who have been purchasing birthday cakes, the average birthday cake what used to cost $50 is now costing $100 and up because of the increase of the cost of eggs.”
DOCTORS HOSPITAL
TRUMP TOURS BOEING PLANE TO HIGHLIGHT AIRCRAFT MAKER’S DELAY IN DELIVERING A NEW AIR FORCE ONE
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press
PRESIDENT Donald Trump toured a Boeing airplane to check out new hardware and technology features and highlight the aircraft maker's delay in delivering updated versions of the Air Force One presidential aircraft, the White House said Saturday.
Trump visited the 13-year-old private aircraft parked at Palm Beach International Airport.
"President Trump is touring a new Boeing plane to checkout the new hardware/technology," said Steven Cheung, the White House communications director. "This highlights the project's failure to
deliver a new Air Force One on time as promised." Air Force One is a modified Boeing 747. Two exist and the president flies on both of the more than 30-year-old planes. Boeing Inc. has the contract to produce updated versions, but delivery has been delayed while the aircraft maker has lost billions of dollars on the project.
Delivery initially was set for 2024, but has been pushed to some time in 2027 for the first plane and in 2028 — Trump's final year in office — for the second, according to the U.S. Air Force.
Trump has railed against the project's cost and delivery delays. He told Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk during an online chat in 2024 on Musk's X social
media platform that he was able to cut more than $1 billion from the project by playing hard ball with Boeing during his first term in office.
"Over a course of about four weeks, by my saying I'm not going to do it, I got the price reduced by $1.6 billion for the exact same plane, other than we had a nicer paint job, if you want to know the truth, but for the exact same plane," Trump said.
Musk, a billionaire, helped bankroll Trump's 2024 campaign and is leading a new Department of Government Efficiency that is working to shrink the size of government by cutting spending, eliminating agencies and slashing the federal workforce. Musk has been criticized for his methods.
Amazon workers in North Carolina vote against joining union
By HALELUYA HADERO and MATT O'BRIEN AP Business Writers
WORKERS at an Amazon warehouse in North Carolina rejected a proposal to unionize, becoming the latest group of the company's employees to side against union representation.
About three-quarters of employees at an Amazon fulfillment center in Garner, a town located near Raleigh, voted against joining a grassroots labor organization called Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment, the National Labor Relations Board announced Saturday.
The federal labor agency said 2,447 workers cast ballots against union representation while 829 voted in favor of joining the independent union, which is made up of former and current Amazon workers.
The NLRB had said 4,300 Amazon workers were eligible to cast ballots in the election, which took place Monday through Saturday.
Rev. Ryan Brown, a former Amazon worker who co-founded the group, said Saturday, "We had already braced ourselves for a loss."
"We knew that historically the tide was against us to have a win for several reasons," Brown said. "One, we're in the South. Two, the average worker that's in North Carolina knows nothing about a union and the benefits of a union and what a union could do for them."
The outcome came just weeks after workers at a Whole Foods Market store in Pennsylvania voted to unionize, leading to the first successful entry of organized labor into the grocery chain, which Amazon owns.
Following the union win, Whole Foods asked the NLRB to toss out the election results, arguing the voting process was tainted.
In 2022, workers at an Amazon warehouse in the New York City borough of Staten Island unionized with Amazon Labor Union, which joined forces with the Teamsters last year. However, Amazon has objected to the election result and refused to negotiate over a contract. At the same time, the company has also been able to successfully fend off union victories at a second warehouse on Staten Island, as well as at facilities near Albany, New York, and in Bessemer, Alabama.
In November, an NLRB administrative law judge
ordered a third union election for Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer after determining that the company committed six violations leading up to a rerun election in March 2022. That rerun was held after the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which is seeking to represent Amazon workers in Bessemer, filed objections to the first election, which results in a union loss.
Workers affiliated with Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment, or CAUSE, have been organizing at the North Carolina warehouse since January 2022. Co-founder Brown said in an interview last month he started organizing because he felt like Amazon was not providing workers adequate protections against COVID-19.
The company said Saturday that Amazon already offers what many unions are requesting, such as safe and inclusive workplaces and competitive pay.
"We're glad that our team in Garner was able to have their voices heard, and that they chose to keep a direct relationship with Amazon," Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards said in a written statement.
PRESIDENT Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Friday, Feb. 14, 2025, en route to West Palm Beach, Fla.
Photo:Ben Curtis/AP
Can suspending a cagefree egg law solve the soaring price problem?
Nevada
By JOSH FUNK, SEJAL GOVINDARAO and TY ONEIL Associated Press
BACK when egg prices remained securely under $2 a dozen in 2021, Nevada joined several other states concerned about animal welfare in requiring cagefree eggs.
Now four years later, a dozen eggs costs an average of nearly $5 in the U.S. because of the lingering bird flu, so Nevada passed a law the governor signed Thursday that will allow the state to suspend that law temporarily in hopes of getting residents some relief at the checkout counter.
But it is not quite that simple, which is why the other six states with the same laws are so far reticent to follow suit.
By relaxing the rule, Nevada might get access to additional eggs, but the supply of all eggs remains tight because nearly 159 million birds have been slaughtered since the bird flu outbreak began in 2022 to help limit virus spread. The virus prompts the slaughter of entire flocks anytime it is found.
It is not clear dropping cage-free laws will have a significant effect on egg prices that have peaked at an average of $4.95 per dozen because the farmers who collectively invested several billion dollars in making the switch can't easily go back to raising chickens packed together in massive barns that they already spent the money to convert. Even if all the cagefree laws went away, big corporations like McDonald's and Sodexo remain committed to buying only those kind of eggs, ensuring strong demand for cage-free eggs.
University of Arkansas agricultural economist Jada Thompson said opening up Nevada to all kinds of eggs "could ease egg prices in Nevada very slightly," but that it might make prices worse elsewhere because supplies are so tight.
Nevada tries to counter high egg prices
But Nevada is going to give it a try even if California, Massachusetts, Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Michigan don't seem to be considering it. Arizona, Rhode Island and Utah also have cage-free laws on the books, but theirs
takes a crack at it
won't take effect for at least a couple more years.
Democratic Assemblymember Howard Watts III, who raises chickens in his Nevada backyard, advocated for the 2021 bill to promote the "standard of humane treatment" of the animals. But the ongoing bird flu outbreak in the U.S. has caused egg prices to to hit a record high, and cagefree eggs are generally even more expensive.
"One of the things that was not foreseen at that time was this major animal disease outbreak," Watts testified Tuesday. "As a result, there was no regulatory flexibility to suspend those requirements in the event of a major supply chain disruption."
Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo approved the 120-day suspension of the law Thursday. Ciara Ressel, a spokesperson for the Nevada Department of Agriculture said it will be about a month before people see an impact at grocery stores.
Brad Burdsall, owner and chief eggineer at Egg Works, said he is paying more than twice as much for a case of eggs than he was two years ago — $129 for 15 dozen case of eggs. The restaurant implemented a 50-cent surcharge per shelled egg until prices come down.
The Nevada bill signed Thursday will give the restaurant access to more sources of eggs, and Bursdall says he is hopeful he can drop that surcharge soon.
"I'm really hoping that the governor takes a good, hard look at this cage free thing and decides to keep this a permanent thing," he said.
This month's jump in egg prices was the biggest since the nation's last bird flu outbreak in 2015. The previous high was set two years ago when eggs were selling for $4.82 per dozen on average. The average prices mask just how bad it is in some places. Some Californians these days are shelling out $12.99 for a dozen, or more than a buck an egg. Some New York shops even started selling bundles of three eggs to help people who can't afford a full dozen.
A minority of eggs are produced on cage-free farms
The concern with the cage-free requirements is that only about 121 million of the 304 million chickens
NOTICE
IN THE ESTATE OF KENTH RODGER SYMONETTE a.k.a. KENTH SYMONETTE, late of No. 38 Waterfall Drive in the City of Freeport of the Island of Grand Bahama, one of the Islands of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, deceased.
NOTICE is hereby given that all persons having any claims against the above Estate are required on or before the 24th day of March A.D., 2025 to send their names, addresses and particulars of their debts or claims to the undersigned and, if so required, by notice in writing from the undersigned, to come in and prove such debts or claims or, in default thereof, they will be excluded from the benefit of any distribution AND NOTICE is hereby also given that all persons indebted to the said Estate are requested to make full settlement on or before the date hereinbefore mentioned AND NOTICE is hereby given that at the expiration of the date hereinbefore mentioned, the assets of the Estate of the said KENTH RODGER SYMONETTE a.k.a. KENTH SYMONETTE, deceased, will be distributed among the persons entitled thereto having regard only to the claims of which the Administratrix of the Estate shall then have had notice.
PROVIDENCE LAW
Attorneys for the Administratrix 16 Village Road North New Providence, Bahamas
laying eggs nationwide are raised on cage-free farms, so the supply is limited.
Many of the eggs those hens produce are promised to restaurant chains like McDonald's and Panera, food service giants like Sodexo and Aramark and grocers under long-term contracts that help keep prices down. But even when they do have to pay a premium, grocers sometimes lose money on eggs by selling them cheaply to try to get shoppers in the door.
The number of cagefree chickens has steadily increased in recent years because of the laws and the pressure from the companies buying eggs, increasing exponentially from just 38 million at the start of 2017. But the United Egg
Producers trade group has estimated it would take at least 226 million cage-free hens to meet all the demand for those eggs, and more customers are clamoring for them, so the supply is tight.
The total flock of chickens nationwide used to number above 330 million before the bird flu outbreak began.
Even as more egg farmers were converting to cage-free setups over the past decade, prices stayed between $1.40 and $2 per dozen most of the time with only the normal seasonal price spikes around Easter and Thanksgiving until this current bird flu outbreak began in early 2022.
If bird flu outbreaks happen to hit cage-free farms hard, there are fewer eggs out there that can replace the lost ones. For example, out of the nearly 47 million birds slaughtered just since the start of December, more than 3 million of them were on five cage-free farms in California.
NOTICE
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS COMPANIES ACT, 2000
(In Voluntary Liquidation)
Pursuant to the provisions of section 138 (4) of the International Business Companies Act, 2000, notice is hereby given that:
a. Npdcoaks Ltd. is in dissolution in accordance with the provisions of the International Business Companies Act, 2000.
b. The dissolution of the said Company commenced on the 7th day of February, 2025, when its Articles of Dissolution were submitted to and registered by the Registrar General.
c. The Liquidator of the said Company is GLC Corporate Services Ltd., of Units 10-12, Second Floor, Building Four, Old Fort Bay Towne Center, Windsor Field Road, Old Fort Bay, New Providence, The Bahamas.
Dated this the 17th day of February, 2025.
GLC Corporate Services Ltd. Voluntary Liquidator
RED Star hens, a hybrid breed that lays large brown eggs, walk around outside their coop at Historic Wagner Farm, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, in Glenview, Ill. Photo:Erin Hooley/AP
Rubio leading US delegation to Saudi Arabia for talks with Russia on Ukraine, according to AP source
By AAMER MADHANI and MEG KINNARD Associated Press
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is leading a delegation to Saudi Arabia for direct talks with Russian officials in the coming days to seek an end to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, a U.S. official said Sunday.
Also expected to take part in the talks in Riyadh about Russia's February 2022 invasion is national security adviser Michael Waltz and special envoy Steve Witkoff, according to the official, who was not authorized to discuss the talks and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The official added that what the administration sees as early-stage negotiations remain fluid and who ultimately ends up at the table for the anticipated talks could change.
The trip follows last week's telephone call between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in which Trump said they "agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately." The call upended years of U.S. policy, ending the isolation of Moscow over the Feb. 24, 2022, invasion. Trump also spoke separately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
It wasn't immediately clear if any Ukrainians would take part in the talks.
A Ukrainian delegation is in Saudi Arabia to pave the way for a possible visit by Zelenskyy, a Ukrainian official said.
Trump on Sunday told reporters Zelenskyy "will be involved," but did not elaborate on the role he'd play in the talks.
Zelenskyy has said he wouldn't accept any negotiations about Ukraine that don't include his country. European governments have also demanded a role.
Speaking to Fox News Channel's "Sunday Morning Futures" program, Witkoff said he and Waltz will be "having meetings at the direction of the president," and hope to make "some really good progress with regard to Russia-Ukraine."
Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, a first deputy prime minister, didn't clarify whether there is a link between Zelenskyy's possible trip and previously announced U.S.Russia talks. In a Facebook post, she said the Ukrainian delegation's focus is on strengthening economic ties as Kyiv "prepares to sign important economic agreements with countries in the region."
She didn't say anything about when Zelenskyy might go to Saudi Arabia and with whom he might meet.
Andriy Yermak, a top Zelenskyy adviser, said earlier Sunday there was no possibility of Ukrainian and Russian representatives meeting directly in the immediate future. In a Telegram post, Yermak said the Ukrainians weren't planning to do so "until we develop a plan" to end the war and bring about a "just peace."
Mykhailo Podolyak, another Zelenskyy adviser, on Saturday denied that Ukraine will participate in any planned U.S.-Russia meetings in Saudi Arabia. "There is nothing on the negotiating table that would be worth discussing," he told Ukrainian television.
Svyrydenko's remarks came within hours of Witkoff's statement that high-level meetings were imminent in Saudi Arabia. Witkoff didn't specify with whom they would be meeting and what they would discuss, but he said that he was leaving for Saudi Arabia on Sunday evening.
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that WENNDRICK EUGENE of East Street, 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 10th day of February, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
Russian officials and state media took a triumphant tone after Trump jettisoned three years of U.S. policy and announced that he would likely meet soon with Putin to negotiate a peace deal in the war in Ukraine.
Trump's announcement created a major diplomatic upheaval that could herald a watershed moment for Ukraine and Europe.
Putin has been ostracized by the West since the war
began. In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader.
In his TV interview, Witkoff didn't directly respond to a question about whether Ukraine would have to give up a "significant portion" of its territory as part of any negotiated settlement.
"Those are details, and I'm not dismissive of the details, they're important. But I think the beginning
IRS will lay off thousands of probationary workers in the middle of tax season
By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press
THE IRS will lay off thousands of probationary workers in the middle of tax season, according to two sources familiar with the agency's plans, and cuts could happen as soon as next week.
This comes as the Trump administration intensified sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who had not yet gained civil service protection.
It's unclear how many IRS workers will be affected.
Previously, the administration announced a plan to offer buyouts to almost all federal employees through a "deferred resignation program" to quickly reduce the government workforce. The program deadline was Feb. 6, and administration officials said employees who accept will be able to stop working while still collecting a paycheck until Sept. 30. However, IRS employees involved in the 2025 tax season were told they will not be allowed to accept a buyout offer from the Trump administration until after
NOTICE is hereby given that DONOVON ANTHONY RICHARD HENRY of P. O Box AP-59223 slot 0351, Leviticus Adderley Estate Lot 40, New Providence, 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 10th day of February, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
the taxpayer filing deadline, according to a letter sent recently to IRS employees. It is unclear how many workers will be impacted by the layoff announcement plan. Representatives from the U.S. Treasury and IRS did not respond to Associated Press requests for comment.
Jan. 27 was the official start date of the 2025 tax season, and the IRS expects more than 140 million tax returns to be filed by the April 15 deadline. The Biden administration invested heavily in the IRS through an $80 billion infusion of funds in Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act, which
included plans to hire tens of thousands of new employees to help with customer service and enforcement as well as new technology to update the tax collection agency. Republicans have been successful at clawing back that money, and billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency have called for the U.S. to "delete entire agencies" from the federal government as part of his to radically cut spending and restructure its priorities. Elected officials are trying to fight against DOGE plans. Attorneys general from 14 states challenged the authority of to access sensitive government data and exercise "virtually unchecked power" in a lawsuit filed Thursday.
NOTICE is hereby given that SILVIA IRENE BLANCO HIDALGOPINDER of #24 Marine, The Grove, 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 10th day of February, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
U S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks as he tours Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, in Jerusalem, Israel, Sunday Feb. 16, 2025. Photo:Evelyn Hockstein/AP
Consumer watchdog agency called ‘vicious’ by Trump seen as a ‘hero’ to many it aided
By MATT SEDENSKY AP National Writer
TO President Donald Trump, it's a hotbed of "waste, fraud and abuse" whose only purpose is to "destroy people" and whose staff amounts to a "vicious group."
To Jonathon Booth, it's simply the agency that helped him get $17 back.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is in the crosshairs of a White House that has halted its work, closed its headquarters and fired scores of its workers. But to many who have turned to the agency, it has been an effective problemsolver that fought abusive businesses when no one else would.
"This is the core of consumer protection – someone willing to help with stuff that's small enough that no one would sue over," says Booth, a 34-year-old professor from Boulder, Colorado, who filed a complaint with CFPB in October when his credit card company wouldn't remove an errant late fee. "If there's no one watching, if the risk of getting caught goes down, more
companies will bend the law to make money."
A few weeks after Booth turned to CFPB, his case was closed and his account credited.
Even as Trump and his cost-cutting czar, the billionaire Elon Musk, have demonized and neutered the agency, its defenders tell success stories of its work.
Created under the 2010 Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and beginning its work in 2011, CFPB says it has fielded more than 7.7 million complaints and returned nearly $20 billion to consumers in just over 13 years of existence.
Nurit Baytch, a 47-yearold from Cambridge, Massachusetts, turned to CFPB last month after a dispute over a basement mold removal project. Baytch, who is disabled, said she discovered a worker knocked over a jug of hydrogen peroxide, soaking boxes of photos, books and electronics. When neither the contractor nor Venmo, the service she used to pay him, would help, she contacted CFPB.
She didn't expect to receive anything out of
the filing, but less than two weeks later, she was refunded $100 to cover the damage. Baytch now calls the agency an "unalloyed good."
"The only people it's bad for is big businesses that want to mistreat consumers," Baytch says, calling Trump's targeting of the agency "dishonest." "Any voter who understands what it does sees it's a positive thing."
CFPB, a response to the 2008 financial crisis and the ensuing Great Recession, was set up to protect Americans from credit card companies, mortgage providers and debt collectors, among others. It was a brainchild of Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts prior to her election to the Senate and, from its birth, has been a source of ire for the finance industry and many Republican lawmakers.
Conservatives have long branded CFPB a powerhungry agency that goes beyond its authority, a viewpoint made clear in the sweeping far-right vision for the U.S. known as Project 2025, which called the bureau a "shakedown
mechanism" for "leftist nonprofits."
Still, nothing has compared to what awaited CFPB since Trump returned to Washington. The White House branded the agency "woke" and "weaponized" and ordered it to stop nearly all its work.
A judge ruled Friday that plans for mass layoffs, deletion of data or removal of funding from the agency must be halted at least through March 3. But CFPB's future has never seemed more tenuous.
It's been troubling to watch for those like Barbara Seese, a 71-year-old retired teacher in Phoenix, who says CFPB is far from the villain Trump has portrayed it as.
"A hero," she says of the agency. A decade ago, Seese was pestered by debt collectors who claimed her 95-year-old father had unpaid dentist bills. Even as the calls persisted and got increasingly ugly, the debt collectors refused to give basic information for Seese to check if there actually were bills that she let slip through the cracks.
She reached out to attorneys general in two states
but it wasn't until she filed a claim with CFPB that anything changed. Within a day, the calls stopped, and a week later, the case was closed. The debt, it turned out, was for another man with the same name as her father. "They were just so helpful, so informative, so professional. I just really felt like I was in safe hands, in good hands," says Seese.
Once a complaint is filed with CFPB, it is reviewed by staff and the clock begins ticking. In cases outside CFPB's oversight, the consumer is referred to another regulator or advised to contact a local authority like their state attorney general. But for cases within CFPB's purview — pertaining to large financial services companies — the complaint is routed to that company, which typically has 15 days to respond. Sometimes, the simple involvement of CFPB and the clout of its name leads to an immediate resolution from a company eager to avoid a negative light in the agency complaint database.
For others, it prompts additional investigation. And in some, the company digs in
its heels, insisting it is in the right.
The agency's work has two essential tracks: the micro view of individual complaints and the macro view across all complaints that informs broader regulation and lawsuits. Whatever the outcome in the former could lead to action in the latter. In 2023, some 40% of cases were closed with some sort of non-monetary relief.
Just 1.5% resulted in a payment to the consumer.
"I would like to see more of these complaints resolved, but no agency is flawless," says Ruth Susswein, director of consumer protection at the nonprofit Consumer Action and a wholehearted supporter of CFPB. "Resolution is the goal but it's not the only benefit of this system, of this process."
As much of a target as CFPB has been for some, it had recently showed signs of staying power. Bills introduced to repeal the agency in the last Congress went nowhere and a Supreme Court case aimed at dismantling the way CPFB is funded failed last year by a 7-2 vote.
MARINE FORECAST
What changes to the CHIPS act could mean for AI growth and consumers
By SARAH PARVINI AP Technology Writer
EVEN as he's vowed to push the United States ahead in artificial intelligence research, President Donald Trump's threats to alter federal government contracts with chipmakers and slap new tariffs on the semiconductor industry may put new speed bumps in front of the tech industry. Since taking office, Trump has said he would place tariffs on foreign production of computer chips and semiconductors in order to return chip manufacturing to the U.S. The president and Republican lawmakers have also threatened to end the CHIPS and Science Act, a sweeping Biden administration-era law that also sought to boost domestic production.
But economic experts have warned that Trump's dual-pronged approach could slow, or potentially harm, the administration's goal of ensuring that the U.S. maintains a competitive edge in artificial intelligence research.
Saikat Chaudhuri, an expert on corporate growth and innovation at U.C. Berkeley's Haas School of Business, called Trump's
derision of the CHIPS Act surprising because one of the biggest bottlenecks for the advancement of AI has been chip production. Most countries, Chaudhuri said, are trying to encourage chip production and the import of chips at favorable rates.
"We have seen what the shortage has done in everything from AI to even cars," he said. "In the pandemic, cars had to do with fewer or less powerful chips in order to just deal with the supply constraints."
The Biden administration helped shepherd in the law following supply disruptions that occurred after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — when a shortage of chips stalled factory assembly lines and fueled inflation — threatened to plunge the U.S. economy into recession. When pushing for the investment, lawmakers also said they were concerned about efforts by China to control Taiwan, which accounts for more than 90% of advanced computer chip production.
As of August 2024, the CHIPS and Science Act had provided $30 billion in support for 23 projects in 15 states that would add 115,000 manufacturing and construction jobs,
according to the Commerce Department. That funding helped to draw in private capital and would enable the U.S. to produce 30% of the world's most advanced computer chips, up from 0% when the Biden-Harris administration succeeded Trump's first term.
The administration promised tens of billions of dollars to support the construction of U.S. chip foundries and reduce reliance on Asian suppliers, which Washington sees as a security weakness. In August, the Commerce Department pledged to provide up to $6.6 billion so that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. could expand the facilities it is already building in Arizona and better ensure that the most advanced microchips are produced domestically for the first time. But Trump has said he believes that companies entering into those contracts with the federal government, such as TSMC, "didn't need money" in order to prioritize chipmaking in the U.S.
"They needed an incentive. And the incentive is going to be they're not going to want to pay at 25, 50 or even 100% tax," Trump said.
EEOC seeks to drop transgender discrimination cases, citing Trump’s executive order
By CLAIRE SAVAGE and ALEXANDRA OLSON Associated Press
SIGNALING a major shift in civil rights enforcement, the federal agency that enforces workplace anti-discrimination laws has moved to dismiss six of its own cases on behalf of workers alleging gender identity discrimination, arguing that the cases now conflict with President Donald Trump's recent executive order, court documents say. The requests by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission mark a major departure from its prior interpretation of civil rights law, and a stark contrast to a decade ago when the agency issued a landmark finding that a transgender civilian employee of the U.S. Army had been discriminated against because her employer refused to use her preferred pronouns or allow her to use bathrooms based on her gender identity. Just last year, the EEOC updated its guidance to specify that deliberately using the wrong pronouns for an employee, or refusing them access to bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity, constituted a form of harassment. That followed a 2020 Supreme
Court ruling that gay, lesbian and transgender people are protected from employment discrimination.
Nearly all workplace discrimination charges must pass through the EEOC — at least initially — and the agency's decision to drop at least six of the cases raises serious questions about whether its protections will continue to extend to transgender and gender nonconforming people going forward.
The EEOC is seeking to dismiss three cases in Illinois as well as one in Alabama, New York and California. In each instance, the original complaints allege discrimination against transgender or gender nonconforming workers. The agency cites Trump's Jan. 20 executive order declaring that the government would recognize only two "immutable" sexes — male and female — as the reason for why it no longer intends to pursue the cases. The Alabama case charged that Harmony Hospitality LLC discriminated against an employee who identifies as a gay nonbinary male by firing him hours after co-owners learned of his gender identity. The New York lawsuit alleged that Boxwood Hotels LLC
fired a transgender housekeeper who complained that a supervisor repeatedly misgendered them and made anti-transgender statements, referring to the housekeeper as a "transformer" and "it."
Another suit alleged that Wendy's franchisee Starboard Group, Inc. subjected three transgender employees to pervasive sexual harassment at a Wendy's restaurant in Carbondale, Illinois, claiming a supervisor demanded to know if one employee had a penis. In another Illinois case, a transgender Reggio's Pizza cashier at Chicago O'Hare International Airport was "outed" by her manager, called a racist, homophobic slur by coworkers, and fired when she complained. In southern Illinois, at a hog farm called Sis-Bro, Inc., a coworker allegedly exposed his genitals to a transgender employee and touched her breasts.
And in Santa Clara, California, the EEOC charged that a Lush Handmade Cosmetics store manager sexually harassed three gender nonconforming employees with "offensive physical and verbal sexual conduct."
Former EEOC General Counsel and Professor and
TSMC held board meetings for the first time in the U.S. last week. Trump has signaled that if companies want to avoid tariffs they have to build their plants in the U.S. — without help from the government. Taiwan also dispatched two senior economic affairs officials to Washington to meet with the Trump administration in a bid to potentially
fend off a 100% tariff Trump has threatened to impose on chips.
If the Trump administration does levy tariffs, Chaudhuri said, one immediate concern is that prices of goods that use semiconductors and chips will rise because the higher costs associated with tariffs are typically passed to consumers.
Co-Dean Emeritus at Rutgers Law School David Lopez, who served in the agency for more than 20 years, on Friday said in his experience, the EEOC has never dismissed cases based on substance rather than merit — until now.
For the country's antidiscrimination agency "to discriminate against a group, and say, 'We're not going to enforce the
law on their behalf' itself is discrimination, in my view," Lopez said. "It's like a complete abdication of responsibility."
The EEOC's requests to dismiss the cases come just weeks after Trump dismissed two Democratic commissioners of the fivemember EEOC before their terms expired, an unprecedented decision that removed what would
"Whether it's your smartphone, whether it's your gaming device, whether it's your smart fridge — probably also your smart features of your car — anything and everything we use nowadays has a chip in it," he said. "For consumers, it's going to be rather painful. Manufacturers are not going to be able to absorb that."
have been a major obstacle to his administration efforts to upend interpretation of the nation's civil rights laws. Had the commissioners been allowed to carry out their terms, the EEOC would have had a Democratic majority well into Trump's term. The administration also fired Karla Gilbride as the EEOC's general counsel, replacing her with Andrew Rogers as acting counsel.
Shortly after their dismissals, acting EEOC chair Andrea Lucas, a Republican, signaled her intent to put the agency's resources behind enforcing Trump's executive order on gender. She announced in a statement that one of her priorities would be "defending the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights." Later, she ordered that the EEOC would continue accepting any and all discrimination charges filed by workers, although complaints that "implicate" Trump's order should be elevated to headquarters for "review."
PRESIDENT Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. Photo:Alex Brandon/AP
A PROTESTER is silhouetted against a trans pride flag during a pro-transgender rights protest outside of Seattle Children’s Hospital, in Seattle, Feb. 9, 2025. Photo:Lindsey Wasson/AP
Wall Street finishes a winning week just shy of a record
By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer
WALL Street edged back from its all-time high on Friday, as U.S. stock indexes drifted following mixed profit reports from big companies.
The S&P 500 barely budged and slipped by less than 0.1%, a day after rallying within 0.1% of its record set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 165 points, or 0.4%, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.4%.
The S&P 500 still closed out its first winning week in the last three thanks in part to reports showing companies made even fatter profits at the end of 2024 than analysts expected. They've helped the market power through a range of worries centered on higher interest rates and stubborn inflation.
Airbnb climbed 14.4% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected
as customers booked more nights on its platform. Wynn Resorts jumped 10.4% after likewise topping earnings expectations, thanks in part to strength for its Las Vegas operations.
On the losing side of Wall Street was Applied Materials, which dropped 8.2%. The company, whose products help make semiconductor chips, displays and other tech, also reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. But it gave a forecasted range for upcoming revenue whose midpoint fell short of Wall Street's expectations.
All told, the S&P 500 slipped 0.44 to 6,114.63. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 165.35 points to 44,546.08, and the Nasdaq composite rose 81.13 to 20,026.77.
In the bond market, Treasury yields fell after a report said sales at U.S. retailers weakened by much more last month than economists expected.
Bad weather, including bitingly cold temperatures in the South and devastating wildfires in California, may have helped keep shoppers away from stores and auto dealerships.
The hope among investors has been for economic data to remain at a Goldilocks level, where it's not so weak that it raises worries about a downturn but not so strong that it creates upward pressure on inflation.
This past week featured a couple disappointing reports that showed inflation unexpectedly accelerated last month. Besides squeezing tighter on U.S. households' budgets, such stubbornly high inflation is likely to keep the Federal Reserve on hold for a while when it comes to providing relief through lower interest rates.
Inflation may feel more upward pressure from tariffs that President Donald Trump has announced recently. So far, though, the
Trump administration cuts reach
FDA employees in food safety, medical devices and tobacco products
By MATTHEW PERRONE
AP Health Writer
THE Trump administration's effort to slash the size of the federal workforce reached the Food and Drug Administration this weekend, as recently hired employees who review the safety of food ingredients, medical devices and other products were fired.
Probationary employees across the FDA received notices Saturday evening that their jobs were being eliminated, according to three FDA staffers who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The total number of positions eliminated was not clear Sunday, but the firings appeared to focus on employees in the agency's centers for food, medical devices and tobacco products — which includes oversight of electronic cigarettes. It was not clear whether FDA employees who review drugs were exempted from the layoffs.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced plans to fire 5,200 probationary employees across its agencies, which include the National Institutes of Health, the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
People who spoke with the AP on condition of anonymity on Friday said the number of probationary employees to be laid off at the CDC would total nearly 1,300. But as of early Sunday afternoon, about 700 people had received notices, according to three people who spoke on condition on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. They said none of the CDC layoffs affected the young doctors and researchers who track diseases in what's known as the Epidemic Intelligence Service.
The FDA is headquartered in the Maryland suburbs outside Washington and employs nearly 20,000 people. It's long been a target of newly sworn-in health secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., who last year accused the agency of waging a "war on public
health" for not approving unproven treatments such as psychedelics, stem cells and chelation therapy. Kennedy also has called for eliminating thousands of chemicals and colorings from U.S. foods. But the cuts at FDA include staffers responsible for reviewing the safety of new food additives and ingredients, according to an FDA staffer familiar with the firings.
An HHS spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday afternoon.
Nearly half of the FDA's $6.9 billion budget comes from fees paid by companies the agency regulates, including drug and medical device makers, which allows the agency to hire extra scientists to swiftly review products. Eliminating those positions will not reduce government spending.
A former FDA official said cutting recent hires could backfire, eliminating staffers who tend to be younger and have more upto-date technical skills. The FDA's workforce skews toward older workers who have spent one or two decades at the agency, and the Government Accountability Office noted in 2022 that the FDA "has historically faced challenges in recruiting and retaining" staff due to better money in the private sector.
"You want to bring in new blood," said Peter Pitts, a former FDA associate commissioner under President George W. Bush. "You want people with new ideas, greater enthusiasm and the latest thinking in terms of technology."
Mitch Zeller, former FDA director for tobacco, said the firings are a way to "demoralize and undermine the spirit of the federal workforce."
"The combined effect of what they're trying to do is going to destroy the ability to recruit and retain talent," Zeller said.
The FDA's inspection force has been particularly strained in recent years after a wave of departures during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many of the agency's current inspectors are recent hires. It was not immediately clear whether
U.S. stock market has taken such threats in stride. The belief is that Trump is using tariffs as a tool for negotiation, and he may ultimately avoid triggering a punishing global trade war in order to prevent damage to the U.S. stock market and economy. His most recent tariff announcement, for example, won't take full effect for at least several weeks. That leaves time for Washington and other countries to negotiate and hopefully lessen the ultimate shock.
"Tariffs on Chinese goods have gone into effect," said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. "All of the other things that have been discussed — reciprocal tariffs, steel and aluminum tariffs, and tariffs on Canada and Mexico — haven't actually gone into
effect, yet. That opens the door the negotiations."
The market's remarkable equanimity, of course, could be dangerous if things don't go according to Wall Street's expectations, or if it emboldens Trump to make even more forceful moves.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.47% from 4.54% late Thursday. It's been swinging sharply since the Federal Reserve began cutting its main interest rate sharply from September intending to make borrowing cheaper, help the economy and boost prices for stocks, bonds and other investments.
The 10-year yield has been mostly climbing since then, in the opposite direction the Fed has taken short-term rates, as the U.S. economy has remained
solid and as worries built about tariffs, increasing deficits and other potential policies that could goose inflation along with economic growth.
The Fed warned at the end of 2024 it may not cut rates by as much in 2025 because of worries about inflation staying stubbornly high. Its goal is to keep inflation at 2%, and lower rates can give inflation more fuel.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 3.7% for one of the biggest moves. Technology stocks were particularly strong, including big rallies for video games firm Tencent, smartphone maker Xiaomi and e-commerce firm Alibaba.
those employees were exempted.
FDA inspectors are responsible for overseeing thousands of food, drug, tobacco and medical device facilities worldwide, though the AP reported last year that the agency faced a backlog of roughly 2,000 uninspected drug facilities that hadn't been visited since before the pandemic.
The agency's inspection force have also been criticized for not moving faster to catch recent problems involving infant formula, baby food and eyedrops.
A SIGN outside the New York Stock Exchange marks the intersection of Wall and Broad Streets, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, in New York. Photo:Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
THE U.S. Food and Drug Administration campus in Silver Spring, Md., is photographed on Oct. 14, 2015.
