'We did not anticipate such high tariffs,' Vietnamese textile official says
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Globe and Mail
3 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
UPS vs. Whirlpool: 2 High-Yield Stocks That Crashed, but Only one Is a Buy
Key Points Both UPS and Whirlpool's stocks are on multiyear downtrends, raising their yields. Whirlpool has cut its dividend in response, but UPS hasn't. However, UPS will likely feel a bigger negative impact from tariffs. 10 stocks we like better than United Parcel Service › Do you like bargain-priced stocks? How about bargain-priced dividend stocks? How about bargain-priced dividend stocks that you've actually heard of? Well, you're in luck! The stocks of two iconic American brands are currently sitting in the bargain bin. The companies are shipping behemoth UPS (NYSE: UPS) and appliance maker Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR). Both stocks have been slowly sinking for years, with share prices now down more than 60% from their all-time highs! Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More » Both stocks fell again -- by more than 15% -- after their recent second-quarter earnings reports, but one looks more likely to recover. Only one cut its dividend Both UPS and Whirlpool have long histories of paying and regularly increasing their dividends. By July, their share-price slumps had pushed both of their dividend yields above 7%. A yield that high is tempting, but neither company was on track to generate enough free cash flow to cover it. When a company can't cover its dividend with free cash flow, it has to dip into the cash on its balance sheet, take on additional debt, or find some other way to fund the payout. UPS is going to try to make it work somehow, according to CEO Carol Tome on the Q2 earnings call. She told investors, "You have our commitment to a stable and growing dividend." That means the company will be on the hook for at least $5.5 billion in dividend payouts this year, which seems almost certain to exceed its free cash flow for the year. That keeps UPS's yield high for now, but investors should remember that there's no guarantee the company's position won't change without warning, resulting in a surprise dividend cut. Whirlpool, on the other hand, cut its annual payout in half from $7 per share to $3.50 per share. That means its yield is now much lower than UPS's (4% vs. 7.5%), but its $190 million total payout is also much more manageable, making its dividend more sustainable over the long term. It also means the dividend cut is baked into the company's current share price, whereas if UPS makes a cut, its stock price will probably sink even lower in response. The ups and downs of tariffs UPS and Whirlpool are both bracing for the impact of tariffs, but in different ways. For UPS, the tariffs are a huge risk. They will likely cause imports to decline, resulting in lower shipping volumes. With some tariffs kicking in just as the labor market shows signs of weakness, they could negatively impact overall consumer spending (and thus, shipping) during the critical holiday shopping season. On the other hand, the tariffs may actually help Whirlpool by hurting its foreign competitors like LG, Samsung, and Haier. The Trump administration has proposed high tariffs on countries that happen to export lots of large appliances to the U.S. These include South Korea (25%), Thailand (36%), Vietnam (46%), and China (as high as 145%). Many of these rates are in flux, but even if they end up at 10% or 15%, it will still give Whirlpool, which manufactures more than 80% of its products in the U.S., a big pricing advantage. Although UPS's yield may now be higher than Whirlpool's, its prospects are looking dimmer thanks to economic factors outside of its control. Meanwhile, even after its dividend cut, Whirlpool still offers a decent yield and a compelling valuation. If I were to pick one, I'd go with Whirlpool hands down. Should you invest $1,000 in United Parcel Service right now? Before you buy stock in United Parcel Service, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and United Parcel Service wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $668,155!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,106,071!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,070% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 184% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 13, 2025
Canada News.Net
8 hours ago
- Canada News.Net
Indian PM's Independence Day speech highlights self-reliance
NEW DELHI, India: On August 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his Independence Day address to call for greater national self-reliance, urging India to manufacture everything from fertilisers to jet engines and electric vehicle batteries. He pledged to stand firmly behind farmers as the country faces a deepening trade dispute with Washington. The speech came against the backdrop of new U.S. tariffs that threaten to slow growth in what has been the world's fastest-growing major economy. U.S. President Donald Trump's latest measures—announced last week—slap an additional 25 percent duty on Indian exports, pushing some rates as high as 50 percent, among the steepest faced by any U.S. trading partner. Washington cited India's continued imports of Russian oil as the reason for the escalation, further straining relations between the two countries. Although Modi avoided mentioning the United States or tariffs directly, he framed his nearly two-hour address from the Red Fort in New Delhi around a promise to defend rural livelihoods. "Farmers, fishermen, cattle rearers are our top priorities," he declared. "Modi will stand like a wall against any policy that threatens their interests. India will never compromise when it comes to protecting the interests of our farmers." India and the United States recently saw their trade talks collapse after five rounds of negotiations, primarily over U.S. demands to open India's farm and dairy markets and to halt Russian oil purchases. In retaliation for the tariffs, some of Modi's supporters have called for boycotts of major American brands, including McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Amazon, and Apple. To counter the potential economic hit, Modi announced that lower goods and services tax (GST) rates will take effect from October, a move intended to boost domestic consumption. He also pressed for renewed commitment to "Swadeshi"—the promotion of Indian-made products—encouraging traders and shopkeepers to display signs marking local goods. Self-reliance has been a long-standing theme of Modi's economic policy, but the push has taken on new urgency amid global trade tensions and supply chain disruptions. He said India's first domestically produced semiconductor chips will reach the market by the end of this year, and that exploration for critical minerals is underway at more than 1,200 sites across the country. The stakes are high: in 2024, India exported nearly US$87 billion worth of goods to the U.S., with textiles, footwear, gems, and jewelry among the sectors most exposed to higher duties. While the trade rift is intensifying, New Delhi has sought to keep diplomatic channels open. On August 14, the foreign ministry expressed hope that ties with Washington would "move forward based on mutual respect and shared interests," aiming to calm fears of a deeper breakdown in relations.
Winnipeg Free Press
8 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Bolivia heads to the polls as its right-wing opposition eyes first victory in decades
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivians headed to the polls on Sunday to vote in presidential and congressional elections that could spell the end of the Andean nation's long-dominant leftist party and see a right-wing government elected for the first time in over two decades. The election on Sunday is one of the most consequential for Bolivia in recent times — and one of the most unpredictable. Even at this late stage, a remarkable 30% or so of voters remain undecided. Polls show the two leading right-wing candidates, multimillionaire business owner Samuel Doria Medina and former President Jorge Fernando 'Tuto' Quiroga, locked in a virtual dead heat. Many undecided voters But a right-wing victory isn't assured. Many longtime voters for the governing Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party, now shattered by infighting, live in rural areas and tend to be undercounted in polling. With the nation's worst economic crisis in four decades leaving Bolivians waiting for hours in fuel lines, struggling to find subsidized bread and squeezed by double-digit inflation, the opposition candidates are billing the race as a chance to alter the country's destiny. 'I have rarely, if ever, seen a situational tinderbox with as many sparks ready to ignite,' Daniel Lansberg-Rodriguez, founding partner of Aurora Macro Strategies, a New York-based advisory firm, writes in a memo. Breaking the MAS party's monopoly on political power, he adds, pushes 'the country into uncharted political waters amid rising polarization, severe economic fragility and a widening rural–urban divide.' Bolivia could follow rightward trend The outcome will determine whether Bolivia — a nation of about 12 million people with the largest lithium reserves on Earth and crucial deposits of rare earth minerals — follows a growing trend in Latin America, where right-wing leaders like Argentina's libertarian Javier Milei, Ecuador's strongman Daniel Noboa and El Salvador's conservative populist Nayib Bukele have surged in popularity. A right-wing government in Bolivia could trigger a major geopolitical realignment for a country now allied with Venezuela's socialist-inspired government and world powers such as China, Russia and Iran. Conservative candidates vow to restore US relations Doria Medina and Quiroga have praised the Trump administration and vowed to restore ties with the United States — ruptured in 2008 when charismatic, long-serving former President Evo Morales expelled the American ambassador. The right-wing front-runners also have expressed interest in doing business with Israel, which has no diplomatic relations with Bolivia, and called for foreign private companies to invest in the country and develop its rich natural resources. After storming to office in 2006 at the start of the commodities boom, Morales, Bolivia's first Indigenous president, nationalized the nation's oil and gas industry, using the lush profits to reduce poverty, expand infrastructure and improve the lives of the rural poor. After three consecutive presidential terms, as well as a contentious bid for an unprecedented fourth in 2019 that set off popular unrest and led to his ouster, Morales has been barred from this race by Bolivia's constitutional court. His ally-turned-rival, President Luis Arce, withdrew his candidacy for the MAS on account of his plummeting popularity and nominated his senior minister, Eduardo del Castillo. As the party splintered, Andrónico Rodríguez, the 36-year-old president of the senate who hails from the same union of coca farmers as Morales, launched his bid. Ex-president Morales urges supports to deface ballots Rather than back the candidate widely considered his heir, Morales, holed up in his tropical stronghold and evading an arrest warrant on charges related to his relationship with a 15-year-old girl, has urged his supporters to deface their ballots or leave them blank. Voting is mandatory in Bolivia, where some 7.9 million Bolivians are eligible to vote. Doria Medina and Quiroga, familiar faces in Bolivian politics who both served in past neoliberal governments and have run for president three times before, have struggled to stir up interest as voter angst runs high. 'There's enthusiasm for change but no enthusiasm for the candidates,' said Eddy Abasto, 44, a Tupperware vendor in Bolivia's capital of La Paz torn between voting for Doria Medina and Quiroga. 'It's always the same, those in power live happily spending the country's money, and we suffer.' Conservative candidates say austerity needed Doria Medina and Quiroga have warned of the need for a painful fiscal adjustment, including the elimination of Bolivia's generous food and fuel subsidies, to save the nation from insolvency. Some analysts caution this risks sparking social unrest. 'A victory for either right-wing candidate could have grave repercussions for Bolivia's Indigenous and impoverished communities,' said Kathryn Ledebur, director of the Andean Information Network, a Bolivian research group. 'Both candidates could bolster security forces and right-wing para-state groups, paving the way for violent crackdowns on protests expected to erupt over the foreign exploitation of lithium and drastic austerity measures.' All 130 seats in Bolivia's Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Parliament, are up for grabs, along with 36 in the Senate, the upper house. If, as is widely expected, no one receives more than 50% of the vote, or 40% of the vote with a lead of 10 percentage points, the top two candidates will compete in a runoff on Oct. 19 for the first time since Bolivia's 1982 return to democracy.
