Brazil's Economy Surges Again as High Rates Fail to Dent Growth
Brazil's economic growth boomed at the start of 2025, powered by bountiful harvests and family consumption that's complicating policymakers' inflation fight.
Gross domestic product expanded 1.4% in the January-March period compared to the fourth quarter, just below the 1.5% median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The economy grew 2.9% from a year earlier, according to official data released Friday.
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New York Times
3 hours ago
- New York Times
USWNT match-worn jerseys to be auctioned off while they're being worn
In April, Trinity Rodman struck early for the U.S. Women's National Team against Brazil, with her first goal for the team since the 2024 Olympics. She received the ball from forward Alyssa Thompson and finished with a shot into the lower right corner of the net. It was her 11th goal for the national team. Advertisement While the crowd's cheers filled SoFi Stadium, they did not see what happened in the locker room at halftime. Rodman's sweat-soaked, mud-streaked jersey was carefully collected by the team's equipment manager and placed in a sealed container bound for a warehouse in Amsterdam with eight other jerseys. These belonged to her teammates: Lindsey Heaps, Catarina Macario, Tara McKeown, Emily Fox, Allyson Sentnor, Phallon Tullis-Joyce, Crystal Dunn and Sam Coffey. Almost three months later, on Saturday, the jersey was sold for $1,833 on an online marketplace that auctions signed match-worn shirts from around the world. The Dutch company collaborates with over 300 soccer clubs and federations across 35 countries, and it has just signed a deal with both U.S. national teams. During the USWNT's friendly against China in Minnesota on Saturday, the platform will launch its first live auction tied to a match. Every jersey worn will be up for grabs. The deal with U.S. Soccer and the USWNT Players Association also covers player-worn kits from all international tournaments moving forward, including the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, and the 2027 Women's World Cup in Brazil. The idea of selling worn jerseys came to brothers and co-founders Bob and Tijmen Zonderwijk in 2016 while they were searching for a special gift for their father, a die-hard Ajax supporter, who was moving across the country for work. They wanted to get him a match-worn, signed jersey from one of his favorite players to hang in his new office. At the time, the only option was the annual club auction. After a year trying to convince Dutch clubs of their new idea, one finally gave in: FC Twente, where Dutch captain Jill Roord recently signed. 'We pitched the idea there, and the guy was quiet for the entire hour. After that, he said, 'Hey, it sounds like a win-win. When can we start?' So we were like, 's***, this is happening!'' Bob Zonderwijk told The Athletic. Advertisement In addition to a handful of USWNT and USMNT jerseys, the company's warehouse in Amsterdam is home to about 9,000 match-worn jerseys. Historically, the locker room and those sweat-soaked jerseys are sacred for players. Most keep them. Some toss them to fans. Others trade them with opponents. Either way, they're prized. The Zonderwijk brothers, lifelong soccer fans, knew better than to mess with that. 'We don't want to interfere with those traditions,' Tijmen Zonderwijk said. So they found a workaround: they collect only first-half jerseys. 'Players are free to do whatever they want with the second-half kits — keep them, swap them, toss them into the stands,' he explains. Which means the Rodman jersey that just sold is certified and guaranteed to be the very shirt she scored in. Operationally, every club is structured differently but MatchWornShirt's co-founders realized that to streamline their operations, they had to work with the most important person in the room: the kit managers. Last year, they hosted the first European conference of kit managers in Amsterdam, inviting 180 club representatives and 90 kit managers from partner clubs. 'The good thing about kitmen is that they are structured and reliable. They have their own protocols and once we become part of that protocol, we are all good,' Tijmen explained. This is especially crucial when it comes to getting the jerseys cleaned. Or rather, not cleaned. Instead of soap and water, the jerseys are treated with UVC light, a method that breaks down any lingering DNA to protect the player's health data but preserves the emotion: the grass stains, the wear and tear, even a trace of the smell. 'Eighty percent of the smell is reduced, but the smell is always there. It's also what makes it authentic,' Tijmen said. 'If it smelled like flowers, then people might also question the authenticity.' Advertisement Once the jerseys are cleaned, the process of authentication starts: using match footage, they check how patches are printed to match them to the player wearing them. Then they chip the shirts with NFC (Near Field Communication) chips that carry a unique ID to certify their authenticity. NFC, commonly used for non-contact payments, uses close-range wireless technology to communicate between devises. So far, the highest price paid for a women's match-worn shirt belongs to Sophia Smith's (now Wilson) No. 9 jersey that she wore while scoring in Portland Thorns' 2-0 NWSLchampionship win over Kansas City Current in 2022. It sold for $9,507 (£7,062). On the men's side, the most expensive jersey auctioned on the site was worn by Lionel Messi from his final season playing for Paris Saint-Germain. The winning bid was $58,000. MatchWornShirt did not share how the money gets split between them and the clubs, as the company doesn't disclose specific contract terms. But each partnership is tailored to reflect the commercial and charitable priorities of the teams and organizations involved. In the case of the U.S. Soccer, the deal includes both the federation and the respective players' associations. That means the proceeds are shared, and players get a cut. According to USWNT Players Association's agreement with the players, the PA receives payment from licenses like MatchWornShirt and players receive royalties. According to their financial statements from 2023, the organization paid its members $1,059,963 in royalties which amounts to 34.7 percent of the total revenue. The U.S. Women's National Team Players Association's (USWNTPA) Department of Labor report from 2024 shows that in 2023 former U.S. forward Alex Morgan took home the most in overall royalties ($167,593). Wilson ($74,232) and Rodman ($41,643) weren't far behind. 'With so many newcomers earning their first caps for the USWNT, these jerseys carry deep significance,' Annie Mitchell-Reid, the director of strategic partnerships and business at USWNTPA, told The Athletic. 'Think of sisters Alyssa and Gisele Thompson making their debuts side by side, and others who will wear the stars and stripes for the first time or even the last time. There are so many amazing moments to come that fans can have a tangible piece of.' But what happens if a jersey doesn't sell at one of MatchWorn's auctions? The Zonderwijks are not worried. 'We've never not sold a jersey,' Tijmen said with a grin.
Forbes
4 hours ago
- Forbes
Stock Market: Companies Are Struggling With Inflation-Driven Consumers
Inflation has altered consumers' buying habits Year-to-year inflation may look low, but prices continue to compound upwards. For example, "Food at home" pricing, accounting for 8% of the total CPI basket, was up 1.8% in 2024. That seemingly low inflation rate nevertheless pushed up the Covid period price inflation to 27.6%, and that is what consumers are contending with. So, why is that a problem for companies? Because consumers' actions to reduce the inflationary effects can adversely affect business revenues and profits. Grocery shopping is a good example. Here are examples of what consumers can do: These actions not only affect the grocery stores, but also affect the companies that produce packaged food. The effect is measured by 'volume/mix' changes caused by consumers' altered decisions. In last year's 2023 annual reporting, Kraft's management anticipated 2024 growth from rises in both sales and prices. However, consumers tripped up the company's strategies and expectations. From the 2024 Annual Report: Note the higher pricing was well below the 2024 CPI inflation rate of almost 3%. So, how did Wall Street view Kraft's 2024 results and plans? Not well. Below is the stock's performance for the Covid-period. Note that the company (and others like it) was able to produce inflation-beating results early, but then the consumer actions began to hit, causing a reversal of the previous gains. With the consumer shifts continuing to hit results in 2025, the stock has now fallen below the cumulative inflation, making the Covid-period "real" (inflation-adjusted) stock performance negative. Kraft Heinz Covid-period stock performance (including dividends) now below cumulative CPI While the Federal Reserve focuses on the latest 12-month change in prices, it is the cumulative inflation damage that consumers focus on. After all, a "good" 12-month inflation change of 'only' 3% nevertheless compounds high prices even higher. The Covid-period rise is now about 23%. That level of inflation continues to cause damage, particularly in this period of high uncertainty (see "Uncertainties Are Churning U.S. Stock Market Outlooks" for explanation of why uncertainty can be more troublesome than risk). Here are the S&P 500's nine companies in the sector/industry combination of the normally safe consumer defensive/ packaged foods. They all got an inflation boost early but are now struggling with both higher costs and changing consumer buying actions. The weak and negative "real" (inflation-adjusted) total returns for the Covid period show Wall Street's bearish views of the situation and the outlook. Double-digit negative real performance shows inflation's continuing problems In the early 1970s when inflation was a similar concern, I read an interview with a wealthy individual. He made a surprising statement, saying he would happily give up half his wealth if the other half was guaranteed to retain its value. Why was he willing to make such a large payout? Because inflation has a potentially destructive power that can become self-sustaining, even as economic, business, and financial conditions deteriorate. It is what happened in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
CNET
5 hours ago
- CNET
I Monitor Tariff Impacts Every Day: Here Are My Top Tips to Help You Track Prices
If tariff news has you spooked, these are the tricks I can currently recommend to help you track the prices that matter the most to you. James Martin/CNET Thinking a lot about tariffs lately? You and me both. I've been keeping track of the impacts tariffs might be having on a variety of key products that are both popular and likely to be susceptible to tariffs. However, there's only so much I can keep track of, given that I'm just one guy (I swear) and that CNET is focused on tech products and services. If there's a product or type of product out there that you're concerned about when it comes to tariff inflation, it might be worth doing a little legwork of your own. Given the results of a recent CNET survey, it's fair to say that a lot of you reading this might have concerns about tariff-driven price increases. According to our findings, about 38% of shoppers feel pressure to make certain purchases before tariffs make them more expensive. About 10% say they have already made certain purchases in hopes of getting them in before the price hikes, while 27% said they have delayed purchases for products that cost more than $500. If that sounds like you, then I'd like to share a few tricks I've relied on to keep track of price shifts in the last few months, so that maybe you can keep tabs on the specific things that matter most to you. For all the details, keep reading, and for more, check out CNET's coverage of the court ruling that struck down Trump's tariffs. How to use price trackers on Amazon Amazon is one of the most popular online shopping portals in the world, so it's a great place to keep an eye out for price changes. The company's reach with consumers of all kinds is so vast that even a rumor that it might explicitly show the impacts of tariffs on its prices resulted in a heated response from the White House. If there's an item for sale, odds are you can find it on Amazon -- and there are a number of websites and browser add-ons that can show you the price history of most items listed there. For CNET's daily tracker, I personally use the browser extension Keepa, which came recommended by CNET Senior Editor James Bricknell and which is available for Chrome, Safari, Opera, Edge and Firefox browsers. After you install it, Keepa works by adding a graph to Amazon store pages you visit, showing you the changes in the product's price over time. You can fine-tune this graph as well, changing how far back the price history goes and adding or removing lines for different purchasing options. Another popular option is CamelCamelCamel, which allows you to track Amazon prices either by copy-pasting a link into its search bar, or as a browser extension, available for all the same platforms as Keepa. Unlike Keepa, which adds the chart directly into the product page, this extension -- known as "Camelizer" -- requires you to open the chart from a button added to the browser's menu bar. Besides that, the functionality is almost the same. Both of these options also allow you to set up email alerts for when certain products shift in price on Amazon. How to use price trackers for other shopping sites But maybe you don't exclusively rely on Amazon for your online shopping needs. Maybe you took my advice and canceled your Prime membership recently, or maybe you just prefer doing business elsewhere for certain things. Well, you're not out of luck, because some price-tracking services work with other popular retailers, like Walmart, Target or Best Buy. If those are the sorts of places you're shopping, I'd suggest taking a look at the aptly named site Price Tracker, which says that it can provide price history charts for 88 online retailers. All you have to do is copy-paste your product's URL into the site's search field, and it will generate a graph showing you its price over time, just as Keepa and CamelCamelCamel do. How to set news alerts for specific products and companies Sometimes waiting for prices to change feels like too little, too late. If you want to be informed ahead of time and get an idea about broader changes, you would do well to follow the news surrounding specific companies and product sectors. To do that, I'd recommend you create some Google Alerts related to the products you're most concerned about. Using this service, you can set alerts for certain words or phrases -- perhaps things like "tariffs," "coffee prices," or "Samsung Galaxy price" -- and Google will send you daily emails with news stories based on them. This way, if news stories indicate that a certain grocery item you buy frequently is about to get more expensive, or if a big tech manufacturer announces a price hike for that new gadget you've been anticipating because of "market conditions," you'll be ahead of the curve. For more, find out if you should or shouldn't buy a new phone now.
