Cramer says buy Amazon's big stock drop, don't worry as much about Apple AI
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Geek Wire
10 minutes ago
- Geek Wire
Seattle leaders pass tax hike for big companies, cuts for small biz – but voters get final word
View of Seattle's downtown and Harbor Island, the city's maritime shipping hub, from the Smith Tower. (GeekWire Photo / Lisa Stiffler) With a mix of hand-wringing and can-do enthusiasm, Seattle City Council members this afternoon unanimously passed a tax overhaul that would eliminate business taxes for thousands of small companies while significantly raising rates on the city's biggest revenue generators, including Amazon. The measure now goes to voters to decide its fate. The Seattle Shield Initiative would nix the city's business and occupation (B&O) tax for companies earning up to $2 million annually, while boosting rates on receipts above that threshold. City officials project the restructured tax would generate an additional $80 million per year, with funds designated for human services programs such as support for food insecurity, services for immigrants, drug abuse funding and other programming. Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck proposed the legislation on June 25, and needed its approval by today so that it could be included on the Nov. 4 ballot. The measure was originally intended to help plug a $250 million projected budget shortfall for Seattle and to aid in backfilling federal funding that's being cut by the Trump administration. On Monday, councilmembers received a more favorable forecast, learning that the two-year budget deficit is expected to be $150 million. Seattle has struggled for years to find politically viable funding solutions for city services, affordable housing, and downtown recovery efforts following the COVID pandemic. In November, the council narrowly rejected a 2% capital gains tax on stock and bond sale profits exceeding $262,000 as a partial solution to the revenue challenges. A comparison of business and occupation taxes in Seattle and surrounding cities, as produced by Seattle's Office of Economic and Revenue Forecasts and City Budget Office Chart and shared on Aug. 4, 2025. Some city leaders expressed concerns about Seattle's B&O taxes outpacing those collected elsewhere. Jon Scholes, president and CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association, previously called the B&O tax overhaul 'a boneheaded proposal of epic proportions' that would put 'big risks to the fragile commercial tax base.' GeekWire reached out to Amazon for comment on the proposal. A service business company with $20 million in gross revenue that currently pays $85,400 in B&O taxes would see that number rise to $117,720 if voters approve the changes. A corporation earning $100 million would go from $427,000 up to $640,920. The rates are lower for big businesses in retail, wholesale and manufacturing. City staff earlier noted that the legislation would shrink the B&O tax base from 21,000 taxpayers to just 5,000, potentially creating less predictable revenue collections. Among those sharing reservations on the measure — while still voting in favor of it — was City Council President Sara Nelson. 'This was a rushed process,' Nelson said. 'We are talking about completely restructuring the way we charge B&O taxes, which makes up about a third of our general fund revenue, and could have pretty profound impacts on our economy and — most importantly — jobs.' The council rejected tax exemptions targeting the maritime industry, while adding B&O breaks for Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and Seattle Children's. Rinck framed the bill as smart, progressive policy for safeguarding city services and expressed optimism that voters would agree. 'Once the voters provide us with this tool, we can ensure that critical city services are maintained despite the challenges … our budget or the Trump administration presents,' she said. 'We will also be giving Seattle voters a choice on shielding our small businesses — the heartbeat of our neighborhoods — from economic uncertainty.' Key details Under the Seattle Shield Initiative: The B&O tax threshold exemption increases from $100,000 to $2 million in gross revenue. Businesses that exceed that threshold would not pay tax on the first $2 million. An estimated 76% of small- and medium-sized businesses would no longer pay the tax. About 90% of all businesses would pay less than they do currently. Retail, wholesale and manufacturing businesses above the $2 million exemption would pay 34 cents per $100, up from 22 cents. Service companies would see a jump from 43 cents per $100 up to 65 cents. RELATED:
CNBC
11 minutes ago
- CNBC
Jim Cramer attributes market resilience to Big Tech's earnings success
CNBC's Jim Cramer reviewed Monday's market action and told investors that stocks' rebound from last week was lead by positive news from the Magnificent Seven Tech stocks — Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Nvidia and Tesla. "Now, some of that may be because…the Fed has to cut, maybe even before September — I mean, that's how weak the employment numbers are," he said. "But at the heart of the market's resilience is, well…the Magnificent Seven." The indexes closed in the red on Friday as investors worried about a much weaker-than-expected labor report and President Donald Trump's modification of "reciprocal" tariffs on a number of countries. But stocks reversed course on Monday, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.34%, the S&P 500 added 1.47% and the Nasdaq Composite surged 1.95%. The market doesn't seem to be concerned that Trump suddenly fired the Bureau of Labor and Statistics Commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, and accused her of manipulating jobs data, Cramer said. Many of stocks that had been strong on Thursday but sank on Friday proceeded to recoup their losses during Monday's session, he pointed out. Cramer reviewed recent earnings from the tech titans, starting with Microsoft. He called the quarter "flawless," saying the company seems to be doing well in every segment of business. He noted that its cloud infrastructure division, Azure, saw a huge acceleration in growth. Cramer was also impressed with some figures from Meta's recent report, especially management's claim that 3.5 billion people use at least one Meta product a day. Alphabet is seeing success throughout the company, Cramer said, including its Google search business, Youtube and AI product, Gemini. He also said the Waymo business is building a nice lead over the rest of the autonomous vehicle space. Apple had a "tremendous" report, Cramer continued, emphasizing its better-than-expected growth. He was encouraged by management's comments on artificial intelligence innovations in the future. Amazon also did well, Cramer continued, with good results from retail sales and advertising revenue, as well as decent numbers from the web services division. While Cramer said Tesla's vehicle business is poor, he said it's doing very well as a tech company. He suggested it's worth owning for its autonomous driving and robots. Although Nvidia has yet to report, Cramer expressed optimism about the chipmaker and demand for its products. "Even though the Mag Seven has one hand tied behind its back with Tesla, we had tepid reactions to Apple and Amazon's numbers," he said. "The fact is that these companies, loaded with cash, not outrageously expensive — nation states, I call them — with multiple revenue streams and tight expenses, just can't be beat by any stretch of the numbers or the imagination." Click here to download Jim Cramer's Guide to Investing at no cost to help you build long-term wealth and invest The CNBC Investing Club Charitable Trust owns shares of Nvidia, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Alphabet.
CNBC
41 minutes ago
- CNBC
Cramer's Lightning Round: Snowflake is a buy
Tesla: "[buy, buy, buy!]...It's in transition from being a car company to being a technology company, and you want to be in there because the tech is worth a lot more than what it's selling for right now." Accenture: "I can't believe how poorly it's doing. I'm not going to get behind it until we find out what the heck is really going on there." Ford: "If they don't get that warranty stuff down, it is just too tough to recommend." Target: "If you believe in the company and you like shopping there. It's got a good balance you're free to buy it. I happen to like TJX and Costco." Snowflake: "I like Snowflake. I think you can buy more." Click here to download Jim Cramer's Guide to Investing at no cost to help you build long-term wealth and invest The CNBC Investing Club Charitable Trust owns shares of TJX and Costco.
