Category: 3. Business

Story Continues

Story Continues

Entering Printemps in downtown New York City feels like an escape. A slight smell of musk hangs in the air as shoppers weave carefully around racks of coats and shelves of handbags and shoes. For the holidays, the store set up a small ice rink on its second floor where skaters perform on weekends.

The French luxury retail emporium opened its first New York outlet earlier this year and has said it wants shoppers to feel so comfortable that it feels like their own chic “French apartment”. The store has a bar upstairs, along with a roving champagne cart, and encourages shoppers to sip on their drinks while they browse. Plush carpeting in the dressing room, full of orange and reds, is reminiscent of a Wes Anderson movie set.

Across the street at Trinity Church, hundreds of people line up for free food and other necessities. Dodge your way past the steaming potholes and snarling traffic and a doorman welcomes you to another world. The atmosphere is so heady that suddenly, when browsing through its racks, a $600 black fur coat seems entirely inexpensive, and the $1,450 leather tabi boots upstairs are an investment.

On a recent weekday afternoon, fashionably dressed shoppers milled slowly around the store. Some took pictures of the skating rink or of displays of housewares that instructed: “Please ask for assistance – do not touch.”

Julien, who declined to give his last name, was visiting the store to pick up a gift for a Secret Santa exchange and said he wasn’t surprised by the prices. “For the brands they have, it’s normal,” he said.

Kathy, another shopper, said that she offered to take her friend out to lunch at the restaurant located inside the store and see if she could find a certain brand of ballet flats. “This is the only place that carries them,” she said, holding two bright green Printemps bags.

For a small fraction of Americans, the Printemps fantasy of comfortable luxury is just a way of life. An $890 chapka hat is a sweet gift for a friend, dropping $200 on perfume that smells like freshly cut grass is normal.

Around the corner from Printemps is the headquarters of the New York Stock Exchange, the ultimate symbol of American wealth and one of the main drivers of all this luxury spending.

Over the last few years, many Americans have reported they’re struggling with higher grocery prices, rising healthcare costs and other bills, and have given up on dreams of buying homes. And yet the stock market has only gone up and up.

The S&P 500 has shot up nearly 86% over the last five years, hitting record highs, especially with the recent AI boom. A ballooning stock market has meant a small percentage of Americans have been striking gold. According to data from the Federal Reserve, Americans in the top 1% of wealth own nearly 50% of the stock market. The top 10% own 87.2% of the market. The bottom 50% of all Americans own just 1.1% of stocks.

Area chart showing corporate equities and mutual fund shares held, in millions of dollars, by wealth percentile

Meanwhile, inflation has gone up from a recent low of 2.3% in April to 3% in September, while the unemployment rate has risen slightly, from 4% in January to 4.4% in September. The Yale Budget Lab has estimated that price increases from Donald Trump’s tariffs will cause a 1.2% price rise in the short run, costing the average household $1,700.

The split between rich and poor has handed Trump the biggest dilemma of his presidency. While the president promised to fix prices, and continues to blame Joe Biden’s presidency for today’s prices, his recent approval ratings show Americans are unhappy about the economy. In the YouGov/Economist poll of Trump’s approval ratings around specific economic issues, he had +5% approval on inflation after his inauguration in January. By 2 November, his ratings dropped to -35%.

With Republicans facing a tough fight to maintain control of Congress in next year’s midterm elections, Axios reported that Trump is set to embark on a US-wide tour to stare down “criticism that he’s prioritized global issues over pocketbook worries”.

It may prove to be a tough sell. In April 2020, at the very start of the pandemic, economist Peter Atwater came up with an easy way to describe what this divide feels like to Americans: a K-shaped economy. A small few are on the upper part of the “K”, while most Americans feel as if they’re sliding down on the bottom side of the letter.

To Atwater, the “K” described a time when “those at the bottom experience price inflation at a time when those at the top are experiencing asset inflation”.

Higher prices affect everyone, no matter a person’s financial status. But inflation doesn’t affect everyone equally.

A line chart showing that the wage growth for lower-income households dropped to just 1%, while it rose to 3.7% for higher-income households, compared with same time last year 

“Those at the top appear to have everything – not only everything, but have it in oversupply,” Atwater said. “Meanwhile, those at the bottom feel like they’re experiencing scarcity in everything that matters – affordability of food, healthcare, education, job opportunity.”

“If you’re at the bottom, the difference between 2% to 3% inflation over time is significant.”

Atwater said the phenomenon of the K-shaped economy didn’t start with the pandemic, but with the recovery from the 2008 financial crisis. Many Americans were upset to see the federal government focus stimulus efforts from the top down.

“What we saw is that it took until about 2018 before those at the bottom began to see any real wage growth,” Atwater said. “But Covid just poured gasoline on that fire.”

While inflation skyrocketed in 2022 after the Covid pandemic, prices started to cool in the years following. The annualized inflation rate went from 9.1% in June 2022 to 2.3% in April 2025 – the lowest it had been since March 2021. But since the spring, inflation has started climbing again.

And just as prices have been getting higher, key anti-poverty programs have been cut under the Trump administration, which advocates say has led to more Americans coming under the poverty threshold. Over the last year, the White House tightened enrollment into the national food stamp program and cut funding for housing assistance.

Research from the Robin Hood Foundation, an anti-poverty non-profit based in New York, found that the city’s poverty rate hit 25% this year – almost double the national poverty rate of 13%.

“The combination of rising costs, stagnation at the lower-end of the wage scale and reduction in support for helping people meet their basic necessities, these are all driving the poverty rate increase,” said Matthew Klein, chief program officer at Robin Hood.

Recent data has shown the outsized spending higher-income Americans have been doing compared with those in the bottom tiers of wealth. Bank of America found that low-income household spending has grown 0.7% over the last year, compared with a 2.7% growth for high-income earners.

A line chart showing that spending growth rose to 0.7% for lower-income households and to 2.7% for higher-income groups, compared with same time last year 

The trend has been showing up slowly in people’s credit scores. The number of people with super-prime credit scores has climbed simultaneously to the number of people with sub-prime credit scores also rising, according to credit agency TransUnion.

Chief executives of companies such as Delta, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s have pointed out the K-shaped gap they’re seeing in consumer behavior.

Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian, said the company is seeing a lot of growth from its premium customers, who buy business- and first-class tickets. Henrique Braun, the chief operating officer of the Coca-Cola Company, said on an earnings call that the company’s revenue growth is being led by higher sales of its premium products, such as Topo Chico sparkling water and Fairlife protein shakes.

Meanwhile, McDonald’s CEO, Chris Kempczinski, said that the chain’s middle- and low-income consumers are “feeling under a lot of pressure right now”.

“It’s a really kind of two-tier economy,” he said. “People are actually skipping breakfast – or they are choosing to just eat at home.”

Julien, the Printemps Christmas shopper, said he’s seen his business as a custom stylist grow over the last year.

“Our company is growing, it’s better than last year,” he said. “No complaints there. Rich people are still rich.”

Story Continues

Start the music. Players walk clockwise in a circle. When the music stops, everyone sits in a chair. Big Tech is setting in motion its plans for the next gen of lead designers, engineers, AI chiefs, and even CEOs.

In Cupertino, Apple execs with familiar faces are retiring or reducing responsibilities. Who’s in and who’s out? Well, chief operating officer Jeff Williams retired in November, and the speculation is that CEO Tim Cook could follow in the near term. Lisa Jackson, who has led Apple’s sustainability efforts since 2013, is now set to retire in January too.

There’s also the squad of Apple staffers who have been lured away to work with OpenAI, notably Apple’s former chief design officer Jony Ive after his independent stint at LoveFrom. In 2024, Molly Anderson was named industrial design leader, heading up a team of mostly fresh faces. Others have gone to Meta, such as Apple’s VP of human interface design, Alan Dye, who just this week was poached to head up a new Reality Labs design studio. At Apple, he’s been replaced by long-time UI designer Stephen Lemay. Phew.

In this swirl of shifting talent, John Ternus, who has worked for Apple since 2001, and served as SVP of hardware engineering for the last four years, reporting directly to Tim Cook, is emerging as the frontrunner to succeed Cook as Apple CEO, reportedly as soon as next year. WIRED asked Apple for comment but didn’t hear back before publication.

Alongside a steady drip of “leaks” on succession planning and Ternus’ position at the front of the pack, since 2023, Ternus has been given more prominence at product launch events. He announced the iPhone Air onstage this past September, and has appeared alongside other senior Apple leaders in press interviews and in-store Apple events.

“I think they’re testing to see what sentiment is like. Apple likes to control the narrative. So these ‘leaks,’ they’re not happening unintentionally,” suggests Anshel Sag, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. “Apple’s lost a lot of people. I think it might actually be a net positive because it will create a fresh crop of people that have more power now than they did before.”

New Names to Know

It’s always tricky to pick up an individual’s contributions at Apple, beyond the odd detail, such as John Ternus himself reportedly being behind the MacBook’s TouchBar. Bertrand Nepveu worked in the Apple Vision Pro team from 2017 to 2021, after Apple acquired his VR headset startup Vrvana, and now runs Montreal-based VC firm Triptyq Capital. During his three and a half years, mostly working on the Vision Pro’s pass-through capabilities, the team ballooned from 300 to around 1,200. “John Ternus, even though I never worked with him, the feedback I got is that he’s a great product person,” he says, “and I think that’s what is needed for the next phase of Apple, especially with AI and with XR.”

With this future in mind, Nepveu sees the combination of Ternus-as-CEO working well with other personnel moves at Apple, including the news in March that Rockwell was taking over development of Siri from the head of AI, John Giannandrea. In another major future-facing reshuffle, Giannandrea was replaced this week by Amar Subramanya, who spent 16 years at Google, including work on Gemini and DeepMind, before a six-month stint at Microsoft.

“Mike Rockwell, I worked with him in the Vision Pro group, I think he’s the right person for that because they [XR and AI] work in tandem,” says Nepveu. “He used to joke that Siri was crap. I liked him because he didn’t drink the Kool-Aid. I was happy when I saw that he got promoted. I think in tandem with someone who is more product-focused [Ternus], it’s the way to go for Apple.”

Story Continues

Bladder cancer is one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers worldwide, affecting nearly 600,000 people each year (Sung et al., 2021). While survival statistics are often discussed, many patients ask a different question: “What is Bladder Cancer Remission Rate?”

Remission refers to the absence of detectable cancer after treatment. Depending on the stage and type of bladder cancer, remission may be long-lasting, temporary, or—especially for early non–muscle-invasive disease—followed by recurrence. Understanding these patterns helps patients know what to expect and prepare for follow-up care.

Read About Bladder Cancer on OncoDaily 

What Does Remission Mean in Bladder Cancer?

In oncology, remission is typically classified as:

• Complete remission (CR): No evidence of cancer on cystoscopy, imaging, or cytology.
• Partial remission: Significant tumor shrinkage but not complete disappearance.

Bladder cancer is unique because the bladder lining is prone to repeated tumor formation. Even after complete remission, recurrence rates can be high, especially in NMIBC. Because of this, remission is often discussed alongside recurrence-free survival and progression-free survival (Babjuk et al., 2022).

Remission Rates by Bladder Cancer Stage

Bladder cancer is broadly categorized as:

• Non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) – Ta, T1, and CIS
• Muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) – T2–T4
• Metastatic bladder cancer

Each category has different treatment goals and remission expectations.

Remission Rates in Non–Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer (NMIBC)

Most bladder cancers—about 70%—are diagnosed at an early stage, when the tumor is confined to the inner layers of the bladder wall. These cancers have high remission rates, especially when treated promptly and followed by preventive therapy.

For low-grade tumors, remission is extremely common after surgery (TURBT). Many patients achieve complete remission, but recurrence may occur over time, which is why continued monitoring is essential.

For high-grade tumors, intravesical therapy such as BCG is usually recommended. Studies show that:

• Complete remission is achieved in about 70%–80% of patients after BCG treatment.
• The highest remission rates occur within the first 6 months of therapy.
• Even among patients who achieve remission, up to half may have a recurrence at some point, but many recurrences are still treatable.

Overall, NMIBC has an excellent chance of entering remission, especially when treated early and monitored regularly (Babjuk et al., 2022).

Remission Rates in Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer (MIBC)

Muscle-invasive bladder cancer is more aggressive and requires stronger treatments, such as surgery or chemoradiation. Despite being more advanced, remission is still possible, and modern treatments continue to improve outcomes.

When patients receive chemotherapy before surgery (called neoadjuvant chemotherapy), research shows that:

• About 30%–40% achieve a pathologic complete remission, meaning no cancer is found at the time of surgery.
• Patients who achieve complete remission often have significantly improved long-term survival.

For patients choosing bladder-preserving chemoradiation:

• Durable complete remission occurs in about 50%–70% of patients.
• Those who achieve remission often maintain a functioning bladder and good quality of life.

In both treatment pathways, the chance of remission depends on tumor biology, overall health, and response to therapy.

Remission in Metastatic or Advanced Bladder Cancer

Remission becomes more complex in metastatic disease, but modern therapies have transformed expectations.

Chemotherapy

Platinum-based chemotherapy produces response (partial + complete) in 40–60% of patients (von der Maase et al., 2000). Complete remission occurs in ~5–15%.

Immunotherapy (Pembrolizumab, Nivolumab, Atezolizumab)

Complete remission in 5–10%, with durable responses in some patients (Bellmunt et al., 2017).

Read About Immunotherapy for Bladder Cancer on OncoDaily 

Antibody–Drug Conjugates (Enfortumab Vedotin)

• Response rates ~40–45%
• Complete remission in 4–6% (Rosenberg et al., 2019)

EV + Pembrolizumab (EV-302 Trial)

One of the most promising regimens: 67.7% response rate, with CR rates up to 29% (Powles et al., 2024). This represents a major breakthrough for previously untreatable metastatic disease.

Why Bladder Cancer Can Come Back Even After Remission

Bladder cancer has one of the highest recurrence rates of all cancers. This does not mean treatment failed—it is simply a characteristic of the disease. Even after a successful remission, small tumor cells may remain or may return over time. Because of this, bladder cancer requires ongoing cystoscopy, imaging, and urine tests. Early detection of recurrence allows for early treatment, which improves outcomes.

What Affects a Patient’s Chance of Remission?

Factors include:

• Stage and grade of the tumor
• Whether cancer has invaded muscle
• Presence of carcinoma in situ (CIS)
• Whether chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or BCG is used
• Lifestyle factors such as smoking
• Tumor mutations and response to therapy

Patients who stop smoking after diagnosis have better remission and survival outcomes.

How Long Does Remission Last?

This depends heavily on stage:

• Low-risk NMIBC: Many remain cancer-free long-term.
• Intermediate/high-risk NMIBC: Half recur within 5 years.
• MIBC (after cystectomy or trimodality therapy): Long-term remission possible in ~40%.

Metastatic disease: Remission is often temporary, but immunotherapy and ADCs have created long-lasting responses in a meaningful subset.

Can Bladder Cancer Be Cured?

Yes — but cure depends on stage.

• Early-stage (NMIBC): Many patients are effectively cured, though recurrence is common.
• MIBC: Cure is possible with surgery or chemoradiation.
• Metastatic disease: Rarely curable, but long-term remission is increasingly reported with modern immunotherapy and combination regimens.

Read About Bladder Cancer Cure Rate on OncoDaily 

Follow-Up After Remission

Because recurrence risk remains lifelong, guidelines recommend:

• Cystoscopy every 3–6 months for NMIBC depending on risk
• Imaging every 6–12 months for MIBC
• Ongoing monitoring for metastatic disease using scans and biomarkers

Adhering to follow-up is one of the most important factors for maintaining remission.

The Outlook for Bladder Cancer Remission

Although recurrence is common, bladder cancer remains highly treatable, especially when detected early. Many patients live long, healthy lives after treatment, even with recurrences. New therapies—including immunotherapy, targeted treatments, and antibody-drug conjugates—continue to improve remission rates and long-term survival across all stages.

Remission is not always a one-time event in bladder cancer; rather, it is a process of treatment, surveillance, and ongoing care. With regular follow-up and modern therapies, patients have more options than ever before to achieve remission and maintain quality of life

You Can Watch More on OncoDaily Youtube TV

Written by Armen Gevorgyan, MD

Golar LNG (NasdaqGS:GLNG) just locked in a fresh $1.2 billion asset backed debt facility to refinance its FLNG Gimi, freeing up roughly $400 million in net liquidity for new capital allocation decisions.

See our latest analysis for Golar LNG.

The refinancing comes after a choppy stretch, with the share price recently closing at $38.27 and a year to date share price return of minus 12.71 percent. At the same time, the five year total shareholder return sits at a robust 339.83 percent, suggesting long term faith in Golar’s LNG infrastructure strategy remains intact despite softer near term momentum.

If this kind of balance sheet reshaping has your attention, it could also be a smart moment to explore aerospace and defense stocks for other capital intensive businesses reshaping their growth profiles.

With Golar trading about 34 percent below consensus price targets but already delivering strong multi year returns, the real question now is whether this refinancing unlocked an overlooked value story or if markets already expect the next leg of growth.

Compared with the last close at $38.27, the most widely followed narrative sees Golar’s fair value materially higher, anchored in long dated FLNG cash flows.

The company has secured long-term (20-year) charters for its existing FLNG units, providing $17 billion in contracted EBITDA backlog and 20 years of cash flow visibility, which is expected to drive a significant (4x) increase in EBITDA and contracted free cash flow by 2028, indicating the market may be undervaluing its forward earnings stability and revenue growth.

Read the complete narrative.

Curious how a capital heavy LNG platform earns a growth style valuation? The narrative leans on transformative margin expansion and a bold future earnings ramp. Want to see the precise assumptions behind that jump in profitability and revenue acceleration?

Result: Fair Value of $51.10 (UNDERVALUED)

Have a read of the narrative in full and understand what’s behind the forecasts.

However, this outlook hinges on sustained LNG demand and flawless execution. Overcapacity or regulatory setbacks on new FLNG projects could quickly undermine today’s optimism.

Find out about the key risks to this Golar LNG narrative.

While the narrative implies upside, the current price already bakes in a lot of optimism, with Golar trading on a price to earnings ratio of 65.5 times. That is far above both the industry at 13.8 times and peers at 27.7 times, and well ahead of a fair ratio of 18.5 times, suggesting meaningful downside if sentiment or growth expectations slip.

See what the numbers say about this price — find out in our valuation breakdown.

If you see the story differently or want to ground your own view in the numbers, you can build a complete narrative in minutes: Do it your way.

A great starting point for your Golar LNG research is our analysis highlighting 3 key rewards and 2 important warning signs that could impact your investment decision.

Skip the noise and use the Simply Wall Street Screener to quickly surface focused opportunities that match your strategy before the market fully catches on.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Companies discussed in this article include GLNG.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com

The first study assessing the real-world commercial roll-out of gene therapies for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia offers lessons learned to inform best practices as manufacturers and medical centers prepare to meet growing demand for gene therapies in the coming years.

Gene therapy requires system-level coordination and close collaboration across patients, treatment centers, payers, and manufacturers. The demand for these one-time durable gene therapies is growing, and we’re learning how to deliver treatment more efficiently as we gain more experience.” 

Joanne Lager, MD, study author, chief medical officer at Genetix Biotherapeutics Inc.

Sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia are both inherited disorders that affect the hemoglobin in red blood cells. In beta thalassemia, not enough functional hemoglobin is produced, which impacts the ability of red blood cells to carry oxygen, leading to debilitating symptoms and cumulative organ damage. In sickle cell disease, abnormal hemoglobin production causes the red blood cells to become rigid and sickle-shaped, leading to blood vessel blockages and subsequent pain and organ damage.

Betibeglogene autotemcel (beti-cel) and lovotibeglogene autotemcel (lovo-cel) are autologous ex vivo gene therapies in which a patient’s own stem cells are collected, manufactured to add functional copies of a modified gene, and then infused back into the patient to engraft in the bone marrow and begin producing red blood cells with functional hemoglobin. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved beti-cel for transfusion dependent beta thalassemia in 2022 under the name Zynteglo, and lovo-cel for sickle cell disease in 2023 under the name Lyfgenia.

To study the process and timing of real-world commercial implementation of these therapies, researchers analyzed data from 392 U.S. patients who enrolled to receive either beti-cel or lovo-cel between 2022 and 2025. To date, 29% (115) of these patients have received treatment, with 72% of beti-cel patients and 76% of lovo-cel patients having done so within a year of enrollment.

According to the findings, the median time elapsed from the decision to enroll and the one-time infusion of drug product was 9.8 months for beti-cel and 7.9 months for lovo-cel. Time for enrollment, scheduling, and cell collection varied across patients, with the most variability seen in the time elapsed between the decision to enroll in gene therapy and the collection of stem cells. The median time to complete this step – during which centers prepare patients for therapy medically and financially – was 4.4 months.

Most patients required only one cell collection for both beti-cel (79%) and lovo-cel (63%), consistent with experience from clinical trials. The number of stem cell collection procedures played a role in the overall treatment timeline, with about 80 days added per collection cycle. Once stem cells were collected, the median time it took to manufacture, test, and deliver the gene therapy drug product to a treatment center was 3.2 months for beti-cel and 3.5 months for lovo-cel.

“We’ve identified areas of opportunity to enhance the treatment journey for patients and providers,” said Dr. Lager. “We recognize the importance of delivering our therapies to patients as soon as possible and remain committed to improving the treatment experience.”

The results showed some operational differences between the two gene therapies. The time between FDA approval and first commercial patient enrollment was about half as long for lovo-cel as for beti-cel. Since beti-cel was approved about 16 months before lovo-cel, the researchers suggest that early experience implementing beti-cel meant that more centers were prepared to begin treating patients with lovo-cel.

Researchers said that operational factors such as insurance approvals, the number of cell collections required, and manufacturing capacity play an important role in influencing treatment timelines. Finding opportunities for greater efficiency across these areas remains a key focus.

“Demand for our gene therapies continue to build. We are actively working toward ensuring that we have the manufacturing capacity to deliver gene therapy to all patients seeking a path to a cure,” said Dr. Lager. 

The researchers noted that insurance coverage for these treatments has continued to expand. To facilitate further progress in overcoming barriers and increasing efficiency, they plan continued process improvements and collaboration with medical centers to share lessons learned and develop best practices. 

Anjulika Chawla, MD, of Genetix Biotherapeutics Inc., will present this study on Monday, December 8, 2025, at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time in W311A-D of the Orange County Convention Center.