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March 5, 2025

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S&P 500 Selloff: Bearish Rotation & Key Downside Targets!

In this video, Dave analyzes market conditions, bearish divergences, and leadership rotation in recent weeks. He examines the S&P 500 daily chart, highlighting how this week’s selloff may confirm a bearish rotation and set downside price targets using moving averages and Fibonacci retracements. To validate a potential end to the bearish phase, he shares a key technical analysis chart. What’s your S&P 500 downside objective?

This video originally premiered on March 4, 2025. Watch on StockCharts’ dedicated David Keller page!

Previously recorded videos from Dave are available at this link.

Trade War Panic: Are International Stocks the Safer Bet Now?

With US tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China having taken effect at midnight on Tuesday, US indexes extended their Monday losses, deepening concerns over the escalating trade war.

It was only a few months ago when analysts held relatively optimistic forecasts of emerging and developed market performance relative to the US. Since Trump’s re-election, Wall Street has grown more cautious due to renewed trade tensions, particularly with China, Canada, and Mexico. Nevertheless, given the sharp decline in US stocks, I thought it might be prudent to examine international markets to see how emerging and developed markets might be responding to the new Trump trade war.

Here’s a MarketCarpets view of the action early Tuesday morning:

FIGURE 1. MARKETCARPETS ONE-DAY VIEW OF INTERNATIONAL MARKETS. It’s a mixed bag with mostly negative responses.Image source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

As expected, iShares MSCI Canada ETF (EWC) and iShares MSCI Mexico Capped ETF (EWW) are down while iShares MSCI China ETF (MCHI) remained resilient in the early part of the trading session.

For a broader yet short-term perspective, the five-day view shows a similar trend, but with deeper losses.

FIGURE 2. FIVE-DAY VIEW OF MARKETCARPETS INTERNATIONAL MARKETS. No clear leadership here with developed and emerging markets largely declining across the board.Image source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

Developed and emerging markets are largely in the red with no clear leadership. What markets are bracing for are the tariff responses, which could significantly complicate and negatively impact global trade dynamics.

Developed vs. Emerging vs. US Markets

For those of you who might not be aware of it, the “developed” category excludes US markets. This may seem as strange as China’s inclusion in the “emerging” category where it is the second largest economy in the world. But there you have it. So, to get a clear picture of relative performance between the US markets, developed markets, and emerging markets, we’ll look at three ETFs representing each category and compare their performance using a one-year view on PerfCharts.

  • iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA): developed markets
  • iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM): emerging markets
  • SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY): broader US stock market

FIGURE 3. PERFCHARTS COMPARING RELATIVE PERFORMANCE OF DEVELOPED MARKETS, EMERGING MARKETS, AND THE S&P 500. The S&P and emerging markets are declining, but developed markets are rising and holding steady.Chart source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

To get an even clearer, if not more direct comparison, take a look at a weekly ratio chart comparing EFA with EEM. From here on out, we’ll be focusing solely on international markets (omitting the S&P 500).

FIGURE 4. CHART OF EFA:EEM WITH GUPPY MULTIPLE MOVING AVERAGES. Notice how the short- and longer-term market sentiment is in an uneasy equilibrium.Chart source: StockChartsACP.com. For educational purposes.

What’s valuable about plotting a Guppy Multiple Moving Average (GMMA) is that its two color-coded ribbons are proxies for short and long-term investors. Developed markets have been trending strongly against emerging markets since the summer of 2021. But now, with the two ribbons converging, it’s telling you that short- and long-term sentiment is hovering at an uneasy equilibrium. There’s still plenty of uncertainty, even with developed markets pulling ahead.

Despite the global trade environment, might EFA or EEM present any tradable opportunities from a technical perspective? Let’s shift over to a daily chart of EFA for a closer look.

FIGURE 5. DAILY CHART OF EFA. A wide trading range with a few indications of a potential breakout.Chart source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

EFA is trading near the top of a wide trading range. If you were to look at a naked chart of EFA, the price action would seem a little chaotic. This is why I decided to plot the following indicators to contextualize the price action. As complex as it may look, the indicators make the price action simpler to understand.

Here are a few key points to consider:

  • EFA’s wide trading range is defined by the August low and September high.
  • The latest surge is accompanied by a rise in the StockCharts Technical Rank (SCTR) score, which has now surpassed 70 (a bullish threshold I use) signaling strong technical momentum across multiple indicators and timeframes.
  • The Accumulation/Distribution Line (ADL) is rising steadily and is above the current price, indicating that money flows are steadily pouring into the ETF (and by proxy, stocks included in this particular developed market index).
  • I am dividing EFA’s range using Quadrant Lines. Note how the 2nd and 3rd quadrants align with the areas of concentrated trading volume, as shown by the Volume-by-Price indicator. This high-volume range can act as either support or resistance. If EFA were to eventually break out of its current range, a favorable scenario would be to see it trade above the lower limits of the third quadrant; more preferably, bouncing off the second quadrant and eventually breaking above its September high.

If this looks semi-bullish, EEM looks a bit more stuck. Here’s a daily chart.

FIGURE 6. DAILY CHART OF EEM. Support and resistance levels are plotted in an otherwise messy trading range.Chart source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

EEM has sharply declined after falling below the bullish SCTR threshold of 70. After failing to retest its September high, it has retraced back toward the middle of a range that extends as far back as May of last year. The most concentrated portion of that range, as shown by the Volume-by-Price, lies between $41.50 and $43.50. While the ADL signals positive buying pressure relative to the decline in price, it’s also flattening out, indicating that money flows may be steadily declining.

Despite the volatile price action, support and resistance levels remain well-defined (and the  Volume-by-Price indicator helped confirm these levels). EEM is likely to bounce between support ($41 and $42) and resistance ($43.50 and $45.50) unless macroeconomic catalysts trigger a breakout in either direction below or above the current range. For now, patience is key—waiting for EEM to establish a clearer direction, technically or fundamentally.

Action Steps

Here are a few things you can do:

  • Add EEM and EFA to your ChartLists.
  • Observe how their price response to key levels mentioned above aligns with global trade environment developments.
  • Monitor MarketCarpets (International ETFs) regularly to see if any patterns of consistency emerge over time.
  • If a market shows consistent bullish or bearish trends, zoom in on the specific countries to determine if they align with their developed or emerging market group or are moving independently.
  • Monitor the SCTR scores and analyze those charts further to see if they present investment opportunities.

At the Close

Given the heightened uncertainty surrounding global trade, developed markets have shown relative strength, while emerging markets remain in a fragile position. With tariff responses still unfolding, you should stay alert to price action while monitoring broader market sentiment for signs of directionality. For now, patience and observation remain key in navigating these volatile markets.

Disclaimer: This blog is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. The ideas and strategies should never be used without first assessing your own personal and financial situation, or without consulting a financial professional.

BHP CEO Talks Critical Minerals Opportunities, Challenges in Canada

More than anything else, rapid urbanization is driving demand for critical minerals like copper around the world.

Delivering the opening keynote address at this year’s Prospectors and Developers Association Conference (PDAC) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, BHP (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BHP) CEO Mike Henry spoke to the opportunities and challenges posed by the growth of urban centers around the world.

His presentation discussed how the mining industry, including Canada’s, can respond to the growing demands on the resource sector and deliver the critical minerals that will be required over the next few decades.

The opportunity: Copper and critical mineral demand outpacing supply

Over the last 10 years, there has been a global population redistribution. For the first time, more of the world’s population lives in urban centers than in rural areas. Along with this shift has come greater densification, which has pushed electrical grids to their limits.

However, as Henry pointed out, this is just the beginning. By 2050, the global population will grow by 25 percent to 10 billion people, and the vast majority of them will live in urban centers.

“They are the engines of massive opportunity for our industry. More high rises, homes, roads and infrastructure, greater electrification, more phones, televisions, cars and air conditioning. More energy, more data centers to power AI and cloud computing,” he said.

This population boom means the world will need more of everything, from copper and steel to potash and other minerals.

As a company, BHP is a global powerhouse. Its portfolio of assets touches on a variety of minerals that will be critical in the coming decades; few, however, may be as important as copper. Henry suggests that demand for red metal will rise 70 percent over the next 15 years.

The massive surge in demand presents an enormous opportunity for the resource sector, especially for investors. Outlining the scale of capital required, Henry estimates that more than US$250 billion will be needed for mining and concentration to keep pace with demand growth, with additional funding needed for smelting and refining — and that’s just for copper.

When other minerals are added to the equation, the total could reach US$800 billion between now and 2040.

The first challenge: Finding significant critical mineral deposits in Canada

Although opportunities exist, they don’t come without challenges, and Henry suggests that the challenges exist both above and below ground.

“First, we’re going to have to find the resources… Those resources are big, large deposits that are becoming harder to find,’ he said. ‘They’re deeper, they’re more remote, they come with new technical challenges, and they’re often in riskier jurisdictions.’

This has led to BHP rethinking how it invests in exploration, seeing them not only fund and carry out exploration work itself, but partnering with other companies around the world.

Some of these partnerships have seen work being carried out in Canada with Henry suggesting considerable untapped resources in the country.

“Of course, Canada has extensive exploration history already, yet much of this has been at shallow depths in subaortic areas. So there remains potential to find deeper or underexplored parts of the country, and we’re engaged in that effort with a specific focus on copper,” he said.

The solution, he said, is to apply new technologies from other sectors, including 3D seismic sensors and muon tomography. However, this new technology generates huge amounts of data, which benefits from advances in artificial intelligence to help make sense of all the information being collected.

Henry says that BHP has taken a different approach to partnerships by borrowing from the tech sector.

“We’ve also borrowed the accelerator concept from big tech, and we are supporting innovative exploration technologies, methods, and ideas through our global accelerator program, BHP Explorer,” Henry said.

The implications are enormous for an industry that needs new ideas brought to the forefront in short timelines.

The second challenge: Government mining policies

However, the biggest challenge facing the resource sector comes not from within the industry but from outside it.

Henry suggested that the biggest changes can come from evolving government policy, and he thinks things are beginning to move in the right direction. Canada itself released a critical minerals strategy in 2021, and its latest update includes 34 minerals and metals.

“There has been a very welcome burst of renewed government interest in critical minerals in recent times, and the motivations do vary,” he said.

For some governments, this interest stems from a desire to use resources to unlock the economic opportunity associated with decarbonizing the global energy grid. Meanwhile, other governments are pursuing critical minerals needed to provide energy security, economic sovereignty and defense supply chain resilience.

Henry noted that some countries are taking steps to make themselves more competitive and are working to attract capital investment for projects through fiscal reform and tax credits. He also pointed out that some governments are streamlining the regulatory process, which he suggests will speed up development time and reduce risks.

Henry sees incredible benefits in Canada due to the strength of the mining sector, but he cautions that past successes aren’t indicative of future success. He believes Canada is in danger of missing out on the next great opportunities in the resource sector.

“Other countries have some mix of even better resource endowments in certain commodities, better tax and royalty regimes, more streamlined permitting processes, while still maintaining high standards and more productivity, enabling industrial relations framework,” Henry said.

Henry sees complacency and bureaucracy as the enemy of growth and economic security, and believes Canada needs to accelerate its efforts to match those being carried out elsewhere.

In comparison, he points to Chile, where he says they’ve accelerated permitting for multi-billion dollar greenfield projects to five to 10 years and even shorter for brownfield developments. In Canada, he said, those timelines stretch to 10 to 15 years.

“Global capital is going to flow to the best opportunities, risk return opportunities globally. So if a country isn’t constantly benchmarking and saying, what’s the combined effect of our industrial relations policies, our tax settings, our permitting process relative to the other countries that are chasing the same opportunity, we run the risk of falling behind,” Henry said.

What does this mean for investors?

Henry outlined a potential for staggering growth in the mining sector for critical minerals such as copper over the next 15 to 20 years. He suggested there is an opportunity for investors looking to get into the sector at all levels, from exploration to production.

He also noted that it is not without problems. When investors evaluate projects, especially early in development, they should recognize that a multitude of factors could determine their success or failure.

Henry touched on access to the resource, the depth of the deposit and its remoteness. He also noted that jurisdictions play a huge part in a project’s success, so investors should research a country’s permitting process and tax system, as well as why a country may look to fast-track projects and whether it affects a company’s risk analysis.

“Once capital mobilizes in one direction, sometimes it can be quite hard to mobilize back in the other,” Henry said.

Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

CNN Fear and Greed Index Plunges to Extreme Fear – What It Means for Global Markets

Fear is gripping the financial markets in 2025. CNN’s Fear and Greed Index, a widely followed gauge of investor sentiment, has plunged into the ‘Extreme Fear’ zone.

After dipping to 22 at the end of February, the index had fallen to 20 as of March 4, reflecting deep unease among traders and institutional investors alike.

This shift comes amid a mix of economic uncertainties and global geopolitical tensions that have left investors skittish. This includes the US Trump administration enacting tariffs on allies Canada and Mexico on March 4, as well as the administration pulling away from Ukraine and towards Russia.

While market sentiment indicators don’t dictate future price movements, they provide insight into the emotional state of the market — often a contrarian signal for savvy investors. When fear reaches extreme levels, it has historically marked moments of potential opportunity or further market turbulence.

But what does this drop into Extreme Fear really mean? How is the index calculated? And how have past instances of such extreme sentiment played out in the markets?

This article explores the significance of the CNN Fear and Greed Index, its historical context and what investors should watch for next.

What is CNN’s Fear and Greed Index?

CNN’s Fear and Greed Index is a tool designed to measure the prevailing emotions influencing the stock market by weighing seven key indicators.

The Fear and Greed Index operates on a scale from 0 to 100, with a score under 45 indicating fear, a score of 55 and above signifying greed, and one in between marked as neutral. Scores of under 25 and above 75 are labeled Extreme Fear and Extreme Greed, respectively.

How is CNN’s Fear and Greed Index calculated?

The index aggregates seven key indicators, each reflecting different aspects of market sentiment:

  1. Stock Price Strength – Tracks the number of stocks hitting 52-week highs versus those reaching 52-week lows.
  2. Stock Price Breadth – Examines trading volume in advancing versus declining stocks.
  3. Put and Call Options – Analyzes the ratio of bearish (put) options to bullish (call) options.
  4. Junk Bond Demand – Measures the yield spread between high-yield (junk) bonds and safer investment-grade bonds.
  5. Safe Haven Demand – Assesses the relative performance of stocks versus government bonds.

When these indicators collectively signal heightened caution, the Fear and Greed Index falls into the fear zone, with Extreme Fear indicating widespread pessimism in the markets.

Other instances of Extreme Fear

Understanding past instances of Extreme Fear can provide insights into current market conditions. The last two notable times the index hit Extreme Fear were August 5, 2024, and December 19, 2024.

1. August 5, 2024: Global sell-off and economic uncertainty

On August 5, 2024, markets saw a sharp decline following weak tech earnings and US employment data, accelerated by an unexpected interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan resulting in investors trying to unwind their yen carry trades. This caused a ripple effect across global markets:

  • Japan’s Nikkei index plummeted 12 percent in a single session.
  • The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the volatility could be a precursor to prolonged instability.

2. December 19, 2024: Federal Reserve’s hawkish stance

Investor fears resurfaced in mid-December when the US Federal Reserve signaled that interest rates would likely remain elevated longer than expected. The announcement sent shockwaves through the markets:

  • The US dollar surged to a two-year high, weighing heavily on emerging markets.
  • Cryptocurrencies took a hit, with Bitcoin dropping over 15 percent in a week.

How do other fear-based indices compare?

While CNN’s Fear and Greed Index is a popular barometer of market sentiment, it isn’t the only fear-based indicator worth watching. Here’s how other major sentiment gauges compare:

Crypto Fear & Greed Index

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index tracks investor sentiment in the cryptocurrency market. Crypto markets are particularly sensitive to risk-off sentiment, making this index an important measure for digital asset investors.

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index has also dropped into Extreme Fear with a score of 15 on March 4. This decline coincided with continued geopolitical tensions, particularly US President Donald Trump’s announcement of new 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico that day.

Doomsday Clock

Though not a financial index, the Doomsday Clock, updated annually by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, reflects global existential risks, including nuclear tensions, climate change and geopolitical instability.

As of January 28, 2025, the clock is at 89 seconds to midnight, signaling heightened global uncertainty, which can influence investor sentiment in risk assets like equities and cryptocurrencies.

What Extreme Fear means for investors

The plunge of CNN’s Fear and Greed Index into Extreme Fear territory signals widespread investor anxiety. But is this a warning of further declines, or a contrarian buy signal?

Historically, moments of extreme fear have often preceded strong market rebounds, as panicked selling creates opportunities for value investors. However, not all instances lead to immediate recoveries — some mark the beginning of prolonged downturns.

Key considerations for investors:

  • Economic data: Keep an eye on employment reports, inflation data and GDP growth figures.
  • Federal Reserve policy: Interest rate decisions will continue to be a key driver of market sentiment.
  • Corporate earnings: Weak earnings reports could exacerbate investor fears, while strong results may signal resilience.
  • Geopolitical developments: Trade tensions, global conflicts and macroeconomic policies can shift market sentiment quickly.

While fear-based indicators provide valuable insights, investors should use them alongside fundamental and technical analysis to make informed decisions.

Whether this moment marks a temporary panic or the start of a broader downturn remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: investors should be prepared for volatility in the weeks or months ahead.

Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

Goldman Sachs Kostin Warns of a Potential S&P 500 Correction

Goldman Sachs Kostin analyst has issued a warning that the S&P 500 may be headed for a significant correction. His comments, based on current market data and public economic trends, suggest that heightened market risks could force investors to reconsider their positions.

Rising Market Risks and Overvaluation

According to Goldman Sachs Kostin, current market conditions point to growing volatility. He notes that the S&P 500 appears overvalued when measured against fundamental economic indicators. In addition, factors such as rising interest rates and economic uncertainty have increased the overall market risk. These factors, when combined, can create an environment where a correction is likely.

Investor Caution Amid Volatile Trends

Investors are being urged to remain cautious. Kostin emphasizes that the prevailing market optimism may be unsustainable if key economic data turns negative. Many market experts agree that investor caution is necessary during such periods of volatility. In turn, a pullback in the S&P 500 could offer a correction that might reset market valuations to more sustainable levels.

Implications for the Broader Market

A potential S&P 500 correction could have far-reaching implications for other asset classes. With heightened market volatility, investors might shift their focus to safer assets. Moreover, such a correction may serve as a wake-up call for the broader market, prompting both retail and institutional investors to review their portfolios and risk management strategies.

Conclusion

In summary, public data and current market trends support Kostin’s warning about the S&P 500. Rising market risks, overvaluation, and economic uncertainties are key factors that may trigger a correction. Investors should stay informed and practice caution as they navigate these turbulent market conditions. Ultimately, this forecast calls for a balanced approach to risk and a strategic review of investment positions.

This analysis is based on widely reported public market data and reflects a growing consensus among financial experts. As the market evolves, monitoring these trends closely will be essential for making well-informed decisions.

The post Goldman Sachs Kostin Warns of a Potential S&P 500 Correction appeared first on FinanceBrokerage.

How a $5 million fix turned Paramount Pictures’ ‘Sonic’ into a billion-dollar franchise

Sonic the Hedgehog may be able to run faster than the speed of light, but his film franchise nearly came to a screaming halt in 2019.

A less-than-three-minute trailer released early that year to tease the film’s release, which was just six months away, was widely panned by fans who took to social media to rail against Paramount’s character design. Dubbed “Ugly Sonic,” the blue creature that appeared on film was a far cry from the iconic video game speedster.

Cinematic Sonic, version 1, had more realistic facial features, including human-like teeth, and his body proportions were deemed inconsistent with the character fans grew up with in the ’90s.

“The trailer goes out, and I think it became the most viewed trailer in the history of Paramount Pictures. Which is amazing,” said Toby Ascher, who acquired the rights to Sonic and produced the film franchise. “The only problem was that 90% of people hated the trailer because of the design of Sonic.”

“All of a sudden we went from trying really, really hard to make a really, really faithful video game adaptation to being next in line of the people who had ruined video games for everyone. It just was a disaster of epic proportions,” Ascher added.

The studio pivoted, opting to redesign the title character and push the film’s release back three months to February 2020. The fix cost Paramount around $5 million but resulted in a franchise that has generated nearly $1.2 billion at the global box office. The studio hopes to build on that momentum with a fourth installment in the film franchise, set to debut in 2027.

“The Sonic franchise owes its box office success and longevity to a monumental decision early in the development of the first films’ marketing campaign,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “A re-design of a main character is no small thing. … These decisions can make or break what is every studio’s dream of having a single film turn into a long-term revenue generating franchise. The return on investment by turning an ‘ugly’ Sonic into a beautiful revenue generating franchise is undeniable.”

Ascher first acquired the rights to Sonic the Hedgehog in 2013, a time in Hollywood when video game-inspired films had failed to resonate with audiences.

“When we first started working on Sonic, making a video game adaptation was, like, a really bad idea,” he told CNBC.

No film based on a video game property had, to that point, managed to earn a positive rating from review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. It wasn’t until 2019 that a video game-based film generated a “fresh” rating on the site, indicating more than 60% positive reviews.

“I don’t think anyone in town really thought making a Sonic movie was a good idea,” Ascher said. “But, I think our strategy was that we had grown up with these games. We’ve grown up with these characters, and we wanted to treat them like any other character. We wanted to give them real emotional arcs, and real emotional stories where you could relate to them.”

Ascher noted that previous video game adaptations typically focused on worldbuilding rather than character development.

“What we’ve been able to do is inject into the franchise heart, and I think that that’s what’s made it different,” said Neal Moritz, Ascher’s producing partner and producer of franchises like “The Fast and the Furious” and “21 Jump Street.”

Both Ascher and Moritz noted that while the filmmaking team behind the first “Sonic the Hedgehog” film overhauled the main character’s design, the story remained pretty much the same.

The filmmaking team was blindsided by audiences’ reactions to the first trailer, but were resolute in trying to resolve the issue rather than shelve the film or release it in its current form.

Moritz said he made an “impassioned speech” to the heads of Paramount and Sega to allow the filmmakers to fix the mistake.

As Moritz recalls, he told executives: “We really screwed up here, but there’s an incredible amount of interest and what we need to do is fix it … We need some more money and we need some more time. If you give that to us, I think we could turn this thing around.”

“I give both Paramount and Sega a lot of credit,” Moritz said. “They said ‘OK.’”

In the redesign, the team brought back Sonic’s iconic white gloves and classic red shoes. They reinfused the character with some of his cartoon roots, and six months after the first trailer, Paramount released a new iteration.

“The fans saw that we were trying to be really genuine in our love for this franchise,” Ascher said, noting that in the wake of the first trailer the team began engaging more with fans and focus groups to drum up feedback and inspiration.

The new trailer was well-received by fans, and three months later “Sonic the Hedgehog” opened to $58 million at the box office. The feature went on to collect $146 million domestically before the pandemic shuttered theaters. Globally, it pulled in $302 million.

The Sonic franchise has continued to thrive in the following years, with each follow-up feature outperforming the last.

“Sonic the Hedgehog 2” snared $190 million domestically and $403 million globally, while “Sonic the Hedgehog 3″ tallied $235 million stateside and $485 million worldwide.

“That’s a big jump,” said Marc Weinstock, Paramount’s president of worldwide marketing and distribution. “I get excited that every new movie does better than the last one, which is rare.”

Following the success of the second “Sonic” film, the studio’s then-president and CEO of Paramount Pictures, Brian Robbins, greenlit a “Knuckles” series based on the franchise for the company’s streaming service, Paramount+, as well as a third Sonic film.

Sonic was becoming multi-platform, much like Robbins and Paramount had done for franchises like “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “A Quiet Place,” “Spongebob Squarepants” and “Paw Patrol.”

The “Knuckles” show generated more than 11 million global viewing hours in its first 28 days on Parmount+.

The theatrical success also rocketed Sonic from a $70 million licensing business to one that generates more than $1 billion in retail revenue annually, according to Ivo Gerscovich, Sega’s senior vice president and chief business and brand officer of Sonic the Hedgehog.

“The great thing about Sonic — and the success of Sonic from the very beginning — is that we basically have listened to the fans from day one,” Robbins, now co-CEO of Paramount, said. “The fans are fanatical about this franchise and love this franchise and know this franchise. Because of that, they’ve become really key in shaping the franchise … They evangelize it.”

Fans inspired the casting of Keanu Reeves as Shadow, an archrival of Sonic, in the third Sonic film. And the filmmaking team says it continues to look to fans to inspire which characters it will add to the films and series next.

Ascher and Moritz both teased that the fourth Sonic film with again feature a new fan-favorite character, but said the team will continue to expand the franchise’s universe at a slow pace.

“If all of a sudden we bring every character, they are not going to get the time that the audience needs to understand them and relate to them and really fall in love with them,” Ascher said. “So, as we bring characters in, whether it’s film or it’s TV, the most important thing is that they have a good story that really showcases the character in an incredible way.”

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal owns Rotten Tomatoes and is the distributor of “The Fast and the Furious” films.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

Starbucks poaches Nordstrom CFO as executive shake-up continues

Starbucks announced Tuesday that Nordstrom CFO Cathy Smith will join the company as its new chief financial officer, replacing longtime veteran Rachel Ruggeri.

The executive change is the latest for Starbucks after Brian Niccol joined the company as chief executive in September with the goal of turning around slumping coffee sales.

So far, noteworthy departures during Niccol’s tenure have included the company’s North American CEO, North American president, chief supply officer and the former chair of the board. Meanwhile, many executives with ties to Niccol from his time leading Chipotle Mexican Grill and Yum Brands’ Taco Bell have joined the company.

Smith, 61, joins Starbucks after two years at Nordstrom, which is also based in Seattle and recently announced a $6.25 billion deal to go private. Throughout her decades-long career, Smith has also served as CFO for Bright Health Group, Target, Express Scripts, Walmart International, GameStop, Centex, Kennametal, Textron and Raytheon.

Smith is expected to start next month, Niccol wrote in a letter to employees.

Ruggeri has served as chief financial officer for Starbucks since 2021. Excluding two brief stints at other companies, she has worked at the coffee chain since 2001.

“I’m personally grateful for the partnership we’ve had over the last 6 months since I joined Starbucks,” Niccol said in the letter. “Thank you, Rachel, for all you have done for our business, our culture and our partners.”

Her departure is without cause, the company said in a regulatory filing. Ruggeri will stick around to help with Smith’s transition into the role, according to Niccol.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS