General Motors CEO Mary Barra says the storied automaker’s plan to turn its fleet 100% electric will now play out ‘over decades.’

In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Barra clarified the company’s previously stated intention to eventually phase out gas-powered cars.

‘I wouldn’t say we’re recommitting,’ Barra said of the company’s pledge, first announced more than six years ago. ‘You know, we said back in 2018 that we’re committed to an all-electric future. But as we make this transformation, it’s going to happen over decades. And that’s why I couldn’t be more proud of our gas-powered fleet as well.’

In a statement after this article was published, a spokesperson for GM said the company is actually aiming to exclusively sell electric vehicles by 2035.

Barra’s remarks come amid a softening sales environment for electric vehicles in the U.S. In April, Cox Automotive reported that Kelley Blue Book data showed that the first quarter of 2024 saw the first quarter-over-quarter decline in EV sales since the pandemic and that sales were up just 3% year-on-year.

General Motors CEO Mary Barra.NBC News

Last spring, GM announced it was discontinuing its Chevy Bolt EV, which had previously made up the vast majority of the company’s electric vehicle sales, in favor of a new EV platform called Ultium that serves as the battery system across its remaining electric fleet.

Barra told NBC News that GM now has offerings for virtually any consumer preference, whether it’s gas or electric.

‘I want people to choose an EV because they love every aspect about it,’ she said. ‘And if it doesn’t fit their lifestyle, in that same showroom, we’ve got a great gas-powered vehicle that I think will meet their needs.’

Tesla continues to dominate EV sales in the U.S., and although it has gradually given up some market share, it continues to command 50% of EV purchases. Barra confirmed that GM-made EVs will have access to Tesla charging stations, as well as those managed by Pilot Flying J — something that will help alleviate concerns about EV charger availability.

Barra expressed hope that further expansion of the EV charging network will make choosing an electric vehicle easier for consumers.

GM has seen success in EVs for at least one its more recent models. Kelley Blue Book data reported by Cox showed about 1 out of every 6 Cadillac purchases is an electric vehicle — the most of any brand not focused entirely on EVs. Cadillac was also one of nine manufacturers that recorded more than 50% year-on-year growth in EV sales.

It’s indicative of the current trend in the electric vehicle market: They are becoming more popular at the higher end. Cox reported that Cadillac achieved an approximately 500% year-over-year increase in EV sales thanks to robust sales of its Lyriq crossover, which costs $58,590 to $63,190.

It stands in contrast to the Bolt, which was previously the most affordable EV on the market.  

Barra did not directly refer to the Bolt, but said EVs will have to become more affordable if widespread adoption is to occur.

‘Everyone has been talking about to really drive EV adoption, we’ve got to get to EVs that are affordable,’ she said. ‘And when you think this — we’re going to have a model out later this year that starts around $35,000. Then with the tax credit you think about $7,500. This is under $30,000.’

There are some limits to that $7,500 tax credit so closely associated with EV purchases. Receiving that credit depends on the buyer’s income and where the vehicle and its battery components were made. Certain models are excluded from the United States’ EV tax credit program. Those restrictions are part of the Biden administration’s effort to promote EV and battery components made in the U.S.

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, has expressed opposition to the Biden administration’s EV push, calling the effort ‘radical.’

Barra said a second Trump administration would not alter the company’s future plans.

‘We will be just committed because we think in the long term [EVs are] better,’ she said. ‘And even right now — I mean, get in an EV and drive it. It’s instant torque. You never have to go to the gas station, especially if you have at your home or where you live, whether it’s an apartment or your house, you have accessibility charging.’

She continued: ‘I think over the long term when we have a very robust charging infrastructure, people are going to choose EVs, because they’re better.’

Dollar Tree announced Wednesday it is considering a sale of its more grocery-focused Family Dollar brand.

The company had recently shared plans to close almost 1,000 Family Dollar stores in an attempt to revamp the struggling business. The discounter closed more than 500 locations during its fiscal first quarter, it said Wednesday.

“We are already beginning to see progress in this targeted strategy in the streamlined Family Dollar banner,” the company said in a press release. “The unique needs of each banner at this time — transformation at Family Dollar and growth acceleration at Dollar Tree — lead us to the decision to conduct a thorough review of strategic alternatives for the Family Dollar business.”

Dollar Tree bought Family Dollar in 2015 for almost $9 billion. The business has been struggling ever since to compete against its major rival, Dollar General.

The company has not set a deadline or definitive timetable for the sale review process, and is working with JPMorgan and Davis Polk & Wardwell advisors in its review.

Shares of Dollar Tree fell about 2% in premarket trading Wednesday.

The update came alongside Dollar Tree’s fiscal first-quarter earnings report, in which Family Dollar lagged.

Same-store sales for the company’s Dollar Tree brand rose 1.7% while Family Dollar sales climbed only 0.1%. Enterprise sales rose 1%.

Revenue rose to $7.63 billion, up about 4% from $7.32 billion a year earlier.

The company said it expects sales for the second quarter will range from $7.3 billion to $7.6 billion, with sales growth for the Dollar Tree banner of between 2% and 4% and sales for the Family Dollar segment approximately flat.

Here’s how the discounter did in its first fiscal quarter compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

The company’s reported net income for the three-month period that ended May 4 was $300.1 million, or $1.38 cents per share, compared with $299 million, or $1.35 per share, a year earlier. Adjusting for one-time items, including the cost of store closures, the company reported earnings of $1.43 per share.

The company also mentioned that it incurred losses totaling $117 million as of early May, after a tornado destroyed the company’s distribution center in Marietta, Oklahoma on April 28. The facility sustained significant damage, and the inventory in the facility as well as the facility itself are not salvageable, Dollar Tree said in the report.

The company said it expects the incurred losses to be offset by insurance recoveries.

The dollar store segment is going through tough times as lower-end consumers pull back in the face of higher costs. Although a shift to cost-cutting efforts sounds like it would have benefitted dollar stores, the discounters are increasingly losing market share to value retailers like Walmart and e-commerce retailers like Temu.

Dollar Tree fell short of expectations for holiday-quarter sales in its fourth quarter earnings report, meanwhile its main competitor Dollar General surpassed estimates.

Dollar Tree has been in the midst of a broader turnaround effort since current CEO and former Dollar General CEO Richard Dreiling took the helm in early 2023.

Shares of the company have pulled back roughly 15% in 2024.

Walmart on Wednesday said it will offer new training programs and certifications to fill high-demand roles across its business, such as HVAC technicians, opticians and software engineers.

The big-box retailer said it will also offer another reason for hourly store workers to stick around: a bonus of up to $1,000 per year.

Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, has been investing in its stores and its workforce as it tries to hang on to the title of the nation’s top retailer, with Amazon hot on its heels. The retail giant aims to retain market share gains, particularly in the grocery department, during a period of high inflation.

Early this year, the company announced that store managers could earn more than $400,000 a year, including bonuses, as it began offering $20,000 of stock grants in April. Walmart also kicked off a $9 billion project to upgrade and modernize more than 1,400 of its stores, representing more than a quarter of the total Walmart stores across the country.

The company said its average hourly wage is nearly $18, up by about 30% over the past five years. The starting pay in stores ranges from $14 to $19, depending on the location. Walmart raised its minimum wage in January 2023.

Yet Walmart, which reported about $648 billion in total revenue last year and has a market value of nearly $537 billion, still faces criticism for its wages. The company’s total annual compensation for the median employee was $27,642 in the most recent fiscal year, according to the company’s 2024 proxy report. For a family of four people, that falls below the poverty line of $31,200, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

That compares with the median compensation of $26,696 at Target and $36,274 at Amazon, according to those companies’ most recent proxy reports. Those calculations include part- and full-time workers.

Walmart’s new programs give employees more ways to move into higher-paying jobs. The company is piloting a six-month training program in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with 100 store and warehouse associates who want to work in skilled trades, such as technician roles for facilities maintenance, refrigeration and HVAC. Those skilled trade jobs pay between $19 and $45 per hour, said Lo Stomski, the company’s chief talent officer.

The initiative was inspired by a similar program for another high-demand role: truck drivers. The associate-to-driver program has produced more than 500 new drivers since launching in spring 2022, according to the company.

Workers who participate in the programs are not required to keep working for Walmart, but Stomski said they will be needed as Walmart adds automation and robotics across its warehouses and online fulfillment centers.

Walmart said Wednesday that it’s also increased the number of skills certificates it offers to more than 50, up from five in 2020. The certifications can help employees move into salaried or leadership positions in stores, clubs and supply chain facilities. On average, employees receive the certificates in four months, Stomski said.

This week’s announcement coincides with two of Walmart’s major events. Its shareholder meeting will be held virtually on Wednesday. On Friday in its hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas, Walmart will throw its annual associates celebration, a combination of a pep rally and an employee awards program that draws thousands of workers from across the globe and features surprise celebrity appearances and musical performances.

A top European Union court said Wednesday that McDonald’s has lost its Big Mac trademark in the 27-nation bloc, ruling in favor of Irish fast food rival Supermac’s in a longrunning legal battle.

The EU General Court said in its judgement that the U.S. fast food giant failed to prove that it was genuinely using the Big Mac name over a five-year period for chicken sandwiches, poultry products or restaurants.

The Big Mac is a hamburger made of two beef patties, cheese, lettuce, onions, pickles and Big Mac sauce, according to the company’s website.

The decision is about more than burger names. It opens the door for Galway-based Supermac’s expansion into other EU countries. The dispute erupted when Supermac’s applied to register its company name in the EU as it drew up its expansion plans. McDonald’s objected, saying consumers would be confused because it already trademarked the Big Mac name.

Supermac’s filed a 2017 request with the EU’s Intellectual Property Office to revoke McDonald’s Big Mac trademark registration, saying the U.S. company couldn’t prove that it had used the name for certain categories that aren’t specifically related to the burger over five years. That’s the window of time in Europe that a trademark has to be used before it can be taken away.

A Supermac’s restaurant in Dublin.Niall Carson / PA Images via Getty Images file

After the regulator partially approved Supermac’s request, McDonald’s appealed to the EU court.

“McDonald’s has not proved that the contested mark has been put to genuine use” in connection with chicken sandwiches, food made from poultry products or services associated with operating fast-food, drive-through or take-out restaurants, the court said, according to a press summary of its decision.

Supermac’s portrayed the decision as a David and Goliath-style victory. Managing Director Pat McDonagh accused McDonald’s of “trademark bullying to stifle competition.”

“This is a significant ruling that takes a common-sense approach to the use of trademarks by large multi-nationals. It represents a significant victory for small businesses throughout the world,” McDonagh said in a statement.

The Irish company doesn’t sells a sandwich called the Big Mac but does have one called the Mighty Mac with the same ingredients.

McDonald’s was unfazed by the ruling, which can be appealed to the European Court of Justice, the bloc’s highest court, but only on points of law.

“The decision by the EU General Court does not affect our right to use the ‘BIG MAC’ trademark,” the company said in a press statement. “Our iconic Big Mac is loved by customers all across Europe, and we’re excited to continue to proudly serve local communities, as we have done for decades.”

The Federal Aviation Administration has granted Archer Aviation a key certification that gets the electric air taxi maker closer to eventually flying travelers, the company said Wednesday.

Archer is making electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOLs, and won orders and backing in 2021 from United Airlines, which says the new technology could reduce carbon emissions.

Carriers have been investing in or ordering eVTOL aircraft, which take off and land vertically like helicopters and whose developers say they can cut down on emissions in congested areas. United, for example, says passengers could take them to and from the airport in big cities, such as between Manhattan and United’s hub in Newark, New Jersey.

“Today we have received the Part 135 certification, which allows us to effectively become an airline so we can carry passengers,” Archer CEO Adam Goldstein told CNBC.

The process has taken Archer about two years: It submitted more than 2,000 pages of documents and 14 manuals outlining operational procedures, training and maintenance.

Now Archer has to get its four-passenger aircraft, called “Midnight,” certified by the FAA, which the company is currently working on, Goldstein said. That could put the air taxis into service as early as next year, the company estimates. Goldstein said he couldn’t give an exact time frame but when asked about certification delays on variants of older aircraft, he noted that Archer’s aircraft are much simpler with far fewer components than commercial jets.

Visitors to the 2023 Dubai Air Show sit inside an Archer Aviation Midnight aircraft.Christopher Pike / Bloomberg via Getty Images file

Archer’s demonstrator aircraft, Maker, can fly up to 60 miles at top speeds of 150 mph. The company’s Midnight aircraft has a range of 100 miles, though Archer aims to use it for shorter distances.

United is working with Archer on what it would look like to enter the electric aircraft into service.

“This is not something that is a push of a button,” said Andrew Chang, managing director of United Airlines’ venture arm. “It’s matching how quickly [Archer] can progress the operational side and how to fit that within our airport hubs.”

Archer has partnered with automaker Stellantis to produce hundreds of the electric air taxis.

Archer’s rivals have also made strides. Joby Aviation received its Part 135 certificate two years ago, has a partnership with the U.S. Air Force, and has won orders and backing from Delta Air Lines. On Tuesday, Joby said it plans to acquire the autonomy division of autonomous aviation company Xwing.

Nvidia passed Apple in market cap on Wednesday as investors continue betting on the chipmaker behind the artificial intelligence boom. It is now the second-most valuable public company, behind Microsoft.

Nvidia also hit a $3 trillion market cap milestone on Wednesday after shares rose over 5%. At market close, Nvidia had a market value of $3.019 trillion, versus Apple’s, which stood at $2.99 trillion. Microsoft is the most valuable publicly traded company, with a market cap of $3.15 trillion, as of Wednesday.

Nvidia shares have risen more than 24% since the company reported first-quarter earnings in May and have been on a tear since last year. The company has an estimated 80% market share in AI chips for data centers, which are attracting billions of dollars in spending from big cloud vendors.

Investors are also becoming more comfortable that Nvidia’s huge growth in sales to a handful of cloud companies can persist. For the most recent quarter, revenue in its data center business, which includes its GPU sales, rose 427% from a year earlier to $22.6 billion, about 86% of the company’s overall sales.

Meanwhile, Apple shares are up only about 5% this year, as the iPhone maker’s sales growth has stalled in recent months. In its most recent quarterly earnings report, Apple said overall sales dropped 4% and iPhone sales fell 10% from the year-ago period. Apple faces strategic questions and issues about demand in China, manufacturing and mixed reactions to its new virtual reality headset, Vision Pro.

Apple was the first company to reach a $1 trillion and $2 trillion market cap. It long held the title of most valuable U.S. company but was passed by Microsoft earlier this year. Microsoft has also benefited from investor demand for AI infrastructure.

Nvidia has been more volatile as a stock than Apple. Founded in 1991, the company was primarily targeting gaming, selling hardware to play 3D computer games. More recently, it sold cryptocurrency mining chips and cloud subscription services.

Nvidia shares have gone parabolic as its AI business has developed, rising more than 3,290% over the past five years. The company announced a 10-for-1 stock split in May.

Bad economic news so far has been mostly positive for the stock market, as investors worry over whether the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates.

There’s a danger, though, of overdoing it, where too much bad news could signal a significant downturn and even recession ahead.

That’s the dilemma the market finds itself in approaching a week of critical data, mostly focusing on the all-important U.S. labor market, which in turn provides signals about the health of the consumer.

“Bad news has been good news for equities over the past two months … but if growth deteriorates too much, bad news can turn into bad news,” Ohsung Kwon, equity and quant strategist at Bank of America, said in a client note Monday.

Kwon points out that during that period, the S&P 500 and U.S. dollar have diverged in almost perfect unison.

The dollar index has been on a steady though gradual decline, while the large-cap equity index has been on a similar steady though gradual rise. The trend has become particularly acute over the past month, which has seen the S&P 500 climb about 3%. The greenback often rises on bad news as investors seek the safety of cash and equivalents, while the stock market gains on good news.

At the same time, economic data has generally deteriorated, or at least not met Wall Street forecasts.

The Citi Economic Surprise Index, which measures actual data against consensus expectations, began sliding in mid-April, turning negative in late May while falling about 120%. The countercyclical measure indicates that expectations were outpacing reality.

For the most part, bad economic news likely could help convince the Fed that the time is right to start lowering interest rates. The one exception is higher inflation, which would push the Fed toward tighter monetary policy.

The central bank has held its benchmark borrowing rate in a range of 5.25%-5.5% since July 2023, the highest level in some 23 years. Fears about a more hawkish Fed on inflation have caused multiple bouts of volatility in the stock market.

That brings the market to this week’s run of data, which includes surveys on job openings and private job creation, concluding Friday with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ nonfarm payrolls report. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect growth of 178,000 jobs for the month, which would be about in keeping with April’s 175,000, and likely hold the unemployment rate at 3.9%.

If the estimate is about correct, it would put job creation in the “Goldilocks range” of 125,000 to 175,000 of not too hot and not too cold, according to Bank of America experts.

However, anything below 125,000 could mean a reversal from the bad-news-is-good-news trend, in which a rising unemployment rate could trigger a yardstick known as the Sahm Rule, the bank said. Devised by economist Claudia Sahm at New Century Advisors, the rule holds that if the unemployment rate averaged over three months is half a percentage point higher than the 12-month low, the economy is in the early stages of recession.

As of May, the 12-month low would be 3.5%, meaning the jobless rate would have to hold a three-month average of 4% to meet the Sahm hurdle. Based on the prior two months, the unemployment rate would have to rise to 4.3% in May for that to happen.

However, Bank of America sees that as unlikely, expecting above-consensus job growth of 200,000.

“As long as inflation remains in check, stronger growth should also be positive for stocks,” Kwon wrote.

Still, BofA’s strategy team expects market volatility around the report and believes the market is underpricing the chance of a market move.

The firm recommends an options strategy known as a “straddle” as a way to capitalize on a potential market swing.

The move involves buying both puts and calls on S&P 500 options that expire on the same day and have the same strike price. It pays off when the index either rises or falls from the strike price by more than the premium paid. BofA said the trade finished in the money six of the previous eight weeks.