The Shortlist for August 2, 2019: Interest Rates, Impossible Burgers and Big Mergers

 

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter-percentage point on Wednesday, its first reduction in 11 years. However, this is no indictment on the state of the U.S. economy. Here’s how Whittier Trust CIO Sandip Bhagat broke down the news in an interview with Yahoo Finance.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank did not see the move as the beginning of a long series of rate cuts, but did not rule it out.

There is plenty of interest in the meat alternative market recently and Burger King is set to capitalize on it. BK’s parent company, Restaurant Brands International, said Thursday it has reached a agreement with Impossible Foods to begin selling plant-based Impossible Whoppers starting August 8th.

Burger King is the largest restaurant chain to roll out a meat alternative on its menu in the US, and here’s what McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook told CNBC in May about the complications behind such an addition.

Burger King is still undecided whether this move will be permanent or not.
While the impossible burger may only cost a few bucks, SnapAV just spent approximately $680 million to acquire Control 4.

The latter is a provider of automation and network systems for homes and businesses that allow users to control lighting, sound, security, communications and more. Snap AV CEO John Heyman had this to say about the thinking behind the merger.

The announcement signals a further push of AV applications into the smart home space. That’s the B2B Shortlist for this week, I’m MarketScale Digital Editor Geoffrey Short.

Tune in to Business Casual, MarketScale’s live radio broadcast, every Friday at 8 a.m. CST.

For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in the Food & Beverage Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @FoodMKSL
Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

TGR Foundation
Tiger Woods’ TGR Foundation Is Reimagining Educational Access Through STEAM, AI, and Community Partnerships
May 19, 2026

As schools across the United States continue grappling with post-pandemic learning loss, declining student engagement, and shrinking emergency funding, nonprofit organizations are increasingly stepping in to fill critical gaps. Recent national studies on literacy recovery, student engagement, and career-connected learning show that educators are facing significant post-pandemic challenges in keeping students connected to pathways that…

Read More
Talent
Higher Ed Must Build a Talent Supply Chain to Fix Workforce Readiness
May 18, 2026

The traditional pathway from college to career is starting to break down—and both universities and employers are feeling the strain. Higher education is under mounting pressure to prove career outcomes as employers question graduate readiness and internships decline. In fact, many institutions are reporting shrinking internship pipelines even as employers continue to prioritize prior…

Read More
healthcare
The Healthcare Talent Fix: Build Pipelines Early, Use Data, and Get the Experience Right
May 18, 2026

There’s a growing tension inside healthcare right now—between the people leaving the workforce and the patients still arriving every day. It’s a dynamic that leaders can no longer afford to ignore. The numbers make that clear: the Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that the U.S. could be short of as many as 86,000 physicians…

Read More
education
Just Thinking… About Federal Funds, Student Support, and the Future of Education with Eric Reaves
May 15, 2026

As conversations around the future of the U.S. Department of Education continue to intensify, educators and federal program leaders are facing mounting uncertainty about how federal funds will be managed, distributed, and regulated. At the same time, schools serving historically underserved students remain heavily reliant on programs like Title I and other federally supported initiatives…

Read More