Starbucks (SBUX) rolled out its new rewards program along with an updated mobile app on Tuesday, April 12.  The rewards will now be based on the amount of money a customer spends and not the number of purchases. So, you will still be able to earn your free coffee but it may require you to spend a few extra bucks to get there.

The new business strategy received criticism from customers and appeared to have a negative impact on the stock performance.

Starbucks stock finished the day on Monday, April 11th trading at $60.90 per share and dropped 2.3 percent to $59.50 by the end of Tuesday. Although the stock encountered some issues during the launch, it was up to $60.21 the following day.

Dunkin’ Donuts (DNKN) is responding to market competition by releasing their own rewards program promotion offering extra points to new DD Perks enrollees and will offer extra points at the time of enrollment and on the next two purchases using a registered Dunkin’ Donuts Card. Dunkin launched the promotion last Thursday.

Using Weiss Ratings Comparison tool, you can set the two companies side by side and compare key factors. Just click on “Click to Compare” and type in DNKN to pull up side by side comparison.

From which, you will see the overwhelming Starbucks market capitalization of $89 billion, as compared to Dunkin’ Donut’s $4.4 Billion (Data as of April, 13 2016). In profitability section you’ll see that Dunkin’ Donuts has a slightly higher profit margin of 12.97 percent, Starbucks – 12.47 percent. But Starbucks’ sales volume towers over Dunkin’ Donuts resulting in a significantly higher bottom line.

Like with most changes, large or small, someone is going to be unhappy about it. And in this case, the change at Starbucks is not significant enough to have a long term negative impact, a few extra dollars isn’t much for customers who spend up to $6 on a coffee drink. Starbucks is betting that the “cool” factor of holding a Starbucks cup will outweigh the initial negative effects of the revamped rewards program.

Peabody Bankrupt - Blames Fracking, China and Regulation

Peabody Energy (BTU) filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday last week, the second private coal producer this year after Arch Coal (ACIIQ) filed in January.

According to the release from Peabody, through the Chapter 11 filing, the company intends to reduce debt, lower fixed expenses, improve operating cash flow and position the company for long-term success, while continuing to operate as normal.

The main factors blamed were the price of coal, overproduction of natural gas from shale, the Chinese economy.

It is expected that, as with Arch Coal, the stock will continue to be available for OTC trading.

Peabody has been a “SELL” since February 2014 when the stock was priced at $249.91 and it closed at $2.07 on April 12, before the announcement. Check out the “SELL” rated stocks by Weiss Ratings.

ETFs

Weiss Investment Rating’s analysis of precious metals’ ETFs indicates a positive start to 2016. From over 20 ETFs that concentrate on investing in precious metals, most have shown positive gains in 2016 and some recorded year-to-date returns of 10 percent or more.

Weiss rates over 1,600 ETFs amongst which you can find the ones that fit your portfolio the best. Make better investment decisions by utilizing our ETFs Screener where you can customize your search and find the right investment options.

Mutual Funds

Want to see the best performing mutual fund category?

Check out Weiss Ratings list of the top performers, the funds that achieved the 52-week high price within the last 120 days and simply add “Category” as you criteria or column:

• When you add a column, you add the item to be displayed but cannot filter. You can do so by clicking the “Plus” symbol at the top right of the list.
• Adding criteria allows you to move the scale back and forth and narrow down your search. Find “+ Add Criteria” button on your screen to perform this step.

There are many different criteria that you may add, each allowing you to further narrow down your search.

Banks

Based on Weiss Ratings Q4, 2015 bank analysis, the largest ten U.S. banks accounted for 54.4 percent of the entire banking industry’s assets.

Below you’ll find those top institutions and their Weiss Safety ratings, next to them are their parent companies and Weiss Investment rating. Click on any bank or parent company to see more.

Credit Unions

There are many Americans who do not have credit history and the three national credit bureaus: TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax are not reporting anything on them. They have so-called “Invisible Credit”, something that causes lenders to refuse loans or charge extremely high interest rates. Why? Because they don’t know whether or not someone will pay them back.

If a piece of paper provided by a credit bureau does not show any financial history, expect to be denied, charged high interest rates, or find someone credit-worthy to co-sign. Young people or someone who doesn’t use credit cards will actually suffer from not being in debt….

NCUA (National Credit Union Administration) released a report describing how credit unions can serve these “Credit-Invisible” members. The report outlined how a loan program might work for such lenders and what needs to be done to prevent financial losses.

Visit Weiss Ratings website to find safety ratings on thousands of credit unions and use our screener to narrow down your search to find a credit union that fits your financial needs.

Insurance

On April 12, 2016, Florida set the footprint as the first state to pass a law requiring life insurance companies operating in the state to search the Social Security Death Master File to locate life insurance beneficiaries. Life insurers must now check policies to see if there are any benefits that still need to be paid out.

If you have life insurance policy, be sure to communicate that to your beneficiaries to make sure they know about it. Life insurers in other states are not required by law to reach out to beneficiaries.

If you’re in the market for a life insurance policy, be sure to check out Weiss Safety Ratings on life and annuity insurers.

Click here to see strongest life and annuity insurers.

Failures