Month: June 2020

It’s safe to say investors had a lot of options this past spring. According to J.P. Morgan strategist John Normand, excluding emerging market currencies and agricultural products, every market has recovered by at least 50% from COVID-19-induced lows.“When the business cycle is turning higher, policy hyper-stimulative and downside risks manageable, the obvious investment strategy might be to own anything but cash… This indiscriminate approach would not have damaged absolute returns over the past few months,” Normand commented.That said, the strategist thinks this “everything wins” strategy might not be as reliable in the second half of the year, recommending a more …read more […]

An Austrian lawyer has filed a criminal complaint against Wirecard’s former Chief Executive Markus Braun and Chief Operating Officer Jan Marsalek at a court in Vienna, accusing them of market manipulation and serious fraud. The Vienna prosecutors’ office confirmed on Tuesday that it received the claim, which was first reported by Austrian newspaper Der Standard. The lawyer, Joerg Zarbl, told Reuters on Tuesday that Braun took out a 120 million euro ($135 million) loan to buy at least 2.5 million Wirecard shares via a holding company in May after a critical audit by KPMG sent its shares …read more […]

U.S. lender Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) plans to cut its dividend in the third quarter to shore up its finances as it grapples with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.The U.S. bank said it expects its common stock dividend in the third quarter to be reduced from the current level of $0.51 per share. The extent of the dividend cut will be announced when Wells Fargo releases its second-quarter financial results on July 14. The move comes after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced that it would put a limit on dividends for banks based on earnings.“There remains great uncertainty …read more […]

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Shareholders in Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) may be thrilled to learn that the analysts have just delivered a major… …read more […]

Tesla Inc.’s (TSLA) CEO billionaire Elon Musk is reportedly asking employees to work hard to allow the electric car maker to break even in the second quarter.According to an internal email seen by Reuters, Musk is encouraging employees to quickly build and deliver vehicles at the end of the quarter to meet specific targets after production was disrupted due to restrictions tied to the coronavirus pandemic.“Breaking even is looking super tight,” Musk said in the Monday email. “Really makes a difference for every car you build and deliver. Please go all out to ensure victory!”Shares rose 5.2% to 1,009.35 at …read more […]

I was on a Zoom panel discussion last week to discuss current events. The moderator’s first question was “What should the definition of public health be?”
One panelist ventured forth with her answer: “Access and equity.”
When asked to define that, she was tongue-tied.
In the pregnant pause, I decided to weigh in with my typical hand grenade: “I don’t think public health is a government issue. The government has nothing to do with public health.”
Wow, that set things to blazing… especially since one of the panelists had a career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that font of pandemic …read more […]

The hit to Facebook by a new advertising boycott is overblown and presents a buying opportunity, according to hedge fund manager Dan Niles. …read more […]

Top news and what to watch in the markets on Tuesday, June 30, 2020. …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Hedge funds that bought credit insurance on Wirecard AG debt are among those in line for a windfall of as much as $212 million after the disgraced German payments company filed for insolvency last week.A committee of traders meets on Tuesday to decide whether Wirecard has gone through a so-called bankruptcy credit event, triggering payouts to holders of credit-default swaps. These contracts are commonly used by hedge funds to make bets on a company running into trouble as well as by bond investors to hedge their exposure.Wirecard filed for court protection in Munich on June 25 after disclosing …read more […]

The oil giant says cheaper crude prices mean its assets are not worth as much as they used to be. …read more […]

Norwegian Air said it cancelled orders for 97 Boeing Co. (BA) aircraft and has filed compensation claims related to the grounding of the plane maker’s 737 MAX and the 787 engine issues.Shares dropped 3.1% to $188.50 in Tuesday’s pre-market trading. The Oslo-based air carrier terminated its purchase agreements of 5 Boeing 787 aircraft, 92 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft and the so-called GoldCare service agreements (BSG) related to the 787 and MAX aircraft.In addition, Norwegian said it filed a legal claim seeking the return of pre-delivery payments (PDP) and compensation for losses it incurred due to the grounding of the 737 …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc will write down between $15 billion and $22 billion in the second quarter, as the company gave investors a wider glimpse of just how severely the coronavirus crisis has hit Big Oil.The pandemic left no part of the energy giant’s sprawling business unscathed. Oil production slowed, fuel sales fell and shipments of everything from liquefied natural gas to petrochemicals suffered.The dire second quarter also threatened to have a lasting legacy, as reductions in long-term price forecasts will force writedowns on the value of assets all over the world, with its integrated gas business taking …read more […]

Micron Technology Inc (MU) beat third-quarter sales estimates lifting shares up by almost 6% in Monday’s after-market trading as work-from-home and online learning trends boost demand for cloud data center and notebooks services.The stock rose to $51.95 in after-market trading after the U.S. memory chipmaker said that sales are also expected to remain strong in the second half of its fiscal year.In the third quarter ended May 28, Micron earned 82 cents per share on a diluted basis, which is above the 77 cents per share estimate by analysts. Revenue during the same comparative period rose 13.6% to $5.44 billion, …read more […]