CWS Market Review – February 27, 2024
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on February 27th, 2024 at 7:18 pm

(This is the free version of CWS Market Review. If you like what you see, then please sign up for the premium newsletter for $20 per month or $200 for the whole year. If you sign up today, you can see our two reports, “Your Handy Guide to Stock Orders” and “How Not to Get Screwed on Your Mortgage.”)

LUNR Falls Back to Earth

I feel terrible for the company Intuitive Machines (LUNR). This was the team that flew its craft, named Odysseus, to the moon and landed it on the lunar surface. This was the first time Americans had done so in over 50 years.

There was, however, one small problem. Odysseus landed on its side. That wasn’t supposed to happen. In my opinion, who cares?! They effectively landed a Roomba on another planet. Dear lord, that’s amazing!

So what if they got some minor details wrong? They got the first 99.999999% of the mission right. Odysseus is the first privately-built craft in history to make a soft landing on the moon.

Mind you, Odysseus is still working fine. It’s even been able to send back incredible photos. It’s just lying on its side. I mean, Odysseus is chillin’. Who cares?

Well, the markets, apparently. On Monday, shares of Intuitive Machines plunged 35%. At one point today, LUNR was down another 20%. The market gods can be a cruel bunch.

This is, however, an important lesson for investors. The stock market is not swayed by emotion. No matter how much you may wish for something to happen, the market simply doesn’t care. After all, shares of LUNR jumped 530% between the stock’s January low and its February high. The company had initially reported that the landing went well. Only when the evidence became clear did they say there was a problem.

I’m on LUNR’s side. Not enough to be an investor, but certainly enough to be a fan. This is a good reminder that a near-term share-price move isn’t the end of the world. Or even the moon.

Durable Goods Plunge the Most in Four Years

This morning, the Commerce Department released the durable goods report for January, and it was pretty bleak.

Last month, orders for durable goods fell by 6.1%. That was even below Wall Street’s already pessimistic forecast for a drop of 4.5%. This was the biggest drop in nearly four years, and that report came during the initial stages of Covid.

When we say durable goods, we mean things that are intended to last more than three years. This data can be a good omen for future economic growth. People tend to buy durable goods when they’re optimistic. That’s why today’s report is so concerning.

The data for December was revised lower to a drop of 0.3%. The initial report had been for it to remain unchanged. These reports may suggest that the economy is downshifting from robust growth towards the end of last year.

A major factor for the lousy report is a 59% drop in in civilian aircraft orders. According to MarketWatch, “Boeing reported on its website that it had received only three orders for commercial aircraft in January, sharply down from 371 in December.”

Overall transportation orders dropped 16.2% last month after slipping 0.6% in December. Orders for motor vehicles and parts fell 0.4%. Excluding transportation, durable goods orders fell 0.3% last month after dipping 0.1% in December.

There were decreases in orders of primary and fabricated metals. Machinery orders were unchanged. But orders for computers and electronic products increased 1.4%, while those for electrical equipment, appliances and components rose 0.9%.

Economists like to look at “core capital goods” which is non-defense capital goods minus aircraft orders. That’s considered to be a good proxy for business spending. For February, it edged up by 0.1%. For January, it was down by 0.6%.

There’s been a lot of talk about “seasonality effects” or the impact of weather or the news of large-scale layoffs. For example, Google is laying off 12,000 employees after reporting a profit of $20 billion for Q4. Of course, that’s what a profit-making enterprise does. We’ll need to see more data, but the economy may be slowing down right now.

Also this morning, the Conference Board said that its consumer confidence index fell to 106.7. Economists had been expecting 115. The number for January was revised lower to 110.9. This is another worrying sign.

On Monday, the Commerce Department said that sales of new homes rose in January but by less than expected. Sales of single-family homes totaled 661,000 last month (that’s an annualized figure). Wall Street had been expecting 690,000. One bright spot is that it was a 1.5% increase over December.

Meanwhile, the median sales price of new houses last month came in at $420,700, up from $413,100 in December. One problem impacting the housing market is that there’s relatively low supply. Since so many people locked in mortgages when rates were lower, they’re skittish about putting their homes on the market right now.

I don’t think the economy is in serious trouble right now, but this week’s reports do concern me. We’ll need to see more reports before we can definitely say that the economy is in trouble. The odds of no rate cut coming in June are slowly getting higher.

Tomorrow, the government will update its report on Q1 GDP growth. The initial report was quite good. On Thursday, we’ll get the PCE price data. This is the Fed’s preferred measure for inflation. Then on Friday, the ISM Manufacturing Index comes out.

Amazon Joins the Dow

Yesterday, Amazon (AMZN) joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average. This is Wall Street’s equivalent of being a “made man.”

It’s a big deal. There are only 30 stocks in the index so when one goes in, another comes out. This time, it was Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) that got the boot. The company recently cut its dividend and I think that prompted the index keepers to make a move.

The Dow doesn’t change its members very often. This was the first change to the Dow in nearly four years. Actually, the Dow has been getting slightly more active in recent years.

The Dow didn’t make any changes to the index from 1939 to 1956 when it replaced Loew’s Theatres with International Paper. They made four more changes in 1959 but that was it until 1976. All told, the index went 37 years with only making four changes to its roster. Since its founding in 1897, the Dow has made about 130 changes.

In 1939, the gatekeepers of the Dow removed IBM (IBM) from its index. That was a huge mistake. It was added back in 1979. Over those 40 years, IBM was a huge winner for investors. If the Dow folks had left it alone, the Dow’s level would be much higher today.

I’m not a big fan of the Dow. My preference is to follow the S&P 500, and that’s usually what I reference when I’m speaking of the market as a whole. Investors see it that way as well. Among index funds, $5.75 trillion is indexed to the S&P, but only $87 billion is indexed to the Dow.

The lack of tech stocks has hurt the Dow. In recent years, the S&P 500 (in blue) has significantly outperformed the Dow (in red).

The S&P 500 is a larger index, but the other reason is that it’s weighted by market value while the Dow is weighted by price. To calculate the Dow, you simply add up all the prices and adjust it by a multiple.

Before this week’s change, each $1 in the share price of a Dow member worked out to about 6.6 Dow points. Since Walgreens is around $20 per share, it was barely a blip in the index. It was, by far, the lowest-weighted stock in the index. Amazon is currently around $173 per share. Recall that Amazon split its stock 20-for-1 less than two years ago. (Google did a 20-for-1 a little bit after Amazon.)

There’s also the issue of Walmart splitting its stock 3-for-1. Even though nothing changes, Walmart’s weighting in the Dow will drop by two-thirds. Price weighting simply makes little sense. I understand why it was used in 1896, but not today. The Dow is an anachronism. The best index to follow is the S&P 500.

That’s all for now. I’ll have more for you in the next issue of CWS Market Review.

– Eddy

P.S. If you want more info on our ETF, you can check out the ETF’s website.

Morning News: February 27, 2024
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on February 27th, 2024 at 7:06 am

Japan’s Consumer Prices Grow at Slowest Pace in Nearly Two Years

German Consumer Confidence Ticks Up Despite Gloomy Outlook

Yellen Urges Israel to Restore Economic Ties to West Bank

Yellen Calls for Way to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Aid Ukraine

Biden Trade Chief Arrives at WTO Optimistic on Overhauling the Trade Forum

An Emboldened F.T.C. Bolsters Biden’s Efforts to Address Inflation

Fed Rate Cuts Are Likely to Be Slow — But Not Necessarily Steady

Hawkish Fed Impedes Regional Banks’ Efforts to Shed CRE Risks

Debt-Addicted Companies Look to Equity as Interest Costs Skyrocket

Warren Buffett Says the Stock Market Is Increasingly ‘Casino-Like’—and Young Investors Need to Remember This ‘One Fact of Financial Life’ to Avoid the Mess

Goldman Sachs Trades at a Discount. Here’s Why

BlackRock Says ‘New Regime’ Calls for More Active Management

Food Is Taking a Bite Out of Your Income. These Consumers Are Getting Creative

Housing Costs Are Running Hot, but Is the Data Missing a Cooling Trend?

Nvidia’s $70 Million Florida Supercomputer Hobbled by DeSantis Law

US Rebates For Energy-Efficient Appliances Are Coming, Finally

ZTE, China Network Maker Shares Rise After U.S. Allies Unveil 6G Principles

China’s EV Champion Is Coming for Your Gas Powered Cars, Too

Corner Offices Are Out; Collaboration Is In. Say Hello to the New Law Firm

Warehouse Boom Fades, and the Hopes of a California Region Fade With It

Chevron’s $53 Billion Deal for Hess in Jeopardy on Possible Exxon Challenge

Behind the Kroger-Albertsons Deal, a Pragmatic CEO With His Biggest Bet

Macy’s to Close 150 Namesake Stores, Grow Luxury Brands

Stephen Curry Is Battling the Clock to Win Over Sneaker Fans

Trump’s $540 Million Court Fine Tests His ‘King of Debt’ Title

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Morning News: February 26, 2024
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on February 26th, 2024 at 7:03 am

Bank of England Builds ‘Proactive Case’ to Regulate Non-Banks

EU Adopts Euro Instant Payments Rules to Take on Visa, Mastercard

What Happened When Saudi Arabia Took its Money and Influence to Miami

Treasury Markets Are Losing Their Shock Absorber

Stocks Take a Breather at Start of Data-Rich Week

When High-Yield Savings Accounts Come With an Asterisk

China’s Quant Clampdown Risks Damaging Fragile Markets for Years

Jack Ma-Backed Ant Outbids Citadel Securities for Credit Suisse’s China JV

Goldman, Morgan Stanley Backstop Riskiest Slices of CLOs

Berkshire Set to Close In on $1 Trillion Valuation After Results

Risk Models Behind World’s Best Hedge Fund Strategy Are Getting a Lot Harder to Crack

Genesis Faces Unlikely Bankruptcy Foe: Its Own Parent Company

Cathie Wood Sells Into Nvidia Frenzy Again, Cuts TSMC Stake

AI Is Exploding Data Center Energy Use. A Google-Created Technique May Help

Top Global Energy Traders Face Multi-Billion Cash Quandary

Can a Tech Giant Be Woke?

AT&T Will Give $5 to Customers Hit By Cellphone Network Outage

Intuitive Machines Sinks on Concerns Lander Tipped on Moon

Tech Splits Ad Companies’ Fortunes in Two

BYD’s New $233,450 EV Supercar to Rival Ferrari, Lamborghini

Li Auto Forecasts Softer Sales After Posting Surge in Quarterly Revenue, Profit

Norfolk Southern Seeks to Thwart Activist With New Board Picks

Temu’s U.S. Entry Is an Orange Flag for Etsy

Adidas Is Dropping a New Batch of Controversial Yeezy Shoes on Digital Channels

Cigarettes Are Losing Their Hold on the Nicotine Fix

Giving Big, a California Couple Gets Gratitude and Scrutiny

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Morning News: February 23, 2024
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on February 23rd, 2024 at 7:02 am

Oil Market Gets a Russian Lesson: Sell on the Sound of Cannons

Venezuela Calls in Oil Debt It Once Traded Away for Literal Beans

China’s Central Bank Tries to Catch Markets Off Guard With Surprise Easing

China Home Prices Slide, Increasing Pressure on Beijing

France Will Cut Spending as It Sees a Weaker Economy Ahead

German Business Sentiment Brightens Slightly, Despite Signs of Recession

ECB Can Afford Less Restrictive Stance From Summer, Simkus Says

U.S. to Impose Sanctions on More Than 500 Russian Targets

The Political Failure of Bidenomics

Top Fed Officials Bolster Case for Patient Stance on Rate Cuts

Wave of Cash Seen Washing Into Credit as Investors Seek Duration

Global Equity Funds See Outflows Amid Inflation Concerns

Record World Stocks Leave Bonds in Gloom

Fidelity Manager Dumps Nearly All Treasuries on Growth Optimism

What Companies Need to Know When Accounting for Leap Day

Student Loan Borrowers in Texas Get Biggest Share of Biden’s $1.2 Billion Forgiveness Plan

Nvidia Set to Top $2 Trillion Valuation in First for Chipmakers

Allianz Boosts Shareholder Returns After Profit Nearly Doubles

Deutsche Telekom Expects Adjusted Earnings Growth to Pick Up

Grab Targets Organic Growth, AI Tools in Path to Profitability

Are You Bleeding Money on Car Insurance? So Are Insurers

Vice’s New Owners Prepare to Slash What’s Left of Its Work Force

It’s a Great Deal, Before the ‘Drip Pricing’

When Science Class Is in a Former Macy’s

Émigrés Are Creating an Alternative China, One Bookstore at a Time

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Morning News: February 22, 2024
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on February 22nd, 2024 at 7:04 am

Iran-Backed Houthis Prepare for Long Battle With US in Red Sea

New Freighters Could Ease Red Sea Cargo Disruptions

Japan Shares Open New Chapter as Nikkei Reclaims Its 1989 Peak

Quant Models Went Haywire as Chinese Stocks Crashed and Rallied

Leaked Files Show the Secret World of China’s Hackers for Hire

Mexican Economy Stalled as High Interest Rates Damp Demand

Why Huge European Central Bank Losses Matter

Many Americans Believe the Economy Is Rigged

T-Bills Without Tax Bills? This Fund Says It Cracked the Code

Warburg Pincus Hands Cash Back to Investors as Rivals Struggle

Goldman Sachs’s Chief Economist Has Nailed Big Calls. Here’s His Next One

KKR’s CRE Deal Pipeline Heats Up Amid ‘Year of Transactions’

Tech M&A Raises Fears Over Software Pricing, Bundling for CIOs

How Capital One’s $35 Million Discover Merger Could Affect Consumers

Nvidia To Top Meta Record With Nearly $250 Billion Value Jump

Nvidia Is a Must-Buy. Or Is It?

Lenovo Snaps Revenue Declines, Bets On AI-Powered Tech

The New Hot Climate Investment Is Heat Itself

Home Sales Likely Rebounded in January After Last Year’s Sharp Decline

Why Car Insurance Rates Are Soaring

Instagram’s Uneasy Rise as a News Site

One Business Decision Made the World’s Losing Battle With Malaria Even Tougher

Nestlé Warns on Sales Growth as Inflation Continues to Bite

Shoppers Want Uggs and Hokas. The Brands Are Boosting Growth for Their Owner

A Billionaire Bought a Chunk of Manchester United. Now He Has to Fix It.

A24’s Risky Hollywood Moment

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Morning News: February 21, 2024
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on February 21st, 2024 at 7:04 am

China Tightens Grip on Stocks With Net Sale Ban at Open, Close

HSBC’s Profit Sinks on $3 Billion Charge at Chinese Bank

US Citizens Become Collateral Damage in Global Sanctions Fight

TSX Seen Reaching Record High In 2025 If Rate Cuts Begin

Are We in a Productivity Boom? For Clues, Look to 1994

Wall Street Brokers Are Coming for the Hot Retail-Options Trade

Nvidia’s High-Stakes Earnings Moment Has Entire Market on Edge

Capital One’s $35 Billion Discover Deal Hinges on Playing Consumer Champion

Health Care AI Startup Raises $60 Million From General Catalyst, Thrive, GV

Amazon Is Joining the Dow Jones Industrial Average

CVC Adds to Fundraising Spree With $6.8 Billion Asia Fund

Private Equity Payouts at Major Firms Plummet 49% in Two Years

US Mortgage Rates Jump Above 7% for First Time Since December

It’s Been 30 Years Since Food Ate Up This Much of Your Income

Will Food Prices Stop Rising Quickly? Many Companies Say Yes.

Biden Cancels $1.2 Billion of Federal Student Loans

Biden’s EV Dreams Are a Nightmare for Tesla and the US Car Industry

Volkswagen Leans on Electric Vehicles and Nostalgia to Grow in U.S.

Thailand, Indonesia Ramp Up Incentives to Boost EV Demand

As Hybrids Become More Popular, Their Green Benefits Are Questioned

Unhappy Fliers Cost Brazil’s Airlines Millions With Easy-to-Win Lawsuits

Glencore Earnings Plummet From Record Highs as Energy Prices Subside

BAE Systems Forecasts Another Year of Sales Growth Amid Geopolitical Tensions

Rio Tinto Annual Net Profit Down 19%, Dividend Pared on Commodity-Price Fall

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CWS Market Review – February 20, 2024
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on February 20th, 2024 at 6:10 pm

(This is the free version of CWS Market Review. If you like what you see, then please sign up for the premium newsletter for $20 per month or $200 for the whole year. If you sign up today, you can see our two reports, “Your Handy Guide to Stock Orders” and “How Not to Get Screwed on Your Mortgage.”)

Lyft Soars 67% on Typo

After the close of trading last Tuesday, the ride-sharing company, Lyft (LYFT), released its quarterly earnings report. In it, the company said that it expects its profit margin to improve by 500 basis points.

Wow! In after-hours trading, the stock soared as much as 67%.

There was, however, one teeny-tiny problem: they meant to say 50 basis points, not 500.

A spokesperson for the company attributed the correction to a clerical error.

Oh!

Cue Emily Litella, “nevermind.”

The shares quickly fell back to Earth. This is a good reminder that the market is made up of people, and it’s subject to all the faults and foibles people have.

We have lots of fancy models that try to explain a process that can be highly irrational, or simply misinformed.

This is also a good reason why I’m leery of stop orders, especially for long-term investors. You can easily be stopped out of a good stock for a bad reason.

By the way, Lyft really did have a great quarter, and the stock is up, but much of the good news has been lost due to an embarrassing typo. It’s amazing how one wrong key stroke can duck things up.

Could the Fed Resume Hiking Rates?

In recent issues, I’ve talked about the market’s change of heart regarding what the Fed will do with interest rates. Not that long ago, the market thought the Fed would be cutting interest rates by now. Lately, it looks like the Fed won’t be cutting rates at its meetings in March or May. In fact, the June meeting may soon look doubtful.

What’s going on? Into all this jumps former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers who said the Fed may even raise interest rates. Specifically, Summers said, “There’s a meaningful chance—maybe it’s 15%—that the next move is going to be upwards in rates, not downwards.”

I’m not fully in Summers’s court just yet, but it’s an interesting take. Summers said that Wall Street economists had been expecting that plunging housing costs would hold back overall inflation, but that hasn’t happened.

Economists like to look at the “core rate” of inflation which excludes food and energy prices. There’s also the “super core rate” which is the cost of services except energy and housing. The super core rate has been getting a lot of attention lately.

This is important because it makes us focus on the issue of how much inflation is driven by wages, which is another way of asking, how much of inflation does the Fed control?

What happened is that during Covid, employees finally held the upper hand. It was a tight labor market and wages started to improve. Those increases were largely passed along in the form of higher prices for services, and not so much for goods.

I’m borrowing this example from the WSJ but it explains the phenomenon well. Let’s compare haircuts and televisions. The former is a service that’s driven by wages. The latter is a good and less dependent on wages.

The prices for haircuts are rising while TV prices are falling. It’s like two separate economies but it’s really showing us how much prices are influenced by wages. The January CPI report showed that super core prices rose by 0.85%. Summers is making the point that the prices that most concern the Fed are far from under control.

Walmart Beats the Street

Last week’s retail sales report came in below expectations. This morning, we got another retail sales report but this time, it wasn’t from the government, Instead, Walmart (WMT) released its earnings report.

The company is so big that its earnings report is effectively a report on Americans’ spending behavior. Walmart said that its quarterly revenue increased by 6% to $173.39 billion. That works out to about $1.3 million every minute.

Today’s report was for the key holiday spending months of November, December and January. For the quarter, Walmart earned $1.80 per share which was 15 cents higher than Wall Street’s consensus. The shares jumped a little over 3% in today’s trading.

Walmart had held up well during the recent (and perhaps, still ongoing) bout of inflation. As any shopper knows, Walmart is relentless in its quest to keep prices as low as possible. Last quarter, Walmart was helped by soaring e-commerce revenue. Global e-commerce sales rose 23%.

Going forward, Walmart said it expects sales growth of 4% to 5% for its fiscal Q1 (ending April 30), and earnings of $1.48 to $1.56 per share. For the year, Walmart expects earnings of $6.70 to $7.12 per share. That means the stock is going for about 25-26 times earnings. In my opinion, that’s too high.

While other companies have been holding back, Walmart has been expanding and upgrading its locations. The company said that it will raise the average income for store managers to $128,000 per year.

Shares of Walmart will split 3-for-1 after the market closes on Friday. This will be the retailer’s first stock split in 25 years. In the 25 years prior to that, Walmart split its stock nine times, all of them were 2-for-1.

According to the largest retailer on the planet, shoppers are plenty active.

Capital One Buys Discover for $35 Billion

“What’s in your wallet?” Apparently, Discover Financial Services.

A major acquisition was announced today in the credit card space. Capital One Financial (COF) said it’s buying Discover Financial Services (DFS) for $35 billion. The deal is all cash.

Here’s how the deal works. Discover shareholders will get 1.0192 shares of COF for each DFS share they own. That’s a nice 26% premium for Discover based on Friday’s close.

Once the deal is done, Capital One shareholders will own 60% of the company, while Discover shareholders will own the other 40%. The companies expect the deal to close later this year or early in 2025.

There’s still the issue of getting regulatory approval. The government doesn’t look too kindly on mergers of industry leaders, especially in industries that aren’t wildly popular with consumers.

When deals like this are announced, the market likes to poke around at what might be next. This time, I’m skeptical because there doesn’t appear to be an obvious candidate. Also, I suspect that getting the Feds to sign off on this deal may be harder than they think.

The big earnings report for tomorrow will come after the close when Nvidia (NVDA) reports its earnings. Nvidia has become the most prominent AI trade. The company recently surpassed Alphabet (GOOG) and Amazon (AMZN) in total market value.

I guess you can say that expectations are high as the shares have soared 450% over the last 16 months. Also, Nvidia has crushed its last three earnings reports. The company has exceeded expectations by (in order) 18%, 29% and 19%. Nvidia has really become the marquee name of the Magnificent 7 gang.

For tomorrow, Wall Street expects earnings of $4.63 per share. Between you and me, I think that really means at least $5 per share. Wall Street is expecting Nvidia’s sales to rise by 240%. Of course, a large amount of those sales are going to Microsoft, Google and Amazon. Last quarter, Nvidia’s gross margin was 75%.

This is a good case of expectations being so high that almost any number will be a disappointment. Nvidia closed down today by 4.3%.

That’s all for now. I’ll have more for you in the next issue of CWS Market Review.

– Eddy

P.S. If you want more info on our ETF, you can check out the ETF’s website.

Morning News: February 20, 2024
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on February 20th, 2024 at 7:01 am

Chinese Banks Slash a Key Lending Rate as Economy Falters

China Freezes Accounts of Quant Fund After It Dumped Stocks

Spicy Food and Dental Implants: Low Prices Lure Hong Kongers to China

German Property Lender PBB and the Crisis-Hit US Market

Markets Start to Speculate If the Next Fed Move Is Up, Not Down

Bill Ackman Rockets Up Best-Paid Hedge Fund List by Doing Very Little

Pursuing ‘American Dynamism,’ Andreessen Horowitz Ups Its Game in DC

Two Rothschild Bank Clans Fight Over Clients, Power and the Family Name

US Supreme Court Weighs Bid to Challenge Debit Card ‘Swipe Fee’ Rule

Capital One to Buy Discover for $35 Billion in Year’s Biggest Deal

Unpacking the Washington Math for a Big Payment Deal

Walmart Gains on Strong Results, Deal to Buy TV Maker Vizio

Home Depot Beats Earnings, Sales Estimates Even As Consumers Take On Smaller Home Improvement Projects

TikTok Is Subject of E.U. Inquiry Over ‘Addictive Design’

Inside the Funding Frenzy at Anthropic, One of A.I.’s Hottest Start-Ups

Air Liquide Net Profit Rises But Misses Expectations

Super Micro Short Sellers Notch $1.2 Billion as Shares Tumble

InterContinental Hotels to Return Up to $1 Billion to Shareholders

Bayer Cuts Dividend by 95% as It Wrestles With Roundup Woes

Gene Therapy Makers Struggle to Find Patients for Miracle Cures

Fresenius Medical Care Net Profit Rises on Cost Savings

Ozempic Hype House Backfires in WeightWatchers Brand Misstep

How an $18 Big Mac Meal Became a Symbol for Economic Anxiety — and What That Means for Democrats

Culinary Hubs Put a Twist on Home Cooking

Can the Olympics Rejuvenate One of France’s Poorest Corners?

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Morning News: February 19, 2024
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on February 19th, 2024 at 7:05 am

Russian Oil Refining Falls Further in Wake of Drone Attacks

Polymetal International to Sell Russian Business for $3.69 Billion

How War in Europe Boosts the U.S. Economy

Ukraine’s Allies Are Gaming Out a World in Which the US Retreats

Zambian Kwacha Turns World Beater With Help From Central Bank

Brazil’s Economic Activity Caps 2023 With Better-Than Expected Growth

Chinese Travelers Hit the Road but Pinch Their Pennies

China Stocks’ Insipid Reopen Adds Pressure on Beijing to Do More

China Central Bank Leaves Key Policy Rate Unchanged Under Shadow of Federal Reserve

Systemic Risk Concerns Grow Among Money Managers as Real Estate Woes Cause Turmoil

Cracks Are Emerging in Central Bank Synchronicity

Can the Fed Increase the Rate of Interest Charged to Taylor Swift?

Goldman Lifts S&P 500 Target With Profit Optimism to Drive Rally

Wall Street’s Moelis Bet Big on the Middle East. Now He’s Cashing In

America’s Oil Power Might Be Near Its Peak

The War Over Burying Nuclear Waste in America’s Busiest Oil Field

Nature Has Value. Could We Literally Invest in It?

More Wall Street Firms Are Flip-Flopping on Climate. Here’s Why

Nvidia Earnings Are Coming. It’s Time to Think About AI Chip Competition

US to Award $1.5 Billion to GlobalFoundries in Chips Act Grant

Plans to Expand U.S. Chip Manufacturing Are Running Into Obstacles

EU Reportedly Set to Fine Apple 500 Million Euros Amid Antitrust Crackdown

Anglo American Platinum Could Cut Around 3,700 Jobs in Restructuring

China’s JD.com Versus US’s Elliott in Battle for UK’s Currys

BYD’s Shenzhen-Listed Shares Rise on Buyback Plan, More Luxury-Model Launches

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Morning News: February 16, 2024
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on February 16th, 2024 at 7:03 am

Russia’s Central Bank Governor Nabiullina on Rates, Inflation

Guyana Is Trying to Keep Its Oil Blessing From Becoming a Curse

Stolen Substation Shows Scale of South Africa’s Power Crisis

Droughts, Heatwaves Could Dent Spanish Banks’ Capital

Wall Street’s Climate Retreat

World’s Major Economies Fall Behind U.S.

America’s Economy Slowed—It Probably Won’t Stumble

Biden Adviser Says Soft Landing Helped by Public-Spending Boost

I.R.S. Commissioner Warns Budget Cuts Would Add to Deficit

Stocks Climb Before PPI Report in Data-Driven Week

Coinbase Shares Surge After Bitcoin ETF Euphoria Helps Return to Profitability

Banks Are Piling Back Into Everything From Mortgage Debt to CLOs

Hedge Fund Investors Are Getting More Demanding About Charges

NatWest Shares Rise After Results Beat Despite Mixed Outlook

Swiss Re Net Profit Surged on Property-and-Casualty Strength

Hindenburg Report Throws Swiss Fintech Temenos Into Turmoil

Deutsche Bank Ends Prized Covid Custom: Four-Day Weekends From Home

Ex-Goldman Analyst Jailed for 22 Months for Insider Trading

As Home Insurance Bills Go Up, Owners’ Coverage Is Going Down

The Antitrust Enforcers Aimed at Big Tech. Then Came the Backlash

In Big Election Year, A.I.’s Architects Move Against Its Misuse

Amazon Argues Labor Board Is Unconstitutional

Chinese EV Maker BYD Exploring Mexico Factory as Entry to U.S. Market

How Paramount Became a Cautionary Tale of the Streaming Wars

Nike to Cut 2% of Workforce as Sportswear Giant Seeks Savings

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