Month: July 2020

We’re going deep this morning.
We’ve got something on our mind.
You may be thinking it too.
The head of The New York Times opinion section, Bari Weiss, tossed in the towel this week. She admitted defeat. She said it would take more courage than she’s got to continue taking the lashing she’s gotten over the last three years.
“Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times,” she said on her way out the door. “But Twitter has become its ultimate editor.”
Now, we don’t know the facts of this case. We won’t pretend we’ve heard from all sides.
For all we know, …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Warren Buffett’s $9.7 billion bet on natural gas looks even more contrarian today.As Democrat Joe Biden unveils a staggering $2 trillion clean-energy plan—the most ambitious climate package ever offered by a presumptive presidential nominee—Buffett’s recent deal to buy Dominion Energy Inc.’s natural gas assets is a stark sign he’s expecting that the market’s shift away from fossil fuels won’t happen overnight.The deal is “a bet that the future doesn’t come as fast as some people think,” said Jim Shanahan, an analyst who covers Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. at Edward Jones. “I think they want to be bigger in …read more […]

(Bloomberg Opinion) — The Covid-19 pandemic may have hurt the economy, but for technology stocks it feels like 1999 again. The Nasdaq Composite Index just reached a record high having rebounded about 50% from its low of the year in March. The stock market is not the economy, but it does feels strange for stocks to be soaring in the middle of a deep recession.The difference is timescale: stock prices represent revenue and earnings very far out into the future, not today. If plans for new technology are sound, the outlook can still look bright even though the present seems …read more […]

David Rubenstein, the co-founder of the Carlyle Group and host of “Leadership Live,” joins “Influencers with Andy Serwer” to discuss whether the stock market can keep climbing, who will win the presidential election, and why private equity gets a bad rap. …read more […]

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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s subsidiary UC Web is slashing staff in India after a ban on 59 Chinese-origin mobile apps that includes UC Web’s browser and two other products, according to staff and a company letter seen by Reuters. India last month outlawed the apps following a skirmish between Indian and Chinese forces on a disputed stretch of Himalayan border in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed. It said the apps threatened India’s sovereignty and security and its tech minister described the ban as a “digital strike”. …read more […]

Shares in AstraZeneca (AZN) spiked almost 5% in after-market trading amid a report that early-stage human trial data on the drugmaker’s coronavirus vaccine candidate will be disclosed on July 20.The stock rose to $60.60 in Wednesday’s extended trading after earlier jumping 7%. Data results from the Phase 1 trial of the potential coronavirus vaccine, also known as AZD1222, which AstraZeneca is developing with Oxford University, are slated to be published on Monday, according to the Lancet medical journal.The data is expected to demonstrate whether the potential vaccine is safe and whether or not it triggers an immune response. Earlier this …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — The rally in Chinese shares is unraveling almost as quickly as it began, with losses accelerating Thursday after state media criticized one of the country’s most popular stocks.The CSI 300 Index closed 4.8% lower, its biggest loss since markets reopened in February following the Lunar New Year break. Crowd favorite Kweichow Moutai Co. slumped 7.9%, wiping out a record $25 billion in value and dragging down an index of consumer shares by the most since 2018. The ChiNext Index, which had earlier this week turned hotter than any benchmark in the world, fell as much as 6.2%.This month’s …read more […]

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(Bloomberg) — Oil retreated from a four-month high after the OPEC+ alliance confirmed it would start tapering output cuts from next month.Futures in New York dropped below $41 a barrel after jumping 2.3% on Wednesday. Saudi Arabia and Russia said the producer bloc would proceed with its plan to add more supply next month and were confident that it wouldn’t hurt oil’s rally. The tapering will be partially offset by reduced production from some countries that didn’t meet their targets in previous months.Crude was supported by official data showing U.S. oil inventories fell by 7.5 million barrels last week, the …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s quarterly profit exceeded analyst estimates by the widest margin in six years, underscoring how its technological lead is helping the chipmaker weather the pandemic as well as U.S. curbs on No. 2 customer Huawei Technologies Co.Apple Inc.’s main iPhone chipmaker reported net income of NT$120.8 billion ($4.1 billion) on Thursday, beating the NT$110.6 billion analysts expected on average. That’s the biggest profit beat since the three months ended March 2014. TSMC also reported gross margin of 53%, exceeding its previous guidance of 50%-52%, according to today’s release.TSMC, a critically important link in the global …read more […]

German authorities pressed on for four years investigating investors who bet against Wirecard AG’s shares, even after a UK regulator concluded that their evidence against the short sellers was “not sufficient,” according to documents and people familiar with the matter. With encouragement from Wirecard’s lawyers and despite red flags about the company, financial markets watchdog Bafin and Bavarian state prosecutors in Munich moved swiftly against short sellers after a February 2016 research report alleged fraud and money-laundering at Wirecard, according to confidential documents related to the probe. …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks were lower Thursday along with European and U.S. equity futures as investors parsed a slew of economic data in China that showed the path of economic recovery from the pandemic remains bumpy. The dollar edged higher.Equities in China were down about 1.5%. Shares were also lower in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Australia. S&P 500 contracts slipped after a positive Wednesday session on signs of progress in developing a vaccine for the coronavirus. Twitter Inc. fell in after-hours trading after accounts of some of America’s most prominent political and business leaders were hacked. Crude oil …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — For years, two knocks against Tesla Inc. were that a constant churn of executive turnover would catch up to Elon Musk, and that an onslaught of electric models from Volkswagen AG and others would put him in his place.Now, the tables have turned.VW’s electric offensive has sputtered, with software issues plaguing its battery-powered ID.3. And it’s the German giant whose executive suites are turning over: in a matter of days, its trucks chief resigned, the leader of its van unit was demoted and its head of software was reassigned.Even Chief Executive Officer Herbert Diess’s job looked insecure for …read more […]

(Bloomberg Opinion) — With the $28 billion he’s raised working from home, India’s richest man wants to step into the breach created by the technology cold war between America and China. The two Silicon Valley tech giants that gave him a third of the money will help put him there. It’s an audacious plan. Politicians in many nations, including the U.S., the U.K. and India, are reluctant to let Huawei Technologies Co., which they accuse of being an instrument of the Chinese state, become embedded in the fast-speed internet networks that will run everything from power stations to autonomous cars.Ambani’s …read more […]