Year: 2020

(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that it would lift a ban on cruises in U.S. waters, even as government scientists warned that ships remain vulnerable to deadly Covid-19 outbreaks.The agency provided a list of detailed requirements that cruise lines must meet to resume U.S. operations — meaning that ships could return to U.S. ports in the next few months.“This framework provides a pathway to resume safe and responsible sailing,” CDC Director Robert Redfield said in the statement.Yet with its statement Friday, the CDC said recent outbreaks show cruise travel “facilitates and amplifies” Covid-19 …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — PetSmart Inc. is shelving a $4.65 billion debt sale that would have helped finance its split from its online counterpart Chewy Inc. after struggling to get buyers on board.The company withdrew its joint junk bond and leveraged loan offering, citing market conditions, according to emailed comments from a PetSmart spokesman Friday. The financing, part of a plan to separate the companies led by private equity firm BC Partners, had yet to generate enough orders to match what it was trying to raise, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing a private …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — After all the hype around blank-check companies earlier this year, things have gotten ugly, with those shares selling off amid a stock-market rout.The Defiance Next Gen SPAC Derived ETF (SPAK), which primarily tracks companies that raise money for buying businesses, has plunged more than 14% since its October debut. Online sports-betting company DraftKings Inc. has tumbled about 40% this month, while Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. — a developer of space vehicles — is down about 9%.Special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, have become a hot area of the market as a way for purchasers to avoid the costly …read more […]

Nearly a year into a global pandemic the world is still on the back of its heels. In the face of ever increasing infection rates, world economies have slowed rapidly and unemployment has increased significantly, and now governments are reconsidering shutting down entire countries once again. At the same time, the federal government has failed to pass a second stimulus package to prop up individuals who have lost their jobs and may be facing homelessness, as well as the need to help state and local governments provide a backstop against their own losses.Given this backdrop, there is a lot riding …read more […]

Imagine that Rip Van Winkle was an investor who fell asleep in January and just woke up.
He’d be ready for a big yawn. And he’d think stocks had given him good reasons for one.
After all, the Dow and S&P 500 are only showing modest single-digit gains for the year, putting them on course for their average annual return of about 10%.
But for investors who’ve been wide awake, 2020 has been anything but ho-hum.
The year got off to a good start with fresh all-time highs in January. But the pandemic and economic shutdown put a quick end to that.
From February to …read more […]

Last week, you might have seen that Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) released its full-year result to the market. The early response… …read more […]

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Boeing is unlikely to launch a new plane in the near future but its options will depend in part on how successfully its grounded 737 MAX regains its position in the market, the head of one of its engine suppliers said on Friday. The MAX is expected to win safety approval within weeks following a 19-month grounding in the wake of two crashes, Safran Chief Executive Philippe Petitcolin said. “We are doing everything with Boeing to put the MAX back in service in the best possible conditions,” he told reporters. …read more […]

Most investors tend to think that hedge funds and other asset managers are worthless, as they cannot beat even simple index fund portfolios. In fact, most people expect hedge funds to compete with and outperform the bull market that we have witnessed in recent years. However, hedge funds are generally partially hedged and aim at […] …read more […]

Last week saw the newest quarterly earnings release from Teladoc Health, Inc. (NYSE:TDOC), an important milestone in… …read more […]

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BOULDER, Colo., Oct. …read more […]

Markets are down, but not collapsing. Investors remain worried about the coronavirus, and Tuesday’s election remains up in the air. Uncertainty rules the day, exacerbated by recent market losses. Wall Street, however, expects that the bulls will start running again after next week’s results – who wins will be less important than having a result.In the meantime, market declines and low share prices make for a prime time to buy in – if you judge the bottom correctly. Do that, and the rest is just ‘buy low and sell high.’ And to that end, Wall Street’s analysts have been pointing …read more […]