Year: 2020

Investors are their “most bullish” on financial markets since February, when world stocks hit a record high, a Bank of America fund manager survey showed, as hopes of a COVID-19 vaccine and a steady revival of economic activity boost confidence. A net 46% of investors surveyed by BofA said “it’s a bull market”, up from 40% the previous month. A secular bull market is one where the prevailing trend is for higher prices, with short corrections interrupting it. …read more […]

China accused Washington of damaging global trade with sanctions that threaten to cripple tech giant Huawei and said Tuesday it will protect Chinese companies but gave no indication of possible retaliation. Rules confirmed Monday by the Commerce Department block suppliers from using U.S. technology to produce processor chips and other components for Huawei. The company, China’s first global tech competitor, is the biggest supplier of switching equipment for phone companies and a leading smartphone brand. …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — China, the world’s biggest oil importer, has ramped up purchases of American crude in the lead-up to a highly-anticipated review of the trade deal between the two economic powerhouses.As much as 14 million barrels — or seven super-class tankers full — of U.S. oil will be loaded next month for delivery to China, according to estimates by Vortexa Ltd. based on provisional tanker bookings. If all those shipments make the trip that will be more than double the volumes set for August.The surge in bookings comes before a review of the phase-one trade deal, under which China pledged …read more […]

(Bloomberg Opinion) — A new U.S. edict limiting Huawei Technologies Co.’s access to technology is more than just an incremental measure against the Chinese telecommunications giant. It threatens to kill the company, which invites retaliation from Beijing.In May, the administration of President Donald Trump mandated that manufacturers globally couldn’t use American technology to produce chips designed by Huawei.At first, that also threatened chief supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., until it became clear that a legal workaround was available: Let Huawei buy chips that it didn’t design. As a result, Taiwan’s MediaTek Inc. stepped into the breach and quickly became the …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Oracle Corp. has held preliminary talks with ByteDance Ltd. on a potential bid for part of TikTok’s business, seeking to rival Microsoft Corp. in the race to acquire the viral video streaming app, the Financial Times has reported.The company controlled by billionaire Larry Ellison is working with TikTok’s U.S. investors including General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital to consider a bid for the app’s operations in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the FT said, citing people briefed on the matter.The entry of Oracle could challenge Microsoft’s bargaining position, as the Redmond-based company had been the only party …read more […]

Is gold starting another leg higher, or is this a news-driven (Warren Buffet – Barrick Gold) Bull Trap before the next decline? The next 48-hours are crucial. …read more […]

China said on Tuesday it has begun an anti-dumping probe into imports of Australian wine in a move that will likely worsen tensions between the two countries and knocked a fifth off the market value of Australia’s biggest winemaker. The investigation by China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) will look at imports of wine from Australia in containers holding two litres or less in 2019, the ministry said in a statement. It would also examine any damage to the Chinese wine industry from 2015-19. …read more […]

It will be offered to employees in the commercial airplanes and services businesses as well as corporate functions, Chief Executive Officer Dave Calhoun wrote in a note to employees, a copy of which was seen by Reuters. The health crisis, which has hammered planemakers, airlines and suppliers, has added to the woes of Boeing that has been grappling with a production freeze and year-long grounding of the 737 MAX following two fatal crashes. The company doesn’t have a set target at this time and was encouraging all eligible employees interested in the voluntary layoff package to apply, Boeing …read more […]

Is lady luck turning its back on online sports betting player DraftKings (DKNG)? Since peaking at $43.7 at the start of June, the share price has pulled back by 22% to its current value of $34.68 per share.It hasn’t helped that COVID-19 has made it difficult to predict the short-term fate of live sports action. The good news is that after two major college football conferences voted to postpone their fall seasons, others have indicated they will move ahead with own leagues. However, besides the uncertainty concerning sports’ leagues’ resumption, DraftKings has now been confronted with an altogether different kind …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — SoftBank Group Corp. has invested about $3.9 billion into 25 of the world’s largest technology companies including Amazon.com Inc., Tesla Inc., Netflix Inc. and Alphabet Inc.The Japanese conglomerate owned $1.04 billion of Amazon stock, its biggest investment, a $475 million stake in Alphabet, $248.6 million of Adobe Inc. and $189 million of Netflix, the Tokyo-based company said in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission dated Aug. 17. Its stake in Tesla was worth $122.9 million as of June 30, it said.SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son is expanding the company’s investment activities from private startups to publicly …read more […]

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Back in December 2017, when Bitcoin had surged to more than $16,000, I wrote that the only people who should be “investing” in cryptocurrencies were those who could afford to speculate (and potentially lose).
I have never been on board with the arguments in support of cryptocurrencies. Cryptos are made-up assets worth only what the next person will pay for them.
In some ways, they remind me of gold – except gold, at least, is a real thing that has industrial uses and value as jewelry.
Also like with gold, there is no way of valuing crypto.
Supporters will tell you that as governments …read more […]

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Technical Options Expert Bryan Bottarelli explains that although Pfizer stock under-performed this year, a move by director Ronald Blaylock should be a signal to investors. Here’s what it tells us…
This year, shares of big pharma giant Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) are down 3%.
So far, they’ve been a big-time underperformer.
And that’s exactly why I found it very interesting that Pfizer Director Ronald Blaylock just made one of the biggest insider buys on Pfizer stock in years.
Earlier this month, on August 6, he paid more than $500,000 for 13,000 shares – at an average price of $38.55.
Barron’s says, “This makes it the largest …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — General Motors Co. shares rose to their highest level in almost three months after a Deutsche Bank analyst speculated the automaker could spin off its electric-vehicle unit to create more value.The stock pared a gain of as much as 10.5% in Monday trading before closing up 7.7% at $30.01 a share — the biggest one-day jump since May 18 and its highest close since June 8. That came after Deutsche Bank’s Emmanuel Rosner wrote in a report published Monday the automaker could be worth as much as $93 a share if GM spins out its electric-vehicle business.GM has …read more […]