Year: 2020

(Bloomberg) — Oil held losses near $41 a barrel in New York as signs of weakness in the American labor market cast doubt on the strength of its demand recovery, while U.S.-China relations deteriorated further.The first increase in jobless claims since March comes as lawmakers negotiate another virus relief package, with infections and deaths surging across many states. Meanwhile, Beijing ordered the U.S. to close its consulate in the city of Chengdu after the American government forced China to leave its mission in Houston. Oil was still poised to eke out a second weekly gain, buoyed earlier in the week …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — China’s traders, company insiders and foreign investors are all fleeing the country’s stock market.Sentiment is quickly souring amid the biggest threat to Beijing’s diplomatic ties with Washington in years. Overseas traders sold more than $2.3 billion worth of Chinese stocks through exchange links with Hong Kong on Friday, one of the largest amounts on record. Some of China’s tech shareholders are getting out as soon as they can.The CSI 300 Index fell as much as 5%, while the ChiNext Index fell 6.6%. Losses accelerated in the afternoon after the Chinese foreign ministry said it ordered the U.S. to …read more […]

Trump administration officials have escalated their public condemnations of China in the last several weeks, with speeches by FBI Director Chris Wray, Attorney General William Barr and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. On Friday, as expected, China’s Foreign Ministry ordered the closure of the U.S. consulate in the western city of Chengdu. “Alongside the eviction of the Houston Chinese Consulate, the risk of the U.S.-China conflict escalating into a “Cold War” is worrying,” said Hayaki Narita of Mizuho Bank. …read more […]

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Intel shares fell 9%. The setbacks will have little effect in the next few quarters, but will cause a years-long domino effect, delaying chips meant to counter the rise of rivals Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Nvidia Corp until late 2021 or even 2023. Intel’s 7nm delays extend the lead in the smaller, faster chip technology held by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, which is now expected to remain at least one generation of technology ahead for years to come. …read more […]

Moderna Inc (NASDAQ: MRNA) has lost the bid to invalidate a key patent related to the development of several of its next-generation vaccines, including one meant for coronavirus, to Arbutus Biopharma Corp (NASDAQ: ABUS), Reuters reported.What Happened The Massachusetts-headquartered company’s contention that the ‘069 patent, related to the technology for delivering mRNA vaccines, owned by Arbutus described obvious concepts was rejected by an administrative court under the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday.The patent is supposedly related to lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology, which helps the human body create its own therapeutic proteins.A patent lawyer, Zachary Silbersher, told Reuters …read more […]

Two of Boeing Co’s biggest commercial airline customers said on Thursday they are still committed to the 737 MAX despite delays in its return to flight and the coronavirus pandemic, though the head of Southwest Airlines said contracts need to be “completely reset.” Boeing is behind on hundreds of 737 MAX deliveries since regulators grounded the jet worldwide last year in the aftermath of two crashes that together killed 346 people. Since then, airlines’ financing on jet orders has expired, forcing a scramble by Boeing to arrange new financing as it awaits regulatory approval for design changes. …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Intel Corp. Chief Executive Officer Bob Swan spent almost an hour on Thursday discussing an idea that would once have been unthinkable for the world’s largest semiconductor company: Not manufacturing its own chips.Outsourcing is the norm in the $400 billion industry nowadays, but for 50 years Intel has combined chip design with in-house production. And until recently, Intel was even planning to churn out processors for others.“To the extent that we need to use somebody else’s process technology and we call those contingency plans, we will be prepared to do that,” Swan told analysts on a conference call, …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Gold traded near $1,900 an ounce, edging closer to its all-time high set almost nine years ago, as concerns about global growth buoyed haven demand.Increasing signs that the prolonged coronavirus pandemic is stalling an economic recovery and the recent surge in tensions between the U.S. and China are underpinning demand for the metal. Bullion is heading for a seventh weekly gain, the longest stretch since 2011, while silver is poised for its biggest weekly advance in about four decades.Negative real rates, a weaker dollar, concerns over the economic cost of the health crisis and geopolitical uncertainties have put …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Intel Corp. shares slumped after warning about another production delay, sparking concern the world’s largest chipmaker will fall further behind rivals in a crucial area it once dominated.At issue is a new method for cranking out smaller, more powerful chips, the timing of which “is shifting approximately six months relative to prior expectations,” the company said as it reported quarterly results on Thursday.Intel shares fell 10% in extended trading. Advanced Micro Devices Inc., a rival, jumped 7%.Intel’s first 7-nanometer chips will go on sale at the end of 2022 or early 2023, Chief Executive Officer Bob Swan said …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Zhang Yiming is the little-known Chinese entrepreneur who built TikTok into one of the most promising franchises on the internet. Now the brainy, combative 37-year-old is under pressure to save the business from Trump administration threats.Venture investors in TikTok parent ByteDance Ltd. have approached Zhang with a range of proposals to address U.S. concerns that the short-video app is a security threat, according to people familiar with the matter. They include selling a majority stake in TikTok to American interests, perhaps strategic investors or the venture firms themselves, said the people, asking not to be identified because the …read more […]

Are the markets on the mend? If you ask Wells Fargo’s head of equity strategy Chris Harvey, the answer is yes. Citing the S&P 500’s remarkable rebound since its March low and its strong showing over the last few days, the strategist argues that there has been an “incremental improvement.” To this end, Harvey recommends that investors stick with equities, and snap up names “trading at or below book value,” pointing to small-caps in particular. Taking Harvey’s outlook into consideration, we wanted to check out three small-cap stocks from the healthcare sector that are backed by …read more […]

(Bloomberg Opinion) — Intel Corp. investors could use some upbeat news about now. They didn’t get it.A month after Apple Inc. announced a plan to switch to its own chips over Intel’s for its Mac PCs and laptops, and just weeks removed from the stunning departure of its top chip architect, Intel has now revealed even more disappointing news: another chip delay.On Thursday, Intel posted better-than-expected second-quarter results, reporting adjusted earnings per share of $1.23 while generating $19.7 billion of revenue in the quarter versus the $18.5 billion estimate. Sales guidance for the current quarter and the full year were …read more […]

Canada’s Shopify provides websites for other firms looking to sell online and it is expanding rapidly. …read more […]

Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) are all the rage right now.
However, you must be careful which ones you invest in. Some are fly-by-night companies that were created to enrich the managers of the fund. Others are legitimate ventures, where the goal is for the manager to prosper with you.
A good example of the latter is DraftKings (Nasdaq: DKNG), a position that War Room members are in right now and making money with. DraftKings – as we have written about in these very pages – has a lock on the iGaming market, with the goal of letting you bet on almost …read more […]