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Bank of America Stocks Chief Considers Leaving After Snub

(Bloomberg) — When Bank of America Corp. recently elevated its next class of senior executives, one name was conspicuously absent: Fab Gallo.Few would have bet against the marathon-running head of the firm’s global equities division, especially after he set a revenue record early this year amid the messiest markets in a generation. Yet after a leaked recording of a conference call thrust Gallo’s blunt communications style into the public, and turbulence emerged in parts of his business, the bank’s bosses left him behind.While eight colleagues got invited to join the firm’s elite management team in late July, Gallo was told …read more […]

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Mike Khouw's Alibaba Trade Ahead Of Earnings

On CNBC’s “Options Action,” Mike Khouw suggested that investors with a long position in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd – ADR (NYSE: BABA) should consider a less risky alternative going into earnings.Khouw wants to sell the September $235 put for a credit of $8 and buy the September $260/$285 call spread for total cost of $7. With the options structure, he collects a premium of $1. If the stock rallies through $285, Khouw is going to make a profit of $26 or a little over 10% of the current price. If the stock drops below $235, he would have to buy …read more […]

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Buffett’s Grim View of Air Travel Realized in $10 Billion Charge

(Bloomberg) — Warren Buffett’s dire airline predictions have hit close to home.After dumping his stakes in airlines earlier this year with a warning that the pandemic had unleashed fundamental change on that business, Buffett’s own Berkshire Hathaway Inc. took a roughly $10 billion impairment charge tied to Precision Castparts, its massive maker of plane parts. A vaccine may be the only remedy for the pandemic’s “particularly severe” impact on the aerospace market, Berkshire said.“The Covid-19 pandemic produced material declines in commercial air travel during the second quarter,” Berkshire said Saturday in a regulatory filing discussing second-quarter results. “Airlines responded by …read more […]

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Coronavirus punishes Warren Buffett, as Berkshire Hathaway takes big writedown

Berkshire, which acquired Precision for $32.1 billion in 2016 in its largest acquisition, said COVID-19 caused airlines to slash aircraft orders, resulting in significantly less demand for Precision’s products and revenue to fall by about one-third. It also said results may continue suffering as the unit undertakes an “aggressive restructuring” to shrink operations to meet lowered demand. Precision was not the only drag on Berkshire, which said the pandemic has caused “relatively minor to severe” damage to most of its more than 90 operating businesses, which include the BNSF railroad, Geico auto insurer and See’s candies. …read more […]

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Lordstown Motors IPO: New EV Company Going Public Via SPAC

A Lordstown Motors IPO is coming to the market. Announced on Monday, the company plans to go public via SPAC IPO. It will be another electric vehicle (EV) company to hit the stock market in 2020.
But is Lordstown Motors stock a good investment? Here’s what we know…
Lordstown Motors IPO: The Business

Steve Burns founded Lordstown Motors in 2019. Burns is the also the founder and former CEO of Workhorse Group, an electric delivery and utility vehicle manufacturer. In November 2019, Lordstown Motors bought GM’s Lordstown plant, giving the company its name. The company is less than a year old. And it …read more […]

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Berkshire Bought Back Record $5 Billion of Stock Last Quarter

(Bloomberg) — Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. spent a record $5 billion buying back Berkshire’s own stock in the second quarter.Berkshire’s Class A shares, which fell in line with the S&P 500 in the first three months of the year as the pandemic spread in the U.S., fell another 1.7% last quarter while the broader index rallied 20%. Buffett said in May that repurchases weren’t more compelling, but the buybacks in the quarter suggest his thinking shifted.Key InsightsEven with buybacks that more than doubled the previous quarterly record, Berkshire’s cash pile kept growing and hit $146.6 billion. Buffett has struggled …read more […]

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Oil Drilling Drops to 15-Year Low With Shale in Full Retreat

(Bloomberg) — Drillers cut exploration in U.S. oil fields to a 15-year low as billions of barrels from old discoveries became worthless and explorers abandoned growth plans.The number of active oil rigs in the U.S. fell by four to 176, the lowest since 2005, according to Baker Hughes Co. data released Friday. Energy companies have been parking rigs on an almost uninterrupted streak for more than four and half months.Stung by the pandemic-driven slump in demand and prices, oil explorers are fleeing from the very lifeblood of their business: Drilling for new discoveries. Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. have …read more […]

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Nokia's new CEO working on setting strategy in 'dream job'

Nokia’s new chief executive Pekka Lundmark said he will take time to re-acquaint himself with the Finnish telecom equipment maker as he works toward setting a strategy, as the company jostles for position in the highly political 5G race. U.S. government pressure to limit the use of China’s Huawei presents an opportunity for Nokia as next generation technology is rolled out, but Lundmark would not be drawn. “Maintaining good relations with governments in pretty much all parts of the world is extremely important,” Lundmark said in a video interview with Reuters on Friday. …read more […]

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Wall Street Weekahead: Bargain-hunters look to U.S. real estate stocks as S&P nears records

As the S&P 500 approaches fresh highs, some investors hope to pick up bargains in the battered U.S. real estate sector, where values of some major stocks have been cut in half this year. Coronavirus-fueled lockdowns and a major shift toward working from home have weighed on residential and retail U.S. real estate investment trusts. The sector has slid 7% this year compared with a 3% gain on the S&P 500. …read more […]