Trading Ideas

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Luckin Coffee Inc said it is expanding into vending machines that sell freshly brewed hot beverages and snacks, seeking even more of the China market after overtaking Starbucks Corp as the country’s biggest coffee chain by number of stores. Luckin founder and CEO Qian Zhiya said the new strategy allowed it to be asset-light and nimble. Growing at breakneck speed by offering cheap delivery, online ordering and big discounts, Luckin also said it now has just over 4,500 stores across China – achieving a goal it set one year ago and topping Starbucks …read more […]

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Impossible Foods is no longer trying to win a coveted deal to supply McDonald’s Corp with plant-based burgers, telling Reuters it cannot produce enough of its imitation meat to partner with the world’s No. 1 fast-food chain. Shares of Impossible rival Beyond Meat surged on Tuesday, closing 12.5% higher, after Reuters reported that Impossible was no longer in talks with McDonald’s. The stock had risen earlier in the day on Impossible’s unveiling of its plant-based pork products at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Monday, spurring further optimism about …read more […]

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(Bloomberg) — Follow Bloomberg on Telegram for all the news and analysis you need.Safe-haven assets, U.S. equity futures and Asian stocks swung wildly Wednesday as tensions in the Middle East escalated, rattling global financial markets.Iran’s attack on American military bases in Iraq, a response to the killing of General Qassem Soleimani by American forces last week, injected new volatility into global assets that enjoyed a blockbuster 2019. S&P 500 futures dropped as much as 1.7% as fears of a protracted conflict increased, before paring the decline as Tehran said it wasn’t seeking a war, and President Donald Trump declared “all …read more […]

Recent bills that aim to stop the exploitation of freelance workers are drawing backlash from some of the contractors they’re designed to protect. …read more […]

Oil prices briefly surged Tuesday night after the Iranian military attacked two Iraqi bases – but don’t expect a big spike in gas prices. …read more […]

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Oil prices jumped to their highest in months on Wednesday after Iran attacked American forces in Iraq in response to a U.S. strike that killed an Iranian general last week, raising the spectre of a spiralling conflict and disrupted oil supplies. Iran’s missile attack on U.S.-led forces in Iraq came early on Wednesday, hours after the funeral of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the country’s elite Quds Force killed in a U.S. drone stroke on Jan. 3. Tehran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles from Iranian territory against at least two Iraqi military bases hosting U.S.-led coalition …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Treasury 10-year yields may drop as low as 1.50% as Iran’s rocket attacks against U.S. bases threaten to ignite a wider Middle-East conflict, money managers say.Benchmark U.S. yields are poised to extend declines as investors scramble to revise plans for the year following news of Iran’s retaliation, said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors Ltd. The Federal Reserve is now more likely to cut interest rates, further supporting bonds, said Akira Takei, a global fixed-income fund manager at Asset Management One Co.“Iran has replaced the trade war as the biggest risk to markets,” Sydney-based …read more […]

Stock futures tumbled and oil prices jumped Tuesday evening after Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at U.S. troops in Iraq. …read more […]

MADRID/HANGZHOU, China (Reuters) – After years of reconnaissance, China’s retail king Alibaba is finally making its move on Europe. It is undercutting Amazon sellers’ fees to attract vendors but has had mixed results, six sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. A flood of small businesses have joined its European platform, AliExpress, in recent months but some larger brands are holding back, according to the sources. …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Follow Bloomberg on Telegram for all the investment news and analysis you need.Iran fired a series of rockets at two U.S.-Iraqi airbases early Wednesday morning Baghdad time, the Pentagon said, in the first Iranian response to the killing of General Qassem Soleimani by American forces last week.The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps earlier claimed responsibility for the barrage, which the Pentagon said was launched from Iran and targeted the Ayn al-Asad base in western Iraq and another facility in Erbil. It wasn’t immediately clear whether there were casualties or major damage from the attacks.“We are aware of the reports …read more […]

Samsung Electronics flagged a smaller-than-expected fall in quarterly operating profit, indicating that memory chip prices bottomed out quicker than analysts had anticipated, strengthening hopes of a recovery. The world’s top memory chip maker has struggled since late 2018 as a weak global economy curbed spending by data center customers and rising inventory of memory chips squeezed prices, ending a two-year industry boom. Operating profit in the quarter ended Dec. 31 fell 34% to 7.1 trillion won ($6.09 billion) from 10.8 trillion won a year earlier. …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — U.S. stock index futures fell after Iran said it started an attack on an Iraqi base hosting U.S. troops.S&P 500 Index futures contracts expiring in March were down 1.1% as of 8:41 a.m. in Tokyo, after Iran’s state television reported that the nation has started operation “Martyr Soleimani,” with several rockets being fired at the Ayn al-Asad base in Iraq. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 Index dropped 1.3% and those on the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1%.“The markets were struggling to form a consensus view as to how the US-Iran escalation will pan out,” said Stephen Innes, …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — U.S. stock futures declined after Iran reportedly started an attack on a military base in Iraq hosting American troops, escalating tensions in the Middle East. Treasury futures and the yen rose.Futures on the S&P 500 Index dropped more than 1%. Oil prices surged as Iran state TV said it started operation “Martyr Soleimani” at dawn with several rockets being fired at the Ayn al-Asad base. Australian shares fell, and Australian bond yields slid as the Asian trading session got going Wednesday. Gold advanced.“It is frightening to think about the possible range of outcomes with this,” Di Zhou, a …read more […]