Asian Stocks Advance After Wall Street’s Rebound: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Stocks in Asia followed a rebound on Wall Street as investors looked beyond Joe Biden ending his re-election campaign to focus on the start of the tech earnings season. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index snapped a three-day decline, as shares from Japan to South Korea and Australia rose at the open.
Blackstone Japan Fund Exceeds $1 Billion as Investors Warm to PE
(Bloomberg) — Blackstone Inc.’s first-ever private equity fund for Japanese individual investors raised $1.2 billion just four months after its launch, adding to signs that people in the Asian nation are warming to alternative assets.
US Savings Measures Signal More Belt-Tightening Ahead: Economics
(Bloomberg Economics) — Personal savings rates have been low since mid-2022, with consumers able to rely on built-up coffers to support their spending habits. Now those excess savings have declined, and low-income households are less liquid than ahead of the Covid pandemic.
US Pledges $60 Million to Bolster Recovery Efforts in Haiti
(Bloomberg) — The US will provide $60 million in humanitarian assistance to Haiti as the Caribbean Island nation struggles to recover from a series of calamities, most recently an onslaught of mayhem by criminal gangs. United Nations Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, on her first visit to Haiti in three years.
CHINA REACT: PBOC Rate Cut + 3rd Plenum Reform = Little Bang
(Bloomberg Economics) — OUR TAKE: Coming hard on the heels of the Third Plenum’s commitment to structural reforms, the People’s Bank of China delivered a little more stimulus with a 10-basis-point cut in the 7-day reverse repo rate. Commercial banks followed minutes later with a 10-bp cut in loan prime rates.
Citi Warns of Euro-Yen Intervention Risk If Pair ‘Threatens’ 180
(Bloomberg) — Japanese authorities might step into the market and sell the European common currency if euro-yen nears the 180 level, according to analysts at Citigroup Inc. Euro-yen traded as high as 175.43 on July 11 a record since the common currency was launched in 1999 before retreating, with the pair trading around 171 on Tuesday in Tokyo.
New York Life Buys Muni-Bond Funds With $1.2 Billion From Aquila
(Bloomberg) — New York Life Investment Management said it acquired six municipal-bond funds from Aquila Investment Management LLC, a four-decade-old firm that carved out a focus on vehicles for investing in debt from specific states.
FTX Bankruptcy Claims Bolster Gains for Hedge Fund Diameter
(Bloomberg) — A large bet and a quirk in the bankruptcy proceedings following the chaotic collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX crypto exchange is resulting in bumper profits for hedge fund Diameter Capital Partners.
Hedge Funds Aggressively Cut Risks in Stocks Amid Big Tech Rout
(Bloomberg) — Hedge funds spent last week selling their winners at the fastest pace since the meme stock craze in January 2021 as the world’s largest technology companies got hammered. The cohort “aggressively unwound risk across their long and short books” for the week ending July 19, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s prime brokerage desk.
EM Traders Seek Shelter in Hard-Hit Assets on US Election Twist
(Bloomberg) — In a year marked by electoral surprises from India to South Africa and Mexico, the latest twist now in US politics is prompting emerging-market investors to tout some of the most battered assets in the developing world. The lack of clarity ahead on whether Vice President Kamala Harris secures the Democratic nomination.
Kakao Billionaire Arrested in K-Pop Market Manipulation Case
(Bloomberg) — South Korean authorities have arrested Kakao Corp. founder Brian Kim over allegations of market manipulation, making the internet entrepreneur the most prominent business figure in the country in years to wind up in jail. The Seoul Southern District Court made the decision to take the 58-year-old into custody.
Aramco’s Venture Arm Backs South Korea’s AI Chipmaker Rebellions
(Bloomberg) — Saudi Aramco’s venture arm has invested $15 million in South Korean chipmaker Rebellions Inc. as part of a push to accelerate the AI industry in Saudi Arabia. Rebellions is working with Samsung Electronics Co. to develop its proprietary chip to serve the generative artificial intelligence market.
CrowdStrike’s CEO Called to Testify Before US House Committee
(Bloomberg) — A US House committee called on the chief executive officer of CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. to testify on a defective software update that caused widespread global outages. The House Committee on Homeland Security requested the appearance of CEO George Kurtz, and it asked CrowdStrike to promptly schedule a date.
Harris Says She’ll Unite Democrats as Presidential Field Clears
(Bloomberg) — Vice President Kamala Harris quickly consolidated support from powerful Democrats for her nascent presidential bid, with an effort to end the turmoil that has consumed her party and alter an election that has become Donald Trump’s to lose.
Democrats Unveil Nomination Rules, Virtual Vote as Harris Surges
(Bloomberg) — The Democratic Party has proposed using virtual voting for its nomination process and setting a minimum delegate threshold to make the ballot outlining the rules for a race that could quickly become moot as Vice President Kamala Harris clears the field.
Tesla reports second-quarter earnings on Tuesday and investors want a robotaxi update
Tesla is set to report second-quarter earnings after the bell on Tuesday. The EV maker reported its biggest revenue decline since 2012 during the first quarter and deliveries that were better than feared for the second quarter. Investors will be seeking updates on Tesla’s forthcoming dedicated robotaxi, humanoid robots and CEO Elon Musk’s shifting priorities.
Germany Taps UBS, Roland Berger to Advise on Uniper Selldown
(Bloomberg) — Germany’s government has picked UBS Group AG and consultancy firm Roland Berger to advise on a potential major share sale in Uniper SE, people familiar with the matter said, a step further toward privatizing the power utility.
Peltz’s Trian Builds Stake in 3M Health Spinoff Solventum
(Bloomberg) — Activist investor Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management has amassed a stake in 3M Co.’s health-care spinoff Solventum Corp. Trian is now one of the largest shareholders in Solventum, which became a standalone public company this year and has a market value of about $9.4 billion, a representative for Trian said in an emailed statement.
Market Chatter: AMC to Restructure Debt, Move US Theatres to Different Unit of Company
AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC) has reached an agreement with its creditors that will restructure its debt and move US theatres into a different unit of the company, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing people with knowledge of the plans. The move will shift the theatres’ value of the reach of some of the creditors.
Verizon misses quarterly revenue estimates on slow phone upgrades
Verizon Communications missed quarterly revenue estimates on Monday due to slow phone upgrades in the United States, taking the shine off strong growth in wireless subscribers and sending shares of the telecom firm down 3.4% before the bell. Price-conscious customers are holding on to their old phones for longer durations than they did previously, which has hurt upgrade rates for telecom companies that offer promotional plans with new mobile phone lines.
Warren Buffett just dumped $1.5 billion of this stock
In what can be considered a surprise move, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) has significantly reduced its stake in a stock it has rarely touched in recent years. According to regulatory filings, the conglomerate sold 33.9 million shares of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) over three days for nearly $1.5 billion at an average price of $43.56 per share.
Ether ETFs appear set to launch on Tuesday, six months after massive debut for bitcoin funds Trading is expected to begin as soon as Tuesday.
The ether exchange-traded funds come about six months after the launch of bitcoin ETFs, which saw some of the most successful debuts in the industry’s history. BlackRock, Fidelity and Grayscale are among the firms slated to launch funds.
Wiz walks away from $23 billion deal with Google, will pursue IPO
Wiz has walked away from a deal with Google which would have valued the company at $23 billion. CEO Assaf Rappaport told employees the company would pursue an IPO as originally planned.
S&P 500 futures were 0.14% lower early Tuesday, with traders readying for earnings reports from major companies after the benchmark posted its best day in more than a month. Futures tied to the broad index sat near their flatline. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipped 0.08%, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 0.26%.
Warner Bros. Discovery tells NBA it intends to match Amazon’s media rights package
Warner Bros. Discovery intends to use its matching rights on a package of NBA games earmarked for Amazon. The NBA may not want Warner Bros. Discovery as a future media rights partner and could reject the company’s matching rights. If the league rejects the Warner Bros. Discovery match, it is possible the company could sue the NBA or push for a settlement.
Google cancels plans to kill off cookies for advertisers
Alphabet-owned Google said Monday it will no longer cancel third-party cookies after years of delays to find an alternative for its Chrome browser. By cancelling third-party cookies, the change would impact anyone involved in online advertising. The update represents the latest of several delays following the original announcement in 2020.
Gold firms as dollar loses footing following Biden withdrawal
Gold prices edged up on Monday as the dollar weakened in response to President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, while the market geared up for Friday’s U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) data for further clues on the timing of interest rate cuts. Spot gold fell 0.2% to $2,394.17 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures fell more than 0.1% to $2,395.70.