Global Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Resin & Polybutylene Terephthalate (PBT) Resin Market Report 2020-2027: U.S. Market is Estimated at $12.5 Billion, While China is Forecast to Grow at 9% CAGR

FX Empire
Why Tesla Shares Are Down By 10% Today?
Tesla shares are down by more than 35% from yearly highs.
2d ago
Bloomberg
Virgin Galactic Chairman Sells $213 Million Stake
(Bloomberg) -- Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. tumbled Friday after its billionaire Chairman Chamath Palihapitiya offloaded shares worth about $213 million in the space-tourism company founded by Richard Branson.Palihapitiya, who has helped drive the frenzied growth of blank-check companies, disposed of 6.2 million shares at an average price of $34.32 this week, based on a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He still owns 15.8 million shares with his partner Ian Osborne through investment firm Social Capital Hedosophia, amounting to about a 6.5% stake. Palihapitiya previously sold shares worth almost $100 million in December, filings show.Palihapitiya said he sold the shares to fund an investment to help fight climate change.“The details of this investment will be made public in the next few months,” he said in a statement Friday. “I remain as dedicated as ever to Virgin Galactic’s team, mission and prospects.”Read more: The king of SPACs wants you to know he’s the next Warren BuffettVirgin Galactic’s shares fell 9.9% to $27.29 in New York on Friday and have slid more than 50% since their peak in mid-February.The Las Cruces, New Mexico-based company merged with Social Capital’s first SPAC in 2019. Palihapitiya has since launched blank-check companies that have merged with businesses across health insurance, financial services and real estate including Opendoor Technologies Inc. and Clover Health Investments Corp.Opendoor fell 9.8% on Friday, while Clover Health rose 7.5% after earlier sliding. Other Palihapitiya SPACs such as Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp IV and V reversed midday losses to end up for the day.Palihapitiya, 44, has made a fortune for himself and his investors through SPACs. The former Facebook Inc. executive has raised more than $4 billion via blank-check firms, using social media to talk up the investments and becoming one of the most prominent figures in the phenomenon, which has everyone from Colin Kaepernick to former House Speaker Paul Ryan racing to market their own.He’s also a lightning rod for skeptics who dismiss his success as the product of self-promotion and see blank-check companies as proof of a bubble inflated by government money-printing.A month ago, Palihapitiya said it would only be under the rarest of circumstances that he’d reduce his holdings of any SPAC.“If I could really just go for it, I wouldn’t sell a share of anything I buy because I believe in it,” he said Feb. 8 in a interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Front Row.” “But every now and then, I run into liquidity constraints, like everybody else.”At the time, Palihapitiya had just recently sold 3.8 million Virgin Galactic shares. He said he did so because his family office called needing cash for other purposes.Shares DropSocial Capital’s merger with Virgin Galactic -- where Palihapitiya is chairman -- made the Branson startup the world’s first publicly traded space-travel venture. The transaction raised about $800 million, with Palihapitiya also directly contributing $100 million.While the shares surged in the wake of the listing, they have tumbled since a February decision to delay the next flight to space. The new schedule also pushed back plans to carry Branson, 70, on a separate mission before Virgin Galactic is expected to take its first flight with passengers paying for the trip.The company on Thursday announced the departure of its chief space officer, George Whitesides, saying he has decided to pursue potential opportunities in public service. Whitesides, who served as chief executive officer for a decade until July 2020, will remain chairman of a four-person Space Advisory Board. Swami Iyer is joining Virgin Galactic later this month as president of aerospace systems.Though Virgin Galactic has hundreds of clients lined up to pay at least $250,000 for a 90-minute flight to the edge of space, it has been a slow journey since the venture was founded in 2004. Plans were put on hold for four years in 2014 after a space plane broke up mid-flight, killing one pilot and injuring another.(Updates stock prices throughout.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
2d ago
Bloomberg
More Australians Consider Selling Their Home in Red Hot Market
(Bloomberg) -- More than a third of Australian homeowners are planning to sell in the next five years, according to a report by Westpac Banking Corp., as they look to cash in on a booming market driven by low mortgage rates and an improving economy.The report showed 35% of households surveyed were considering selling, more than double the amount seen prior to the pandemic. More than one in ten were already in the process of putting their property on the market, or planning to do so in the next twelve months.“It is absolutely a seller’s market at the moment,” Matt Hassan, a senior economist at Westpac, said in a media release. “The research suggests the situation will rebalance in coming months as more sellers come onto the market, however demand is still expected to remain strong, driving a sustained lift in prices this year and next.”Australia’s housing market in February posted its biggest monthly price gain in 17 years, dispelling fears of a Covid-induced downturn. Economists think the gains can continue: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said Friday that prices will rise 10% this year, fueled by low interest rates and improved sentiment, although the bank also noted there are risks ahead including a potentially more hawkish Reserve Bank.The Westpac report also pointed to lingering caution, with 51% of respondents saying they’re actively holding off from listing their property straight away, while 66% said high moving costs were a big barrier to selling.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
1d ago
Bloomberg
Dip Buyers Fuel Stock Rebound; Treasuries Steady: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) -- Dip buyers drove a rebound in stocks after an earlier bout of selling pushed the Nasdaq 100 down 10% from a record.All major groups in the S&P 500 advanced, while the tech-heavy gauge climbed more than 1.5% as giants Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. erased their losses. Robinhood Markets Inc., the trading platform behind the boom-and-bust swing in GameStop Corp.’s shares, has chosen the Nasdaq for its eventual initial public offering, according to a news report. Earlier Friday, equities retreated as U.S. jobs data topped estimates, fueling anxiety the economy could run too hot and kick up inflation. Benchmark 10-year yields stabilized after hitting 1.6%.Friday’s turnaround in financial markets wiped out the S&P 500’s drop for the week. The intense volatility of the past few days was a test to stock bulls who see the recent spike in Treasury yields as an indication of brighter prospects for the economy and corporate profits. While concern over equity valuations have emerged, several analysts say that as long as data continue to improve, any selloff would present dip-buying opportunities.“Many investors are going to be buying these dips here, capital continues to be pouring into equities,” said Tony Bedikian, head of global markets at Citizens Bank. Bond yields are still “incredibly low, so equity yields are still very attractive to investors,” he added.U.S. Treasury yields have been rising because of a much stronger economic outlook and are not a cause for worry -- or a call to policy action -- said Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard. His remarks follow Chairman Jerome Powell’s Thursday caution that rising yields had caught his eye and he would be “concerned by disorderly conditions in markets or persistent tightening in financial conditions.”“As a central banker I am always concerned if there is disorderly trading or something that looks panicky,” Bullard said Friday in an interview with Wharton Business Radio. “That would catch my attention. But I think we are not at that point.”These are some of the main moves in markets:StocksThe S&P 500 rose 1.9% at 4 p.m. New York time.The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slid 0.8%.The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.6%.The MSCI Emerging Market Index decreased 0.6%.CurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index increased 0.4%.The euro dipped 0.4% to $1.1917.The Japanese yen depreciated 0.4% to 108.36 per dollar.BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries rose less than one basis point to 1.57%.Germany’s 10-year yield climbed one basis point to -0.30%.Britain’s 10-year yield increased three basis points to 0.756%.CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude climbed 3.9% to $66.29 a barrel.Gold rose 0.1% to $1,698.65 an ounce.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
2d ago
CoinDesk
MicroStrategy, Its Shares Sinking, Spends $10M to Buy Yet More Bitcoin
MicroStrategy said it bought about 205 BTC for $10 million in cash, at an average price of about $48,888.
2d ago
Investor's Business Daily
Getting A Third Covid-19 Stimulus Check Just Got Tougher — But You Might Still Influence How Big Yours Is
Congress is nearing passage of the third economic stimulus check it will send out to you and other taxpayers as part of its Covid-19 relief bill.
10h ago
MoneyWise
To get the next stimulus check, you may need to hustle with your taxes
The bill that passed the Senate makes payments harder to get. Your tax return might help.
16h ago
Bloomberg
Deep Basin Fund Returns Capital Citing ‘Dangerous’ Market
(Bloomberg) -- Energy hedge fund Deep Basin Capital LP is returning capital to investors after retail traders drove market volatility to extreme levels, hitting some of the fund’s positions, according a letter to investors reviewed by Bloomberg News.“I do not believe that risk markets are functioning properly and am deeply concerned about the immediate investment climate,” Matthew J. Smith, managing partner of the Stamford, Connecticut-based fund, wrote in the letter.“Further, the market structure has changed and become more dangerous in ways that at this point are difficult to quantify and understand, and I cannot fully study these changes while taking risk with partner capital,” he wrote.The fund fell 1% in 2020 and another 2.7% in the first two months of this year, according to a person familiar with its performance. “Long before the Gamestop fiasco raised broad awareness of the impact of retail investors on the stock market, we witnessed an escalating retail presence and extreme behavior in energy stocks starting in April 2020,” Smith wrote.“Since then, and with increased regularity, we have seen volumes associated with retail flows exceed 50% of the daily trading in equities and equity options in a growing number of our stocks”Hedge funds have struggled to make money for much of the last decade as equity markets surged, and there have been more hedge funds closures than launches since 2014, according to Hedge Fund Research. During the first three quarters of 2020, 619 funds shut compared with 364 that opened.Melvin, MaplelaneStock rallies driven by retail investors caused even greater pain for some short sellers this year, with funds like Melvin Capital Management and Maplelane Capital losing billions during January’s GameStop Corp. short squeeze. Melvin made up for some of its losses after gaining 22% in February.A spokesperson for Deep Basin declined to comment. Deep Basin counted among its holdings put options on retail trader darlings like Plug Power Inc. and Tesla Inc., according to the fund’s fourth-quarter disclosure. Armed with cash, retail traders crowded into obscure companies like Ring Energy, sending call-option volume soaring for the tiny producer.‘Tectonic Shift’Smith cited a shift in the market’s ability to tolerate short selling as one reason for liquidating the fund, writing that in recent weeks “we have witnessed a tectonic shift in the market’s ability to short anything.” Agencies that are tasked with regulating the market have also turned it into “a levered casino.”The majority of partners’ capital should be returned by mid-April, and while most of the fund’s risk has been reduced, it remains 20% gross exposed and will be reduced passively during March.(Adds fund performance in fourth paragraph and manager quote in sixth paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
2d ago
Bloomberg
Aramco $75 Billion Payout No Problem as Oil Recovers, BofA Says
(Bloomberg) -- The rally in oil prices has all but expunged any likelihood that Saudi Aramco will fail to meet its $75 billion dividend payout next year, according to Bank of America Corp.Far from missing the payment, the company may even boost it in 2022 as it increases production and benchmark crude prices head back toward $70 a barrel, the bank said.Aramco’s pledge to pay an annual $75 billion to shareholders during its first five years as a publicly traded company was thrown into doubt last year as oil tumbled amid the Covid-19 pandemic, prompting the company to slash spending and increase borrowing. It also put an additional strain on Saudi Arabia’s finances. The government, which owns 98% of Aramco after selling shares in a December 2019 initial public offering, has depended on the dividend to help plug its budget deficit.“Aramco would be well-placed to implement its higher dividend distribution guidance given during the IPO and even increase dividends beyond its minimum $75 billion pledge,” Bank of America analysts including Houston-based Doug Leggate and Karen Kostanian in Moscow said in a report. “Aramco is one of the few companies globally that can substantially boost output without committing additional capex.”Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, is benefiting as oil rebounds from last year’s slump amid OPEC+ production limits and signs of a global economic recovery. Brent, a benchmark for more than half the world’s oil, jumped 4.9% last week to $69.36 a barrel as of Friday, its highest close in almost two years.The potential for higher dividend payouts is already priced into Aramco’s stock, according to Bank of America, which left its target for the shares unchanged at 35 riyals. The shares rose as much as 2.3% to 36 riyals in Riyadh on Sunday. They have gained 2% this year.The bank’s report was published on Thursday, before a decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and partners like Russia to continue with its policy of supply restraints, which gave a further boost to prices.Saudi Arabia also said last week it would delay by an extra month plans to start returning 1 million barrels a day to the market, which gave a further boost to prices.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
43m ago
Bloomberg
When Tesla Tumbles, It Drags Down Many Stock-Market Dreams
(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc.’s plunge has cost its shareholders about $300 billion in 2021 but the toll it is taking on speculative sentiment throughout the market has been much greater.Elon Musk’s electric carmaker is down more than 30% since its January high, brutalizing anything associated with it -- most notably Cathie Wood’s flagship exchange-traded fund, the Ark Innovation ETF (ticker ARKK). At one point on Friday, every one of the 54 U.S.-based ETFs that have assets under management exceeding $1 billion and more than 1% invested in Tesla had fallen.While Tesla is the most prominent example of the turnaround in high-flying stocks, large funds holding comparable amounts of quarantine favorites such as Zoom Video Communications Inc. have also been hit. All but one of the 12 funds with sizable stakes in the video conferencing company fell in early trading Friday.The shock rippling through markets from a single stock’s plunge is a testament to how quickly things can go haywire when risk takers crowd into the same once soaring names.“Any fund that holds a large weight in a single stock, if there is selling of that fund, it will pressure the stock, and vice versa -- especially on down days when bids tend to disappear,” said Mohit Bajaj, director of ETFs for WallachBeth Capital. “We are seeing heavy pressure in some of these names that had such a huge run last year.”The Invesco Wilderhill Clean Energy ETF, First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index Fund, Ark Next Generation Internet ETF and the Ark Innovation ETF were all down more than 6% as of noon in New York, though they pared losses by the market close. “High-flying stocks are great to own when there’s still wind beneath them,” said James Pillow, managing director at Moors & Cabot Inc. “But when that breadth thrust is withdrawn because of liquidity, they often fall much faster than they rose. Holding such high fliers is a significant risk to concentrated portfolios, and frankly it’s a risk for the confidence in the entire stock market.”Arthur Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities Corp., said that “Tesla is the poster child for betting on a dream.”“When you start looking at things and saying, ‘This is going to be the greatest fill-in-the-blank ever,’ and then running up its valuation,” he added, “you have to understand, there are no one-way trades. Trees don’t grow to the sky. So when something goes parabolic, it tends to come back down to Earth at some juncture.”(Updates with closing prices)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
2d ago
Reuters
'A side of shares': Deliveroo to offer 50 million pounds of stock to customers
Deliveroo said shares worth 50 million pounds ($69 million) would be earmarked for customers in its upcoming flotation, with the offer branded "Great food with a side of shares". The Amazon-backed food delivery firm announced plans on Thursday to list in London, with a potential value of $7 billion making it the biggest market debut in Britain for three years. Founder and chief executive Will Shu said Deliveroo's customers had supported the firm's growth and he wanted to give them the chance to share in the next stage of its journey.
10h ago
MoneyWise
Joe Biden's stimulus check changes: Do you still qualify for $1,400?
To win Senate passage, Biden agreed to make millions ineligible for the third checks.
16h ago
Bloomberg
Elon Musk Loses $27 Billion as Historic Wealth Gains Unravel
(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musk set records last year for one of the fastest streaks of wealth accumulation in history. The reversal is underway, and it’s steep.The Tesla Inc. chief executive officer lost $27 billion since Monday as shares of the automaker tumbled in the selloff of tech stocks. His $156.9 billion net worth still places him No. 2 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, but he’s now almost $20 billion behind Jeff Bezos, who he topped just last week as world’s richest person.Musk’s tumble only underscores the hard-to-fathom velocity of his ascent. Tesla shares soared 743% in 2020, boosting the value of his stake and unlocking billions of dollars in options through his historic “moonshot” compensation package.His gains accelerated into the new year. In January, he unseated Bezos as the world’s richest person. Musk’s fortune peaked later that month at $210 billion, according to the index, a ranking of the world’s 500 wealthiest people.Consistent quarterly profits, the election of President Joe Biden with his embrace of clean technologies and enthusiasm from retail investors fueled the company’s rise, but for some, its swelling valuation was emblematic of an unsustainable frothiness in tech. The Nasdaq 100 Index fell for the third straight week on Friday, its longest streak of declines since September.Bitcoin InvestmentMusk’s fortune hasn’t been solely subject to the forces buffeting the tech industry. His net worth has risen and slumped recently in tandem with the price of Bitcoin. Tesla disclosed last month it had added $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency to its balance sheet. Musk’s fortune took a $15 billion hit two weeks later after he mused on twitter that the prices of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies “do seem high.”Extreme volatility has roiled many of the world’s biggest fortunes this year. Asia’s once-richest person, Chinese bottled-water tycoon Zhong Shanshan, relinquished the title to Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani last month after losing more than $22 billion in a matter of days.Read more: Ambani Again Richest Asian as China’s Zhong Down $22 BillionQuicken Loans Inc. Chairman Dan Gilbert’s net worth surged by $25 billion on Monday after his mortgage lender Rocket Cos. was said to be the next target of Reddit day traders. His fortune has since fallen by almost $24 billion. Alphabet Inc. co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are among the biggest gainers on the index this year. They’ve each added more than $13 billion to their fortunes since Jan. 1.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
1d ago
TipRanks
The Bottom Is in for These 3 Stocks? Analysts Say ‘Buy’
Never say that one person makes no difference. This past Thursday, stocks tumbled, bonds surged, and investors started taking inflationary risks seriously – all because one guy said what he thinks. Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, held a press conference at which he gave both the good and the bad. He stated, again, his belief that the COVID vaccination program will allow a full reopening of the economy, and that we’ll see a resurgence in the job market. That’s the good news. The bad news, we’ll also likely see consumer prices go up in the short term – inflation. And when inflation starts rising, so do interest rates – and that’s when stocks typically slide. We’re not there yet, but the specter of it was enough this past week to put serious pressure on the stock markets. However, as the market retreat has pushed many stocks to rock-bottom prices, several Wall Street analysts believe that now may be the time to buy in. These analysts have identified three tickers whose current share prices land close to their 52-week lows. Noting that each is set to take back off on an upward trajectory, the analysts see an attractive entry point. Not to mention each has earned a Moderate or Strong Buy consensus rating, according to TipRanks database. Alteryx (AYX) We’ll start with Alteryx, an analytic software company based in California that takes advantage of the great changes brought by the information age. Data has become a commodity and an asset, and more than ever, companies now need the ability to collect, collate, sort, and analyze reams of raw information. This is exactly what Alteryx’s products allow, and the company has built on that need. In Q4, the company reported net income of 32 cents per share on $160.5 million in total revenues, beating consensus estimates. The company reported good news on the liquidity front, too, with $1 billion in cash available as of Dec 31, up 2.5% the prior year. In Q4, operating cash flow reached $58.5 million, crushing the year-before figure of $20.7 million. However, investors were wary of the lower-than-expected guidance. The company forecasted a range of between $104 million to $107 million in revenue, compared to $119 million analysts had expected. The stock tumbled 16% after the report. That was magnified by the general market turndown at the same time. Overall, AYX is down ~46% over the past 52 months. Yet, the recent sell-off could be an opportunity as the business remains sound amid these challenging times, according to 5-star analyst Daniel Ives, of Wedbush. “We still believe the company is well positioned to capture market share in the nearly ~$50B analytics, business intelligence, and data preparation market with its code-friendly end-to-end data prep and analytics platform once pandemic pressures subside…. The revenue beat was due to a product mix that tilted towards upfront revenue recognition, an improvement in churn rates and an improvement in customer spending trends," Ives opined. Ives’ comments back his Outperform (i.e. Buy) rating, and his $150 price target implies a one-year upside of 89% for the stock. (To watch Ives’ track record, click here) Overall, the 13 analyst recent reviews on Alteryx, breaking down to 10 Buys and 3 Holds, give the stock a Strong Buy analyst consensus rating. Shares are selling for $79.25 and have an average price target of $150.45. (See AYX stock analysis on TipRanks) Root, Inc. (ROOT) Switching over to the insurance sector, we’ll look at Root. This insurance company interacts with customers through its app, acting more like a tech company than a car insurance provider. But it works because the way customers interact with businesses is changing. Root also uses data analytics to set rates for customers, basing fees and premiums on measurable and measured metrics of how a customer actually drives. It’s a personalized version of car insurance, fit for the digital age. Root has also been expanding its model to the renters insurance market. Root has been trading publicly for just 4 months; the company IPO'd back in October, and it’s currently down 50% since it hit the markets. In its Q4 and Full-year 2020 results, Root showed solid gains in direct premiums, although the company still reports a net loss. For the quarter, the direct earnings premiums rose 30% year-over-year to $155 million. For all of 2020, that metric gained 71% to reach $605 million. The full-year net loss was $14.2 million. Truist's 5-star analyst Youssef Squali covers Root, and he sees the company maneuvering to preserve a favorable outlook this year and next. “ROOT's mgt continues to refine its growth strategy two quarters post IPO, and 4Q20 results/2021 outlook reflects such a process... They believe their stepped-up marketing investment should lead to accelerating policy count growth as the year progresses and provide a substantial tailwind heading into 2022. To us, this seems part of a deliberate strategy to marginally shift the balance between topline growth and profitability slightly more in favor of the latter,” Squali noted. Squali’s rating on the stock is a Buy, and his $24 price target suggests a 95% upside in the months ahead. (To watch Squali’s track record, click here) Shares in Root are selling for $12.30 each, and the average target of $22 indicates a possible upside of ~79% by year’s end. There are 5 reviews on record, including 3 to Buy and 2 to Hold, making the analyst consensus a Moderate Buy. (See ROOT stock analysis on TipRanks) Arco Platform, Ltd. (ARCE) The shift to online and remote work hasn’t just impacted the workplace. Around the world, schools and students have also had to adapt. Arco Platform is a Brazilian educational company offering content, technology, supplemental programs, and specialized services to school clients in Brazil. The company boasts over 5,400 schools on its client list, with programs and products in classrooms from kindergarten through high school – and over 405,000 students using Arco Platform learning tools. Arco will report 4Q20 and full year 2020 results later this month – but a look at the company’s November Q3 release is instructive. The company described 2020 as a “testament to the resilience of our business.” By the numbers, Arco reported strong revenue gains in 2020 – no surprise, considering the move to remote learning. Quarterly revenue of 208.7 million Brazilian reals (US$36.66 million) was up 196% year-over-year, while the top line for the first 9 months of the year, at 705.2 million reals (US$123.85 million) was up 117% yoy. Earnings for educational companies can vary through the school year, depending on the school vacation schedule. The third quarter is typically Arco’s worst of the year, with a net loss – and 2020 was no exception. But, the Q3 net loss was only 9 US cents per share – a huge improvement from the 53-cent loss reported in 3Q19. Mr. Market chopped off 38% of the company’s stock price over the past 12 months. One analyst, however, thinks this lower stock price could offer new investors an opportunity to get into ARCE on the cheap. Credit Suisse's Daniel Federle rates ARCE an Outperform (i.e. Buy) along with a $55 price target. This figure implies a 12-month upside potential of ~67%. (To watch Federle’s track record, click here) Federle is confident that the company is positioned for the next leg of growth, noting: "[The] company is structurally solid and moving in the right direction and... any eventual weak operating data point is macro related rather than any issue related to the company. We continue with the view that growth will return to its regular trajectory once COVID effects dissipate.” Turning to expansionary plans, Federle noted, “Arco mentioned that it is within their plans to launch a product focused on the B2C market, likely already in 2021. The product will be focused on offering courses (e.g. test preps) directly to students. It is important to note that this product will not be a substitute for learning systems, rather a complement. Potential success obtained in the B2C market is an upside risk to our estimates.” There are only two reviews on record for Arco, although both of them are Buys, making the analyst consensus here a Moderate Buy. Shares are trading for $33.73 and have an average price target of $51, which suggests a 51% upside from that level. (See ARCE stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for beaten-down stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.
2d ago
InvestorPlace
Ethereum Is Chasing Stardom and It’s Worth Consideration
The discussion today may get a little wonky because of the nature of cryptocurrencies. We will focus on Ethereum USD (CCC:ETH-USD) as it’s making a legit bid for the crypto limelight. It is important to make the distinction between Ethereum the open-source platform and the ETH coin. The platform uses blockchain to create and run dapps (decentralized digital applications). These enable users to digitally and directly transact without an intermediary. And then there is the coveted Ethereum the coin. Source: Shutterstock ETH prices have soared even beating out its original cousin Bitcoin (CCC:BTC-USD). I am not a perma-bull tooting the crypto horns but I definitely get it. The reactions during my debates of this concept at parties are always the same. Most people can’t believe that Bitcoin or Ethereum are real things. The instinct is to call them fake. Fake things don’t cost $48,000 per unit. Spoiler alert, my conclusion today is that Ethereum is most definitely an investable asset. If you don’t believe me just look at the scoreboard. Each cost about$1,475 and that’s 25% off the recent high. Do you remember when Bitcoin was that low? It was only four years ago. I am not suggesting that ETH will also spike to 50k now, but it does have massive upside potential.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips Why We Need Crypto Last year, the pandemic disrupted all businesses worldwide. We need to find more efficient decentralized ways to transact so we can be ready for the next crisis. Besides, it’s clearly the better way of doing business. In addition to that, there is the tangible value appreciation opportunity. A year ago, the stock market crashed but it quickly recovered and in a ferocious way. Even after the drubbing that stocks are taking this week, the S&P 500 is still up more than 20% in a year. But that’s not the best story to tell because Ethereum is up 540% for the same period. The concept of digital coins and blockchain puzzles most people, but they need to get over it. The government is another reason to push crypto forward. Central bank policies are too loose and the byproduct of that is the demolition of the currency. That is why the U.S. dollar can’t find footing for so long. Money is no longer a good place to store wealth. Hiding wealth in cryptocurrencies is smart because it is out of the reach of the government. However, the line is getting finer based on this central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) news from CoinDesk about Ripple. Critics are also eager to point out that crypto is too volatile to be a currency. It doesn’t have to be. Technology is getting to where I can carry my digital wallet and make a purchase from it in any currency. For example, the transaction on the spot liquidates a bit of Ethereum to pay in U.S. dollars. The Ethereum Market Cap Carrot The upside in Ethereum prices is huge. It has a lot to catch up to its Bitcoin cousin. This is a theory that is helping Bitcoin catch up to gold. Market cap matters to Wall Street experts and it’s almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Ethereum’s path is easier because Bitcoin forged it. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) did the same thing for EVs and now the rest are trying to get in. Not all coins will succeed but Ethereum has momentum and is second only to BTC. Ethereum is not yet as popular as Bitcoin when in fact it has outperformed it by wide margin. They now even have a futures contract to trade it. Ethereum is more than a coin because there is a process around it (dapps). This is taking the blockchain concept and expanding its uses. A lot of people still consider it a joke when somebody invests in something like Ethereum. The joke’s on them because they missed out on 540% of upside in just one year. I don’t argue with results regardless of my personal opinion. Once investors can get over to hurdle of digital coins being fake, they can start trading them for profit. Top cryptocurrencies have been the best performing asset class by far for years. Where There Is Reward, There Are Risks Source: Charts by TradingView This is not to say that I should jump in will full size positions. Much like any other investment, I look for openings perhaps on bad days, and I take starter positions. This is high-tech stuff so it will change on a dime. Ethereum needs to avoid falling out of the limelight. These are fast-moving assets so there is no way of avoiding the volatility. It is risky, and that’s why it yields a lot of reward. Everybody needs a little bit of cryptocurrencies in their portfolio. If not that then gold is the next best substitute. We don’t need to be experts on them to invest in them. The proof is in the pudding and I’m willing to keep an open mind about them. Jaw-Dropping Statement In reality, crypto is nothing new. The concept is very similar to gold. The only reason gold has value is because we say it does. To an alien, a yellow rock is no different than a black one. People cherish gold and it’s rare, therefore it has a high price. The harder it is to get, the higher the price. That’s why Bitcoin and ETH retain values that boggle many minds. There is a finite number of these doo-hickeys and millions of people are chasing after them. The concept is that simple. It has value because enough people say it does. So next time you want to get a rise out of someone, do what I do. Tell them that Bitcoin and Ethereum are same as gold. That’s where people’s jaws drop. What’s more exciting about the digital coins are the processes that exist around them. Blockchain is one and it will shape our future. Credit card companies are embracing the change. That’s why Square (NYSE:SQ) and Paypal (NYSE:PYPL) are now the leaders and Visa (NYSE:V) and MasterCard (NYSE:MA) are the laggards. Cryptocurrencies are extremely popular but they have very hardcore opponents. Even heads of banks have been overtly against it even mocking them at times. They have since changed their tone and are warming up to the concept. Goldman Sachs reopened its Bitcoin trading desk recently. They can’t ignore something that has gotten this big this fast. On the date of publication, Nicolas Chahine did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. Nicolas Chahine is the managing director of SellSpreads.com. More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next Potential 500% Winner Stock Prodigy Who Found NIO at $2… Says Buy THIS Now The post Ethereum Is Chasing Stardom and It’s Worth Consideration appeared first on InvestorPlace.
2d ago
MoneyWise
How stimulus checks can give you a $14,000 windfall this year
Some households are collecting a big pile of federal money in 2021.
2d ago
FX Empire
GBP/JPY Weekly Price Forecast – Continues to Test Same Resistance Area
The British pound rallied again during the course of the week to break above the ¥150 level but continues to see a lot of push back once we reach that level.
2d ago
Bloomberg
Biggest Players in the Short-Selling Game Are Getting a Pass
(Bloomberg) -- It’s in the air again, on Reddit, in Congress, in the C-suite: Hedge funds that get rich off short-selling are the enemy. The odd thing is, the biggest players in the game are getting a pass.Those would be the asset managers, pension plans and sovereign wealth funds that provide the vast majority of securities used to take bearish positions. Without the likes of BlackRock Inc. and State Street Corp., the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the Kuwait Investment Authority filling such an elemental role, investors such as Gabe Plotkin, whose Melvin Capital Management became a piñata for day traders in the GameStop Corp. saga, wouldn’t have shares to sell short.“Anytime we short a stock, we locate a borrow,” Plotkin said Feb. 18 at the House Financial Services Committee hearing on the GameStop short squeeze.There’s plenty to choose from. As of mid-2020, some $24 trillion of stocks and bonds were available for such borrowing, with $1.2 trillion in shares -- equal to a third of all hedge-fund assets -- actually out on loan, according to the International Securities Lending Association.It’s a situation that on the surface defies logic. Given the popular belief that short sellers create unjustified losses in some stocks, why would shareholders want to supply the ammunition for attacks against their investments? The explanation is fairly straight forward: By loaning out securities for a small fee plus interest, they can generate extra income that boosts returns. That’s key in an industry where fund managers are paid to beat benchmarks and especially valuable in a world of low yields.The trade-off is simple: For investors with large, diversified portfolios, a single stock plummeting under the weight of a short-selling campaign has little impact over the long run. And in the nearer term, the greater the number of aggregate bets against a stock -- the so-called short interest -- the higher the fee a lender can charge.In the case of GameStop, short interest was unusually high and shares on loan were generating an annualized return of 25% to 30%, Ken Griffin testified at the Feb. 18 hearing. Griffin operates a market maker, Citadel Securities, as well as Citadel, one of the world’s largest hedge funds.“Securities lending is a way for long holders to generate additional alpha,” said Nancy Allen of DataLend, which compiles data on securities financing. “Originally, it was a way to cover costs, but over the last 10 to 15 years it’s become an investment function.”Not everyone is comfortable with the inherent conflict. In December 2019, Japan’s $1.6 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund stopped lending its international stock holdings to short sellers, calling the practice inconsistent with its responsibilities as a fiduciary. At the time, the decision cost GPIF about $100 million a year in lost revenue.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has regulated short-selling since the 1930s and polices the market for abuses such as naked shorting, which involves taking a short position without borrowing shares. Proponents of legal shorting argue that its use enhances liquidity, improves pricing and serves a critical role as a bulwark against fraud and hype.Chief executives, whose pay packages often depend on share performance, routinely decry short sellers as vultures. More recently, shorting has come under fire in the emotionally charged banter on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum. Some speculators ran up the prices of GameStop, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and other meme stocks in January to punish the hedge funds that bet against them, and they delighted when the rampant buying led to bruising losses at Melvin, Maplelane Capital and Citron Research.Many of the key actors in the GameStop frenzy testified at the Feb. 18 hearing. Plotkin was grilled by committee members over Melvin’s short position. Citadel’s Griffin and others faced broader questions about short-selling. Yet no one asked about the supply of borrowed shares and there were no witnesses called from the securities-lending industry.There’s a symbiotic relationship between hedge funds and the prime-brokerage units of Wall Street firms, much of it built on securities lending. Prime brokers act as intermediaries, sourcing stocks and bonds for borrowers who want to short them and facilitate the trades. According to DataLend, securities lending generated $2.9 billion of broker-to-broker revenue in 2020, almost the same as in 2019.Demand for short positions was already expected to drop as stock prices surged to all-time highs. Now, with the threat of retribution from the Reddit crowd, it may weaken even further. Griffin said he has “no doubt” there’ll be less short-selling as a consequence of the GameStop squeeze.“I think the whole industry will have to adapt,” Plotkin said at the hearing. “I don’t think investors like myself want to be susceptible to these types of dynamics.”This could not only threaten the dealers who broker stock lending but also the holders who supply the securities and share in the revenue. They reaped $7.7 billion globally in 2020, down from a record of almost $10 billion in 2018, according to DataLend. Lending fees increased by 4.2% on a year-over-year basis in February after the GameStop onslaught, DataLend says.While securities lending accounted for $652 million, or just 4%, of BlackRock’s revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020, there’s little cost involved and the risks are low because borrowers have to put up collateral that equals or exceeds the value of the loan. At both BlackRock and State Street Corp., the second-largest custody bank, the value of securities on loan as of Dec. 31 jumped at least 20% from a year earlier, to $352 billion and $441 billion, respectively.“Every little bit counts with indexes,” said John Rekenthaler, vice president of research at Morningstar. “You’re scraping nickels off the street, but there’s a whole lot of nickels.”Others could take a hit, too. Just as Robinhood Markets is able to offer zero-commission trades by selling its order flow to Citadel and other market makers, asset managers typically pass on some of their securities-lending revenue as a type of client rebate.“It’s very important to remember that institutional investors earn substantial returns from participating in the securities-lending market,” Citadel’s Griffin said at the GameStop hearing. “That accrues to the benefit of pension plans, of ETFs, of other pools of institutional lending that participate in the securities lending market.”(Adds data on lending fees after the short-interest chart.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
13h ago
Yahoo Finance
Suze Orman: Something's ‘radically wrong’ if you’re getting a tax refund
Personal finance guru Suze Orman said the receipt of a tax refund indicates "something's radically wrong," since the money returned to filers could otherwise have accrued value over the period it stood in the government's possession.
22h ago
Bloomberg
Bond Traders Go All-In on U.S. Treasury Market’s Big Short Bet
(Bloomberg) -- It’s not just in meme stocks that the fate of short sellers is a key theme. Short bets are increasingly in vogue in the $21 trillion Treasuries market, with crucial implications across asset classes.The benchmark 10-year yield reached 1.62% Friday -- the highest since February 2020 -- before dip buying from foreign investors emerged. Stronger-than-expected job creation and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s seeming lack of concern, for now, with leaping long-term borrowing costs have emboldened traders. In one telltale sign of which way they’re leaning, demand to borrow 10-year notes in the repurchase-agreement market is so great that rates have gone negative, likely part of a move to short the maturity.The trifecta of more fiscal stimulus ahead, ultra-easy monetary policy and an accelerating vaccination campaign is helping bring a post-pandemic reality into view. There are of course risks to the bearish bond scenario. Most prominently, yields could rise to the point that they spook stocks, and tighten financial conditions generally -- a key metric the Fed is focused on for guiding policy. Even so, Wall Street analysts can’t seem to lift year-end yield forecasts fast enough.“There’s a lot of tinder being put now on this fire for higher yields,” said Margaret Kerins, global head of fixed-income strategy at BMO Capital Markets. “The question is what is the point that higher yields are too high and really put pressure on risk assets and push Powell into action” to try and tamp them down.Share prices have already shown signs of vulnerability to increasing yields, especially tech-heavy stocks. Another area at risk is the housing market -- a bright spot for the economy -- with mortgage rates jumping.The surge in yields and growing confidence in the economic recovery prompted a slew of analysts to recalibrate expectations for 10-year rates this past week. For example, TD Securities and Societe Generale lifted their year-end forecasts to 2% from 1.45% and 1.50%, respectively.Asset managers, for their part, flipped to most net short on 10-year notes since 2016, the latest Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show.Auction PressureIn the days ahead, however, BMO is eyeing 1.75% as the next key mark, a level last seen in January 2020, weeks before the pandemic sent markets into a chaotic frenzy.A fresh dose of long-end supply next week may make short positions even more attractive, especially after record-low demand for last month’s 7-year auction served as a trigger to push 10-year yields above 1.6%. The Treasury will sell a total of $62 billion in 10- and 30-year debt.With expectations for inflation and growth taking flight, traders are signaling that they anticipate the Fed may have to respond more quickly than it’s indicated. Eurodollar futures now reflect a quarter-point hike in the first quarter of 2023, but they’re starting to suggest that it could come in late 2022. Fed officials have projected they’d keep rates near zero until at least the end of 2023.So while the market is leaning toward loftier yields, the interplay between bonds and stocks is bound to be a huge focus going forward.“There’s definitely that momentum, but the question is how well risky assets adjust to the new paradigm,” said Subadra Rajappa, head of U.S. rates strategy at Societe Generale. “We’ll be watching next week, when the dust settles after the payrolls data, how Treasuries react and how risky assets react to the rise in yields.”What to WatchThe economic calendarMarch 8: Wholesale trade sales/inventoriesMarch 9: NFIB small business optimismMarch 10: MBA mortgage applications; CPI; average weekly earnings; monthly budget statementMarch 11: Jobless claims; Langer consumer comfort; JOLTS job openings: household change in net worthMarch 12: PPI; University of Michigan sentimentThe Fed calendar is empty before the March 17 policy decisionThe auction calendar:March 8: 13-, 26-week billsMarch 9: 42-day cash-management bills; 3-year notesMarch 10: 10-year notesMarch 11: 4-, 8-week bills; 30-year bondsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
13h ago

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Global Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Resin & Polybutylene Terephthalate (PBT) Resin Market Report 2020-2027: U.S. Market is Estimated at $12.5 Billion, While China is Forecast to Grow at 9% CAGR - ResearchAndMarkets.com

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