V - Visa Inc.
178.13 +0.79 (0.45%)
Pre-Market: 7:02AM EDT
| Previous Close | 177.06 |
| Open | 177.38 |
| Bid | 178.15 x 1100 |
| Ask | 177.97 x 800 |
| Day's Range | 177.11 - 178.41 |
| 52 Week Range | 121.60 - 187.05 |
| Volume | 5,221,762 |
| Avg. Volume | 7,199,667 |
| Market Cap | 397.357B |
| Beta (3Y Monthly) | 0.81 |
| PE Ratio (TTM) | 34.06 |
| EPS (TTM) | 5.21 |
| Earnings Date | Oct 24, 2019 |
| Forward Dividend & Yield | 1.00 (0.56%) |
| Ex-Dividend Date | 2019-08-15 |
| 1y Target Est | 201.31 |
- Bloomberg
The Upside to Facebook’s Libra Disaster
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- It’s just as well that big companies that process and facilitate payments have quit Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project, fearing a regulatory backlash. If Facebook really wants to bring financial services to the “unbanked,” it should try doing it on a smaller scale than these companies’ presence promised. And even then, the probability of failure will be high.It’s clear why PayPal Holdings Inc., Stripe Inc., eBay Inc., MasterCard Inc. and Visa Inc. have decided not to join the Libra Association, which Facebook has been organizing to run the proposed digital currency. They took seriously the recent warning of Senators Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Sherrod Brown of Ohio that because of their membership, they could “expect a high level of scrutiny from regulators not only on Libra-related payment activities, but on all payment activities.” The concern is that a cryptocurrency used in conjunction with encrypted messaging could potentially be used in illegal transactions, and anyone involved in creating such an opportunity would be suspect.U.S. regulators are perfectly capable of scuppering major cryptocurrency projects. On Oct. 11, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced it had stopped Telegram Group Inc. from distributing digital tokens, so-called Grams, to the investors who contributed $1.7 billion to the creation of the cryptocurrency last year. These include major U.S. venture capital firms such as Benchmark, Sequoia and Lightspeed. The same could easily happen to Libra.That’s the problem with starting so big. Telegram’s token offering was the biggest ever recorded. Facebook made a big announcement on Libra and presented a list of partners that read like a Who’s Who of the payments industry. They envisaged global launches for their cryptocurrencies. Of course regulators and politicians were alarmed.To avoid this kind of outcome, Facebook — whose stated goal with Libra is to offer affordable payment services and loans to people currently priced out of the financial services market — could have tried the strategy that got results for one of its remaining partners, Vodafone Group Plc. Vodafone launched M-Pesa, Kenya’s storied “mobile money,” in 2007, and one of the project’s major assets was the Kenyan central bank’s consent to the launch without any formal regulation. Vodafone’s local cellular operator, Safaricom Plc, quickly built up a network of stores where people without bank accounts could pay in and receive cash, and old-fashioned mobile phones began to double as wallets for transfers and purchases. The lack of regulatory intervention and the large physical network, fed by relatively generous commissions, made sure that by 2019, M-Pesa claimed 37 million active customers in seven African countries. But attempts to transplant the service to many other markets have failed. Vodafone has closed M-Pesa in India (in part because of regulatory obstacles), South Africa (low customer interest), Romania and Albania (apparently it was unprofitable). Vodafone discovered there was no cookie-cutter solution. In different countries, lenders, retailers and mobile operators offered competing services, and regulatory scrutiny varied. To find countries in which to launch such an electronic money service, one would need to go down the list of nations with large populations of the unbanked. The top 20, according to the World Bank, includes big ones, such as China, India, Indonesia and Brazil.But in most of these countries, people are already using some form of digital money in lieu of dealing with traditional financial institutions. That’s why the list of 20 countries with the smallest percentage of people who have recently made or received digital payments looks completely different.In other words, it’s not easy to find a country where a lot of people have neither a bank account nor access to other kinds of financial services. And then there’s a chance that the cash-using population of a specific country wants to stay that way. One possible reason M-Pesa didn’t quite work in Albania and Romania is that these countries have large informal economies. With up to a third of gross domestic product “in the shadow,” traceable electronic transactions are unattractive compared with cash. These difficulties of finding good target markets, and ones with friendly regulators to boot, should explain Facebook’s desire to launch at scale, to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. But the risk with this approach is that the idea of offering cheap financial services to the unbanked begins to look like a smokescreen for building a huge unregulated bank in the developed world — just what regulators in Europe and the U.S. fear the most.Instead of pushing ahead with the remaining partners and risking the same kind of trouble as Telegram, Facebook should go back to the drawing board and start thinking of smaller projects tailor-made to specific countries’ requirements. Expansion would be slow, and there would be failures and miscalculations along the way, but regulators in each market might be easier to persuade that the project’s goals aren’t nefarious. To contact the author of this story: Leonid Bershidsky at lbershidsky@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Tobin Harshaw at tharshaw@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Leonid Bershidsky is Bloomberg Opinion's Europe columnist. He was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Bloomberg
Libra Association Board Members Have Ties to Facebook, Marcus
(Bloomberg) -- The Libra Association, which oversees a controversial cryptocurrency, was officially formed on Tuesday, and its five board members have one thing in common: close relationships with Facebook Inc. and its executives.When Facebook first announced Libra, the company was quick to point out that it wouldn’t be alone in managing such an ambitious endeavor. Instead, it hoped to be one out of as many as 100 companies controlling the new digital coin. But as regulatory pressures have mounted and early partners have been leaving the project in droves, Facebook finds itself resorting to close allies to fill the Libra leadership team.David Marcus, who heads the Facebook team that proposed Libra in the first place, is on the board. Marcus is also an investor in Xapo Inc., whose Chief Executive Officer Wences Casares is on Libra’s board as well.Joining them is Katie Haun, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, which was an early investor in Facebook. Another early Facebook backer, Digital Sky Technologies, is part-owned by Naspers, which has majority ownership of the parent company of PayU, the home of another Libra board member, Patrick Ellis. The fifth board member, Matthew Davie of micro-lending service Kiva, also has ties to Facebook. One of Kiva’s board members is John Muller, associate general counsel at Facebook who, like Marcus, hails from PayPal Holdings Inc.“Silicon Valley boards nearly always have these kinds of interconnections,” Aaron Brown, an investor and a writer for Bloomberg Opinion, wrote in an email. “Even someone without formal ties to Facebook will have informal and indirect ones. So no one qualified to be on the board is likely to be fully independent of Facebook. But I don’t see the board as being essentially an independent check on Facebook. I see it as a group of qualified and interested people.”The board members and the Libra Association didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.“Yes, David is a very small investor in Xapo like dozens of other people from Silicon Valley. Yes, Wences and David are both in payments and fintech in Silicon Valley and because of that they have known each other for a few years now,” a spokesperson for Xapo said. “Neither David being a small investor in Xapo nor David and Wences having known each other for a few years compromises Wences’ independence in Libra’s board.”The Libra Association board was formed after high-profile exits by a number of companies, including Mastercard Inc., Visa Inc. and PayPal. The exodus followed scrutiny by lawmakers and regulators who have expressed concern about Facebook’s poor track record in protecting user privacy.Facebook has described Libra as a community effort. But the original group of about 100 partners has dwindled to 21 organizations that signed on as members on Tuesday. Facebook’s challenge will be to convince more companies that there is value for them in a project that has the social-media giant firmly in the driving seat, whether it intended that to be the case or not.To contact the reporter on this story: Olga Kharif in Portland at okharif@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Vlad SavovFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Yahoo Finance
Steven Mnuchin would like some credit for the Facebook Libra exodus
Mnuchin says Treasury, and not just the senators who sent letters, also warned Libra Association members about their involvement.
- Bloomberg
Libra Loses a Quarter of Its Members as Booking Holdings Exits
(Bloomberg) -- The Libra Association hasn’t officially launched but has already lost a quarter of its membership, as Booking Holdings Inc., an online travel company that operates websites including Kayak.com and Priceline.com, joined Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc. and four other companies in leaving the controversial cryptocurrency project spearheaded by Facebook Inc.With the departure of Norwalk, Connecticut-based Booking, the Libra Association now has 21 founding members remaining of the original 28 companies that signed on to the association in June. PayPal Holdings Inc., Stripe Inc., MercadoLibre Inc. and EBay Inc. in the past two weeks have also said they would abandon the project.The remaining members of the Libra Association, a nonprofit that would manage the cryptocurrency, planned to meet Monday in Geneva, Switzerland to finalize its governing charter and initial membership.Libra came under intense scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators as soon as Facebook announced the project. Regulators warned that the cryptocurrency, originally set to launch next year, could be used by criminals if not properly monitored, while lawmakers pilloried Facebook’s track record at hearings in July with Libra co-founder David Marcus.Officials in some countries, including Germany and France, announced that they would ban Libra, saying that the currency could be a threat to monetary policy, among other concerns.Visa, Mastercard and Stripe left the project shortly after receiving a letter from Democratic senators Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, warning that they could face increased scrutiny if they stayed on board.Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Libra-member Coinbase Inc., on Sunday said the pressure felt “un-American.” “Why the need for the intimidation tactics? This would be called anti-competitive/monopolistic behavior if any private company did it,” Armstrong wrote on Twitter.In the face of the departures, Libra has said more than 1,500 companies have expressed interest in joining the association and that the currency wouldn’t launch until it satisfied regulators’ concerns.Developers have continued to advance the open-source code that would underlie Libra. However, Visa, Mastercard and PayPal could have provided critical experience in navigating U.S. financial regulators’ concerns, making their departures particularly painful. Booking Holdings, which has a market capitalization of more than $84 billion, was among the only remaining large, publicly held companies left in the project.Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg plans to testify next week at the House Financial Services Committee on Libra, among other topics.Representatives for the Libra Association didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.\--With assistance from Kurt Wagner.To contact the reporters on this story: Joe Light in Washington at jlight8@bloomberg.net;Olivia Carville in New York at ocarville1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net, Molly SchuetzFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Investing.com
Stocks - Futures Open the Week Lower on Chinese Haggling
Investing.com -- U.S. stock futures traded lower on Monday as reports suggested that it will be hard to nail down even the minimalist agreement on trade between the U.S. and China.
- Bloomberg
Facebook's Libra Loses Mastercard, Visa in Cascade of Exits
(Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc.’s effort to create a cryptocurrency was dealt a blow on Friday after several key partners, including Mastercard Inc., Visa Inc., EBay Inc., Stripe Inc. and Mercado Pago, abandoned the project. The defections followed fierce criticism from global regulators and lawmakers, and have prompted some industry-watchers to question whether the Libra program can survive.The news comes days before the Libra Association, the group that will oversee the digital currency, prepares to convene its members and ask them to sign a charter agreement. The meeting is slated to take place on Monday in Geneva. A Libra Association spokeswoman said on Friday that the gathering will proceed as planned, and that it would announce the first list of official partners once a formal charter is signed.In a statement, the spokeswoman said the group was "focused on moving forward and continuing to build a strong association" as it worked to create "a safe, transparent, and consumer-friendly implementation of a global payment system that breaks down financial barriers for billions of people."When Facebook launched plans for Libra in June, a critical part of its pitch was that major players in the payments and tech industry were supporting it. The cryptocurrency would be run out of Geneva by the organizations that comprised the Libra Association, not solely by Facebook. But now that that alliance appears to be eroding, the project’s future is uncertain."I don’t think Facebook can do this by itself," said Michael Pachter, an analyst for Wedbush Securities told Bloomberg TV. "Short of a big bank stepping in like JPMorgan, I don’t think this could ever happen."In a tweet on Friday, David Marcus, the Facebook executive spearheading the effort, said that the exit of six partners would not derail the effort. "I would caution against reading the fate of Libra into this update," he wrote. "Change of this magnitude is hard. You know you’re on to something when this much pressure builds up."Whether or not Libra implodes, the exits highlight the extreme challenges that lie ahead for the project, which if successful could have a sweeping impact on the global financial system. "It may very well fail completely," said Lisa Ellis, an analyst at MoffettNathanson. Even if it survives, progress will take much longer and "it’s likely to fall into some level of obscurity," she added.Facebook has faced fierce backlash since the company announced plans for Libra. Politicians and regulators around the world have called on Facebook to halt its progress, and some have suggested Libra could be used for illegal money laundering or trafficking schemes.Despite the scrutiny from public officials and the exodus of partners, Facebook remains committed to Libra, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Some people inside the company think the defections are partly driven by established payments providers worrying about a new entrant encroaching on their turf, the person said.In the months since its announcement, Facebook has frequently found itself in the spotlight over the cryptocurrency. Marcus went to Washington in July to testify before Congress about Facebook’s plans. Later this month, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to appear before the House Financial Services Committee to answer even more questions about Libra.Earlier this week, two U.S. senators cautioned Visa, Mastercard and Stripe to reconsider their involvement in the project. Senators Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Brian Schatz of Hawaii said that Libra poses a risk to not only the financial system, but the payments companies’ broader business. "We urge you to carefully consider how your companies will manage these risks before proceeding," they said a letter to the companies.Mastercard said in a statement that it will "remain focused on our strategy and our own significant efforts to enable financial inclusion around the world," adding, "We believe there are potential benefits in such initiatives and will continue to monitor the Libra effort." Visa said the company would also continue to evaluate whether to join in Libra in the future, and that the company’s "ultimate decision will be determined by a number of factors, including the Association’s ability to fully satisfy all requisite regulatory expectations."In a statement on Friday, EBay expressed its support for the project, but said it would focus on rolling out its own payments products. “We highly respect the vision of the Libra Association; however, eBay has made the decision to not move forward as a founding member,” an EBay spokesman wrote in the emailed statement. “At this time, we are focused on rolling out eBay’s managed payments experience for our customers."Payments giant Stripe, one of the most high-profile startups to sign onto the project, signaled it remained open to working on it in the future. “Stripe is supportive of projects that aim to make online commerce more accessible for people around the world. Libra has this potential,” said a company spokesperson. “We will follow its progress closely and remain open to working with the Libra Association at a later stage.”The Libra Association is composed of about two dozen organizations, including Facebook. A Lyft Inc. spokeswoman confirmed on Friday that the ride-hailing company remains a member. Other companies that have not signaled plans to leave include Uber Technologies Inc., Spotify Technology S.A., Coinbase Inc. and telecom providers Iliad SA and Vodafone Group Plc. PayPal Holdings Inc. dropped out last week. (Updates with David Marcus comment in 6th paragraph.)\--With assistance from Candy Cheng, Lizette Chapman, Spencer Soper and Lydia Beyoud.To contact the reporters on this story: Kurt Wagner in San Francisco at kwagner71@bloomberg.net;Julie Verhage in New York at jverhage2@bloomberg.net;Jenny Surane in New York at jsurane4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Anne VanderMey, Robin AjelloFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- InvestorPlace
Square Stock Has a Good Base for a Bounce
Not too long ago, Square (NYSE:SQ) was the up-and-comer of financial tech stocks and could do no wrong for a while. But that is no longer true. In fact, this year SQ stock is only up 10% while Visa (NYSE:V) and MasterCard (NASDAQ:MA) are up more than three times as much.Source: Shutterstock This year SQ stock hit heavy resistance at $83 per share and has failed at every potential breakout there. Although SQ is also lagging the S&P 500 by 40%, the opportunity from here is that there is more upside potential than downside risk.Finding bottoms in stocks is tricky. But identifying support zones that could act as a baseline for rallies is a lot easier. Square stock has fallen into such zones. Being around $50 per share has been pivotal to SQ for the last five years. So the bulls in it are on solid footing, which usually makes the case for more upside. There are no weak hands left to hold the stock after a long time of selling pressure.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips * 10 Super Boring Stocks to Buy With Super Safe Returns Fundamentally, and even after this big correction, SQ stock is still not cheap. It still loses money and it sells at eight times sales. From that perspective it could have a lot more froth to shed. The bullish thesis for SQ has to include the assumption of strong growth. Otherwise it won't deserve its valuation premium and it would have to reprice lower. SQ Stock Has a Good Base for a BounceTechnically the short-term SQ charts show clear lines to trade. Short term, SQ has an opportunity just above $63 per share. This could invite momentum buyers to target $68. But from there, SQ might get a few more optimistic buyers to try and fill the giant gap from the last earnings report. It won't be easy, but if the overall markets rally for any reason then SQ will likely have a realistic chance to do it. But as with any good trade, there needs to be proper stops. In this case, SQ needs to sustain the high-low trend to retain the upside momentum.As with many investments, the whole globe is migrating all financial transaction to digital. The fin-tech sector stocks will have strong demand on their products and services for years to come. SQ, V, and MA will be amidst the winners. Their management teams have so far executed well on plans so I expect them to continue.The bitcoin craze is evidence that the world is ready for electronic financial transactions. Almost everyone I know uses one form of fintech or another. There is definitely room for all major entrants to prosper in it. SQ stock will be higher in the future if the stock markets in general don't crash.This brings up the important points of geopolitical risks that currently plague the headlines. The world seems like it's a mess. But the company P&L's don't indicate an imminent collapse. Politicians will eventually figure things out, but in the meantime they will put investors through a whirlwind of headlines. That's their job so they can justify their existence to their constituents. Politicians can rarely derail the whole globe on purpose especially when all central banks are dedicated to inflating economies.Nicolas Chahine is the managing director of SellSpreads.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Join his live chat room for free here. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 10 Super Boring Stocks to Buy With Super Safe Returns * 10 Winning Stocks to Buy and Stick With for the Long Haul * Don't Give Up on These 4 Cannabis Stocks The post Square Stock Has a Good Base for a Bounce appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- PR Newswire
GM Security Technologies and Visa collaborate to promote payment security in Latin America and the Caribbean
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico and MIAMI and SANTIAGO, Chile, Oct. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- GM Security Technologies (GMST), a global leader in cybersecurity, and Visa, the global technology payments company, announced today that they will work together to accelerate the adoption of secure, compliant and trustworthy digital payment eco-systems in Latin America and the Caribbean. The companies will be hosting a regional roadshow to educate issuers, merchants, acquires, and third party processors (TPP) around the region on the importance of Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance validation solutions, cybersecurity enablement and payment security training. PCI DSS ongoing compliance is a requirement for all organizations that store, process and/or transmit payment card information.
- American City Business Journals
S.F. fintech seeks to upend credit cards with an innovative twist
Rather than refinance existing credit card balances with a personal loan, one fintech CEO says it's better to automatically convert a Visa card purchase into an installment loan at a fixed rate.
- Zacks
Visa With Intuit Enables Instant Cash for Small Businesses
Visa (V) rolls out instant deposit service to facilitate cash flows for small businesses.
- Investopedia
7 EBITDA Growth Stocks That Can Outperform in a Volatile Market
This is the second of two stories that Investopedia is devoting to a report from Goldman Sachs recommending stocks with longterm stable profit growth.
- Quartz
For once, Facebook is the underdog as Libra skepticism mounts
CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify about Facebook's crypto aspirations before the House Financial Services Committee later this month.
- Zacks
ETFs to Invest in Mobile Payments and Drone Economy
These ETFs are posed to benefit from rapid growth of mobile payments and drone industries.
- GuruFocus.com
US Indexes Rebound Wednesday After 2 Days of Losses
S&P; 500 gains 0.91% Continue reading...
- Bloomberg
Senators Caution Mastercard, Visa, Stripe on Libra Membership
(Bloomberg) -- Two Senate Democrats are urging three payment processing companies to reconsider their involvement with the Libra cryptocurrency project envisioned by Facebook Inc. and a coalition of other groups.Libra poses risks not only to global financial systems, but also to the companies’ broader payments business, Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii said in letter on Tuesday to Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc. and Stripe Inc.In the letter, the lawmakers cited news reports on the difficulty some of Libra Association members have faced in obtaining details on the organization’s management and risks.The association is composed of a group of 27 members including Facebook and the payments companies, as well as a swath of tech companies like Uber Technologies Inc., telecom providers Iliad SA and Vodafone Group Plc, and cryptocurrency companies like Coinbase, Inc.PayPal, Inc., one of the original members, confirmed it had left the organization on Oct. 4.In a statement, Brown, the senior Democrat on the Banking Committee, and Schatz, a panel member, said they pointed out in the letter that “Congress, financial regulators, and potential Libra Association member companies have struggled to get sufficient details from Facebook about risks that Libra may pose, including facilitating criminal and terrorist financing, destabilizing the global financial system, interfering with monetary policy, or exposing consumers to risks currently limited to accredited investors.”“We urge you to carefully consider how your companies will manage these risks before proceeding, given that Facebook has not yet demonstrated to Congress, financial regulators — and perhaps not even to your companies — that it is taking these risks seriously,” they said in the letter.“Facebook,” the senators added, “is currently struggling to tackle massive issues, such as privacy violations, disinformation, election interference, discrimination, and fraud, and it has not demonstrated an ability to bring those failures under control.”“You should be concerned,” Brown and Schatz said, “that any weaknesses in Facebook’s risk management systems will become weaknesses in your systems that you may not be able to effectively mitigate.”Spokesmen for Mastercard, Visa and Stripe declined to comment. Facebook referred a request for comment to the Libra Association.“The Libra Association maintains its commitment to not launch until questions and concerns by regulators are addressed,” Libra Association spokesman Dante Disparte said in a statement. “This is enshrined in our long launch runway, which has helped inform regulators, policy makers and other stakeholders around the world about our commitment to responsible financial innovation and strong oversight.”Disparte said more than 1,500 organizations have reached out to the association about joining.In July, both Republican and Democratic senators had pointed questions for Facebook at a Banking Committee hearing over its digital currency plans. That session reflected the skepticism across Washington and underscoring the challenges the company faces in getting Libra off the ground.(Adds comment from Libra Association in third from last paragraph.)\--With assistance from Kurt Wagner, Julie Verhage and Jenny Surane.To contact the reporters on this story: Lydia Beyoud in Washington at lbeyoud2@bloomberg.net;Joe Light in Washington at jlight8@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Seth Stern at sstern22@bloomberg.net, Sara FordenFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Moody's
Visa Inc. -- Moody's announces completion of a periodic review of ratings of Visa Inc.
Announcement of Periodic Review: Moody's announces completion of a periodic review of ratings of Visa Inc. New York, October 09, 2019 -- Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") has completed a periodic review of the ratings of Visa Inc. and other ratings that are associated with the same analytical unit. The review was conducted through a portfolio review in which Moody's reassessed the appropriateness of the ratings in the context of the relevant principal methodology(ies), recent developments, and a comparison of the financial and operating profile to similarly rated peers.
- American City Business Journals
New regulations and possible defections could unbalance Facebook’s Libra
Only days after the departure of PayPal from Facebook Inc.’s cryptocurrency project, the initiative could find itself in even more trouble. Bloomberg reports that a trio of payment processing companies are being urged by a pair of U.S. lawmakers to reconsider their support for Facebook's Libra project. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Brian Schatz of Hawaii have reportedly written to Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc. and Stripe Inc., warning them that Libra poses a threat both to their own businesses and to global finances as a whole.
- Business Wire
Intuit QuickBooks and Visa Enable Real-Time Access to Funds Anytime, Anywhere for Small Businesses
Cash flow is one of the most significant challenges facing a small business’ growth. In fact, 69% of small business owners have been kept up at night about issues related to cash flow and 61% of businesses have regular issues with cash flow1. In an effort to continue to solve cash flow issues for small business owners, Intuit Inc. (INTU) QuickBooks today announced Instant Deposit, a new feature that enables real-time2 disbursements for small business owners using QuickBooks Payments to directly access funds with their eligible debit card using Visa Direct, Visa’s (NYSE:V) real-time3 push payments solution.
- Financial Times
US stocks rise for first time in three days amid trade hopes
Wall Street climbed for the first time in three days on Wednesday but found its fortunes waxing and waning in response to the latest trade headlines. The S&P 500 finished 0.9 per cent higher in a broad-based rally, coming back from intraday highs that had it up as much as 1.3 per cent. Meanwhile, the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 1 per cent. of US agricultural products as they sought an interim trade agreement with Washington.
- Kiplinger
The 15 Best Recession-Resistant Stocks to Buy
There's little question as to what makes the most recession-resistant stocks to buy so resilient. Many of them offer products that Americans simply can't go without, or that are much more attractive when money is tight.What's less certain is when investors will need these companies.The man who predicted the dot-com crash of 2000 and the housing crisis that led to the most recent recession believes the odds of a 2020 recession are less than 50%. "Whether it's coming next year, I can't be sure," Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Shiller told the Financial News on Sept. 9.However, a National Association for Business Economics survey found that while economists are modelling a 20% chance of recession by mid-2020, they put the odds at 69% by mid-2021. They also widely see GDP growth slowing from 2.9% in 2018 to 2.3% this year, then to just 1.8% in 2020.Some are even more pessimistic. Also in September, Jeffrey Gundlach - CEO and founder of DoubleLine Capital LP, a Los Angeles-based investment firm with $140 billion in assets under management - said he believes there's a 75% chance of a recession before the 2020 presidential election.Here are 15 top recession-resistant stocks to buy if you want to get ahead of the risk. Among the things you should know about recessions: The organization in charge of actually determining whether a recession has occurred typically needs six months to do so. Investors won't know it's happening until it has been underway for quite some time. So if you're looking to protect your portfolio against this risk, you'll want to lean toward being early rather than late. SEE ALSO: 20 Dividend Stocks to Fund 20 Years of Retirement
- Bloomberg
PayPal’s Exit From Libra May Trigger Fresh Hearings, Cowen Says
(Bloomberg) -- PayPal Holdings Inc.’s decision to pull out of the Libra Association may lead to more congressional hearings from critics seeking to press the payments company for more details on why it walked away, according to Cowen.A push for hearings may intensify further if Libra -- Facebook Inc.’s effort to develop a digital currency -- were to lose other members, analyst Jaret Seiberg wrote. Not only has Facebook failed to win Washington’s “buy in,” it’s also lost support and the “messaging war,” he said. And Seiberg warned that other backers may join PayPal in retreating rather than “risk getting pulled into the policy fights over privacy and private currencies.”PayPal pared losses of as much as 2% as Facebook declined as much as much as 1.1%. Meanwhile other Libra backers -- Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. -- both fell more than 1.7% before paring some of the drop. Financials declined across the board, along with the broader market, as analysts fretted about banks’ prospects and trade tensions flared.On Monday, Morgan Stanley analyst James Faucette described PayPal’s decision as wise. “While we believe it made sense for PayPal, Visa, and Mastercard to initially participate in Libra to defend their flanks and maintain optionality, the amount of political attention Libra has received has made the opportunity less attractive,” Faucette wrote.Cowen’s Seiberg has consistently doubted Facebook’s ability to secure the necessary regulatory approvals as the social media company is “framing Libra as an independent entity that will control the transaction data of users.” Big partners exiting may mean it will be “harder to convince policymakers that Libra is independent of Facebook.” He expects Facebook will stay in the spotlight and will face mounting scrutiny as the 2020 election approaches.Separately, Height Capital Markets in a note said that “one withdrawal does not doom Libra, but if there is a cascade of departures the Libra project may collapse before it can launch.” The firm also saw regulators’ focus on financial stability as “overstated,” as Libra won’t be issuing any country’s currency or debt, but will convert a given currency into Libra currency, and Libra will be “backed by a basket of short term debt instruments issued by sovereign nations.”Earlier, Loop Capital analyst Alan Gould wrote that Libra “will likely take much longer than initially anticipated” and more government regulation and fines could be on the way.\--With assistance from Cristin Flanagan.To contact the reporter on this story: Felice Maranz in New York at fmaranz@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, Will DaleyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Market Realist
PayPal Abandons Facebook’s Libra: Could Others Follow?
PayPal announced its withdrawal from the 28-member team of Facebook's Libra Project. Libra has received criticism from the public and private sectors.
- Zacks
Facebook's (FB) Libra Project in Question After PayPal (PYPL) Withdraws
The coalition Facebook (FB) formed to create its cryptocurrency project named Libra is starting to unravel.
- Barrons.com
Facebook’s Pain Could Be Visa and Mastercard’s Gain
For investors looking to tap into fintech’s vast earnings potential, Mastercard, PayPal, and Visa look as attractive as ever.
- Yahoo Finance Video
FB’s cryptocurrency project Libra faces exodus of partners
Defections by high-profile partners continue to plague Facebook's digital currency project, Libra. With booking holdings being the latest company to sever ties. Bryan Leach Founder and CEO of Ibotta, joined On The Move to discuss.
