Ari Fleischer on MLB relocating All-Star Game from Georgia over voting law
Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer argues that injecting sports into politics and politics into sports is a 'lose-lose' situation.
On the heels of blockbuster earnings from major U.S. banks, investors are focused on whether an upcoming batch of earnings from major technology-related companies can sustain the season's early momentum. Estimated year-over-year first-quarter earnings growth for S&P 500 companies rose to 31% from 25% in the past week, based on Refinitiv data, driven by last week's stronger-than-expected results from Wells Fargo & Co, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and other banks. Tuesday brings results from stay-at-home winner Netflix Inc, which is part of the FAANG group of high-profile tech-related names.
The British pound initially tried to break above the 1.40 level on Tuesday but gave back the initial gains as we may have gotten to that level far too quickly.
The direction of the EUR/USD on Tuesday is likely to be determined by trader reaction to the short-term Fibonacci level at 1.2037.
(Bloomberg) -- Canadian miner Alamos Gold Inc. said it’s pursuing a $1 billion claim against Turkey for preventing a controversial mining project from going ahead.Two Netherlands-based Alamos units will file an investment treaty claim against Turkey for “expropriation and unfair and inequitable treatment” concerning its Kirazli gold mine project in the country, the Toronto-based parent said Tuesday in a statement.The claim, filed under the Netherlands-Turkey Bilateral Investment Treaty, is expected to exceed $1 billion, Alamos said, adding that the amount represents the value of its Turkish assets. The company expects to take an impairment charge of about $215 million in its second quarter. Shares fell 0.3% to C$10.88 at 9:57 a.m. trading in Toronto.Alamos is escalating efforts after the Turkish government wouldn’t renew mining licenses for the project in October 2019, and a year later canceled a forestry permit tied to the development in western Turkey. Alamos suspended all operations in Kirazli in 2019 following protests attended by tens of thousands of locals and environmentalists.“After 10 years of effort and over $250 million invested by the company, we have been shut down for over 18 months in a manner without precedent in Turkey, despite having received all the permits to build and operate a mine,” Alamos Chief Executive Officer John McCluskey said in the statement. “The Turkish government has given us no indication that relief is in sight, nor will they engage with us in an effort to renew the outstanding licenses.”Turkey’s Energy Ministry declined to comment on the matter.Alamos had predicted in 2017 that it could mine 540,000 ounces of gold in Kirazli in five years. Speaking to Bloomberg in March, Ahmet Senturk, head of the company’s Turkish unit, said Alamos was “waiting patiently” for permits, but signaled it would go to court if there was no renewal.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.
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Stocks on Wall Street fell for a second straight day on Tuesday as a global spike in coronavirus cases hit travel-related shares and investors had second thoughts about big U.S. banks' apparently stellar earnings last week. Kansas City Southern surged 15.2% on the prospect of a bidding war after Canadian National offered about $30 billion for the U.S. railroad, some $5 billion more than an earlier offer from Canadian Pacific. Shares of airline operators and cruiseliners including JetBlue Airways, American Airlines, Norwegian Cruise Line and Carnival Corp, which were hammered last year during lockdowns but have climbed recently on the reopening hopes, fell more than 4%.
The company said on Tuesday it will increase its shareholding in Quantium for A$223 million ($173.25 million). The deal implies a valuation of A$796 million for Quantium, nearly 20-times the value when it took a 50% stake in 2013. Woolworths, which benefited from COVID-19-induced stockpiling in 2020, had warned in February that sales growth would slow in the months ahead as travel restrictions eased and vaccinations increased.
(Bloomberg) -- Nikola Corp. shares fell Tuesday to the lowest since December 2018, accelerating a selloff that has now erased all their gains since the electric-vehicle startup went public via blank-check company last year.The electric-truck maker -- once briefly more valuable than Ford Motor Co. -- closed down 6.2% at $9.65 in New York, bringing it below the $10 level at which VectoIQ Acquisition Corp., the special-purpose acquisition company that acquired Nikola, debuted in June 2018.Nikola’s shares have lost their luster after much fanfare since it closed its reverse merger with VectoIQ in June 2020. That month, it rallied to an intraday high of $93.99, catapulting Nikola’s market capitalization above $28 billion. The company’s valuation has since slumped to $3.8 billion.Since then, it has been mired in bad news: a collapsed deal to build trucks with General Motors Co., an internal probe that found it made several inaccurate statements, and an inability to meet initial production guidance for its first commercial zero-emission vehicles.Read more: Nikola Faces Daunting Future With Far Fewer Friends Than BeforeNikola’s slump is also part of broader weakness for electric-vehicle stocks this year as the threat of competition from incumbent players increased and rapid economic growth fueled a rotation into value stocks. Now traditional automakers are making a comeback as they vow to rapidly expand their presence in the EV market, shrinking the potential market share of startups like Nikola.Last week, shares of another electric truck startup, Lordstown Motors Corp., also fell below the $10 level, the price at which the blank-check company it merged with debuted in April 2019.Shares of the big three Detroit automakers have rallied this year on aggressive plans to compete in the EV market. General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis NV -- the owner of Chrysler -- all announced plans to shift into EV technology during the March quarter, joining a growing list of peers including Volkswagen AG and BMW AG in trying to convince investors they too offer exposure to the industry.For many of Nikola’s private early investors -- including Fidelity and P. Schoenfeld Asset Management LP -- the slump could mean they’ve suffered losses if they’ve held onto shares. The ValueAct Spring fund, which was another early investor in Nikola, moved to Inclusive Capital Partners in the summer of 2020. The Spring Fund was led by Jeff Ubben, who remains invested in Nikola though Inclusive.(Updates stock move in second and third paragraphs, investor details in eighth.)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.
(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc.’s stock slid after a fiery fatal crash of a Model S car over the weekend added to a broader pessimism about electric vehicle stocks.Shares of Elon Musk’s automaker closed down 3.4% after the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration said it had launched a probe into the crash. Earlier in the session the stock dropped as much as 6.5%, its biggest intraday decline since March 18. While investigators are zeroing in on circumstances unique to the accident, industry watchers have been concerned that EV startups may soon lose their competitive edge, as mass-market rivals like Mercedes-Benz AG and Stellantis NV roll out their own models.Stellantis said last week it will accelerate its shift to EVs, and vowed that battery-driven cars will account for more than a third of its European sales by mid-decade. Italian supercar maker Ferrari NV plans to unveil its first entrant in 2025, and Mercedes-Benz has already debuted the EQS, the first all-electric car that the 94-year-old company will sell in the U.S.Those announcements followed closely on similar moves from General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG, which all outlined ambitious EV plans this year.Tesla’s lead in global battery-electric-vehicle sales slipped 1 percentage point to 24% in 2020 from 2019, according to an April 14 report from Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Kevin Tynan. Meanwhile, “the share of the VW Group rose to 9% from 4% in 2019, on track to overtake Tesla in 2023 and a sign that established automakers may quickly gain once committed to the drivetrain technology.”Amid this backdrop, shares of Elon Musk’s Tesla dropped to as low as $691.80 in New York before closing at $714.63. Smaller EV stocks were also down, including Nikola Corp., Workhorse Group Inc., Lordstown Motors Corp. and Fisker Inc.Tesla’s decline was spurred by the crash of a 2019 Model S late Saturday in Texas, which erupted into flames and killed the two passengers. Local authorities said “no one” appeared to be driving, with neither of the victims found in the driver’s seat. Tesla previously faced criticism from federal officials for fire risks related to the battery packs in its cars and for not doing enough to keep drivers from using its driver-assist function inappropriately.More recently, Tesla’s stock price has been rocked by mixed headlines on Wall Street. While one of Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management funds said last week it sold some shares, Goldman Sachs recommended buying the stock as it raised the forecast for EV sales penetration.The EV industry leader’s share price has been lackluster this year, with Tesla now little changed since the start of 2021, in stark comparison with 2020’s breathtaking rally. The company is scheduled to report first-quarter results on April 26.(Updates with NHTSA opening probe into Tesla crash in the second 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.
(Bloomberg) -- The Bank of Canada is poised to pare back its asset purchases amid a stronger-than-expected economic recovery, taking one of the biggest steps yet by a developed country to reduce emergency levels of monetary stimulus.Governor Tiff Macklem is expected to cut the central bank’s weekly government bond purchases on Wednesday to C$3 billion ($2.4 billion), from the current pace of C$4 billion. Officials may also give clues to whether they expect to bring forward their timeline for interest rate hikes, with current guidance pointing to no move before 2023.The policy decision, due at 10 a.m. in Ottawa, is a pivotal one for the central bank. Its quantitative easing program is too large given the size of Canada’s bond market. Just on technical grounds, it needs to be pared back as the government’s financing requirements drop.At the same time, a case is growing for less stimulus. The economy is running at a much faster clip than the Bank of Canada has been projecting, forcing officials to start laying the groundwork for the start of policy normalization.“The economic outlook has improved markedly since January”, Dominique Lapointe, an economist at Laurentian Bank Securities Inc., said by email. “The Bank of Canada is ready to take its foot off the accelerator.”Officials won’t want to get too far ahead of other major central banks like the Federal Reserve, which has been wary to talk about scaling back. If the Bank of Canada moves alone, it could trigger a currency appreciation that would be self-defeating.To be sure, the Bank of Canada’s asset purchases have been more aggressive than others in the Group of Seven, at least relative to the size of the nation’s bond market.The central bank has bought about C$280 billion in Canadian government bonds over the past year, ballooning its balance sheet to around one-quarter of economic output. It now owns more than 40% of outstanding bonds and is on pace to go above 50% in a few months as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government reduces its issuance by about C$90 billion this year, according to estimates by Ian Pollick, head of fixed income, currency and commodity research at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.It’s a massive footprint that threatens to create financial distortions -- a concern that led Macklem to reduce minimum weekly purchases in October, from C$5 billion initially. At the time, officials characterized the taper as neutral in terms of stimulus, because they shifted purchases toward long-term bonds concurrently. The more the tapering takes place in the short end of the yield curve -- two-year and three-year bonds -- the less the impact on financial conditions.“In some ways they’re being forced into a taper,” Benjamin Reitzes, Canadian rates and macro strategist at BMO Capital Markets, said by phone.What Bloomberg Economics Says...“The economy is working through a third wave of Covid-19 and new restrictions, but the growth and labor market outlooks are still significantly stronger than the BoC envisioned in January, meeting the guideline for a reduction.”--Andrew Husby, economistFor the full report, click hereBut the improving economic outlook does give the central bank more scope to pare back now, and policy makers have been clear that a stimulus pullback is coming for reasons beyond those technical issues. The bank laid the ground rules for what that would look like in a speech last month by Deputy Governor Toni Gravelle, who said tapering will be “gradual and in measured steps.”What the central bank won’t do is touch its short-term benchmark interest rate, its primary monetary policy tool. Economists unanimously see the bank holding it unchanged at 0.25% at the announcement. Not only is the rate at historic lows, but the central bank has pledged not to raise it until all economic slack is full absorbed, so inflation can return sustainably to its 2% target.When that will be depends on a lot of guess work.Up until January, when the Bank of Canada last released economic forecasts, it projected that threshold wouldn’t be reached until 2023.The economy, however, has outperformed spectacularly relative to the Bank of Canada’s projections since then. As a result, markets are anticipating the central bank will bring forward its rate increase, with a 60% probability of a hike this time next year.There is scope for Macklem to push back against those expectations.Economic slack is hard to measure and that gives him leeway to argue faster growth doesn’t mean there will be less excess supply. The central bank can also express heightened concern about the uneven recovery in the labor market -- giving it even more discretion. Then there is the seriousness of the current wave of Covid-19 cases, which is the worst so far in parts of the country. That prompted Canada’s largest province, Ontario, to take its most aggressive steps yet to restrict the movement of people last week.“I think they will keep to this cautious optimism,” Dawn Desjardins, deputy chief economist at Royal Bank of Canada, said by phone.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.
AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson weighs in on the chip supply shortage that has helped fuel higher prices for cars this year.
Institutional Shareholder Services noted that Vice Chairmen Greg Abel and Ajit Jain were each awarded $16 million in salary and $3 million in bonuses in 2020, the same as in 2019, and said it was "unclear" whether any of their pay was tied to Berkshire's performance. The firm said the "continued lack of transparency" raised questions about oversight by Berkshire's compensation committee, and recommended that shareholders withhold votes to reelect its members - Susan Decker, David Gottesman, Walter Scott Jr. and Meryl Witmer - as Berkshire directors.
Wall Street's main indexes dipped on Monday although the S&P 500 and the Dow were still near record levels, as investors anticipated first-quarter earnings season for any hints that corporate America was rebounding from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. "The market is waiting to see if blowout earnings in banks will continue to other sectors," said Thomas Hayes, chairman of Great Hill Capital. A recent pullback in the benchmark 10-year bond yield from 14-month highs has renewed interest in richly valued technology stocks, while a string of strong economic data has also helped push the S&P 500 and the Dow to record levels.
(Bloomberg) -- Brazilian policy makers should have been more cautious when cutting interest rates last year and now need to stress they will raise them as needed to bring inflation to target, according to former central bank President Ilan Goldfajn.Rather than committing to a “partial adjustment” of monetary stimulus, the bank needs to show it’s ready to do whatever is necessary to control prices that will soon be rising by 8% a year, Goldfajn said in an interview on Tuesday. Likewise, the bank may have gone too far when it cut rates to an all-time low of 2% and signaled they would stay there for the foreseeable future, he added.“In an emerging market like Brazil, using forward guidance is brave,” said Goldfajn, who presided over the monetary authority from 2016 to 2019 and is now chairman of the board of Credit Suisse Brasil. “Unfortunately, I feel that this instrument isn’t available for us yet.”Policy makers in Latin America’s largest economy are trying to head off above-target inflation without crimping a fragile recovery. The central bank lifted its benchmark rate the most in a decade last month and signaled another hike of the same size is on tap in May -- promising however to maintain a stimulative monetary policy. Officials are also navigating a deadly virus wave that’s hurt confidence and imposed limits on commerce and movement.Read more: Brazil Central Bank Defends Plans to Remove Part of StimulusA former Itau Unibanco chief economist who holds a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Goldfajn won investor acclaim for pulling inflation to target from the highest level in over a decade, allowing the central bank to cut rates to a record low at the time. He improved the bank’s communication with investors and boosted its credibility.Financial markets that were quick to say Brazil should have cut borrowing costs further last year are now concerned that the central bank is behind the curve on inflation, said Goldfajn, 55. Amid the noise, the monetary authority needs a tough stance that prioritizes keeping consumer price expectations down.Read more: Brazil Central Bank Pledges to Stop Core Inflation Contagion“If you are willing to do what’s necessary, perhaps you won’t be obligated to do it,” he said. “To the extent that people look at the central bank and know there will be a reaction, inflation expectations stay anchored.”Despite the current monetary tighenting cycle, the benchmark Selic has settled at a new level of relative stability in the single digits, Goldfajn said. Lower borrowing costs compared to a few years ago will prevent the currency from strengthening to levels of 3 to 4 reais per dollar from the current level of around 5.50, he said.Instead, it will likely fluctuate around 5 per dollar, strengthening slightly beyond that level on good news and weakening closer to 6 per dollar in the face of stress, Goldfajn said. He added that the central bank has done a good job overall in managing currency volatility.Other key points:Advances in Covid vaccination and controlling the pandemic overall will be top factors in determining the strength of Brazil’s economic recovery in the short termWhile growth will likely be stronger in the second half of this year, activity could be hobbled in the event of fresh lockdownsBrazilian financial markets will likely face volatility surrounding presidential elections next yearThe global economic backdrop is currently benign due to stimulus and low interest rates, though there’s uncertainty as to whether that will last in 2022For 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.
(Bloomberg) -- Christopher Giancarlo, the former chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission who’s known as “Crypto Dad” for his early embrace of digital assets, joined the board of cryptocurrency lender BlockFi.Giancarlo, 61, headed the CFTC when the Chicago Board Options Exchange and CME Group Inc. first offered Bitcoin futures contracts. He gained tens of thousands of followers on Twitter after his February 2018 congressional testimony in which he advocated for a “do no harm” regulatory stance toward blockchain products, the comments that earned him his nickname.“It’s been fascinating to see how the whole ecosystem around crypto is morphing so fast,” Giancarlo said in an interview. There’s a healthy combination of retail and institutional interest in the market for digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ether, he said. Yet the banks have been slow to embrace the new asset class.“The opportunity for the BlockFis of the world is the traditional lenders haven’t showed up yet, and yet there’s incredible demand” for dollars and other fiat currency to be used to buy crypto, he said. “The future of money and things of value is digital.”Giancarlo joins a range of former regulators and Wall Street executives who have jumped to industry roles, including Ben Lawsky, the former head of the New York State Department of Financial Services who’s on the board of Ripple Labs Inc. Gary Cohn, the former president of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., serves on the board of blockchain startup Spring Labs.Read More: Crypto Shadow Banking Explained and Why 12% Yields Are CommonSome of the largest non-bank firms in cryptocurrency, including BitGo, BlockFi, Galaxy Digital and Genesis, are stepping up to meet investor demand for dollars amid a longstanding wariness by banks to lend to individuals or companies associated with Bitcoin and other digital assets. They’re lending to hedge funds that need cash to buy Bitcoin for a trade with minimal risk that has been paying out annualized returns that have recently hit 20% to 40%.BlockFi is a akin to a bank for the virtual-currency realm, paying interest on crypto deposits and making cash loans using those holdings as collateral. It also offers a credit card with Bitcoin rewards, as well as a Bitcoin Trust that gives investors exposure without requiring actual purchases of the digital currency.Giancarlo recalled his time at the CFTC when Cboe and CME Group self-certified the first U.S. Bitcoin futures contracts.“It was not without its controversy,” he said, adding that Thomas Peterffy, chairman of Interactive Brokers, placed a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal decrying the move and saying words to the effect of, “Don’t let Bitcoin futures come about or the western world will end.” Even Wall Street’s futures group, the Futures Industry Association, was against the idea, he said.While Cboe dropped its Bitcoin contract, CME Group’s has been a success, and the exchange recently added Ether futures.Giancarlo also serves as senior counsel to law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, is on the advisory board of the Chamber of Digital Commerce and acts as an independent director of the American Financial Exchange. He was recently nominated to the board of Nomura Holdings Inc. and is a co-founder of the Digital Dollar Project.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.
(Bloomberg) -- Dollar bears are making a comeback as falling Treasury yields handcuff the reserve currency. Technical indicators suggest the decline may extend.The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed 0.1% Tuesday after falling for the previous six sessions in its longest losing streak since June. The index was pressured lower after Treasury 10-year yields dropped almost 15 basis points since the end of March. Leveraged traders have slashed bullish positions, according to the latest data from Commodity Futures Trading Commission.“The U.S. dollar is breaking down through important levels,” John Hardy, head of FX strategy at Saxo Bank, wrote in a note. “As long as the U.S. Treasuries threat remains neutralized, we could be set for a significant move lower here in the U.S. dollar.”Should a correlation between U.S. yields, bond volatility and the dollar extend, it could mean more weakness for the currency, according to an analysis by Citigroup Global Markets Inc. A recent break in a key technical formation known as a double top also appears bearish, the firm’s analysts said. Meanwhile risk reversals -- a measure of sentiment and positioning -- are pointing to more losses.The shift comes after an inflation-fear-induced surge in Treasury yields forced funds to abandon their dollar short bets last month. Recent solid U.S. economic data have, however, failed to push yields higher, eroding one of the greenback’s biggest appeals.Here’s a look at why the dollar’s drop may not be over as yet:Risk ReversalsOne-month risk reversals for the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index on Tuesday day touched the lowest since early January, pointing toward more downside risks. The gauge reflects demand for greenback exposure and is heading toward its year-to-date low. A drop below that could mean more losses.Double TopThe Bloomberg dollar gauge completed a major double-top formation by breaking below a key trendline. That move opens the door to the February 2021 low of 1119, and if that is broken through, the decline may extend to the pivotal range of 1110-1112, Citigroup’s Lauren Jung said Monday. That includes the lows from 2018 and January 2021.The BBDXY index has tracked U.S. yields this year, which also has been moving in tandem with lower bond volatility as seen in the ICE BofA MOVE Index. A continuation of that move should mean more pressure for the greenback.Dollar bull Trevor Greetham, head of multi asset at Royal London Asset Management, said U.S. stimulus will once again push Treasury yields higher after a pause, but for now, he’s “open-minded to a period of dollar weakness” amid the global economic recovery.Speculators ShiftLeveraged traders pulled back on their bullish position last week, after flipping from a bearish stance in March, according to the latest data from Commodity Futures Trading Commission. They cut holdings back to 1,145 contracts, after it surged to as high as 23,067 contracts last month.(Updates levels 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.
The DOGE frenzy appears to have spread to decentralized finance, where several imitator tokens have chalked up staggering single-day gains.
Overstock CEO Jonathan “JJ” Johnson says he's hoping that one day tZero, a much smaller trading platform that offers some services similar to Coinbase, will be a legitimate rival to the crypto behemoth that just listed on the Nasdaq Inc. last Wednesday with a valuation that briefly hit around $100 billion.
USD/CAD is testing the resistance level at 1.2585.
A group of Democratic Senators, led by Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Raphael Warnock (D-GA), sent a letter urging the Education Department (ED) to restore defaulted student loans to on-time status amid the ongoing payment pause, Yahoo Finance has learned.
In March, market sentiment was first impacted by inflation expectations and by rising yields, with the 10-year Treasury yield reaching its highest level since January 2020.