Cloudflare Soars To New High
After a 20% pullback, Cloudflare (NET, daily) jumped to a new high with earnings due Thursday.
And will you even get a payment this time, under the new limits the president agreed to?
(Bloomberg) -- Tucked away among the Ford, Dodge and Chevy sedans, the 12,000-gallon storage container and the inoperable Caterpillar tractor being auctioned off by the U.S. government is an unusual item: 0.7501 of a Bitcoin.The U.S. General Services Administration typically uses its auctions to sell surplus federal equipment to the general public. With lot 4KQSCI21105001, which goes up for auction in a week, the government is offering an amount of Bitcoin worth about $38,000 at Monday’s price.The government doesn’t say where its surplus digital currency came from. And while it’s a far cry from the 30,000 Bitcoins auctioned off by the U.S. Marshals Service in 2014 after they were seized from the Silk Road marketplace, the GSA auction is one more indication of how Bitcoin is becoming more and more mainstream.On Wall Street, too, there is a newfound openness to the world’s most valuable digital currency: Custody banking giant Bank of New York Mellon Corp. said it will hold, transfer and issue digital currencies, while Mastercard Inc. announced plans to let cardholders transact in certain cryptocurrencies on its network. A Morgan Stanley unit known for picking growth stocks is considering adding Bitcoin to its possible bets and, last week, a person close to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said the bank plans to reopen a trading desk for cryptocurrencies.The Bitcoins auctioned off by the U.S. Marshals Service in 2014 were estimated at the time to be worth about $19 million, though the winning bid -- by venture capitalist Tim Draper -- wasn’t disclosed. Those coins would be worth $1.5 billion today as the cryptocurrency’s price has skyrocketed to almost $51,000.The GSA auction is scheduled to be held from March 15 to 17.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.
To win Senate passage, Biden agreed to make millions ineligible for the third checks.
The transfers were related to Yuan's estate planning practices, a Zoom spokesperson said. "The distributions were made in accordance with the terms of Eric Yuan and his wife's trusts." Yuan, who is also the chief executive officer of the company, transferred roughly 40% of his stake in the company to unspecified beneficiaries, Zoom disclosed in a filing late on Friday.
Deliveroo announced plans to launch what could be the biggest London listing in more than seven years on Monday, after the British food delivery firm's business surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, although it still posted a loss for 2020. The initial public offering (IPO) is expected to value Deliveroo at more than $7 billion, based on a $180 million private funding round completed in January with backers including minority shareholder Amazon, the world's most valuable company. That would make it the biggest London IPO by market cap since Royal Mail in 2013.
It's true: Hurrying with your tax return could put your relief money at risk.
Shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. soared Monday, as the "meme" stock's bounce from last month's plunge continued, after Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter doubled his price target ahead of the company's earnings report, citing an increasing optimism over the post-pandemic environment.
A former high-ranking Chinese government minister has said that China is at least 30 years away from becoming a “great power” in the manufacturing sector. What Happened: China has been the world’s dominant figure in manufacturing since 2010, according to United Nations data, with $4.8 trillion in industrial added value last year and a nearly 30% global share that is approximately equal to the combined share of the U.S., Germany and Japan. China’s State Council Development Research Center issued a report in January that defined the nation as being in the third tier in a four-tier ranking system based on key criteria including innovation, quality and effectiveness, environmental factors and global competitiveness, according to a South China Morning Post report. In comparison, the U.S., Germany and Switzerland were in the top tier, while Japan, South Korea, Singapore and France were in the second. In a speech before the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the government’s leading advisory body, former Minister of Industry and Information Technology Miao Wei warned that while China reigns in terms of industrial supply chains and accounts for more than one-third of global manufacturing output, its industries’ dependence on U.S. high-tech products including semiconductors remains a strategic obstacle that needs to be overcome. "Basic capabilities are still weak, core technologies are in the hands of others, and the risk of 'being hit in the throat' and having 'a slipped bike chain' has significantly increased," said Miao, who stepped down from his ministry post last year after a decade in office. "The ratio of manufacturing output to GDP has been declining too early and too quickly, which not only weighs on economic growth and affects employment, but also brings security loopholes to our industries and diminishes our economy's ability to withstand risks, and its global competitiveness." Related Link: Beyond Bitcoin: China's Publicly-Listed Beauty App Meitu Buys M Ethereum What Happens Next: Miao said a lack of progress on market-oriented financial reforms including tax relief and a deficit of high-tech talent in manufacturing is keeping the sector from reaching its fullest potential. "China's manufacturing industry has made great achievements in recent years, but the situation of being 'big but not strong' and 'comprehensive but not good' has not been fundamentally changed," he said. "We must maintain our strategic resolve, stay clear-headed and deeply understand the gaps and deficiencies." Miao, who is now vice chairman of the CPPCC’s economic committee, also acknowledged that China’s services sector has overtaken manufacturing as the nation’s main economic force, with 54.5% of its economic output last year coming from the services sector versus 37.8% from manufacturing. “We should emphasize the strategic role and contribution of manufacturing and stabilize its share of the economy,” Miao said. “We should protect our most comprehensive manufacturing system and upgrade our self-reliance in industry and supply chains.” Related Link: Tesla Reaches 6,000 Supercharger Installs In China Miao Wei. Photo courtesy G20 Argentina/Creative Commons. See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from BenzingaDisney's 'Raya And The Last Dragon' Opens To Disappointing .6M Domestic Box OfficeMarkets Close On Positive Note After Turbulent Week© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Shares of GameStop Corp. ran up 10.7% in premarket trading Monday, putting them on track to push the videogame retailer's market capitalization back above $10 billion, after the company said it established a new strategy committee to identify ways to accelerate its transformation. The committee will be chaired by activist investor Ryan Cohen, manager of RC Ventures LLC and co-founder of Chewy Inc. , and will also include Alan Attal and Kurt Wolf. Since the committee was formed, the company has appointed a chief technology officer and hired two executives to lead its e-commerce and customer care functions. GameStop stock has run up 239.3% over the past two weeks, which followed a three-week plunge of 87.5%. That selloff followed a historic surge to a record close of $347.51 on Jan. 27, as the poster child of trading frenzy engineered by Reddit's WallStreetBets forum that targeted heavily shorted stocks. GameStop's stock has hiked up 713.1% over the past three months through Friday, while the S&P 500 has tacked on 3.8%.
They have been trading longer than many adults, and are learning valuable lessons about investing early. MarketWatch speaks to four teenagers who are taking on the markets.
‘If he contributed to any part of the mortgage payments, could he claim he contributed to the (increased) value of the property, asking for money if/when it is sold?’
General Electric has been hot of late, to say the least... in a volatile environment at that. Bear in mind that GE is in the news this morning, and that the firm's investor day is this Wednesday, March 10th. The catalyst for the recent upward momentum for the shares of General Electric seems to be January 22nd, when Goldman Sachs analyst Joe Ritchie reaffirmed his "buy" rating on GE and increased price target from $14 to $15.
Cohen, who is a major GameStop shareholder, has been pushing GameStop to move away from its traditional brick-and-mortar model since joining the board shortly before a social media frenzy drove a meteoric rise in the company's stock. Since then, GameStop has become one of the hottest and most visible of "meme stocks" that are closely followed on social media sites such as Reddit's popular WallStreetBets forum. Last week, Cohen posted a cryptic tweet of an ice-cream cone, with analysts speculating on whether that was a trigger for GameStop's most recent rally.
The Nasdaq Composite index registered its first correction since early September and the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished higher on Monday, producing its biggest outperformance compared against its peer benchmarks in years, even as the stock market's gains faded into the close. The session was marked by bumpy trade that has been credited to a rise in benchmark bond yields which are hanging around their highest levels in a year, making pricey, technology and tech-related stocks comparatively less attractive. The Dow closed up 1% at around 31,802, the S&P 500 index fell 0.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index closed down 2.4%, and registered its first correction, definied as a decline of at least 10% from a recent peak, since Sept. 9. The 10-year Treasury yield touched the highest level in over a year Friday before pulling back somewhat, booking its fifth straight weekly rise. Meanwhile, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. shares were 13% higher after scoring a price-target increase from Wedbush, while those for GameStop Corp. surged after the company appointed a strategy committee that included Chewy Inc. co-founder Ryan Cohen. The Dow was on track to book its widest outperformance against the S&P 500 since 1971, according to Dow Jones Market Data and the biggest outperformance against the Nasdaq since 2001. The moves on the day come after the Senate's passage over the weekend of a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.
Quant trading guru Jim Simons is calling it a day, sort of. The mathematician and cryptologist is famous in the investing community for bringing his analytical eye to the world of the stock exchange, creating both the quant trading revolution and a personal fortune now estimated at more than $22 billion. His has been a career of multifaceted success, and his innovations on Wall Street have influenced the strategies of two successive generations of traders. Simons has stepped down as Chairman of Renaissance Technologies ahead of his 83th birthday next month. However, Simons remains involved as a board member. On his way out, Simons staked new positions in two biotech stocks. Following Simons’ stock moves is a viable strategy for investors of all strips. To get an idea of just how good a strategy, we’ve opened up the TipRanks database and pulled the details on these two names; It appears the rest of the Street projects plenty of upside. Let’s find out what makes them compelling buys. Zogenix, Inc. (ZGNX) We’ll start with Zogenix, a small-cap biotech firm working on new therapies for the treatment of rare diseases. The company has two lead products: Fintepla, which has been approved by the FDA for use in treating epilepsy caused by Dravet Syndrome, and MT1621, which is in mid-stage trial as a treatment for Thymidine Kinase 2 deficiency (TK2d), a rare and frequently fatal metabolic disease in children. The company has seen total net US product sales of $9.6 million since the drug’s July 2020 launch; of that total, $8.1 million was realized in 4Q20. As of December 31, 2020, there were 550 Dravet syndrome patients enrolled in Fintepla programs. Also in December, the European Commission approved Fintepla for use, and the drug launched in Germany. Fintepla is currently undergoing testing as a treatment for Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, and other rare epileptic diseases, to expand the patient base. Zogenix’ second drug candidate, MT1621, was acquired in 2019 from Modis Therapeutics. MT1621 is a potential treatment for TK2d, a rare and deadly disease of early childhood. The drug acts through Deoxynucleoside substrate enhancement therapy, a novel approach that has demonstrated efficacy in early phase studies. At this point, Zogenix needs to complete a Phase 1 human renal PK study, a nonclinical tox study in dogs, and genotoxicology/reproductive tox studies, and management indicated that it plans to make a New Drug Application (NDA) to the FDA in 1H22. The company’s solid position is bound to attract investor attention – and Jim Simons bought in to the tune of more than 245,000 shares in Q4. His stake in the company is now worth over $5 million. Covering Zogenix for Needham, analyst Serge Belanger noted that the Fintepla launch in the US was ‘off to a promising start.’ “It appears that late-2020 trends of enrollment in the REMS program and Fintepla onboarding have continued into early-2021. All patients receiving Fintepla as part of U.S.-based OLE trials are expected to be on commercial product by 1Q21-end,” Belanger wrote. To this end, Belanger rates ZGNX a Buy, and his $48 price target implies a robust 131% upside potential for the next 12 months. (To watch Belanger’s track record, click here) Overall, Wall Street appears to agree with the Needham view that Zogenix is a stock worth buying. The recent analyst reviews break down 6 to 2 in favor of Buy versus Hold, making the consensus rating a Strong Buy. Shares are priced at $20.74, and the $47 average target suggests a 128% upside on the one-year horizon. (See ZGNX stock analysis on TipRanks) Wave Life Sciences (WVE) The next stock we’re looking at is Wave Life Sciences, which focuses on precision medicine, designing oligonucleotides to safely deliver more effective, precisely targeted, therapeutic agents. The company has a pipeline of 10 drug candidates, in various stages of development in the treatment of serious diseases with, in the company’s words, ‘few or no treatment options.’ Wave Life Sciences uses an integrated approach to develop new nucleic acid therapeutics. The approach uses rational design to counter flaws in genetic replication, giving more consistent therapeutic effects from medications that are specifically targeted to particular diseases. The company's development program targeting Huntington’s disease is the most advanced. This is a severe inherited neurodegenerative disorder, with symptoms usually setting in between ages 30 and 50, and worsening over time. The company’s two most advanced drug candidates, WVE-120101 and WVE-120102, are in Phase 1b/2a trials, with reports on results expected by the end of this month. In addition, open-label extension (OLE) trials are ongoing for patients outside the US. In addition to these two drug candidates, Wave has several programs ongoing for the treatment of other rare diseases. The pipeline includes potential therapies for ALS, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and various retinal diseases. These pipeline projects are all at preclinical stages. During the fourth quarter, Jim Simons’ Renaissance bought 235,620 shares of WVE, a substantial buy that shows confidence in the company’s pipeline. At current valuation, the stake – a new position for Simons – is worth $2.224 million. 5-star analyst Andrew Fein, of H.C. Wainwright, noted that Wave’s stock performance this year will depend largely on the results of the PRECISION HD-1 and HD-2 studies, and he believes there's reason for optimism. “[Our] positive view of the PRECISION studies stems from: (1) the selective targeting of either SNP1 or SNP2 knocks down expression of mutant Huntington protein (mHTT) while leaving wild-type HTT largely intact, which may improve the safety profile compared to competitor therapies that also target wild-type proteins…; (2) novel ASO modification chemistry makes a compelling case as seen by data, showing significantly higher transcript knockdown relative to traditional approaches; (3) Wave’s intrathecal dosing strategy should overcome systemic inflammatory responses seen in other programs; and (4) higher dosing cohorts should alleviate investor concerns of efficacy relative to competitor programs,” Fein opined. On the strength of these studies, Fein maintains his Buy rating and his $20 price target. At current levels, that target suggests an upside of 112% for the year ahead. (To watch Fein’s track record, click here) All in all, there are 5 reviews on record for WVE shares, with 3 saying Buy and 2 to Hold, making the analyst consensus a Moderate Buy. The average price target here is $17.80, implying a one-year upside of 84% from the share price of $9.76. (See WVE stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for biotech 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.
Yahoo Finance Live checks in with several housing market insiders to see if rising mortgage rates are beginning to derail housing's momentum.
On March 8, David Tepper, the founder of Appaloosa Management, said during an interview with Joe Kernen of CNBC that the rise in interest rates on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes (BX:TMUBMUSD10Y) to a yield of about 1.60% signaled that a major risk for U.S. bonds and stocks was “off the table.” Tepper, whose predictions are closely watched by Wall Street, went on to say that the expected $1.9 trillion government stimulus would be a near-term catalyst for stocks, pointing to Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) as especially attractive. Amazon’s shares fell 8.5% for the three-week period through the close March 5.
Tepper, the founder of Appaloosa Management, has one of the strongest track records among active investors, and his remarks often move markets. A jump in Treasury yields tied to expectations that an aggressive round of fiscal stimulus combined with a broader reopening of the economy will boost inflation has helped fuel a powerful rotation away from highflying growth-oriented stocks, including tech-related names, into more cyclically sensitive stocks and sectors. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note continued to rise Monday, up 3.2 basis points at 1.602%.
(Bloomberg) -- The Chinese yuan erased all its gains against the dollar this year, the latest to fall prey to the Treasury-led global market selloff.The onshore yuan weakened as much as 0.5%, falling past the 6.5283 per dollar level it closed at last year. At its January peak, it was up 1.6% from 2020 as the economy rebounded and investors poured money into the Chinese bond market.Optimism over a global recovery from the pandemic has morphed into concerns that central banks will withdraw stimulus quicker-than-expected, leading to higher bond yields. This latest bout of market selling was spurred by the U.S. stimulus package and better Chinese exports data.“Surging U.S. Treasury yields and a USD rebound are pressuring EM Asia currencies including the renminbi,” said Ken Cheung, chief Asia currency strategist at Mizuho Bank Ltd in Hong Kong. “Foreign investors may have started to trim their emerging-market asset exposure and repatriate capital back into dollars. We turn more cautious on the CNY outlook in the near term.”Monday’s rout across markets picked up pace as Treasury 10-year yields hit 1.61%, nearing Friday’s high. A Bloomberg gauge of the dollar’s strength gained as much as 0.5% to its highest in almost four months.Trading volumes for onshore yuan rose to $48.9 billion on Monday, the highest level in over two months. Some bank clients who were previously hoarding dollars were selling off positions at higher prices, according to China-based traders, who asked not to be identified as they’re not authorized to speak publicly.The traders added they also received a higher volume of requests for forward prices on the greenback, including from clients who had just signed import orders and were looking to lock in foreign-exchange rates to guard against further yuan depreciation risks.China’s main stock benchmark entered a correction on Monday, with concerns over liquidity conditions and lofty valuations in some stocks fueling bearish sentiment.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 COVID-19 relief bill passed by the U.S. Senate on Saturday eliminates an obstacle to broad-based student debt cancellation — the tax treatment of any discharged debt. Right now, borrowers who have their student loans discharged — with a few exceptions, including through Public Service Loan Forgiveness — face a tax bill on the cancelled debt. If the bill passed by Senators on Saturday becomes law, any student debt wiped away through the end of 2025 wouldn’t be counted as income for tax purposes.