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Comparison shopping for medical procedures

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  • ECB Steps Up Warnings to EU Not to Delay Joint Recovery Stimulus

    (Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank policy makers stepped up their pressure on the region’s governments to get on with their joint fiscal stimulus, using stronger language to warn of economic chaos for the region if politicians move too slow.Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco called the European Union recovery fund “crucial” in an interview with Bloomberg TV, and Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel said separately that a long delay would be a “disaster.”ECB Vice President Luis De Guindos said it is “crucial that there not be unnecessary delays.” Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras told Bloomberg TV that he “absolutely” agrees with Schnabel and delays would mean there might not be a recovery this year.The burst of comments suggest escalating concerns, two weeks after Germany’s top court temporarily blocked that nation’s ratification of the 750 billion-euro ($892 billion) fund’s bond issue. All goverments must sign off on that step before the fund can start.The slow timeline for approving spending plans only by the end of this month and starting to disburse funds around the middle of the year is already posing a risk. As the U.S. powers ahead with its own $1.9 trillion stimulus, global bond yields are being pushed higher.The ECB has been forced to accelerate its emergency stimulus to prevent euro-area borrowing costs rising too quickly while the bloc remains bogged down in extended coronavirus restrictions because of a botched vaccine rollout.Read more: Italy’s Draghi Rushing Plans to Borrow Up to $48 Billion MoreStournaras pushed back against suggestions from his Dutch colleague Klaas Knot this week that the ECB could consider paring back its emergency bond-buying in the third-quarter, saying that’s too soon.Both he and Visco said they would rather let stimulus run too long than risk ending it too early.“We see the light at the end of the tunnel but we have to find a way to accelerate the exit from the tunnel,” Visco said, adding that ramping up vaccinations is also “crucial.”The German legal challenge would be an economic disaster for Europe if the disbursement of the funds were to be delayed indefinitely,” Schnabel said in an interview published in German magazine Der Spiegel on Friday. “If that were the case, Europe would have to think about alternative solutions, but that could take some time.”A political group filed an emergency case at the end of March claiming that the EU shouldn’t be allowed to issue the joint debt. In response, the Federal Constitutional Court said it needed to assess whether a preliminary order would be needed -- while that step isn’t uncommon and can usually be done quickly, it has raised concerns that the EU’s cumbersome setup will undermine the recovery.Schnabel, who is responsible for market operations at the ECB, warned that with equity and real-estate prices relatively high, “the risks of a correction are increasing, especially if the economic recovery falls short of expectations.”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.

  • Wall Street Math Shows ESG Funds Can Ride the Value Stock Boom

    (Bloomberg) -- Green funds have gained a reputation of benefiting from the tech rally during the pandemic. As the economy recovers and investors shift to cheaper stocks, those products might still be able to thrive.Relative to the S&P 500, funds that track companies that meet environmental, social and governance standards have more exposure to cyclical sectors than the broader industry, according to a Bank of America analysis. Those U.S.-domiciled ESG products are overweight industrial, raw-material and real-estate shares, while mutual funds in general are underweight those groups.“One of the key pushbacks we often get from investors is that ESG benchmarks have outperformed because they are overweight tech and growth stocks,” said Marisa Sullivan, head of U.S. ESG research for Bank of America Global Research. “We found they are overweight a lot of cyclical sectors, so maybe they aren’t as poorly positioned for a value rotation.”ESG funds have avoided the growth-oriented consumer services sector, according to the study, and have raised their exposures to energy and utilities in recent months -- although they are still underweight those industries.“There’s a little bit of a misconception that everything ESG-oriented has to be growth or tech heavy,” said Omar Aguilar, chief investment officer of passive equity and multi-asset strategies for Charles Schwab Investment Management. “The evolution of these ESG strategies is still in flux, and the makeup of these ESG strategies will be a key part of how they evolve this year.”Still, the biggest ESG products do have substantial stakes in tech companies. The largest mutual fund in the category -- the $24 billion Parnassus Core Equity Fund -- is made up of 15.7% software firms, its top industry group, followed by 13.2% semiconductor stocks.BlackRock’s iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF (ESGU) -- the biggest ESG exchange-traded fund with $16 billion in assets -- counts Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc. and Facebook Inc. as its largest holdings.For the ones that rely strongly on tech, the increase in Treasury yields has the potential to hurt performance, according to some analysts.“Those ESG funds that are heavily allocated to those growth-oriented stocks where their value is dependent on the value of their future cash flow, they’ll be super sensitive to what happens with longer-term interest rates,” said Tom Hainlin, national investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.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.

  • Stock market news live updates: S&P 500 reaches record high as tech soars; yields steady

    Stock futures opened slightly higher Wednesday evening, extending a streak of range-bound trading as investors await the start of first-quarter earnings season to confirm the boost to corporate profits expected against an improving economic backdrop.

  • TREASURIES-U.S. yields fall after Fed Chair Powell's dovish comments, jobless claims

    * Fed's Powell sees higher prices this year, but not inflation * Worse-than-expected jobless claims pressure yields * U.S. 5/30 yield curve flattens, with spread at 148 basis points * U.S. to sell $120 bln in 3-year, 10-year, 30-year debt next week (Adds new comment, updates prices) By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK, April 8 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields fell on Thursday, pressured by fresh dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and weaker-than-expected initial jobless claims that highlighted the economy's bumpy recovery from the pandemic. At an International Monetary Fund event on Thursday, Powell said a surge in spending as the U.S. economy reopens, along with bottlenecks in supply, will likely push prices higher this year, but would not result in the kind of yearly price increases that would constitute inflation.

  • Michelin looks beyond tyres to help drive growth

    France's Michelin plans to add about 14 billion euros ($17 billion) to its annual revenues by 2030, by recovering from a pandemic-induced slowdown and diversifying beyond its tyre-making heritage into new activities including hydrogen power and medical devices. It expects the fastest growth to come from its business making hydrogen power systems for vehicles. It said it also hoped for rapid growth in the new fields of 3D metal printing and medical devices.

  • S&P 500, Dow climb for third day and close at records

    (Reuters) -The S&P 500 and the Dow rose on Friday to close at record highs, posting a third straight weekly rise partly on a lift from growth stocks, with a late-day rally building gains ahead of quarterly earnings season next week. A pullback in the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield from a 14-month high hit in late March encouraged buying in growth.

  • Fourth stimulus check: Lawmakers pressure Biden to say yes to more payments

    The president is being urged to roll more direct aid money into his infrastructure bill.

  • Exclusive: China's Didi picks Goldman, Morgan Stanley for mega U.S. IPO - sources

    China's top ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing has mandated Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to lead its blockbuster IPO and plans to file confidentially for the New York float this month, two people with knowledge of the matter said. Didi, backed by Asian technology investment giants SoftBank, Alibaba and Tencent, is looking to list as soon as July, according to the people. It is eyeing a valuation of at least $100 billion via the initial public offering (IPO), Reuters reported last month.

  • ‘51% to go’: Reddit crowd rejoices at report that Melvin Capital rang up a 49% first-quarter loss

    Melvin Capital is giving the Reddit crowd something to cheer about on a Friday, after the hedge fund rang up a 49% first-quarter loss, according to a report from Bloomberg News on Friday.

  • Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs And JPMorgan Urge Shareholders To Vote Against Racial Equity Oversight

    Five of the nation's largest banks are asking shareholders to reject racial equity resolution audit less than a year after the Black Lives Matter movement

  • The Electric-Vehicle Future Is Nearly Here. This Overlooked Auto Components Giant Is Ready.

    For all the hard-charging talk about electric cars, you might think that they were taking over the U.S. market. Electric cars there are suddenly 14% of the market, or 23% if we count plug-in hybrids that burn fossil fuel for backup. In the U.S., meanwhile, a $7,500 credit for every electric vehicle phases out after companies sell 200,000 of them, so (TSLA) (ticker: TSLA) and (GM) (GM), the biggest EV players, no longer benefit.

  • This stimulus check advice from Suze Orman seems to have caught on

    In March, Suze Orman said "don't you dare" invest your $1,400 check in the stock market.

  • Jessica Alba’s Honest Co. files for IPO

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  • JPMorgan Says These 2 Stocks Could Surge Over 80%

    After a volatile first quarter, Q2 has kicked off in style, and the major indexes sit at – or hover near – all-time highs. The government bond market has also been steadying as yields have pulled back after rising higher earlier in the year, soothing investor fears that inflation could get out of hand. Moreover, the economic recovery seems to be gathering steam at a faster pace than anticipated. “We had been expecting the data to improve about this time, and early signals are that the recovery is absolutely on track,” said Hugh Gimber, J.P. Morgan’s global market strategist. “This is the period where the forecast of a strong recovery in growth is starting to look more like the fact of a strong recovery in growth.” Against this backdrop, the analysts at J.P. Morgan have pinpointed 2 names which they believe are set for strong growth in the year ahead; both are expected to handsomely reward investors with at least 80% of gains over the coming months. We ran them through TipRanks database to see what other Wall Street's analysts have to say about them. Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) We’ll start in China, where Tencent Music Entertainment is the offspring of China’s giant online venture company, Tencent, and Spotify, the Swedish streaming company that makes music and playlists easy. Tencent Music has seen consistently strong sales and earnings for the past year, with the top line growing year-over-year in each quarter of 2020. The Q4 report showed $1.26 billion in the top line, the highest in the last two years, along with 12 cents per share in earnings, up 33% year-over-year. Strong streaming revenue, which showed 29% growth, helped drive the results. And, Tencent Music, through its variety of apps, is the top music streaming service in the Chinese online market – as shown by the 40.4% yoy increase in paid subscribers during Q4. In its quarterly results, the company reported 4.3 million net new users in Q4, to reach 56 million active premium accounts across its apps. That said, the stock has pulled back sharply recently, as like many other high-flying growth names, worries regarding an overheated valuation have come to the fore. But pullbacks often spell opportunity, and covering the stock for JPM, Alex Yao notes the strong subscription growth, as well as the potential in the company’s other businesses, online ads and long-form audio, for monetization. “We believe TME is entering a healthy development cycle with successive growth engines: 1) music subscription remains the core revenue driver with consistent paying ratio improvement, 2) ads revenue ramps up quickly, and 3) active investments in long-form audio initiative, which could become a new growth driver in 2022 and afterwards," Yao noted. To this end, Yao puts a $36 price target on TME, suggesting a one-year upside of 84%, to back his Overweight (i.e. Buy) rating on the stock. (To watch Yao’s track record, click here) Overall, TME has a thumbs up from Wall Street. Of the 11 reviews on record, 7 are to Buy, 3 are to Hold, and 1 says Sell, making the analyst consensus a Moderate Buy. The shares are priced at $19.50, and their $30.19 average price target implies an upside of 55% for the months ahead. (See TME stock analysis on TipRanks) Y-mAbs Therapeutics (YMAB) The next JPM pick we’re looking at is Y-mAbs, a late-stage clinical biopharma company with a focus on pediatric oncology. The company is working on the development and commercialization of new antibody-based cancer therapeutics. Y-mAbs has one medication – Danyelza – approved for use to treat neuroblastoma in children age 1 and over, and a ‘broad and advanced’ pipeline of drug candidates in various stages of the clinical process, as well as five additional products in pre-clinical research stages. Having an approved drug is a ‘holy grail’ for clinical biopharmaceutical companies, and in 4Q20 Y-mAbs saw considerable income from Danyelza. The company announced at the end of December that it had agreed to sell the Priority Review Voucher for the drug to United Therapeutics for $105 million. Y-mAbs will retain the rights to 60% of the net proceeds from the sale, under an agreement with Memorial Sloan Kettering. Also in December, the company announced a license agreement with SciClone. The partnership gives Y-mAbs and Danyelza an opening for treating pediatric patients in China. The agreement includes Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, and is worth up to $120 million for Y-mAbs. The company has entered other agreements making Danyelza available in Eastern Europe and Russia. Danyelza is Y-mAbs flagship product, but the company also has omburtamab in advanced stages of the pipeline. This drug candidate saw a setback in October last year, when the FDA refused to file the company's Biologics License Application, proposed for the treatment of pediatric patients with CNS/leptomeningeal metastasis. Y-mAbs has been in steady communication with the FDA since then, with a new target date for the BLA at the end of 2Q21 or early in 3Q21. These two drugs – one approved and one not yet – form the basis of the JPM outlook on this stock. Analyst Tessa Romero writes, “Our thesis revolves around the de-risked nature of the pediatric oncology pipeline. Our recent KOL feedback is enthusiastic about use of lead asset Danyelza in patients with high-risk neuroblastoma (NB). For second lead asset omburtamab in NB metastatic to the central nervous system (CNS/LM from NB), while the ‘Refuse to File’ last year and subsequent regulatory delays were certainly disappointing, we still see a high probability of approval for the product in the 2Q/3Q22 timeframe…” Looking ahead, Romero sees an upbeat outlook for the company: “Coupling our anticipation of a healthy launch for Danyelza, with regulatory/clinical momentum expected in the near- to mid-term, we see shares poised to rebound and see an attractive buying opportunity at current levels.” The analyst puts a $52 price target on YMAB shares, implying an upside of 86% for the year ahead, and supporting an Overweight (i.e. Buy) rating. (To watch Romero’s track record, click here) Overall, the Wall Street reviews break down 3 to 1 in favor of Buys versus Holds on Y-mAbs, giving the stock a Strong Buy consensus rating. The shares have an average price target of $61.25, suggestive of a 121% upside potential this year. (See YMAB stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for 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.

  • Arm Battle With China CEO Escalates, Complicating SoftBank Sale

    (Bloomberg) -- The battle for control of Arm Ltd.’s China business is escalating with new lawsuits aimed at keeping the unit’s controversial chief executive in power, further complicating SoftBank Group Corp.’s efforts to sell the business to Nvidia Corp.The dispute erupted almost a year ago in June after the board voted to oust Arm China Chief Executive Officer Allen Wu for conflicts of interest, but he refused to leave. Now the Chinese unit, which remains under Wu’s control, has filed lawsuits against three senior executives the board designated to replace him, according to people familiar with the matter. The previously unreported suits could take years to resolve, suggesting Wu may remain entrenched.Wu fired the three men -- including co-CEO Phil Tang -- but they were subsequently reinstated by the board. In the new lawsuits, Arm China is suing the trio, demanding they return company property, according to the people.Arm China declined to comment on any ongoing legal cases or possible settlement talks. It did say the three executives had caused “material damages” to the company and they had been terminated for legitimate reasons.Tang didn’t return requests for comment. Arm Ltd. declined to elaborate, saying it won’t comment on pending legal matters.The complex tussle has thrown into question the future of Arm, whose semiconductor technology is the world’s most widely used for smartphones and is increasingly deployed in computers. SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son agreed to sell the British chip designer to Nvidia for $40 billion last year, but the path for completing that transaction is growing increasingly difficult.The China dispute also raises questions about Beijing’s willingness to protect foreign investment in the world’s second-largest economy. Arm Ltd. sold a majority stake in the China unit to a consortium of investors, including Beijing-backed institutions. That has complicated the British firm’s efforts to manage Arm China and Wu, who has support from local authorities in Shenzhen.Both sides appear to be at a stalemate. Wu, a Chinese-born U.S. citizen, pulled back from signing settlement agreements worth tens of millions of dollars if he would leave the company, the people said, asking not to be identified talking about legal matters. At the same time, two minority shareholders in Arm China linked to Wu have filed lawsuits to overturn his June 4 dismissal, they said.SoftBank opened negotiations with him last year and had hoped to reach some sort of resolution, they said. Instead the court battles are deepening and the Japanese company has soured over the increasingly complicated dispute, the people said. SoftBank is now resigned to letting the legal proceedings take their course and there are no current negotiations with Wu, according to one of the people.“We are going through a leadership change in China; it’s taking time to resolve,” said Arm Ltd.’s Chief Executive Officer Simon Segars in an interview with Bloomberg Television recently. “It’s hard. But we are confident that’s going to get resolved.”SoftBank and Nvidia declined to comment on the dispute in China.Arm China said in a statement that Wu’s position “is compliant with legal registration and confirmed by China law and regulations.”Read more: Arm Takes Aim at Intel Chips in Biggest Tech Overhaul in DecadeThe standoff accords a relatively unknown executive outsized influence over one of the industry’s most important pieces of technology, in the world’s biggest internet and semiconductor market. Chinese companies need unfettered access to Arm’s products to push forward with the country’s attempts to make itself more independent in chip technology, an area where it’s largely reliant on imports. Beyond resolving the stalemate, Nvidia and SoftBank also need Beijing’s signoff to seal their deal, and it’s unclear whether Wu’s presence would complicate that.Wu’s hold on Arm China is partially due to local laws which make it difficult to change control of a company unless you’re physically in control of the company stamp and registration documents. He’s refused to give them up and has used company funds to pay for legal fees incurred in his attempt to fight off his dismissal, the people said.Arm China said payment of legal fees “is made in compliance with company policies as well as China laws and regulations.”His ultimate goals appear to be a large cash payoff and immunity from subsequent legal action, according to people who’ve spoken with him. Inside Arm China, which is responsible for selling licenses to its chip designs and fundamental technology in the country, Wu has told local staff he’s not going anywhere. He recently gave employees Chinese New Year cash presents in a red envelope with his surname on it.Arm China said the money came from Wu personally to show his appreciation to colleagues, a tradition at Chinese New Year in the country.Hearings in the case against the three executives are expected to take place in late May, one of the people said. Separately, two minority shareholders in Arm China have sued the Chinese entity in Shenzhen to nullify the board’s decision to oust Wu. These two cases are now being merged and hearings are slated for late April, the people said.Son told investors as recently as February that he expects to close the Arm sale and “I don’t have any Plan B.”Arm, for its part is trying to make sure that its technology remains pervasive in China despite U.S. sanctions intended to curb the supply of American technology to major companies like Huawei Technologies Co. While Arm is a U.K.-based company part of its operations are in the U.S. making its products subject to controls.The Chinese government has not stated its position on the Arm China leadership struggle, but the unit has several government-backed shareholders including sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp. and the Silk Road Fund.In his interview with Bloomberg Television, Arm Ltd. CEO Segars said that the ten-month standoff hasn’t hurt Arm’s business in China. Lack of travel for face-to-face meetings during the pandemic has prolonged the process of changing leadership in China, he said.“When we announced the deal in September, we said it would take about 18 months,” he said. “We remain confident in that timeline.”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.

  • Bitcoin bull Novogratz says U.S. faces ‘existential crisis’ if it can’t engineer a digital dollar soon

    Wealthy investor Mike Novogratz says that the U.S. has its fate in its own hands but will be at a dire competitive disadvantage if it doesn't come up with a digital dollar soon.

  • Bitcoin Was Supposed to Be a Way Around Corporate Gatekeepers. Now Big Companies Are Hopping On Board.

    Forward-thinking companies such as Tesla and Square see value in blending cryptocurrencies into their business models—but for now, they’re mostly taking baby steps.

  • The stock market has a ‘binary’ feel to it, so it’s time to reduce risk

    The stock market has priced in a robust recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Just this week, the Centers for Disease Control released a travel advisory warning against all travel to Canada. In addition to the risks presented by the pandemic, I am beginning to think that something that has been previously brushed off by the market — say, inflation fears, oversupply of new issues through SPACs or an unexpected event such as a hedge fund blowing up — could trigger a market selloff in the near future.

  • Plotkin’s Melvin Capital Extends First-Quarter Losses to 49%

    (Bloomberg) -- Melvin Capital Management, the once high-flying hedge fund that lost billions of dollars after its bearish wagers were caught up in a Reddit-fueled rally, saw its first-quarter decline extend to 49%.The fund slid 7% last month, reversing a gain of almost 22% the month before, according to people with knowledge of the matter. In January, the fund dropped 53%.The firm, founded by Gabe Plotkin, was among several that took heavy losses after retail traders banded together to push stocks including GameStop Corp. to new heights. Plotkin, who had been short the company, then took a $2.75 billion investment from Citadel, Point72 Asset Management and others.Plotkin in February was called by Congress to testify about the debacle. He told lawmakers that the hedge fund industry will adapt to avoid the kinds of market dynamics that led to his fund’s losses.A spokesman for the firm declined to comment.Another firm caught in the cross hairs of the GameStop saga, Maplelane Capital, which lost 45% in January, is starting to recover.The fund rose 6.5% in February and 2.1% in March, according to people familiar with the matter, and ended the first quarter with a loss of 39.5%. The fund benefited from its long and short wagers on technology and consumer-focused companies, one of the people said.Maplelane has made money in 14 of the past 15 months, one of the people said.The $3 billion New York-based firm, run by Leon Shaulov and Rob Crespi, declined to comment.Overall, the hedge fund industry struggled to make money last month amid higher equity market volatility. The average fund was about flat in March and gained 2.2% in the first quarter, according to Hedge Fund Research Inc. The S&P 500 index rose 4.2% in March and 6.2% for the quarter, with dividends reinvested.Lone Pine Capital, Tiger Global Management and Whale Rock Capital Management, which often focus on tech wagers, posted dismal March returns.Meanwhile, Glenview Capital, which ended 2020 with a 9.5% gain despite steep losses earlier in the year, soared 25% in its flagship fund through March thanks to successful wagers on health care stocks, including DXC Technology Co., Cigna Corp., AmerisourceBergen Corp. and McKesson Corp.Here’s how other hedge funds fared in March and in the first quarter, according to people familiar. Representatives for the firms declined to comment.(Adds Congressional testimony in fourth paragraph. An earlier version corrected Hudson Bay’s strategy in the 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.

  • Alphabet CEO Pichai sells more stock as prices rally to a record

    Alphabet Inc. Chief Executive Sundar Pichai sold another chunk of shares this week, valued at nearly $7 million, as the stock surged to record highs.