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☆ Direxion rolls out Nvidia-focused ETFs for bulls and bears
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Direxion Daily NVDA Bull 1.5x Shares ETF (NVDU.O) seeks to deliver 1.5 times the price return of daily moves in Nvidia’s shares, which have more than tripled year-to-date. Meanwhile, the Direxion Daily NVDD Bear 1x Shares ETF allows bearish investors to profit when Nvidia’s shares decline. Single-stock ETFs made their debut in 2022, but only a handful of products have since been introduced by five firms, including Direxion. Because of their increased exposure, investors’ losses in leveraged exchange traded products can be staggering, analysts said. Only four leveraged single-stock ETFs currently have more than $50 million, according to Morningstar.

Persons: Robert Galbraith, “, ”, Bryan Armour, GraniteShares, Direxion, Edward Egilinsky, ” Direxion, Suzanne McGee, Ira Iosebashvili, David Gregorio Our Organizations: Nvidia, REUTERS, Nvidia Corp, Morningstar Inc, Morningstar, Thomson Locations: Santa Clara , California, Nvidia’s

☆ YOUR MONEY How to get high rates to work for you
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Chris Taylor | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

July 17 (Reuters) - There is no doubt that higher interest rates are hard on a many people – especially if you are taking out a loan on a home or a car, or are struggling to catch up with credit-card debt. But for some, steep interest rates are not actually bad news. In fact, 38% of people say they have benefited from higher interest rates during the past year, according to a new survey from Allianz Life Insurance. “That’s the dichotomy: Higher interest rates are both crushing some people and benefiting others at the same time,” says Kelly LaVigne, vice president of Consumer Insights for Allianz Life. That means if you have some savings set aside, it is time to think about how to flip this negative of higher interest rates into a positive.

Persons: “, ”, Kelly LaVigne, Amy Arnott, Morningstar, Arnott, Rowe, Baird, Jeremy Keil, Keil, George Gagliardi, Lauren Young, Aurora Ellis Organizations: Allianz Life Insurance, Consumer, Allianz Life, U.S . Federal Reserve, Morningstar, FDIC, Bills, CIT Bank, BMO Alto, Citizens, Financial, Thomson Locations: New Berlin , Wisconsin, Toronto, Lexington , Massachusetts

Companies Equinor ASA FollowMorningstar Inc FollowNEW YORK, July 7 (Reuters) - Oil prices climbed about 2% to a six-week high on Friday as supply concerns outweighed fears that further interest rate hikes could slow economic growth and reduce demand for oil. "OPEC+ production cuts are expected to tighten the market, driving supply deficits in the second half of 2023, supporting higher oil prices," analysts at U.S. financial services company Morningstar said in a note. OPEC will likely maintain an upbeat view on oil demand growth for next year, sources close to OPEC said. Russia's latest pledge to reduce oil exports will not require a similar cut in production, a government source told Reuters. Higher borrowing costs could slow economic growth and reduce oil demand.

Persons: Brent, WTI, Morningstar, Russia's, Vortexa, James Knightley, Janet Yellen, Shadia Nasralla, Sudarshan, Jason Neely, David Evans, David Gregorio Our Organizations: ASA, Morningstar, . West Texas, Organization of, Petroleum, Reuters, Oil, Equinor ASA, U.S . Federal Reserve, ING, U.S . Energy Information Administration, U.S, Treasury, Thomson Locations: Brent, Saudi Arabia, Russia, OPEC, Saudi, Ain, Norway, Mexico, China, Europe, Ukraine, Germany, London, Singapore

[1/3] The logo for Goldman Sachs is seen on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, New York, U.S., November 17, 2021. The investment bank will outline the path to profit for its Platform Solutions unit, which houses Goldman's transaction banking, credit card and financial technology businesses, it said. It is also considering "strategic alternatives" for its consumer platforms, Solomon said, without specifying what those options would be. Chief Executive David Solomon's performance and his plans for growth will also be scrutinized by investors and analysts. Observers will focus on his plans to decrease Goldman's reliance on trading and investment banking, which can be whipsawed by market volatility.

NEW YORK, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) Chief Executive David Solomon and his top executives are expected to unveil the company's medium-term financial goals on Tuesday, according to analysts. Its ROTE was 11% last year, missing analyst estimates, as rising interest rates prompted a sharp slowdown in dealmaking. Observers will also focus on the CEO's plans to decrease Goldman's reliance on trading and investment banking, which can be whipsawed by market volatility. The bank has said it plans to slim down some alternative investments that weighed on profits last year. Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Lananh Nguyen Editing by Nick ZieminskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Crypto Company Circle Focuses on Growth After Canceled SPAC Merger
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Mark Maurer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Circle is still hiring even as many crypto companies are laying off staff and some have filed for bankruptcy following the run on the stablecoin TerraUSD last spring. The crypto company had been preparing to go public via a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, a move to access the capital market, enhance its transparency and further expand operations internationally. A SPAC typically has as long as two years to find its merger partner, clear the SEC’s review process and complete the deal. Circle, which was founded in 2013, intends to make another bid to go public, though likely not this year, Mr. Fox-Geen said. Circle in 2021 said that Poloniex LLC, its discontinued crypto exchange business, paid $10.4 million to settle a case brought by the SEC.

Feb 9 (Reuters) - Online travel booking company Expedia Group Inc (EXPE.O) missed Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, hit by a spike in cancellations and bad weather near the end of the quarter. Travel demand has generally been strong throughout last year despite recession and inflation fears. Expedia posted revenue of $2.62 billion, missing Wall Street estimates of $2.7 billion. The company's quarterly adjusted profit was $1.26 per share, short of analysts' expectations of $1.67 per share, according to Refinitiv data. "They said last quarter that they're seeing evidence that they're getting better marketing ROI-wise, but it's not coming through in the numbers for us," he added.

☆ BlackRock, Vanguard stand apart as U.S. funds suffer first annual outflows
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 17 (Reuters) - Passive products from BlackRock Inc, (BLK.N) Vanguard Group and others were rare cash recipients last year as U.S. mutual and exchange-traded funds suffered $370 billion in net withdrawals, their first annual outflows on record, researcher Morningstar Inc (MORN.O) said. Passive funds took in $556 billion last year, Morningstar said. Although the amount was about 42% lower than their net deposits in 2021, "investors appear to be buying passive funds in both good times and bad," Morningstar said. Among fund families, the largest net withdrawals were recorded at T. Rowe Price at $59.2 billion, followed by American Funds, $55.5 billion. The biggest net deposits went into BlackRock's iShares ETF product line at $166.7 billion, and $82.7 billion to Vanguard, in line with their global flow pattern.

It said 80% of its close to $8 trillion in assets are in its index funds, which primarily attract retail investors. Vanguard's biggest competitors, BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) and State Street Corp's (STT.N) asset-management arm, rely more on institutional investors including pension funds and foundations. Many retail investors are also interested in matters like climate change, but prioritize them less in building retirement portfolios, said Rosenbluth and other industry analysts. A FINRA Investor Education Foundation study of retail investors last March found only 9% of respondents held ESG investments. A big factor behind this gap is retail investors' lack of familiarity or knowledge about ESG products, the study found.

☆ Blockchain Fails to Gain Traction in the Enterprise
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CIO Journal The Morning Download delivers daily insights and news on business technology from the CIO Journal team. Some companies say they haven’t found a compelling enough reason to use it. Many didn’t have digital record-keeping systems and had to make large upfront investments before they could start using blockchain, Walmart said. Walmart is using blockchain to track leafy greens and green bell peppers. Earlier this year, the state of Jharkhand in eastern India began using blockchain to track seed distributions to farmers.

☆ Coupa Software Weighs Right Time to Refinance Low-Rate Debt Amid High Rates
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Mark Maurer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Coupa Software Inc. is searching for the right time to refinance over $2 billion in convertible debt that it holds at nearly evanescent rates—despite rising financing costs and the fact that its maturities are more than two years away. Tony Tiscornia, chief financial officer at Coupa Software. “For a young software company, we would really like to see a lot of the focus on just growth at this time, over profitability,” she said, speaking generally. The company will likely refinance with convertible debt because the interest rate tends to be lower than that of straight debt, he said, adding that more equity would dilute shareholdings. Conagra said it had $8.98 billion in net debt as of Aug. 28, down from $9.19 billion a year earlier.

Investors souring on ESG funds could pose a challenge to governments seeking to enlist them in the fight against climate change. In 2021, 40% of actively managed ESG funds beat their benchmarks, almost as well as conventional funds. In 2020, the actively managed ESG funds did even better; 57% of them beat their benchmarks, while only 43% of conventional funds did so. One active ESG fund that has suffered in the downturn is Parnassus Core Equity fund (PRBLX.O). It's possible that market trends will come to favour the portfolios of ESG funds in the coming months.

☆ Data Centers Face Higher Costs, Weaker Demand for Debt That Fueled Sector’s Rise
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Kristin Broughton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

The decline in issuance of data-center debt comes as chief financial officers across industries evaluate their funding options amid the Fed’s rate-hike campaign. Within the data-center sector in particular, that calculus for some companies involves assessing whether the timing is right to tap the securitization market despite the higher costs. What’s more, while the data-center sector is much bigger now than it was during the 2007-09 recession, it hasn’t been tested. The securitization market has historically provided Vantage with more money than it has needed to pay down its loans, Mr. Metwalli said. Digital Realty Trust Inc., a publicly traded company in the sector with an investment-grade rating, has avoided the securitization market.

☆ Arizona, Texas join multi-state probe into big banks over net-zero pledge
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A combination file photo shows Wells Fargo, Citigbank, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs from Reuters archive. The investigation is targeting JPMorgan Chase & Co , Goldman Sachs Group Inc , Bank of America Corp , Citigroup Inc , Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N). "American banks should never put political agendas ahead of the secure retirement of their clients," Arizona AG Mark Brnovich said in a statement. "The last thing Americans need right now are corporate activists helping the left bankrupt our fossil fuel industry," Texas AG Ken Paxton said, adding that the banks practices potentially violate consumer protection laws. JPMorgan declined to comment, while the other five banks did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Sept 28 (Reuters) - Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has joined a multi-state investigation into whether S&P Global Inc (SPGI.N) violated consumer protection laws over its use of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in credit ratings. The ESG credit indicators, ESG scores, and ESG evaluations that S&P publishes "appear to politicize what should be a purely financial decision", Paxton said in a statement on Wednesday. The probe is being led by Missouri and underscores a push by Republican-led states against what they see as a "woke" bias at financial companies. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterS&P Global did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Interest in ESG investing has exploded in recent years, prompting ratings agencies to come up with new ways to assess how companies fare on ESG factors.

☆ Expedia Poaches CFO From Home-Retailer Williams-Sonoma
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-14 | by ( Mark Maurer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Expedia Group Inc. hired a new finance chief, a move that comes as the online travel company works to build out its direct-to-consumer offering. He also plans to stay on as chair of the supervisory board of directors of Trivago N.V. , which is majority-owned by Expedia Group, the company said. Photo: Expedia Group Inc.Ms. Whalen most recently served as CFO at San Francisco-based home-products retailer Williams-Sonoma Inc., a role she has held since 2012. Also on Wednesday, Williams-Sonoma named Jeff Howie, the company’s executive vice president and chief administrative officer, as Ms. Whalen’s successor. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CFO Journal The Morning Ledger provides daily news and insights on corporate finance from the CFO Journal team.

☆ Pentru prima dată în ultimii 35 de ani, SUA nu au importat petrol din Arabia Saudită
▼ + stars: | 2021-01-07 | by ( ) www.jurnal.md time to read: +2 min

Absenţa livrărilor din Arabia Saudită vine pe fondul diminuării numărului de tancuri de petroliere care au plecat din Arabia Saudită spre SUA în luna octombrie 2020. Având în vedere că tancurile petroliere din Arabia Saudită au nevoie de şase săptămâni pentru a ajunge la terminalele din SUA, scăderea începe să se vadă acum. Aceasta este prima săptămână în care SUA nu au importat petrol din Arabia Saudită după luna septembrie 1985. Consumul de benzină în SUA a coborât la cel mai scăzut nivel din ultimii ani în perioada sărbătorilor de sfârşit de an, care în mod normal este o perioadă de cerere crescută. Alte state mari consumatoare de petrol, cum este China, publică mai puţine informaţii rapide cu privire la livrările de petrol.

Persons: Sandy Fielden Organizations: Morningstar Locations: Arabia Saudită, SUA, Asia, China

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