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☆ The world's largest cannabis companies are gobbling up beer brands and striking deals with top athletes to hawk energy drinks because they're struggling to profit off pot
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Jeremy Berke | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

It's hard to make money in cannabis, so the world's largest cannabis companies are pivoting. The Canadian cannabis company Tilray in early November acquired Montauk Brewing Company, a New York craft-beer brewer. In a November 11 note, analysts at the investment bank Jefferies called Canopy's core Canadian cannabis business "a sideshow." Tilray's cannabis business slumps, while beer boomsLike Canopy, Tilray's core cannabis business is also declining while its beverage unit and other businesses are growing. Beyond cutting costs, it was, therefore, only a matter of time before the world's largest cannabis companies, with investors and shareholders breathing down their necks, looked elsewhere to boost their margins.

COLOMBO, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's central bank held interest rates steady on Thursday, as widely expected, but said it expected a moderation in market interest rates in line with prevailing policy rates. The Standing Lending Facility (LKSLFR=ECI) rate was held steady at 15.50% while the Standing Deposit Facility Rate (LKSDFR=ECI) was kept unchanged at 14.50%. "If an appropriate downward adjustment in the market interest rates would not take place in line with the envisaged disinflation path, the central bank will be compelled to impose administrative measures to prevent any undue movements in market interest rates," it added. Thirteen out of 15 economists and analysts polled by Reuters had forecast the central bank's interest rates to remain unchanged as it waited to see effects of its earlier hikes to filter through to prices and the broader economy. Sri Lanka, which defaulted on its foreign debt repayments in May, secured a preliminary IMF deal for a $2.9 billion bailout in early September.

☆ Tech giant HP says it will cut up to 6,000 jobs by 2025 as PC demand slumps
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Tech giant HP plans to cut 4,000 to 6,000 jobs by fiscal 2025. It's the latest tech company announcing big job cuts, after a hiring spree during the pandemic. HP posted an 11% drop its fourth-quarter revenues, as demand slumped from a pandemic peak. Sign up for our newsletter for the latest tech news and scoops — delivered daily to your inbox. Restructuring costs will amount to $1 billion over the three years, but HP expects to save $1.4 billion a year by the end of fiscal 2025.

Nov 22 (Reuters) - Medtronic Plc (MDT.N) on Tuesday lowered its full-year outlook for profit and revenue growth, blaming a stronger dollar and a slower-than-anticipated recovery in supply chain disruptions, sending the medical device maker's shares down nearly 6%. Medtronic cut its revenue growth expectations for fiscal 2023 to 3.5% to 4%, from 4% to 5%. The company said cost-cutting measures will likely offset lower revenue and inflationary pressures in the second half of the year. A slower-than-anticipated recovery in supply chain disruptions impacted Medtronic's medical surgical business the most, with the unit's revenue falling 10% to $2.07 billion. Reporting by Khushi Mandowara and Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju SamuelOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

COLOMBO, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's central bank is expected to keep rates steady as inflation shows signs of easing and as authorities focus on discussions to secure a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout to stabilise its crisis-hit economy. If global economic stress starts to ease and if Sri Lanka secures an IMF deal before next March we can expect rate cuts in mid-2023," said Visaahan Arumainayagam, analyst for Colombo-based brokering firm Asha Securities. After hitting an annual peak of 68.9% in September with food inflation climbing to 93.7%, consumer inflation moderated slightly to 66% in October. read moreAn acute dollar shortage has left Sri Lanka struggling to pay for essential imports of food, fuel and medicine, with all eyes on the IMF bailout to try and stabilise the nation's perilous debt situation and finances. "Sri Lanka is in need of some deep economic reforms which are politically challenging, overcoming this will be difficult."

☆ Coinbase bonds dragged lower as crypto market slumps
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 22 (Reuters) - Coinbase Global's (COIN.O) bonds have fallen heavily, and its shares have hit record lows, as investors ditched crypto following rival FTX's collapse earlier this month. The spike in Coinbase yield and its the increasing premium over the corresponding 10-year U.S. Treasury yield indicated investors are growing increasingly concerned about the crypto exchange's creditworthiness. The yield on Coinbase's notes due 2026 was at 15.52%, after touching a record high at 15.78% on Friday. Moody's Investors Service said on Monday it had placed Coinbase's corporate family rating, currently at Ba3, on review for downgrade. Shares of Coinbase have lost nearly 38% in value this month and closed at a record low at $41.23 on Monday.

☆ Swiss bank Julius Baer on track to meet targets despite market slump
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ZURICH, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Julius Baer (BAER.S) on Monday said it was on track to reach its 2022 profitability targets, despite "challenging market" conditions taking a big bite out of its assets under management. Assets under management decreased by 11% to 429 billion Swiss francs ($449.07 billion) in the 10 months to Oct. 31, Switzerland’s third-largest listed bank said, as it was hit by slumps in global stock and bond markets. The 52 billion franc downturn was partly compensated by positive currency exchanges, mainly the stronger dollar, as well as net new money inflows of 3 billion francs, it said. Julius Baer also said it is on track to buy back up to 400 million Swiss francs worth of shares by the end of February 2023 as planned. ($1 = 0.9553 Swiss francs)Reporting by Noele Illien, editing by JohnOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ China Consumer Spending Slumps Under Covid and Property Restrictions
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Stella Yifan Xie | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—Chinese consumer spending is buckling under the country’s dual campaigns against rising property prices and Covid-19 outbreaks, flashing a warning for global companies that have pinned their hopes on a more free-spending Chinese customer. Retail sales unexpectedly dropped last month and are expected to continue to struggle as Chinese authorities launch wide-ranging lockdowns to contain the latest fastest-spreading Covid outbreaks, and as easing measures do little to reverse a worsening property market meltdown.

☆ Ad market worse than during lows of the pandemic, says Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The advertising market is currently weaker than at any point during the coronavirus pandemic slowdown of 2020, Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav said at an investment conference Tuesday. Advertisers have reduced spending as the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates to cool inflation, pressuring equities including media companies'. Merging Discovery with WarnerMedia earlier this year has brought a series of unforeseen challenges because some assets were "unexpectedly worse than we thought," Zaslav said. "It's messier than we thought, it's much worse than we thought," Zaslav said.

☆ Dollar rebounds as Fed officials say hikes to continue; yen slumps
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Kevin Buckland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The dollar index , which measures the currency against six counterparts including the yen, euro and sterling, edged 0.03% higher to 107.00 early in the Asian day. The index held onto gains made on Monday when it rebounded from a three-month low of 106.27 hit on Friday. The dollar gained 0.34% to 140.40 yen , adding to its 0.84% overnight rebound from a 2 1/2-month low of 138.46. The euro was little changed at $1.03215 following its retreat from a three-month high of $1.0364. The offshore Chinese yuan was little changed at 7.0461 per dollar, after hitting a more than five-week high of 7.0200 in the previous session.

☆ Canada's Auger-Aliassime crushes Nadal at ATP Finals
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Summary Nadal slumps to second loss in TurinAlcaraz on brink of being year-end No. 1TURIN, Italy, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Felix Auger-Aliassime left Rafa Nadal's title hopes at the ATP Finals in tatters as he beat the struggling Spaniard 6-3 6-4 in round-robin action at the Pala Alpitour Stadium on Tuesday. Nadal, the record 22-times Grand Slam champion, has now lost four successive ATP Tour matches for the first time since 2009. Serving at 3-4 Nadal led 40-0 but a couple of double faults and some baseline errors allowed Auger-Aliassime to break. If that happens Alcaraz will be confirmed as the youngest year-end number one since the ATP rankings were introduced in 1973.

☆ America's biggest wealth manager explains why he's telling clients that going all-in on stocks is the right move to make now — and why real estate investing is still a no-go
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Marley Jay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Peter Mallouk and his wealth management firm Creative Planning have won numerous awards. Older and high-net worth people who've seen some ups and downs are taking the ongoing slumps in stocks, bonds, real estate, and cryptocurrencies in stride, the Creative Planning CEO told Insider in a recent interview. Forbes also called him one of the best US wealth managers in 2015, and CNBC said Creative Planning was the best fee-only wealth management firm in 2014. He reasons that stocks and Treasuries provide similar levels of yield, while stocks have superior potential for price gains. The housing market is more of a mixed bag, and the right strategy depends on clients' spending habits and their plans.

LONDON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Russia's oil export revenues are at much greater risk from a global economic recession than the price cap being planned by the United States and the European Union. Sanctioned petroleum could only be traded freely below the price cap while unsanctioned petroleum could be traded at any price, including prices well above the cap. If the crude cap is set at $60-65 per barrel, while unsanctioned crude trades at $120, the incentives for circumvention will be enormous. Recession and price capping turn out to be complementary approaches rather than substitutes for reducing Russia’s oil revenues. RECESSION AND ALTERNATIVESIn the event of a recession, consumption of crude and diesel would be hit, reducing the call on Russia’s crude exporters and refineries.

☆ U.S. consumer sentiment slumps; inflation expectations edge up
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The University of Michigan's preliminary November reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment came in at 54.7, down from 59.9 in the prior month. The survey's reading of one-year inflation expectations edged up to 5.1% from 5.0% in October. Data on Thursday showed consumer prices rose less than expected in October, pushing the annual increase below 8% for the first time in eight months. While that is consistent with a shift in spending to services from goods, some economists do not expect a collapse in consumer spending. "The correlation between changes in monthly consumer sentiment and real consumer spending is low, especially for this measure and especially in the short run," said Scott Hoyt, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

☆ Oil prices rise 1% after tepid U.S. inflation data
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Shariq Khan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

After three days of declines, crude futures rallied after the inflation data supported investor hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve would temper its interest rate hikes, which could support oil demand. "(Consumer Price Index data) could be the turning point investors have craved," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA. Brent crude rose 94 cents, or 1%, to $93.59 a barrel by 12:52 a.m. EDT (1752 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 69 cents, or 0.8%, to $86.52. The U.S. dollar index , as the sunny economic data lured investors away from the safe-haven greenback towards riskier assets including oil.

FTX head Sam Bankman-Fried said he was "exploring all the options", but fading hopes for rescue left FTX teetering. A message on the FTX website said: "FTX is currently unable to process withdrawals. "The dagger will continue to hang over the crypto market, as long as the outlook of FTX's fate remains unclear." 'CONFIDENCE CRISIS'There are also early signs that the fallout could spread beyond crypto markets, with jittery stockmarkets sliding on Wall Street overnight. Most crypto players remain bullish about the long term, but are braced for further falls in the near future.

The market can accept gridlock," said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina. S&P 500 has risen in every 12-month period following the U.S. midterm elections over the past 70 yearsAt 6:21 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 67 points, or 0.2%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 2 points, or 0.05%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 8.5 points, or 0.08%. Meanwhile, some market participants expect October U.S. inflation data due on Thursday to be more market-moving. read moreReporting by Medha Singh and Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Arun KoyyurOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ EV maker Lucid slumps as quarterly reservations slip
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Akash Sriram | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FILE PHOTO: A Lucid Air electric vehicle is displayed in Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S., September 27, 2021. Lucid said it had $3.85 billion in cash, which would sustain the company at least into the fourth quarter of next year. Chief Finance Officer Sherry House told Reuters in an interview that Lucid would tap into the capital markets as it looks to build a factory in Saudi Arabia. High prices for battery materials such as lithium, cobalt and nickel, exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have been eating into margins of electric vehicle makers, hurting their bottom line. Lucid’s revenue rose to $195.5 million in the third quarter after it delivered 1,398 vehicles, up from 679 vehicles last quarter.

☆ China's super-rich like Alibaba's Jack Ma see billions of dollars wiped from their fortunes as the economy slumps
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Zahra Tayeb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

China's super-wealthy have seen their fortunes tumble by the most in 24 years, per the Hurun Rich List. Alibaba founder Jack Ma's net worth dropped 29% to $25.7 billion, as tech bosses took a hit. His ranking on the rich list sank four places to ninth. Overall, the number of people with a net worth of $10 billion dropped by 29 to 56, while the number of dollar billionaires fell by 239 to 946. But Hoogewerf said that despite the declines, the rich list is still 50% bigger than five years ago.

☆ Take-Two slumps as forecast cut deepens videogame industry gloom
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 7 (Reuters) - Take-Two Interactive Software Inc (TTWO.O) lowered its annual sales forecast on Monday, the latest videogame publisher to be hit by this year's dollar spike and a broader gaming industry slump. Take-Two, whose shares fell nearly 17% in extended trading, now expects full-year adjusted sales between $5.4 billion and $5.5 billion. Its prior view was $5.8 billion to $5.9 billion. Overall spending on mobile games is estimated to decline 2.3% in 2022, according to data analytics firm Sensor Tower, after a surge during the pandemic. Some of the pressure is expected to be offset by strong sales of "NBA 2K23" - the latest installment in Take-Two's popular basketball series.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailBitcoin slumps ahead of midterms, and FTX addresses slow withdrawals: CNBC Crypto WorldCNBC Crypto World features the latest news and daily trading updates from the digital currency markets and provides viewers with a look at what's ahead with high-profile interviews, explainers, and unique stories from the ever-changing crypto industry. On today's show, we take a deep dive into crypto's influence on politics ahead of the midterm elections.

☆ Dollar ascendant; sterling slumps on lower rate expectations, bleak outlook
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Rae Wee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

It was headed for a weekly loss of nearly 4%, the largest since September's market turmoil triggered by an economic plan that alarmed investors. While the BoE raised interest rates by the most since 1989 on Thursday, it warned investors that the risk of Britain's longest recession in at least a century means borrowing costs are likely to rise less than they expect. "It's been sort of coming for some time that the Bank of England is a reluctant hiker ... in the current environment. Fed rate futures now point to a terminal rate of about 5.15% by June, with U.S. Treasury yields moving in step with the higher expectations. The two-year Treasury yield , which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, last stood at 4.7243%, after hitting a 15-year peak of 4.745% the previous session.

☆ Warners Bros. slumps after company gets hit with restructuring costs, tough ad market
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWarners Bros. slumps after company gets hit with restructuring costs, tough ad marketCNBC's Jim Cramer and the 'Squawk on the Street' team discuss shares of Warner Bros. Discovery following the company's third-quarter earnings, which missed analysts' estimates.

☆ ING Groep launches $1.5 bln buyback after Q3 pre-tax profit slumps
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

AMSTERDAM, Nov 3 (Reuters) - ING Groep NV (INGA.AS), the largest Dutch bank, reported on Thursday a quarterly pre-tax profit of 1.38 billion euros ($1.36 billion), below expectations due to one-off charges, and also rolled out a fresh share buyback worth 1.5 billion euros. Analysts had forecast a pre-tax profit at 1.50 billion euros, according to Refinitiv data, compared with 1.92 billion euros posted last year. Chief Executive Officer Steven van Rijswijk said the company had seen a "solid performance, especially in light of the challenging economic and geopolitical environment". Additions to loan loss provisions increased to 403 million euros in the reported period from 39 million euros a year ago, but in line with the "through the cycle average", ING said. Without the one-off charges, margins would have improved to 1.42%, Van Rijswijk said.

☆ Sterling slumps ahead of BoE decision after Fed hikes rates again
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Harry Robertson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The Fed raised interest rates by 75 basis points (bps) for the fourth consecutive meeting on Wednesday, taking the target range to 3.75% to 4%. Michael Quinn, senior trader at Monex Europe, said the drop in sterling was driven by bets that the BoE will struggle to raise rates as high as the Fed. Higher rates - or the expectation of them - traditionally boost a country's currency by making investments there look more attractive. According to futures market pricing, traders think it's almost certain the BoE will raise rates by a lower 50 bps in December. Yet they think there's a 58% chance the Fed opts for another 75 bps hike .

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