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☆ Premarket stocks: These are the only stocks that matter right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Leading the way in growth are tech stocks like Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Tesla (TSLA) and Meta (FB). That’s been a boon to large cap tech stocks that are more sensitive to interest rates because they tend to borrow more than established companies and rely more on the prospect of future earnings. But it also means that the current market rally is thin, as the major indexes outperform the average stock. Strong outperformance from the largest stocks often power indexes to rise, said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Schwab, in a note Tuesday. But healthy markets should be characterized by greater participation of the “soldiers” — the rest of the stocks, she said.

☆ Tesla is selling a German beer in a Cybertruck bottle
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ Britain’s pound is beating every other major currency this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The pound, which has advanced about 3.3% versus the greenback since the start of 2023, is the best-performing currency among developed economies this year. The UK currency has been boosted by indications the country’s economy is holding up better than expected. The International Monetary Fund predicted in January that the UK economy would contract by 0.6% this year, while all other advanced economies would grow, if only slightly. “There was a lot of pessimism being priced into the pound,” said Francesco Pesole, a currency strategist at ING. “There was a big re-rating of growth expectations around Europe, and that impacted the UK,” Pesole said.

London CNN —Regulators in Italy issued a temporary ban on ChatGPT Friday, effective immediately, due to privacy concerns and said they had opened an investigation into how OpenAI, the US company behind the popular chatbot, uses data. Italy’s data protection agency said users lacked information about the collection of their data and that a breach at ChatGPT had been reported on March 20. The Italian regulator also expressed concerns over the lack of age verification for ChatGPT users. In the meantime, EU companies must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, as well as the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, which apply to tech platforms. Earlier this month, OpenAI released GPT-4, a new version of the technology underpinning ChatGPT that is even more powerful.

☆ Key inflation gauge in Europe hits record high even as overall price rises slow sharply
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

“I have argued for years that the biggest banks in the world are still too big to fail. In practice, however, the economic damage would be considerable.”Keller-Sutter was at the center of a government-orchestrated rescue of Credit Suisse by its larger rival UBS (UBS) earlier this month. Global standards for dealing with teetering “too big to fail” banks were key a part of the package of rules introduced after the global financial crisis. They were designed to make it possible to wind down a big bank without destabilizing the financial system or exposing taxpayers to the risk of losses. The rest is lent out at higher interest rates or invested, because that’s how big banks make most of their profit.

“I have argued for years that the biggest banks in the world are still too big to fail. In practice, however, the economic damage would be considerable.”Keller-Sutter was at the center of a government-orchestrated rescue of Credit Suisse by its larger rival UBS (UBS) earlier this month. They were designed to make it possible to wind down a big bank without destabilizing the financial system or exposing taxpayers to the risk of losses. Although some investors in Credit Suisse bonds lost everything, Swiss taxpayers are still on the hook for up to 9 billion Swiss francs ($9.8 billion) of potential losses arising from certain Credit Suisse assets. The rest is lent out at higher interest rates or invested, because that’s how big banks make most of their profit.

☆ Bank of England calls for urgent action on funds that nearly toppled UK financial system
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —The Bank of England has called for urgent action to address a weak spot in the UK financial system as persistent worries about the global banking sector threaten to unleash fresh market turmoil. LDI crisisThe role of LDI funds in the UK financial system was thrown into the spotlight in the fall after the Truss budget triggered an unprecedented selloff in UK government bonds. This had an alarming knock-on effect on pension funds that had gone all in on liability-driven investment strategies. “We are monitoring events closely and their impact on financial markets, UK banks and UK economic conditions,” it said. The central bank added that UK banks were “resilient” and “currently healthy.” But it warned that other parts of the financial system might need bolstering.

London CNN —Europe’s banks are not yet in the clear, a top EU regulator said Monday, two weeks after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the United States unleashed turmoil in the global banking sector. José Manuel Campa, the head of the European Banking Authority (EBA), told a German newspaper that European lenders remained vulnerable following the demise of SVB and the subsequent emergency rescue of Credit Suisse by UBS. The regulator is currently finalizing a study of the effects of interest rate risks on European banks, which it started working on in the fall. “The investigation is not yet concluded, but I can say already today that we don’t expect to find major institutions with significant solvency risks arising from unrealized losses,” Campa said. Meanwhile, years of mismanagement and scandal at Credit Suisse left it particularly exposed to a broad sense of unease about banks.

☆ Live updates: Silicon Valley Bank collapses
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Mark Thompson | Aditi Sangal | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

US banks were sitting on $620 billion in unrealized losses (assets that have decreased in price but haven’t been sold yet) at the end of 2022, according to the FDIC. What’s happening: Back when interest rates were near zero, US banks scooped up lots of Treasuries and bonds. When interest rates rise, newly issued bonds start paying higher rates to investors, which makes the older bonds with lower rates less attractive and less valuable. The result is that most banks have some amount of unrealized losses on their books. Shares of larger banks stabilized Friday after plunging to their worst day in nearly three years on Thursday.

☆ Stocks week ahead: US banks sitting on unrealized losses of $620 billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

US banks were sitting on $620 billion in unrealized losses (assets that have decreased in price but haven’t been sold yet) at the end of 2022, according to the FDIC. What’s happening: Back when interest rates were near zero, US banks scooped up lots of Treasuries and bonds. The result is that most banks have some amount of unrealized losses on their books. “Unrealized losses weaken a bank’s future ability to meet unexpected liquidity needs,” he added. Before the Bell: Do we need unemployment to rise in order to ease inflation rates?

☆ Takeaways from America’s second-largest bank failure
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

New York CNN —Silicon Valley Bank’s 48-hour collapse led to the second-largest failure of a financial institution in US history. Its stunning, and seemingly rapid, fall is the largest shutdown of a US bank since Washington Mutual in 2008. “That’s because its depositors were withdrawing their money so fast that the bank was insolvent, and an intraday closure was unavoidable due to a classic bank run.”High interest rates led to its demiseTo combat rampant inflation, the central bank has been aggressively raising interest rates since 2022. When interest rates were near historical lows, the banks bought up on long-dated, seemingly low-risk Treasuries. Faced with these higher interest rates, loss of IPOs and a funding drought, SVB’s clients began pulling money out of the bank.

London CNN —The failure of Silicon Valley Bank is rattling markets and raising uncomfortable questions: Will it undermine the broader banking system and start a new meltdown? A crucial lender to US technology startups, the bank came under pressure as Silicon Valley funding dried up, the result of an economic slowdown and rapidly rising interest rates. Bank stocks rattledFounded in 1983, SVB provided financing for almost half of US venture-backed technology and health care companies. SVB put the bonds up for sale as customers, facing leaner times, pulled their money from the bank. Silicon Valley Bank had about $209 billion in total assets and $175 billion in total deposits as of the end of last year, according to the FDIC.

☆ Russia could weaponize metal exports next, Citi warns
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —Russia has restricted exports of natural gas to Europe and announced it will temporarily slash oil output this month in response to Western sanctions. Next, it could weaponize exports of important metals such as aluminum and palladium, researchers at Citigroup have warned. For example, last year Russia made deep cuts to its natural gas exports to Europe, its top customer. Russia’s role in the global nuclear power industry is also under the microscope. The country is a key exporter of nuclear fuel and its nuclear sector has so far mostly escaped Western sanctions.

☆ IMF chief: Ukraine war will have ‘devastating’ consequences for Russia’s economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

In January, the IMF projected that Russia’s economy would expand by 0.3% this year and 2.1% the next. Georgieva told CNN that Russia’s economy would suffer over time as workers emigrated and access to technology was cut off, and as sanctions on its vast energy industry took a toll. Yet according to Georgieva, it’s essential policymakers don’t ease up on interest rate hikes prematurely, lest prices soar again. The Fed slowed the pace of rate hikes last month, but Powell indicated in testimony to Congress Tuesday that the central bank may need to turn hawkish again. The Fed “would be prepared to increase the pace of rate hikes” if necessary, he added.

☆ Recession worries used to be bad for bank stocks. Not anymore
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

London CNN —Investors are bucking tradition this year by piling into big bank stocks just as major economies are expected to either slow down or fall into recession. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that interest rates would rise more than people anticipated. European bank stocks have risen particularly sharply in the past six months. “As those worries have unwound, European banks have done particularly well.”No ‘hidden skeletons’But European economies are still fragile. When economic activity slows down, bank stocks are typically among those hit hardest.

☆ Adani shares soar as US investor steps in
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —Shares in some of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s companies soared Friday after a US private equity firm agreed to invest nearly $1.9 billion in his embattled conglomerate. The Adani Group said Thursday that GQG Partners had bought $1.87 billion of stock in secondary market trades across four of its companies. Shares of the group’s flagship company, Adani Enterprises, soared nearly 17% following the announcement. Shares of Adani Ports rose almost 10%, while Adani Green Energy and Adani Transmission both gained 5%. And Australia-listed GQG Partners, which manages more than $92 billion in assets, doesn’t appear to share the concerns of other investors.

☆ The devil’s in the details in Europe’s troubling inflation data
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

☆ A shadow fleet is helping Russia ship oil around the world. And it's growing
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

London CNN —Russian oil is still finding its way to buyers around the world. Industry insiders estimate the size of that “shadow” fleet at roughly 600 vessels, or about 10% of the global number of large tankers. Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesThe expansion of the shadow fleet highlights the dramatic changes Russia’s war has brought to the global oil market. As a result, an estimated 25 to 35 vessels are being sold per month into the shadow fleet, according to another senior executive at an oil trading firm. There are also questions about who ultimately runs the shadow fleet.

☆ The owner of Insider and Politico says AI is coming for journalists' jobs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —One of Europe’s biggest media groups has warned journalists that artificial intelligence (AI) could steal their jobs, and has provided tips for how reporters can avoid the chop. “Only those who create the best original content will survive.”AI raceDöpfner’s warnings come three months after Open AI opened up access to ChatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot. The bot is capable of providing lengthy, thoughtful responses to questions, and can write full essays, responses in job applications and journalistic articles. Its instant popularity has turbocharged a race among tech companies to bring their own AI products to market. Staff in journalistic roles, such as reporters and specialist editors, are not currently the target of cuts, Döpfner said.

☆ JPMorgan restricts employee use of ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Russia’s economy is hurting despite Putin’s bluster
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Russia’s economy did weaken as a result. “The Russian economy and system of government have turned out to be much stronger than the West believed,” Putin said in a speech to Russia’s parliament Tuesday. The bloc, which dramatically reduced its dependence on Russian natural gas last year, officially banned most imports of Russian crude oil by sea in December. Russia’s oil problemIn fact, Russia’s export revenue from oil rose last year. On the declineThe International Monetary Fund still expects Russia’s economy to expand by 0.3% this year and 2.1% the next.

☆ UK supermarkets Tesco, Aldi and Asda are rationing fruit and salad vegetables
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Asda told CNN that it was temporarily limiting purchases of some items to three packs per customer. These include tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and lettuce. Morrisons told CNN that it had imposed a cap of two packs per customer on tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and lettuce. Sainsbury’s (JSAIY), the United Kingdom’s second-largest food retailer, told CNN it had no plans to ration the sale of fruit and vegetables. The high-end supermarket chain told CNN that it was “monitoring the situation” but had no plans to introduce rationing.

☆ Credit Suisse shares plunge again on report of regulatory probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Olesya Dmitracova | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —Shares of embattled Swiss bank Credit Suisse fell to a record low Tuesday after a report that regulators are reviewing comments the lender’s chairman made about the health of its finances. The bank’s stock plunged as much as 9% to trade at 2.52 Swiss francs ($2.73), before recovering slightly. Credit Suisse did not respond to a CNN request for comment Tuesday. The Swiss financial regulator, Finma, declined to comment. The rumors, which sparked a selloff in the lender’s shares, followed a series of missteps and compliance failures that cost Credit Suisse billions.

☆ This number shows that high inflation is sticking around
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

London CNN —The latest inflation figures from the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union are feeding hopes that the worst is over and some relief for struggling households could arrive soon. Annual inflation in the United States slowed to 6.4% in January, easing for the seventh consecutive month. In the United Kingdom, which faces weaker economic prospects than its peers, the rate of price increases is also falling: In January, annual inflation dipped to 10.1% from a recent high of 11.1% this past fall. “The bottom line is inflation is still a problem,” said Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management. In the United States, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta publishes a version of the Consumer Price Index that tracks “sticky” prices.

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