DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ 'Everything is fine' at Credit Suisse - it's just a bit of panic, says its biggest backer Saudi National Bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

'Everything is fine' at Credit Suisse, according to Saudi National Bank chairman Ammar Al Khudairy. Saudi National Bank insisted that raising its stake above 10% is a red line for regulatory reasons. "It's panic, a little bit of panic, I believe completely unwarranted, whether it be for Credit Suisse or for the entire market." But Al Khudairy has insisted that raising Saudi National Bank's stake above 10% is a red line primarily because of regulatory reasons. There has been no discussions whatsoever since October about Credit Suisse needing more capital or requiring assistance," Al Khudairy said.

☆ SVB's failure is being investigated by US authorities, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Silicon Valley Bank's failure is being investigated by US authorities, the WSJ reported. The DOJ fraud squad and the SEC are looking into stock sales by SVB officers before the bank collapsed. US investigators are looking into stock sales made by executives at SVB Financial — the group that owns the lender — only days before the bank collapsed, the report said. From April to December last year, SVB didn't have a chief risk officer at work, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. The DOJ and SVB didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on the probe.

☆ Credit Suisse's chairman took a pass on a $1.6 million award and had his pay cut
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Credit Suisse chairman Axel Lehmann took a pass on a $1.6 million award and saw a pay cut. In its delayed annual report, the Swiss bank said it "identified material weaknesses" in its financial reporting. Lehmann, who started his position last January, waived his chair fee of 1.5 million Swiss francs ($1.6 million) that is typically awarded to board members on top of their salaries, according to Credit Suisse's compensation report. The lender will also cut his salary for 2023-2024 to 3.8 million Swiss francs from an earlier projection of 4.5 million francs, according to the report. "We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022 and 2021," the annual report said.

☆ Citadel boss Ken Griffin thinks SVB's rescue package shows US capitalism 'breaking down before our eyes'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Citadel boss Ken Griffin has said US capitalism is "breaking down before our eyes." "It would have been a great lesson in moral hazard" if US regulators didn't bail SVB clients out, according to him. "There's been a loss of financial discipline with the government bailing out depositors in full," he said. "The US is supposed to be a capitalist economy, and that's breaking down before our eyes," he told the Financial Times on Monday. "It would have been a great lesson in moral hazard" if regulators didn't decide to relieve the banks' clients, according to him.

☆ Cratering Silicon Valley Bank's troubles could be the first sign of a new financial crisis. Here's what Burry, Ackman and El-Erian have to say.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Cratering Silicon Valley Bank's troubles could be the first sign of a new financial crisis. While some say the US banking system is solid, others think this could be the first sign of a new financial crisis. Well, and highlighting the current economic/financial/policy fluidity, we have something: banking system worries," El-Erian said on Twitter. Silicon Valley Bank going under would be exponentially worse. Activist Investor Ryan Cohen"Does this mean I don't have to pay back Silicon Valley Bank?"

☆ Hiring is so hard for a Montana builder that it's flying in construction workers on a private jet
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Montana builder finds it so hard to hire locally that it's flying in workers on a private jet instead. The tight labor market is a target of the Fed as it tries to bring down inflation by hiking interest rates. It's yet another sign of a tight labor market, where openings outstrip the number of workers available to fill them. The Fed has raised interest rates at a historically fast pace over the past year to try to cool high rates of inflation. A hot labor market tends to fuel inflation, as it puts upward pressure on wage growth.

☆ BlackRock says there's a good chance the Fed will have to hike interest rates to 6%, the highest level in 20 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

There's a reasonable chance the Fed will hike interest rates to 6% and keep them there, a BlackRock CIO said. Sticky inflation and a strong labor market are factors pushing the Fed to keep hiking, Rick Rieder said. Stocks sold off after Fed Chair Jerome Powell lifted expectations for higher interest rates ahead. Sign up for our newsletter to get the inside scoop on what traders are talking about — delivered daily to your inbox. The Fed has lifted rates from near zero last March to as much as 4.75% today, in a bid to bring inflation down to its target 2% rate.

☆ Troubled crypto bank Silvergate sees regulators swoop in to try to help it stay afloat
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Silvergate is talking to FDIC regulators to find a way to avoid collapse as its finances worsen, per Bloomberg. The crypto bank flagged doubts about its survival and closed its flagship SEN payments service last week. Silvergate, which used to be the go-to bank for the biggest names in crypto, said last week it was evaluating its ability to continue as a going concern. One way to help Silvergate stay afloat discussed in the FDIC meeting was to gather crypto investors to help the bank boost its liquidity, per Bloomberg. On Friday, the bank scrapped its Silvergate Exchange Network, seen as another sign it was thinking about winding down its business.

☆ Coinbase customer who lost $96,000 in a crypto hack has sued the exchange after getting the brush-off
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A Coinbase user is suing the exchange to recover 90% of his life savings that he says was stolen from him, lawsuit claims. But the exchange ignored several red flags for fraud, he alleges in his claim for triple damages. "Coinbase's email disclaimed any responsibility for the hacking of its customers' accounts," the filing read. It's not the first time Coinbase has seen complaints from customers who lost money on their accounts in a SIM swap scam. Coinbase also encourages customers to take measures to secure their personal accounts and information outside of Coinbase," the company said in a statement to Insider.

☆ Russia's oil and gas revenue reportedly tanked in February as price caps and sanctions ate into export earnings
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russia's revenue from oil and gas exports almost halved in February of this year, Bloomberg reported. Price caps and sanctions imposed by Western countries have eroded Moscow's energy earnings. The tax revenue Russia collects from selling oil and gas sank 46% in February from a year earlier. Two-thirds of the country's energy tax revenue in February came from sales of Russia's crude oil and petroleum products, which plunged by 48% to $4.78 billion, per Bloomberg estimates. It's a sign Western sanctions are having their intended impact on Russia's economy.

☆ Coinbase, Gemini and other big crypto names have rushed to ditch Silvergate after the bank warned of building troubles
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Crypto companies are cutting ties with Silvergate, once the go-to bank for digital currenciesThis comes after the crypto bank flagged doubts about its survival. Coinbase, Paxos Trust, Circle Internet Financial and Galaxy Digital Holdings all said Thursday they plan to suspend banking with Silvergate, as did the Winklevoss twins' Gemini. The exodus of crypto exchanges, stablecoin issuers and trading desks came after Silvergate flagged doubts about its future in business. Shares have fallen almost 95% in the past 12 months, as more than a dozen of its crypto firm customers shut down, were fined or came under investigation. Silvergate used to be the go-to bank for the biggest names in crypto, operating a key payments network used for real-time transfers between the firms.

☆ Warren Buffett lashed out against critics of stock buybacks. The White House says it isn't anti-repurchases, it just wants to encourage smart spending.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Warren Buffett slammed critics of stock buybacks as economically "illiterate" in his annual letter. But a White House official said Biden isn't anti-repurchases, he just wants to encourage smart spending. The 92-year-old billionaire investor — who has touted the value of stock buybacks for decades — slammed opponents of stock buybacks in his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. But Biden isn't an opponent of share repurchases — he just wants to encourage smart spending, a National Economic Council official told MarketWatch. Berkshire has been one of the US's leaders in stock buybacks, spending nearly $8 billion on its own shares in 2022.

☆ Novavax stock plunges 25% after the COVID-19 vaccine maker warns it could go out of business
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Novavax shares sank 25% after it said it has "substantial doubt" about its ability to stay in business. The biotech plans spending cuts after it fourth-quarter loss was twice as deep as analysts expected. "Given these uncertainties, substantial doubt exists regarding our ability to continue as a going concern through one year from the date that these financial statements are issued," Novavax said in a statement Tuesday. The warning came as the Maryland-based company reported a fourth-quarter earning loss that was nearly twice as bad as some analysts had predicted. The company said it plans to focus on delivering an updated COVID-19 vaccine for the fall of 2023, as required by regulators to adapt to new strains of the coronavirus.

☆ The 'everything' bull market is over now that inflation has gone from no problem to a big problem, BlackRock strategist says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Investors can't rely on a bull market to keep lifting asset prices any more, BlackRock's Ben Powell said. Inflation has gone from being no problem to a big problem, the strategist told Bloomberg TV. "We can't just be levered long everything — the 'everything' bull market sadly is over," said Powell, chief APAC strategist at the BlackRock Investment Institute. The outcome of that supply problem is higher inflation, he argued, and it has important implications for investors making portfolio decisions. "The big point being — sorry for this — but it's going to be harder, because inflation has gone from being no problem to a big problem," he added.

☆ Elon Musk weighs in on the Fed's monetary policy again: 'A bad Fed decision affects the lives of everyone'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk has weighed in on the Fed, in a reminder of his worries its policy could crush stocks' value. "A bad Fed decision affects the lives of everyone," he tweeted in a discussion about the next Fed vice chair. "A bad Fed decision affects the lives of everyone." He warned in January that its aggressive rate hikes could crush the value of the entire stock market by discouraging investors from dipping into them. The Fed's rate hikes are seen as a drag on stocks, as parking money in a interest-bearing investment instead becomes more attractive.

☆ Putin's war in Ukraine brought chaos and change to the global energy market. These 4 charts show how the conflict transformed the oil and gas landscape.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( George Glover | Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

These four charts show how the war has changed global energy markets over the past year. Here are four charts that capture the most striking changes that took hold in oil and gas markets over the past year. Russia has found other oil buyersBut Russia has still managed to find other buyers for its oil. India too has aggressively ramped up its purchases of Russian oil and now imports 1.2 million barrels each day, according to Vortexa. "The natural gas market has become even more global as demand for liquefied natural gas continues to rise," said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank.

☆ We 'definitely' won't see the Fed cutting interest rates this year but it will pull off a soft landing, Goldman Sachs strategist says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Federal Reserve definitely won't cut interest rates this year, a top Goldman Sachs strategist said. "I would call it a soft landing as opposed to no landing," he added. But it will pull off a "soft landing" and bring inflation down without the US economy slipping into a recession, Lotfi Karoui told CNBC on Thursday. Demand for stocks typically falls as interest rates rise, as higher borrowing costs weigh on corporate finances and tend to have a negative impact on their future valuations. Goldman Sachs said Friday that it anticipates the Fed to hike interest rates three more times this year, after data released last week suggested persistent inflation pressures and continued resilience in the labor market.

☆ Beaten-up Adani stocks have now fallen below $100 billion in market value after coming under short-seller attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The combined market value of Adani Group's companies fell below $100 billion on Tuesday, per Bloomberg. The 10 listed companies have wiped out over $136 billion in market cap since a short-seller's bombshell report. The Indian conglomerate's 10 listed companies — with businesses ranging from power, ports, transmission, gas, green energy, and food — now have a combined equity market value under $100 billion, Bloomberg reported. But Adani Power was up 5%, and Adani Ports edged 0.6% higher. The Adani Group has denied the claims repeatedly and dismissed the report as "misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations."

☆ Optimism about stocks is still too high as the US economy is showing 'the overheat before the retreat', JPMorgan strategist says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Investors are still too optimistic about the outlook for stocks, JP Morgan Asset Management's Meera Pandit told CNBC. The market's reacting to strong economic data, but that's 'probably the overheat before the retreat,' she said. "Right now it's reacting to very strong economic data, overshoot on jobs, CPI, PPI retail sales, industrial production, but I would say that this is probably the overheat before the retreat in the economy," Pandit told CNBC on Thursday. US labor-market data has remained strong in recent months and inflation fell in January to 6.4% — the lowest level in over a year. That's stoked some investor optimism that the central bank may be able to bring inflation down without tipping the economy into a recession.

☆ Putin's war on Ukraine sent Russians scrambling to buy gold and stash their savings, fueling a fivefold surge in demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Demand for gold bars and coins in Russia jumped nearly fivefold last year from 2021. Russia has spurred the switch into gold by restricting sales of foreign currency and scrapping VAT on the yellow metal. The bullion rush was spurred by President Vladimir Putin's move to remove the 20% VAT on gold bars, as well as a central bank decision to restrict foreign-currency transactions. Russian demand for gold bars and coins rose nearly fivefold in 2022 from the previous year, data from the World Gold Council show. But Russia isn't the biggest gold buyer as its demand made up only 2% of the global total last year, World Gold Council data show.

☆ Alibaba says it's launching its own ChatGPT rival as the AI craze sends some stocks soaring
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Alibaba is testing a rival to ChatGPT, according to reports, as tech firms race to tap into the frenzy around the AI tool. The Chinese e-commerce giant said its AI chatbot could be integrated into its products. The multinational tech company said Wednesday that it has been working on its own AI chatbot currently being tested at its firm, according to a CNBC report. Google parent Alphabet and Chinese search-engine giant Baidu are also taking part in this so-called AI arms race to the top. The latest AI stock boom has boosted the value of a string of companies, from AI provider C3.ai to Buzzfeed, who have jumped on the ChatGPT bandwagon in one way or another.

☆ Gautam Adani isn't Asia's richest person any more after losing over $50 billion as his companies' stock rout deepens
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Gautam Adani is no longer Asia's richest person, after falling to 15th place on Forbes' billionaires list. The Indian industrialist has lost over $50 billion as Adani Group stocks continue a weeklong selloff. Sign up for our newsletter to get the inside scoop on what traders are talking about — delivered daily to your inbox. He was overtaken by Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries who is worth $83.7 billion and ranks 9th on the list. While some took India's largest follow-on share issue as a sign that investors were sticking by the conglomerate despite the scathing Hindenburg report, shares in Adani Enterprises sank nearly 30% on Wednesday.

☆ Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo are among Wall Street giants named as possible FTX creditors
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The 116-page document connects some of the biggest names on Wall Street to FTX's bankruptcy case. The list doesn't disclose the size or kind of debts the collapsed crypto firm might owe the banks, Bloomberg reported. Other elite financial institutions on the list were Deutsche Bank, HSBC Bank and MUFG Bank. "Goldman Sachs has not filed a claim against the debtors," a spokesperson for the bank told Bloomberg. But the total number of creditors FTX is seen to have tops over a million.

Search resuls for: "Zinya Salfiti"

23 mentions found