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Japan's Kioxia and U.S. chipmaker Western Digital have been hit hard by plunging market demand and oversupply. Combining their flash memory businesses could boost competitiveness against rivals like South Korea's Samsung Electronics (005930.KS). Western Digital did not respond immediately to a request for comment. Kioxia, previously Toshiba Memory, was sold by Toshiba Corp (6502.T) in 2018 to a consortium led by Bain Capital for $18 billion. Kioxia and Western Digital were in merger talks in 2021 before the negotiations stalled over a series of issues including valuation discrepancies.

☆ China's Oppo to shut down chip design unit as smartphone sales slump
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SHANGHAI, May 13 (Reuters) - Chinese smartphone maker Oppo said it will shut down its chip design unit, citing uncertainties in the global economy and the smartphone industry. The company, one of China's best-selling domestic smartphone brands, said it will cease operations of its Zeku unit, which it set up in 2019. In 2022, smartphone shipments fell 14%, and total unit shipments fell below 300 million for the first time in a decade. In the first quarter, total smartphone shipments dropped 11% year-on-year to 67.2 million units, the lowest quarterly total since 2013, research firm Canalys said last month. Oppo is owned by BBK Electronics, which also owns Vivo, another top-selling Chinese smartphone brand.

☆ US small business sentiment slumps to more than 10-year low
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Lucia Mutikani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON, May 9 (Reuters) - U.S. small business confidence fell to more than a 10-year low in April on worries about the near-term economic outlook and persistent worker shortages, but there were few signs that businesses were having difficulties accessing credit. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) said on Tuesday its Small Business Optimism Index dropped 1.1 points to 89.0 last month, the lowest level since January 2013. "As we've argued before, though, measures of sentiment are often a poor guide of what is likely to happen in the economy because it tells us more about how business owners are feeling, rather than what they are doing." The share of owners expecting better business conditions over the next six months fell two points to a net negative 49%. Forty-five percent of owners reported job openings that they could not fill, up 2 points from March.

☆ Jim Cramer breaks down buying opportunities for stocks during post-earnings call slumps
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

'Mad Money' host Jim Cramer talks opprotunities to buy when stocks slump post-earnigns callsShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via Email

☆ Skyworks Solutions slumps on 3Q guidance. Here's what the experts say to do next
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Christina Falso | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailSkyworks Solutions slumps on 3Q guidance. Here's what the experts say to do nextJim Cramer, Jenny Harrington of Gilman Hill Asset Management and Joe Terranova of Virtus Investment Partners on what they think about Skyworks Solutions fiscal third-quarter guidance.

BERLIN, May 8 (Reuters) - German industrial production fell more than expected in March, partly due to a weak performance by the automotive sector, spurring again recession fears in Europe's largest economy. Production decreased by 3.4% on the previous month following a slightly revised increase of 2.1% in February, the federal statistical office said on Monday. "After a buoyant performance by industrial production at the beginning of the year, there was an unexpectedly sharp decline in March," the economics ministry said. In the first quarter, production was 2.5% higher than in the last quarter of 2022, according to the statistics office. GDP was unchanged quarter on quarter in adjusted terms in the first quarter, following a 0.5% contraction in the fourth quarter of 2022.

☆ European shares rise on smaller ECB rate hike, upbeat earnings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Shubham Batra | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SummarySummary Companies STOXX 600 index up 0.1%Adidas jumps on upbeat earningsEvotec drops on leaving MDAXMay 5 (Reuters) - European shares rose on Friday, as the European Central Bank's smaller rate hike, and market-beating results from Adidas and Apple boosted sentiment. The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) edged up 0.1%, but is on track for its second consecutive weekly loss. Energy (.SXEP) and utilities shares (.SXPP) led the gains on the index, rising 1.4% and 1.0% respectively, while food and beverage shares (.SX3P) slid 0.4%. "Inflation pressures worldwide help in driving equity markets although we don't like to pay higher prices, as consumers it eats into our pockets. The higher prices go to some company reaping the rewards of those higher prices," said Chi Chan, Portfolio Manager and Senior Research Analyst, Federated Hermes.

The Labor Department's report showed non-farm payrolls increased by 253,000 last month, higher than economists' expectations of 180,000. "This is a strong report and shows that the labor market is resilient. "It's been a tough week for the stock market, the regional banking problems have raised the fear factor, but Apple earnings came in strong. The S&P 500 has gained nearly 6% so far this year, while the S&P 500 Banks index (.SPXBK) and KBW Regional Banking index (.KRX) have lost 17% and 31%, respectively. ET, Dow e-minis were up 222 points, or 0.67%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 33.5 points, or 0.82%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 87 points, or 0.67%.

☆ Analysis: Napoli revive memories of Maradona with Serie A title win
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Tommy Lund | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

May 4 (Reuters) - Napoli clinched the Serie A title on Thursday with five games to spare as they ended a 33-year drought stretching back to when Diego Maradona led them to the Scudetto in 1990. At the start of the season it would have been difficult to envisage Napoli becoming champions ahead of heavyweights such as Juventus and the two Milan clubs not to mention AS Roma. But after an exceptional transfer window and with Luciano Spalletti at the helm, Napoli dominated the title race while their main rivals all suffered slumps during the season. CONTENDERS FALTERAs Napoli surged ahead, suffering just one loss by the end of February, the other title contenders withered away as injuries plagued their squads. But Maurizio Sarri's side could only watch as Napoli became the fourth different team to win Serie A in as many years.

☆ Apple set to report quarterly earnings after the bell
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Apple is scheduled to report fiscal second-quarter results after the close of regular trading on Thursday. Here's what analysts are expecting:EPS: $1.43 per share, according to Refinitiv$1.43 per share, according to Refinitiv Revenue: $92.96 billion, according to RefinitivRevenue is expected to decrease 4.4% from $97.28 billion in the same quarter a year ago. The information it provided earlier this year suggested that sales would drop for a second straight quarter by roughly 5%. In the first quarter, PC shipments decreased almost 30%, according to IDC, while smartphone shipments were off 14%. Apple's report wraps up earnings season for tech's mega-cap companies, after Alphabet , Amazon , Meta and Microsoft all issued results last week.

[1/3] Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., May 3, 2023. Major U.S. stock indexes dropped over 1% on Tuesday as regional bank shares tumbled on renewed fears over the financial system and as investors tried to gauge how much longer the Fed may need to hike interest rates. Estee Lauder Cos Inc (EL.N) slid 21.3% as the MAC lipstick maker forecast a bigger drop in full-year sales and profit. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 2.11-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 2.25-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P index recorded 19 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 30 new highs and 76 new lows.

However, with inflation running well over the central bank's 2% target and a still-strong labor market, chances of rate cuts seem less likely. With Monday's manufacturing data giving the Fed enough room for more near-term tightening, all eyes will be on jobs and factory orders data after the opening bell. ET, Dow e-minis were down 79 points, or 0.23%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 7.5 points, or 0.18%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 6 points, or 0.05%. Educational services company Chegg (CHGG.N) tanked 45.6% on a downbeat second-quarter revenue forecast on increasing competition from ChatGPT. Icahn Enterprises LP (IEP.O) dropped 11% after U.S. short seller Hindenburg Research said it has a short position in activist investor Carl Icahn-controlled energy-to-pharma conglomerate.

☆ Edtech Chegg slumps on revenue warning as ChatGPT threatens growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 2 (Reuters) - What's the cost of students using ChatGPT for homework? For U.S. education services provider Chegg Inc (CHGG.N), it could be nearly $1 billion in market valuation. Chegg forecast current-quarter revenue below estimates and signaled that the usage of viral chatbot ChatGPT was pressuring customer growth, sending its shares 44% lower in premarket trading on Tuesday. We now believe it's having an impact on our new customer growth rate," said Chegg CEO Dan Rosensweig. "We fear Chegg could start to lose mind-share before CheggMate fully rolls out," Thill said.

☆ Oil slumps 5% to five-week low amid US debt default fears
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Oil prices sank about 5% to a five-week low on Tuesday on concerns about the economy as U.S. politicians discuss ways to avoid a debt default and investors prepare for more rate hikes this week. Oil prices and Wall Street's main indexes both fell after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the government could run out of money within a month. Later this week, investors will look for market direction from expected interest rate hikes by central banks still fighting inflation. Concerns about diesel demand in recent months, meanwhile, has pressured U.S. heating oil futures to their lowest level since December 2021. Over the weekend, data from China, the world's top crude importer, showed manufacturing activity fell unexpectedly in April.

Several analysts, industry executives and investors said they believe the March banking crisis has set conditions for a long-predicted round of industry consolidation to finally happen. We've also been approached by some big bulge bracket banks that are also looking to acquire the regional banks." Some bank deals have been stuck for months waiting for approvals. And Monday's deal shows larger banks with deeper pockets are better placed than mid-sized lenders, according to Jefferies analysts. "This may have precluded other regional bank bidders from making the math work as well as it does for JPM," they wrote.

☆ Lazard reports loss as dealmaking slumps, cuts jobs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 28 (Reuters) - Lazard Ltd (LAZ.N) on Friday reported a loss in the first quarter as sluggish dealmaking due to economic uncertainty, exacerbated by the banking crisis last month, eroded the investment bank's fees. Its cost-saving measures resulted in a $21 million charge in the first quarter. Global dealmaking activity shrank to its lowest level in more than a decade in the first quarter, with M&A volumes nearly halving from a year earlier, according to data from Dealogic. As a result, Lazard's operating revenue from its financial advisory business fell 29% to $274 million in the first quarter. "Slower M&A activity resulted in significantly lower revenues in the quarter and the outlook for the year remains uncertain," said Kenneth Jacobs, the company's chief executive.

A flood of inflation data releases were also mixed. The International Monetary Fund called on the ECB on Friday to keep raising interest rates until the middle of 2024 to help bring down high inflation. Versus the yen , the euro briefly rose to its highest level since December 2014 at 149.50. It was last up 1.2% at 149.35 yen after the BOJ left its ultra-easy monetary policy unchanged even as it scrapped a pledge to keep interest rates low. However, the central bank removed a pledge to keep interest rates at "current or lower levels" and said it would "conduct a broad-perspective review of monetary policy".

☆ These indicators tell us the housing market is hitting the brakes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Before we rush into the weekend, let's check in with the slowing pace of the housing market, and what that means for the rest of the year's outlook. Another sign pointing to a softer housing market is lumber. But that's going to reverse in the decade ahead as Boomers age out of the housing market and post-Millennial generations shrink. What are you seeing in the housing market in your part of the country? In other news:A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 9, 2020.

☆ Rent continues to climb across the nation — but apartments in these 20 cities are actually getting more affordable
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( James Faris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rent growth has been steadily declining since late 2022, according to a new report. Today, median rent growth is three times higher than that at 6%. There's another startling sign that the US rental market isn't yet back to normal: the US currently has more cities with double-digit rent growth than those with negative rent growth. 20 cities where rent is falling right nowFor renters feeling the squeeze of continued rent growth, Insider compiled a list of the 20 US cities where median rent for one-bedroom apartments declined over the last 12 months ending in April. Below are the 20 cities that saw year-over-year median rent declines in April 2022, along with the year-over-year and month-over-month rent changes, average rent prices, and national rent ranking among the largest 100 US cities for each.

☆ European commercial real estate investment slumps to 11-year low in Q1 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - European commercial real estate investment fell to its lowest in 11 years in the first quarter of 2023, MSCI Real Assets said on Thursday, as investors spooked by higher interest rates and the economic outlook put acquisition plans on ice. The number of offices sold - Europe's largest real estate sector - fell to its lowest on record, while the volume of transactions slumped to a 13-year low of 10.8 billion euros ($11.94 billion). The UK kept its top spot as Europe's largest commercial real estate market, but Paris overtook London to become the region's most active investment destination, with the three largest European property deals of the first quarter all taking place in the French capital. ($1 = 0.9048 euros)Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft, editing by Sinead CruiseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Net profit attributable to shareholders was 1.158 billion euros ($1.28 billion). That compared with profit of 1.060 billion euros a year earlier, and was better than analysts' expectations for a profit drop to around 977 million euros. "We have worked hard to achieve this stability," Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing told employees in a memo. Revenue at the investment bank unit fell 19% to 2.7 billion euros in the first quarter from a year earlier. The investment bank's revenue decrease was countered by gains at the corporate bank and retail bank, which saw 35% and 10% increases.

SYDNEY, April 27 (Reuters) - Chinese spirit maker ZJLD Group's (6979.HK) shares opened 17% lower in their trading debut on Thursday, after it completed the largest new share sale in Hong Kong this year. The KKR-backed company raised $675.2 million last week in the biggest new share sale in Hong Kong since CALB Group Co (3931.HK) raised $1.3 billion in October. ZJLD shares opened at HK$9 compared to the issue price of HK$10.82 each. MedSci Healthcare Holdings (2415.HK) shares dropped 1.1% on Thursday when its shares also debuted in Hong Kong after it raised $77 million last week. Institutional investors subscribed for 3.9 times the amount of ZJLD shares on offer in that tranche, according to the firm's filings, which was above many other Hong Kong IPOs this year.

☆ Brazilian miner Vale's profit slumps well below forecasts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The company posted a net profit of $1.8 billion for the first three months of 2023, in a filing to Brazil's main stock exchange on Wednesday, while analysts polled by Refinitiv had forecast a profit of $2.4 billion. Last week, the miner had already reported a slip in iron ore sales volume, blaming it on port loading restrictions and supply chain rebalancing after strong sales in the previous quarters. Revenues, meanwhile, fell 22% to $8.4 billion, also lagging analysts' $9.2 billion forecast. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization came in at $3.6, below analysts' $4.3 billion estimate. Over the quarter, Vale said that prices for its iron ore had averaged $108.6 per tonne, down from the $141.4 per tonne it reported for the same period last year.

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