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[1/5] People wait for bus near a billboard of JD.com advertisement for the "618" shopping festival, in Beijing, China June 12, 2023. Retail sales growth in May slowed from the previous month, missing forecasts. In 2022 China's online retail sales amounted to 13.8 trillion yuan ($1.93 trillion), according to Ministry of Commerce data. "Everyone's making excuses but at the end of the day, it's a super-soft retail market." Last year, JD.com posted 10% annual growth in total 618 sales, its slowest ever.

Persons: Tingshu Wang, Josh Gardner, JD.com, Trudy Dai, Jason Yu, Kantar, Yu, Iris Zhang, Gardner, Data, Casey Hall, Sophie Yu, Marius Zaharia Organizations: REUTERS, HK, of Commerce, Kungfu, Burberry, Apple, Alibaba, Jefferies, Citi, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, SHANGHAI, Tmall

☆ Mediterranean restaurant chain Cava is going public. More restaurants could follow its lead
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

As Cava prepares to make its public market debut Thursday, other restaurant companies will be watching closely while they decide whether to follow in the Mediterranean restaurant chain's footsteps. The last 18 months have marked the slowest initial public offering market since the financial crisis. Cava's IPO could help break that drought, as a handful of restaurants watch to see how the chain fares as they mull whether to jump into the public market themselves. "A successful IPO from Cava should open the door to more restaurant IPOs," said Matt Kennedy, senior strategist at Renaissance Capital. That bodes well for the restaurant companies waiting in the wings to go public.

Persons: Cava, Matt Kennedy, Kennedy, Kevin McCarthy, Neuberger Berman Organizations: U.S, Renaissance, Cava, New York Stock Exchange, CNBC, Group, Brands Locations: Ukraine, U.S, Cava, Chão

☆ Oracle hits record after 50% surge in 2023, defying tech struggles
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Larry Ellison, Oracle's chairman and technology chief, speaks at the Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco on September 16, 2019. For years, the database software developer lagged behind tech rivals in building cloud technology that met the demands of the modern-day enterprise. The shares are up over 50% in 2023, which would mark the best year for shareholders since the dot-com boom of 1999. Oracle got its latest boost this week after reporting stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue, prompting nods of approval from analysts. On Oracle's earnings call this week, CEO Safra Catz took a minute to express gratitude to the company's customers and employees.

Persons: Larry Ellison, Justin Sullivan, Larry Ellison's, Goldman Sachs, Ellison, Bill Gates, Let's, it's, Eric Lynch, Scharf, Salesforce, Kash Rangan, Oracle, Lynch, Safra Catz, Catz, Jefferies, Brent Thill Organizations: Oracle, Getty, Nvidia, Bloomberg, Microsoft, Scharf Investments, Google, Goldman, Amazon Web Services, Monday, Exxon Mobil, Pfizer Locations: San Francisco, TikTok, Cohere, IaaS, NetSuite, Los Gatos , California, Silicon Valley, A.I

☆ Investors in biggest climate pressure group don't like to pressure
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Tommy Wilkes | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Climate Action 100+ (CA100+), set up in 2017, comprises more than 700 investment firms representing $68 trillion in assets. At stake is whether CA100+ members use all the tools at their disposal to pressure climate laggards. FLAGGING CLIMATE LAGGARDSCA100+ posts on its website upcoming shareholder resolutions and board re-election votes but it doesn't recommend voting against directors at climate laggards. Wespath's sustainability director, Jake Barnett, said that challenging board directors over their climate policies was not being used widely enough "as a method of accountability". In at least one area there is compulsion; CA100+ members not responding to a survey asking for their engagement interests within a year could be delisted.

Persons: laggards, Xander Urbach, CA100, Francois Humbert, bodes, Eli Kasargod, Staub, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, Jake Barnett, MN's Urbach, Shell, Wael Sawan, Vincent Kaufmann, Tommy Reggiori Wilkes, Greg Roumeliotis, Susan Fenton Organizations: Reuters, MN, Generali Investments, Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron, Valero Energy, Warren, Investments, The United Methodist Church, Shell, Ethos Foundation, Thomson Locations: Paris, Swiss

☆ A history of stocks with astronomical price-to-sales ratios doesn’t bode well for Nvidia
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( John Melloy | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

At above 36 times sales, Nvidia's shares are trading at their highest valuation ever, according to Trivariate Research. Adam Parker's research firm looked at all the other times in market history when stocks traded above a 36 price-to-sales ratio and what happened next. When Nvidia joined the trillion-dollar market cap club briefly last week, it was clearly based on anticipation of a future AI revenue windfall. To be clear, Parker and his firm are not advocating shorting Nvidia's stock anytime soon. Still, the eye-popping valuation should give investors looking to buy Nvidia at these levels some pause.

Persons: Adam Parker's, Trivariate, Parker, Michael Bloom Organizations: Research, Nvidia

☆ JPMorgan downgrades this electric utility stock on rising regulatory risks
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

JPMorgan thinks a new slate of regulation will weigh on Xcel Energy despite the utility's exposure to a transition toward clean energy. The bank downgraded Xcel Energy to neutral from overweight Friday, with a new $68 per share price target reduced from $79. XEL YTD mountain Xcel Energy stock has pulled back about 9.4% so far in 2023. The commission's increase amounts to 9.25% return on equity, the note said, which is below the firm's expectation of roughly 9.6%. "Overall, XEL remains an attractive regulated story with exposure to energy transition themes across generation and transmission, which underpins an extended growth runway into the next decade," Tonet said.

Persons: Jeremy Tonet, Tonet, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: JPMorgan, Xcel Energy, Energy, Xcel Locations: Minnesota

☆ The S&P 500 is up almost 8% in the first 100 trading days of the year. That bodes well for the rest of 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

When the S & P 500 has risen more than 7% over the first 100 trading days in an average year going back to 1950, the index rallies another 9.4% over the balance of the year, for a total annual return of 23.6%. By comparison, the S & P 500 has gained an average of 9.8% annually since its inception in 1928, according to Investopedia . This year should end no differently than others when the index rose 7% or more during the first 100 trading days, Detrick said, despite concern the economy could tip into a recession, denting corporate profits. The Russell 2000 Index of small-cap stocks has fallen 0.8% so far this year, while the S & P 500 Financial Index has slumped 7.4% year to date. "Stocks lead the economy," Detrick said.

Persons: Ryan Detrick, hasn't, Detrick, Russell Organizations: Carson Group, Fed

☆ China's latest Covid surge pressures 3 Club stocks, but doesn't change our conviction in each
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Investor concern has been spilling over into the Club holdings doing the most business in China: Wynn Resorts (WYNN), Estee Lauder (EL), and Starbucks (SBUX). That ultimately bodes well for Estee Lauder, Starbucks and Wynn, even if increasing consumer demand appeared somewhat uneven in the latest round of quarterly results. And we're expecting Estee Lauder's China business to recover as travel continues to accelerate. We remain optimistic about the growth trajectory in the country, and see this latest Covid wave as a temporary speedbump. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

Persons: Estee Lauder, Wynn, Jim Cramer, Jim, Laxman Narasimhan, Beijing's, hasn't, Estee, Jim Cramer's, WYNN Organizations: Wynn Resorts, WYNN, Starbucks, Wynn, Management, CNBC, China News Service, Getty Locations: China, Shanghai, Beijing, Macao, Asia

The return of tourists to Southeast Asia, he says, bodes well for the group’s core mobility business in the second half. The next challenge is resetting investor expectations so that beats can shine through. Lower incentives helped it to cut its adjusted operating loss to $66 million from $287 million a year ago. It also narrowed its forecast for annual adjusted operating loss to $195 million-$235 million, from a previous forecast of $275 million-$325 million. China’s Alibaba on May 18 reported revenue of 208 billion yuan ($30.1 billion) in the three months to end-March, up 2% year-on-year.

☆ The S&P 500 will crash 30% by December as spending slumps, profits shrink, and banking problems mount, markets guru Larry McDonald warns
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The S&P 500 will plunge by almost 30% to around 3,000 points by December, Larry McDonald has warned. He sees less government spending, slimmer corporate profits, and banking pressures as key drivers. McDonald made a similar call in early March, when he declared the stock market could tank 30% within the next 60 days. The prospect of less spending and investment, stricter lending, steeper debt payments, and greater unemployment bodes poorly for corporate profits and stock prices. Instead, he recommended beaten-down, cyclical stocks in sectors such as energy, and hard assets such as gold, silver, and platinum.

☆ 'Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3' had best second weekend box office hold for MCU in 5 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

In its second week in theaters, the director's "Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. Most blockbuster films' ticket sales drop between 50% and 70% from the opening weekend to the second week. It is the third-best second week fall of any MCU film since 2008, just behind "Thor," which slipped 47.2% during its second week in 2011. For comparison, the first "Guardians of the Galaxy" film tallied $773.3 million globally during its run in 2014 and "Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. The strong box office for "Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol.

☆ To my fellow Gen Xers worried AI is going to take your job: Take a chill pill
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Rebecca Knight | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Some Gen Xers might worry that the fast rise of AI bodes ill for their job security. In an AI-driven workplace, Gen Xers will have new responsibilities, which could suit them well. For Gen Xers who are the experienced professionals in their organizations, these new responsibilities could turn out to suit them quite well. To be sure, Gen Xers' anxiety that AI has upended their glide path toward retirement is understandable. Gen Xers who are still uneasy about AI — angst is our specialty, after all — can take solace in the numbers.

☆ Thailand’s election could be a lose-lose scenario
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Anshuman Daga | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SINGAPORE, May 12 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Thailand’s elections on Sunday might return opposition parties to power for the first time since 2014, or alternatively deliver a stitched-up military-backed government. Assuming one of these opposition parties wins, it will need to control 376 seats out of the combined 500-seat House of Representatives and the 250-seat Senate to choose a prime minister. Pheu Thai claims it can lift annual economic growth to around 5% so long as is in power, which would be nearly double 2022’s low base. Higher incomes might ease Thailand’s household debt, which at 87% of GDP is the third-highest in Asia. HSBC analysts expect revenue at major Thai corporations to grow by only 2% next year – again, well behind neighbours – and Pheu Thai is mulling a 20% tax on private company profits, per a report in the Bangkok Post.

☆ BioNTech, Roche's experimental pancreatic cancer treatment wins Nature plaudit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FRANKFURT, May 10 (Reuters) - Scientific journal Nature on Wednesday said a personalised treatment based on messenger RNA by BioNTech (22UAy.DE) potentially bodes well for the future of fighting an extremely aggressive form of cancer after the regimen was shown to trigger a promising immune reaction in some pancreatic cancer patients. Pancreatic cancer is among the most deadly forms of cancer because it typically grows undetected until an effective treatment is too late. The trial focused on pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), which accounts for more than 90% of pancreatic cancer cases. Nature covers a wide range of topics in science and technology beyond medicine. Among the eight trial participants with a detectable immune response, there was no evidence of cancer recurrence 18 months after surgery, while the median time to recurrence was 13.4 months among the non-responders.

☆ Alpine F1 boss warns of 'consequences' of failure
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Alpine ended last year fourth but are now sixth with French drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly scoring just 14 points from five races. Rossi made clear Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer, who joined in February 2022 from Aston Martin, was in the hot seat. Alpine started the season with a target of defending fourth place and closing the huge gap to Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes. McLaren, who have former Alpine reserve Oscar Piastri in their line-up after the Australian rejected the French team, are fifth. "When you compound that relatively lower performance and lack of operational excellence you end up in a difficult position."

☆ ArcelorMittal beats profit expectations on higher steel demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Marine Strauss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, May 4 (Reuters) - ArcelorMittal, the world’s second largest steelmaker, said it had a "good growth" in the beginning of the year as it reported higher than expected first-quarter earnings. ArcelorMittal said on Thursday global steel demand, excluding China, should grow in 2023 between 2% and 3%, and maintained its expectation that its own shipments will increase by around 5% this year. The Luxembourg-based company said on Thursday first-quarter core profit (EBITDA), the figure most watched by the market, was $1.82 billion, much lower then the year-ago figure of $5.08 billion but higher than the average forecast in a company poll of $1.64 billion. ArcelorMittal said it had benefited from a gradual recovery in steel demand, resulting in apparent steel consumption growth and rebound in steel spreads as well as better mining performance. Reporting by Marine Strauss @StraussMarine; editing by Philip BlenkinsopOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ China's May Day holiday spending exceeds pre-pandemic levels for the first time
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Hong Kong CNN —Holiday spending during China’s Golden Week has surged past pre-pandemic levels for the first time in three years, in a sign the country’s travelers have fully emerged from the depths of Covid-related restrictions and are eager to live large to make up for lost time. Alipay, the country’s biggest digital payment app, reported a 200% increase in online holiday spending from a year earlier. “The fact that domestic tourism spending is now back to 2019 levels suggests that the reopening boost to consumer spending has largely run its course,” said Capital Economics analysts in a Thursday report. “The swift recovery in in-person services has been the major driver of China’s post-Covid recovery this year,” they said. However, “the lackluster property recovery, a global slowdown and rising geopolitical conflict remain major challenges for China’s recovery to be sustained.”

HONG KONG, May 3 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Chinese travellers are opening their suitcases again, but not their wallets. Domestic travel bookings during the holiday surged eightfold from a year earlier, surpassing pre-pandemic levels, according to online travel agency Trip.com (9961.HK). The return of Chinese holiday-goers should be a huge relief at home and abroad. Before the pandemic, domestic tourism contributed a whopping 11% of GDP and 10% of national employment, according to Fitch. The country's Big 3 carriers - Air China (601111.SS), China Southern (600029.SS), and China Eastern (600115.SS) - are grappling with high oil prices, a weak yuan and geopolitical tensions.

☆ Mihoyo's new video game tops download charts as big launches return to China
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The blockbuster debut bodes well for several other games due to launch this summer in the world's largest video games market. As of Thursday, the Shanghai-based company's strategy game "Honkai: Star Rail", where anime characters battle space monsters, had amassed 20 million downloads across smartphones and personal computers, miHoYo said. 1 on the iOS game download chart in more countries than any prior game," Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad said on Twitter. It is scheduled to test action game "Valorant" in May ahead of its official release this year. Tencent will invest in launching an esports league in China for the game.

☆ Club meeting recap: Banks in focus, Big Tech earnings, Palo Alto
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a "Morning Meeting" livestream at 10:20 a.m. Equities rise with banks in focus Bullish on tech Palo Alto is a buy 1. Bullish on tech Two Big Tech Club holdings — Alphabet ( GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT) – reported quarterly beats Tuesday, despite gathering macroeconomic clouds. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB.

☆ Club meeting recap: Stocks edge down, Halliburton, Humana
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a "Morning Meeting" livestream at 10:20 a.m. The firm said Humana stock is undervalued, given "multiple levers of upside" to management's guidance, along with Medicare Advantage market-share gains. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB.

☆ Analysis: Bearish fundamentals, buoyant charts complicate outlook for US stocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Saqib Iqbal Ahmed | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Technical indicators such as equity price movement largely show stocks are poised to continue a rally that has seen the S&P 500 climb 8% year-to-date, analysts who track them said. TECHNICALLY SPEAKINGThe S&P 500 (.SPX) has traded in a 9.7 percentage point range year-to-date, its narrowest range for comparable periods since 2017. Johnson, who has a year-end S&P 500 target of 4,625, is encouraged by the reversals in downtrends for many U.S. stock indexes. The S&P 500 has traded higher 83% of the time for the full year, returning an average 13.73%, when it hasn't dropped below the preceding year’s December low in the first quarter, a Piper Sandler analysis showed. The S&P 500 is trading at about 18 times 12-month forward earnings estimates compared to its long-term average P/E of 15.6 times, according to Refinitiv Datastream.

Volvo, a rival of manufacturers such as Daimler Trucks (DTGGe.DE) and Traton (8TRA.DE), forecast 2023 heavy truck sales in Europe and North America of 320,000 for each region. Handelsbanken analyst Hampus Engellau said the raised truck outlook sent a strong message that Volvo sees the second-half of 2023 as a good market for its trucks. Gothenburg-based Volvo, which also makes construction equipment and engines, said there was pent-up demand to replace aging fleets which had helped boost order intake. Shares in Volvo, one of Sweden's biggest employers, rose 1.2% in morning trade in a flat broader market (.OMXSPI). Volvo is not the only automaker to have had a good quarter.

chartEither way, extremely low U.S. volatility generally bodes well for other stock markets. And worrying UK inflation figures may extend a dark shadow over Asia. Figures on Wednesday showed that Britain was the only country in western Europe with double-digit inflation in March, prompting several banks to raise their UK rate outlook. UK money markets are pricing in a further 75 basis points of tightening this year, taking the base rate up to 5%. Meanwhile, Australia's central bank governor Philip Lowe addresses the media on Thursday and India's central bank releases the minutes of its last policy meeting.

☆ Howard Marks says commercial real estate defaults could add to market stress in the months ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Market veteran Howard Marks is sounding the alarm on commercial real estate, with an anticipated wave of mortgage defaults set to add stress to the financial system. The longtime investor called commercial real estate loans "one of the biggest worries" U.S. banks face today in the face of higher interest rates and a looming recession. "Higher interest rates call for higher demanded capitalization rates, which will cause most real estate prices to fall," Marks said. To be sure, Marks said he's not sure if banks will suffer losses on their commercial real estate loans, or what the magnitude will be. "Mortgage defaults generally don't signal the end of the story, but rather the beginning of negotiations between lenders and landlords," Marks said.

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