DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ From bankruptcies to price wars, the US freight recession is reshaping the industry
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-28 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

The freight recession will likely remain drag on into a sixth quarter, according to AFS Logistics. Bankruptcies and aggressive competition have defined the industry downturn, the firm told Business Insider. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementThere's no end in sight for the freight recession, and the downturn is reshaping dynamics in the industry. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: Tom Nightingale, —, Cowen Organizations: AFS Logistics, Business, Service

☆ NatWest swoops on retailer Sainsbury's banking business
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-20 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The disposal by Sainsbury's mirrors this year's deal by rival supermarket chain Tesco to offload most of its banking activities to Barclays for 600 million pounds. The assets acquired include 1.4 billion pounds in unsecured personal loans, 1.1 billion pounds in credit card balances and about 2.6 billion pounds of customer deposits. The deal is expected to close in March 2025 and NatWest will receive an additional 125 million pounds payment from Sainsbury's at completion. Argos Financial Services (AFS) is also excluded from the deal, the retailer said, adding that its plans for this business will be announced at a future date. Sainsbury's expects to return excess capital of at least 250 million pounds to investors after the disposal and its future model for AFS is in place.

Persons: Jose Sarmento Matos, Paul Thwaite, Thwaite, Sainsbury's, Simon Roberts Organizations: National Statistics, Bloomberg, Getty, NatWest, Sainsbury, NatWest Chief, Tesco, Barclays, Argos Financial Services Locations: London

REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNEW YORK, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Bank of America (BAC.N) reported unrealized losses of $131.6 billion on securities held until maturity in the third quarter, growing from nearly $106 billion in paper losses in the second quarter. Unrealized losses have come under closer scrutiny by investors since March. "All of these are unrealized losses are on government- guaranteed securities," Bank of America's chief financial officer, Alastair Borthwick, told reporters on conference call discussing third-quarter earnings. JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) had unrealized losses of $40 billion in its HTM portfolio in the third quarter. If banks have intention to hold debt securities until maturity they keep them in held to maturity portfolio.

Persons: Carlo Allegri, Alastair Borthwick, JPMorgan Chase, Saeed Azhar, Nupur Anand, Tatiana Bautzer, Manya Saini, Lananh Nguyen, Megan Davies Organizations: of America, REUTERS, Bank of America, U.S, Silicon Valley Bank, Bank of, JPMorgan, Citigroup, Thomson Locations: Manhattan, New York City , New York, U.S, Silicon, Banks

[1/2] A worker clears debris so delivery vehicles can exit a FedEx Ground distribution center in this aerial photograph taken over Carson, California, U.S., September 16, 2022. "They have to fight for every package right now, it's great for shippers," said LJM Consultants partner Kenneth Moyer, a former UPS pricing negotiator who now works with delivery customers. The world's biggest parcel delivery firm added it is using price negotiations to encourage attractive high-margin or high-volume customers, while discouraging high-cost deliveries. Third quarter ground delivery rates are forecast to fall 0.55% per package versus a the year earlier period, according to the TD Cowen/AFS Ground Pacrel Freight Index. But experts are skeptical, particularly as UPS offers to cover early termination fees for customers that switched to FedEx.

Persons: Bing Guan, That's, Kenneth Moyer, Deyman Doolittle, Wall, Moyer, Mark Taylor, Taylor, Satish Jindel, ShipMatrix, Micheal McDonagh, Yokeley, Lisa Baertlein, Ben Klayman, Aurora Ellis Organizations: FedEx, REUTERS, United Parcel Service, UPS, U.S . Postal Service, LJM, Cowen, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Teamster, Department, USPS, Amazon, AFS Logistics, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Teamsters, Thomson Locations: Carson , California, U.S, Macy's, Los Angeles

☆ Stocks are having their best run since 2021. Can they beat the August doldrums?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

On average, August has been the worst performing month for stocks since 1986, according to Morningstar. That means the dwindling number of traders who remain must take extra care in a such a potentially volatile environment. 99-year-old trucking company Yellow shuts downYellow Corp., a 99-year-old trucking company that was once a dominant player in its field, halted operations Sunday and will lay off all 30,000 of its workers, reports my colleague Chris Isidore. He said the company began taking on significant amount of debt 20 years ago in order to acquire other trucking companies. “Now their debt service is just enormous,” he said, pointing to $1.5 billion in debt on its books.

Persons: Morningstar, It’s, it’s, ”, Michael Landsberg, Landsberg, “, ” Jackson, Jerome Powell, Barbie, Barbie ”, “ Oppenheimer, Eva Rothenberg, “ Barbenheimer ”, “ Barbie, Chris Isidore, Satish Jindel, Tom Nightingale, Read Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, New York CNN, Nasdaq, Apple, Landsberg Bennett, Wealth Management, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas, Fed, Dow, AMC, Oppenheimer AMC Theaters, CNN, Warner Bros, Corp, Teamsters, AFS Logistics, “ Locations: New York, Jackson Hole , Wyoming, Washington, Nashville , Tennessee

☆ Laid off Yellow drivers are going to have a tough time finding similar quality jobs
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Roper, who turns 59 in October, said he’s not ready to retire and has already started applying for jobs elsewhere. He’s worked 28 years at Holland Freight, which Yellow bought in 2005. In contrast, less-than-truckload carriers have relatively low driver turnover, an average of 18% to 20%, according to Jindel, which means those jobs, already less numerous than truckload jobs, are open far more rarely. He said he’s already gotten some positive response from some of the LTL carriers he’s applied to, so he’s hopeful. But if that doesn’t work out, he said, he’ll consider looking at jobs in the truckload sector.

Persons: Mark Roper, Roper, he’s, hasn’t, He’s, “, ”, they’re, ” Roper, Satish Jindel, he’ll, Covid, Tom Nightingale Organizations: New, New York CNN, Holland Freight, CNN, UPS, ABF, Drivers, AFS Logistics, Teamsters Locations: New York, truckload

☆ UPS has to pass along higher labor costs in broad-based price increases, says AFS Logistics CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | 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 EmailUPS has to pass along higher labor costs in broad-based price increases, says AFS Logistics CEOTom Nightingale, CEO of AFS Logistics, joins 'Power Lunch' to discuss the immediate effect of the trucking company Yellow's shutdown, a potential glut in freight capacity, and who will be most affected by price increases by increased shipping costs.

Persons: Tom Nightingale Organizations: UPS, AFS, AFS Logistics

☆ ECB mulled raising banks' mandatory reserves in inflation fight -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The ECB raised interest rates for the ninth consecutive time on Thursday in its year-long effort to bring down inflation. It also decided to stop remunerating banks' minimum reserves to contain the amount it pays in interest and the losses it is likely to make. The ECB is currently remunerating lenders' mandatory reserves in the same way as their deposits, which are reserves held above the minimum. On Thursday it increased the deposit rate to 3.75%, in a widely expected decision, while cutting to zero the rate on minimum reserves. "Since then, the efficiency aspect has risen in relevance, in line with the higher level of the key ECB interest rates," it said.

Persons: Arne Petimezas, Petimezas, Francesco Canepa, Balazs Koranyi, Valentina Za, Christina Fincher, Catherine Evans Organizations: Central Bank, Reuters, ECB, AFS Group, Thomson Locations: FRANKFURT, Amsterdam

This should enable the automaker to reap tens of billions of dollars in additional profit, according to Reuters estimates, before it shifts completely to zero-emission electric vehicles in 2035. It never said when exactly it would stop producing gasoline-powered trucks and SUVs, though suppliers and analysts expected it would be well before 2035. GM plans to run its heavy-duty combustion pickups at both plants until 2035, according to AFS, which provides data and analysis to vehicle manufacturers and suppliers. The automaker will gradually reduce annual production of its big SUVs in Arlington as it begins to introduce new electric companions, starting around mid-decade. By 2030, AFS forecasts Arlington production could drop to around 200,000 vehicles, which could still produce at least $2 billion in pretax earnings.

Persons: Paul Jacobson, “, Jim Farley, May, Michael Ward, ” Ward, Paul Lienert, Joe White, Matthew Lewis Organizations: DETROIT, General Motors, GM, Reuters, U.S, United Auto Workers, ICE, Chevrolet Silverado, Ford, SEC, Arlington, AutoForecast Solutions, Ward, Benchmark, GMC, Silverado, GMC Sierra, AFS, Yukon XL, Thomson Locations: United States, Canada, Flint , Michigan, Arlington , Texas, Fort Wayne , Indiana, Oshawa , Ontario, Flint, Fort Wayne, Arlington, Oshawa, Suburban, Yukon, Ward, Detroit

☆ Insiders are loading up on regional bank stocks in a big way, Raymond James analysis shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Insiders are snapping up regional bank stocks following the crisis in the sector, according to a Raymond James analysis. During the period between March 10 and May 15, shares purchases totaled 2.3 million shares, while shares sold reached 335,000 shares. Since the first quarter of 2005 to the first quarter of 2023, only seven quarters notched positive net insider transactions. It's also the greatest number of net insider transactions since the end of 2009. Raymond James recently reiterated an outperform rating on the stock, citing its rising earnings power, though it also lowered its price target to $26.

☆ Analysis: GM's 2025 EV output could be crimped by battery bottleneck
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Paul Lienert | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"We have not changed our targets," GM spokesman Jim Cain said. Those targets include cumulative EV production of 400,000 from early 2022 through mid-2024, a revised goal that CEO Mary Barra reiterated earlier this year. "We believe GM’s targets are hittable despite hurdles to get there," Wedbush auto analyst Dan Ives said. GM has not issued specific North American EV production targets for 2024 and 2025. GM’s North American EV production targets beyond 2025 “will continue to push the limits” of its battery plants, according to AFS, including a recently announced fourth factory with new partner Samsung SDI (006400.KS) that isn’t expected to open until 2026.

ASIC on Thursday cancelled the Australian financial services licence of Oztures Trading Pty Ltd, trading as Binance Australia Derivatives (Binance), in response to a request from the company. “Our targeted review of these matters is ongoing, including focus on the extent of consumer harms.”The financial services licence authorised Binance to issue derivatives and foreign exchange contracts. Noting many cryptocurrency products and services are not regulated by ASIC, Longo said the regulator supported a "regulatory framework" for the asset class. Binance said in a statement it had decided to pursue a "more focused approach" in Australia after "recent engagement with ASIC". The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange is battling regulatory suits and probes around the world.

☆ Amazon, other retailers revamp 'free' shipping as costs soar
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Lisa Baertlein | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

REUTERS/Alyssa PointerLOS ANGELES, March 24 (Reuters) - There is no such thing as free shipping. "The days of free delivery are numbered," Ken Morris, managing partner at Cambridge Retail Advisors, said of the fast-changing retail marketing tool. It is an open secret that most retailers raise product prices to subsidize free shipping. Postal Service hitting record levels, the industry where nearly three-quarters of e-commerce companies offer some sort of free shipping is rethinking the financial cost of habituating shoppers to free shipping. While retailers like Amazon and fashion purveyor Asos Plc (ASOS.L) have raised thresholds for fast shipping, others are dropping free shipping altogether or taking product prices up again.

"We have not raised capital and we are not in the market at this point for M&A transactions," Walt Bettinger, CEO of Charles Schwab, told Reuters in an interview. The firm saw an influx of $4 billion in assets to the parent company on Friday as clients moved assets to Schwab from other firms, Bettinger said. Schwab's shares closed up 9.2% at $56.68 on Tuesday, along with a broad rise in bank shares. Schwab shares, however, are down 25.6% from their close last Wednesday, the day before many bank shares began a downward spiral in reaction to problems at Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB.O). The bank has "access to significant liquidity" including an estimated $100 billion of cash flow from cash on hand, portfolio-related cash flows, plus new assets.

☆ Factbox: Top five U.S. regional banks with most uninsured deposits
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Uninsured deposits as % of total deposits - 68%3. Uninsured deposits as % of total deposits - 62%3. Uninsured deposits as % of total deposits - 58%3. Uninsured deposits as % of total deposits - 53%3. Uninsured deposits as % of total deposits - 51%3.

☆ Why Silicon Valley Bank failed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Matt Turner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Silicon Valley Bank made a bold call on where to invest cash. SVB deposits soarSVB's position as the go-to bank in tech made it a huge beneficiary of the Silicon Valley boom through the last few years. Rubinstein notes:"Driven by the boom in venture capital funding, many of Silicon Valley Bank's customers became flush with cash over 2020 and 2021. Here's Rubinstein again:"The problem at Silicon Valley Bank is compounded by its relatively concentrated customer base. And Silicon Valley Bank doesn't have that many of them.

☆ First Republic, Western Alliance seek to calm contagion worries from SVB meltdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 10 (Reuters) - U.S. lenders First Republic Bank (FRC.N) and Western Alliance (WAL.N) said on Friday their liquidity and deposits remained strong, aiming to calm investors worried of a spill-over of risks from troubled startup focused-bank SVB Financial Group (SIVB.O). Shares of the three banks slumped between 20% and 60% in choppy trading that led to halts and resumptions. The disclosures come after banking regulators shut California-based SVB after a failed share sale that triggered worries of a liquidity crisis, hammered bank stocks and rippled through global markets. Western Alliance reported total deposits of $61.5 billion and warned of a moderate decline from these levels by the end of the quarter due to seasonal and monthly activity, but affirmed its full-year deposit growth forecast of 13% to 17%. Its investment portfolio is less than 15% of total bank assets and only less than 2% of total bank assets is categorized as available for sale.

☆ Analysts downgrade SVB Financial as uncertainty around tech-focused bank looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Hakyung Kim | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Several Wall Street research firms downgraded SVB Financial after shares of the tech-focused bank plunged more than 60% during the previous trading session. King also lowered his price target to $100 from $174, which implies a 6% decline from Thursday's close price. The analyst expressed concern that the proposed capital raise would potentially be followed by more in the future. Long also removed his price target, which was previously $375. It had previously issued an outperform rating and price target of $360 per share.

Feb 10 (Reuters) - U.S. diesel prices have dropped this month and could go lower, analysts said, an unexpected swoon that coincided with the start of a British and European Union ban on Russian fuel imports. Lower prices could ease inflation worries that have occupied investors. A relatively warm winter across the United States and Europe and lower commercial trucking activity lowered demand. “This week was supposed to be when diesel prices blew out to the moon, but that’s not close to what happened,” said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho. Diesel demand by truckers fell off at the end of this year as high inflation impacted U.S. demand for goods.

☆ Truckers Expect an Inventory-Driven Rebound Later This Year
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Liz Young | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Trucking companies are pinning hopes for a rebound in freight demand on the second half of this year, saying their retailer customers expect to resume restocking after winding down inventories over recent months. Carrier executives say they are hearing from their shipping customers that they expect to return to a more normal ordering cycle this year and start moving bigger volumes closer to the fall shopping season following volatile retail spending and distribution in 2022 that left them overstocked. Inbound volumes at U.S. ports are also down, suggesting fewer goods from overseas are flowing into domestic freight networks. “Trucking is definitely down right now,” said Tom Nightingale, CEO of AFS Logistics, a Shreveport, La.-based logistics operator. She said on a Jan. 18 earnings conference call that the company “has good signals” from shipping customers that they plan to pick up their ordering in the second quarter.

Suppliers familiar with GM's production plans through 2025 support the notion the automaker continues to slow-walk electric vehicle investment and output while it continues to bank money from its big combustion-engine pickups and SUVs. GM on Tuesday stuck to its plan to produce a total of 400,000 electric vehicles for North America from 2022 through the first half of 2024. GM said it has secured all the battery materials it will need to build 1 million EVs a year in North America by 2025. In the short run, GM's go-slow approach could allow it to side-step the price war that Tesla launched earlier this month. The division has 90,000 reservations for the high-performance Hummer EVs and is sold out into next year, he said.

☆ Electric vehicles confront the leap to the mass market
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Joseph White | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Industry executives and forecasters do not agree on how rapidly electric vehicles could take over half the global vehicle market, let alone all of it. In China, the world's largest single automotive market, battery electric vehicles have captured about 21% of the market. By 2029, electric vehicles could account for a third of the North American market, and about 26% of vehicles produced worldwide, according to AutoForecast Solutions, a consultancy. Electric vehicle sales likely will not increase in a smooth, ever-ascending curve, said AFS President Joe McCabe. The next few years will determine whether the 21st Century's crop of electric vehicle brands will follow a similar path.

☆ Renewed threat of rail strike has supply chain managers ramping up contingency plans
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Logistics managers are dusting off their plans for a possible railroad strike in November that could wreak havoc on the supply chain and cost the U.S. economy up to $2 billion a day. "Now is not the time to introduce new demands that rekindle the prospect of a railroad strike," the NCCC said in a statement. Tom Nightingale, CEO of AFS Logistics, tells CNBC that logistics managers are fielding calls from customers in anticipation of a possible strike. "Shippers had a lot of sensitivity to the potential rail strike," Nightingale said. "Shippers don't want cargo with a limited shelf life sitting at a rail yard, particularly commodities like chemicals and refrigerated food and beverage," he said.

☆ Reactions: Putin mobilises more troops for Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +20 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin makes an address on the conflict with Ukraine, in Moscow, Russia, in this still image taken from video released September 21, 2022. I think even with this Russia stuff it’s hard to see the market really rally a lot more from here ahead of the FOMC. From a geopolitical standpoint, Putin is frustrated that the war isn’t going his way and he’s threatening the west. "If it gets really, really bad, I'd expect the dollar to rise." This announcement by Putin to intensify the escalation in Ukraine definitely doesn’t help.

Sputnik/Grigory Sysoev/Pool via REUTERSLONDON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Earlier this year, markets were complacent as Russia massed troops on the Ukraine border. Now, they're once again largely shrugging off Vladimir Putin's signal that he could be prepared to use nuclear weapons. read moreIt was Russia's first such mobilisation since World War Two and signified a major escalation of the war, now in its seventh month. Germany's and Italy's reliance on Russia has made their stock markets among the world's worst performers this year. Those close to the fighting, including Poland and Hungary, have also seen their local markets pummeled.

Search resuls for: "AFS"

25 mentions found