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☆ Blackstone and Bumble are still a fitting match
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Feb 23 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Blackstone (BX.N) is finding its pairing with Bumble (BMBL.O) to be lucrative even during a down spell. The private equity firm bought a majority stake in Bumble in 2019 that valued the company at around $3 billion. The share of stock that Blackstone sold in the public offering inked it almost $2 billion. Throw in approximately $300 million in dividends, and Blackstone has already made back its investment and then some. The match is winning enough that Blackstone is raising more money to find others to share the love.

☆ Beijing mutes ChatGPT meme rally
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG, Feb 23 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The rally in Chinese stocks associated with conversational bots, a side-effect of the popularity of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, has been knocked sideways. Beijing has ordered big Chinese technology companies including Tencent (0700.HK) and Ant not to offer ChatGPT services on their platforms, the Nikkei reported citing people with direct knowledge. The latter’s Hong Kong shares surged 45% between the start of the year and early February, before falling by a fifth since. OpenAI, which is backed by Microsoft (MSFT.O), won’t let Chinese residents create ChatGPT accounts. Still, despite warm noises from Beijing about supporting technology companies, its politics still stifles innovation.

☆ Wood Group has grounds to face down Apollo
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Feb 23 (Reuters Breakingviews) - John Wood Group (WG.L) has a seriously pushy bidder. While the latest 230 pence a share one represents a 50% premium to Wood Group’s closing price on Wednesday, the target has reasonable grounds to say no. Wood Group’s latest offer implies only around seven times on the same metric. Admittedly Wood Group shares are hovering around 200 pence, far below Apollo’s offer. Still, if he’s right and Wood Group trades on the same multiple at its peers, it would be worth nearly 3.8 billion pounds.

☆ Miners’ bets on the future of coal are diverging
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Feb 23 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Investors have a common understanding that coal is the dirtiest energy source. UK-listed Anglo American’s (AAL.L) earnings on Thursday showed EBITDA in the $50 billion group’s metallurgical coal division tripled to over $2.7 billion in 2022. With “met coal” constituting a fifth of Anglo’s overall EBITDA, investors may wonder whether boss Duncan Wanblad will follow Teck’s step. That’s probably because even though met coal generates three times more carbon than thermal coal, used to generate electricity, it’s still expensive to produce steel at scale in a sustainable way without using a coal-guzzling blast furnace. Anglo’s experiences hiving off its own thermal coal business, meanwhile, may not encourage Wanblad to repeat the trick.

☆ Amazon delivers a regulatory breather to Big Tech
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said it won’t challenge Amazon.com’s (AMZN.O) $3.9 billion acquisition of physician network One Medical. As the deal moves forward, deal-hungry technology giants can take a small breather. One Medical’s revenue accounted for just 0.2% of all U.S. healthcare spending in 2021, according to Amazon. And while the FTC’s concerns about Big Tech seemed limitless, its resources aren’t. Letting the One Medical deal move forward frees up staff to focus on ones that pose a clearer threat to consumers.

☆ JPMorgan downgrades AutoNation, says car dealer stock is overvalued
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

It's time to sell AutoNation as consumer demand for vehicles starts to pull back, according to JPMorgan. Analyst Rajat Gupta downgraded AutoNation to underweight from neutral, saying the car dealer stock is starting to look overvalued after its solid performance during the pandemic. AutoNation shares outperformed at the onset of the Covid pandemic. The car dealer stock jumped more than 40% in 2020, and surged more than 60% in 2021. On Friday, following strong fourth-quarter results, AutoNation shares surged to an all-time high and posted its best day in about three years .

☆ A burned-out tech worker quit her job at a gaming company to spend time filming ocean critters. It helped her reset.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Daina Buchner quit her tech job at a gaming company last year over burnout concerns. Daina Buchner touching a whale. Courtesy of Daina Buchner. Courtesy of Daina Buchner. Courtesy of Daina Buchner.

☆ CNBC Daily Open: Markets fall on hot economy — and chance of 0.5% interest rate hikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Yeo Boon Ping | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. With each hotter-than-expected inflation report, markets rose. Markets had widely anticipated, and priced in, 25 basis-point interest rate hikes for the Fed's next two meetings. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester echoed Bullard's hawkishness, saying she wants higher rate increases. Subscribe here to get this report sent directly to your inbox each morning before markets open.

☆ CNBC Daily Open: Markets drop on hot economy — and chance of 0.5% interest rate hikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Yeo Boon Ping | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

James Bullard, president of Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, at the Jackson Hole economic symposium, in Moran, Wyoming, U.S., on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. With each hotter-than-expected inflation report, markets rose. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester echoed Bullard's hawkishness, saying she wants higher rate increases. Subscribe here to get this report sent directly to your inbox each morning before markets open.

☆ For fans Super Bowl no longer a game, it's an 'experience'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Steve Keating | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

PHOENIX, Feb 11 (Reuters) - In just a half-century of evolution the Super Bowl has gone from sports event, to America's biggest party, to a week long and very expensive immersive "experience". Next year it will almost certainly make another leap when "immersive experience" and "party" morph into one big Super Bowl supernova in Las Vegas, as Sin City hosts the game for the first time. "If you go back 10 years ago Super Bowl was only about the game and now it is much, much more," said Wilder. For John Wegman, a businessman from Rochester and a Buffalo Bills season ticket holder, seeing a Super Bowl was on his bucket list. "Super Bowl with my father, my mother, my brother was a bucket list thing and we are doing it in style."

☆ Morning Bid: Market to ChatGPT: what's Powell gotta say?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] ChatGPT logo and rising stock graph are seen in this illustration taken, February 3, 2023. Google owner Alphabet (GOOGL.O) unveiled a rival to super popular ChatGPT, saying it will launch a chatbot service named 'Bard'. Asian shares held their ground while the rally in the U.S. dollar took a breather on Tuesday. Reuters GraphicsMeanwhile, a deadly earthquake killed more than 3,700 people across a swathe of Turkey and northwest Syria, sending Turkey's lira to a record low. Before Powell takes centre stage and hogs the limelight, Bank of England's Huw Pill is also due to speak and his comments on monetary policy will likely move markets.

☆ Americans are becoming ‘reluctant’ to make larger purchases, new Fed report shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

US consumers’ outstanding credit grew by $11.56 billion to end the year, according to Federal Reserve data released Tuesday. However, as the year drew to a close — and the Federal Reserve jacked up interest rates to combat inflation — that bullish spending activity was curtailed. “Consumer spending certainly isn’t falling off a cliff, but we are seeing ample evidence that Americans are becoming more reluctant to make certain purchases, especially larger expenses and acquiring physical goods,” he said. Still, those balances growing in a month when spending was down likely shows the toll taken by higher interest rates, Rossman said. “Even if spending may be tailing off a bit, high inflation and higher interest rates are making balances harder to pay off,” he said.

☆ Morning Bid: Powell's state of the union
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Jerome Powell makes his first speech since the Fed's latest quarter-point interest rate rise last week. More importantly, it's his first chance to comment on Friday's seemingly blockbuster U.S. employment report for January. Perhaps just as significantly, they now price year-end Fed rates higher than the 4.5-4.75% range they are at right now. Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic on Monday said of the jobs readout: "It'll probably mean we have to do a little more work." Investors will watch Biden's State of the Union with one eye on the potentially destabilising debt ceiling standoff with Congress.

☆ BMO: These 15 top stocks will continue to outperform the market as an explosive rally for small caps gains momentum
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( James Faris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Small caps have outperformed their larger counterparts during a broader market rally. BMO Capital Markets shared its 15 favorite small stocks to buy right now. High-flying energy stocks have taken a breather recently while beaten-down technology companies, international equities, and small caps have made a comeback. Below are the 15 small-cap stocks that BMO Capital Markets recommends most right now, along with the ticker, market capitalization, and price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio for each. All except one of these stocks rose last month, wrote Brian Belski, the firm's chief investment strategist, in a February 1 note.

☆ Jim Cramer's top 10 things to watch in the stock market Thursday: Fed, peak earnings, META
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the 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.

☆ Currencies take a breather as investors await Fed rate decision
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Ankur Banerjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SINGAPORE, Feb 1 (Reuters) - The dollar was broadly flat against major currencies on Wednesday ahead of an eagerly-awaited Federal Reserve policy decision that investors hope will signal the end of the U.S. central bank's interest rate hiking cycle. "Recent progress on inflation has encouraged market participants to expect the Fed to quickly pivot from interest rate hikes to interest rate cuts," said Carol Kong, currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Since signs of labour market loosening were limited, the Fed would likely pair a smaller rate hike this week with hawkish communication, she said. The Fed raised interest rates by 50 bps in December after four successive 75 bps hikes. It said then that interest rates might need to be higher for longer to tame inflation.

☆ Stocks firm, dollar on edge ahead of Fed decision
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Tom Westbrook | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The Fed will announce its rate decision at 1900 GMT, followed by a news conference with Chair Jerome Powell half an hour later. Currency trade has been in a holding pattern ahead of the Fed and Bank of England and European Central Bank meetings that follow on Thursday. But the U.S. wages data wiped out some small dollar gains made earlier this week amid some nerves that the Fed sticks to its hawkish stance. United Parcel Service (UPS.N), the world's biggest package delivery firm, beat forecasts and shares rose 4.7%. Prices for dollar bonds in Adani Group companies were steadying in Asia trade on Wednesday after last week's rout.

☆ Fasten your seatbelts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Stephen Culp | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 31 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in markets from Stephen Culp, New York stock market reporter. Wall Street's downbeat start to an action-packed week has set a bumpy course for Asian markets on Tuesday. The Bank of England and the European Central Bank are poised to follow the Fed by hiking crucial interest rates by a more aggressive 50 basis points. Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) waits in the wings on Wednesday, with Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Amazon.com (AMZN.O) and Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) on deck for Thursday. Those policies have since been relaxed, sparking hopes of demand revival in China, which could take some of the sting of restrictive central bank policy.

☆ Morning Bid: Fasten your seatbelts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Stephen Culp | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

☆ Wall Street sees many of the big winners this week cooling off from here—with one notable exception
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Hakyung Kim | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The three major averages are heading toward a positive week during a frenzy of fourth-quarter earnings. For instance, Nvidia is on pace to rise more than 13% this week, while Seagate Technology is up more than 17%. Here are the top ten biggest gainers: Western Digital , a semiconductor producer on the list, rose 14.2% this week. It is also one of the few stocks analysts anticipate will continue its rally—it has a target upside of 11%. Out of the big winners this week, analysts are the most optimistic about Tesla.

☆ Morning bid: Running out of breath
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Asian equities held steady on Wednesday near seven-month highs after a mixed session on Wall Street. On a thin day for economic data, focus will be on U.K. producer prices and the German IFO. Revenue at Europe's largest companies is expected to have risen by just 0.9% in the fourth quarter, Refinitiv I/B/E/S data showed on Tuesday. The forecast, which tracks companies listed on the pan-European STOXX 600 (.STOXX) benchmark index, represents a drop from last week when analysts expected revenue growth of 4%. Analysts downgrade earnings forecastsInvestment strategists at Standard Chartered say it is time to fade the rally seen in European stocks and the euro since the lows of September.

☆ Energy Was Scarce in Europe Last Year. Credit Could Be Next.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Stephen Wilmot | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, says she will stay the course with her plan to raise rates further to tame inflation. After a remarkable run, European stocks may be due for a breather. On Tuesday, a preliminary reading of the closely watched eurozone composite Purchasing Managers Index, which tracks business activity across both manufacturing and services, clocked in at 50.2 for January, up from 49.3 in December. Since the 50 mark separates growth from contraction, the latest reading implies that the core of the European economy has returned to growth this year, albeit only marginally, after a six-month downturn.

Below are answers to the most urgent questions:HOW HAS GERMANY RESPONDED TO THE LOSS OF RUSSIAN GAS? Germany launched a multi-layered strategy to reign in demand and source alternatives following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent decline in gas deliveries. Germany is now getting more pipeline gas from neighbouring Europe and Norway, buying liquefied natural gas (LNG) via existing European terminals, and constructing new LNG terminals on German coastlines, as well as achieving gas savings. Gas stocks are 89% full, enough to get Germany to the end of March even in a prolonged cold spell, according to most recent statistics, before re-filling starts in the April to September storage season. As a rule of thumb, Germany depletes its stocks by a rate of around 1% per day if temperatures fall below zero degrees, the regulator has said.

☆ You can bounce back after a job loss — here's how
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Rebecca Knight | Catherine Henderson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

And recovering from a job loss takes time, effort, and self-awareness. He said that while it's common to experience feelings of disappointment, betrayal, and shame after a job loss, "You have to remember: A layoff is something that's beyond your control." Still, recovering from a job loss takes time, effort, and self-awareness. Take a breatherIn the immediate aftermath of a job loss, Pohl recommended taking a little time off. That's why it's important to make sure that throughout your search, you're getting plenty of rest, exercise, and fresh air.

☆ Morning Bid: Turbulence
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Traders took Wednesday's weak U.S. production, retail sales and producer price data badly, selling risk assets and buying safer ones. Bond markets shrugged off hawkish rhetoric from non-voting Fed officials Bullard and Mester to rally. Fed voters Lael Brainard and John Williams might get more of markets' attention at events later in the day. Elsewhere, the dust is settling quickly on the Bank of Japan's decision not to bend to speculators' attack on its yield curve control policy. The yen has bounced back to where it was before the meeting and the Nikkei (.N225) slipped, though calm in Japan's bond market might suggest short sellers are having a breather before re-loading for meetings in March and April.

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