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☆ Explainer: What caused Silicon Valley Bank's failure?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Here is the sequence of events that led to Silicon Valley Bank's failure:FEDERAL RESERVE RAISES RATESThe Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates from their record-low levels since last year in its bid to fight inflation. This weighed on technology startups - the primary clients of Silicon Valley Bank - because it made their investors more risk-averse. SOME SILICON VALLEY BANK CLIENTS FACE CASH CRUNCHAs higher interest rates caused the market for initial public offerings to shut down for many startups and made private fundraising more costly, some Silicon Valley Bank clients started pulling money out to meet their liquidity needs. This culminated in Silicon Valley Bank looking for ways this week to meet its customers' withdrawals. SILICON VALLEY BANK SELLS BOND PORTFOLIO AT A LOSSTo fund the redemptions, Silicon Valley Bank sold on Wednesday a $21 billion bond portfolio consisting mostly of U.S. Treasuries.

UK banks (.FTNMX301010) dropped to an eight-week low, spooked by a brutal rout in U.S. bank SVB Financial (SIVB.O) following a share sale. The FTSE 100 (.FTSE) slipped 1.9% to a five week low, while the more domestically focused mid-cap index (.FTMC) gave up 2.1% to hit a two-month low. The FTSE 100 is set to the end the week down about 2.8% in what could be its worst week since September, as worries around hawkish central banks sapped risk appetite. Next week, investors will be watching for UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's spring budget. Reporting by Susan Mathew in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Saumyadeb ChakrabartyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Wall Street 'fear gauge' options volume jumps to 4-year high as bank stocks sell off
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Saqib Iqbal Ahmed | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Cboe Volatility Index (.VIX), an options-based indicator dubbed the Wall Street "fear gauge," jumped as much as 6.36 points to 28.97, before closing up 2.19 points at 24.8. VIX options, used by traders to place wagers on whether stock market volatility will rise or fall in coming weeks and months, changed hands in heavy volume, with some 2.36 million contracts traded. Much of the volume on Friday was linked to traders booking profits and adjusting positions to account for the recent market moves, data showed. Betting on upside in the VIX has not been as profitable as many traders had hoped over the past year, despite a steep selloff in the stock market. That gradual pick up in volatility has kept the VIX below the 40 mark, a level associated with high fear in the market.

☆ The founder of Elemy raised more than $200 million to provide better autism therapy for kids. Now he's ditching patient care to chase billions selling healthcare software.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Blake Dodge | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Yakubchyk told Insider that the venture studio is separate from Elemy and that he's only passively involved in it. Now they have to email a help desk, which takes longer and is less helpful, three behavior analysts said. Yakubchyk told Insider, however, that the company is still in the early stages of finding the right model for the long term. In the meeting, Tim Eby, Elemy's president, told analysts that running their own businesses would offer them more "empowerment." At Elemy, clinicians who leave largely aren't being replaced because everyone in clinical recruiting has been laid off.

☆ Capitalizing on market crashes is key to retiring on time. Many millennials are still looking for their first chance.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Stock market declines can create bargain-buying opportunities for investors looking to generate long-term wealth. Many millennials are looking for their first chance to participate, having lacked adequate savings during prior market downturns. That's because a falling stock market creates discounts and a chance to buy high-upside assets on the dip. The 28-year-old is among the TikTok financial influencers telling their young audiences not to miss out on the next stock market slump. Some have argued that overvalued markets, slowing population growth, and rising interest rates could weigh down US stock market returns for at least the next decade.

☆ Oil extends losses as rate hike concerns spur sell-off
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Ahmad Ghaddar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures slipped $1.11, or 1.4%, to $76.47 a barrel. "[We] expect the continued recovery in civil aviation demand in China and neighboring countries, a stabilisation in industrial activity and slower non-OPEC+ supply growth to drive the oil market balance into a deficit later this year," the bank added. Data from the API showed U.S. crude inventories fell by about 3.8 million barrels in the week ended March 3, according to market sources. The drawdown defied forecasts for a 400,000 barrel rise in crude stocks from nine analysts polled by Reuters. Meanwhile, gasoline inventories rose by about 1.8 million barrels, while distillate stocks rose by about 1.9 million barrels, according to the sources.

☆ Oil extends declines on rate hike concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Jeslyn Lerh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Data from the American Petroleum Institute showed U.S. crude inventories fell by about 3.8 million barrels in the week ended March 3, according to market sources. The drawdown defied forecasts for a 400,000 barrel rise in crude stocks from nine analysts polled by Reuters. Meanwhile, gasoline inventories rose by about 1.8 million barrels, while distillate stocks rose by about 1.9 million barrels, according to the sources. Powell's comments had propelled the U.S. dollar, which typically trades inversely with oil, to hit a three-month high against a basket of currencies. The dollar index =USD rose as high as 105.65, up 1.3% on Tuesday and the highest since Dec. 6.

Brent crude futures rose 18 cents, or 0.2%, to $83.47 per barrel by 0452 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 4 cents to $77.62 a barrel. Data from the American Petroleum Institute showed U.S. crude inventories fell by about 3.8 million barrels in the week ended March 3, according to market sources. The drawdown defied forecasts for a 400,000 barrel rise in crude stocks from nine analysts polled by Reuters. Traders were awaiting crude inventory data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration later on Wednesday, after the API data showed a decline in crude inventories for the first time after a 10-week build, she added. Powell's comments propelled the U.S. dollar, which typically trades inversely with oil, to hit a three-month high against a basket of currencies.

☆ Inside the germy, sneeze-filled meeting between Morgan Stanley's CEO and the Saudi crown prince at the onset of COVID-19
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Liz Hoffman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

James Gorman, CEO of Morgan Stanley, met with the Saudi crown prince at the onset of the pandemic. The young royal kept sneezing during the meeting — and Gorman's fear of a deadly pathogen began to grow. He was in the royal palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, seated to the right of the country's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Given their recent experience with a deadly virus, Gorman took the caution of his Kuwaiti hosts as a sign that the West was underestimating the dangers of this one. And now, as Gorman chatted with the controversial 34-year-old crown prince about ways Saudi Arabia could diversify its economy and reduce its reliance on oil, the young royal kept sneezing.

☆ CNBC Daily Open: Powell has spoken: Higher rates and quicker hikes are on the table
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | 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. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. There's no need to speculate anymore — in the first of his Congressional hearings, Powell said outright that the Fed might raise interest rates higher and faster than officials had projected last year. This means that rates could not only go beyond 5.25%, but the Fed could also return to 50-basis-point hikes. Subscribe here to get this report sent directly to your inbox each morning before markets open.

☆ CNBC Daily Open: Powell has spoken: Higher rates and faster hikes are on the table
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Yeo Boon Ping | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

☆ Mortgage demand recovers slightly, despite rising interest rates
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Diana Olick | In Dianaolick | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

After dropping to a 28-year low the previous week, mortgage demand recovered slightly, even though interest rates marched higher. Total mortgage application volume rose 7.4% last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's seasonally adjusted index. ARMs offer lower interest rates at higher risk. Mortgage rates have moved even higher, crossing over 7%, according to a separate survey from Mortgage News Daily. Mortgage rates follow loosely the yield on the 10-year Treasury.

☆ Analysis: Investors revive inflation trades as 6% Fed rate risk grips Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Davide Barbuscia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

NEW YORK, March 7 (Reuters) - Spooked by a flurry of hotter-than-expected U.S. economic and inflation data last month, investors are reviving trading strategies that bet on a higher peak in interest rates. The recalibration in inflation expectations has led some investors to bet on a policy rate of 6% or even higher. Trading platform Tradeweb said it saw average daily volume in inflation swaps - derivatives used to hedge inflation risk - increase by 23% month-on-month in February. With higher inflation expectations lifting short-term bond yields higher than those at the longer end, some investors are wary of committing to debt maturities at the long end of the bond market yield curve. "The momentum in the economy is so strong that we may have to get into 2024 before the Fed funds rate peaks."

☆ Why Silvergate’s post-FTX financial woes could spell trouble ahead for crypto
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Further, the spillover into a traditional bank and its stock price could fuel regulators' arguments that crypto poses a systemic risk. The big problem in crypto is that to buy bitcoin, you eventually have to interact with the traditional banking system. Silvergate's crypto bet worked for the bank, particularly in bull markets. A big part of Silvergate's crypto banking efforts was the Silvergate Exchange Network, better known as SEN, a platform that institutions used to move money to crypto exchanges. Custodia is a Wyoming-chartered special purpose depository institution designed to bridge the crypto and traditional banking systems.

☆ Tesla bulls and bears are duking it out and one strategist now thinks Elon Musk's car company is "boring"
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The presentation did, however, lay out broad plans aimed at making Tesla the largest car company in the world. The announcements were tepid enough that strategists at Vanda Research wrote in a note to clients that this month could see a sell-off for Tesla stock. That said, Zacks Investment Research forecasts 30% upside for Tesla, and that climb could happen in 2023. While Tesla has long been touted as innovative and futuristic over the last decade, Bespoke Investment Group concluded that the company is now actually a normal, boring car maker. The stock market is getting the jitters with a key bearish signal flashing red again.

☆ Adani shares soar as US investor steps in
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —Shares in some of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s companies soared Friday after a US private equity firm agreed to invest nearly $1.9 billion in his embattled conglomerate. The Adani Group said Thursday that GQG Partners had bought $1.87 billion of stock in secondary market trades across four of its companies. Shares of the group’s flagship company, Adani Enterprises, soared nearly 17% following the announcement. Shares of Adani Ports rose almost 10%, while Adani Green Energy and Adani Transmission both gained 5%. And Australia-listed GQG Partners, which manages more than $92 billion in assets, doesn’t appear to share the concerns of other investors.

☆ Morning Bid: Ten-four, Treasury yields soar
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The remarkable sight of 10-year Treasury yields back above 4% for the first time in almost four months is only matched by two-year yields at 15-year highs stalking 5%. Weekly jobless claims on Thursday and the latest Fed speakers take on unusual importance in such a febrile rates market. And 6% Fed rates that seemed fanciful only a month ago are now being openly discussed by banks. Despite year-on-year oil prices now tracking declines of 25%, European inflation fears are a key feature of this week's nervousness. Benchmark German 10-year bond yields soared to 11-year highs at 2.77%.

☆ MediaMath seemed destined for a $1B fairy-tale exit. Instead, most early investors got nothing.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

At its Halloween party in 2015, the adtech startup MediaMath seemed on the brink of greatness. The machine-learning revolution that took over the financial industry was finally happening in marketing, and many industry insiders considered MediaMath to be the hottest adtech company of the time. "We never came close to consummating such a deal with MediaMath nor entertained the purported valuation," said a representative for Singtel. The Trade Desk, the most comparable independent DSP company to MediaMath, was riding high after its 2016 initial public offering. The quasi-equity agreement was structured to protect Searchlight if MediaMath didn't perform to certain quotas or if things went south financially.

Rystad Energy sees the global market deficit of lithium shrinking to around 20,000 to 30,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) this year, from 76,000 tonnes LCE in 2022. Out to 2025 it expects lithium supply to grow on average by 34% a year against an annual demand growth rate of 25%. MINERS UNFAZEDThe decline in lithium prices in China, the world's biggest consumer, has hit lithium producers overseas. LITHIUM CARBONATE SINKSThe price decline has been sharp. "A lithium carbonate price of 200,000-300,000 yuan per tonne is where both upstream and downstream will feel comfortable," said Rystad's Zou.

☆ Bitcoin, ether on track for a positive February despite mid-month drop and fading 2023 risk rally
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Bitcoin and ether are on pace for a modest February win, even after suffering a big drop earlier in the month. Bitcoin had eked out a 0.2% gain for the month by 4:15 p.m. That led to a brief sell-off in crypto assets that took bitcoin and ether down about 6% and 8.5%, respectively, in the three-day period ended Feb. 10. In the U.S., however, investors are on Fed watch, said James Lavish, managing partner at the Bitcoin Opportunity Fund. "Bitcoin has been the tip of the spear for risk assets for a long time," he said.

☆ Googlers are begrudgingly testing Bard and making memes out of their new task.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Since it's a tough time in the tech industry right now, I hope this resonates with some of you, too. Thomas Maxwell/InsiderGooglers are begrudgingly testing their company's ChatGPT competitor. CEO Sundar Pichai asked every employee to spend multiple hours testing Google's new chatbot Bard. They were tasked with improving Bard by asking it questions and flagging bad answers, in addition to their normal responsibilities. Some made memes from the conversations they've had with Bard, continuing a trend of internally mocking the chatbot.

☆ How Elon Musk Ruined Tesla, Let Other Car Companies Catch up on EVs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Nora Naughton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

"I feel stupid driving around with my brand-new Tesla Model Y," Mark told me. Tesla spent the past two decades defying expectations and disrupting the automotive industry, but in 2023 the once revolutionary car company did the seemingly unthinkable: It turned fanboys against it. But after years of rocketing ahead of legacy car companies' tech, the futuristic guts of Tesla's vehicles have started to go stale. Companies like Ford and Audi are changing their sales strategies to model Tesla's innovative direct-sales style. These companies have something Musk doesn't: nationwide networks of brick-and-mortar locations where customers can have their vehicles serviced and repaired.

☆ Top Wall Street analysts expect these stocks to thrive despite macro pressures
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Tipranks.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

To help with the process, here are five stocks chosen by Wall Street's top pros, according to TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their track records. Drbul reiterated a buy rating on Walmart and a price target of $165. He reiterated a buy rating and increased his price target to $175 from $155. Following the fourth-quarter results, BTIG analyst Peter Saleh reiterated a buy rating and "Top Pick" designation on CHEF, with a price target of $48. Power maintained a buy rating on Datadog and a $100 price target.

☆ Inflation is doing a crab walk and Fed officials fear its pinch
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Some background: The Covid-19 crisis triggered a sudden shift in student loan policy and a new openness to forgiveness. About 40% of those with federal student loan debt would have a zero balance; even more would have a much smaller monthly payment. But, “if payments resume without debt relief, we expect both student loan default and delinquencies to rise and potentially surpass pre-pandemic levels,” warned Fed researchers. Those missed payments suggest that some federal student loan borrowers are having trouble meeting their monthly debt obligations. “We expect these delinquency patterns to worsen if federal student loan payments resume without relief,” said the report.

☆ Here’s where ‘Halftime Report’ trader Jason Snipe sees opportunity after the latest inflation reading
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Friday's hot inflation data sparked a selloff led by tech names, but investors could still find good opportunities in the sector, according to Jason Snipe, principal at Odyssey Capital Advisors. Tech stocks are especially sensitive to rising rates because higher interest rates make future profits, like those promised by growth companies, less attractive. That doesn't necessarily mean it's time to bail from those tech names altogether, but some pruning might be in order, according to Snipe. Snipe added that semiconductor stocks are "where the real opportunity is in Tech Land." He said he isn't as excited about megacap tech names "with a Fed that's as engaged as they are in 'higher for longer.'"

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