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☆ US banks rethink social media as a threat, not a marketing tool
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Nupur Anand | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Greg Becker, the former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, blamed social media as an "unprecedented" factor in the lender's demise. The former CEO of First Republic Bank, Michael Roffler, also blamed social media for its collapse two months later. Bank executives and directors have ordered their companies to add social media into risk-management programs, according to regional bank executives who declined to be identified because the discussions are private. "NIP IT IN THE BUD"Banks are also contacting customers who complain on social media to address their issues quickly. The Financial Stability Board, an international body, is also investigating the role of social media in recent market turmoil, a source said.

☆ See the 19-slide presentation that got General Catalyst to back a startup tackling a $25 billion problem for hospitals
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The startup used this pitch deck to get backing from top healthcare VC firm General Catalyst. The Magoons' new startup, Adonis, raised $5.6 million in seed funding in October to solve that problem with tech. Just under seven months later, Adonis has raised $17.3 million more in Series A funding, led by top healthcare VC firm General Catalyst. "Given all the work we do with health systems, we know how complicated and poorly organized these systems are, despite all the money they're collecting," she said. Check out the pitch deck Adonis used to get $17.3 million led by General Catalyst.

☆ Biden's Papua New Guinea no-show deals blow to US credibility in Pacific - analysts
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"For Papua New Guinea this was a very big deal and they will be disappointed," said Mihai Sora, a Pacific islands analyst with the Lowy Institute think tank in Sydney. The cancellation was also a "blow to U.S. credibility in the region as a consistent partner", he added. "Up until now Pacific islands leaders have been giving the U.S. the benefit of the doubt over its ability to re-engage." Biden had also been scheduled to meet 18 Pacific island leaders in the three-hour visit to the PNG capital Port Moresby. The Pacific islands span 40 million square km of ocean, where vital sea lanes and submarine cables link the United States to its allies Australia and Japan.

Afterward, he was to have been the first sitting U.S. president to visit Papua New Guinea. In Sydney, Biden had planned to attend a meeting of the four so-called Quad nations - the United States, Japan, Australia and India. White House spokesperson John Kirby said Biden would be able to meet Albanese and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi while in Hiroshima. Albanese said in a statement that Biden had apologized for not being able to visit Australia and that they would work to reschedule his visit at the earliest opportunity. “I'm sure the White House will find ways to make this up to partners in the short term.

Berkshire acquired 9.92 million shares in Capital One, a stake worth $954 million based on the closing price on March 31, regulatory filings showed on Monday. The bank's shares have shed around 15% since early March as the banking crisis has clobbered shares of U.S. regional lenders. Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank are the three banks that have so far collapsed during the current crisis. The KBW Regional Banking Index (.KRX) fell 0.38%. Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr said the central bank was "carefully considering" rule changes for larger regional banks, including requiring them to account for unrealized losses on their banks when considering capital levels.

"I believe it was a series of unprecedented events that all came together in the fastest bank run in history," Becker told the Senate Banking Committee. "I was the CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, I take responsibility for what ultimately happened," Becker said. Executives from Signature Bank also testified alongside Becker on Tuesday, pushing back on assertions from lawmakers that the bank had weak corporate governance. "I don't believe that there was mismanagement at the bank," said Eric Howell, the former president of Signature Bank. The bank tried to cover the loss by raising capital, but in announcing the transaction helped fuel a bank run.

☆ The CEO of an Eyebrow Empire on Her Biggest Beauty Mistake
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Lane Florsheim | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Beauty entrepreneur Anastasia Soare used to have pencil-thin, round eyebrows—one of her biggest grooming regrets. “In pictures, I looked surprised all the time,” she said. Realizing the shape wasn’t flattering changed her life, she said, and she wanted to help enlighten other women. Ms. Soare, 65, opened the salon Anastasia Beverly Hills in 1998, using a now-trademarked ratio technique to shape the brows of clients including Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford. She is still responsible for some of the most famous brows in the world, including those of Kim Kardashian, Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey.

☆ Brazil's Americanas looking for buyer for stake in Grupo Uni.co
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

SAO PAULO, May 15 (Reuters) - Brazilian retailer Americanas SA (AMER3.SA), which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year after an accounting scandal, said on Monday it has started the market sounding process to prospect parties interested in buying its stake in Grupo Uni.co. Americanas, which has the billionaire trio that founded 3G Capital as reference shareholders, said in a securities filing it had hired Citigroup (C.N) as financial advisor to conduct the process, launched as part of its reorganization plan. Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Steven GrattanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Andreessen Horowitz is preparing to launch a fund of funds to invest in other startup backers. A16z has already been courting up-and-coming fund managers at events in San Francisco and LA. The venture-capital powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz has in recent months been in discussions to form a fund of funds focused on early-stage investing, according to multiple people familiar with the project. In recent months, the firm has started to court up-and-coming fund managers with events in San Francisco and Los Angeles, according to three sources familiar with the firm's plans. Partners at crossover fund Tiger Global tried a similar strategy in recent years, committing $1 billion to back an array of early-stage venture funds.

[1/2] Move Forward Party leader and prime ministerial candidate, Pita Limjaroenrat, looks up at the crowd during the general election in Bangkok, Thailand, May 14, 2023. Move Forward has shaken the political landscape, long dominated by military-backed parties or the opposition Pheu Thai party driven by the billionaire Shinawatra family. Move Forward's charismatic prime ministerial candidate Pita Limjaroenrat was jubilant. A chunk of Move Forward's support has come from young voters, including 3.3 million eligible to vote for the first time. "I feel like my vote has improved the country," she said, dressed in orange, Move Forward's colour, at party headquarters.

☆ BlackRock is wrestling with who could succeed Larry Fink. Here's who's now in the running.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Investment giant BlackRock has been planning for CEO Larry Fink's succession for years. Leadership has discussed BlackRock cofounder Susan Wagner as someone who could succeed Fink if the board does not have a clear candidate. For years, BlackRock has been planning for Chief Executive Larry Fink's succession, a torch-passing the industry has long speculated over. BlackRock has become shorthand for the intense backlash from primarily Republican lawmakers over sustainable investment strategies that Fink has championed as CEO. Goldstein, 49, is a BlackRock lifer and has been chief operating officer for nearly a decade.

☆ A hedge fund manager shares the 7 GPT-4 prompts he used to filter top stocks and the 6 key takeaways he learned from his AI experiments
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

He found a series of prompts that allows GPT-4 to respond with good stock market insight. The crossroad where technology meets the stock market isn't new territory for Patel. It responded with seven key variables that did indeed impact 2022's broad stock market performance. It picked three of the same stocks Patel already held: Microsoft, Visa, and Apple. Otherwise, the majority of them would have been able to navigate 2022's stock market better.

SINGAPORE, May 11 (Reuters) - If the global energy transition is to be delivered in the coming decades, the mining industry believes there is one certainty. One thing most mining and energy transition analysts agree on is that there is currently insufficient copper production to meet anticipated demand as the world moves to electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies. If this is the case, the question is then why the future price of copper is relatively flat relative to the current price. It now takes an average of 23 years from discovery of a copper resource to a producing mine, according to data shown at the conference by Michael Langford, the executive director of consultants Airguide. The industry view is that many of the people demanding an energy transition the loudest are the very same people working hardest to make it virtually impossible to produce the necessary metals.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: PTN, BYND, GOOGL, PACW and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The entertainment giant also reported revenue and earnings in line with Wall Street's estimates, according to Refinitiv. AppLovin — Shares popped 23.53% following the company's first-quarter revenue beat. Unity Software's revenue of $500 million beat the $480 million expected from analysts polled by Refinitiv. Tapestry — Shares of the Coach parent jumped 8.27% after the company reported stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue for its latest quarter. Its first-quarter revenue came in at $441 million, versus analyst estimates of $425 million, according to Refinitiv.

☆ Hedge funds trim exposure to bank stocks after March buying spree - research
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Nell Mackenzie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, May 10 (Reuters) - Hedge funds cut their exposure to financial stocks in April after buying discounted equities in the March market turmoil that followed the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature bank, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. Hedge funds reduced exposure to financial stocks including banks and trading companies by 1% after a March increase of 5.5%, the data showed. Still, overall hedge fund positions on stocks were bullish, said Blake. Short-sellers were particularly active in European financial companies, according to a separate note to clients from Morgan Stanley. Hedge funds turned bearish on European stocks as a whole by the end of last week, with the bulk of short positions added to European banks and capital markets firms, the note said.

☆ Convicted Pharma Fraudster Shkreli’s Companies File For Bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Alexander Gladstone | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Vyera Pharmaceuticals, the company that Martin Shkreli founded and used to conduct a securities fraud that landed him in prison, filed for bankruptcy Wednesday. Vyera, its Swiss parent company Phoenixus and several affiliates filed for protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. after the reputational harm from Mr. Shkreli’s fraud hampered them from opening bank accounts, commercializing products or raising capital, court papers say. A lawyer who has represented Mr. Shkreli didn’t immediately respond to a request...

A Virgin Australia spokesperson confirmed the contents of the internal email. A Bain Capital spokesperson declined to comment. "I can also confirm the IPO planning is well advanced," Cotton said in the email to staff seen by Reuters. Virgin Australia Chief Executive Jayne Hrdlicka said on Monday that she would take several weeks of leave to spend time with family after the death of her husband from cancer. Bain Capital bought Virgin Australia in 2020 after it was placed in voluntary administration, the closest Australian equivalent to Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

☆ Exclusive: Biden to sign defence pact in Papua New Guinea, with eyes on China
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Washington is seeking to deter Pacific island nations, which span 40 million kilometres of ocean, from security ties with China, a rising concern amid tensions over Taiwan. Biden will visit PNG capital Port Moresby on May 22 on his way to a summit of the Quad countries - the United States, Japan, India and Australia - in Sydney, the White House has confirmed. There he will meet 18 Pacific island leaders. Biden's meeting in person with Pacific leaders is seen in the region as a major step in restoring trust. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was told by Pacific leaders in Fiji last year: "We have felt at times, to borrow an American term, like a flyover country.

☆ The chief investment strategist of JPMorgan Global Wealth explains why the worst thing investors can do right now is sit on cash — and shares 5 other high-conviction investment ideas
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Lisa Kailai Han | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

But his highest-conviction idea is that investors should rotate out of cash into fixed income. But despite these factors, risk assets are currently fully valued and fully priced into the market. While most investors have some equity exposure, they've also raised a lot of cash in the past two years. 5 other high-conviction investment ideasWithin equities, at the sector level Kennedy currently favors industrial and reasonably-priced technology stocks. Finally, Kennedy also listed China A-shares as an attractive investment, pointing to the economic reopening, a surge in consumption, supportive monetary policies, and increased exports and investment growth as catalysts.

☆ Hedge funds cut exposure to bank stocks in April, data shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Nell Mackenzie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, May 10 (Reuters) - Hedge funds cut their exposure to financial stocks in April after buying discounted equities in the market turmoil that followed the March failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature bank, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. Hedge funds reduced exposure to financial stocks including banks and trading companies by 1%, or $1.3 billion, after an increase of 5.5% in March, the data showed. Still, overall hedge fund positions on stocks were bullish, Blake said. Short-sellers were particularly active in European financial companies, according to a separate note to clients from Morgan Stanley. Hedge funds had turned bearish on European stocks as a whole by the end of last week, with the bulk of short positions added to European banks and capital markets firms, the note said.

"When you get into higher interest rates ... you look to your collateral," Rodeheaver said in an interview. "We are tightening on price and profitability ... That is going to slow lending a bit." "The economy has started to slow in an orderly fashion" in response to higher interest rates, Jefferson said, calling tighter credit conditions "part of the transmission mechanism of monetary policy." Powell, however, said he felt the impact of the credit shock "remains uncertain," and his own baseline outlook does not include a recession. Bank lending dipped about 1.7% in the two weeks following SVB's collapse, but has risen since then and recouped about a third of the decline.

May 9 (Reuters) - U.S. oil and gas producer Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY.N) on Tuesday reported a 48% decline in first-quarter earnings that fell well short of analyst estimates as global economic growth concerns led to a decline in oil prices. Occidental's crude oil sold for 19% less than the year-ago quarter, averaging $74.22 per barrel. Earnings declined despite a boost in first quarter oil and gas daily output to 1.22 million barrels from 1.08 million a year earlier, helped by higher production from its Permian operations. Adjusted earnings of $1.09 per share for the quarter fell far short of analysts' $1.24 per share estimate compiled by Refinitiv. Occidental increased its year-end production guidance by 20,000 barrels of oil and gas to 1.22 million barrels per day.

☆ This unique biotech play should rally more than 35% ahead, BTIG says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Simulation Plus is a buy because of the growing market in drug trial simulations, BTIG said. Investor interest in the stock spiked this year, with Simulations Plus roughly 12% higher after falling the prior two years. He forecasts Simulations Plus can grow revenue by about 10% to 15% annually. Larsen added that Simulations Plus hasn't faced the same issue raising capital that is plaguing smaller firms. "This means that as the pace of overall clinical trials continues to grow, SLP should also rise with a lifting tide," Larsen said.

In 2020, Bain Capital set up a previous global fund after securing $3.2 billion in commitments. The program was previously called Bain Capital Distressed and Special Situations Fund and used to sit within Bain Capital's credit business. Bain Capital's special situations strategy is now a standalone business, after being carved out with an independent team outside the umbrella of the credit unit. Globally, Bain Capital currently has $16 billion of assets under management as part of its special situations strategy. Last year, Bain Capital closed a $2 billion "special situations fund" for Asia Pacific to cover a range of asset types, which included a focus on real estate.

☆ The former president of Tesla and COO of Lyft just raised a new $40 million fund and wants to fix venture capital's "addiction to fees"
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Jon McNeill served as president of Tesla, COO of Lyft, and has started and sold six companies. Over the same period the number of new funds closed has fallen by more than 75%, meaning capital is concentrating in fewer and larger funds. "That's all about addiction to fees," said McNeill, "it's not like they've got twenty times the amount of opportunities to fund, they don't." It's a venture fund, but it also bears resemblance to a private equity fund, an incubator, and a sort of "private Berkshire Hathaway" as McNeill puts it. The fund takes 100% of the company up front, as opposed to the 20% stake a VC fund would typically take.

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