DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Cryptocurrencies rise, sending bitcoin over $30,000 at one point, on optimism for a new ETF
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-16 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

At one point Monday morning, bitcoin surged above $30,000 in a sudden spike on an unconfirmed report that the iShares spot bitcoin ETF had been formally approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cryptocurrencies briefly soared to start the week as hopeful investors weighed the likelihood that the U.S. will finally see a bitcoin ETF in the coming months. Last week, bitcoin had jumped on Friday on news that the SEC would not appeal a ruling in Grayscale's lawsuit against regulators. In June of 2022, Grayscale sued the SEC over its denial of the company's application to convert the popular Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) to an ETF. To be sure, bitcoin is coming off its worst week since Aug. 18 and first negative week in six.

Persons: bitcoin, Cryptocurrencies, rehearing, Paul Tudor Jones, Bernstein, Ripple's, —, Jesse Pound, Nick Wells, John Melloy Organizations: Securities and Exchange Commission, BlackRock, CNBC, SEC, Metrics, Appeals, Smart Locations: U.S

Investors hiked their short bets on a handful of electric vehicle and charging companies during the second half of September, according to FactSet data. CNBC Pro used FactSet data to screen for stocks with the most short interest as of Sept. 29. A handful of other electric vehicle and charging stocks also saw a jump in short interest during the period. Short interest in Lucid Group , for example, increased 7.5% to 218 million shares, while short interest in EVgo rose 5% to 25 million shares. Other names that saw elevated levels of short interest included Beyond Meat , SunPower , Sunnova Energy and WeWork .

Persons: Novavax Organizations: CNBC, New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, Fisker, Lucid, Air, Sunnova Energy Locations: Fisker Inc, EVgo

A handful of stocks are heading straight for the death cross. A death cross is a price chart pattern that forms when a stock's 50-day moving average crosses below its 200-day moving average. The death cross is also used as a bear market predictor. CNBC Pro found just under 20 stocks, from financial giants to restaurant operators, that are close to forming a death cross. Wells Fargo is also close to forming a death cross and is down 5% so far this year.

Persons: FactSet, McDonald's, Wells Fargo, Deere, Piper Sandler, Clarke Jeffries Organizations: CNBC Pro, MGM Resorts, Analysts Locations: Tuesday's, U.S

Against this backdrop, hedge funds are placing larger bets by shorting a slew of stocks including C3.ai and U-Haul . In the event that the overall market sell-off stops, however, these stocks could also be in play for a short-squeeze and climb higher. C3.ai has one of the highest short-interest readings on the list of 39.2 million shares through Sept. 15, up from 35.9 million at the end of August. That's up from 7.8 million shares at the conclusion of August. Other stocks that made the list include Intercept Pharmaceuticals , which saw short interest climb 18% from the end of August to the middle of September to 12 million shares.

Persons: shorting, Guess, Italy's Alfasigma, Groupon Organizations: Dow Jones Industrial, Nasdaq, Intercept Pharmaceuticals

Since the central bank kicked off its policy-tightening campaign in March 2022 — boosting interest rates 11 times — income investors have benefited from higher yields on Treasurys, money market funds and certificates of deposit. "From here, even if rates go higher you are locking in some really good income." If you're willing to sacrifice a little bit of liquidity, select banks will pay even higher yields. Drivers of those increases include higher-for-longer interest rates, and competition from Treasurys and money market funds, Graseck added. Money market funds Rates on money market funds have also jumped substantially since the rate-hiking campaign started.

Persons: Greg McBride, reinvest, US2Y, Treasurys, Sameer Samana, Sallie Mae, Morgan Stanley's Betsy Graseck, Graseck, — CNBC's Michael Bloom, Nick Wells Organizations: Federal Reserve, Fed, Treasury, Wells, Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Savings, Synchrony, Bread Financial, Investment Company Locations: maturities, Wells Fargo

☆ Bitcoin’s long-term price momentum is breaking, Wolfe Research says
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Bitcoin's price this week is near a familiar and key support level, but its latest stop there is a little more worrying than previous ones this year, according to Wolfe Research. "With support in this area on dual fronts, it makes sense that price would hold and consolidate in this region. "Longer term momentum is starting to break in bitcoin," he added. Short term price action is never our worry, it's when longer term trends start to break, that we want to take notice and pivot accordingly." "As the retail investor comes under pressure and liquidity is drained, our concerns will only grow for crypto prices," Ginsberg added.

Persons: bitcoin, Wolfe, Rob Ginsberg, Bitcoin's, Ginsberg, — CNBC's Michael Bloom, Nick Wells Organizations: Wolfe Research Locations: bitcoin

For investors looking to rake in profit from the recent oil rally, here are some companies that are poised to benefit off of higher crude prices. Higher oil prices could add to inflationary pressure and feed central bankers' decisions on interest rates. Higher correlation between oil prices means good news for some companies, however. The 10 most positively correlated stocks to oil are energy names, which tend to rise when oil prices get a boost. Molson and Monster have slipped 5.6% and 2.2%, respectively, during the current quarter, while PepsiCo is off more than 5%.

Persons: Brent, WTI, Russell, Molson Coors Organizations: West Texas, CNBC, Oil, Diamondback Energy, Devon Energy, APA, Diamondback, Halliburton, Insurance, CCC Intelligent Solutions Holdings, . Beverage, Molson, Monster, PepsiCo, Bank of Canada, Manhattan Associates, Cadence Design Systems, chocolatier Hershey Locations: Saudi Arabia, Russia, Devon, American

As August comes to a close, a handful of stocks are on the verge of an upward breakout, according to this chart pattern closely watched by technical analysts. The phenomenon, known as a golden cross pattern, occurs when an asset's 50-day moving average rises above the longer-term 200-day moving average. The pattern is regarded by Wall Street as bullish sign of a potential rally to come. Here are the stocks on the verge of a breakout, according to data from FactSet: Valero Energy is one stock approaching a so-called bullish golden cross. The stock's 50-day and 200-day moving average last hovered around $249.20 and $250.91, respectively.

Persons: Wall, Danaher, Avery Dennison, Fred Imbert Organizations: Valero Energy Locations: Valero

Electric vehicle companies Lucid , Fisker and Nikola have had a tough year — and Wall Street expects these stocks have even more downside potential. Nikola, which manufactures electric trucks, has seen its short interest jump nearly 14% to 157.7 million shares, or 27.3% of its float. More than a third of Arcutis Biotherapeutics 's free-float shares have been shorted by Wall Street, or 15.5 million shares. Liver disease treatment company Intercept Pharmaceuticals also saw a 12% jump in short interest, with 9.5 million shares sold short. Below is the full list of the most shorted stocks between July 31 and August 15.

Persons: Nikola, Fisker, Arcutis, scPharmaceuticals, Jerry Durso Organizations: EV, IGM Biosciences, Intercept Pharmaceuticals, U.S . Food, Drug Administration, NASH, Intercept, New York Stock Exchange Locations: FactSet, U.S

☆ Bitcoin's most faithful are staying put despite the crypto market's recent weakness
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-27 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Coin Metrics measures a week in crypto, which trades 24 hours a day, from the 4:00 p.m. "The part that could upset the crypto market is if interest rates stay higher for longer, which disappoints the expectation that the rate could be lowered in the first half of 2024. Trading data also shows long-term investors haven't been easily shaken by the recent weakness. This tells us that despite the price volatility and recent downdraft in prices, long-term holders are unwavering. He added that while it's unclear what exactly accounts for traders' resilience, maturing crypto investors are becoming more "aware of the cycles associated with bitcoin's halving and are expecting it to repeat, leading to price appreciation."

Persons: Bitcoin, Oppenheimer's Owen Lau, Jerome Powell's, Gustavo Schwenkler, It's, haven't, Greg Cipolaro, Michael Bloom, Nick Wells Organizations: Metrics, Fed, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University, Indicia Labs, SEC, JPMorgan, Management, CNBC Locations: Jackson Hole , Wyoming, U.S, China, NYDIG, Stone

Aluminum ended July on a high note and there are several stocks that could benefit from the recent strength in the metal and prove opportunities for investors. Aluminum futures capped July with a 2.72% monthly gain, the most since January and their second-straight monthly advance. CNBC Pro found 11 stocks using data from Refinitiv that tend to move with aluminum prices. Each one is a member of the Russell 1000 and has a 50-day correlation coefficient of at least 0.4, which indicates at least a moderate correlation. Further down the list are stocks with more moderate correlations to aluminum: chipmaker Texas Instruments , Domino's Pizza , Align Technology and Korean e-commerce retailer Coupang .

Persons: Bill Peterson, Russell, It's, — CNBC's Michael Bloom, Gina Francolla Organizations: JPMorgan, CNBC Pro, Southern Copper Corporation, Air Products, Chemicals, Jefferies, Texas, Technology, Coupang, New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange, Cboe, KKR Locations: China, Freeport, McMoRan, Korean

☆ These stocks are approaching the bullish 'golden cross' chart pattern
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A golden cross chart pattern is lauded by chart analysts as a bullish indicator. Put simply, this pattern occurs when a stock's 50-day moving average crosses above its 200-day moving average. CNBC Pro screened FactSet data for stocks approaching a golden cross pattern. IBM stock is approaching the threshold to form a golden cross chart pattern on Monday with a 200-day moving average of $134.98 and a 50-day moving average of $134.27. Meanwhile, Qualcomm's 50-day moving average of $118.62 is on the cusp of crossing its 200-day moving average of $119.37.

Persons: Nick Wells Organizations: CNBC, IBM, Refinitiv, Qualcomm

The list includes material companies that mine the mineral, including Southern Copper Corp. and Freeport-McMoRan . Shares of Southern Copper jumped nearly 22% last month, while Freeport-McMoRan gained 11.6%. There are some other stocks on the list that have a less obvious exposure to copper, such as financial stocks Invesco and KKR . The metal often referred to as "Doctor Copper" is seen as a leading economic indicator, and financial stocks are cyclical plays. Financial stocks and copper rising could be a sign that business leaders and investors are growing more confident about the economy.

Persons: Russell Organizations: HG, Southern Copper Corp, Southern Copper, Copper Miners, KKR Locations: Freeport, McMoRan

West Texas Intermediate has surged more than 14% for the month, putting it on pace for its best monthly performance since its 17.2% gain in January 2022. APA APA has the strongest 50-day correlation with WTI prices of 0.71, meaning it is likely to see gains as the commodity continues to rise. Devon Energy Shares of Devon Energy have popped more than 11% month to date. It has a 50-day correlation of 0.69 with WTI, and an average correlation of 0.59 with the commodity since 2015. Pioneer Natural Resources The Texas-based oil company has a 50-day correlation value of 0.65 with WTI Crude.

Persons: Russell, Goldman Sachs, DCLA, Sarat Sethi, Pioneer's, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: West Texas, CNBC, APA APA, . Devon Energy, Devon Energy, Diamondback Energy Diamondback Energy, Natural Resources, WTI Locations: Saudi Arabia, Russia, Natural Resources The Texas

☆ The Dow missed its 14th straight gain — A coin flip could have done that
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Nick Wells | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Traders work the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on July 25, 2023, in New York City. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed negative on Thursday, breaking a 13-day win streak in which the blue-chip index gained 5.3%. But here's the thing: Regardless of whether the Dow made that 14th straight gain, basic probability tells us that we will get this kind of streak every once in a while naturally. We can even show that these streaks aren't that different from a result of a coin flip. CNBC ran a simulated coin flip thousands of times and counted the number of times "heads" came up in a row.

Persons: Dow, you'd Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, Dow Jones, CNBC Locations: New York City

Investors upped their short bets on a handful of clean energy and biotechnology stocks during the first half of July, according to FactSet data. Allogene Therapeutics held the greatest short interest of the group, at about 54% of float, with Novavax and ProKidney Corp. also appearing on the list. Short interest declined slightly in ProKidney shares. Short interest in shares declined 8.6% during the first half of July, although about 35% of its shares are sold short. saw short interest leap 10% since the end of June.

Persons: BioXcel Organizations: BioXcel Therapeutics, Allogene Therapeutics, ProKidney Corp, Research, CNBC Pro, New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq

☆ The Fed’s expected rate hike is about to sweeten yields on these investments
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Darla Mercado | Cfp | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to boost interest rates by another quarter percentage point Wednesday afternoon – and that's terrific news for fixed income investors hoping to grab a little more yield. Since March 2022, the central bank has raised rates 10 times – with July's expected hike marking the 11 th increase – to cool inflation. Consider that during the week of March 11, 2022, the rate on the 2-year Treasury note was 1.75%, according to Refinitiv. Investors who wish to squeeze a little more interest income from their cash holdings have opted for Treasury bills, with the 6-month bill yielding 5.5%. By buying multiple notes of different maturities, investors can "ladder" these Treasurys and reinvest the proceeds from maturing bonds into longer-dated issues.

Persons: Greg McBride, maturities, tradeoffs, McBride, SLM —, Sallie Mae —, Nick Wells Organizations: Federal Reserve, Investors, Treasury, Bank of Locations: Bank of Indiana, Treasurys

There are two likely scenarios: The Fed raises its fed funds rate, but Powell signals the inflation fight is far from over. Market rates are likely to shoot higher, benefiting a select group of stocks highlighted below, while causing the broader market to decline. In order to do this, we used the short-term bond fund, the iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF, as our proxy for the bond market. Since rates increase when bond prices fall this gives us the stocks that could win today if rates increase. If rates move higher on the Fed, Primerica can charge higher rates for its insurance and financial products.

Persons: Jerome Powell, Powell, Marcelli Organizations: Federal Reserve, Fed, UBS Global Wealth Management, Reserve, CNBC, Russell, Treasury Bond ETF, Primerica, PayPal

A slew of stocks in the S & P 500 are on the verge of breaking out on the back of the market rally, according to the so-called golden cross pattern. CNBC Pro used FactSet data to screen the S & P 500 for stocks that are about to form the bullish chart pattern in which their 50-day moving average breaks above the 200-day trend line. 50DMA has not been on the other side of the 200DMA in the past month. The retailer has gained more than 4% this week alone amid the broader market rally. Synchrony Financial has rebounded 10% in the past month, pushing its year-to-date gains to 10%.

Persons: 50DMA Organizations: CNBC, BlackRock, Synchrony, Paycom Software

Against this backdrop, CNBC Pro used FactSet data to screen for stocks most vulnerable to a short squeeze. A short squeeze occurs once a shorted stock climbs higher, forcing investors who have short bets on shares to cover their positions. Novavax , meanwhile, has about 42% short interest from investors. Overall, short interest in the name increased 8.7% between June 15 and June 30. See below for the full rundown of potential short squeeze targets.

Persons: there's, Novavax Organizations: Nasdaq, Dow Jones, JPMorgan, CNBC Pro, New York Stock Exchange, Sunnova Energy Locations: Canada

☆ Get a risk-free 5% return as the 2-year Treasury yield hits a 16-year high. Here’s how to buy one
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Darla Mercado | Cfp | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Income-seeking investors are primed to pick up a risk-free return exceeding 5% now that the yield on the 2-year Treasury has spiked to highs last seen in 2007. Indeed, the yield on the 2-year Treasury – which is especially sensitive to Fed policy – leapt to 5.12%, its highest level since June 15, 2007. The rate on the 10-year Treasury also jumped over 4% at its highest point of the day. How to buy in To purchase Treasurys directly from the U.S. government, you can set up an account on TreasuryDirect.gov . If inflation outpaces the yield you're earning, it could erode the real rate of return earned on these notes.

Persons: Dow Jones, –, Luis Alvarado, — CNBC's Michelle Fox, Nick Wells Organizations: Treasury, Traders, Private, Federal Reserve, U.S ., . Locations: Wells Fargo, Treasurys

Americans are heading into the Fourth of July holiday with an economy that has been nothing short of resilient. Given this backdrop, CNBC Pro set out to find the stocks that can capitalize the most from a strong U.S. economy. Solar energy stock Sunrun also made the list. "The company is experiencing strong momentum across all its sales channels," he said in a note last month. Other stocks that made the cut include Frontier Communications , Marriott Vacations , Marathon Oil , Scotts Miracle-Gro and energy company PPL .

Persons: James West Organizations: Commerce Department, Delta Air Lines, AAA, Federal Reserve, Wall Street, CNBC Pro, U.S, Caesars Entertainment, Analysts, Financial, Frontier Communications, Marriott, Oil, Miracle, Gro, PPL Locations: U.S, Puerto Rico

Chart analysts tout the so-called golden cross pattern as an exceedingly bullish signal. A golden cross put simply is when a given stock's 50-day moving average crosses above its 200-day moving average. CNBC used FactSet data to screen for a tranche of stocks on the verge of signaling a golden cross pattern in the second half. Shares of conglomerate Honeywell International are approaching a bullish golden cross pattern. The stock's 50-day moving average sits at $75.79 compared to its 200-day moving average of $76.52.

Organizations: CNBC, Honeywell International Locations: Friday's

Stocks were rising ahead of this key event next week, with some gaining nice momentum that could build to a notable technical level. These stocks are still shy of the touted "golden cross," as their 50-day moving average has yet to surpass their 200-day moving average, which is seen as a harbinger of more upside ahead. Prudential Financial stock has steadily outpaced its 50-day moving average over the past five trading sessions in June. Shares last closed at $85.76 Wednesday, while the stock's 50-day moving average sits at $82.79. Meanwhile, the stock's Wednesday close of $36.22 sits comfortably above its 50-day moving average of $33.81.

Persons: Stocks, FactSet Organizations: Federal Reserve, CNBC, Prudential Financial, Fox Class, General Motors

The stock market is breaking out, and some individual names are on the verge of doing so, too. Given this backdrop, CNBC Pro screened the S & P 500 for stocks that are that have 50-day moving averages about to break above their respective 200-day averages. The stock broke above its 200-day moving average last month, and now its 50-day average is on the verge of doing the same. At the time this screen was run, Sherwin-Williams' 50-day moving average sat at $228.78 compared to its $229.66 200-day moving average. The stock is up about 20% this year, and analysts on average see it going up another 18% over the next 12 months.

Persons: Akamai, Sherwin, Williams Organizations: CNBC Pro, FactSet

Search resuls for: "Nick Wells"

25 mentions found