Major US banks kicked off earnings season with gains, but the market had a volatile day and week as investors watched the unfolding bloodshed in the Middle East. Wall Street’s earnings season for the third quarter got off to a strong start on Friday, with both Wells Fargo (WFC) and JPMorgan (JPM) posting higher profits than expected.
This past Thursday, October 13, U.S. stock markets closed lower than they had opened due to rising bond yields following a U.S. Treasury auction and data showing a larger-than-expected increase in September consumer price indices.
All summer long, we were on the lookout for signs that the public’s outlook on the economy was brightening. There appears to have been a resurgence of pessimism with the arrival of autumn.
The United Nations called for a mass departure of the area after Israel ordered the 1.1 million Palestinians residing in the northern Gaza Strip 24 hours to leave. Israel has continued bombing and initiated military incursions as it prepared for a land fight in response to Hamas’ attack on civilians over the weekend.
Part B premiums for Medicare beneficiaries will rise by around $10 per month in 2019, according to a statement released Thursday by the Centres for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The standard monthly premium for Medicare Part B will increase to $174.70 in 2024 from the current $164.90. Income criteria are used to determine premiums for beneficiaries.
This is the largest purchase in the history of the technology sector, and it was made possible by the approval of regulators in the United Kingdom of Microsoft’s (MSFT) modified $69 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard (ATVI). Today, the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority approved the amended agreement, which does not include the transfer of Activision’s cloud streaming rights to French business Ubisoft.
For its high-end sports cars sold in the United States, Ferrari will start taking bitcoin payments due to customer demand. The manufacturer will allow bitcoin purchases in Europe. Ferrari’s chief marketing and commercial officer, Enrico Galliera, was quoted by Reuters as confirming the company’s plans on October 14. Ferrari’s decision to accept cryptocurrency payments was driven by market demand and dealer demands. Many clients, especially crypto-savvy young investors, have invested in digital currencies.
After increased scrutiny in the wake of the GameStop crisis, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission agreed on Friday to implement new rules designed to increase the openness of short selling.
Kaiser Permanente and unions representing 75,000 of its employees have reached a tentative contract agreement, ending the largest healthcare strike in US history.
While the United Automobile Workers (UAW) did not expand its strike against Detroit’s Big Three automakers yesterday, the union president cautioned that more workers may be brought to the picket lines at any time and asked carmakers to “pony up.”
TikTok has secured Disney as a major strategic partner. The well-known social media platform just added a significant publishing partner to its Pulse Premiere advertising network. In addition to NBCU, Conde Nast, DotDash Meredith, and BuzzFeed, the media giant is the most recent organization to use the platform.
The CEO of the largest U.S. bank JPMorgan Chase by assets has warned that the intensifying conflict in Ukraine and the assaults Hamas conducted against Israel over the weekend “may have far-reaching impacts on energy and food markets, global trade, and geopolitical relationships.”
Microsoft is no longer focused on completing the Activision acquisition and is instead focusing on AI and cloud computing. Despite the Activision acquisition highlighting Xbox’s dominance in the video game industry, Microsoft isn’t placing much focus on console gaming. Nadella and his top executives have shifted their attention to the cloud gaming industry.
On Friday, after Dollar General announced the return of its prior CEO, the stock price increased. On Thursday, the business reinstated Todd Vasos as CEO in an effort to steady operations. After serving under Jeff Owen since last November, the position has been filled by Vasos.
Spotter is now crowdfunding to purchase back catalogues of popular YouTube channels. Investors are looking further afield than traditional artist royalties as the creative economy grows and investors seek bigger returns. An LA company called Spotter has just secured $200 million to help fund the growth of YouTube artists in exchange for a portion of the creators’ future ad earnings.
Trump Media’s linked SPAC is returning $1 billion to its backers. Trump Media & Technology Group’s financial partner voluntarily returned the remaining $533 million it collected from institutional investors after cancellations totaling $467 million.
Stocks to watch:
SNDL Group (SNDL), Tesla (TSLA), Groupon (GRPN), Chase Bank (JPM), Microsoft (MSFT), GOOGL, Apple (AAPL), Pay Pal (PYPL), Walmart (WMT), Amazon (AMZN), Facebook (META), Carnival Corporation (CCL), PepsiCo (PEP), Wells Fargo (WFC)