Tag: article_normal

Bank of Korea Goes for Another Outsized 50Bp Rate Increase

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By Kwanwoo Jun

South Korea’s central bank went for a second outsized rate increase in three months in response to the aggressive U.S. monetary policy tightening and high inflation at home.

The Bank of Korea raised its benchmark seven-day repurchase rate by 50 basis points to 3.00% on Wednesday. The bank’s latest move followed its quarter-percentage-point rate rise in August after its first-ever half-percentage-point increase in July.

Twenty-two of 25 analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected the bank to resume the outsized rate increase, citing its pressing need to respond to the Fed’s faster-than-expected pace of rate increases and still high inflation at home.

Korean policy makers have been concerned about the won’s steep decline against the greenback, as the Fed lifted federal funds rates by 75 bps at each of its past three meetings and could make another big such rate increase in November. The weaker won could risk a flight of foreign capital from the country.

South Korea’s headline inflation softened for a second consecutive month to 5.6% in September but remained well above the BOK’s 2% annual target.

BOK officials expect inflation to remain above 5% in the near term.

Inflation in South Korea averaged 2.5% in 2021.

Write to Kwanwoo Jun at kwanwoo.jun@wsj.com

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October 11, 2022

S&P 500, Nasdaq log lowest close in more than 2 years as stocks fall for 5th day

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U.S. stocks finished mostly lower on Wednesday with the S&P 500 logging its lowest end-of-date level since September, while the Nasdaq Composite logged its lowest such level since July. Only the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to evade a loss for the day; the other two indexes recorded their fifth straight session in the red. The S&P 500
SPX,
-0.65%
finished down 23.55 points, or 0.7%, to 3,588.84. The Nasdaq
COMP,
-1.10%
fell 115.91 points, or 1.1%, to close at 10,426.19. The Dow
DJIA,
+0.12%
advanced 36.31 points, or 0.1%, to finish at 29,239.19

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October 11, 2022

Meet the 10 biggest megadonors for the 2022 midterm elections

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With four weeks until Election Day, congressional candidates are on track to break midterm fundraising records, having raised nearly $2.5 billion so far this cycle. That’s already 70% more than what was raised during the 2014 cycle and just $200 million shy of the total raised during the full 2018 cycle.

This cycle has also seen record-shattering outside spending, topping $1 billion through the beginning of October, according to an OpenSecrets estimate.

The increase in spending and fundraising is due in large part to the involvement of millionaire and billionaire megadonors who have sought to influence the outcome of an election in which both chambers of Congress are in play.

“When megadonors pump millions of dollars into super PACs, they get to help call the shots,” said Michael Beckel, research director at Issue One, a nonpartisan political reform organization. “Massive spending from a megadonor can influence what issues are talked about on the campaign trail and in Congress.”

Super PACs are independent political action committees that can raise unlimited sums of money but are not allowed to coordinate with a candidate or campaign. Due to contribution limits, such as those restricting individuals’ candidate contributions to $2,900 per election per candidate, most megadonor spending goes to super PACs.

More context: These are the basics of campaign finance in 2020 — in two handy charts

A MarketWatch analysis of Federal Election Commission data through the end of September shows that these 10 business moguls and philanthropists are the biggest federal-level donors this cycle.

Read: These 3 races could determine whether Democrats or Republicans control the Senate in 2023

And see: If this seat flips red, Republicans will have ‘probably won a relatively comfortable House majority’

Top federal-level megadonors this cycle

Rank	Contributor	Total Contributions	For Republicans	For Democrats	Nonpartisan/Bipartisan
1	George Soros	$128,782,000	$0	$128,782,000	$0
2	Ken Griffin	$50,955,800	$50,955,800	$0	$0
3	Richard Uihlein	$49,117,000	$49,117,000	$0	$0
4	Sam Bankman-Fried	$39,931,000	$201,000	$37,725,000	$2,005,000
5	Jeff Yass	$32,754,000	$32,754,000	$0	$0
6	Peter Thiel	$30,189,000	$30,189,000	$0	$0
7	Fred Eychaner	$22,343,000	$0	$22,343,000	$0
8	Stephen Schwarzman	$21,870,000	$21,865,000	$0	$5,000
9	Larry Ellison	$21,003,000	$21,003,000	$0	$0
10	Ryan Salame	$18,932,000	$17,432,000	$0	$1,500,000

	Totals:	$415,877,000	$223,517,000	$188,850,000	$3,510,000

Source: MarketWatch analysis of FEC data as of Sept. 30, 2022
Note: Partisan breakdown includes non-party affiliated PACs with over 95% of their spending benefitting one party, data has been rounded to the nearest thousand

Big spending by itself doesn’t automatically mean winning. There have been notable instances of the financially strongest candidates losing (such as crypto-backed House candidate Carrick Flynn earlier this year and billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s self-financed presidential bid) — but money can certainly help put a candidate on the right track.

“Money alone doesn’t guarantee electoral success, but every candidate prefers to be the one with more money to spend,” Beckel said. He added: “Outside spending on behalf of a candidate isn’t a silver bullet that’s going to guarantee electoral success. But it goes a long way to boosting somebody’s name recognition, and to presenting them as a viable candidate — somebody who has the resources to run a competitive campaign.”

Information about the spending by the top 10 donors this cycle has been compiled from MarketWatch’s analysis of FEC data and filings, super PAC websites and previously reported comments. Read on to find out who are the top 10 biggest donors this cycle.

10. Ryan Salame — $19 million

Ryan Salame, the co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, a subsidiary of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, founded a hybrid PAC earlier this year called American Dream Federal Action. The vast majority ($15 million) of the $19 million Salame has spent this cycle has gone into bankrolling the PAC, which has spent $2.4 million in independent expenditures supporting Illinois Republican Rep. Rodney Davis, $2 million supporting Republican Senate candidate Katie Britt from Alabama, and $1.2 million each supporting Arkansas GOP Sen. John Boozman and Brad Finstad, a GOP congressional candidate in Minnesota.

On its website, the PAC describes itself as “organization dedicated to electing forward-looking candidates — those who want to protect America’s long term economic and national security by advancing smart policy decisions now.” A representative for Salame didn’t respond to a request for comment.

9. Lawrence Ellison — $21 million

The co-founder of Oracle
ORCL,
+0.26%
has similarly bankrolled a PAC this election cycle — giving a total $20 million to Opportunity Matters Fund Inc. The super PAC has largely held onto its funds so far, recent FEC records show, having $17 million cash on hand as of the end of August. Of the independent expenditures it has made this cycle, it spent the most on Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker ($1.3 million), Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson ($1.3 million) and North Carolina Senate candidate and current Republican Rep. Ted Budd ($1.1 million). A representative for Ellison didn’t respond to a request for comment.

8. Stephen Schwarzman — $22 million

Billionaire Stephen Schwarzman, the CEO of private-equity giant Blackstone
BX,
-2.41%,
is the eighth biggest donor at the federal level this cycle. In March, Schwarzman gave $10 million to both the Senate Leadership Fund and Congressional Leadership Fund, super PACs aimed at obtaining a Republican majority in the Senate and House, respectively. A representative for Schwarzman didn’t respond to a request for comment.

7. Fred Eychaner — $22 million

Fred Eychaner has also contributed $22 million so far this cycle, but unlike most of the spending on this list, his has been directed toward Democratic causes. The chairman of Chicago-based Newsweb Corporation has given $9 million to the House Majority PAC and $8 million to the Senate Majority PAC, as well as just under $1.5 million to the Democratic National Committee and several hundred thousands to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. A representative for Eychaner didn’t respond to a request for comment.

6. Peter Thiel — $30 million

Venture capitalist Peter Thiel was heavily involved in backing Ohio Republican J.D. Vance’s primary bid, giving $15 million in the spring to the Vance-aligned Protect Ohio Values PAC.

The massive primary investment was “historic” and record-setting, according to Beckel, who added that Thiel’s involvement in the Ohio Senate primary could mark “a new chapter of how mega donors are choosing to play in politics.”

“I think it’s become clear for a lot of megadonors that there are high stakes to a lot of primaries, and by spending in the primary, where there is typically lower turnout than in say, a statewide general election, they can get a lot of bang for their buck by investing in a primary election,” Beckel added.

Thiel has indicated that he doesn’t intend to put any more money toward Vance’s bid as he reportedly believes the Ohio candidate is on track to win, and instead will focus his funding on Arizona Republican Blake Masters’ bid to oust Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in the final weeks leading up to the midterm election.

Thiel, known for his roles in PayPal
PYPL,
-1.69%,
Palantir
PLTR,
-0.25%
and Facebook
META,
-3.92%,
has also given a total $15 million to the Masters-aligned PAC, Saving Arizona, with his most recent contribution in July. Both Vance and Masters are venture capitalists, but Masters has worked with Thiel. He served as chief operating officer of Thiel Capital and president of the Thiel Foundation, and he co-authored a book on startups with Thiel in 2014. A representative for Thiel didn’t respond to a request for comment.

5. Jeff Yass — $33 million

Options trader Jeff Yass, who founded trading firm Susquehanna International Group, has contributed about $33 million on a federal level this cycle. Yass has given $15 million to the School Freedom Fund, or the equivalent of 97% of the PAC’s total fundraising. The group focuses on the issue of school choice, and its website states that some bureaucrats “hindered the development and education of our youth through school closures, mask mandates, critical race theory, and more.”

Aside from the School Freedom Fund, Yass’ other biggest contributions are to the conservative Club for Action ($6.5 million), Kentucky Freedom ($5 million), Protect Freedom ($2 million) and Crypto Freedom ($1.9 million). A representative for Yass didn’t respond to a request for comment.

4. Sam Bankman-Fried — $40 million

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and CEO of FTX, is the main funder behind Protect Our Future PAC, giving it $27 million of the $28 million it raised this cycle.

The organization says on its website that it focuses on promoting Democratic candidates championing pandemic preparedness and prevention “so this is the last time in our lifetime, and our children’s lifetimes, that we will face the devastation that has gripped communities across the U.S. since 2020.”

The group spent more than $10 million supporting Democrat Carrick Flynn’s House bid in Oregon. Flynn lost his primary in May by 18 points despite his massive outside spending advantage. In addition to Flynn, the group has made over $1 million in independent expenditures each supporting Democratic congressional candidates Lucy McBath, a current representative from Georgia; Jasmine Crockett of Texas, Adam Hollier of Michigan, Valerie Foushee of North Carolina and Shontel Brown, a current representative from Ohio.

Most of the other $10 million Bankman-Fried spent this cycle has gone to the House Majority PAC ($6 million) and the crypto PAC GMI ($2 million).

While the vast majority of his spending has supported Democratic candidates and causes, Bankman-Fried does not classify himself as an exclusively Democratic donor — for instance he gave $105,000 to the Alabama Conservatives Fund in June and $45,000 to the NRCC in July.

He told Politico in August that he is “legitimately worried about doing things that will make people view me as partisan when it’s not how I feel … because I think it both misses what I’m trying to do and makes it harder for me to act constructively.” A representative for the FTX boss didn’t respond to a request for comment.

3. Richard Uihlein — $49 million

Richard Uihlein is the founder of the shipping and business supply company Uline, and is a longtime conservative donor. This cycle has seen nearly $50 million in political spending by him, with just over half of it going to Club for Growth Action. Uihlein has also given about $14 million to Restoration PAC, an organization that says it is “dedicated to strengthening the foundations that made America the greatest nation in the world: God, family, education, and community.”

Uihlein’s next largest contributions are to the conservative Team PAC ($2.5 million) and the Arkansas Patriots Fund ($2.2 million), which earlier this year made ad buys favoring Republican Sen. John Boozman’s primary opponent. A representative for Uihlein didn’t respond to a request for comment.

2. Ken Griffin — $51 million

With $51 million in federal-level political spending, Ken Griffin, CEO of hedge fund Citadel, is the second most prolific donor this cycle.

The biggest beneficiaries are the Republican-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund with $18.5 million in contributions, the Senate Leadership Fund with $10 million and Honor Pennsylvania, a super PAC that backed Republican Dave McCormick’s Senate bid. McCormick lost in the primary to Mehmet Oz by less than a thousand votes.

While Griffin spent about $64 million during the last cycle, his $51 million figure this year marks by far the most he has spent during a midterm cycle. During the 2018 cycle, his contributions totaled less than $8 million.

A spokesperson for Griffin told MarketWatch that Griffin “supports leaders who are committed to protecting the American Dream and pursuing policies that will create a better future for the United States.”

“The right policies will focus on creating rewarding jobs, prioritizing public safety, and investing in a strong national defense,” his spokesperson said. “Preserving the American Dream will require that every child is well educated, can access great healthcare, and has the opportunity to succeed.”

1. George Soros — $129 million

Not one donor comes close to matching the sum that billionaire philanthropist George Soros has contributed this cycle: $129 million. However, much of that money hasn’t actually been put to work this cycle.

The majority of those on this list have focused their funding on Republican causes, but Soros’ money has gone to Democratic groups — specifically Democracy PAC II, whose $125 million in contributions comprises 99% of its fundraising. The super PAC spent more than $80 million on Democratic groups and candidates during the 2020 election.

A representative for Soros pointed MarketWatch to a Politico article from January, in which Soros said the $125 million is aimed at supporting pro-democracy “causes and candidates, regardless of political party” who are invested in “strengthening the infrastructure of American democracy: voting rights and civic participation, civil rights and liberties, and the rule of law” and called his contribution a “long-term investment” that will support political work beyond this year.

So far this cycle, Democracy PAC has spent very little and holds $113 million in available cash. Contributions the PAC has made this cycle include $5 million to the Senate Majority PAC, $2.5 million to One Georgia and $1 million to both Care in Action and House Majority PAC.

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October 11, 2022

This industry could be worth $180 billion by 2040. Citigroup offers four stock names to play it, and a few more to think about.

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Investors are bracing for some choppiness on Wall Street, with oil prices falling as growth worries rattle around the globe. That’s as the clock ticks down to CPI and the start of a earnings season later this week, and in the backdrop a war is intensifying in Europe.

Tough times don’t last, but tough investors do right? Maybe, hopefully. In any case, focusing on the distant future might offer some comfort right now.

And that’s where we’re headed with our call of the day from Citigroup, whose strategists have stock ideas to play what they expect will be one of the ten fastest-growing markets through 2040.

They are talking about the global fuel cell industry, a direct play on the green energy debate, and “reaching the part that batteries cannot.”

“Fuel cells enable both de-carbonization and energy resilience, and we see them as crucial in harder-to-abate sectors like commercial vehicles and marine,” a Citi team led by research analyst Martin Wilkie told clients in a note on Tuesday.

Their base case sees this market reaching 50 gigawatts (GW) and $40 billion by 2030, offering a compound average growth rate of more than 35% in dollar terms, with further acceleration to 500GW/$180 billion by 2040.

They admit they’re on the bullish side with these projections, and note fuel cell stocks are on average down around 70% since their January 2021 peaks .

“The fuel cell equity story has had false starts before, but we see the impetus from emissions policy as well as announced hydrogen plans as creating attractive opportunities,” said the Citi analysts, highlighting policies such as the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, which aims at beefing up renewable energy and a recent EU move to offer more green-energy research and development subsidies.

While passenger cars were a big source of demand for the growing fuel cell market in 2021, they don’t think it can be a big competitor to battery electric. However, stationary power, such as distributed and backup power generation and heavy-duty transport, think commercial vehicles, off-road and later marine are set to become key fuel-cell markets.

U.K.-based Ceres Power
CWR,
-1.69%,
Plug Power
PLUG,
-0.25%,
Belgium’s Umicore
UMI,
-1.69%,
and Japan’s Toyota
7203,
-0.96%

TM,
-0.73%
are Citi’s buy-rated stocks with high exposure to the fuel-cell theme.

Other names they mention, include Daimler Truck
DTG,
+1.32%
and Volvo
VOLV.B,
+0.21%

VOLV.A,
+0.12%,
which are working with Germany’s Traton
8TRA,
-2.09%
on a joint venture called Cellcentric that aims to develop that technology for trucks, with a production goal of 2025. Others are outsourcing fuel-cell tech, such as Italy’s Iveco Group
IVG,
+0.10%,
which has teamed up with South Korea’s Hyundai
005380,
-4.27%,
and U.S.-based Paccar
PCAR,
+0.23%
with Toyota
TM,
-0.73%.

The markets

Stock futures
ES00,
-0.38%

YM00,
-0.22%

NQ00,
-0.46%
have pared some losses, while bond yields
TMUBMUSD10Y,
3.927%

TMUBMUSD02Y,
4.307%
are mixed, and the dollar
DXY,
-0.14%
has turned lower. Oil prices
CL.1,
-1.42%
are also pressure.

The buzz

Shares of the world’s biggest chip maker, TSMC
2330,
-8.33%,
fell 8% in Taiwan
Y9999,
-4.35%,
where stocks dropped more than 4% following new limits by the U.S. imposed on exports of semiconductors and chip-making equipment to China.

The Bank of England made the second move this week to calm jittery markets, saying Tuesday it will expand its bond purchases to index-linked U.K. bond. But the program still ends Friday, something the pensions fund industry wants to see extended. Those yields
TMBMKGB-10Y,
4.448%
TMBMKGB-30Y,
4.718%,
meanwhile, continue to creep higher.

The National Federation of Independent Business small-business index showed confidence rising in September, but inflation a nagging problem. At noon Eastern we’ll hear from Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester.

Subscription-based private aviation company Flexjet plans to go public through a merger with SPAC Horizon Acquisition
HZON,

valuing it at $3.1 billion.

The U.S.’s third-biggest railroad union will be back at the negotiating table with employers on Tuesday, after rejecting a deal and raising the possibility of crippling strikes.

The Kremlin’s war hawks were thrilled at the devastating strikes across Ukraine on Monday. Now they want more. G-7 leaders are holding an emergency meeting to discuss the ramping up of the war.

Amazon’s
AMZN,
-0.78%
second Prime-Day like event kicks off Tuesday.

Best of the web

U.K. spy chief says Russians are starting to realize the cost of Putin’s war in Ukraine

India’s biodegradable bags are in demand, and reviving its industry

We are not at peace. The world needs to get ready for more sabotage

One of the greatest transfers of intergenerational wealth is coming, says head of TIAA

The chart

This graphic by Visual Capitalist’s Truman Du, shows Disney’s
DIS,
-2.06%
streaming empire — Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ — is “giving Netflix
NFLX,
+2.33%
a run for its money.”

Visual Capitalist, Disney, Netflix quarterly reports

The tickers

These were the top searched tickers on MarketWatch as of 6 a.m. Eastern Time:

Ticker	Security name
TSLA, -0.05%	Tesla
GME, -1.38%	GameStop
AMC, -2.76%	AMC Entertainment Holdings
AAPL, +0.24%	Apple
NIO, -3.49%	NIO
BBBY, -2.21%	Bed Bath & Beyond
APE, -6.53%	AMC Entertainment Holdings preferred shares
NVDA, -3.36%	Nvidia
TWTR, +2.40%	Twitter
AMD, -1.08%	Advanced Micro Devices

Random reads

Everyone hail to this 2,560-pound pumpkin.

“Where’s Tony gone?” Supply-chain woes hit (shudder) Frosted Flakes.

Need to Know starts early and is updated until the opening bell, but sign up here to get it delivered once to your email box. The emailed version will be sent out at about 7:30 a.m. Eastern.

Listen to the Best New Ideas in Money podcast with MarketWatch reporter Charles Passy and economist Stephanie Kelton.

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October 11, 2022

Israel says it’s reached maritime border deal with Lebanon

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JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s prime minister said Tuesday that the country has reached an “historic agreement” with neighboring Lebanon over their shared maritime border after months of U.S.-brokered negotiations.

At stake are rights over exploiting undersea natural gas reserves in areas of the eastern Mediterranean that the two countries — which do not have diplomatic relations — claim.

Premier Yair Lapid called the deal an “historic achievement that will strengthen Israel’s security, inject billions into Israel’s economy, and ensure the stability of our northern border.”

The agreement is expected to enable additional natural gas production in the Mediterranean. Lebanon hopes gas exploration will help lift its country out of its spiraling economic crisis.

The final draft of the agreement will be brought before Israel’s caretaker government for approval, just weeks before the country goes to the polls for the fifth time in under four years.

Lebanon and Israel have been officially at war since Israel’s creation in 1948 and both countries claim some 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) of the Mediterranean Sea.

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October 11, 2022
As bond yields spike, Bank of England widens U.K. market intervention in second effort this week to calm volatile markets

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The Bank of England said Tuesday that it will expand its daily U.K. bond purchase operations to include index-linked gilts, the second move this week aimed at trying to calm market volatility.

“These additional operations will act as a further backstop to restore orderly market conditions by temporarily absorbing selling of index-linked gilts in excess of market intermediation capacity,” the BoE said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that it has also consulted with the Debt Management Office.

The inclusion of those index-linked bonds will run from Oct. 11 to 14, alongside its existing daily conventional gilt purchase auctions, the BoE said.

But it remained to be seen if a second-day move by the central bank to calm markets will be effective.

Investors are anxiously looking ahead to Friday, when the central bank’s emergency bond-buying program announced last month are scheduled to end. The BoE announced additional measures on Monday to smooth that path, but the yield on the 30-year gilt
TMBMKGB-30Y,
4.667%
jumped 29 basis points to 4.68% on Monday.

While that’s still below the 5.17% peak, it indicates concerns about the imminent end to the central bank’s program were causing fear in the market. The yield on the 10-year gilt
TMBMKGB-10Y,
4.431%,
which the central bank has not been buying, rose 24 basis points to 4.47%

On Monday, the BoE said it would boost the size of its daily gilt purchases and implement extra measures “to support an orderly end” to its emergency bond-buying plans.

It now will buy up to £10 billion ($11 billion) in bonds, up from a previous auction limit of £5 billion ($5.5 billion), though sticking with its pricing policy that has seen the central bank refuse many of the bonds put up for auction.

The BoE also said Monday that it plans to to launch a temporary expanded collateral repo operation for liability-driven investment funds through liquidity insurance operations, which will run beyond the end of this week.

LDI funds are a popular product sold by asset managers like BlackRock
BLK,
-0.88%,
Legal & General
LGEN,
-2.99%
and Schroders
SDR,
+0.05%
to pension funds, using derivatives to help them match assets and liabilities so there is no risk of shortfall in money to pay pensioners.

But those measures failed to stop bond yields from surging, amid market fears that the pension fund market is not yet ready for that temporary debt purchase program to end.

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October 11, 2022
Nasdaq logs lowest close in over 2 years as stocks end lower for 4th straight session

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U.S. stocks finished lower on Monday as all three major indexes fell for the fourth straight session and the Nasdaq Composite saw its lowest close in more than two years. The S&P 500
SPX,
-0.75%
closed 27.27 points, or 0.8%, lower at 3,612.39. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.32%
finished 93.91 points, or 0.3%, lower at 29,202.88. The Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-1.04%
closed 110.30 points, or 1%, lower at 10,542.10, its lowest closing level since July 28, 2020, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

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October 10, 2022
Amazon’s second ‘Prime Day’ of 2022: When it starts, the best deals and more

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Amazon Prime Day is coming back. Well, kind of.

Amazon
AMZN,
-0.76%
is debuting a new holiday shopping event this week called “Amazon Prime Early Access Sale” where shoppers can get exclusive access to hundreds of thousands of deals ahead of the holidays.

The new sale is essentially another Amazon Prime Day event, where subscribers can get certain deals for a 48-hour period, just with a different name.

As millions of shoppers are impacted by record-high inflation in the U.S., some data still suggest, consumers are still set to spend more than last year this holiday season.

According to data insights from Adobe Inc.
ADBE,
-1.00%,
online-only holiday spending (Nov. 1 to Dec. 31) is expected to grow 2.5% in 2022, representing the smallest increase since Adobe began tracking this data in 2015. In 2021, holiday spending was 8.6% higher than the year prior, despite, at the time, the rate of U.S. inflation at a 30-year high.

Here’s what you need to know about Amazon’s Early Access Sale:

When is Amazon Prime’s Early Access Sale?

Amazon’s savings event is two days long, running from Tuesday, Oct. 11 through Wednesday, Oct. 12.

What time does Amazon Prime’s Early Access Sale start?

The Early Access Sale begins at midnight PT (3 a.m. ET) on Tuesday, Oct. 11, and runs for 48 hours, through the end of the day on Wednesday, Oct. 12.

Which countries participate in Amazon Prime’s Early Access Sale?

Fifteen countries in total are participating in the deals. Those countries include: Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the U.K., and the U.S., according to Amazon.

How does Amazon Prime’s Early Access Sale work?

Items for sale can be viewed on Amazon.com or on Amazon’s app. Anybody can locate which items are listed on sale through Amazon’s platform, but the deals are only available to Prime subscribers, similar to how Amazon’s flagship annual savings event Prime Day is structured.

Is Amazon Prime’s Early Access Sale only for Prime members?

Yes. Only Prime members can participate in the deals. Non-Prime members can make purchases on Amazon, but won’t get the type of savings that members get — non members also don’t get access to typically cheaper, and sometimes free shipping costs.

See also: ‘We are surprised and bewildered’: My brother passed away and left his house, cash and possessions to charity. Can his siblings contest his will?

Additionally, people who sign up for a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime can participate in the Early Access Sale.

How much does Amazon Prime cost?

An Amazon Prime subscription is $14.99 a month, or $139 for a full year. The subscription includes access to free delivery on millions of items, Prime Video, Prime Gaming, Amazon Music, and Amazon Photos, and broadcasts of “Thursday Night Football.”

Earlier in 2022, Amazon increased its Prime subscription price from $119 to $139.

Amazon increased its Prime subscription price from $119 to $139 in 2022.

What are the best Amazon Prime Early Access deals this year?

According to a statement from Amazon prior to the event beginning, some of the top deals will be on items including Fire TVs, Alexa enabled devices, and products from LEGO, Adidas
ADS,
-1.14%
and Ashley Furniture.

There will also be a Top 100 list that features the best deals on the e-commerce platform. The list will highlight the most popular products being purchased, Amazon says, and will launch in unison with the event’s start on Tuesday.

Are retailers like Target and Walmart starting holiday deals too?

Target Inc.
TGT,
+0.51%
announced customers will enjoy “earlier than ever” holiday shopping deals this year, including seven weeks of Black Friday deals, marking another instance when retailers are ditching the traditional shopping calendar of the holidays.

See also: Sorry folks, Black Friday has already started. But don’t worry if you miss the early sales.

Last month, Walmart
WMT,
+0.58%
announced a “holiday guarantee” that extends the return window for purchased items, beginning Oct. 1, and running through Jan. 31.

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October 10, 2022
Stocks could fall ‘another easy 20%’ and next drop will be ‘much more painful than the first’, Jamie Dimon says

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JPMorgan Chase & Co.
JPM,
-0.93%
CEO Jamie Dimon warned investors on Monday that he expects markets to remain volatile for the foreseeable future, and that the S&P 500 could easily fall another 20% as the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates.

Asked by CNBC about where he expects stocks to bottom, Dimon said he couldn’t say for sure, but that it’s easy to imagine the S&P 500 falling by another 20% as volatile markets become even more “disorderly” as rates continue to climb.

“It may have a ways to go. It really depends on that soft-landing, hard-landing thing and since I don’t know the answer to that it’s hard to answer…it could be another easy 20%,” Dimon said.

“The next 20% could be much more painful than the first. Rates going up another 100 basis points will be a lot more painful than the first 100 because people aren’t used to it, and I think negative rates, when all is said and done, will have been a complete failure.”

Europe is already in a recession, Dimon said, and he expects a recession in the U.S. will arrive within “six to nine months.”

An eventual economic downturn in the U.S. could range from “very mild to quite hard.” Ultimately, it will depend on the outcome of the war in Ukraine, Dimon added.

Since it’s impossible to “guess” exactly how bad things might get for both the economy and markets, investors and companies should “be prepared” for the worst-case scenario, Dimon said.

Companies should start shoring up their balance sheets now, Dimon said, adding that “if you need money, go raise it.”

He also warned that cracks are starting to appear in credit markets, and that a full-blown panic could emerge somewhere in the universe of global debt.

“The likely place you might see more of a crack or a little bit more of a panic is in credit markets. And it might be ETFs, it might be a country, it might be something you don’t suspect. If you make a list of all the credit crises…you cannot predict where they came from, although I think you can predict that this time it will happen,” he said.

After assuring the public that the Fed would do its best to minimize the fallout for the U.S. economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has recently adjusted his rhetoric to suggest that Americans likely won’t be spared from another recession as the Fed’s hopes for a “soft landing” dim.

In September, the central bank cut its projections for U.S. economic growth to just 0.2% for 2022 and 1.2% in 2023.

JPMorgan is already becoming “very conservative” with its lending standards, Dimon added. The New York-based megabank is expected to report third-quarter earnings on Friday.

Dimon’s comments helped to drive U.S. stocks to their lows of the session on Monday as the main indexes were on track for a fourth day of losses. In recent trade, the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.75%
was down 0.3%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.32%
flat, and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-1.04%
off 0.5% as major indexes bounced off session lows.

The longtime bank chief warned earlier this year that he saw an “economic hurricane” headed for the U.S. In August, he warned that chances of a “harder recession” were on the rise.

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October 10, 2022
Texas Pete maker sued for crafting its hot sauce in — gasp — North Carolina

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Some Texas Pete customers are hot under the collar about where this sauce is actually cooked up.

A California man has filed a class action suit against the hot sauce maker, claiming it “capitalizes on consumers’ desire to partake in the culture and authentic cuisine of one of the most prideful states in America” with a name and label that plays up Texas — yet, the product is actually whipped up in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Hey, at least it wasn’t made in New York City!

The complaint filed by the Clarkson Law Firm on behalf of customer Philip White says that the dissatisfied customer bought a bottle of Texas Pete for about $3 at a Ralph’s Supermarket in September 2021, because he believed it was made in Texas. The suit claims that White would have passed over the bottle of Texas Pete if he knew it really came from North Carolina.

But with a name like Texas Pete, as well as a label featuring “distinct Texan imagery” like the “lone star” from the Texas flag and a cowboy, the suit says that consumers like White looking for an authentic Texas hot sauce are being misled.

“Because there is nothing ’Texas’ about Texas Pete, [the company’s] deceptive marketing and labeling scheme violates well-established federal and state consumer protection laws aimed at preventing this exact type of fraudulent scheme,” the suit states.

Garner Foods told MarketWatch in a statement over email that, “We are aware of the current lawsuit that has been filed against our company regarding the Texas Pete brand name. We are currently investigating these assertions with our legal counsel to find the clearest and most effective way to respond.”

It should be noted that both the Texas Pete and T.W. Garner Food Co. websites point out that the hot sauce is made in North Carolina. What’s more, the back label on the hot sauce bottle also reveals that it is made in the Tar Heel State.

But the suit argues that “consumers do not view the back label of the products when purchasing everyday food items such as hot sauce.” The plaintiffs are asking for unspecified damages, as well as for Texas Pete to change its label and advertising practices.

This brings to mind an Illinois woman’s $5 million suit against Kellogg last year, claiming the company is misleading consumers by selling “Frosted Strawberry Pop-Tarts” that barely contain any strawberries.

Or when Starbucks faced backlash several years ago as more consumers started realizing their beloved pumpkin spice lattes didn’t actually contain any pumpkin. The coffee chain has since tweaked the recipe to squeeze in autumn’s signature gourd.

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October 10, 2022
Nasdaq closes at 2-year low after stocks fail to shake off Fed rate-hike gloom
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AP

U.S. stocks finished with losses on Monday, sending the Nasdaq Composite to its lowest close in more than two years, after investors failed to shake off worries about further Federal Reserve rate hikes and JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Jamie Dimon warned of a potential 20% decline in the S&P 500.
How stocks traded

The Dow
DJIA,
-0.32%
closed down by 93.91 points, or 0.3% at 29,202.88.

The S&P 500
SPX,
-0.75%
finished down by 27.27 points, or 0.8%, at 3,612.39.

The Nasdaq Composite gave up 110.30 points, or 1%, to end at 10,542.10 — the lowest close since July 28, 2020.

Monday’s declines exacerbated losses which occurred at the end of last week. On Friday, the Dow fell 630 points, or 2.1%, the S&P 500 declined 2.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.8%. The Nasdaq Composite was down 31.9% for the year to date through Friday.

What drove markets

Major indexes finished lower for a fourth consecutive session on Monday as concerns about additional rate hikes by the Fed continued to damp sentiment. Dow industrials, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq all fell to session lows after a CNBC interview with Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan
JPM,
-0.93%,
who said the S&P 500 could fall by “another easy 20%” from current levels.

Read: Here are the 5 times traders and stock-market investors got fooled by Fed ‘pivot’ hopes in past year

Soft data a week ago had raised hopes that the Fed would soon pause its monetary tightening cycle in its battle to suppress multidecade high inflation, and the market subsequently rebounded off its near two-year lows. But a strong jobs report on Friday crushed that Fed “pivot” narrative and stocks plunged again.

On Monday, the CBOE Vix index
VIX,
+3.48%,
a gauge of expected S&P 500 volatility, sat at 32.15, well above its long-term average of 20.

“The low interest-rate environment forced investors to chase yield and bid up the asset prices too high. Eventually the market is fair and asset values have to achieve some sense of common ground or base level valuation. So it was inevitable that this valuation correction would happen,” said Siddharth Singhai, chief investment officer for New York-based hedge fund IronHold Capital.

“Panic will swing the market towards excessive pessimism and then the valuations will be too cheap. That hasn’t happened yet. Upcoming rate hikes will most likely be a catalyst for panic, however,” he wrote in an email to MarketWatch on Monday.

Coming into Monday’s session, trading had been expected to be somewhat thinned by the Columbus Day and Indigenous People’s Day holiday, which closed the Treasury market.

Now, traders are looking toward more data later in the week for further guidance on Fed thinking and equity valuations. The U.S. producer price numbers will be released on Wednesday and the consumer prices report on Thursday, the last of their kind before the Fed’s policy decision on Nov. 2.

Then on Friday, third-quarter corporate earnings season really kicks into gear when big banks like JPMorgan
JPM,
-0.93%
and Citigroup
C,
-1.40%
present their numbers.

Read: JPMorgan, Citi, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo kick off bank earnings season in choppy waters and S&P 500 would be in an ‘earnings recession’ if not for this one booming sector — but that may not last long

Investors were also keeping an eye on the strong U.S. dollar, which is considered a drag on the earnings of U.S. multinationals. The dollar index
DXY,
+0.25%
rose 0.3% to 113.12 as the euro intermittently broke below $0.97 after Russia sent missiles into cities across Ukraine.

See: A rampaging U.S. dollar is wreaking havoc in financial markets. Here’s why it’s so hard to stop it.

“We expect a lot more volatility in markets for the remainder of the year as the inevitability of higher rates sinks in and the economic consequences become more pronounced,” said Arthur Laffer Jr., president of Nashville-based Laffer Tengler Investments. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell “will not be a very popular person but it seems his legacy is focused on fighting any resurgence of 1970s inflation in the U.S. at all costs.”

Companies in focus

Rivian Automotive Inc.
RIVN,
-7.28%
intends to recall about 13,000 vehicles due to a possible safety issue that has so far been found to have affected several units, the company said Friday night. Shares finished down by 7.3%.

Tesla Inc.
TSLA,
-0.05%
reported record monthly sales of China-made electric vehicles in September, as it continues to ramp production in the world’s number-two economy. The electric-vehicle maker delivered 83,135 EVs from its Shanghai plant in September, an 8% rise from August, according to a report by the China Passenger Car Association. Tesla shares nonetheless finished down by less than 0.1%.

–— Jamie Chisholm contributed to this article.
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October 10, 2022
Ford stock is now a ‘sell’ at UBS as an oversupply problem looms

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Shares of Ford Motor Co. were hit hard Monday by UBS analyst Patrick Hummel’s recommendation that investors sell, as the auto industry is facing a worrisome U-turn from undersupply to oversupply.

Hummel also cut his ratings on several other global auto makers, including General Motors Co.
GM,
-5.59%,
saying that as a recession concerns grow, “demand destruction is no longer a vague risk.”

In addition to all of the data suggesting the economy is slowing, Hummel said growing U.S. dealer inventories, weak used-car pricing, used-car dealer profit warnings and signs indicating deteriorating orders and shorter delivery times make him more cautious on the overall auto industry.

Don’t miss: CarMax stock suffered biggest selloff since the year 2000, as inflation, low consumer confidence lead to big profit miss.

“We think it will only take 3-6 months for the auto industry to end up in oversupply, which will put an abrupt end to a 3-year phase of unprecedented OEM [original equipment manufacturer] pricing power and margins,” Hummel wrote in a note to clients.

As part of his negative industry outlook, he cut his rating on Ford
F,
-7.38%
to sell from neutral and his stock price target to $10 from $13, with the new target implying about 11% downside from current levels.

Ford’s stock sank 7.6% in morning trading. It was trading up just 0.6% month to date, after plunging 26.5% in September to suffer its worst monthly performance since it plummeted 30.6% during pandemic-stricken March 2020.

Hummel noted that Ford has already warned about having more vehicles in inventory than expected, and above payments to suppliers running about $1 billion higher than projected, so he sees little margin left for negative surprises in terms of fourth-quarter deliveries and supply costs.

Hummel cut his 2023 adjusted earnings-per-share estimate by 61% to 52 cents a share, to reflect a $6.5 billion drop in price and sales mix. The compares with the current 2023 FactSet EPS consensus of $1.87.

“This sounds very negative, but Ford gains $19 billion in price alone since the beginning of 2020,” Hummel wrote.

Also read: Ford again raises price of F-150 Lightning electric pickup.

Read more: Ford September sales fall as drop in trucks offsets near tripling in EVs.

Meanwhile, GM’s stock dove 6.9% in morning trading toward a three-month low, and shares have shed 2.5% so far this month after tumbling 16% last month.

Hummel downgraded GM to neutral from buy, and dropped his price target by 32%, to $38 from $56.

The rating remains above Ford’s, because unlike its rival, Hummel noted that GM has had “no hiccups” in its third-quarter production schedule and therefore a “solid” quarterly report is expected. However, the downgrade reflects the fact that GM is “not immune” to a downturn in the industry.

Separately, Hummel also cut his stock-price target on Tesla Inc.
TSLA,
-0.16%
to $350 from $367, saying that following a third-quarter volume report that was below expectations, it will be “more challenging” for the electric-vehicle maker to meet its 2022 delivery growth target.

However, Hummel reiterated his buy rating on Tesla, as he believes the EV maker is best positioned to use pricing as the tool to fill its factories.

“Overall, the recession outlook should result in moderately lower margins for Tesla than previously expected, but we’re highly confident that by keeping the top line [revenue] momentum, Tesla will even widen the gap vs. competitors in terms of profitability,” Hummel wrote.

Ford’s stock has fallen 3% over the past three months, while GM shares have lost 3.1% and Tesla’s stock has dropped 11.8%. In comparison, the S&P 500 index
SPX,
-1.08%
has declined 7.5% the past three months.

Among other auto makers, he also downgraded both Renault SA
RNO,
+2.41%

RNLSY,
+1.17%
and Volkswagen AG
VOW,
-3.29%
to neutral from buy. He also downgraded auto parts makers Continental AG
CON,
+0.10%
and Faurecia SE
EO,
-3.77%

FURCF,
-3.67%
to neutral from buy.

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October 10, 2022
Stock futures struggle for direction amid Fed rate-hike gloom
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U.S. stock futures were looking for direction Monday as worries about Fed rate rises persisted, with major indexes trading not far off their 2022 lows set at the end of last month.

Investors were looking ahead to key inflation data due later this week, as well as minutes of the Fed’s September policy meeting and the start of earnings season.
How stocks are trading

S&P 500 futures
ES00,
-0.04%
erased earlier losses to tick up 3.50 points, or 0.1%, to 3,656.75.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
YM00,
+0.34%
rose 63 points, or 0.2%, to 29,416.

Nasdaq 100 futures
NQ00,
-0.54%
were down 9.50 points, or 0.1%, at 11,092.

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+0.11%
fell 630 points, or 2.1%, the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.31%
declined 2.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-2.61%
dropped 3.8%. The Nasdaq Composite was down 31.9% for the year to date through Friday.

What’s driving markets

U.S. stocks were in line for a fourth consecutive session of losses as concerns about additional interest rate rises by the Federal Reserve continued to dampen sentiment.

Trading was expected to be somewhat thinned by the Columbus Day and Indigenous People’s Day holiday, which closed the Treasury market.

Soft data a week ago raised hopes that the Fed would soon pause its monetary tightening cycle in its battle to suppress multi-decade high inflation, and the market subsequently rebounded off its near two-year lows. But a strong jobs report on Friday crushed that Fed “pivot” narrative and stocks plunged again.

See: Why stock-market investors keep falling for Fed ‘pivot’ talk — and what it will take to put in a bottom

The 5-day round trip saw an average move for the S&P 500 of 1.9%. Little surprise then that the CBOE Vix index
VIX,
+5.20%,
a gauge of expected S&P 500 volatility, sat on Monday at 31.4, more than 50% above its long term average of 20.

“The market response to Friday’s U.S. jobs report was characteristic of a bear market in equities. U.S. indices reversed sharply in the absence of the bad economic news required to shake the Fed’s hawkish determination,” said Ian Williams, strategist at Peel Hunt.

Now traders will look toward more data due later in the week for further guidance on Fed thinking and equity valuations.

The U.S. producer price numbers will be released on Wednesday and the consumer prices report on Thursday, the last of their kind before the Fed’s rate-setting meeting on Nov. 2.

Then on Friday, third-quarter corporate earnings season really kicks into gear when big banks like JPMorgan
JPM,
+0.47%
and Citigroup
C,
-0.31%
present their numbers.

Read: JPMorgan, Citi, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo kick off bank earnings season in choppy waters

“The estimated earnings growth rate for the S&P 500 is 2.4%. If 2.4% is the actual
growth rate for the quarter, it will mark the lowest earnings growth rate reported by the index since Q3 2020 (-5.7%),” said John Butters, senior earnings analyst at Factset.

Further hurting risk appetite on Monday was additional gains for the dollar, whose strength is considered a drag on the earnings of U.S. multinationals. The dollar index
DXY,
+0.28%
rose 0.3% to 113.15 as the euro broke back below $0.97 after Russia sent missiles into cities across Ukraine.

Companies in focus

Rivian Automotive Inc.
RIVN,
-8.25%
intends to recall about 13,000 vehicles due to a possible safety issue that has so far been found to have impacted several units, the company said Friday night. Shares were down 7.1% in premarket trade.

Tesla Inc.
TSLA,
+0.06%
reported record monthly sales of China-made electric vehicles in September, as it continues to ramp production in the world’s number-two economy. The electric-vehicle maker delivered 83,135 EVs in September, an 8% rise from August, according to a report by the China Passenger Car Association on Sunday. Tesla shares were down 0.2%.
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October 10, 2022
Rivian stock sinks toward 3-month low in wake of vehicle recall for safety issue

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Shares of Rivian Automotive Inc.
RIVN,
-7.64%
sank 8.8% toward a three-month low in premarket trading, in the wake of the electric vehicle maker’s large vehicle recall due to steering problems. The company said late Friday that it intends to recall about 13,000 vehicles, which The Wall Street Journal reported was to repair improperly installed fasteners that could cause drivers to lose steering control. The company said it was “committed to fixing this issue” as quickly as possible. The stock, which sank 7.6% on Friday prior to the report of the recall, has plunged 67.3% year to date while the S&P 500
SPX,
-2.80%
has shed 23.6%.

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October 10, 2022
Putin says military strikes against Ukraine were retaliation for bridge attack

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MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a series of strikes Monday across Ukraine came in retaliation against the Ukrainian attack on a bridge to Crimea and other attacks in Russia that he described as “terrorist” actions.

Putin said the Russian military launched precision weapons from the air, sea and ground to target key energy and military command facilities.

He warned that if Ukraine continues to mount “terrorist attacks” on Russia, Moscow’s response will be “tough and proportionate to the level of threats.”

The intense, hours-long attack marked a sudden military escalation by Moscow. It came a day after Putin called the explosion Saturday on the huge bridge connecting Russia to its annexed territory of Crimea a “terrorist act” masterminded by Ukrainian special services.

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October 10, 2022
U.K. to bring forward budget review to Oct. 31

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The U.K. Treasury announced Monday it was bringing forward the publication of an independent review into its budget plans to the end of October.

Bond yields were still higher on the day, but off their highest levels. The 2-year gilt
TMBMKGB-02Y,
4.189%
yield , as high as 4.23%, was at 4.18%, while the 30-year gilt
TMBMKGB-30Y,
4.520%,
which had a yield as high as 4.56%, was at 4.51%.

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October 10, 2022
Will the stock market be open on Columbus Day?

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It’s a regular day of business for the U.S. stock market on Monday, October 10, as equity exchanges stay open for Columbus Day, a federal holiday that also has been recognized as Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Bond markets, however, take the day off, which means a long weekend for the Treasury market, corporate bonds and other forms of tradable debt, starting after the close of business on Friday.

Stocks have endured a brutal selloff in the first nine months of the year as the Federal Reserve has worked to fight inflation that’s been stuck near it highest levels since the early 1980s.

See: Why stock-market bulls keep falling for Fed ‘pivot’ feints — and what it will take to put in a bottom

The central bank’s main tool to battle inflation has been to dramatically increase interest rates, while also shrinking its balance sheet, in an effort to tighten financial conditions and squelch demand for goods and services, while also bringing down stubbornly high costs of living, including food, shelter and energy prices.

The Fed’s focus in recent months also has been on cooling the roaring labor market, with strong wage gains in the past year viewed as one of several culprits behind elevated inflation.

Friday’s jobs report for September pegged the unemployment rate as matching a prepandemic low of 3.5%, dashing hopes for now of a significant trend toward a pullback in the labor market.

The S&P 500 index
SPX,
-2.80%
tumbled 2.8% on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-2.11%
fell 630.15 points, or 2.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
-3.04%
dropped 3.8%. An early October rally had offered some hope for a bounce for stocks, after a brutal first nine months for investors.

Bonds also have undergone a painful repricing this year as volatility tied to the Fed’s monetary tightening campaign has eroded the value of bonds issued in the past decade of low rates.

Read: Bond markets facing historic losses grow anxious about Fed that ‘isn’t blinking yet’

The S&P 500 is down about 24% for the year, while the Dow is off 19% and the Nasdaq nearly 32%.The 10-year Treasury rate
TMUBMUSD10Y,
3.889%
was near 3.9% Friday, after recently touching 4%, it’s highest since 2010

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October 9, 2022
Russia says truck bomb damages key bridge to Crimea

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KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian authorities said that a truck bomb on Saturday caused a fire and the collapse of a section of a bridge linking Russia-annexed Crimea with Russia — a key supply artery for Moscow’s faltering war effort in southern Ukraine.

The attack on the bridge comes a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin turned 70, dealing him a humiliating blow that could lead him to up the ante in his war on Ukraine.

Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said that the truck bomb caused seven railway cars carrying fuel to catch fire, resulting in a “partial collapse of two sections of the bridge.” The committee didn’t immediately apportion blame.

The Crimean Peninsula holds symbolic value for Russia and is key to sustaining its military operations in the south. If the bridge is made inoperable, it would make it significantly more challenging to ferry supplies to the peninsula. While Russia seized the areas north of Crimea early during the invasion and built a land corridor to it along the Sea of Azov, Ukraine is pressing a counteroffensive to reclaim them.

The bridge has train and automobile sections. Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee specified that the explosion and fire led to the collapse of the two sections of one of the two links of the automobile bridge, while another link was intact.

Authorities have suspended commuter train traffic across the bridge until further notice. Putin was informed about the explosion and he ordered the creation of a government panel to deal with the emergency.

The 19-kilometer (12-mile) bridge across the Kerch Strait linking the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov is the longest in Europe. It has provided an essential link to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly threatened to strike the bridge.

Russia opened the first part of the span to car traffic in May 2018. The parallel bridge for rail traffic opened the following year.

The $3.6 billion project is a tangible symbol of Moscow’s claims on Crimea. It was Russia’s only land link to the peninsula until Russian forces seized more Ukrainian territory on the northern end of the Sea of Azov in heavy fighting, particularly around the city of Mariupol, earlier this year.

In August, Russia suffered a series of explosions at an airbase and munitions depot in Crimea, which underlined its vulnerability.

The truck bomb on the bridge occurred hours after explosions rocked the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv early Saturday, sending towering plumes of smoke into the sky and triggering a series of secondary explosions.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram that the early-morning explosions were the result of missile strikes in the center of the city. He said that the blasts sparked fires at one of the city’s medical institutions and a nonresidential building. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The blasts came hours after Russia concentrated attacks in its increasingly troubled invasion of Ukraine on areas it illegally annexed, while the death toll from earlier missile strikes on apartment buildings in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia rose to 14.

On Friday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to human rights organizations in his Russia and Ukraine, and to an activist jailed in Belarus, an ally of Moscow.

Berit Reiss-Andersen, the committee’s chair, said the honor went to “three outstanding champions of human rights, democracy and peaceful coexistence,” though it was widely seen as a rebuke to Putin and his conduct of Europe’s worst armed conflict since World War II.

Putin signed documents on Wednesday to illegally claim four regions of Ukraine as Russian territory, including the Zaporizhzhia region that is home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, whose reactors were shut down last month.

That move was foreshadowed by Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014, which was carried out after Moscow alleged residents of the peninsula had voted to join with Russia. That move was widely condemned, and prompted sanctions from the U.S. and the European Union.

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October 8, 2022
U.S. stocks end sharply lower after strong jobs report keeps Fed on hiking path, but post gain for week

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U.S. stocks finished the week in the red after a still-strong September jobs report Friday suggested the central bank would not alter the course of monetary policy soon. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-2.11%
fell 630 points, or 2.1%, to finish at 29,297. The S&P 500
SPX,
-2.80%
lost 2.8%, while the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-3.80%
slid 3.8%. Friday’s employment report showed the U.S. economy added 263,000 new jobs in September, slightly lower than Dow Jones’ forecast of 275,000 jobs, and well below the 315,000 new positions added in August. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, declined to 3.5% from an August reading of 3.7%. Despite the selloff, the S&P booked a 1.5% weekly gain after back-to-back rallies earlier in the week, while the Dow gained 2% and the Nasdaq was up 0.7%, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

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October 7, 2022
Dow books 630-point drop after strong jobs data rattles investors, but stocks cement weekly gains
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U.S. stocks finished sharply lower Friday, but still booked their best weekly gains in a month, after September jobs data showed an unexpected fall in the unemployment rate that’s anticipated to reinforce the Federal Reserve’s resolve to keep tightening monetary policy.

Investors also weighed a profit warning at a leading microchip maker ahead of next week’s increase in quarterly earnings results.
What happened

The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-2.11%
fell 630.15 points, or 2.1%, ending at 29,296.79, but off the session low of 29,142.66.

The S&P 500
SPX,
-2.80%
dropped 104.86 points, or 2.8%, closing at 3,639.66.

The Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-3.80%
shed 420.91 points, or 3.8%, to finish at 10,652.40.

Stocks posted back-to-back losses, trimming weekly gains, but recorded their best weekly gains since Sept. 9, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Read: Will the stock market be open on Columbus Day?

What drove markets

Stocks recorded sharp losses Friday after the Labor Department said the U.S. economy added 263,000 jobs in September, while the unemployment rate declined to 3.5% from an August reading of 3.7%. Average hourly earnings rose 0.3%.

Still, a powerful rally earlier in the week boosted all three major stock indexes to weekly gains, a departure from three straight weekly losses, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

“It’s manic. We are all on edge,” said Kent Engelke, chief economic strategist at Capitol Securities Management, of the sharp market swings.

“Any piece of good news is a cause for an explosive rally,” Engelke said by phone. On the flip side, he pegged technology-based trading “in an illiquid and emotional market” as exacerbating Friday’s selloff.

“It’s a reflection that people have re-entered the mind-set that the Fed is going to be raising rates at a rapid clip, probably for longer than what they might have suspected at the start of the week,” said Robert Pavlik, a senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth Management, by phone.

Pavlik expects the Fed to keep tightening financial conditions to try to head off inflation. “But once we turn the corner, and the economy slows down, the Fed probably will be more aggressive in cutting rates on the way down.”

In addition, the Fed has been “draining liquidity from the system at a remarkable pace,” wrote Rick Rieder, BlackRock’s chief investment officer of global fixed income, in a Friday client note, while pointing to an astounding $1.3 trillion decline in the central bank’s balance sheet since the December 2021 peak.

Pavlik at Dakota Wealth said he anticipates the Fed will start slowing interest rate hikes by mid-next year, which likely means continued pressure for the stock market, particularly with a backdrop of big oil-price
CL00,
+5.37%
gains this week after global crude producers voted to cut monthly production and with the U.S. dollar’s
DXY,
+0.44%
surge this year against a basket of rival currencies.

U.S. crude oil prices climbed for a fifth day in a row on Friday to settle at $92.64 a barrel, while booking at 16.5% weekly gain.

New York Fed President John Williams said Friday that benchmark interest rates likely need to hit 4.5% over time. The Fed’s policy rate now sits in a 3%-3.25% range, up from a zero-0.25% range a year ago.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury rate
TMUBMUSD10Y,
3.889%
climbed to 3.883% Friday, as the key metric used to gauge the affordability of credit for businesses, household and the economy posted 10 straight weeks of gains, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Read: Bond markets facing historic losses grow anxious of Fed that ‘isn’t blinking yet’

Investors continued to hope for relief on the inflation front and will be monitoring next week’s release of the September consumer-price index, as well as corporate earnings season as it picks up.

Companies in focus

Twitter Inc.
TWTR,
-0.43%
shares fell 0.4% Friday after a judge delayed a looming trial between the company and Elon Musk to allow the Tesla Inc.
TSLA,
-6.32%
CEO more time to close his $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform.

Besides the jobs report, investors weighed a profit warning from microchip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD, which said the PC market weakened significantly during the quarter. AMD shares fell 13.9%, and rivals including Nvidia Corp. NVDA and Intel Corp. INTC also closed lower.

U.S. cannabis stocks were choppy Friday, with the AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF
MSOS,
-2.80%
ending lower, following steep gains earlier in the week after President Joe Biden said the U.S. would consider de-scheduling cannabis from its current position as a Schedule 1 narcotic under federal law.

—Steven Goldstein contributed reporting to this article
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October 7, 2022