The Powerball jackpot surpassed $2 billion for the first time in its history, and the winning ticket was sold in California.
Flavio Coelho | Getty Images
According to the California Lottery, the lucky ticket was sold at Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, Calif. The grand total was $2.04 billion.
California Lottery makes its FIRST EVER Billionaire! One lucky ticket sold at Joe’s Service Center in Altadena matched all 6 numbers in the November 7 #Powerball draw. The final jackpot amount for this draw came to $2.04 BILLION dollars. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/9mSEAh18s1
Although the drawing was scheduled for Monday night, the would-be lucky winner had to wait a bit longer: A security issue delayed the results, Powerball said in a statement.
Tonight’s Powerball® drawing has been delayed due to a participating lottery needing extra time to complete the required security protocols. Powerball has strict security requirements that must be met by all 48 lotteries before a drawing can occur. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/jQZJQIPJXr
According to the statement, one of the 48 participating lotteries hadn’t yet processed its sales and play data, and Powerball has “stringent security requirements to protect the integrity of the game.”
But the winning numbers have since been revealed: 10, 33, 41, 47, 56, and the Powerball was 10.
Winning a jackpot requires picking five numbers between 1 and 69 and a sixth number between 1 and 26 (these can also be generated automatically). The person or people who select all of the numbers correctly will walk away with the money — odds of roughly one in 303 million, per NerdWallet.
For those who do win big, the amount they actually take home will be determined by if they choose to accept the prize as a 30-year annuity or a lump sum that’s worth roughly 51% less, per CNBC. But the total winnings will also largely depend on the winner’s state taxes.
There are only eight states that don’t tax lottery winnings: California, Florida, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Other states charge anywhere from 2.9% to 8.82% taxes on the prize.
Inflation is weighing heavily on the holidays this year.
Roughly half of shoppers will buy fewer things due to higher prices, and more than one-third said they will rely on coupons to cut down on the cost, according to a recent survey of more than 1,000 adults by RetailMeNot.
Though the study found many consumers are also eager to get an early start on seasonal shopping, that surge is largely driven by concerns about affordability and money-saving strategies, other reports show.
“Inflation is, by far, the biggest issue for households this year,” said Tim Quinlan, senior economist at Wells Fargo and author of its 2022 holiday sales report.
Household finances have taken a hit with a lower savings rate and declining real wages, which could slow holiday sales, Quinlan said.
“The bottom line is, with inflation remaining a headache, dollars aren’t stretching as far, and most consumers will still be looking for bargains,” Quinlan said.
A separate report by BlackFriday.com also found that 70% of shoppers will be taking inflation into consideration when shopping this holiday season, and even more will be on the lookout for deals.
People are trying to economize and make the most of what they have.
Cecilia Seiden
vice president of TransUnion’s retail business
Roughly 25% of consumers said they would opt for cheaper versions or more practical gifts, such as gas cards, according to TransUnion’s holiday shopping survey.
“People are trying to economize and make the most of what they have,” saidCecilia Seiden, vice president of TransUnion’s retail business.
Still, households will shell out $1,455, on average, on holiday gifts, in line with last year, a separate retail report by Deloitte found.
Shoppers at the Willow Grove Park Mall in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 14, 2020.
Mark Makela | Reuters
“Remember to not put yourself in debt over holiday shopping,” cautioned Natalia Brown, chief client operations officer at National Debt Relief. “Debt prevents people from reaching their financial goals — like building an emergency fund, buying a home and saving for retirement.”
The logo of the cryptocurrency Terra Luna is seen on the screen of a computer in an office.
Silas Stein/picture alliance via Getty Images
The cryptocurrency market fell on Tuesday amid rumors of insolvency at crypto exchange FTX and worries about the financial conditions of its sister company Alameda Research.
Bitcoin and ether were lower by 6% and 8% respectively, according to Coin Metrics.
Crypto assets tied to Alameda, the trading company also owned by billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, were suffering steeper losses. FTX Token (FTT), the native token of the FTX trading platform, has fallen 23% in the past 24 hours. The token tied to Ethereum competitor Solana, of which Alameda is a big backer, has lost 12%.
In crypto equities, Coinbase fell 12.5%, while Robinhood, in which SBF has a 7.6% stake, fell 9%. Crypto banks like Silvergate and Signature and bitcoin miners like Hut 8 and Riot Blockchain were down double digit percentages.
“There are a lot of mirrors to the Celsius and Three Arrows crisis that happened months ago and what you’re seeing is investors having deja vu and fear leaking into the markets,” said Conor Ryder, research analyst at Kaiko.
On Tuesday FTX halted withdrawals from its platform, after spooked investors attempted to pull their funds en masse. Investor confidence has been shaken after Binance founder Changpeng Zhao tweeted over the weekend that the company would sell its holdings of FTT. Binance is the largest crypto exchange in the world by trading volume and was an early backer of FTX.
Zhao said in his tweet that Binance has about $2.1 billion worth of FTT and BUSD, the fiat-backed stablecoin issued by Binance and Paxos, combined.
“Due to recent revelations that have came to light, we have decided to liquidate any remaining FTT on our books,” he said.
Those revelations refer to rumors about the solvency of FTX, the second-biggest crypto exchange in the world by trading volume. A report last week on the state of Alameda’s finances showed a large portion of its balance sheet is concentrated in FTT and its various activities leveraged using FTT as collateral. Alameda has disputed that claim, saying FTT represents only part of its total balance sheet.
“The Alameda hedge fund is tied to FTX through a ton of FTT tokens and the rumors started that if they are using all of these FTT tokens as collateral… there are two issues,” said Jeff Dorman, chief investment officer at Arca. “If the price of FTT goes way down then Alameda could face margin calls and all kinds of pressure; two is if FTX is the lender to Alameda then everyone’s going to be in trouble.”
“What could have been just an isolated issue at Alameda became a bank run,” he added. “Everybody started to pull their assets out of FTX and there’s this fear that FTX would be insolvent.”
‘Another black eye for trust’
Ryder said he has confidence that FTX and its customers “will be fine” but that the panic is understandable. Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, has said little on the matter to quell fears.
The problem is the opaque nature and the lack of transparency about FTX reserves, Alameda’s reserves, the links between the two – no one really knows how to intertwined the two are,” he said. “From that side of things, it mirrors Celsius issues a lot in that we have no transparency of funds, and FTX hasn’t come out and reassured investors so that’s what we’re seeing now leak into markets.”
It’s a good argument for more regulation of centralized entities, Ryder added, saying it’s imperative for all centralized entities – be it hedge funds like Three Arrows Capital or Alameda Research or centralized exchanges like FTX and Binance that aren’t publicly listed – to maintain a proof of reserves for the sake of investor protection.
Dorman echoed Ryder’s sentiment, saying that while it may be at worst a short-term liquidity issue, it’s “another black eye for trust.”
“Do they put [the reserves] in a bank account? Do they use them to lend out?” Dorman said. “This is where the lack of transparency comes in: something that probably isn’t a problem and shouldn’t be a problem becomes a short-term liquidity problem if FTX can’t immediately process all withdrawals.”
Investors looking for a solid restaurant play can expect a “compelling” risk-reward from shares of Dave & Buster’s Entertainment , Deutsche Bank says. Analyst Brian Mullan upgraded shares of the restaurant and entertainment stock to a buy from a hold rating, saying in a note to clients that the “setup seems pretty decent” even in a bleak macro environment. “When we scan our restaurant coverage universe looking for opportunities, in what is still very much a tough macro (or in at least in what logically feels like it should be a very tough macro for consumer spending), we think the risk reward on PLAY stands out as fairly compelling at present,” Mullan wrote. Deutsche Bank also upped its price target on the stock to $48 a share, suggesting shares could rally nearly 30% in the months ahead. The stock has held up relatively better than the broader market this year, down just 3.5%. To be sure, Dave & Buster’s isn’t immune to a slowing macro environment, but Deutsche Bank believes the stock price is already reflecting that potential outcome. “And to the degree that PLAY can hold its recent top-line trends at least through the very important holiday time period, we can envision the stock outperforming a basket of its pure-play CDR peers (at a minimum), which is essentially our expectation with this upgrade,” Mullan said. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting
Pictured here is a Shanghai neighborhood under Covid lockdown on Nov. 7, 2022.
Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images
BEIJING — China’s Covid situation is only getting worse, preventing the country from stamping out the virus and relaxing controls.
The daily case count surged to six-month highs over the weekend. Guangzhou indefinitely delayed its auto show that was supposed to kick off next week. And schools in Beijing are waffling over whether to shift classes online, according to social media.
As of Monday, China’s Covid controls negatively affected 12.2% of national GDP — up from 9.5% a week ago, according to Nomura’s model. The Japanese bank said more than one-fifth of China’s population was subject to some kind of control measures.
The southern province of Guangdong is the hardest hit, with cases mostly concentrated in one district. Recent Covid infections have been reported in more than 20 of China’s 31 province-level regions.
“One thing is very clear, a lot of business events have been cancelled and postponed,” Klaus Zenkel, vice president at the EU Chamber of Commerce in China and chairman of its South China chapter, said Tuesday.
“People don’t dare to travel. Too many restrictions,” he said, noting how companies from Guangzhou and Shenzhen “cannot even join” China’s international import expo in Shanghai this week. “How to maintain customer relations when we can’t meet face to face?”
It was not immediately clear whether there was any impact on factory production in the South China region. China’s Ministry of Commerce did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.
Officials dispelled the rumors on Saturday, affirming at a press conference that the current zero-Covid policy remains.
“We continue to believe that, while Beijing may fine-tune some of its Covid measures in coming weeks, those fine-tuning measures could be more than offset by local officials’ tightening of the [zero-Covid strategy],” Nomura’s Chief China Economist Ting Lu and a team said in a report Monday.
Read more about China from CNBC Pro
Mainland China reported more than 800 Covid infections with symptoms and well over 6,600 without symptoms for Monday.
Other countries have far higher daily case counts, but have chosen to live with Covid.
Chinese authorities have expressed concerns about the ability of the country’s already strained healthcare system to handle a surge in Covid infections.
Alibaba’s international e-commerce platform AliExpress has expanded in South Korea and Brazil, in addition to Europe. Pictured here is an AliExpress locker in Poland in July 2022.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
BEIJING — Alibaba‘s international e-commerce business AliExpress is spending the equivalent of $7 million to reach consumers in South Korea, the unit told CNBC in an exclusive interview.
AliExpress said it launched three-to-five-day shipping to South Korea last year, allowing South Korean residents to buy some products, especially in fashion, from Taobao. That’s Alibaba’s main e-commerce site in China.
In all, the business unit said it spent 10 billion won this year in South Korea to lower product prices. The company wants to “make sure we have the best pricing,” said Gary Topp, European commercial and marketing director at AliExpress.
The investment looks to tap a market that’s valued at billions of dollars, and currently dominated by the U.S.
“Although in 2020, the United States was ranked number one, other countries such as China are expanding their presence in the Korean e-commerce market,” the report said, noting South Korean consumers are now buying from more than 30 countries.
From January to September this year, the number of AliExpress app users among South Koreans increased by 22%, Seoul-based independent data analytics company TDI said.
That brought monthly active users in South Korea to a record 2.72 million in September, TDI said.
AliExpress said it didn’t comment on third-party data.
In August last year, AliExpress was already one of the top five sites most-used by South Koreans for buying products directly from overseas sellers, according to the Korea Consumer Agency, a government agency. The other sites were Amazon, iHerb, eBay and Q0010.
In past years, AliExpress focused primarily on reaching the European market. Public disclosures about subsidies focused on making it cheaper and faster for consumers in Spain, France and other European countries to receive packages.
As the company geared up for its big November shopping festival — the Singles Day shopping event leading up to Nov. 11 — it said it will be offering two-day local delivery to customers inSpain and France. This fall, AliExpress began rolling out interest-free installment payment plans for customers in Europe.
During the same quarter, the company’s China commerce retail business saw a 2% year-on-year decline to $20.45 billion. The period was hit by Covid-related disruptions to logistics and supply chains.
The stock market continues to be a challenging environment with rising rates a potent headwind. So far, the economy has been stable enough so that earnings growth has not contracted, but this is unlikely to persist the longer the Fed stays hawkish. This article discusses characteristics of stocks that are likely to outperform and 3 stocks with these characteristics – Lockheed Martin (LMT), Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX), and Elevance Health (ELV).
shutterstock.com – StockNews
The stock market dove lower following the FOMC press conference where Chair Powell made it clear that even if the Fed were to slow its pace of hikes, the job is nowhere close to completion. This led to estimates of the ‘terminal rate’ of this hiking cycle to increase following the meeting with 5.5% now the consensus.
Of course, the higher the terminal rate, the more pain that will be inflicted on the economy especially in areas like finance, housing, and real estate. Bonds are likely to suffer, and there are increased chances of a liquidation event if borrowers are unable to meet their obligations which becomes more likely in a high-rate world. Stocks will also suffer which could intensify if earnings materially decline.
These environments mean that investors have to be extremely judicious in terms of making their selections. They should look for stocks whose prospects are disconnected to near-term economic or monetary factors.
LMT is a security and aerospace company that has four segments: Aeronautics; Missiles and Fire Control; Rotary and Mission Systems; and Space. The company produces high-tech weapons and defense systems but is best known for its F-35 fighter jets. In addition to these services, LMT provides a wide variety of services for governments all over the world.
In terms of the current environment, LMT is an ideal selection to ‘beat’ the bear market. For one, government budgets and defense spending are much less volatile than other parts of the economy. In fact, defense spending, on a global level, has grown at about an average, annual rate of 5% over the last couple of decades with the only dip being during the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 90s.
Second, companies like LMT often receive long-term contracts and only have a few competitors given that these projects are quite sophisticated and require security clearance. They also tend to have large balance sheets and a long history of paying and raising dividends which also leads to outperformance during periods of economic turbulence.
LMT has an overall B rating, which translates to a Buy in our POWR Rating system. B-rated stocks have posted an average annual performance of 20.1% which compares favorably to the S&P 500’s annual performance of 8.0%.
In terms of component grades, LMT has a B for Value due to its forward P/E of 14 which is cheaper than the S&P 500 (and less prone to negative revisions). It also has a B for Quality due to being one of the leading aerospace & defense companies. Click here to see more of LMT’s POWR Ratings.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX)
VRTX discovers and develops small-molecule drugs for the treatment of serious diseases. Its key drugs are Kalydeco, Orkambi, Symdeko, and Trikafta for cystic fibrosis, where Vertex therapies remain the standard of care globally. The company also focuses on developing treatments for pain, type 1 diabetes, inflammatory diseases, influenza, and other rare diseases.
The company’s cystic fibrosis drugs are poised to continue dominating the market for the foreseeable future due to the disease-modifying potential of the drugs, consistent use by patients, and very little competition. VRTX combination therapies also have lengthy patents, which protect its cystic fibrosis portfolio from generics. There is also potential for its non-cystic fibrosis pipeline, which has exposure to promising areas, such as AAT deficiency, sickle cell disease, and beta-thalassemia.
VRTX has an overall grade of A which equates to a strong Buy rating in the POWR Ratings service. A-rated stocks have posted an average annual performance of 31.1% which compares favorably to the S&P 500’s average annual gain of 8.0%.
VRTX also has strong component grades including an A for Quality due to 11 out of 19 analysts covering the stock having a Strong Buy rating with only 2 having a Sell rating. It’s also regarded as one of the top companies in the space due to its dominance of the CF market and strong pipeline of potential, blockbuster treatments. Click here to see more of VRTX’s POWR Ratings.
ELV is a managed care company, providing medical benefits to roughly 44 million members. The company offers employer, individual, and government-sponsored coverage plans. It is also the largest single provider of Blue Cross Blue Shield branded coverage. This sector has also been particularly strong due to a very low unemployment rate which means that the company has seen strong growth in enrollees.
Further, the pandemic was a boost to its bottom-line as less people were going to the doctor and undergoing procedures. Therefore, the company’s payout ratio declined. Many analysts had been expecting an above-average reading as the economy normalized, but so far this has simply returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Another reason to like managed care stocks is their pricing power as healthcare spending tends to rise at a faster pace than inflation. And, they tend to be less affected by economic slowdowns. Currently, the company is seeing growth from its Medicare Advantage plans and virtual care services.
With these attributes, it’s not surprising that ELV has an overall grade of A, which translates into a Strong Buy rating in our POWR Ratings system.
LMT shares . Year-to-date, LMT has gained 38.22%, versus a -19.84% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.
About the Author: Jaimini Desai
Jaimini Desai has been a financial writer and reporter for nearly a decade. His goal is to help readers identify risks and opportunities in the markets. He is the Chief Growth Strategist for StockNews.com and the editor of the POWR Growth and POWR Stocks Under $10 newsletters. Learn more about Jaimini’s background, along with links to his most recent articles.
The former New York City mayor and current UN Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions announced today that his philanthropic organization will work with national and local governments in 25 countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America to end the use of coal by 2040.
The billionaire made the announcement at the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit in Egypt.
Bloomberg has long been an advocate for clean energy. In 2019, he donated $500 million to a campaign that shut down all coal-fired power plants in the U.S.
“We’ve helped to close more than two-thirds of coal plants in the U.S. and put more than half of Europe’s on track for retirement – and we need to make progress like that all around the world,” Bloomberg said.
His new venture does not have a price tag, but the initiative has two distinct goals.
Working with national and local governments to develop energy transition plans, implement the necessary public policies, and provide the skills and training to accelerate clean energy development and phase out fossil fuel use.
Partnering with the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) to help mobilize the flow of private capital to clean energy transition projects in emerging markets and developing countries.
The problem of coal dependence
Coal is the dominant source of electricity generation in most countries in Africa and Asia. But coal produces more carbon emissions than any other fuel on earth, according to the U.S. Energy Information Associating, leading to poor air quality, health, and climate.
Still, alternative fuel solutions, like wind and solar, are expensive and often out of reach for developing countries.
“Overcoming the hurdles that stand in the way of investment – requires partnership across government, business, and philanthropy,” said Bloomberg. “It also requires technical assistance and economic and policy analysis – the side of energy development that doesn’t get a lot of attention but can mean the difference between investment in coal and clean power.”
Reaching the goals of net-zero emissions requires investment not only from governments but the private sector.
“We need to mobilize significant private capital to clean energy and the responsible accelerated retirement of coal,”said Mark Carney, Co-chair of GFANZ and UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance. He says the partnership introduced by Bloomberg can “help unlock finance at the scale needed to support the energy transitions of emerging markets and developing economies.”
Amid Elon Musk’s chaotic, first few weeks owning Twitter thousands of users have joined a new, similar social media network, Mastodon.
Eugen Rochko, CEO of Mastodon, said in an interview with CNN last week that it has gained 230,000 users since Musk closed the deal to acquire Twitter. The network hit 1 million active monthly users on Monday.
“It is not as large as Twitter, obviously, but it is the biggest that this network has ever been,” he said.
TIME also ran an interview with Rochko over the weekend. On Monday, in the wake of all the press, Musk, the new Twitter owner and CEO, Tweeted (and then deleted) a crude joke about the platform.
“If you don’t like Twitter anymore, there is an awesome site called Masterbatedone,” he wrote.
What is Mastodon?
Mastodon is a text-based social network. It’s also a little bit like Discord, in the sense that you can join “servers” of various interest groups. They exist in a “federation” with one another, (and Mastodon exists in a larger “Fediverse” of various social networks) and anyone can start one. When you sign up, you’re offered a list of many to join.
Right now, since its user base is so small, there are pretty limited server groups. There were only a few offered LGBTQ options, for example, in Korean, French, and Portuguese.
Mastodon app. Signing up for servers.
Rochko is a software developer born in Germany. He told TIME he began working on creating the website after feeling like Twitter had “top-down control” over its content.
“I was thinking that being able to express myself online to my friends through short messages was very important to me, important also to the world, and that maybe it should not be in the hands of a single corporation,” he told the outlet. He further told CNN it was more of a side or passion project.
It shares a name with both an extinct elephant cousin-bull and an American heavy metal band, but he said he “called it Mastodon because I’m not good at naming things,” Rochko told TIME.
The platform is not funded, unlike other social media upstarts such as BeReal or Clubhouse, with millions in venture capitalist funding. Instead, it’s crowdfunded.
How does Mastodon make money?
The company makes money mostly through monthly contributions from users or companies. Individuals can sign up on Patreon in tiers ranging from $1 a month to $500, or companies can sign up to sponsor the platform, which gives the company a link on Mastodon’s website.
According to just the company’s Patreon, it currently has 3,091 patrons who contribute $15,610 a month.
Content moderation also has a community approach. Rochko told TIME that users are empowered to regulate content on their servers. Then, he added, if someone starts a server with a hateful purpose, the company doesn’t promote it, and it ends up being “ostracized” by the wider circle of people on the app.
Rochko said he disagrees with Musk’s opinions on free speech. Musk has said social media platforms should not regulate anything that is not illegal (that does not include hate speech) then later said he will not let the platform become a “free for all hellscape.”
“Allowing free speech by just allowing all speech is not actually leading to free speech, it just leads to a cesspit of hate,” Rochko said.
Twitter technically has rules about hate speech (even now). But, it remains to be seen how the platform will be moderated. Last week, Musk fired half of Twitter’s staff, including a key voice in platform moderation, Vijaya Gadde, upon taking over the company.
My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk
Researchers from Montclair State University found that there was an increase in hate speech right after Musk took over.Sarah T. Roberts, a Mastodon user and an associate professor at UCLA, told CNN that this could lead people to jump ship for other platforms.
Mastodon, meanwhile, is buzzing with its newfound fame. On one of the channel’s more popular servers, “climatejustice.social,” users have referenced a “Twitter migration” and claimed thousands of users have recently joined the server.
“It seems the #TwitterMigration is not slowing down, but still very much speeding up,” @PaulaToThePeople wrote on the platform.
U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) holds a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, September 22, 2022.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the brutal home invasion attack on her husband last month will affect her decision on whether to remain in the Democratic leadership in Congress.
But Pelosi, D-Calif., who police say was the actual intended target of the man charged in the attack, did not reveal in a new CNN interview whether that means she will leave her leadership post or stay in it.
Pelosi, 82, has been the top House Democrat for two decades.
Pelosi’s comment came as her party is battling to remain in control of both chambers of Congress in Tuesday’s midterm elections. Republicans are favored to win control of the House.
Her 82-year-old husband, Paul Pelosi, had his skull fractured early Oct. 28 by an assailant wielding a hammer, after the other man broke into the Pelosi home in San Francisco, police have said.
David DePape, 42, has been charged with attempted murder and other state crimes in the attack.
Federal prosecutors have charged DePape with the federal crimes of attempted kidnapping of a federal official — Nancy Pelosi — and assaulting an immediate family member of a United States official with the intent to retaliate against the official.
Authorities have said DePape was prepared to kidnap and detain Nancy Pelosi and break her kneecaps when he went to her residence. The speaker was in Washington, D.C., at the time of the break-in.
During her interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Pelosi said her decision on whether to stay in leadership “will be affected about what happened the last week or two.”
Cooper then asked, “Will your decision be impacted by the attack in any way?”
Apple announced in a statement Sunday that its new iPhone models, the 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max, will be delayed due to COVID-19 restrictions at a relevant facility in Zhengzhou, China.
Courtesy Apple.iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
“The facility is currently operating at significantly reduced capacity. As we have done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we are prioritizing the health and safety of the workers in our supply chain,” the statement said.
Various companies and industries that manufacture in China have been hit by the country’s “zero COVID” policy, which started in the early pandemic.
Last week, videos emerged online of workers fleeing the 200,000-person factory, reportedly to escape the facility’s harsh lockdown conditions amid a COVID outbreak.
Reuters also reported that COVID-related issues could drag down iPhone output at the facility by some 30%. The plant has been called “iPhone city,” and it has been reported previously that workers there are exposed to harsh conditions.
The factory is operated by Foxconn, a contractor that makes 70% of Apple’s iPhones. It employs some 1.3 million people in mainland China, according to The Guardian, and said it hit over $200 billion in revenue in 2021.
“Foxconn is now working with the government in a concerted effort to stamp out the pandemic and resume production to its full capacity as quickly as possible,” Foxconn said Monday, according to the AP.
China’s economic growth has also slowed due to the policy, the outlet noted.
Apple introduced a suite of new iPhone 14s at its annual September product launch. They do not have physical SIM cards and now have an “always-on” lock screen, among other new features.
The Pro and the Pro Max versions are also the most expensive models priced at $999 and $1099, respectively.
“We continue to see strong demand for iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models,” the company said.
A home awaits sale at a reduced asking price in Glendale, California.
David McNew | Getty Images
The historic run-up in home prices during the first two years of the pandemic gave homeowners record amounts of new home equity.
Since May, however, about $1.5 trillion of that has vanished, according to Black Knight, a mortgage software and analytics company. The average borrower has lost $30,000 in equity.
Homeowner equity peaked at $17.6 trillion collectively last May, after home prices jumped 45% since the start of the pandemic.
At the end of September, prices were still up 41%, and equity was still quite strong. Borrowers who bought their homes before the pandemic collectively have $5 trillion more than they did before the pandemic hit. That translates to a gain of $92,000 more equity per borrower than in February of 2020.
“While additional declines may be on the horizon, homeowner positions remain broadly strong,” noted Ben Graboske, Black Knight’s president of data and analytics.
But home prices began to weaken as mortgage rates rose in the spring, making it a lot less affordable to buy. The monthly payment on the average home, with a 20% down payment on a mortgage, is up nearly $1,000 since the start of the year.
In 10% of major markets — including Las Vegas, Miami, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Tampa and San Diego — homeowners have to spend twice the long-term average amount of median household income to make their monthly payments.
That’s why home sales began dropping sharply back in May — and why prices have been following suit.
Home prices fell in September on a month-to-month basis for the third month in a row, though the decline wasn’t as steep as in July and August. While prices usually drop from summer to fall due to the seasonal slowdown, they fell much more sharply than usual in 2022.
Prices are now down 2.6% since the end of June, which is the first three-month drop since late 2018 and the steepest such drop since the financial crisis of early 2009. Since July, the median home price is down by $11,560. Prices, however, are still 10.7% higher than they were in September 2021.
As of the end of September, the amount of collective equity available to borrowers while still keeping 20% equity in the home fell by $1.17 trillion since May. That’s the first decline in so-called tappable equity in three years.
The share of borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth is still quite low, at just 0.85%. But the numbers are beginning to rise.
Less than 500,000 borrowers are currently underwater on their mortgages, but that is still double what it was in May. Those who purchased their homes in the past year will be most at risk of going underwater since they bought at the peak of the market.
“This is obviously a situation that demands careful, ongoing monitoring, but to put that into context, just 3.6% of nearly 53 million U.S. mortgage holders are either underwater or have less than 10% equity in their homes roughly half the share coming into the pandemic” Graboske said.
The crypto market has been battered this year, with nearly $2 trillion wiped off its value since its peak.
Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that it seized about $3.36 billion in stolen bitcoin during a previously unannounced 2021 raid on the residence of James Zhong.
Zhong pleaded guilty Friday to one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
U.S. authorities seized about 50,676 bitcoin, then valued at over $3.36 billion, from Zhong during a search of his house in Gainesville, Georgia, on Nov. 9, 2021, the DOJ said. It is the DOJ’s second-largest financial seizure to date, following its seizure of $3.6 billion in allegedly stolen cryptocurrency linked to the 2016 hack of the crypto exchange Bitfinex, which the DOJ announced in February.
According to authorities, Zhong stole bitcoin from the illegal Silk Road marketplace, a dark web forum on which drugs and other illicit products were bought and sold with cryptocurrency. Silk Road was launched in 2011, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation shut it down in 2013. Its founder, Ross William Ulbricht, is now serving a life sentence in prison.
“For almost ten years, the whereabouts of this massive chunk of missing Bitcoin had ballooned into an over $3.3 billion mystery,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a press release.
According to the Southern District of New York, Zhong took advantage of the marketplace’s vulnerabilities to execute the hack.
Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher, of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, said Zhong used a “sophisticated scheme” to steal the bitcoin from Silk Road. According to the press release, in September 2012, Zhong created nine fraudulent accounts on Silk Road, funding each with between 200 and 2,000 bitcoin. He then triggered over 140 transactions in rapid succession, which tricked the marketplace’s withdrawal-processing system to release approximately 50,000 bitcoin into his accounts. Zhong then transferred the bitcoin into a variety of wallet addresses all under his control.
Public records show Zhong was the president and CEO of a self-created company, JZ Capital LLC, which he registered in Georgia in 2014. According to his LinkedIn profile, his work there focused on “investments and venture capital.”
His profile also states he was a “large early bitcoin investor with extensive knowledge of its inner workings” and that he had software development experience in computer programming languages.
Zhong’s social media profiles include pictures of him on yachts, in front of airplanes, and at high-profile football games.
But these types of hacks didn’t end with the Silk Road’s demise. Crypto platforms continue to be vulnerable to criminals.
In October 2022, Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, suffered a $570 million hack. The company said a bug in a smart contract enabled hackers to exploit a cross-chain bridge, BSC Token Hub. As a result, the hackers withdrew the platform’s native cryptocurrency, called BNB tokens.
In March 2022, a different hacker found vulnerabilities in the decentralized finance platform Ronin Network and made off with more than $600 million — the largest hack to date. The private keys, which serve as passwords to protect cryptocurrency funds in wallets, were compromised.
According to a Chainalysis report, $1.9 billion worth of cryptocurrency had been stolen in hacks of services through July 2022, compared with just under $1.2 billion at the same point in 2021.
A person poses in front of a banner featuring the logo of Palantir Technologies (PLTR) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on the day of their initial public offering (IPO) in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., September 30, 2020.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
Shares of Palantir fell more than 10% Monday after the company released third-quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates for earnings but beat on revenue.
Here’s how the company did:
EPS: $0.01, adjusted, vs. $0.02 expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv.
Revenue: $478 millionvs. $470 million expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv.
Palantir’s revenue for the quarter increased 22% year over year, and its U.S. commercial revenue grew 53%. The software company, which is known for its work with the government, said its US commercial customer count increased 124% year over year, growing from 59 customers to 132.
In a letter to shareholders, Palantir CEO Alex Karp said the company is in the “early stages of a significant transformation.”
Karp said Palantir anticipates regional markets within the U.S., such as the Midwest, Southeast, Texas and New England, could develop into billion-dollar businesses. However, Karp said that countries in continental Europe have been less willing to introduce “software systems that challenge existing habits.”
“We have found that large institutions in the United States have been far more willing to investigate the most significant sources of systemic dysfunction within their organizations, which in the current moment often relate to the ability or rather inability of an institution to metabolize its own data,” he said.
Palantir said it expects to report between $503 million and $505 million in revenue during the fourth quarter, on a par with analyst estimates of $503 million according to StreetAccount.
“We are building the digital infrastructure that makes continued industrial progress in late capitalism possible,” Karp said in the letter. “The metaverse and other idiosyncratic pursuits of the technocratic elite may be luxury goods. But foundational data platforms are not.”
LONDON — Blood grown in a laboratory has been transfused into humans for the first time in a landmark clinical trial that U.K. researchers say could significantly improve treatment for people with blood disorders and rare blood types.
Two patients in the U.K. received tiny doses — equivalent to a few teaspoons — of the lab-grown blood in the first stage of a wider trial designed to see how it behaves inside the body.
The trial, which will now be extended to 10 patients over the course of several months, aims to study the lifespan of lab-grown cells compared with infusions of standard red blood cells.
Researchers say the aim is not to replace regular human blood donations, which will continue to make up the majority of transfusions. But the technology could allow scientists to manufacture very rare blood types which are difficult to source but which are vital for people who depend on regular blood transfusions for conditions such as sickle cell anemia.
“This world leading research lays the groundwork for the manufacture of red blood cells that can safely be used to transfuse people with disorders like sickle cell,” said Dr. Farrukh Shah, medical director of Transfusion for NHS Blood and Transplant, one of the collaborators on the project.
“The need for normal blood donations to provide the vast majority of blood will remain. But the potential for this work to benefit hard to transfuse patients is very significant,” she added.
The research, which was conducted by researchers in Bristol, Cambridge and London, as well as NHS Blood and Transplant, focuses on red blood cells that carry oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body.
Initially, a regular donation of blood was taken and magnetic beads were used to detect flexible stem cells that are capable of becoming red blood cells.
Those stems were then placed in a nutrient solution in a laboratory. Over the course of around three weeks, the solution encouraged those cells to multiply and develop into more mature cells.
The cells were then purified using a standard filter — the same kind of filter that is used when regular blood donations are processed to remove white blood cells — before being stored and later transfused into the patients.
For the trial, the lab-grown blood was tagged with a radioactive substance, often used in medical procedures, to monitor how long it lasts in the body.
The same process will now be applied for a trial of 10 volunteers, who will each receive two donations of 5-10mls at least four months apart — one of normal blood and one of lab-grown blood — to compare the cells’ lifespans.
It is also hoped that a superior lifespan of lab-grown cells could mean patients require fewer transfusions over time.
A typical blood donation contains a mixture of young and old red blood cells, meaning their lifespan can be unpredictable and sub-optimal. Lab-grown blood, meanwhile, is freshly made, meaning it should last the 120 days expected of red blood cells.
Still, there are significant costs currently attached to the technology.
The average blood donation currently costs the NHS around £145, according to NHS Blood and Transplant. Lab-grown substitutes would likely be more expensive.
NHS Blood and Transplant said there was “no figure” for the procedure as yet, but added that costs would be reduced as the technology is scaled up.
“If the trial is successful and the research works, then it could be introduced at scale in future years, meaning that costs would fall,” a spokesperson told CNBC.
An advertisement of the People’s Liberation Army overlooks a street scene in Beijing on the day Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden hold a virtual summit, in Beijing, China, November 16, 2021.
Thomas Peter | Reuters
Stocks in Hong Kong and China rallied at the end of a volatile week last week, driven by speculation that Beijing could soon ease its Covid-zero policy — but economists at Goldman Sachs say China may still be “months away” from reopening.
Over the weekend, Chinese health officials reiterated the government’s stance of sticking to its policy of zero-tolerance against Covid, even as most of the world has started lifting controls.
That didn’t stop continued optimism in greater China markets, and the Hang Seng Tech index surged past 5% briefly in Asia’s morning trade on Monday.
We estimate that a full reopening could drive 20% upside for Chinese stocks…
“The actual reopening is still months away as elderly vaccination rates remain low and case fatality rates appear high among those unvaccinated based on Hong Kong official data,” Goldman Sachs economists led by Hui Shan said in a Sunday note.
Goldman maintains its view that China could reopen in the second quarter of 2023.
When that time comes, it will be good news for the stock market, economists at the U.S. investment bank said pointing out that there could be a rally leading up to the easing of measures.
“We estimate that a full reopening could drive 20% upside for Chinese stocks based on empirical, top-down, and historical sensitivity analyses,” a separate note by economists including Kinger Lau said.
“Equity markets usually react more positively to local policy relaxation than to international reopening, with Domestic Cyclicals and Consumer sectors outperforming,” the note said.
Read more about China from CNBC Pro
The Chinese government will likely stick to its zero-Covid policy “until all the necessary medical preparations are done,” Goldman’s analysts said.
The latest Hong Kong government statistics show only 60.81% of people aged 80 and older have received all three doses.
Separate government data from Hong Kong showed the fatality rate among the unvaccinated people who were 80 years and above was at 14.79%, while the fatality rate of those in the same age group who received three doses was far lower at about 1.48%.
“A safe and orderly reopening is very difficult right now,” the Goldman Sachs note said.
As we head into the World Cup season, CNBC will be taking a look at some of the world’s biggest companies and pitting them against each other for the inaugural CNBC Stock World Cup 2022.
Starting with the initial stages on Nov. 7, we’ll ask experts from across the globe to rate each match-up based on one key question: If you invest today, which of the two companies going head-to-head will give you a greater total return over the next 12 months?
Thirty-two companies. One final champion.
Round of 32: Microsoft vs Visa – Visa wins | Naspers vs Softbank – Softbank wins
William Beardmore-Gray of the real estate company says some of that decline has already been seen in markets such as New Zealand, Canada and the Nordic region.
A cargo ship carrying containers is seen near the Yantian port in Shenzhen, following the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, Guangdong province, China May 17, 2020.
Martin Pollard | Reuters
BEIJING — China’s exports fell by 0.3% in October from a year ago, missing Reuters expectations for a 4.3% increase.
The decline in U.S.-dollar terms last month marked the first year-on-year drop since May 2020, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.
Imports fell in October by 0.7% in U.S.-dollar terms, also missing expectations for slight growth of 0.1%.
The yuan weakened by nearly 3% against the U.S. dollar in October, according to Refinitiv Eikon.
In yuan terms, exports rose by 7% and imports by 6.8%, customs data released Monday showed.
Read more about China from CNBC Pro
Last week, Barclays cut its forecast for China’s economic growth next year on expectations that falling demand from the U.S. and EU would prompt a drop of at least 2% in China’s exports.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
After a Covid outbreak at a Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, China, some workers chose to go home. Pictured here are the shuttle buses on Oct. 30, 2022.
VCG | Getty Images
Apple said in a statement on Sunday that it has temporarily reduced iPhone 14 production because of Covid-19 restrictions at its primary iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max assembly plant in Zhengzhou, China.
The factory, operated by Foxconn, is operating at “significantly reduced capacity,” Apple said. It warned that it would ship fewer units and that customers would experience longer wait times when ordering devices.
Apple’s warning brings up the possibility that it may sell fewer iPhones in the December quarter because it is having trouble making enough to meet demand. It previously signaled slowing growth in the December quarter last month.
It said that it continues to see strong demand for the affected models, which are higher-priced than other iPhone models and start at $999 and $1099.
In the past week, China has ordered lockdowns in Zhengzhou, where Apple does the majority of its iPhone production. The factory in China has grappled with employees fleeing the facility because of its Covid policies and outbreaks, according to Reuters.
China continues to pursue a “zero-Covid” policy that requires facilities like the iPhone facility in Zhengzhou to operate as “closed loops,” where workers isolate in dorms and work in factories separated from the outside world.
It currently takes 31 days to receive an iPhone 14 Pro if ordered from Apple’s website, longer than the average 2-day lead time for less-expensive iPhone models, JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee said in a note on Sunday.
