Tag: business news

TSMC shares jump 5% after Morgan Stanley says the chipmaker is a ‘top pick’

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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited at Hsinchu Science Park. Shares of the world’s largest chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rose as much as 5% on Wednesday morning in Asia after Morgan Stanley recommended the stock.

Annabelle Chih | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Shares of the world’s largest chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rose as much as 5% on Wednesday morning in Asia after Morgan Stanley recommended the stock.

“We anticipate a semiconductor cycle recovery in 2H23 and suggest bargain-hunting in quality stocks right now. TSMC is our top pick,” the investment bank said in a Tuesday note. It characterized TSMC as “the enabler of future technology.”

The stock was trading 3.73% higher in afternoon trade. U.S.-listed shares of TSMC rose about 5% overnight.

Chip stocks such as TSMC, GlobalWafers Company and MediaTek are at trough valuations after a rapid market correction, analysts at Morgan Stanley said.

Meanwhile, the secular trends of 5G, artificial intelligence of things and electric vehicles — which need semiconductors — are not reversing, the bank added.

A chip recovery will also be supported by the falling prices of tech products and logistics, reopening of economies — especially in China, and a slower increase in production capacity for foundries, analysts wrote.

Investors should prioritize investing in industry leaders with pricing power, those with secular growth stories and companies that will benefit from China’s semiconductor localization, the note said. Secular growth stocks are those that have long-term value and are not so dependent on current economic conditions.

Read more about tech and crypto from CNBC Pro

In a separate note by Morgan Stanley on Asia’s emerging markets, analysts recommended moving overweight on South Korea and Taiwan, as well as the chip sector in those markets.

“Both markets are dominated by Semiconductors and Technology Hardware,” the note said.

“Our sector colleagues see the worst point for the inventory cycle as soon as Q4 this year and at the latest Q1 next year depending on the sub-segment. Stocks typically make their trough before the inventory cycle makes its inflexion,” it added.

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October 4, 2022
Aaron Judge hits record 62nd home run, breaking tie with Roger Maris

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New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (99) rounds the bases after hitting home run number sixty-two to break the American League home run record in the first inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field.

Tim Heitman | USA TODAY Sports | Reuters

New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge clubbed his 62nd home run of the year Tuesday night in Texas, making him baseball’s greatest single-season long-ball hitter — outside of MLB’s notorious steroid era.

Judge’s memorable blast came in the first inning, off Rangers pitcher Jesus Tinoco, in the nightcap of a doubleheader at Globe Life Field in Arlington.

Tuesday’s homer broke a tie with Roger Maris, who hit 61 shots in 1961, for the most hit in a single American League season.

Judge had tied Maris’ record with a roundtrip shot in Toronto on Wednesday. He’s now alone in seventh place for most homers hit in any one season.

But Judge’s achievement may only stand as a record in the hearts and minds of purist baseball fans.

All the record-holders ahead of Judge are National League sluggers who did their damage in the late ’90s and early 2000s, when it was widely believed some of the best hitters and pitchers used performance-enhancing drugs.

MLB did not suspend players for steroid use until 2005. By that point, Maris’ mark of 61 had been topped six times in just four seasons (1998-2001) by Chicago Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa, San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds and St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire.

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October 4, 2022
Amazon freezes corporate hiring in its retail business

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Amazon is pausing hiring for corporate roles in its retail business, according to a report published Tuesday by The New York Times.

The company confirmed the accuracy of the report to CNBC.

Amazon instructed recruiters to close all open job postings for those roles in the coming days, and recommended they cancel some recruiting activities, such as phone calls to screen new candidates, the Times reported, citing internal communications.

Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser said the retail giant continues to have a significant number of open roles across the company.

“We have many different businesses at various stages of evolution, and we expect to keep adjusting our hiring strategies in each of these businesses at various junctures,” Glasser said in a statement.

The Amazon headquarters sits virtually empty on March 10, 2020 in downtown Seattle, Washington. In response to the coronavirus outbreak, Amazon recommended all employees in its Seattle office to work from home, leaving much of downtown nearly void of people.

John Moore | Getty Images

Amazon is the latest company to reevaluate its hiring plans amid concerns of an economic downturn. Several companies including Google, Apple and Meta have announced they will slow or temporarily pause hiring altogether. Companies are also looking for ways to cut costs to gird for potential headwinds.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has worked swiftly to rein in costs as the company grapples with slowing growth in its core retail business, which still accounts for the lion’s share of Amazon’s revenue.

The retail business enjoyed breakneck growth during the Covid-19 pandemic as consumers avoided trips to physical stores and flocked to online retailers. By early 2022, e-commerce spending began to decelerate, and Amazon in the first quarter reported its slowest rate of revenue growth since the dot-com bust in 2001.

Jassy has assured investors he’s focused on returning to a “healthy level of profitability” after slowing retail sales and rising costs ate into Amazon’s earnings. In recent months, Amazon has closed or cancelled the launch of new facilities, and it’s delaying the opening of some new buildings after its pandemic-driven expansion left it with too much warehouse space.

It has also closed nearly all of its U.S. call centers in a bid to save on real estate, Bloomberg reported.

The company is also contending with too many workers after it went on a pandemic hiring spree. In the second quarter, Amazon shaved its headcount by 99,000 people to 1.52 million employees.

WATCH: Watch CNBC’s full interview with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on first annual letter to shareholders

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October 4, 2022
Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter at original price days before trial: Sources

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Elon Musk has reversed course and is again proposing to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share, according to sources familiar with the matter. A deal could happen as soon as Friday, the sources added.

Twitter shares jumped as much as 15% on Tuesday after Bloomberg first reported on the Tesla CEO’s plans to go forth with his deal to acquire the company. The stock was halted after the report.

A few weeks after Musk agreed to the deal earlier this year, valuing Twitter at $44 billion, he quickly tried to back out, officially informing the company in July of his intentions to terminate the agreement. Twitter sued Musk to force him to go through with the purchase. The two sides were scheduled to go to trial in Delaware Chancery Court on Oct. 17.

Musk alleged that Twitter was misstating the number of “bots” on its service as one of the reasons he was reneging on the deal. He and his lawyers claimed the social media company was misleading investors by providing false numbers in corporate filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Twitter countered, however, that Musk’s assertions of fraud were incorrect and were based on a misunderstanding of the way the company tallies bots and fake accounts on its platform.

Musk also alleged Twitter failed to provide him with the necessary data related to spam and bots, which Twitter denied.

Twitter alleged Musk was looking for a reason to back out of the deal when the company’s shares dropped alongside a broader decline in the overall market.

Although Musk sought to delay the trial date, Delaware Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick rejected his wish citing the potential for Twitter to incur “irreparable harm.” The chancellor did allow Musk and his attorneys to amend their counterclaim to include certain accusations made by Twitter’s former head of security in a separate whistleblower suit against the company.

CNBC has learned that Musk could own Twitter within a matter of days and that all litigation would come to an end.

In September, Twitter shareholders approved Musk’s original bid to purchase the company.

Meanwhile, Tesla shares have dropped about $10 per share (about 4%) on the news so far Tuesday and are up about 2% for the day.

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October 4, 2022
Ex-CIA chief’s greatest concern in the Russia-Ukraine conflict is escalation ‘spiraling out of control’

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The greatest worry for former CIA chief General David Petraeus (US Army, Ret.) concerning the war in Ukraine is the potential for unbridled escalation that would result in catastrophic consequences, he told CNBC Tuesday.

Asked what his top concern was with regard to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in which the U.S. is heavily supporting Ukraine to the tune of billions of dollars in military aid, Petraeus replied, “just as a general category, it’s just [the risk of it] spiraling out of control.”

“I think it is legitimate for U.S. leadership and for leadership of other countries to avoid starting World War III, as the phrase has been termed,” the retired general told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble at the Warsaw Security Forum in Poland.

Leaders in Ukraine and the West are grappling with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat of using nuclear weapons. Uncertainty over the likelihood of such action hangs over decision-making, even as Ukrainian forces stage bold counter-offensives in territory that Russia has illegally annexed.

Western policymakers must adequately signal their moves and refrain from going too far in terms of offensive military action against Russia, Petraeus said.

“Remember, in the beginning, there were these calls for no-fly zones over Ukraine, which I thought was just not fully thought through,” he said, recounting the urging by Ukrainian officials during the war’s early months to establish the defense mechanism that would enable U.S. planes to shoot down Russian jets in Ukrainian airspace.

“Because when you put U.S. aircraft into that airspace, and Russian aircraft … you can’t fly our aircraft without taking down the air defenses that could shoot them down. And now you’re into a U.S.-Russia war. And again, I think it’s understandable that U.S. leadership and that of other countries should have concerns about a spiraling beyond — as horrific as this is — a spiraling beyond where we are right now in the war in Ukraine.”

General David Petraeus.

Bill Clark | CQ Roll Call | Getty Images

Over the weekend, Ukrainian forces successfully recaptured the strategic town of Lyman in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk oblast, one of the four territories Putin announced as belonging to the Russian Federation in a speech Friday. Counter-offensives in the country’s south are also underway, amid reports of low Russian troop morale and Ukrainian forces capturing Russian units.

Still, battlefield success does not mean that Russia can’t retaliate in other ways, Petraeus stressed.

“Keep in mind, the one element Russia still will retain, even as it is losing on the battlefield in Ukraine, is the ability to punish Ukraine,” he said, describing the countless bombings and missile strikes against major civilian centers.

Russia “can continue to carry out missile and rocket and bomb attacks, as it has, almost petulantly. You saw when the counter offensive was succeeding outside Kharkiv, they pounded certain areas, and they’re not going after military targets,” Petraeus said. “They’re going after the electrical generation stations, the electrical transmission, other civilian infrastructure — almost again as if to punish the people for what their military forces are doing, all major violations, by the way, of the Geneva Convention.”

In response to Putin’s threat of using all weapons at his disposal, the Biden administration replied that any use of nuclear weapons would be met with a “decisive” U.S. response. What exactly that response would entail was not disclosed.

Ukraine recaptures Lyman, a key logistics hub for Russian forces.

Institute for the Study of War

“So again,” the former CIA director said, “it’s really about the situation just spiraling out of control in some way. Which is why it’s so important that as our national security advisor in the U.S., Jake Sullivan, has publicly stated, it’s very important that we have communicated in advance to the Russians, ‘if you do this, you can expect something along the lines of this’ — noting that obviously, there will always be a range of options presented to the president. And it depends specifically on you know, what happened, all this, that would determine what a response would be.”

“But we don’t want to start getting into some kind of climbing the nuclear ladder with Russia,” he stressed, “which could spiral out of control.”

A Ukrainian BM-21 ‘Grad’ multiple rocket launcher fires towards Russian positions in Donetsk region on October 3, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Anatolii Stepanov | AFP | Getty Images

Ultimately, Petraeus believes, Putin isn’t suicidal.

“I don’t think for all of the grievance-filled rhetoric that we heard the other day in his speech, I don’t think that he is suicidal,” he said. “I don’t think he wants to bring about the end of the Russian Federation as he knows it — I mean, the irony is that this is someone who despised Gorbachev,” he said, referencing Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, whom Putin and many Russians blame for its collapse.

Putin has long decried the collapse of the Soviet Union as the most catastrophic historical event of the 20th century.

But Putin, Petraeus argued, “is doing colossal damage to the Russian Federation on a scale that Gorbachev did to the USSR, because of this incredibly catastrophically bad decision to invade his neighbor.”

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October 4, 2022
Ray Dalio says he’s changed his mind and cash is no longer trash as an investment

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October 4, 2022
Samsung aims to make the world’s most advanced chips in 5 years, as it plays catch up with TSMC

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Samsung said it will begin making chips with a 2 nanometer process in 2025 and 1.4 nanometer process in 2027. These would be some of the most advanced semiconductors in the world. Samsung is in a race to catch up with market leader TSMC.

SeongJoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Samsung said Tuesday it aims to make some of the most advanced semiconductors in the world in five years’ time, as the race between the South Korean electronics giant and the world’s largest chip maker TSMC heats up.

The company laid out a roadmap for its chip production plans, and said it will begin making chips with a 2 nanometer process in 2025 and 1.4 nanometer process in 2027.

The nanometer figure refers to the size of each individual transistor on a chip. The smaller the transistor, the more of them can be packed onto a single semiconductor. Typically, a reduction in nanometer size can yield more powerful and efficient chips.

For comparison, the processor in Apple‘s latest iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max models is a 4 nanometer chip.

Samsung began producing 3 nanometer chips earlier this year.

Shares of Samsung in South Korea closed nearly 4% higher on Tuesday.

The South Korean firm, known for consumer electronics and memory chips, is looking to ramp up its contract chipmaking, or foundry business, in a bid to catch up with Taiwan’s TSMC.

Samsung is the second-biggest foundry globally by revenue, with a 17.3% market share compared to 52.9% for TSMC, according to TrendForce.

For its part, TSMC expects to begin 3nm chip production this year with production of 2nm set to begin in 2025. However, the company has not officially announced plans to mass produce 1.4nm chips.

Samsung’s ambitious plans come amid global economic headwinds and signs of a slowdown in semiconductor demand. Global chip industry sales fell 3.4% in August compared to July, according to the U.S.-based Semiconductor Industry Association.

Read more about tech and crypto from CNBC Pro

Despite this, Samsung said it plans to expand its production capacity for the most advanced chips by more than three times by 2027 compared to this year, highlighting its bullishness on future demand.

These include its factories in the U.S. Samsung has a plant in Austin, Texas, and is currently building a $17 billion facility in Taylor in the same state.

Washington has been looking to attract chipmakers like Samsung and TSMC to set up factories in the U.S. so that it can reduce reliance on the manufacturing hubs of Taiwan and South Korea.

While Samsung has put a big focus on cutting edge chips, the company also said semiconductors for high-performance computing, automotive and 5G uses will make up more than 50% of its foundry business by 2027. These are usually less advanced chips.

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October 4, 2022
Cities are largely to blame for climate change. Could they also be part of the solution?

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Our cities are at the forefront of climate change, consuming around 75% of the world’s energy and producing more than 70% of greenhouse gas emissions. But they also hold the tools to be part of the solution, creating meaningful impact while being small and nimble enough to avoid the bureaucracy of national politics. In fact, some cities have already started work.

Some of the most extreme weather events on record took place in 2022, as climate change-induced wildfires and droughts ravaged parts of Europe, the U.S. and Africa, even as Asia battled disastrous floods and monsoon rains.

Experts say this is just the beginning.

“What we calculated and what we knew as, say, one-in-10-year events is now becoming one-in-five-years,” Ana Mijic, professor at Imperial College London, told CNBC.

The world’s cities are at the forefront of those shifts.

Cities play an outsized role in climate change, consuming around 75% of the world’s energy and producing more than 70% of greenhouse gas emissions.

But could they also be part of the solution, being small and nimble enough to avoid the bureaucracy of national politics?

Watch the video above to find out how cities are responding to — and reducing — the rising risks of climate change.

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October 3, 2022
London, Paris, Frankfurt and beyond: CNBC names Europe’s best hotels for business travel
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International travel may still have its challenges.

But finding a solid hotel for a business trip isn’t one of them.

CNBC Travel and the market data firm Statista today release a ranking of the “Best Hotels for Business Travelers” in Europe.

This is the first ranking of its kind between CNBC and Statista, who are also releasing hotel rankings in the Middle East today. Asia-Pacific rankings were published in September.

In total, we analyzed more than 10,000 four- and five-star hotels in 117 locations to produce lists corporate travelers can trust. We did this using a three-step process:

Asking business travelers and hotel industry professionals to answer a CNBC reader survey which ran from May 3 to June 7, 2022.

Reviewing more than 1 million hotel data points, which included objective information (location, business facilities, food, leisure activities and room characteristics) and subjective reviews (gathered from Google, TripAdvisor, Expedia and similar websites).

Weighting the data to prioritize the hotel characteristics deemed most important in the reader survey.

For full details about our research methodology, click here.

From Amsterdam to Zurich, here is the full list of the European winners in PDF format — complete with final scores — some of which are highlighted below.

Alternatively, you can search by city or country using the table here:

Amsterdam

Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam

Canal House Suites at Sofitel Legend The Grand Amsterdam

Hotel Okura Amsterdam

Sofitel Legend The Grand Amsterdam

Conservatorium Hotel

Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam

Source: Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam

The Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam tied for the highest scores for customer reviews among Europe’s largest financial centers, a distinction it shared with Rome’s Villa Spalletti Trivelli. Travelers rave about the canal-side location, but they say it’s the smaller points — the turndown service, fresh tulips in the room, the luxurious bedding — that make it one of Amsterdam’s finest hotels.

Berlin

Louisa’s Place

InterContinental Berlin

SO/Berlin Das Stue

Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin

KPM Hotel & Residences

In a city with ample competition from major hotel brands, the owner-run Louisa’s Place — named after Queen Louise of Prussia — topped our list. Built around 1900, the boutique hotel in West Berlin has 47 spacious rooms, each with high ceilings and separate bedrooms.

Brussels

Steigenberger Wiltcher’s

Sofitel Brussels Europe

Hotel Manos Premier

Le Louise Hotel Brussels – MGallery

Stanhope Hotel Brussels

Steigenberger Wiltcher’s location on the prestigious Avenue Louise — and its style, aptly described as “luxurious simplicity” — make it a favorite with business travelers in Belgium. Travelers can take an online tour of the hotel before visiting, virtually walking the hallways to peer into its restaurants and ballrooms.

Copenhagen

Charlottehaven

Hotel Kong Arthur

Villa Copenhagen

Hotel Skt Petri

Zoku Copenhagen

Charlottehaven

Source: Charlottehaven

Charlottehaven has hotel apartments in two areas — the larger units in the “Garden” and the newer apartments in the “Tower” which have 180-degree views of the city. The hotel combines kitchens, laundry areas and other comforts of a house with the amenities of a hotel. Nearby metro and train stations make it easy to commute around the city too.

Dublin

The Merrion

InterContinental Dublin

The Marker

Camden Court Hotel

The Shelbourne, Autograph Collection

The Merrion

Source: The Merrion

Scoring 3.78 (out of a possible 4 points), the five-star Merrion hotel in the center of Dublin tied for the second highest overall score in Europe. Its 142 rooms and suites are inside four restored Georgian townhouses dating to the 1760s. There’s also a two-star Michelin restaurant — Ireland’s first — plus two bars, a spa and six meeting spaces.

Frankfurt

Sofitel Frankfurt Opera

JW Marriott Hotel Frankfurt

Best Western Premier IB Hotel Friedberger Warte

Le Meridien Frankfurt

Steigenberger Airport Hotel Frankfurt

Sofitel Frankfurt Opera

Source: Sofitel Frankfurt Opera

The Sofitel Frankfurt Opera is on Opera Square, or the Opernplatz, near the city’s famed opera house. In addition to its central location, the hotel wins over business travelers for the small touches that make for seamless stays: complimentary car valets and minibar beverages, 24-hour room service and stylish rooms outfitted with Illy espresso machines and Bose sound systems.

Geneva

Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues Geneva

Fairmont Grand Hotel Geneva

Hilton Geneva Hotel and Conference Centre

The Woodward Geneve

La Reserve Geneve Hotel & Spa

Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues

Source: Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues Geneva

Marble bathrooms, down pillows and balconettes with unobstructed views of Lake Geneva — these are some of the reasons the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues Geneva consistently ranks among the city’s most luxurious places to stay. Business travelers can take meetings to the next level with private tours of the nearby Patek Philippe Museum or helicopter tours over Mont Blanc — with all details organized by the hotel.

London

The Langham London

The Savoy

Bulgari Hotel London

One Aldwych

The Lanesborough

The Langham London

Source: The Langham London

The Langham London is a U.K. institution. It’s got a West End location, restaurants helmed by the two-Michelin starred chef Michel Roux Jr., and a bar, Artesian, that was named the world’s best four times in a row. Travelers who book executive rooms or higher get access to The Langham Club, which comes with perks like private check-ins, pressing services, all-day dining options and private meeting spaces.

Madrid

Gran Hotel Ingles

Barcelo Torre de Madrid

Rosewood Villa Magna

VP Plaza Espana Design

Wellington Hotel & Spa Madrid

Gran Hotel Ingles

Source: Gran Hotel Ingles

It’s rare for a small property to outrank major hospitality companies, but Gran Hotel Ingles has done exactly that. “Pure luxury” is how the 48-room hotel is described by travelers, from its sleek interior to its cocktail weekend events accompanied by live music. Opened in 1886, the hotel is said to be Madrid’s oldest.

Milan

Hotel Viu Milan

Excelsior Hotel Gallia

Best Western Plus Hotel Galles

Milano Verticale | UNA Esperienze

Armani Hotel Milano

Hotel Viu Milan

Source: Marriott International

The website for Hotel Viu Milan leads off — not with its rooms or restaurants — but with one word: bleisure. That’s because this hotel is serious about blending business stays with relaxation: morning yoga on the terrace, aperitives after work and dinner at the on-site restaurant Morelli, helmed by the Italian Michelin-starred chef Giancarlo Morelli.

Oslo

The Thief

Hotel Continental

Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel, Oslo

Clarion Hotel The Hub

Scandic Holmenkollen Park

The Thief

Source: The Thief

The Thief Hotel on Tjuvholmen, or “Thief Islet,” takes its name from its seedy past as a hotbed of criminals. Now it’s an upmarket neighborhood known for art and architecture. Art features prominently in the hotel too, as do designer furniture and upmarket Nordic cuisine.

Rome

Hotel de la Ville

Villa Spalletti Trivelli

Hotel Villa Pamphili Roma

Hotel Artemide

Anantara Palazzo Naiadi

The historic Hotel de la Ville, next to the Spanish Steps, is a Rocco Forte Hotel — a company bearing the name of one of Italy’s most famous hotelier families. Business travelers love its rooftop bar and central courtyard, but it’s the concierge — known to help with insider tips and hard-to-book restaurant reservations — that gives the hotel the edge in Italy’s capital city.

Paris

Le Bristol Paris

Les Jardins du Faubourg

Kimpton – St Honore Paris

Pullman Paris Center-Bercy

Le Meurice

Le Bristol Paris

Source: Le Bristol Paris | Claire Cocano

Guests of Le Bristol Paris can count President Emmanuel Macron as a neighbor — Elysee Palace, the official residence of France’s president — is just steps away. From white-gloved service to its three-Michelin-starred restaurant Epicure, the hotel is the height of Parisian elegance and culinary excellence.

Stockholm

Grand Hotel Stockholm

Radisson Blu Waterfront Hotel Stockholm

Hotel At Six

Bank Hotel

Lydmar Hotel

Grand Hotel Stockholm

Source: Grand Hotel Stockholm

Tying for No. 2 in overall points with Dublin’s The Merrion, the stylish Grand Hotel Stockholm secured the top score for its amenities and facilities, not only in Sweden, but in all of Europe. Its waterfront location is bolstered by four restaurants, a champagne bar, spa and gym, the latter with personal trainers. Room service is available round the clock for those with late-night work to complete.

Vienna

Palais Coburg Hotel Residenz

Hotel Sans Souci Wien

The Ritz-Carlton, Vienna

The Harmonie Vienna

Grand Hotel Wien

This grand hotel built in 1845 is the former home of Austrian royalty. The all-suite boutique hotel has a restaurant with two Michelin stars and a wine cellar that is said to house some 60,000 bottles of wine.

Zurich

The Dolder Grand

Widder Hotel

Baur au Lac

Park Hyatt Zurich

Acasa Suites Zurich

The Dolder Grand

Source: The Dolder Grand

The Dolder Grand may have opened in 1899, but this hotel outside of Zurich’s city center has an almost futuristic feel. The interior features works by Salvador Dali and Jean Tinguely, and it has a two-Michelin starred restaurant and a 4,000-square-foot spa. From royalty to rock legends, former guests include King Charles and The Rolling Stones.

Read more

Shanghai, Mumbai, Melbourne and beyond: CNBC names the best Asia-Pacific hotels for business travel

— Natalie Tham contributed to this report.
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October 3, 2022
Jim Cramer says 3 things are preventing the market from having a sustained rally
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CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Monday said that Monday’s rally won’t last because none of the headwinds to the economy have abated.

Stocks rebounded on Monday after an ugly end to the month and quarter on Friday, notching the best day since June for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500′s best day since July.

related investing news

Cramer: It’s the Fed versus China and Putin and stocks hang perilously in the balance

Cramer pointed out that the market has seen some sporadic one-day rallies recently, but they’ve always been felled by three things. Wednesday’s rally will likely face a similar fate, he added.

Here are three things preventing the market from having a sustained rally, according to Cramer

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is ongoing. Cramer pointed out that the two countries are still at war, and that it’s looking likely that the energy crisis it’s fueling could have serious consequences during the winter months.

China’s still under Covid lockdown. While tech stocks rallied on Monday, many of them are dependent on China, which is still beholden to Covid lockdowns with no end in sight.

Inflation driven by work-from-home is still up. Wage, food and housing prices are still too high, Cramer said, adding that he doesn’t have high expectations for the release of the nonfarm labor report Friday.

He also said that the market is still incredibly oversold.

“The most impressive thing about today’s rally is that it happened at all. My feeling is that today’s bounce is all about sentiment getting too negative,” he said.

Jim Cramer’s Guide to Investing

Click here to download Jim Cramer’s Guide to Investing at no cost to help you build long-term wealth and invest smarter.
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October 3, 2022
Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Peloton, Tesla, Viasat, Wells Fargo, Box and more

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A Tesla electric vehicle at a supercharger station in Hawthorne, California, on Aug. 9, 2022.

Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images

Check out the companies making the biggest moves midday Monday:

Credit Suisse — Shares of Credit Suisse rose 1.7%, reversing an earlier slump that sent the stock to a record low, after the bank over the weekend made a series of calls to calm investor fears about its financial health. In addition, the cost to insure the bank’s debt against default jumped to a new high.

Tesla — Tesla shares dropped 8.2% after the electric vehicle maker said it delivered 343,000 vehicles in the third quarter, less than analysts expected. However, Wall Street analysts were divided over the report.

Peloton — Peloton shares rose more than 6% after the exercise-equipment company announced it will put bikes in all 5,400 Hilton-branded hotels in the U.S. Peloton is trying to engineer a turnaround and also said last week that its bikes, treadmills and other hardware would be sold in Dick’s Sporting Goods locations.

Roblox — Shares of the gaming platform fell slightly after MoffettNathanson initiated coverage with an underperform rating. The Wall Street firm said it’s too soon to tell whether Roblox will ever meet its metaverse ambitions.

Viasat — Viasat jumped 28% on Monday after striking a deal with L3Harris to sell its tactical data links business. The deal is for just under $2 billion, the companies announced. Viasat said it would use the cash to reduce its leverage and increase liquidity.

Wells Fargo – Wells Fargo’s stock gained 3% after Goldman Sachs upgraded the bank to a buy rating from neutral and said investors are underappreciating its potential.

Livent — The lithium company dropped about half a percent after Bank of America downgraded the stock to underperform from neutral, citing “limited upside.”

DocuSign — DocuSign dropped slid 2.4% after being downgraded by Morgan Stanley to underweight from equal weight, citing pricing pressure.

Myovant Sciences — The biopharmaceutical company jumped 36% after it rejected a bid by Sumitovant Biopharma, its largest shareholder, to buy the shares it doesn’t already own for $22.75 per share. Myovant, which said the offer significantly undervalues the company, said it is open to considering any improved proposal.

Box — Box’s stock rallied 7% after Morgan Stanley boosted its price target, implying the cloud storage company could surge 39% from Friday’s close. The firm also upgraded the stock to overweight from equal weight, citing solid macro positioning, strong execution and a more favorable competitive landscape.

Freshpet — Shares of Freshpet rose 7.6% after Barron’s reported the pet-food maker has hired bankers to explore a potential sale.

LogicBio Therapeutics — Shares of the clinical-stage genetic company skyrocketed more than 644% after it announced it was being acquired by AstraZeneca for $2.07 per share. That price tag is a whopping 666% increase from LogicBio’s closing price of 27 cents per share.

InterDigital — InterDigital’s stock rallied 16% after the research and development company raised its guidance for third-quarter 2022 total revenue a range of $112 million to $115 million, up from $96 million to $100 million.

Fluor Corp. — Fluor rose more than 5% in midday trading. The company announced Monday it was awarded two reimbursable engineering, procurement and construction management contracts by BASF for work in China.

Stanley Black & Decker — The tool maker’s stock jumped more than 4% after The Wall Street Journal reported that the company has eliminated about 1,000 jobs in an effort to cut about $200 million in costs.

Energy stocks — Oil prices jumped, pushing energy stocks higher. Marathon Oil rallied 8%. APA Corp. and Devon Energy gained about 7% each. Diamondback Energy, Halliburton and ConocoPhillips were all up more than 6%.

— CNBC’s Alex Harring, Samantha Subin, Carmen Reinicke, Yun Li, Tanaya Macheel and Jesse Pound contributed reporting.

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October 3, 2022
Google shuts down Translate service in China

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Google pulled its search engine from China in 2010 because of heavy government internet censorship. Since then, Google has had a difficult relationship with the Chinese market. The end of Google Translate in China marks a further retreat by the U.S. technology giant from the world’s second-largest economy.

Budrul Chukrut| SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

Alphabet’s Google on Monday said it shut down the Google Translate service in mainland China, citing low usage.

The move marks the end of one of its last remaining products in the world’s second-largest economy.

The dedicated mainland China website for Google Translate now redirects users to the Hong Kong version of the service. However, this is not accessible from mainland China.

“We are discontinuing Google Translate in mainland China due to low usage,” Google said in a statement.

Google has had a fraught relationship with the Chinese market. The U.S. technology giant pulled its search engine from China in 2010 because of strict government censorship online. Its other services — such as Google Maps and Gmail — are also effectively blocked by the Chinese government.

As a result, local competitors such as search engine Baidu and social media and gaming giant Tencent have come to dominate the Chinese internet landscape in areas from search to translation.

Google has a very limited presence in China these days. Some of its hardware including smartphones are made in China. But The New York Times reported last month that Google has shifted some production of its Pixel smartphones to Vietnam.

The company is also looking to try to get Chinese developers to make apps for its Android operating system globally that will then be available via the Google Play Store, even though that’s blocked in China.

In 2018, Google was exploring reentering China with its search engine, but ultimately scrapped that project after backlash from employees and politicians.

American businesses have been caught in the middle of continued tensions in the technology sphere between the U.S. and China. Washington continues to fret over China’s potential access to sensitive technologies in areas such as artificial intelligence and semiconductors.

In August, U.S. chipmaker Nvidia disclosed that Washington will restrict the company’s sales of specific components to China.

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October 3, 2022
Kim Kardashian pays over $1 million to settle SEC charges linked to a crypto promo on her Instagram

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Reality TV star Kim Kardashian launched a private equity fund, Skky Partners, which she co-founded with Jay Sammons, a former partner at the investment firm Carlyle Group.

Photo by James Devaney/GC Images via Getty Images

Kim Kardashian’s crypto misadventure has landed her in hot water with federal regulators.

The reality TV superstar and influencer has settled Securities and Exchange Commission charges that she failed to disclose a payment she received for touting a crypto asset on her Instagram feed, the agency announced Monday morning.

“This case is a reminder that, when celebrities or influencers endorse investment opportunities, including crypto asset securities, it doesn’t mean that those investment products are right for all investors,” Gary Gensler, chairman of the SEC, said in a news release.

Representatives for Kardashian didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Kardashian, who is reportedly worth $1.8 billion, agreed to pay $1.26 million to settle the charges over a promotion on Meta‘s Instagram for EthereumMax’s crypto asset, the SEC said. She will also cooperate with an ongoing investigation, and has agreed to not promote crypto securities for three years, the regulator added.

However, Kardashian, who has built a media and lifestyle empire, neither admitted to nor denied the regulator’s findings, the SEC said.

Kardashian has already felt regulatory heat over her EthereumMax promo, which she posted on Instagram in June of last year. She started the post by asking her millions of followers, “ARE YOU INTO CRYPTO??? THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE BUT SHARING WHAT MY FRIENDS JUST TOLD ME ABOUT THE ETHEREUM MAX TOKEN.”

Investors sued her, former NBA star Paul Pierce and superstar boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. earlier this year over their promos for EthereumMax, accusing them of artificially inflating the value of the asset.

The SEC on Monday said Kardashian failed to report that she was paid $250,000 to publish a post about EMAX tokens, a crypto asset offered by EthereumMax. The post, which featured the hashtag “#ad,” included a link to the EthereumMax website, which gives users instructions about how to buy the tokens, the regulator added.

Her failure to disclose the payment was a violation of federal securities laws, the SEC said. She agreed to pay $260,000, which includes the payment she received, plus interest, in addition to the $1 million penalty, the agency added.

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October 3, 2022
Pro-Russian groups are raising funds in crypto to prop up military operations and evade U.S. sanctions

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Pro-Russian groups are raising funds in cryptocurrency to prop up paramilitary operations and evade U.S. sanctions as the war with Ukraine wages on, a research report published Monday revealed.

As of Sept. 22, these fundraising groups had raised $400,000 in cryptocurrency since the start of the invasion on Feb. 24, according to TRM Labs, a digital asset compliance and risk management company.

The research revealed that groups, using encrypted messaging app Telegram, are offering ways for people to send funds which are used to supply Russian-affiliated militia groups and support combat training at locations close to the border with Ukraine.

One group TRM Labs identified raising funds is Task Force Rusich which the U.S. Treasury describes as a “neo-Nazi paramilitary group that has participated in combat alongside Russia’s military in Ukraine.” The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFCA) has sanctioned Task Force Rusich.

On a Telegram channel, TRM Labs discovered this group was looking to raise money for items such as thermal imaging equipment and radios.

Russian paramilitary groups are raising funds in cryptocurrency using messaging app Telegram, according to research published by TRM Labs.

Matt Cardy | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The Novorossia Aid Coordinating Center, which was set up in 2014 to support Russian operations in Ukraine, raised about $21,000 in cryptocurrency, mainly bitcoin, with the aim of buying drones, the report said.

Russia was hit by a number of sanctions after its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine earlier this year that aimed to cut it off from the global financial system. At the time, there were concerns that Russia could use cryptocurrency to evade these penalties. However, experts said that there is not enough liquidity in the crypto system on the scale Russia would require to move money.

But with the paramilitary groups, they’re moving money on a smaller scale, which is enough for the items they need to buy.

These groups are likely using exchanges that don’t necessarily comply with anti-money laundering and other regulations, according to Ari Redbord, head of legal and government affairs at TRM Labs.

“They’re probably using non-compliant exchanges to off-ramp those funds [into fiat currency],” Redbord told CNBC.

“And you can do that. You just can’t do that at scale. And I think that’s that that’s where … we’ll say, will there be more? Of course, there’ll be more. But will it be billions of dollars? Highly unlikely.”

Redbord said TRM Labs used a combination of publicly available wallet addresses as well as cross-checking other websites and activity online to identify the Russian-linked groups. However, he did say it’s not possible to know whether these groups were working with the Russian government or are in any way backed by the Kremlin.

Cryptocurrencies have been thrust into the spotlight during the Russia and Ukraine war. Ukraine has been seeking donations via digital coins, which can be sent quickly across the world. But they’re now also being used by Russian paramilitary groups.

“I think an interesting part of this story is that crypto is just a form of payment in these cases. It’s a way to move funds. And there’s an example of it being used for good and example of it being used for bad in this context,” Redbord said.

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October 2, 2022
The best-performing global stocks last week include a gold miner analysts say could jump 50%

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October 2, 2022
OPEC+ to consider oil cut of over than 1 million barrels per day

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OPEC+ will consider an oil output cut of more than a million barrels per day (bpd) next week, OPEC sources said on Sunday.

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OPEC+ will consider an oil output cut of more than a million barrels per day (bpd) next week, OPEC sources said on Sunday, in what would be the biggest move yet since the Covid-19 pandemic to address oil market weakness.

The meeting will take place on Oct. 5 against the backdrop of falling oil prices and months of severe market volatility which prompted top OPEC+ producer, Saudi Arabia, to say the group could cut production.

OPEC+, which combines OPEC countries and allies such as Russia, has refused to raise output to lower oil prices despite pressure from major consumers, including the United States, to help the global economy.

Prices have nevertheless fallen sharply in the last month due to fears about the global economy and a rally in the U.S. dollar after the Federal Reserves raised rates.

A significant production cut is poised to anger the United States, which has been putting pressure on Saudi Arabia to continue pumping more to help oil prices soften further and reduce revenues for Russia as the West seeks to punish Moscow for sending troops to Ukraine.

The West accuses Russia of invading Ukraine, but the Kremlin calls it a special military operation.

Saudi Arabia has not condemned Moscow’s actions amid difficult relations with the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden.

Last week, a source familiar with the Russian thinking said Moscow would like to see OPEC+ cutting 1 million bpd or one percent of global supply.

That would be the biggest cut since 2020 when OPEC+ reduced output by a record 10 million bpd as demand crashed due to the Covid pandemic. The group spent the next two years unwinding those record cuts.

On Sunday, the sources said the cut could exceed 1 million bpd. One of the sources suggested cuts could also include a voluntary additional reduction of production by Saudi Arabia.

OPEC+ will meet in person in Vienna for the first time since March 2020.

Analysts and OPEC watchers such as UBS and JPMorgan have suggested in recent days a cut of around 1 million bpd was on the cards and could help arrest the price decline.

“$90 oil is non-negotiable for the OPEC+ leadership, hence they will act to safeguard this price floor,” said Stephen Brennock of oil broker PVM.

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October 2, 2022
Tesla delivered 343,000 vehicles in the third quarter of 2022
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A Tesla Model Y on display inside a Tesla store at the Westfield Culver City shopping mall in Culver City, California, U.S., on Thursday, April 14, 2022.

Bing Guan | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Electric vehicle makers Tesla just posted third-quarter vehicle production and delivery numbers for 2022. Here are the numbers:

Total deliveries Q3 2022: 343,000

Total production Q3 2022: 365,000

Deliveries are the closest approximation of sales reported by Tesla, and they fell short of analysts’ expectations 364,660 vehicles, according to estimates compiled by FactSet-owned Street Account.

Tesla also said in its report the company produced 19,935 of its higher priced Model S and X vehicles, and 345,988 of its more popular Model 3 and Y vehicles during Q3.

Total production increased from the prior quarter of 2022, when Tesla said it made 258,580 vehicles.

During the year-ago quarter, Tesla reported deliveries of 254,695 vehicles, and that it had produced 237,823 cars including just 8,941 Model S and X vehicles, which are the company’s more expensive sedan and SUV with falcon-wing doors, respectively.

In the third quarter of 2022, Tesla faced soaring commodity prices, executive turnover (with the notable departure of AI leader Andrej Karpathy in July) and growing pains at its new factories in Germany and Texas.

Tesla has not historically disclosed its vehicle production and delivery numbers by region.

In July this year, Tesla had to suspend most of its Shanghai factory production temporarily to make upgrades to the plant. By the month of August, however, the company’s production and deliveries in China had rebounded, according to China Passenger Car Association data.

In the U.S., at the end of the second quarter, Tesla laid off an entire AI office and made other headcount cuts. Musk also mandated that all Tesla employees should work at a Tesla office at least 40 hours per week, even if they were previously allowed to work remotely.

After that, some employees were dismissed and others chose to resign, while those who returned to the office found over-crowded conditions that persisted through the third-quarter, making it hard to get work done normally at some of the companies facilities, including its first U.S. car factory in Fremont, California, and battery plant outside of Reno, Nevada.

By September, executives speaking at an all-hands meeting with employees at the Nevada Gigafactory were celebrating new production records, and lauding employees’ hard work.

As CNBC previously reported, Tesla execs said at that time August had been a record month for the Fremont factory in terms of production, and that Tesla’s relatively new factory in Austin, Texas, had hit a 1,000 cars per-week production rate on a seven day rolling basis, a promising milestone.
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October 2, 2022
Ukraine claims full control of key logistics hub of Lyman, eyes further gains

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Ukrainian troops pose for a photo in Lyman, Ukraine in this picture released in social media October 1, 2022.

Oleksiy Biloshytskyi | Oleksiy Biloshytskyi Via Reuters

Ukraine said on Sunday it was in full control of the eastern logistics hub of Lyman, Kyiv’s most significant battlefield gain in weeks, which a senior official said could provide a staging post for further gains to the east.

“As of 1230 (0930 GMT), Lyman is fully cleared,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a short video clip on his Telegram channel.

There was no comment from the Russian armed forces on Sunday on the status of the city. The Russian defense ministry said on Saturday it was pulling troops out of the area “in connection with the creation of a threat of encirclement.”

The latest stinging setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin came after he proclaimed the annexation of four regions covering nearly a fifth of Ukraine on Friday, an area that includes Lyman.

Kyiv and the West have condemned the proclamation as an illegitimate farce.

Russian forces captured Lyman from Ukraine in May and had used it as a logistics and transport hub for its operations in the north of the Donetsk region. Losing it is Russia’s largest battlefield loss since Ukraine’s lightning counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region last month.

Serhiy Gaidai, governor of the Luhansk region that neighbors Donetsk, said control over Lyman could help Ukraine reclaim lost territory in his region, whose full capture Moscow announced in early July after weeks of grinding advances.

“The liberation of this city in the Donetsk region is one of the key factors for the further de-occupation of the Luhansk region,” Gaidai wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday.

Zelenskyy on Saturday promised more quick successes in the Donbas, which covers the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that are largely under Russian control.

“Over the past week, the number of Ukrainian flags in Donbas has increased. There will be even more a week’s time,” Zelenskyy said in an evening address.

The areas Putin claimed as annexed — the Donbas regions and the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — form a swath of territory equal to about 18% of Ukraine’s total surface land area.

Russian anger

The battlefield setbacks have triggered a fresh wave of criticism within Russia of how its military operation is being handled.

Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia’s southern Chechnya region, on Saturday called for a change of strategy “right up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and the use of low-yield nuclear weapons.”

Other top officials, including former President Dmitry Medvedev, have suggested Russia may need to resort to nuclear weapons, but Kadyrov’s call was the most urgent and explicit.

Washington says it would respond decisively to any use of nuclear weapons.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Saturday Lyman’s capture would create new problems for Russia’s military.

“We’re very encouraged by what we’re seeing right now,” Austin told a news conference.

Austin noted that Lyman was positioned across supply lines that Russia has used to push its troops and materiel down to the south and to the west, as the Kremlin presses its more than seven-month-long invasion of Ukraine.

“Without those routes, it will be more difficult. So it presents a sort of a dilemma for the Russians going forward.”

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October 2, 2022
Bank of England intervention should be ‘sufficient’ to calm market chaos, says Dutch pension fund investor

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The market chaos caused by the sell-off in U.K. government bonds should settle down following this week’s emergency intervention by the Bank of England, said Ronald Wuijster, chief executive of APG Asset Management, one of the largest pension investors in the world.

On Wednesday, the BOE stepped up to buy long-term-bonds or gilts over the next two weeks, in a bid to shore up financial stability.

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The move came after the pound fell to an all-time low against the dollar and government bond prices slumped, in reaction to the new U.K. government’s fiscal policy announcements which included unfunded tax cuts.

There was panic among some pension funds, and some of the bonds held within them quickly lost value.

In order to top up the collateral on these bonds, some funds had to raise cash but due to the speed of this crisis, many funds were caught out and were forced to liquidate their next most liquid assets, long-term bonds or gilts, causing prices of bonds to fall even more.

“The power of the central bank is sufficient, I think, to make it settle down,” Wuijster told CNBC’s Tanvir Gill at the Milken Asia Summit on Friday, adding there has been no panic for APG.

“One can never exclude that with rising interest rates, these things happen but our situation is quite different. Our pension funds have interest rates swap positions as well.”

“We do a lot of stress testing to see what could happen during this situation so we’re well prepared, we’re able to generate lots of liquidity to deal with a situation like that.”

APG invests in gilts for its funds, but it does not have many gilt positions for liability hedging, Wuijster said. Liability hedging refers to reducing volatility in assets within funds such as pensions, and therefore minimizing risks to investment returns.

Hedging is necessary to ensure pension plan beneficiaries get steady and guaranteed income.

I think [the] worst hit are lower income people … so I think the compensation that was announced in the U.K. is not very much welcomed by market.

Ronald Wuijster

chief executive, APG Asset Management

When asked if pension funds should reconsider using gilts, especially during times of economic uncertainty, Wuijster said that since a pension fund straddles a regular asset management and an insurance product, it is normal for half of the fund to be hedged using these instruments.

A better solution for funds and investors to manage current macroeconomic risks is to be diversified, for example, by investing globally across a range of assets, Wuijster said.

The CEO said it’s not likely the same thing could happen to European bonds.

Compared to the U.K., European policy makers have been more moderate in managing their energy crisis and inflation and have been raising interest rates more gradually, Wuijster says, adding that he does not expect a situation like the U.K. to occur in Europe.

The U.K. government said the new tax policies would help boost growth at a time of rising inflation and soaring energy costs. But instead, they were accused of acting purely ideologically, with many economists predicting the cuts would fuel inflation and drive up government debt.

“Mainly compensating a richer people is probably not the smartest idea,” he said referring to the U.K. policies.

“I think [the] worst hit are lower income people — by this energy prices and crisis — so I think the compensation that was announced in the U.K. is not very much welcomed by market.”

The Bank of England said it would commence buying up to £5 billion (about $5.6 billion) of long-dated gilts, or those with a maturity of more than 20 years, on the secondary market from Wednesday until Oct. 14.

— Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that the interview took place at the Milken Asia Summit.

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October 2, 2022
Monkeypox eradication unlikely in the U.S. as virus could spread indefinitely, CDC says

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The monkeypox virus is unlikely to be eliminated from the U.S. in the near future, according to a report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week.

The CDC, in a technical brief, said the outbreak is slowing as the availability of vaccines has increased, people have become more aware of how to avoid infection, and immunity has likely increased among gay and bisexual men, the group most impacted by the virus.

But low-level transmission of the virus could continue indefinitely among men who have sex with other men, according to the report. The CDC said it does not have a projection of how many total people might get infected by the virus.

The Biden administration declared a public health emergency in August in an effort to ramp up vaccines, testing, treatment and community outreach in an effort to eradicate the virus from the U.S.

The U.S. is trying to contain the largest monkeypox outbreak in the world, with nearly 26,000 cases reported across all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico, according to CDC data. At least two people have died from the disease in the U.S., according to the data.

The global monkeypox outbreak, the largest in history, is highly unusual because the virus is circulating widely in countries where it is not normally found. Historically, monkeypox has circulated in remote parts of West and Central Africa. In that context, people normally caught the virus from animals. There was little spread between people.

Monkeypox is now spreading widely between people, mostly through close contact during sex among gay and bisexual men. The disease is rarely fatal, but patients develop lesions resembling blisters in sensitive areas that are extremely painful. In some cases, the pain is so great people require hospitalization and in rare instances people with weak immune systems have died.

The CDC, in its report, said the virus is still spreading primarily among men who have sex with men. But anyone can catch the virus through close contact with someone who is infected or with contaminated materials. Health authorities have confirmed 29 cases of children catching the virus to date, and 78 total pediatric cases are under investigation as of late September.

Though 96% of patients are men, 408 women have caught the virus to date in the U.S. Four pregnant women and one who was breastfeeding have caught monkeypox.

The CDC said the percentage of patients who identify as gay or bisexual men has declined over time, with 75% of people who provided recent sexual history reporting male-to-male contact.

But a large number of cases are missing data on sexual history and more than 90% of infections are among males, according to CDC. The decline in the percentage of cases reporting male-to-male sexual contact is likely due to missing data rather than a change in how the virus is spreading, according to the public health agency.

The CDC said the outbreak will likely remain concentrated among men who have sex with men over the long term, with infections continuing to decline over the coming weeks and dropping significantly over the next several months.

More than 684,000 people have received the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine so far. Earlier this week, the CDC reported preliminary data indicating that the vaccine is providing at least some protection against infection. The vaccination campaign is primarily focused on gay and bisexual men.

The outbreak could start accelerating again if the virus starts spreading widely among the U.S. population through heterosexual networks or contact that doesn’t involve sex, according to CDC. But there is no country in the current global outbreak that has found clear evidence of sustained spread of the virus outside sexual networks of gay and bisexual men, according to the CDC.

The public health agency also warned that the virus could start spreading faster again among people if it becomes established in an animal population in the U.S. The CDC said it is unknown which animals in North America are most susceptible to infection.

In Africa, the virus mostly spread from animals to people. If monkeypox becomes established in animals in the U.S., it would be very difficult to eradicate.

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October 1, 2022