ReportWire

Tag: C&E Executive News Filter

  • Trump is backed further into a financial corner after losing control of his company

    Trump is backed further into a financial corner after losing control of his company

    With Donald Trump’s legal liabilities growing and a presidential campaign to run, losing control of his company couldn’t have come at a worse time.

    After a New York judge ordered the Trump Organization to pay $364 million in penalties and barred the former president from any role in running a business in New York state for three years, Trump now finds himself backed further into a financial corner with fewer options for how to maneuver.

    “It will have such an enormous impact on the operation of his business,” said Randy Zelin, a professor of law at Cornell University and a veteran criminal defense attorney with experience in complex financial matters. “But it will also provide a strong basis for an appeal.”  

    New York Attorney General Letitia James had asked New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron to levy a $370 million financial penalty against the Trump Organization and also to ban Trump and his children Ivanka, Donald Jr. and Eric Trump from running any company in the state of New York, where his real-estate empire has long been based.

    Engoron’s ruling barred Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump from being involved in running any business in the state for two years. The judge also ordered that former U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Jones, who has been serving as an independent monitor of the Trump Organization since 2022, continue in that role with expanded powers for the next three years. The ruling also ordered that an independent compliance officer be appointed within 30 days.

    “The Trump Organization shall be required to obtain prior approval — not, as things are now, subsequent review — from Judge Jones before submitting any financial disclosure to a third party, so that such disclosure may be reviewed beforehand for material misrepresentations,” the ruling read. 

    The outcome of the civil trial sat solely in Engoron’s hands, and in September, he issued a summary judgment essentially ruling in favor of James’s arguments that the Trump Organization had engaged in fraud for years by repeatedly misstating the value of assets to lenders and insurance companies. 

    The judgment is the latest in a string of legal and financial blows that the former president has faced and that have already had an impact on his presidential campaign.

    Trump has incurred $76 million in legal costs over the past two years stemming from the wide array of criminal and civil prosecutions he faces. More than $27 million of the money raised in the last six months of 2023 to support his presidential campaign has instead been used to cover his legal costs, according to campaign-finance filings.

    A report by Bloomberg earlier this week suggested that Trump may face a cash crunch caused by his ballooning legal costs as early as this summer, just as the presidential race will be heating up.

    Last month, a federal jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million in damages for defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll, whom he had attacked online after she had accused him of raping her in a department-store dressing room in the 1990s. He had earlier been hit with a $5 million verdict in a state case on similar charges.

    Trump has vowed to appeal the verdicts and denied raping Carroll, but in order to appeal, he will be required to put up bonds for the full award amounts. That means he would need to either get a bank to back him or to pledge collateral — like a real estate asset — to secure the bond.

    But without full control of his real-estate empire, Trump will likely find it harder to line up financing or use his assets as freely as before. 

    Under the terms of Engoron’s ruling, Trump will no longer be able to make any moves involving assets held by the Trump Organization without the approval of the court-appointed monitor.

    Even pledging his assets as collateral for the bond that he would be required to post in order to file an appeal would be complicated by the imposition of a monitor. 

     “When you lose control of your company, you lose control of who is going to be paid and how much they will be paid. All the money will, first and foremost, be used to operate the business, and how much goes to Trump and his children becomes a secondary concern,” Zelin said.

    Add to that the mounting legal costs for multiple criminal cases being brought against him — on charges related to Jan. 6 as well as charges of mishandling classified documents, election fraud, racketeering and illegally paying hush money to women who claimed they’d had affairs with him — and Trump finds himself in a worsening financial bind.

    So far, the former president has managed to cover many of his legal costs through donations from his political supporters, but that means that money won’t be available to fund his campaign for president. At the end of the year, President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign had about $46 million cash on hand, while Trump’s campaign had $33 million, Federal Election Commission filings show. Some $50 million held by Trump’s political action committees has already been used to cover his legal bills. 

    Regarding the properties held by the Trump Organization, while Trump has been able to refinance many of the loans underlying his bigger real-estate holdings, pushing their maturity dates back several years, he still has a stake in some high-profile buildings that have debt coming due in the next few years.

    With the court-appointed monitor part of the equation, it might now be more difficult for Trump to secure new debt in order to refinance those buildings, and that could even technically trigger defaults, depending on how the loan covenants were written.

    Source link

  • Etsy drifts further away from its roots with first Super Bowl ad

    Etsy drifts further away from its roots with first Super Bowl ad


    Etsy Inc., once known as a quirky marketplace for handmade, artisanal and vintage items, seems to be moving further away from its origins amid a much tougher e-commerce landscape and the impact of AI.

    Etsy
    ETSY,
    +4.83%
    will be marketing to a whole new audience on Sunday, when its first Super Bowl commercial will run. The 30-second ad is quirky; it depicts a generic 19th-century American leader who’s flummoxed over how to reciprocate France’s gift of the Statue of Liberty. With the help of an anachronistic smartphone, he and his team search on Etsy using its new Gift Mode option, and find its “Cheese Lover” category after determining that the French love cheese. Voilà — they decide to send the French some cheese.

    The commercial is part of Etsy’s push of a new user interface featuring Gift Mode, which lets shoppers search for gifts for a specific type of person or occasion — combining generative AI and human curation to give gift buyers some unusual options.

    But are these moves desperate and costly efforts to try to reach potential new buyers, coming on the heels of Etsy’s plans to lay off 11% of its staff?Or could running a TV ad at the most expensive time of the year actually lead to more sales on the once-fast growing marketplace?

    Etsy believes these moves will help the company grow again, and its research shows the average American spends $1,600 a year on gifts. “There is no single market leader and Etsy sees a real opportunity to become the destination for gifting,” Etsy’s Chief Executive Josh Silverman said in a recent blog post.

    Etsy is clearly under pressure after seeing its gross merchandise sales more than double in 2020 during the pandemic, when it became a go-to place to buy handmade masks and all kinds of items for the home, from vintage pieces to antiques to castoffs. From personal experience as an Etsy seller, I saw sales at my own small vintage-clothing shop more than double in 2020 and then fall back in 2021, while still remaining higher than in 2019. In the last two years, sales have slowed, and some other sellers have witnessed similar patterns, based on their comments in seller forums.

    The number of sellers and buyers on the platform has increased on the same level as gross merchandise sales. But e-commerce competition has also gotten more fierce.

    “Our main concern with Etsy is growing competition in the space from new players like Temu,” said Bernstein Research analyst Nikhil Devnani, in an email. Temu and fellow Chinese online retailer Shein have raised a lot of investor jitters, as Etsy’s gross merchandise sales have slipped over the last year and are forecast to fall again in its upcoming fourth-quarter earnings report later this month.

    Devnani said a Super Bowl ad could potentially help the marketplace gain visibility, something it has always lacked.

    “One dynamic they’ve talked about a lot is that brand awareness/recollection is still low, and this keeps frequency low,” he said, noting that Etsy buyers shop on the site about three times per year, on average. “They want to be more top-of-mind … Super Bowl ads are notoriously expensive of course, but can be impactful/get noticed.”

    The company’s big focus on Gift Mode, however, could be a risky strategy. How many times a year do consumers look for gifts? And in a note Devnani wrote in October, before the company’s Gift Mode launch, he said that one of the concerns investors have is that Etsy is too niche. “’How often does someone need something special?’ is the rhetoric we hear most often,” he said. Etsy, then, is counting on buyers returning for other items for themselves.

    Etsy CEO Silverman believes buyers will come back again and again to purchase gifts. Naved Khan, a B. Riley Securities analyst, said in a recent note to clients that he believes Gift Mode plays to Etsy’s core strengths, offering “unique goods at reasonable prices” versus the mass-produced products sold on Shein, Temu, Amazon.com Inc.
    AMZN,
    +2.71%    ,
    and other sites.

    Consumer spending has changed, though. At an investor conference in December, Silverman said that consumers are spending on dining out and traveling, instead of buying things.

    But while investors still view Etsy as a niche e-commerce site, some buyers and sellers see it overrun with repetitive, non-relevant ads. Complaints about a decline in search capabilities, reliance on email and chat for support, and constant tech changes are common on seller forums and Facebook groups. AI-generated art offered by newer sellers as a side hustle has also become a thought-provoking, debated issue. And there are complaints about mass-produced items making their way on the site.

    Etsy said that in addition to its human and automated efforts, it also relies on community flags to help take down infringing products that are not allowed on its marketplace, and that community members should contact the company when if they see mass-produced items for sale on the site.

    It also continues to work on search. On its last earnings call, Silverman said the company was moving beyond relevance to the next frontier of search, one “focused on better identifying the quality of each Etsy listing utilizing humans and [machine-learning] technology, so that from a highly relevant result set we bring the very best of Etsy to the top — personalized to what we understand of your tastes and preferences.”

    The pressure could build on the company if its latest moves don’t generate growth. Etsy recently gave a seat on its board to a partner at activist investor Elliott Management, which bought a “sizable” stake in the company in the last few months. Marc Steinberg, who is responsible for public and private investments at Elliott, has also has been on the board at Pinterest
    PINS,
    -9.45%
    since December 2022.

    Elliott Management did not respond to questions. But in a statement last week, Steinberg said he was joining the board because he “believe[s] there is an opportunity for significant value creation.” Some sellers fear that the pressure from investors and Wall Street will lead to Etsy allowing mass-produced products onto the site. In its fall update, Etsy said the number of listings it removed for violating its handmade policy jumped 112% and that it was further accelerating such actions.

    Etsy’s stock before the news of Elliott’s stake was down about 18% this year. Its shares are now off about 3.65% this year, after recently having their best day in seven years on the news that Steinberg joined the board.

    Etsy is a unique marketplace that for many years had a much better reputation than some of its rivals, like eBay
    EBAY,
    +0.98%    .
    But since going public and answering to Wall Street, the need to provide growth and profits for investors has become much more of a driver. The Super Bowl ad and Gift Mode may bring a broader awareness to Etsy, but will it be the right kind of awareness? Sellers like me hope these new efforts will stave off the continuing fight with the likes of Temu and other vendors of mass-produced products, and help Etsy retain the remaining unique aspects of its marketplace.



    Source link

  • Small businesses are paying 100%+ of profits to Uncle Sam after tax-law change

    Small businesses are paying 100%+ of profits to Uncle Sam after tax-law change


    Small businesses in sectors like software and manufacturing are panicking over the expiration of a critical tax deduction that they say could lead to mass layoffs and business closures, unless Congress acts quickly to amend the law.

    “This is a life-and-death scenario for small software companies,” Michelle Hansen, co-founder of the geocoding company Geocodio, told MarketWatch.

    The tax change that Hansen and other software executives are taking issue with was signed into law by President Trump in 2017, as part of a larger tax overhaul that slashed the top corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%.

    But in order to satisfy Senate budget rules and pass the law with only Republican votes, the bill could not increase the budget deficit over a 10-year window.

    So lawmakers included a provision that, beginning in 2022, drastically reduced how much research-and-development spending a business could deduct from their annual revenue to determine taxable income.

    The change penalizes certain industries like software and information technology — where engineer salaries are often classified as R&D expenses — as well as manufacturing and pharmaceuticals
    IHE.

    IntervalZero CEO Jeff Hibbard, whose Massachusetts-based company designs and sells software for installation on precision machines like semiconductor manufacturers, told MarketWatch that he has had to tap into company savings for the past several years in order to avoid laying off engineers.

    He said that his firm brings in about $9 million in revenue annually with expenses of $8 million — but 60% of those expenses come in the form of engineer salaries, which can only be deducted from taxable income over a five-year period because the IRS treats it as R&D.

    He said that after taxes consumed all his profits in 2022, he had to pay an additional $800,000 to Uncle Sam, and an additional $600,000 for the 2023 tax year.

    “We’ve had to do a hiring freeze and postpone projects” in a cutthroat industry where technology progresses rapidly, Hibbard said. “We’ve been in existence for 15 years. For the first 14, we always hired additional people. Now we have a hiring and salary freeze.”

    The House of Representatives voted last week 357-70 to restore full expensing for R&D as part of a $79 billion tax package that boosted the child tax credit and extended other business tax breaks.

    The bill now heads to the Senate, which already has its hands full debating immigration and national-security issues, and analysts say election-year politics could thwart its passage in 2024.

    Henrietta Treyz, director of economic-policy research at Veda Partners, gave just a 10% chance of the bill passing the Senate in a recent note to clients.

    “This year’s effort to pass a tax package has been more robust than the effort we saw in 2022 and 2023,” she wrote. Treyz added, however, that “the competing need to pass border reform and Ukraine/Israel aid, and general dysfunction in Washington keep us pessimistic that we’ll see a bipartisan economic-stimulus package come out of Congress this year.”

     On top of Republicans not wanting to give President Joe Biden a victory that would provide tax relief for businesses and families, Senate Republicans could decide to drag their feet on the bill in the hope that they’ll retake the chamber next year and can play a bigger role in the process, according to Owen Tedford, policy analyst at Beacon Policy Advisors.

    “The critical member to watch is Senator Mike Crapo [of Idaho], the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee,” Tedford wrote. “Crapo has not outright opposed the bill but has raised policy concerns and has expressed a desire to have a chance to amend it.” 

    Political considerations may be dictating the bill’s fate in Washington — but some business owners fear they don’t have the wherewithal to wait until next year for the problem to be fixed.

    Benjamin Bengfort, co-founder and CEO of Iowa-based software firm Rotational Labs, told MarketWatch that he had to lay off workers last year after his 2022 tax bill rose by 438%.

    He noted that even demand for his products has taken a hit because of the change in the law, because his services can count as an R&D expense for his customers, too.

    “So it is [between] a rock and a hard place for us, no matter how you look at it,” Bengfort said. “This is an existential threat for software engineering companies.”

    Andrew Keshner contributed.



    Source link

  • How to navigate market risk from interest rates, the economy and politics in 2024

    How to navigate market risk from interest rates, the economy and politics in 2024


    As the U.S. Federal Reserve’s three-year reign in the headlines potentially comes to an end, an analysis of this year’s market themes can offer valuable insights for predicting trends and ensuring attractive returns in 2024.

    Beyond the central bank’s actions, pivotal factors shaping the investment landscape this year include fiscal policies, election outcomes, interest rates and earnings prospects.

    Throughout 2023, a prominent theme emerged: that equities are influenced by factors beyond monetary policy. That trend is likely to persist. 

    A decline in interest rates could significantly increase the relative valuations of equities while simultaneously reducing interest expenses, potentially transforming market dynamics. Contrary to consensus estimates, 2023 brought a more robust earnings rebound, leaving analysts optimistic about 2024.

    The 2024 U.S. presidential election, meanwhile, introduces a new element of uncertainty with the potential to cast a shadow over the market during much of the coming year. 

    Choppy trading, modest earnings growth

    Anticipating a choppy first half of the year due to sluggish economic growth, we see a better opportunity for cyclicals and small-cap stocks to rebound in the latter part of the year. As uncertainty around the election and recession fears dissipate, a broad rally that includes previously ignored cyclicals and small-caps should help propel the S&P 500
    SPX
    higher. 

    Broader macroeconomic conditions support mid-single-digit growth in earnings per share throughout 2024. Factors such as moderate economic expansion, controlled inflation and stable interest rates are expected to provide a conducive environment for companies, enabling them to sustain and potentially improve their earnings performance. We estimate EPS growth of 6.5%. This projected growth aligns with the broader market sentiment indicating a steady upward trajectory in earnings for the upcoming year, fostering investor confidence and supporting valuation expectations across various sectors.

    “ If the economy has not been in recession at the time of the first rate cut but enters one within a year, the Dow enters a bear market.”

    When it comes to U.S. stock-market performance around rate cuts, the phase of the economic cycle matters. When there has been no recession, lower rates have juiced the markets, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA
    rallying by an average of 23.8% one year later.

    If the economy has not been in recession at the time of the first cut but enters one within a year, the Dow has entered a bear market every time, declining by an average of 4.9% one year later. Our base case is a soft landing, but history shows how critical avoiding recession is for the bull market as the Fed prepares to ease policy.   

    Big on small-caps

    This past year has posed a hurdle for small-cap stocks due to the absence of a driving force. These stocks typically perform better as the economy emerges from a recession. While they are currently undervalued, their earnings growth has been notably lacking. If concerns about a recession diminish, a normal yield curve could serve as a potential catalyst for small-cap stocks.

    Growth vs. value

    The ongoing outperformance of megacap growth stocks that we saw in 2023 might hinge on their ability to sustain superior earnings growth, validating their current valuations. Defensive sectors in the value category, meanwhile, are notably oversold and might exhibit strong performance, particularly toward the latter part of the first quarter. Should concerns about a recession dissipate, cyclical sectors within the value category could outperform, particularly if broader market conditions turn favorable in the latter half of the year.

    Handling uncertainty

    The Fed’s enduring influence regarding the prospect of a soft landing in 2024 remains a pivotal point in the market’s focus. Considering the themes of the past year and the multifaceted influences on equities beyond monetary policy, investors are advised to navigate through uncertainties stemming from unintended fiscal shifts, upcoming elections and the impact of fluctuating interest rates. While a potentially choppy start to the year is anticipated, it could create opportunities for cyclical and small-cap stocks later in the year.

    Ed Clissold is chief of U.S. strategies at Ned Davis Research.

    Also read: Mortgage rates dip after Fed meeting. Freddie Mac expects rates to decline more.

    More: After the Fed’s comments, grab these CD rates while you still can



    Source link

  • Tesla settles California hazardous-waste lawsuit for $1.5 million

    Tesla settles California hazardous-waste lawsuit for $1.5 million


    Tesla Inc. will pay $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed earlier this week by 25 California counties accusing the electric-vehicle maker of mishandling hazardous waste.

    San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced the settlement late Thursday.

    “While electric vehicles may benefit the environment, the manufacturing and servicing of these vehicles still generates many harmful waste streams,” Jenkins said in a statement. “Today’s settlement against Tesla, Inc. serves to provide a cleaner environment for citizens throughout the state by preventing the contamination of our precious natural resources when hazardous waste is mismanaged and unlawfully disposed.”

    The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, accused Tesla
    TSLA,
    +0.84%
    of improperly handling, transporting and disposing hazardous materials including oil, lead acid batteries, antifreeze and diesel fuel at as many as 101 sites across the state.

    As part of the settlement, Tesla was ordered to pay $1.3 million in civil penalties, and $200,000 to reimburse the cost of the investigation, which began in 2018. Tesla also must comply with an injunction for five years to properly dispose of its hazardous materials.

    Last month, Tesla reported earnings of $7.9 billion in the fourth quarter.

    Tesla, which dissolved its media relations team in 2020, did not respond to a request for comment.

    Tesla shares are down about 24% year to date, compared to a 3% gain by the S&P 500
    SPX.



    Source link

  • Etsy’s stock is having its best day in seven months after Elliott takes ‘sizable’ stake

    Etsy’s stock is having its best day in seven months after Elliott takes ‘sizable’ stake


    Investors bought up shares of Etsy Inc. on Thursday after the online crafts marketplace added to its board of directors a partner of hedge fund Elliott Investment Management L.P., which recently acquired a “sizable” stake in the company.

    Etsy
    ETSY,
    +9.31%
    said Marc Steinberg, who is responsible for public- and private-equity investments at Elliott, has been appointed to the board, effective Feb. 5, and will also join the board’s audit committee.

    “Etsy has a highly differentiated position in the e-commerce landscape and a uniquely attractive business model, supported by a distinctive and engaged community,” Steinberg said. “We became a sizable investor in Etsy and I am joining its board because I believe there is an opportunity for significant value creation.”

    Etsy’s stock shot up 8% in afternoon trading, to pare earlier gains of as much as 14.2%. The stock was headed for its best one-day gain since it climbed 9.2% on July 11.

    Elliott’s stake was acquired in recent months, as the fund’s disclosure of equity holdings through the third quarter did not list Etsy shares.

    “Marc’s appointment reflects our ongoing commitment to enhance the perspectives and expertise on the Etsy Board,” said Etsy Chairman Fred Wilson. “We look forward to benefiting from his voice in the boardroom as a seasoned and experienced investor as we continue our journey of creating a leading global e-commerce platform.”

    Etsy now has 10 board members.

    Etsy’s stock has run up 18.6% over the past three months, but has tumbled 48.5% over the past 12 months. That’s compared with the S&P 500 index’s
    SPX
    18.7% rally over the past year.

    Read (December 2023): Etsy to cut 11% of staff as CEO says company is on ‘unsustainable trajectory’

    At an investor conference in December, Chief Executive Josh Silverman said business has slowed since the post-pandemic boom, as people have “had enough of buying things” and are now spending primarily on eating out and travel. Inflation and the loss of government subsidies was also weighing on spending.

    Still, Silverman said, Etsy is now about two and a half times bigger than it was before the pandemic, and the company has more active buyers than it did at the peak of the pandemic.



    Source link

  • Judge dismisses Disney’s free-speech lawsuit against DeSantis

    Judge dismisses Disney’s free-speech lawsuit against DeSantis


    Walt Disney Co.’s lawsuit against Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and others, alleging they retaliated against the company for publicly criticizing a controversial parents-rights education law backed by DeSantis, was dismissed by a federal judge on Wednesday.

    Shares of Disney
    DIS,
    -0.92%
    fell about 1% Monday.

    Judge Allen Winsor ruled Disney lacked legal standing to sue DeSantis. He added that Disney’s charges “fail on the merits” against members of the Florida board of a special improvement district in which the company operates its parks and resort.

    In his ruling, Winsor said Disney “has not alleged any specific actions the new board took (or will take) because of the governor’s alleged control.” He added the company “has not alleged any specific injury from any board action.”

    “Its alleged injury … is its operating under a board it cannot control. That injury would exist whether or not the governor controlled the board,” he wrote.

    Disney strongly suggested it will appeal Winsor’s ruling.

    “This is an important case with serious implications for the rule of law, and it will not end here,” the company said in a statement. “If left unchallenged, this would set a dangerous precedent and give license to states to weaponize their official powers to punish the expression of political viewpoints they disagree with. We are determined to press forward with our case.”

    The controversial legislation, dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics, was passed in 2022. 



    Source link

  • Oil prices jump after drone attack kills U.S. troops, escalating Mideast crisis

    Oil prices jump after drone attack kills U.S. troops, escalating Mideast crisis


    Oil futures popped higher Sunday evening, after a drone attack that killed three U.S. service members in northern Jordan, blamed by the White House on Iran-backed militants, marked a major escalation of tensions in the Middle East.

    West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery
    CL00,
    +1.22%

    CL.1,
    +1.22%

    CLH24,
    +1.22%
    was up $1.09, or 1.4%, at $79.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. March Brent crude
    BRN00,
    +1.15%

    BRNH24,
    +1.14%    ,
    the global benchmark, gained $1.11, or 1.3%, to trade at $84.66 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.

    Much will ultimately depend on the U.S. response and whether Iran takes action aimed at shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, Tariq Zahir, managing member at Tyche Capital Advisors, told MarketWatch on Sunday afternoon.

    “We are on the cusp of this escalating, which could seriously impact the flow of crude oil,” he said.

    Three U.S. service members were killed and more than two dozen injured in a drone strike on a U.S. base in northeast Jordan, according to U.S. Central Command. They were the first U.S. fatalities in months of attacks on U.S. bases by Iran-backed militias since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October.

    President Joe Biden attributed the Sunday attack to an Iran-backed militia group and said the U.S. “will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner (of) our choosing.” News reports said U.S. officials were still working to conclusively identify the precise group responsible for the attack, but have assessed that one of several Iranian-backed groups is to blame.

    Some congressional Republicans called for direct retaliation on Iran.

    “We must respond to these repeated attacks by Iran & its proxies by striking directly against Iranian targets & its leadership. The Biden administration’s responses thus far have only invited more attacks. It is time to act swiftly and decisively for the whole world to see,” wrote Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, in a post on X.

    Oil futures rallied last week to their highest since November, but with gains attributed in part to production outages in the U.S. and more upbeat expectations around economic growth.

    “Crude already has the wind to its back, so this will only offer further upside,” Chris Weston, head of research at Australian brokerage Pepperstone told MarketWatch in an email.

    With the U.S. election later this year, “Biden needs to strike a balance between increasing aggression that potentially puts U.S. serviceman lives in danger and could potentially raise the cost of living…while also showing a defiant stance that shows his resolve against terror,” Weston said.

    Oil prices have seen short-lived rallies around developments in the Middle East since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, but have failed to build in a lasting geopolitical risk premium. West Texas Intermediate crude
    CL00,
    +1.22%

    CL.1,
    +1.22%    ,
    the U.S. benchmark, remains around $15 below its 2023 peak in the mid-$90s set in late September. Brent crude
    BRN00,
    +1.15%    ,
    the global benchmark, pushed back above $80 a barrel last week.

    Attacks by Iran-backed Houthi militants on Red Sea shipping have forced a rerouting of tankers and cargo ships. For crude, that’s had implications for the physical market but hasn’t interrupted the flow of crude from the Middle East.

    A move by Iran aimed at closing off the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s biggest oil-transportation chokepoint, remains a top worry.

    The strait is a narrow waterway that links the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. At its narrowest point, the waterway is only 21 miles wide, and the width of the shipping lane in either direction is just two miles, separated by a two-mile buffer zone.


    Energy Information Administration

    Around 21 million barrels a day of crude moved through the waterway in the first half of 2023, equivalent to around a fifth of daily global consumption, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

    The U.S. stock market has largely looked past Middle East tensions, with the S&P 500
    SPX
    returning to record territory this month, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA
    has also set a series of records.

    Dow futures
    YM00,
    -0.20%
    were off 94 points, or 0.3% as Asian trading got under way, while S&P 500 futures
    ES00,
    -0.22%
    fell 12 points, or 0.2%, and Nasdaq-100 futures
    NQ00,
    -0.24%
    lost 0.3%.

    Read: Stock-market rally faces Fed, tech earnings and jobs data in make-or-break week

    Away from oil, there were no signs of a significant surge in demand for instruments that traditionally serve as havens during periods of increased geopolitical tension. Futures on U.S. Treasurys
    TY00,
    +0.21%
    saw a modest rise of 0.2%, while the U.S. dollar
    DXY
    was little changed versus major rivals and gold futures
    GC00,
    +0.41%
    ticked up 0.4%.

    Escalating Middle East tensions won’t go unnoticed by traders, but probably doesn’t warrant a “solid derisking,” Weston said, particularly with investors facing a barrage of major market events in the week ahead.

    For U.S.-focused investors, the week ahead features a Federal Reserve policy meeting, earnings from tech industry heavyweights and a crucial December jobs report.

    The Middle East situation “won’t take us too far off the rates, growth track, but we have an eye on whether this escalates,” Weston said.

    —Associated Press contributed.





    Source link

  • Russian hacking group accessed Microsoft executive emails, company says

    Russian hacking group accessed Microsoft executive emails, company says

    Microsoft Corp. said Friday a Russian hacking group illegally gained access to some of its top executives’ email accounts.

    In a regulatory filing, the software giant
    MSFT,
    +1.22%
    said a group called Nobelium was responsible for the attack.

    In late November, the group accessed “a legacy non-production test tenant account and [gained] a foothold, and then used the account’s permissions to access a very small percentage of Microsoft corporate email accounts, including members of our senior leadership team and employees in our cybersecurity, legal, and other functions, and exfiltrated some emails and attached documents,” Microsoft’s Security Response Center wrote in a blog post.

    Microsoft’s senior leadership team, which includes Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood and President Brad Smith, routinely meets with Chief Executive Satya Nadella.

    The company reported that there were no signs Nobelium had obtained customer data, production systems or proprietary source code.

    A Microsoft spokesperson provided this comment late Friday: “Our security team recently detected an attack on our corporate systems attributed to the Russian state-sponsored actor Midnight Blizzard. We immediately activated our response process to investigate, disrupt malicious activity, mitigate the attack, and deny the threat actor further access. The attack was not the result of a vulnerability in Microsoft products or services. To date, there is no evidence that the threat actor had any access to customer environments, production systems, source code, or AI systems. More information is available in our blog.”

    Nobelium, also known as APT29 or Cozy Bear, is a shadowy hacking group that attempted to crack the systems of the U.S. Defense Department and did breach the Democratic National Committee’s systems in 2016.

    Netskope Threat Labs, which tracks Nobelium, said the hacking group uses a variety of techniques to compromise accounts, including compromised Azure AD accounts to collect victim emails. “This hack underscores the importance of securing corporate email accounts, even those in non-production and test environments,” a Netskope spokesperson said. “Even if the email account isn’t regularly used or doesn’t contain anything sensitive, it can still be used to launch additional attacks.”

    Microsoft’s disclosure comes amid new U.S. requirements to report cybersecurity incidents.

    Source link

  • JetBlue, Spirit Airlines appeal court ruling blocking their proposed merger

    JetBlue, Spirit Airlines appeal court ruling blocking their proposed merger

    JetBlue Airways Corp. and Spirit Airlines Inc. said late Friday that they have appealed a court ruling that earlier this week blocked their planned merger.

    JetBlue
    JBLU,
    -1.19%
    and Spirit
    SAVE,
    +17.19%
    announced the appeal in a terse press release that provided no more details, adding only that the process is “consistent with the requirements of the merger agreement.”

    Wall Street was split on whether the airlines would be legally obliged to appeal the Tuesday ruling, which sided with the Justice Department in saying that a merger between low-cost JetBlue and ultra-low-cost Spirit would hurt competition.

    Shares of Spirit rallied 12% after hours Friday, while JetBlue shares fell nearly 2%. Analysts at JP Morgan said this week that the ruling freed JetBlue from a “costly merger.”

    Earlier Friday, Spirit sought to reassure investors about its liquidity and issued an upbeat fourth-quarter revenue guidance. Spirit has amassed about $5.5 billion in debt, and is reportedly seeking advisers to help restructure it.

    The likelihood of Spirit attracting a new merger or takeover bid is considered low without a debt restructuring. Frontier Group Holdings Inc.
    ULCC,
    -2.13%
    and JetBlue competed for Spirit in 2022, with Frontier ultimately bowing out in July of that year.

    Raymond James analyst Savanthi Syth said in a note earlier Friday that it was “clear to us that Spirit is pressing JetBlue to appeal the antitrust ruling, but we continue to believe the chances of success are low.”

    Syth has estimated that an appeal would take some four to five months.

    Shares of Spirit have lost 67% in the past 12 months, while shares of JetBlue are down 41%. The U.S. Global Jets ETF
    JETS
    has lost 9% in the same period. Those losses contrast with gains of 24% for the S&P 500 index
    SPX.

    Source link

  • Why Donald Trump is unlikely to get his wish for a 2024 U.S. stock-market crash

    Why Donald Trump is unlikely to get his wish for a 2024 U.S. stock-market crash

    Donald Trump is unlikely to get his wish that a U.S. stock-market crash occurs this year.

    I’m referring to the former U.S. president’s comments last week that he hopes the market crashes in 2024, since if he is elected in November and takes office a year from now, he doesn’t want to be another Herbert Hoover. Hoover was President when the stock market crashed in 1929.

    The stock market did plunge in two of the last four presidential-election years, so it’s understandable why one would worry that 2024 could see a repeat. In 2008, in the middle of the Global Financial Crisis, the S&P 500
    SPX
    lost 38.5% for the year. In 2020, as the economy ground to a halt because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the S&P 500 lost 34% in little more than a month’s time.

    It’s possible that a crash could occur at any time, of course, so a crash this year can’t be ruled out. Nevertheless, the odds of one occurring this year are significantly below average. That’s according to the latest “State Street US Froth Forecasts,” which are derived from research on crashes conducted by Robin Greenwood, Professor of Banking and Finance at Harvard Business School.

    In that research, Greenwood and his co-authors found that it’s possible to identify when there is an elevated probability of a crash. In an interview, Greenwood said that “crash probabilities are low” right now, not only for the market as a whole but “across the board” for individual market sectors as well.

    Greenwood’s model is based on a number of factors, such as performance over the trailing two-year period, volatility, share turnover, IPO activity and the price path of the trailing two-year runup. For example, he and his fellow researchers found that when an industry beats the market by 150 or more percentage points over a two-year period, there’s an 80% probability that it will crash — which they define as a drop of at least 40% over the subsequent two years. As you can see from the accompanying chart, State Street is reporting low crash probabilities for all sectors — in each case well below the average forecasted crash probabilities of the past five years.

    These probabilities don’t mean that stocks will have a great year in 2024. A new bear market could begin this year without the decline satisfying the researchers’ definition of a crash.

    Nevertheless, the takeaway from the State Street US Froth Forecasts is that there are bigger things to worry about this year than the possibility of a crash.

    Mark Hulbert is a regular contributor to MarketWatch. His Hulbert Ratings tracks investment newsletters that pay a flat fee to be audited. He can be reached at mark@hulbertratings.com

    More: Trump says he hopes market crashes in 2024 under Biden: ‘I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover

    Also read: Iowa caucuses are make-or-break for Donald Trump

    Source link

  • Even Cloudflare's CEO says that viral firing video is 'painful' — here's what went wrong

    Even Cloudflare's CEO says that viral firing video is 'painful' — here's what went wrong

    A tech employee’s recording of the meeting firing her from a sales role at Cloudflare
    NET,
    -1.79%
    has spurred criticism of the company — and a broader conversation about the right way to let employees go.

    Viewers have called the roughly 10-minute TikTok video, which went viral this week, “sad” and a “disaster.” Even Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince responded on X (formerly Twitter) that it was “painful for me to watch.”

    In the video captioned, “POV: You’re about to get laid off,” former Cloudflare account executive Brittany Pietsch logs into a virtual meeting with an HR representative and a director at the company, both of whom she says she’s never met before. In a caption, Pietsch writes that she assumed they were meeting to let her go, because she had heard from coworkers who had been axed already.

    In the video, the company reps say that Pietsch hadn’t met performance expectations, and that Cloudflare had decided to “part ways” with her. Pietsch’s response is what has pushed this clip to be shared all over social-media newsfeeds: She asks for an explanation for why she, specifically, is being let go by the company, particularly because she’s a new employee who hasn’t heard any negative feedback. She also asks why her manager isn’t a part of this termination meeting.

    “Every single one-on-one [meeting] I’ve had with my manager, every conversation I’ve had with him — he’s been giving me nothing but ‘I am doing a great job,’” she says during the meeting. “I’m just definitely very confused and would love an explanation that makes sense.” 

    The director, who can’t be seen in the video, says he “won’t be able to go into specifics” on Pietsch’s performance. 

    In a statement to MarketWatch, a Cloudflare spokesperson clarified that the company did not conduct layoffs, and is not engaged in a reduction of force. “When we do make the decision to part ways with an employee, we base the decision on a review of an employee’s ability to meet measurable performance targets,” the Cloudflare statement said. “We regularly review team members’ performance and let go of those who aren’t right for our team. There is nothing unique about that review process or the number of people we let go after performance review this quarter.”

    Pietsch did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

    Company CEO Prince added on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the company fired 40 salespeople out of 1,500 in its go-to-market division. “That’s a normal quarter,” he wrote in his post. “When we’re doing performance management right, we can often tell within 3 months or less of a sales hire, even during the holidays, whether they’re going to be successful or not.” 

    But he also added: “We try to fire perfectly. In this case, clearly we were far from perfect. The video is painful for me to watch. Managers should always be involved. HR should be involved, but it shouldn’t be outsourced to them … We don’t always get it right.”

    Many viewers seem to agree, as the video has drawn close to 200,000 views on TikTok and millions of views on X, along with going viral on Reddit.

    “Total disaster on both sides,” lawyer Eric Pacifici said. 

    “Totally unfair to her,” wrote Austen Allred, CEO of the online-coding bootcamp Bloom Institute of Technology. “Pretty sad across the board.” 

    On LinkedIn, Pietsch gave her own response to the social-media uproar. She said that her manager was unaware that she was being let go, and that she asked questions during the meeting not to try and save her job, but rather to get greater clarity on why she had been singled out for termination. 

    “I’ll never be able to wrap my mind around it,” she wrote in the post. “We as employees are expected to give 2 weeks notice and yet we don’t deserve even a sliver of respect when the roles are reversed?”

    What’s the right way to fire an employee? 

    It’s never easy to part ways with an employee, according to Molly, a human-resources consultant who runs the TikTok account HR Molly, which has 80,000 followers. She asked only to be identified by her first name for privacy reasons. 

    But that being said, it’s very important to treat affected employees with respect. That can include sharing as much information as possible about why the decision is being made. 

    “I tell people that even if you catch someone stealing, even that termination meeting should have a level of decency,” she said. “It seems like there’s a significant consensus that the meeting [in the viral video] lacked some dignity.”

    It’s also important to understand these kinds of conversations will be difficult for an employee no matter what, Molly added. 

    “We know this impacts people and we know this is emotional and that it’s harmful. How can we do it in a way that creates the least amount of additional harm?” she said, noting that she picked up the concept from fellow TikTok creator and diversity consultant Ciarra Jones. “Companies need to prioritize the well-being of the employee that’s impacted.” 

    As for recording your layoff or firing meeting — that can be risky, Molly said, and downright illegal in states that require you to receive consent before doing so.

    But companies and HR professionals would be wise to remind themselves that, in this day and age, it can happen, she said. And if a camera or tape recorder would change the way you handle an interaction, it’s a good sign to reevaluate.

    According to its company website, Cloudflare has dozens of job postings for open positions across the company, including sales roles.

    In her LinkedIn post, Pietsch said that she’s not very concerned about any backlash over the video that might impede her chances of getting another job. 

    “Any company that wouldn’t want to hire me because I shared a video of how a company fired me or because I asked questions as to why I was being let go is not a company I would ever want to work for anyway,” she wrote.

    Source link

  • Mark Zuckerberg sold $428 million of Meta stock in the last two months of 2023

    Mark Zuckerberg sold $428 million of Meta stock in the last two months of 2023

    Mark Zuckerberg cashed in on his company’s 2023 stock rally in a big way — selling nearly $428 million worth of shares in Meta Platforms Inc. over the final two months of the year.

    The Meta
    META,
    -0.53%
    co-founder and chief executive offloaded just under 1.8 million shares over the course of every trading day between Nov. 1 and the end of last year, according to a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. 

    The sales were in accordance with a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan adopted by Zuckerberg in July and saw him capitalize on Meta’s rebounding stock price, which soared 194.1% in 2023 — and nearly threefold since it hit a seven-year low in November 2022. By comparison, the S&P 500
    SPX
    and the Nasdaq Composite
    COMP
    indexes gained 24.2% and 43.4%, respectively, in 2023.

    The moves also broke a two-year hiatus, dating back to November 2021, during which Zuckerberg did not sell any of his stock in the Facebook parent company, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the news. Zuckerberg, who owns roughly 13% of Meta, is ranked the seventh-richest person in the world with a net worth of $125 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

    Nasdaq-listed Meta shares, which fell 0.5% on Wednesday to $344.47, are now roughly 11% off their all-time closing high of $382.18 from September 2021.

    Representatives for Meta could not immediately be reached for comment.

    Source link

  • The Russell 2000 Index has soared, but you might be better off looking elsewhere for quality small-cap stocks

    The Russell 2000 Index has soared, but you might be better off looking elsewhere for quality small-cap stocks

    The Russell 2000 Index soared 12% in December, which might reflect investors’ exuberance about the state of the U.S. economy — it appears the Federal Reserve has won its battle against inflation.

    But if you are looking to broaden your exposure to the stock market beyond the large-cap S&P 500
    SPX,
    buying shares of a fund that tracks the Russell 2000 Index
    RUT
    might not be the best way to do it. This is because the Russell 2000 isn’t selective — it is made up of the smallest 2,000 companies by market capitalization in the Russell 3000 Index
    RUA,
    which itself is designed to capture about 98% of the U.S. public equity market.

    A better choice might be the S&P Small Cap 600 Index
    SML
    because S&P Global requires companies to show four consecutive quarters of profitability to be initially included in the index, among other criteria.

    Below is a screen of analysts’ favorite stocks among the S&P Small Cap 600, along with another for the Russell 2000.

    Watch for a “head fake”

    Much of the small-cap buying in December might have resulted from covering of short positions by hedge-fund managers. This idea is backed by the timing of trading activity immediately following the Federal Open Market Committee’s announcement on Dec. 13 that it wouldn’t change its interest-rate policy, according to MacroTourist blogger Kevin Muir. The Fed’s economic projections released the same day also indicate three cuts to the federal-funds rate in 2024.

    Heading into the end of the year, a fund manager who had shorted small-caps, and then was surprised by the Fed’s interest-rate projections, might have scrambled to buy stocks it had shorted to close-out the positions and hopefully lock in gains, or limit losses.

    That buying activity and resulting pop in small-cap prices could set up a typical “head fake” for investors as the new year begins, according to Muir.

    The long-term case for quality

    Looking at data for companies’ most recently reported fiscal quarters, 58% of the Russell 2000 reported positive earnings per share, according to data provided by FactSet. In other words, hundreds of these companies were losing money. These might include promising companies facing “binary events,” such as make-or-break drug trials in the biotechnology industry.

    In comparison, 78% of companies among the S&P Small Cap 600 were profitable, and 93% of the S&P 500 were in the black.

    Here are long-term performance figures for exchange-traded funds that track all three indexes:

    ETF

    		 Ticker

    		 2023

    		 3 years

    		 5 years

    		 10 years

    		 15 years

    		 20 years
    iShares Russell 2000 ETF

    		 IWM 17%

    		 7%

    		 61%

    		 99%

    		 428%

    		 365%
    iShares Core S&P Small Cap ETF

    		 IJR 16%

    		 25%

    		 69%

    		 129%

    		 540%

    		 515%
    SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust

    		 SPY 26%

    		 34%

    		 108%

    		 210%

    		 629%

    		 527%
    Source: FactSet

    An approach tracking the S&P Small Cap 600 has outperformed the Russell 2000 for all periods, with margins widening as you go further back.

    Brett Arends: You own the wrong small-cap fund. How to get into a better one.

    Looking ahead for quality… or not

    For the first screen, we began with the S&P Small Cap 600 and narrowed the list to 385 companies covered by at least five analysts polled by FactSet. Then we cut the list to 92 companies with “buy” or equivalent ratings among at least 75% of the covering analysts.

    Here are the 20 remaining stocks among the S&P Small Cap 600 with the highest 12-month upside potential indicated by analysts’ consensus price targets:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Share “buy” ratings

    		 Dec. 29 price

    		 Consensus price target

    		 Implied 12-month upside potential
    Vir Biotechnology Inc.

    		 VIR,
    +4.47%         		88%

    		 $10.06

    		 $32.00

    		 218%
    Arcus Biosciences Inc.

    		 RCUS,
    +3.04%         		82%

    		 $19.10

    		 $41.00

    		 115%
    Xencor Inc.

    		 XNCR,
    +6.03%         		92%

    		 $21.23

    		 $39.83

    		 88%
    Dynavax Technologies Corp.

    		 DVAX,
    +2.86%         		100%

    		 $13.98

    		 $24.80

    		 77%
    ModivCare Inc.

    		 MODV,
    +0.95%         		100%

    		 $43.99

    		 $75.50

    		 72%
    Xperi Inc

    		 XPER,
    +1.81%         		80%

    		 $11.02

    		 $18.20

    		 65%
    Thryv Holdings Inc.

    		 THRY,
         		100%

    		 $20.35

    		 $32.75

    		 61%
    Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc.

    		 LGND,
    +1.25%         		100%

    		 $71.42

    		 $114.80

    		 61%
    Green Plains Inc.

    		 GPRE,
    -1.67%         		80%

    		 $25.22

    		 $40.30

    		 60%
    Patterson-UTI Energy Inc.

    		 PTEN,
    +0.28%         		75%

    		 $10.80

    		 $17.00

    		 57%
    Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc. Class A

    		 IRWD,
    +8.48%         		83%

    		 $11.44

    		 $17.83

    		 56%
    Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Inc.

    		 CPRX,
    +1.78%         		100%

    		 $16.81

    		 $26.20

    		 56%
    Payoneer Global Inc.

    		 PAYO,
    -3.45%         		100%

    		 $5.21

    		 $8.00

    		 54%
    Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc.

    		 HLX,
    -2.63%         		83%

    		 $10.28

    		 $15.00

    		 46%
    Arlo Technologies Inc.

    		 ARLO,
    -3.05%         		100%

    		 $9.52

    		 $13.80

    		 45%
    Pacira Biosciences Inc.

    		 PCRX,
    -5.16%         		100%

    		 $33.74

    		 $48.40

    		 43%
    Privia Health Group Inc.

    		 PRVA,
    +2.95%         		100%

    		 $23.03

    		 $32.53

    		 41%
    Semtech Corp.

    		 SMTC,
    -1.23%         		92%

    		 $21.91

    		 $30.90

    		 41%
    Talos Energy Inc.

    		 TALO,
    +1.19%         		78%

    		 $14.23

    		 $20.00

    		 41%
    Digi International Inc.

    		 DGII,
    -1.21%         		100%

    		 $26.00

    		 $36.14

    		 39%
    Source: FactSet

    Any stock screen should only be considered a starting point. You should do your own research to form your own opinion before making any investment. one way to begin is by clicking on the tickers for more about each company.

    Click here for Tomi Kilgore’s detailed guide to the wealth of information available for free on the MarketWatch quote page.

    Moving on to the Russell 2000, when we narrowed this group to stocks covered by at least five analysts polled by FactSet, we were left with 936 companies. Among these, 355 have “buy” or equivalent ratings among at least 75% of the covering analysts.

    Among those 355 stocks in the Russell 2000, these 20 have the highest implied upside over the next year, based on consensus price targets:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Share “buy” ratings

    		 Dec. 29 price

    		 Consensus price target

    		 Implied 12-month upside potential
    Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc.

    		 KPTI,
    +4.18%         		75%

    		 $0.87

    		 $6.00

    		 594%
    Rallybio Corp.

    		 RLYB,
    +0.42%         		100%

    		 $2.39

    		 $16.50

    		 590%
    Vor Biopharma Inc.

    		 VOR,
    -0.89%         		100%

    		 $2.25

    		 $15.44

    		 586%
    Tenaya Therapeutics Inc.

    		 TNYA,
    -0.62%         		100%

    		 $3.24

    		 $19.14

    		 491%
    Compass Therapeutics Inc.

    		 CMPX,
    -5.13%         		86%

    		 $1.56

    		 $9.17

    		 488%
    Vigil Neuroscience Inc.

    		 VIGL,
    +2.66%         		88%

    		 $3.38

    		 $18.75

    		 455%
    Trevi Therapeutics Inc.

    		 TRVI,
    -2.99%         		100%

    		 $1.34

    		 $7.33

    		 447%
    Inozyme Pharma Inc.

    		 INZY,
    +1.64%         		100%

    		 $4.26

    		 $21.00

    		 393%
    Gritstone bio Inc.

    		 GRTS,
    +6.86%         		100%

    		 $2.04

    		 $10.00

    		 390%
    Actinium Pharmaceuticals Inc.

    		 ATNM,
    +4.72%         		83%

    		 $5.08

    		 $23.36

    		 360%
    Lineage Cell Therapeutics Inc.

    		 LCTX,
         		86%

    		 $1.09

    		 $4.83

    		 343%
    Century Therapeutics Inc.

    		 IPSC,
    +9.64%         		86%

    		 $3.32

    		 $14.67

    		 342%
    Acrivon Therapeutics Inc.

    		 ACRV,
    +1.83%         		100%

    		 $4.92

    		 $21.13

    		 329%
    Avidity Biosciences Inc.

    		 RNA,
    +1.22%         		100%

    		 $9.05

    		 $37.50

    		 314%
    Longboard Pharmaceuticals Inc.

    		 LBPH,
    +316.25%         		100%

    		 $6.03

    		 $24.17

    		 301%
    Omega Therapeutics Inc.

    		 OMGA,
    -1.33%         		100%

    		 $3.01

    		 $12.00

    		 299%
    Allogene Therapeutics Inc.

    		 ALLO,
    +12.77%         		82%

    		 $3.21

    		 $12.79

    		 298%
    X4 Pharmaceuticals Inc.

    		 XFOR,
    +5.21%         		86%

    		 $0.84

    		 $3.26

    		 289%
    Caribou Biosciences Inc.

    		 CRBU,
    -2.79%         		89%

    		 $5.73

    		 $22.25

    		 288%
    Stoke Therapeutics Inc.

    		 STOK,
    +11.41%         		78%

    		 $5.26

    		 $19.33

    		 268%
    Source: FactSet

    That’s right — this Russell 2000 list is all biotech. And in case you are wondering if any companies are on both lists, the answer is no.

    Don’t miss: 11 dividend stocks with high yields expected to be well supported in 2024 per strict criteria

    Source link

  • These 20 stocks soared the most in 2023

    These 20 stocks soared the most in 2023

    (Updated with Friday’s closing prices.)

    The 2023 rally for stocks in the U.S. accelerated as more investors bought the idea that the Federal Reserve succeeded in its effort to bring inflation to heel.

    The S&P 500
    SPX
    ended Friday with a 24.2% gain for 2023, following a 19.4% decline in 2022. (All price changes in this article exclude dividends). Among the 500 stocks, 65% were up for 2023. Below is a list of the year’s 20 best performers in the benchmark index.

    This article focuses on large-cap stocks. MarketWatch Editor in Chief Mark DeCambre took a broader look at all U.S. stocks of companies with market capitalizations of at least $1 billion, to list 10 with gains ranging from 412% to 1,924%.

    The Fed began raising short-term interest rates and pushing long-term rates higher in March 2022 by allowing its bond portfolio to run off. That explains the poor performance for stocks in 2022, as bonds and even bank accounts because more attractive to investors.

    The central bank hasn’t raised the federal-funds rate since moving it to the current target range of 5.25% to 5.50% in July, and its economic projections point to three rate cuts in 2024.

    Investors are anticipating the return to a low-rate environment by scooping up 10-year U.S. Treasury notes
    BX:TMUBMUSD10Y,
    whose yield ended the year at 3.88%, down from 4.84% on Oct. 27 — the day of the S&P 500’s low for the second half of 2023.

    Read: Treasury yields end mostly higher but little changed on year after wild 2023

    Before looking at the list of best-performing stocks of 2023, here’s a summary of how the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 performed, with the full index and three more broad indexes at the bottom:

    Sector or index

    		 2023 price change

    		 2022 price change

    		 Price change since end of 2021

    		 Forward P/E

    		 Forward P/E at end of 2022

    		 Forward P/E at end of 2023
    Information Technology

    		 56.4%

    		 -28.9%

    		 11.5%

    		 26.7

    		 20.0

    		 28.2
    Communication Services

    		 54.4%

    		 -40.4%

    		 -7.6%

    		 17.4

    		 14.3

    		 21.0
    Consumer Discretionary

    		 41.0%

    		 -37.6%

    		 -11.4%

    		 26.2

    		 21.7

    		 34.7
    Industrials

    		 16.0%

    		 -7.1%

    		 8.0%

    		 20.0

    		 18.7

    		 22.0
    Materials

    		 10.2%

    		 -14.1%

    		 -4.9%

    		 19.5

    		 15.8

    		 16.6
    Financials

    		 9.9%

    		 -12.4%

    		 -3.4%

    		 14.6

    		 13.0

    		 16.3
    Real Estate

    		 8.3%

    		 -28.4%

    		 -21.6%

    		 18.3

    		 16.9

    		 24.7
    Healthcare

    		 0.3%

    		 -3.6%

    		 -3.3%

    		 18.2

    		 17.7

    		 17.3
    Consumer Staples

    		 -2.2%

    		 -3.2%

    		 -5.4%

    		 19.3

    		 20.6

    		 21.4
    Energy

    		 -4.8%

    		 59.0%

    		 51.8%

    		 10.9

    		 9.8

    		 11.1
    Utilities

    		 -10.2%

    		 -1.4%

    		 -11.4%

    		 15.9

    		 18.7

    		 20.4
    S&P 500
    SPX     		24.2%

    		 -19.4%

    		 0.4%

    		 19.7

    		 16.8

    		 21.6
    Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA     		13.7%

    		 -8.8%

    		 3.8%

    		 17.6

    		 16.6

    		 18.9
    Nasdaq Composite
    COMP     		43.4%

    		 -33.1%

    		 -3.5%

    		 26.9

    		 22.6

    		 32.0
    Nasdaq-100
    NDX     		53.8%

    		 -33.0%

    		 3.5%

    		 26.3

    		 20.9

    		 30.3
    Source: FactSet

    A look at 2023 price action really needs to encompass what took place in 2022 for context. The broad indexes haven’t moved much from their levels at the end of 2022 (again, excluding dividends). We have included current forward price-to-earnings ratios along with those at the end of 2021 and 2022. These valuations have declined a bit, which may provide some comfort for investors wondering how likely it is for stocks to continue to rally in 2024.

    Biggest price increases among the S&P 500

    Here are the 20 stocks in the S&P 500 whose prices rose the most in 2023:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 2023 price change

    		 2022 price change

    		 Price change since end of 2021

    		 Forward P/E

    		 Forward P/E at end of 2022

    		 Forward P/E at end of 2021
    Nvidia Corp.

    		 NVDA,
         		239%

    		 -50%

    		 68%

    		 24.9

    		 34.4

    		 58.0
    Meta Platforms Inc. Class A

    		 META,
    -1.22%         		194%

    		 -64%

    		 5%

    		 20.2

    		 14.7

    		 23.5
    Royal Caribbean Group

    		 RCL,
    -0.37%         		162%

    		 -36%

    		 68%

    		 14.3

    		 14.9

    		 232.4
    Builders FirstSource Inc.

    		 BLDR,
    -1.02%         		157%

    		 -24%

    		 95%

    		 14.2

    		 10.7

    		 13.3
    Uber Technologies Inc.

    		 UBER,
    -2.49%         		149%

    		 -41%

    		 47%

    		 56.9

    		 N/A

    		 N/A
    Carnival Corp.

    		 CCL,
    -0.70%         		130%

    		 -60%

    		 -8%

    		 18.7

    		 41.3

    		 N/A
    Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

    		 AMD,
    -0.91%         		128%

    		 -55%

    		 2%

    		 39.7

    		 17.7

    		 43.1
    PulteGroup Inc.

    		 PHM,
    -0.26%         		127%

    		 -20%

    		 81%

    		 9.1

    		 6.3

    		 6.2
    Palo Alto Networks Inc.

    		 PANW,
    -0.24%         		111%

    		 -25%

    		 59%

    		 50.2

    		 38.0

    		 70.1
    Tesla Inc.

    		 TSLA,
    -1.86%         		102%

    		 -65%

    		 -29%

    		 66.2

    		 22.3

    		 120.3
    Broadcom Inc.

    		 AVGO,
    -0.55%         		100%

    		 -16%

    		 68%

    		 23.2

    		 13.6

    		 19.8
    Salesforce Inc.

    		 CRM,
    -0.92%         		98%

    		 -48%

    		 4%

    		 28.0

    		 23.8

    		 53.5
    Fair Isaac Corp.

    		 FICO,
    -0.46%         		94%

    		 38%

    		 168%

    		 47.1

    		 29.3

    		 28.7
    Arista Networks Inc.

    		 ANET,
    -0.62%         		94%

    		 -16%

    		 64%

    		 32.7

    		 22.3

    		 41.4
    Intel Corp.

    		 INTC,
    -0.28%         		90%

    		 -49%

    		 -2%

    		 26.6

    		 14.6

    		 13.9
    Jabil Inc.

    		 JBL,
    -0.45%         		87%

    		 -3%

    		 81%

    		 13.5

    		 7.9

    		 10.3
    Lam Research Corp.

    		 LRCX,
    -0.81%         		86%

    		 -42%

    		 9%

    		 25.2

    		 13.5

    		 20.2
    ServiceNow Inc.

    		 NOW,
    +0.57%         		82%

    		 -40%

    		 9%

    		 56.0

    		 42.6

    		 90.1
    Amazon.com Inc.

    		 AMZN,
    -0.94%         		81%

    		 -50%

    		 -9%

    		 42.0

    		 46.7

    		 64.9
    Monolithic Power Systems Inc.

    		 MPWR,
    -0.23%         		78%

    		 -28%

    		 28%

    		 49.1

    		 27.3

    		 57.9
    Source: FactSet

    Click on the tickers for more about each company.

    Click here for Tomi Kilgore’s detailed guide to the wealth of information available for free on the MarketWatch quote page.

    Don’t miss: Nvidia tops list of Wall Street’s 20 favorite stocks for 2024

    Source link

  • Apple can sell its latest smartwatches again after court pauses FTC import ban

    Apple can sell its latest smartwatches again after court pauses FTC import ban

    The latest Apple Watches are available again after the company scored a legal victory Wednesday.

    “We are thrilled to return the full Apple Watch lineup to customers in time for the new year,” Apple
    AAPL,
    +0.05%
    said in a statement to MarketWatch. “Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, including the blood-oxygen feature, will become available for purchase again in the United States at Apple Stores starting today and from apple.com tomorrow by 3 p.m. ET.”

    A U.S. appeals court earlier Wednesday temporarily blocked a government commission’s import ban on popular Apple Watch models following a patent dispute with medical-technology firm Masimo Corp.
    MASI,
    -4.57%    .

    The court’s order allows Apple to temporarily resume selling the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2. Both watches were pulled from Apple’s website last week and off store shelves this week when the ban went into effect. The appeals court is weighing a longer halt on the import and sales ban.

    Masimo declined to comment.

    On Tuesday, the tech giant filed an emergency request for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to halt the ban at least until U.S. Customs and Border Protection decides whether redesigned versions of its watches infringe Masimo’s patents.

    The appeals court’s decision will allow the U.S. Customs department to consider Apple’s redesign of the offending Apple Watch models. A fix is expected by Jan. 12. Apple said in the motion Tuesday it could “suffer irreparable harm” if the ban is kept in place while the appeal is ongoing.

    Shares of Apple were flat in trading Wednesday.

    Source link

  • 'Smidcap' companies are becoming a big deal. Here's a look at some of the best.

    'Smidcap' companies are becoming a big deal. Here's a look at some of the best.

    The stocks of long-neglected small companies are finally showing signs of life as the market rally broadens. But these tiny companies still remain vastly undervalued. So, they are one of the best buys in the stock market right now.

    Small- and medium-cap companies, or smidcaps, have not been this cheap since the Great Financial Crisis 15 years ago. “Smidcaps relative to large caps look very attractive,” says says portfolio manager Aram Green, at the ClearBridge Select Fund LBFIX, which specializes in this space.  “Over the long term you will be rewarded.” 

    Green is worth listening to because he is one of the better fund managers in the smidcap arena. ClearBridge Select beats both its midcap growth category and Morningstar U.S. midcap growth index over the past five- and 10 years, says Morningstar Direct. This is no easy feat, in a mutual fund world where so many funds lag their benchmarks. 

    The timing for smidcap outperformance seems about right, since these stocks do well coming out of recessions. Technically, we have not recently had a recession. But there was an economic slowdown in the first half of the year, and the U.S. did have an earnings recession earlier this year. So that may count. 

    To get smidcap exposure, consider the funds of outperforming managers like Green, and if you want to throw in some individual stocks, Green is a great guide on how to find the best names in this space. 

    I recently caught up with him to see what we can learn about analyzing smidcaps. Below are four tactics that contribute to his fund’s outperformance, with nine company examples to consider.  

    1. Look for an entrepreneurial mindset: Green’s background gives him an edge in investing. He’s an entrepreneur who co-founded a software company called iCollege in 1997. It was bought out by BlackBoard in 2001. He knows how to understand innovative trends, identify a good idea, secure capital and quickly ramp up a business. This experience gives him a “private market mindset” that helps him pick stocks to this day. 

    “Founder-run companies regularly outperform.”

    Green looks for managers with an entrepreneurial mindset. You can glean this from company calls and filings, but it helps a lot to meet management — something most individual investors cannot do. But Green offers a shortcut, one which I regularly use, as well. Look for companies that are run by founders. This will give you exposure to managers with entrepreneurial spirit. 

    Here, Green cites the marketing software company HubSpot
    HUBS,
    +0.79%    ,
    a 1.9% fund position as of the end of the third quarter. It was founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology college buddies Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah. They’re on the company’s board, and Shah is chief technology officer. 

    Academic studies confirm founder-run companies regularly outperform. My guess is this is because many founders never lose the entrepreneurial spirit, no matter how easy it would be to quit and sip Mai Tai’s on a beach after making a bundle.  

    In the private market, Green cites Databricks, a data management and analytics company with an AI angle. This competitor of Snowflake
    SNOW,
    -0.92%
    is likely to go public in 2024. If you feel like an outsider because you lack access to private market investing, note that Green says he typically buys more exposure to private companies on the initial public offering (IPO), and then in the market.  “We like to spend time with them when they are private so we can pounce when they are public,” Green says.

    2. Look for organic growth: When companies make acquisitions their stocks often decline, and for good reason. Managers make mistakes in acquisitions because they overestimate “synergies.” Or they get wrapped up in ego-enhancing empire building. 

    “We favor entrepreneurial management teams that do not make a lot of acquisitions to grow, but use their resources to develop new products to keep extending the runway,” says Green. 

    Here, he cites ServiceNow
    NOW,
    +2.62%    ,
    which has grown by “extending the runway” with new offerings developed internally. It started off supporting information technology service desks, and has expanded into operations management of servers and security, onboarding employees, data analytics, and software that powers 911 emergency call systems. Green obviously thinks there is a lot more upside to come, given that this is an overweight position, at 4.6% of the portfolio (the fund’s biggest holding).

    Green also puts the “Amazon.com of Latin America” MercadoLibre
    MELI,
    +0.17%
    in this category, because it continues to expand geographically and in areas such as logistics and payment systems. “They have really morphed into a fintech company,” Green says. He puts HubSpot and the marketing software company Klaviyo
    KVYO,
    -5.73%
    in this category, too. 

    3. Look for differentiated business models: Green likes companies with offerings that are special and different. That means they’ll take market share, and face minimal competition. They’ll also enjoy pricing power. “This leads to high margins. You don’t have someone beating you up on price,” he says. 

    Green cites the decking company Trex
    TREX,
    +0.10%    ,
    which offers composite decking and railing made from recycled materials. This gives it an eco-friendly allure. Compared to wood, composite material lasts longer and requires less maintenance. It costs more up front but less over the long term. Says Green: “The alternative decking market has taken about 20% of the market and that can get to 50%.”

    Of course, entrepreneurs notice success, and try to imitate it. That’s a risk here. But Trex has an edge in its understanding of how to make the composite material. It has a strong brand. And it is building relationships with big-box retailers Home Depot and Lowe’s. These qualities may keep competitors at bay. 

    4. Put some ballast in your portfolio: Green likes to keep the fund’s portfolio balanced by sector, size, and business dynamic. So the portfolio includes the food distributor Performance Food Group
    PFGC,
    -1.69%    .
    The company is posting mid-single digit sale growth, expanding market share and paying down debt. Energy drinks company Monster
    MNST,
    -0.85%
    also offers ballast. Monster’s popular product line up helps the company to take share and enjoy pricing power, Green says.

    It’s admittedly unusual to see a food companies in a portfolio loaded with high-growth tech innovators. But for Green, it’s all part of the game plan. “Rapid growth, disrupting businesses are not going to work year in year out. There are times they fall out of favor, like 2022. So, having that balance is important because it keeps you invested in the equity market.” 

    In other words, keeping some ballast means you’re less likely to get shaken out by sharp declines in high-growth and high-beta tech innovators when trouble strikes the market.

    Michael Brush is a columnist for MarketWatch. At the time of publication, he owned AMZN, TSLA and MELI. Brush has suggested AMZN, TSLA, NOW, MELI, HD and LOW in his stock newsletter, Brush Up on Stocks. Follow him on X @mbrushstocks

    More: Nvidia, Disney and Tesla are among 2023’s buzziest stocks. Can they continue to sizzle in 2024?

    Also read: Presidential election years like 2024 are usually winners for U.S. stocks

    Source link

  • Activision Blizzard to pay $55 million to settle California civil-rights lawsuit

    Activision Blizzard to pay $55 million to settle California civil-rights lawsuit

    Videogame maker Activision Blizzard has agreed to pay nearly $55 million to settle a California civil-rights lawsuit brought over complaints of sexual harassment, discrimination and pay disparities by women employees that helped trigger the company’s acquisition by Microsoft.

    The settlement, announced by the California Civil Rights Department on Friday evening, resolves the lawsuit filed against the “Call of Duty” videogame studio by the agency in 2021 over claims that it “discriminated against women at the company, including by denying promotion opportunities and paying them less than men for doing substantially similar work,” CRD said.

    The agreement, subject to court approval, will see Activision pay nearly $46 million into a settlement fund dedicated to compensating women employees and contract workers at the company, plus more than $9 million in attorneys’ fees and costs. Additionally, Activision will take steps “to help ensure fair pay and promotion practices at the company,” including retaining an independent consultant to evaluate its compensation and promotion policies.

    Yet the settlement also sees CRD withdraw its initial claims alleging a culture of widespread, systemic workplace sexual harassment at Activision, according to a copy of the agreement provided to MarketWatch. The document notes that the department is filing an amended complaint that removes the sexual-harassment allegations against the company and focuses on the gender-based pay and promotion claims.

    CRD made no note of its prior sexual-harassment claims against Activision in its announcement Friday. A spokesperson for the department said the statement “largely speaks for itself with respect to the historic nature of this more than $50 million settlement agreement, which will bring direct relief and compensation to women who were harmed by the company’s discriminatory practices.

    Representatives for Activision declined to comment.

    The Wall Street Journal first reported the news of the settlement Friday.

    The California agency’s complaint was one of several high-profile investigations by both state and federal regulators in recent years into alleged workplace misconduct at Activision and failures by its leadership to respond appropriately. 

    While Activision repeatedly denied the allegations, they ramped up pressure on the Santa Monica, Calif.-based company and its CEO, Bobby Kotick, and eventually led to a $68.7 billion takeover bid by Microsoft
    MSFT,
    +1.31%
    in January 2022. The acquisition closed this October after receiving approval by U.K. and E.U. antitrust regulators, though the U.S. Federal Trade Commission continues to challenge the deal in court. Kotick is expected to leave the company, which he led for more than three decades, at the end of this year.

    The settlement would be the second-largest ever for the California Civil Rights Department, according to the Journal, after its $100 million agreement with another Los Angeles-area videogame developer, Riot Games, to resolve gender-discrimination allegations in 2021. The agency had initially sought a much-larger settlement with Activision, the publication reported, citing how the state had estimated the company’s liability at nearly $1 billion to some 2,500 employees with potential claims.

    Source link

  • Hunter Biden indicted on 9 tax charges, adding to gun charges in special counsel probe

    Hunter Biden indicted on 9 tax charges, adding to gun charges in special counsel probe

    WASHINGTON — Hunter Biden was indicted on nine tax charges in California on Thursday as a special counsel investigation into the business dealings of President Joe Biden’s son intensifies against the backdrop of the looming 2024 election.

    The new charges — three felonies and six misdemeanors — are in addition to federal firearms charges in Delaware alleging Hunter Biden broke laws against drug users having guns in 2018. They come after the implosion of a plea deal over the summer that would have spared him jail time.

    Hunter Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” special counsel David Weiss said in a statement. The charges are centered on at least $1.4 million in taxes Hunter Biden owed during between 2016 and 2019, a period where he has acknowledged struggling with addiction. The back taxes have since been paid.

    If convicted, Hunter Biden could face up to 17 years in prison. The special counsel probe remains open, Weiss said.

    In a fiery response, defense attorney Abbe Lowell accused Weiss of “bowing to Republican pressure” in the case.

    “Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter’s last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought,” Lowell said in a statement.

    The White House declined to comment on Thursday’s indictment, referring questions to the Justice Department or Hunter Biden’s personal representatives.

    The charging documents filed in California, where he lives, details spending on everything from drugs and girlfriends to luxury hotels and exotic cars, “in short, everything but his taxes,” prosecutor Leo Wise wrote.

    The indictment comes as congressional Republicans pursue an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, claiming he was engaged in an influence-peddling scheme with his son. The House is expected to vote next week on formally authorizing the inquiry.

    No evidence has emerged so far to prove that Joe Biden, in his current or previous office, abused his role or accepted bribes, though questions have arisen about the ethics surrounding the Biden family’s international business.

    The criminal investigation led by Weiss has been open since 2018, and was expected to wind down with the plea deal that Hunter Biden had planned to strike with prosecutors over the summer. He would have pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor tax evasion charges and would have entered a separate agreement on the gun charge, getting two years of probation rather than jail time.

    It was pilloried as a “sweetheart deal” by Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, who is facing criminal charges in multiple cases.

    The agreement also contained immunity provisions, and defense attorneys have argued that they remain in force since that part of the agreement was signed by a prosecutor before the deal was scrapped.

    Prosecutors disagree, pointing out the documents weren’t signed by a judge and are invalid.

    After the deal fell apart, prosecutors filed three federal gun charges alleging that Hunter Biden had lied about his drug use to buy a gun that he kept for 11 days in 2018. Federal law bans gun possession by “habitual drug users,” though the measure is seldom seen as a stand-alone charge and has been called into question by a federal appeals court.

    The defense is planning to push next week for dismissal of the “unprecedented and unconstitutional” gun charges, Lowell said.

    Hunter Biden’s longstanding struggle with substance abuse had worsened during that period after the death of his brother Beau Biden in 2015, prosecutors wrote in a draft plea agreement filed in court in Delaware.

    He still made “substantial income” in 2017 and 2018, including $2.6 million in business and consulting fees from a company he formed with the CEOs of a Chinese business conglomerate and the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, but did not pay his taxes on a total of about $4 million in personal income during that period, prosecutors said in the scuttled Delaware plea agreement.

    He did eventually file his taxes in 2020 and the back taxes were paid by a “third party” the following year, prosecutors said.

    Source link