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Tag: CMA

  • UK watchdog targets Google’s search monopoly – Tech Digest

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    The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has moved to break Google’s “vice-like grip” on the search market with a sweeping new package of regulations.

    Google’s dominance acts as a critical gateway for millions of UK citizens and over 200,000 businesses, who spent more than £10 billion on Google search advertising last year alone.

    Targeting the tech giant’s 90% market share, the proposed measures represent the first major intervention under the UK’s new digital markets competition regime.

    Sarah Cardell, Chief Executive of the CMA, described the proposals as “an important milestone,” stating that these “targeted and proportionate actions would give UK businesses and consumers more choice and control.”

    A primary focus of the crackdown is “AI Overviews.” The CMA aims to ensure content publishers, specifically news organizations, have more transparency over how their work is used to train AI models.

    Under the proposed rules, publishers could opt out of having their content power Google’s AI features. The regulator also insists that Google must ensure all publisher content is “properly attributed” in AI-generated results.

    Further measures include a legal requirement for “choice screens” on Android mobile devices and the Chrome browser, designed to make switching to rival search engines effortless. Additionally, Google will be forced to prove that its ranking algorithms are fair and transparent, particularly regarding its own services.

    The CMA is currently consulting on these requirements, with a deadline for feedback set for February 25, 2026. If implemented, the rules could fundamentally reshape the digital economy in the UK, providing what Cardell calls a “fairer deal for content publishers” and unlocking “greater opportunities for innovation across the UK tech sector.”

    The consumer association Which? has welcomed the move but urged the regulator to accelerate its efforts. Says Rocio Concha, Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy:

    “Google holds a vice-like grip over the search engine market, which shuts out other businesses and reduces choice and pushes up costs for consumers.

    “These proposed requirements are needed to make sure businesses and consumers get a fair deal from Google. Wider availability of better choice screens are a necessary first step to opening up the market for other search tools.

    “However, time is of the essence and the CMA has already fallen behind its timetable for change.It must move swiftly and the government must stand firmly behind the regulator.”


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    Chris Price

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  • Comerica Stock Soars. Fifth Third to Buy Peer for $10.9 Billion as Bank Mergers Heat Up.

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    Fifth Third Buys Comerica for $10.9B in Year’s Biggest Bank Deal. Which Firms Might Be Next.

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  • The UK’s antitrust regulator will formally investigate Alphabet’s $2.3 billion Anthropic investment

    The UK’s antitrust regulator will formally investigate Alphabet’s $2.3 billion Anthropic investment

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    The UK’s competition regulator is probing Alphabet’s investment in AI startup Anthropic. After opening public comments this summer, the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) said on Thursday it has “sufficient information” to begin an initial investigation into whether Alphabet’s reported $2.3 billion investment in the Claude AI chatbot maker harms competition in UK markets.

    The CMA breaks its merger probes into two stages: a preliminary scan to determine whether there’s enough evidence to dig deeper and an optional second phase where the government gathers as much evidence as possible. After the second stage, it ultimately decides on a regulatory outcome.

    The probe will formally kick off on Friday. By December 19, the CMA will choose whether to move to a phase 2 investigation.

    Google told Engadget that Anthropic isn’t locked into its cloud services. “Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” a company spokesperson wrote in an email. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.” Engadget also reached out to the CMA for comment, and we’ll update this story if we hear back.

    TechCrunch notes that Alphabet reportedly invested $300 million in Anthropic in early 2023. Later that year, it was said to back the AI startup with an additional $2 billion. Situations like this can be classified as a “quasi-merger,” where deep-pocketed tech companies essentially take control of emerging startups through strategic investments and hiring founders and technical workers.

    Amazon has invested even more in Anthropic: a whopping $4 billion. After an initial public comment period, the CMA declined to investigate that investment last month. The CMA said Amazon avoided Alphabet’s fate at least in part because of its current rules: Anthropic’s UK turnover didn’t exceed £70 million, and the two parties didn’t combine to account for 25 percent or more of the region’s supply (in this case, AI LLMs and chatbots).

    Although the CMA hasn’t specified, something in Alphabet’s $2.3 billion Anthropic investment constituted a deeper dive. Of course, Google’s Gemini competes with Claude, and both companies make large language models they provide to small businesses and enterprise customers.

    Update, October 25, 2024, 11:10AM ET: This story has been updated to add a quote from a Google representative.

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    Will Shanklin

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  • CMA Stock Price | Comerica Inc. Stock Quote (U.S.: NYSE) | MarketWatch

    CMA Stock Price | Comerica Inc. Stock Quote (U.S.: NYSE) | MarketWatch

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    Comerica, Inc. engages in the provision of financial services. It operates through the following segments: Commercial Bank, Retail Bank, Wealth Management, Finance, and Other. The Commercial Bank segment offers various products and services, including commercial loans and lines of credit, deposits, cash management, capital market products, international trade finance, letters of credit, foreign exchange management services, and loan syndication services. The Retail Bank segment includes personal financial services, consisting of consumer lending, consumer deposit gathering and mortgage loan origination, and offers consumer products, including deposit accounts, installment loans, credit cards, student loans, home equity lines of credit, and residential mortgage loans. The Wealth Management segment offers fiduciary services, private banking, retirement services, investment management and advisory services, investment banking, and brokerage services. The Finance segment includes the corporation’s securities portfolio and asset and liability management activities. The Other segment includes the income and expense impact of equity and cash, tax benefits, charges of an unusual or infrequent nature that are not reflective of the normal operations, and miscellaneous other expenses of a corporate nature. The company was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Dallas, TX.

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  • PacWest and Other Regional Bank Stocks Fall Further

    PacWest and Other Regional Bank Stocks Fall Further

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    https://www.barrons.com/articles/regional-bank-stocks-fall-jpmorgan-first-republic-pacwest-86c038aa

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  • 10 dividend stocks yielding at least 4.5% that are rated ‘buy’ by most analysts

    10 dividend stocks yielding at least 4.5% that are rated ‘buy’ by most analysts

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    During a period of high interest rates, it might be more difficult to impress investors with dividend stocks. But the stocks can have an important advantage over the long term. The dividend payouts can increase over the years, helping to push share prices higher over time.

    When considering stocks for dividend income, yield shouldn’t be the only thing you consider. If a stock’s price has tumbled because investors are worried about the company’s business prospects, the dividend yield might be very high. A double-digit yield might mean investors expect to see a cut to the dividend soon.

    There are many ways to look at companies’ expected ability to maintain or raise their dividend payouts. But one can also take a simple approach to begin researching stock choices.

    At the moment, you can get a bank CD with a yield of close to 5% pretty easily. Here’s a look at current yields for CDs and U.S. Treasury securities and an approach for laddering them not only to protect your cash but to hedge against interest-rate risk.

    For investors who would rather aim for long-term growth to go along with dividend income, or take a relatively conservative approach to growth while reinvesting dividends, a screen of stocks in the S&P 500
    SPX,
    +0.33%
    produces only 10 stocks with dividend yields of 4.5% or higher with majority “buy” or equivalent ratings among analysts polled by FactSet. Here they are, sorted by dividend yield:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 Dividend Yield

    		 Expected payout increase through 2025

    		 Share “buy” ratings

    		 April 16 price

    		 Consensus price target

    		 implied 12-month upside potential
    Comerica Inc.

    		 CMA,
    +4.00%         		6.56%

    		 10%

    		 58%

    		 $43.30

    		 $60.53

    		 40%
    Citizens Financial Group Inc.

    		 CFG,
    +4.19%         		5.77%

    		 12%

    		 74%

    		 $29.10

    		 $39.29

    		 35%
    Healthpeak Properties Inc.

    		 PEAK,
    +2.33%         		5.71%

    		 9%

    		 60%

    		 $21.01

    		 $27.69

    		 32%
    Hasbro Inc.

    		 HAS,
    +1.28%         		5.34%

    		 8%

    		 69%

    		 $52.40

    		 $69.27

    		 32%
    Philip Morris International Inc.

    		 PM,
    +0.46%         		5.11%

    		 11%

    		 67%

    		 $99.48

    		 $113.56

    		 14%
    Realty Income Corp.

    		 O,
    +1.30%         		5.04%

    		 7%

    		 56%

    		 $60.77

    		 $70.00

    		 15%
    Fifth Third Bancorp

    		 FITB,
    +3.33%         		4.99%

    		 3%

    		 72%

    		 $26.44

    		 $34.55

    		 31%
    VICI Properties Inc.

    		 VICI,
    +1.58%         		4.82%

    		 12%

    		 95%

    		 $32.35

    		 $37.73

    		 17%
    Organon & Co.

    		 OGN,
    +1.01%         		4.71%

    		 5%

    		 55%

    		 $23.80

    		 $31.89

    		 34%
    Iron Mountain Inc.

    		 IRM,
    +0.82%         		4.69%

    		 15%

    		 78%

    		 $52.76

    		 $56.00

    		 6%
    Source: FactSet

    Click on the ticker 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.

    The dividend yields for this group of 10 companies are based on current annual regular payout rates, with all paying quarterly except for Realty Income Corp.
    O,
    +1.30%    ,
    which pays monthly.

    These two oil and natural gas producers would have passed the above screen based on their most recent dividend payments and analysts’ sentiment, however, they pay a combined fixed-plus-variable dividend every quarter, with the fixed portion relatively low:

    • Shares of Pioneer Natural Resources Co.
      PXD,
      -0.77%
      closed at $230 on April 14. Among analysts polled by FactSet, 59% rate the stock a “buy” or the equivalent, and the consensus price target is $257.42. The company pays a fixed quarterly dividend of $1.10 a share, which would make for a dividend yield of only 1.91%. However, the most recent variable quarterly dividend was $4.48 a share, for a combined quarterly dividend of $5.58, which would translate to an annualized dividend yield of 9.70%. The consensus estimate for dividends in 2025 is $4.63 — the analysts are only estimating the fixed portion of the dividend. Pioneer has held preliminary merger discussions with Exxon Corp.
      XOM,
      -1.16%      ,
      according to a Wall Street Journal report.

    • Devon Energy Corp.’s
      DVN,
      -0.72%
      stock closed at $55.70 on April 14. The shares are rated “buy” or the equivalent by 55% of analysts and the consensus price target is $67.66. The fixed portion of Devon’s quarterly dividend is 20 cents a share, for an annualized dividend yield of 1.44%. The variable portion of the most recent quarterly dividend was 69 cents a share. The total payout of 89 cents would make for an annual dividend yield of 6.39%. Analysts expect the fixed portion of annual dividends to total $3.61 in 2025, according to FactSet.

    Don’t miss: Buffett is buying in Japan. This overseas value-stock fund is also making bets there. Is it a good way to diversify?

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  • First Republic and Western Alliance pace big rebound in regional-bank stocks after huge losses

    First Republic and Western Alliance pace big rebound in regional-bank stocks after huge losses

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    Shares of regional banks posted big gains on Tuesday as they regained their footing after huge losses in the previous session, but volatility continued in the sector following the demise of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and Silvergate Capital in the past week.

    While the rise in some cases is eye-popping, most stocks have yet to recover fully from losses in the past few days. Most stocks are trading well below their levels from a week ago, even with Tuesday’s gains.

    Among…

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  • Western Alliance and First Republic clobbered as regional bank jitters persist despite Fed backstops

    Western Alliance and First Republic clobbered as regional bank jitters persist despite Fed backstops

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    Trading in shares of First Republic Bank and Western Alliance Bancorp ended sharply lower in a tough day of trading for regional banks as fears over bank solvency persisted following the failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and Silvergate Capital.

    Stocks were periodically halted or paused for trading amid the bank stock bloodbath, which saw many suffering percentage declines well into the double digits. Typically, bank stocks are stable compared with sectors such as technology, with daily moves above 5% being relatively…

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  • S&P 500, Nasdaq post worst day in month after strong data fuels worry about Fed rate hikes

    S&P 500, Nasdaq post worst day in month after strong data fuels worry about Fed rate hikes

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    The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes recorded their worst day in almost a month on Monday, after a hotter-than-expected U.S. services-sector reading fueled concerns that the Federal Reserve may need to be even more aggressive in its inflation battle.

    How stocks traded
    • The Dow Jones Industrial Average
      DJIA,
      -0.26%
      finished down 482.78 points, or 1.4%, at 33,947.10.

    • The S&P 500
      SPX,
      -1.79%
      ended 72.86 points lower, or 1.8%, at 3,998.84.

    • The Nasdaq Composite
      COMP,
      -11.01%
      closed down 221.56 points, or 1.9%, at 11,239.94.

    • Those were the largest declines for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite since Nov. 9, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

    Stocks finished mixed on Friday, although they clinched gains last week, following a robust November jobs report, which stoked fears that inflation might not be so easily defeated.

    What drove markets

    Strong wage growth numbers released Friday were followed up on Monday by a robust reading for the U.S. services sector — both of which helped to stoke fears that the Fed’s interest-rate hikes, along with the central bank’s modest balance-sheet unwind, haven’t had much of an impact on the tight labor market.

    The ISM barometer of U.S. business conditions in the service sector came in stronger than expected, rising to 56.5% in November, a healthy showing that signals the U.S. economy is still expanding at a steady pace.

    “If nothing else, the ISM services report is being interpreted as very strong, and thus the economy is overheating and that means more Fed tightening,” said Will Compernolle, a senior economist at FHN Financial in New York. “Consumer resilience has proven to be more intense than I would have expected. In the two most interest-rate sensitive sectors — housing and autos — tightening has channeled into markets in meaningful ways.”

    But there has been so much pent-up demand, that higher interest rates haven’t been cooling overall spending as much as the Fed would like because companies are still having to fill a backlog of orders, he said via phone.

    In other economic data, the final November S&P Global U.S. services PMI edged up to 46.2 from 46.1, but remained in contractionary territory.

    November jobs data released on Friday showed average hourly wages grew over the past year by more than 5% as of November, beating economists’ expectations and stoking concerns that robust wage growth would continue to fuel inflation, market strategists said.

    Worries about a more-aggressive Fed also helped to drive Treasury yields higher, adding to the pressure on stocks. The yield on the 10-year note rose 9.6 basis points to 3.6% on Monday. Treasury yields move inversely to prices, and yields had fallen sharply over the past month, driven by shifting expectations about the pace of Fed rate hikes.

    Monday’s ISM services figure “surprised to the upside, suggesting that the economy is still running above its long-run sustainable path and that the Fed is going to have to slow the economy more than expected in 2023,” Bill Adams, the Dallas-based chief economist for Comerica Inc. CMA, said via phone.

    In other markets news, signs that China’s government is easing its COVID restrictions helped Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index
    HSI,
    +4.51%
    finish with a 4.5% gain.

    See also: Chinese ADRs and casino operators rally on signs of easing COVID

    Meanwhile, oil futures ended lower on Monday, a day after Sunday’s decision by OPEC and its allies to keep production quotas unchanged.

    Falling equity prices helped drive the CBOE Volatility Index
    VIX,
    +8.87%    ,
    also known as the VIX, back above 20 on Monday. The volatility gauge had fallen sharply in recent weeks as stocks rallied, potentially signaling complacency that could ultimately hurt stocks, said Jonathan Krinsky, chief market technician at BTIG, in a note to clients.

    Companies in focus

    ––Jamie Chisholm contributed reporting to this article.

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