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Tag: Retail

  • Here’s why UBS’s deal to buy Credit Suisse matters to U.S. investors

    Here’s why UBS’s deal to buy Credit Suisse matters to U.S. investors

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    Thousands of miles away from U.S. shores last Wednesday, a headline began working its way across Europe, then Wall Street, sparking fresh panic as it dawned on investors that they may be facing yet another banking crisis.

    Shares of Credit Suisse
    CS,
    -6.94%

    CSGN,
    -8.01%
    would eventually sink 25% last week to a fresh record low, unable to find footing days after the head of top shareholder Saudi National Bank said they won’t invest any more in the bank. By Sunday, the struggling Swiss bank had a new owner, leaving investors to wonder if at least one chapter in a current roller coaster of global banking stress can be closed.

    Swiss authorities steered rival UBS AG
    UBS,
    -5.50%
    to an all-stock deal worth 3 billion francs ($3.25 billion), or 0.76 francs per share, a not-so-slight discount to the 1.86 franc close on Friday of Credit Suisse. So important was the agreement, it was announced by Switzerland’s President Alain Berset, with both banks and the chairman of the Swiss National Bank on either side of him.

    “With the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS, a solution has been found to secure financial stability and protect the Swiss economy in this exceptional situation,” the SNB said in a statement.

    The Swiss National Bank said either Swiss bank can borrow up to 100 billion francs in a liquidity assistance loan, and Credit Suisse will get a liquidity assistance loan of up to 100 billion francs, backed by a federal default guarantee. The U.S. Federal Reserve had worked with its Swiss counterpart on the deal as well.

    “We welcome the announcements by the Swiss authorities today to support financial stability. The capital and liquidity positions of the U.S. banking system are strong, and the U.S. financial system is resilient,” said a statement Sunday by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

    European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde also praised Swiss authorities for “restoring orderly market conditions and ensuring financial stability,” while reiterating the “resilience” of the euro-area banking sector. She said the ECB stands ready to provide liquidity if needed.

    Her comment comes days after the the ECB pulled the trigger Thursday on a 50-basis-point rate hike, as it warned “inflation is projected to remain too high for too long.”

    The deal for Credit Suisse comes in the wake of stress on the U.S. banking sector, triggered by the collapse of Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, all within the space of a week.

    “Virtually everyone at this high-level Swiss press conference — government officials, regulator, central bank governor, and executives of the two banks — blamed the US banking sector turmoil for being the catalyst for the financial turmoil in #Switzerland,” tweeted Mohamed A. El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz, of the press conference Sunday with Swiss authorities to announce the deal.

    And for U.S. investors who have had quite enough anxiety lately, a logical question would be to ask if the deal that brings together the two Swiss banking giants will now remove one layer of stress from global markets, and hence Wall Street.

    For that reason, many will be watching how Asian and U.S. equity futures trade later on Sunday, as well as Europe’s opening reaction on Monday.

    The Credit Suisse news may only go so far to assuage investors, with some raising an eyebrow over Powell and Yellen’s Sunday statement about the Swiss deal. “Seriously, if everyone truly believed the ‘The capital and liquidity positions of the U.S. banking system are strong, and the U.S. financial system is resilient’ … Would they have to tell us? Are these words enough?” said Jim Bianco, president of Bianco Research, on Twitter. “Or do investors want to see Warren Buffett writing checks to regional banks in the next two hours (before Asia opens)?”

    Fox News and other media outlets reported over the weekend that the Berkshire Hathaway
    BRK.A,
    -2.76%

    BRK.B,
    -2.81%
    chairman and CEO had been talking to President Joe Biden’s administration in recent days over possible investments in the battered regional bank sector, and offering his advice.

    The billionaire investor was responsible for a capital injection to Bank of America
    BAC,
    -3.97%
    in 2011 as its shares tumbled due to subprime mortgages, as well as $5 billion to Goldman Sachs
    GS,
    -3.67%
    amid the 2008 financial crisis.

    Some had said ahead of the deal last week that global-market stability depended on the Swiss first getting their house in order.

    “I don’t think there are any direct consequences for U.S. investors, but it’s extremely negative for sentiment if a major Swiss bank fails, hot on the heels of SVB/SBNY,” Simon Ree, the founder of Tao of Trading options academy school and author of the book by the same name, told MarketWatch last week.

    “The market will be (temporarily) wondering who’s next. It could start to have the optics of a global banking crisis, rather than an idiosyncratic failure of a niche U.S. regional bank,” said Ree.

    Credit Suisse’s troubles came amid a revamp and five straight money-losing quarters, following a painful legacy that included billions worth of exposure to the collapsed Archegos family office and $10 billion worth of funds tied to Greensil Capital it had to freeze.

    Read: In its delayed annual report, Credit Suisse admitted to financial control weaknesses

    “The SNB and the Swiss government are fully aware that the failure of Credit Suisse or even any losses by deposit holders would destroy Switzerland’s reputation as a financial center,” said Otavio Marenzi, CEO of Opimas, a management consulting firm focused on global capital markets, in a note to clients last week.

    The bank’s plummeting stock price and soaring bond yields was “mimicking Silicon Valley Bank’s recent collapse in a frightening way. In terms of the outflow of deposits, Credit Suisse’s position looks even worse,” said Marenzi.

    Over there?

    As far as some are concerned, the market may have more stress ahead of it.

    “The SVB failure highlights the potential for other skeletons to be hidden in closets and the market will spend the next few weeks/months hunting them out. Even just the extreme volatility we’ve seen on bond markets the last five days renders any attempt to ascribe a value to other asset classes redundant,” said Ree.

    Plus: Here’s what’s really protecting your bank deposits

    His view is shared by many analysts, who in part point to increasing uncertainty around how the Federal Reserve will react going forward as it tries to balance market and economic risks. Some now see full percentage rate cuts by year-end, amid banking stress.

    Samantha LaDuc, the founder of LaDucTrading.com who specializes in timing major market inflections, said she stands by her advice (that she shared with MarketWatch in February) that investors are being “paid to wait,” by staying in cash.

    Read: Looking for a place for your cash? Grab these 5% CDs while you still can.

    “I have been literally recommending and tweeting to clients that we are PAID TO WAIT in T-bills at 5% until [the] bond market can figure out if we have recession or not. All that happened last week pulled forward recession risk,” she told MarketWatch.

    Prior to the SVB crisis, she had been recommending clients short reflation trades, such as banks
    XLF,
    -3.22%

    KRE,
    -5.99%    ,
    energy
    XLE,
    -1.57%
    and metals and mining
    XME,
    -0.78%

    COPX,
    +0.63%

    SLX,
    -1.96%    ,
    and has been saying she sees “unattractive risk-reward for either stocks or bonds.”

    Opimas’ Marenzi said the threat to Wall Street from Credit Suisse was simple:

    “You mean what do American investors who do not own any non-American stocks and do not own a passport and could not find Switzerland on a map and who think that anyone who speaks any language other than English is a bit weird have to worry about? Not a lot, other than the contagion spreading back into the US banking system and causing a meltdown,” he told MarketWatch.

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  • Rivian Stock Falls on Amazon News. It Might Be an Overreaction.

    Rivian Stock Falls on Amazon News. It Might Be an Overreaction.

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    Shares of


    Rivian Automotive


    fell after a report said the electric truck start-up is in talks to end an exclusivity pact with Amazon.com. That might have been an overreaction, judging by Amazon’s response to the news.

    The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Rivian (ticker: RIVN) is seeking to remove an exclusivity term in its agreement with Amazon (AMZN) after the e-commerce retailer ordered about 10,000 electric delivery vans for this year, which was on the lower end of Amazon’s range.

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  • Rivian’s stock falls more than 3% as EV maker and Amazon consider changes to electric-van deal

    Rivian’s stock falls more than 3% as EV maker and Amazon consider changes to electric-van deal

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    Rivian Automotive Inc.’s stock fell more than 3% Monday after news that the electric-vehicle maker and Amazon.com Inc. are discussing possible changes to their deal for electric delivery vans.

    Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the companies are in talks to end the exclusivity part of their electric-van deal. The talks started after Amazon’s order for the year was at the low end of the previous range, the report said.

    A…

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  • Alibaba’s Recovery Has Momentum. This Is One Potential Risk.

    Alibaba’s Recovery Has Momentum. This Is One Potential Risk.

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    Analysts are increasingly upbeat about


    Alibaba


    stock in the wake of the group’s quarterly earnings, which supported the narrative that the Chinese tech company’s recovery is on track. But a familiar challenge may be returning.

    Shares in Alibaba Group Holding (ticker: BABA) lost almost half their market value in 2021 as Beijing cracked down on the Chinese technology sector. Things were equally difficult in 2022. Regulatory pressure continued, while economic growth slowed on the mainland, battering Alibaba’s bottom line, as a result of broad lockdowns intended to stamp out Covid-19.

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  • Simsbury to vote on ordinance banning marijuana retail sales for 18 months – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    Simsbury to vote on ordinance banning marijuana retail sales for 18 months – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

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    SIMSBURY, Conn. (WTNH) – The town of Simsbury is holding a public hearing on an 18-month ordinance banning marijuana retail sales Monday evening. 

    The meeting will be inside town hall at 6pm. 

    The town was considering an adult-use dispensary in the area of Route 44. At previous town hall meetings hosted by the zoning board, some neighbors were worried about addiction and teens using marijuana. 

    At a board of selectman meeting in January, four out of six selectmen voted to create an ordinance that would ban retail sales until September 2024.

    Some votes could change after the public hearing Monday, but First Selectwoman Wendy Mackstutis told News 8 she doesn’t expect that to happen. 

    She is still in favor of retail sales, saying surrounding towns and cities have already allowed adult-use dispensaries to open.

    Original Author Link click here to read complete story..

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    MMP News Author

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  • Alibaba Stock Jumps After Earnings Beat. Chinese Lockdowns Still Weighed.

    Alibaba Stock Jumps After Earnings Beat. Chinese Lockdowns Still Weighed.

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    Alibaba


    reported better-than-expected earnings in the final three months of 2022, giving Wall Street exactly what it wanted as analysts remain positive on the Chinese tech giant. 

    But there are signs that the destructive Covid-19 lockdowns that hurt the world’s second-largest economy last year continue to linger.

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  • The EU and UK have a Northern Ireland deal — so what’s in it?

    The EU and UK have a Northern Ireland deal — so what’s in it?

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    LONDON — After four months of intense talks (and plenty of squabbling before that), the EU and U.K. have a deal to resolve their long-running post-Brexit trade row over Northern Ireland.

    But as U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak works to sell the so-called “Windsor framework” on the Northern Ireland protocol to Brexiteers and unionists, lawmakers on both sides of the English Channel and of the Irish Sea are getting to grips with the details.

    From paperwork to plants, let POLITICO walk you through the new agreement, asking: Who has given ground, and how exactly will the deal thrashed out by EU and U.K. negotiators aim to keep the bloc’s prized single market secure?

    Customs paperwork and checks

    For businesses taking part in an expanded “trusted trader scheme,” the Windsor framework aims to considerably cut customs paperwork and checks on goods moving from Great Britain but destined to stay in Northern Ireland. 

    These goods will pass through a “green lane” requiring minimal paperwork and be labeled “Not for EU,” while those heading for the EU single market in the Republic of Ireland will undergo full EU customs checks in Northern Ireland’s ports under a “red lane.”

    Traders in the green lane will only need to complete a single, digitized certificate per truck movement, rather than multiple forms per load.

    Sunak has already claimed that this means “any sense of a border in the Irish Sea” — deeply controversial among Northern Ireland’s unionist politicians — has now been “removed.”

    However, it’s by no means a total end to Irish Sea red tape. An EU official said that although the deal delivers a “dramatic reduction” in the number of physical food safety checks, for example, there will still be some — those seen as “essential” to avoid the risk of goods entering the single market.

    These checks will be based on risk assessments and intelligence, and aimed at preventing smuggling and criminality.

    U.K. public health and safety standards will meanwhile apply to all retail food and drink within the U.K. internal market. British rules on public health, marketing, organics, labeling, genetic modification, and drinks such as wines, spirits and mineral waters will apply in Northern Ireland. This will remove more than 60 EU food and drink rules in the original protocol, which were detailed in more than 1,000 pages of legislation.

    Supermarkets, wholesalers, hospitality and food producers are likely to welcome the new arrangements. Many had stopped supplying to Northern Ireland because the cost of filling out hundreds of certificates for each consignment was deemed too high for a market as small as Northern Ireland. 

    Export declarations have been removed for the vast majority of goods moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain.

    The EU’s safeguards: While offering to drastically reduce the volume of checks carried out, the EU has toughened its criteria to become a trusted trader under the expanded scheme. The EU will now have access to databases tracking shipments of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland in real time. The system was tested through the winter, helping build trust in Brussels, and is being fed with data from traders and U.K. authorities. The European Commission will be able to suspend part or all of these trade easements if the U.K. fails to comply with the new rules.

    The timeline: The U.K. government said it will consult with businesses in the “coming months” before implementing the new rules. The green lane will come into force this fall. Labels for meat, meat products and minimally-processed dairy products such as fresh milk will come into force from October 1, 2024. All relevant products will be marked by July 1, 2025. “Shelf-stable” products like bread and pasta will not be labeled.

    Governance

    A key plank of the deal is the bid to address complaints by Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) — currently boycotting the power-sharing assembly in the region in opposition to the protocol — that lawmakers there did not have a say in the imposition of new EU rules in the region.

    Under the terms of the new agreement, the Commission will have to give the U.K. government notice of future EU regulations intended to apply in Northern Ireland. According to Sunak, Stormont will be given a new power to “pull an emergency brake on changes to EU goods rules” based on “cross-community consent.”

    Under this mechanism, the U.K. government will be able to suspend the application in Northern Ireland of an incoming piece of EU law at the request of at least 30 members of the assembly — a third of them. But if unionist parties in Northern Ireland want to trigger the new “Stormont brake,” they must first return to the power-sharing institutions which they abandoned last May. The EU and the U.K. could subsequently agree to apply such a rule in a meeting of the Joint Committee, which oversees the protocol.

    Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said this new tool remains an emergency mechanism that hopefully will not need to be used. A second EU official said it would be triggered “under the most exceptional circumstances and as a matter of last resort in a well-defined process” set out in a unilateral declaration by the U.K. These include that the rules have a “significant and lasting impact on the everyday lives” of people in the region.

    If the EU disagrees with the U.K.’s trigger of the Stormont brake, the two would resolve the issue through independent arbitration, instead of involving the Court of Justice of the EU.

    Meanwhile, Northern Ireland’s courts will consider disputes over the application of EU rules in the region, and judges could decide whether to consult the CJEU on how to interpret them. In a key concession, the Commission has agreed not to unilaterally refer a case to the CJEU, although it retains the power to do so.

    The EU’s safeguards: The CJEU will remain the “sole and ultimate arbiter of EU law” and will have the “final say” on EU single market disputes, von der Leyen stressed. Whether Brexiteers and the DUP are willing to accept that remains the million-dollar question.

    Tax, state aid and EU rules

    The U.K. government will now be able to set rules in areas such as VAT and state aid that will also apply in Northern Ireland — two major wins for Sunak that were rejected by the Commission in previous rounds of negotiations with other U.K. prime ministers.

    It will, Sunak was at pains to point out Monday, allow Westminster to pass on a cut in alcohol duty that previously passed Northern Ireland by.

    But London has had to give up on its idea of establishing a dual-regulatory mechanism that would have allowed Northern Ireland businesses to choose whether they would follow EU or British rules when manufacturing goods, depending on whether they intended to sell them in the EU single market or in the U.K. The whole idea was deemed by Brussels as impossible to police.

    The EU’s safeguards: Northern Irish businesses producing goods for the U.K. internal market will only have to follow “less than 3 percent” of EU single market rules, a U.K. official said. But the nature of these regulations remains unclear, and there will be increased market surveillance and enforcement by U.K. authorities to try and reassure the EU.

    The timeline: The U.K. government will be able to exercise these powers as soon as the Windsor framework comes into force.

    Parcels

    The EU and the U.K. have agreed to scrap customs processes for parcels being sent between consumers in Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

    The EU’s safeguards: Parcels sent between businesses will now move through the new green lane, as is the case for other goods destined to stay in Northern Ireland. That should allow them to be monitored, but remove the need to undergo international customs procedures. Parcel operators will share commercial data with the U.K.’s tax authority, HMRC, in a bid to reduce risks to the EU single market.

    Timeline: These new arrangements will take effect September 2024.

    Pets

    Residents in Great Britain will be able to take their dogs, cats and ferrets to Northern Ireland without having to fulfill a requirement for a rabies vaccine, tapeworm treatment and other checks.

    Pets traveling from Northern Ireland to Great Britain and back will not be required to have any documentation, declarations, checks or health treatments.

    The EU’s safeguards: Microchipped pets will be able to travel with a life-long pet travel document issued for free by the U.K.’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Pet owners will tick a box in their travel booking acknowledging they accept the scheme rules and will not move their pet into the EU.

    The timeline: The new rules will take effect fall 2023.

    Medicines

    Drugs approved for use by the U.K.’s medicines regulator, the MHRA, will be automatically available in every pharmacy and hospital in Northern Ireland, “at the same time and under the same conditions” as in the U.K., von der Leyen said. 

    Businesses will need to secure approval for a U.K.-wide license from the MHRA to supply medicines to Northern Ireland, rather than having to go through the European Medicines Agency. The agreement removes any EU Falsified Medicines Directive packaging, labeling and barcode requirements for medicines. This means manufacturers will be able to produce a single medicines pack design for the whole of the U.K., including Northern Ireland.

    Drugs being shipped into Northern Ireland from Great Britain will be freed of customs paperwork, checks and duties, with traders only being required to provide ordinary commercial information.

    The EU’s safeguards: Medicines traveling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will do so via the new green lane, which will have monitoring to protect the single market built in.

    The timeline: The U.K. government said it will engage with the medicines industry soon on these changes.

    Plants

    The deal lifts the protocol’s ban on seed potatoes entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain, and its prohibition on trees and shrubs deemed of “high risk” for the EU single market. This will enable garden centers and other businesses in Northern Ireland to sell 11 native species to Great Britain and some from other regions.

    The Windsor framework also removes sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks on all these plants, and ditches red tape on their shipment into Northern Ireland.

    The EU’s safeguards: Supplying businesses will have to obtain a Northern Ireland plant health label, which will be the same as the plant passport already required within Great Britain, but with the addition of the words “for use in the U.K. only” and a QR code linking to the rules.

    The timeline: The new scheme and the lifting of the bans will all come into force in the fall.

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    Cristina Gallardo

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  • Walmart, Home Depot, Meta, DocuSign, Medtronic, and More Stock Market Movers

    Walmart, Home Depot, Meta, DocuSign, Medtronic, and More Stock Market Movers

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    This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers visit http://www.djreprints.com.

    https://www.barrons.com/articles/stock-market-movers-5b0c54ae

    • Order Reprints
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  • China Sets New Rules for Overseas IPOs. What It Means for DiDi, Alibaba, and Others.

    China Sets New Rules for Overseas IPOs. What It Means for DiDi, Alibaba, and Others.

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    China has announced new rules on overseas IPOs, potentially sparking the resumption of Chinese companies listing in New York.

    Under the new rules, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) will vet any overseas listing applications, effective from March 31. The regulator has the power to block such IPOs, and the rules make clear listings must not endanger national security.

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  • Berkshire Hathaway’s Buy in Truck-Stop Group Pays Off

    Berkshire Hathaway’s Buy in Truck-Stop Group Pays Off

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    Berkshire Hathaway


    investors may soon get a read on one of the company’s better deals in the past decade—a 2017 purchase for nearly $3 billion of a 38.6% interest in Pilot Flying J, the country’s leading operator of truck stops.

    The Berkshire Hathaway (ticker: BRK/A, BRK/B) stake in the company will rise to 80% in the current quarter under the terms of the original agreement reached by CEO Warren Buffett with the founding Haslam family, which will retain the remaining 20% stake.

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  • Bed Bath & Beyond to Shut Down Canadian Stores in Bankruptcy

    Bed Bath & Beyond to Shut Down Canadian Stores in Bankruptcy

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    Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.’s Canadian division will shut down its stores under court protection after the company received an unusual lifeline earlier this week to save its U.S. operations from bankruptcy.

    The troubled retailer filed its Canadian division for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, Canada’s rough equivalent of chapter 11 bankruptcy. Bed Bath & Beyond has “reluctantly concluded” that even with the lifeline of its recent equity raise, there isn’t enough capital available both to restructure its U.S. business and bring the Canadian business to profitability, the company said in filings with an Ontario court.

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  • PepsiCo Beats Earnings Estimates, Hikes Dividend

    PepsiCo Beats Earnings Estimates, Hikes Dividend

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    PepsiCo


    beat earnings and revenue estimates in the fourth quarter, driven by higher prices. It increased its annual dividend, sending the stock higher in premarket trading Thursday.

    The beverages and snacks giant (ticker:PEP) reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.67 on sales of $28 billion. Analysts were expecting EPS of $1.65 on sales of $26.8 billion.

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  • Under Armour stock jumps toward 9-month high after big profit beat, strong shoe sales

    Under Armour stock jumps toward 9-month high after big profit beat, strong shoe sales

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    Shares of Under Armour Inc. sprinted higher Wednesday toward a nine-month high, after the athletic apparel and gear seller reported a big beat in fiscal third quarter profit and raised its full-year outlook.

    Net income for the quarter to Dec. 31 rose to $121.6 million, or 27 cents a share, from $109.7 million, or 23 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of 16 cents was well above the FactSet consensus of 9 cents.

    Revenue grew 3.4% to $1.58 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $1.55 billion, as a 25% jump in footwear revenue offset 2% declines in apparel and accessories revenue. Meanwhile, a 2% decline in North America revenue was offset by a 14% increase in international revenue.

    The Class C shares
    UA,
    +0.09%
    shot up 6.8% in premarket trading, which puts them on track to open at the highest price seen during regular-sessions hours since May 5, 2022. The Class A shares
    UAA,
    -0.08%
    jumped 6.9%.

    Gross margin contracted by 6.5 percentage points, due primarily to higher promotions, sales mix impacts and the negative impact of currency fluctuations.

    For fiscal 2023, the company raised its adjusted EPS guidance range to 52 cents to 56 cents from 44 cents to 48 cents, but kept its revenue growth guidance at a low single-digit percentage range. The FactSet consensus for EPS was 46 cents, and the FactSet revenue consensus of $5.86 billion implied 2.7% growth.

    The Class C shares have soared 53.5% over the past three months through Tuesday, while the S&P 500
    SPX,
    +1.29%
    has gained 8.8%.

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  • Bed Bath & Beyond’s Equity Plan, and Why Investors Were Interested

    Bed Bath & Beyond’s Equity Plan, and Why Investors Were Interested

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    Bed Bath & Beyond


    ‘s move to raise equity has depressed its stock and lifted its bonds as investors try to understand the terms of a dilutive and very complex offering.

     The troubled retailer, which had said it faced the prospect of bankruptcy if it can’t raise $1.025 billion in the equity offering, said late Tuesday that it completed the deal. That brought in initial gross proceeds of approximately $225 million, while management expects to receive an additional $800 million in future installments, if certain conditions are met.  

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  • U.S. Polo Assn. Supports Collegiate Polo Teams for the 2023 Polo Season

    U.S. Polo Assn. Supports Collegiate Polo Teams for the 2023 Polo Season

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    Global, Sport-Inspired Lifestyle Brand Reaches Five Years of Collegiate Partnership Program

    Press Release
    –

    Feb 7, 2023


    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., February 7, 2023 (Newswire.com)
    –
    U.S. Polo Assn., the official brand of the United States Polo Association (USPA), will outfit competitive collegiate polo players for the fifth consecutive year through its nationwide Collegiate Partnership Program (CPP) for the 2023 Collegiate Polo Season. 

    A total of 29 colleges have signed up to participate in U.S. Polo Assn.’s annual CPP, representing 47 collegiate teams with 28 women’s and 19 men’s teams. Enrollment for the sports enrichment program is open to all colleges and universities with a USPA-sanctioned polo team and lasts for one academic year. Teams in the program range from East Coast to West Coast and include small private and large public institutions, as well as Ivy Leagues and Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs). New schools joining the program this year include Grossmont College and Middle Tennessee State University. 

    Participating Schools Include:

    Cal Poly State University  Oregon State University University of California Davis University of South Carolina Aiken
    Colorado State University Skidmore College University of California Santa Barbara University of Virginia
    Grossmont College St. Edwards University University of Colorado University of Wisconsin- Madison
    Michigan State University Stanford University University of Idaho Virginia Tech University
    Middle Tennessee State University Texas A&M University University of Kentucky Yale University
    Montana State University Texas Christian University University of Massachusetts  
    Morehouse College Texas Tech University University of Michigan
         		  
    Oklahoma State University Trinity University University of North Texas  

    Through this program, U.S. Polo Assn. will provide student-athletes with complete game attire that includes customized performance team jerseys, white performance pants, polo shirts, caps and equipment gear bags. A monetary donation is also given to the teams, which can be used for travel or other expenses. 

    For the first time, a USPA Pro item will be donated to all student-athletes. The USPA Pro performance products are designed in collaboration with professional polo players. There will also be a “Collegiate Social Media Contest” where teams will have the opportunity to win additional prizes for their creative social media posts.

    Sanctioned by the USPA, collegiate polo teams compete in the Fall and Spring with the official season beginning September 2022 and running through April 2023. This season will conclude with the National Intercollegiate Championship (NIC) hosted at the Virginia Polo Center in Charlottesville, VA, from April 10-15, 2023. The Men’s and Women’s NIC Finals will air on ESPNU on April 15, 2023. Check your local listings for game times.

    “U.S. Polo Assn. is proud to continue our support of student-athletes across the country through our Collegiate Partnership Program because these athletes are the future of the game,” said J. Michael Prince, President and CEO of USPA Global Licensing, which manages the global, multi-billion-dollar U.S. Polo Assn. brand. “As the official brand of the United States Polo Association (USPA), we want to continue growing and building our authentic connection to the sport of polo, and the Collegiate Partnership Program, now in its fifth year, is one of our most rewarding programs.” 

    An exciting new addition for student-athletes this season was the implementation of the College Polo Tour. This exchange program between America and Argentina supported 21 collegiate polo players on a seven-day trip to Argentina for the opportunity to compete in both grass polo and arena polo, tour the renowned Ellerstina Polo Club, attend one of the heart-stopping Argentine Polo Open Semi-Finals and more. Players from Yale University, Harvard University, Cornell University, and Georgetown University, alongside other Argentinean polo players, had the opportunity to experience this program in November 2022.

    “We are excited to continue our partnership with U.S. Polo Assn. and all of the amazing opportunities available to our student-athletes,” said Liz Brayboy, Chair of the USPA’s Intercollegiate/Interscholastic Committee. “We look forward to an exciting 2022/2023 Collegiate Polo Season and are grateful to have the support of the official brand of the United States Polo Association for these important polo programs across the United States.”

    About U.S. Polo Assn. 

    U.S. Polo Assn. is the official brand of the United States Polo Association (USPA), the non-profit governing body for the sport of polo in the United States and one of the oldest sports governing bodies, having been founded in 1890. With a multi-billion-dollar global footprint and worldwide distribution through some 1,100 U.S. Polo Assn. retail stores and thousands of department stores as well as sporting goods channels, independent retailers and e-commerce, U.S. Polo Assn. offers apparel for men, women, and children, as well as accessories and footwear in more than 190 countries worldwide. U.S. Polo Assn. was named in the top five sports licensors in 2022, according to License Global. Visit uspoloassnglobal.com and follow @uspoloassn.

    About the United States Polo Association® (USPA)

    The United States Polo Association was organized and exists for the purposes of promoting the game of polo, coordinating the activities of its Member Clubs and Registered Players, arranging and supervising polo tournaments, competitions and games, and providing rules, handicaps, and conditions for those tournaments, competitions, and games including the safety and welfare of participants and mounts. Founded in 1890, the USPA is the national governing body for the sport of polo. The USPA is currently comprised of almost 200 member clubs with thousands of individual members and oversees 40 national tournaments. For more information, please visit uspolo.org.

    Source: USPA Global Licensing Inc.

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  • Big Tech just added to a shrinking forecast, but maybe Bob Iger can brighten the mood

    Big Tech just added to a shrinking forecast, but maybe Bob Iger can brighten the mood

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    Wall Street’s expectations for 2023 have been diving as forecasts for the new year come in light, and the news could get worse once they factor in disappointing results from Big Tech. But at least Bob Iger is coming back for a sequel.

    Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple all disappointed with holiday earnings this week. Their forecasts ranged from nonexistent to piecemeal to meh, and the fallout will only add to the biggest dive in Wall Street’s expectations through the beginning of a year since 2016.

    Analysts’ average forecast for 2023 earnings from the S&P 500 index
    SPX,
    -1.04%
    dropped by 2.5% in January, according to FactSet Senior Earnings Analyst John Butters, the worst in seven years. Those projections began heading lower last year, and the decline is only steepening — analysts are now projecting 3% earnings growth in 2023, and that is contingent on a big holiday rebound from the results being released this quarter.


    Uncredited

    The news was even worse for the first quarter, for which projections declined 3.3% in January as companies whiffed on their forecasts at a rapid pace: 86% of the 43 companies that have guided for first-quarter earnings have missed projections, Butters reported. Earnings are now expected to decline 4.2%, which would be the first year-over-year earnings decline since the third quarter of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic write-offs started to come in.

    Big Tech only added to the downward trajectory in recent days. Amazon.com Inc.
    AMZN,
    -8.43%
    missed on its holiday earnings as well as its forecast for the first quarter, and that company could determine if S&P 500 profits rise in 2023 all on its own. Amazon’s worst holiday earnings since 2014 could also contribute to the consumer discretionary sector’s first earnings decline since the beginning of the pandemic, with holiday sector earnings now expected to drop more than 5%.

    Google parent Alphabet Inc.
    GOOGL,
    -2.75%
    GOOG,
    -3.29%
    and Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc.
    META,
    -1.19%
    also missed their respective earnings targets amid problems with the digital-advertising industry, leading to the communications-services sector having the worst earnings season in the S&P 500. Profit has declined 25.2% in that sector so far, the worst among the 11 S&P 500 sectors, but would be down just 6.5% without the effects of Meta and Alphabet, Butters reported.

    Apple Inc.
    AAPL,
    +2.44%
    also didn’t do projections any favors, reporting its biggest sales decrease since 2016 and an earnings miss Thursday afternoon. In a piecemeal forecast, executives projected a similar sales decline in the calendar first quarter, though unofficially.

    This week in earnings

    After the busiest week in earnings season wrapped up, don’t expect much of a breather — 95 S&P 500 companies are expected to report in the week ahead, the third consecutive week with at least 90 companies reporting. There will be plenty of intrigue among companies not in the S&P 500 too, including Robinhood Markets Inc.
    HOOD,
    -3.59%
    and Affirm Holdings Inc.
    AFRM,
    -14.14%
    reporting together on Wednesday afternoon.

    Only one Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA,
    -0.38%
    stock will report, but that is the Wednesday call you will want to tune in for: Bob Iger’s return to the Walt Disney Co.
    DIS,
    -2.21%
    earnings show.

    The calls to put on your calendar
    The numbers to watch

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  • Adani Offshore Investor Has Links to Adani Family

    Adani Offshore Investor Has Links to Adani Family

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    A short seller’s allegations of fraud by Gautam Adani’s conglomerate center on whether his family wielded influence over Mauritius-based investors

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  • Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Ford, Nordstrom, and More Stock Market Movers

    Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Ford, Nordstrom, and More Stock Market Movers

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    This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers visit http://www.djreprints.com.

    https://www.barrons.com/articles/stock-market-movers-apple-amazon-google-ford-51675354870

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  • Amazon stock falls as least profitable holiday quarter since 2014 leads to its worst annual loss on record

    Amazon stock falls as least profitable holiday quarter since 2014 leads to its worst annual loss on record

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    Amazon.com Inc. reported its least profitable holiday quarter since 2014 on Thursday, leading to the biggest annual loss on record for the e-commerce giant, which also disappointed Wall Street with its forecast amid concerns about cloud growth.

    Amazon
    AMZN,
    +7.38%
    reported a holiday profit of $278 million, or 3 cents a share, down from $1.39 a share a year ago. Revenue increased to $149.2 billion from $137.41 billion a year ago. Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 17 cents a share on sales of $145.71 billion, according to FactSet.

    Shares fell 5% in after-hours trading following the release of the results, after closing with a 7.4% increase at $112.91.

    “In the short term, we face an uncertain economy, but we remain quite optimistic about the long-term opportunities for Amazon,” Chief Executive Andy Jassy said in a statement.

    Amazon was expected to post a loss for the whole year for the first time since 2014, but worse-than-expected holiday earnings actually led Amazon to the company’s worst annual loss on record. For the year, Amazon produced a net loss of $2.7 billion and revenue of $513.98 billion, up from $469.82 billion a year ago and the company’s first annual sales total to surpass a half-billion dollars. Amazon had never lost more than $1.4 billion in a single year since going public in 1997, according to FactSet records.

    Amazon’s fourth-quarter profit was hindered again by the decline of Rivian Automotive Inc.
    RIVN,
    +5.94%
    stock, which cost Amazon $2.3 billion in net income in the quarter. In addition, Amazon recognized many of the costs of its recently announced layoffs and other cost cuts in fourth-quarter results as well — a $2.7 billion impairment charge included $640 million in severance charges related to layoffs and $720 million related to closures and impairment of physical stores, Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said in a call with reporters.

    Without those charges, Amazon would have exceeded expectations, and recognizing them in 2022 leaves a cleaner sheet for this year, when Amazon’s ability to return to strong profitability will be the focus of Wall Street. The end result will likely rest on Amazon Web Services, or AWS, the cloud-computing offering that has supplied the bulk of Amazon’s profit in recent years, including 2022. Last year, AWS had operating profit of $22.84 billion, while the rest of the business produced an operating loss of $10.59 billion.

    But cloud-computing growth has slowed, as Microsoft Corp.
    MSFT,
    +4.69%
    displayed in its results and forecast last week, and Olsavsky confirmed the slowdown Thursday after AWS results missed expectations and suggested revenue growth had slowed to mid-teens and could stay there.

    “Starting back in the middle of the third quarter of 2022, we saw our year-over-year growth rates slow as enterprises of all sizes evaluated ways to optimize their cloud spending in response to the tough macroeconomic conditions,” he said in a conference call with analysts. “As expected, these optimization efforts continued into the fourth quarter.”

    Olsavsky told reporters he expected “slower growth rates for the next few quarters” for AWS, and later disclosed to analysts that revenue growth was in the mid-teens in the first month of this year. He noted that AWS revenue growth rates had been hit by customers looking to cut their cloud spending, and “we expect these optimization efforts will continue to be a headwind to AWS growth in at least the next couple of quarters.”

    Opinion: The cloud boom has hit its stormiest moment yet, and it is costing investors billions

    Making his first appearance on an earnings call since being named CEO two years ago, Jassy — who led AWS before being promoted to replace Jeff Bezos as CEO — said “if it’s good for our customers to find a way to be more cost effective in an uncertain economy, our team is going to spend a lot of cycles doing that.”

    “We’re the only ones that really break out our cloud numbers in a more specific way, so it’s always a little bit hard to answer your question about what we see,” Jassy said to an analyst asking about the larger cloud industry, while referencing rival Microsoft’s refusal to provide full financial information about Azure. “But to our best estimations, when we look at the absolute dollar growth year over year, we still have significantly more absolute dollar growth than anybody else we see in this space.”

    In the fourth quarter, AWS produced operating income of $5.21 billion on revenue of $21.38 billion, with sales growing more than 20% and operating income declining slightly. Analysts on average were expecting profit of $5.73 billion on sales of $21.85 billion, according to FactSet.

    Any slowdown in AWS would hit Amazon’s bottom line as well as its overall top line, and executives’ forecast for the first quarter shows less optimism than Wall Street expected. Amazon’s guidance calls for operating profit of break-even to $4 billion and revenue of $121 billion to $126 billion, while FactSet recorded an average analyst forecast of $4.04 billion in operating profit on sales of $125.09 billion.

    Amazon’s e-commerce business has struggled for growth amid the worst inflation in decades, with Olsavsky saying in a call with reporters that Amazon “saw customers spend less on discretionary items… [while] continuing to spend on everyday essentials.” Amazon recently announced it would start charging for grocery delivery for Prime members, which could increase revenue from sales of fresh food.

    For more: Amazon Fresh to start charging Prime customers up to $10 for grocery deliveries

    Amazon’s domestic e-commerce business posted an operating loss of $240 million on sales of $93.36 billion, after a $206 million loss on sales of $82.36 billion in the holiday quarter of 2021. Olsavsky said cuts in the company’s physical stores and device businesses would improve operating margins in North America.

    Amazon’s international efforts struggled more, with a sales decline and increasing losses, as Olsavsky said the U.K. and other parts of Europe showed slowdowns. Amazon reported an operating loss of $2.23 billion on revenue of $34.46 billion overseas, after a loss of $1.63 billion on sales of $37.27 billion a year ago.

    One bright spot in Amazon’s report was a record quarter for its advertising business, which has grown fast in recent years in a challenge to Alphabet Inc.’s
    GOOGL,
    +7.28%
    GOOG,
    +7.27%
    Google and other online ad giants. Ads brought in $11.56 billion in the holiday quarter, growing nearly 19% from $9.71 billion a year ago and beating the analysts’ consensus.

    Amazon stock has fallen more than 25% over the past 12 months, but has experienced a rebound so far in 2023, gaining more than 33% year to date. The S&P 500 index
    SPX,
    +1.47%
    has declined 10.2% in the past year while gaining 7.3% since the calendar flipped to 2023.

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  • Bed Bath & Beyond misses more than $28 million in interest payments on bonds: report

    Bed Bath & Beyond misses more than $28 million in interest payments on bonds: report

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    Beleaguered retailer Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. has missed interest payments on its bonds, the Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday, as the possibility of bankruptcy looms over the company.

    Bed Bath & Beyond
    BBBY,

    confirmed to the Journal that it missed more than $28 million in payments for three tranches of notes totaling about $1.2 billion that were due Wednesday.

    On Friday, the company said it was in default on loans that had been called in, and early last month warned that it may need to declare bankruptcy as it had “substantial doubt” about its “ability to continue as a going concern.” 

    The Journal has previously reported that Bed Bath & Beyond is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection soon, and has been making preparations for weeks.

    On Monday, the company said it was closing more than 140 additional stores.

    Bed Bath & Beyond stock slid about 2% in after-hours trading Wednesday after the Journal’s report was published. Its shares have tumbled 13% over the past five trading days and are down 83% over the past 12 months.

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