Opening Bell: 5.11.21

Stocks slide; Biden doubles down; ARK sinks; the only thing better than leggings at work is no pants at all; and more!

Author:
Dealbreaker
Publish date:
May 11, 2021

Lululemon, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Stocks slide; Biden doubles down; ARK sinks; the only thing better than leggings at work is no pants at all; and more!

Stocks fall across Europe and Nasdaq futures tumble 1%, as inflation concerns and selloff sentiment spread [MarketWatch]
Dow industrials futures were pointing down around 170 points, set for a weak open after the index fell 35 points on Monday to close at 34,742…. “Once again it has been concern about inflation that appears to be weighing on broader market sentiment, with commodity prices once again the major culprit, ahead of U.S. CPI numbers that are due out later this week,” said Michael Hewson, an analyst at CMC Markets.

Biden Defends Unemployment Benefits, Provided Workers Accept Job Offers [NYT]
Mr. Biden struck a defiant tone, seeking to make clear that he expects workers to return to jobs if they are available, while defending his signature economic policy effort thus far and blaming corporate America, in part, for not doing more to entice people to go back to work…. “My expectation is that, as our economy comes back, these companies will provide fair wages and safe work environments.” He said that if they did, “they’ll find plenty of workers, and we’re all going to come out of this together better than before.”

Elliott Management Has Stake in Duke Energy [WSJ]
Activist investor Elliott Management Corp. has a stake in Duke Energy Corp. and is pushing the utility to add directors to its board and possibly take other actions to boost its stock price, according to people familiar with the matter.
Duke has been in discussions with Elliott, the people said. Elliott might also urge Duke to sell some assets or make operational improvements, some of the people said. The size of Elliott’s position couldn’t be learned.

Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF falls to new low for the year, off nearly 35% from recent high [CNBC]
Wood’s core ETF is now down more than 13% this month and more than 16% year to date…. “I love this setup,” Wood said Friday on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.” “The worst thing that could have happened to us is to have the market narrowly focus on just our ilk of stock — the innovation space….”
More than $1.1 billion of fund flows have left Ark Innovation this month. Ark Invest — including its five core ETFs — has lost about nearly $2 billion in investor dollars in May, according to FactSet.

Beijing Tries to Put Its Imprint on Blockchain [WSJ]
With an offer of ultracheap server space, Beijing is beckoning blockchain’s global community of developers to adopt its vision for the technology. Success could put China in a powerful position to influence future development of the internet itself and promote international use of Chinese innovations, like a homegrown Global Positioning System and a digitized national currency…. “The blockchain community is utterly fascinated by [BSN] because it’s such a big bold move,” said Alan Pelz-Sharpe, founder of technology advisory Deep Analysis in Massachusetts and who has studied the system. “It does set a bar that will require some kind of response, or nations will be left behind,” he said.

European bankers seen gloating about ongoing work from home. Bankers buying Lycra for return to the office [efinancialcareers]
As U.S. firms work up ever more enthusiasm for seeing people seated at banks of desks again, Europeans are sensing their opportunity. Société Générale CEO Frédéric Oudéa trolled U.S. bank CEOs last week when he said, “the idea that winning is just about spending 22 hours during the day at the office” is outdated…. Separately, as bank employees prepare for a return to the commute, Business Insider suggests they're purchasing a different type of clothing. The back to work dress code is apparently all about comfort and 'showing off your personality at work.' This appears to translate into wearing boldly coloured Lycra. "Everyone wants something stretchy" although "pull-on pants in linen" are also a thing.

Opening Bell

Vice stocks; Wood’s regrets; the sooner the crypto trance fades the better; and more!

Opening Bell

Greece Pours $22.6 Billion Into Four Biggest Banks (Reuters) The long-awaited injection—via bonds from the European Financial Stability Facility rescue fund—will boost the nearly depleted capital base of National Bank, Alpha, Eurobank and Piraeus Bank. "The funds have been disbursed," an official at the Hellenic Financial Stability Facility, who declined to be named, told Reuters. The HFSF was set up to funnel funds from Greece's bailout programme to recapitalise its tottering banks. The HFSF allocated 6.9 billion euros to National Bank, 1.9 billion to Alpha, 4.2 billion to Eurobank and 5 billion to Piraeus. All four are scheduled to report first-quarter earnings this week. The news came as two government officials told Reuters that near-bankrupt Greece could access 3 billion euros, left from its first bailout programme, to cover basic state payments if efforts to revive falling tax revenue fail. U.S. Ready for Europe Fallout, Says Fed Official (WSJ) "There's absolutely no reason for people in the United States to get all in a dither," Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Plosser said that in the short run, uncertainty in Europe might even work in the U.S. economy's favor, via lower U.S. interest rates and energy prices. Greece to Leave Euro Zone on June 18, Says Guy (CNBC) Greece will leave the euro zone on June 18 if the populist government wins the country’s elections on the 17 as the rest of the euro zone rounds on "cheaters," Nick Dewhirst, director at wealth management firm Integral Asset Management, told CNBC Monday. “The euro zone is a club but you get cheaters who get away with it until everyone finds out and at that point you need to remove them otherwise everyone will cheat. It’s better for Greece to leave,” Dewhirst said. He added that Greek society was built on cheating and scheming, saying “everyone does it” but that voters elsewhere in the euro zone were now calling Greece to account. “The basic question is that a German has to increase working from 65 to 67 and that is to pay for Greeks retiring at 50. The 17th of June is the perfect opportunity to say either 'we’ll behave' or 'we’ll carry on cheating,'" he said. Facebook Debacle Turns High Hopes Into Potentially Mood-Souring Skepticism (WSJ) It is impossible to measure the impact of Facebook's flubbed deal on overall investor confidence. But there is at least one sign of possible fallout: More than $3 billion was yanked from U.S. stock mutual funds by small investors in the week ended Wednesday, according to EPFR Global Inc. in Cambridge, Mass. That was the worst week for withdrawals since March. In the previous week, investors added $311 million to U.S. stock mutual funds. David Guthrie, a 30-year-old actor in Toronto, bought 15 shares of Facebook on its opening day. Before then, he had bought just one stock, yet saw the market as a place to make his savings rise in the long run. Now he feels burned. "If Facebook had made a lot of money, I'd try it again," Mr. Guthrie says. After the stock's disappointing slide, "I would never put big money into the stock market." Zoos' Bitter Choice: To Save Some Species, Letting Others Die (NYT) ...Ozzie, a lion-tailed macaque, will never father children. Lion-tails once flourished in the tops of rain forests in India, using their naturally dark coloring to disappear into the height of the jungle. Though there are only about 4,000 remaining in the wild, not one among Ozzie’s group here in St. Louis will be bred. American zoos are on the verge of giving up on trying to save them. As the number of species at risk of extinction soars, zoos are increasingly being called upon to rescue and sustain animals, and not just for marquee breeds like pandas and rhinos but also for all manner of mammals, frogs, birds and insects whose populations are suddenly crashing. To conserve animals effectively, however, zoo officials have concluded that they must winnow species in their care and devote more resources to a chosen few. The result is that zookeepers, usually animal lovers to the core, are increasingly being pressed into making cold calculations about which animals are the most crucial to save. Some days, the burden feels less like Noah building an ark and more like Schindler making a list. Icahn Takes Chesapeake Energy Stake (WSJ) Carl Icahn skewered Chesapeake Energy Corp.'s CHK board for corporate governance controversies and "irresponsible actions" while disclosing he acquired a sizeable new stake in the company. Euro Likely Worthless as Collector's Item (Bloomberg) FYI. JPMorgan Beefs Up China Unit With $400 Million Injection (Reuters) "The additional capital will better position the bank in the evolving regulatory environment and cement our commitment to clients in China," Zili Shao, Chairman and chief executive of J.P. Morgan China, said in a statement on Monday. "The capital will be used to expand the bank's branch network, develop products, increase corporate lending, and recruit employees," Shao added. Europe Turns To US For Loans (WSJ) In the latest symptom of Europe's financial turmoil, the region's riskier companies are bypassing banks and investors at home and turning to the U.S. for loans. European companies borrowed some €14.4 billion (about $18 billion at current rates) in the U.S. leveraged-loan market this year through Friday, more than double the €6.7 billion for all of 2011, according to data from S&P Capital IQ LCD. That is the highest amount since at least 2007, the height of the last boom in leveraged lending, when full-year loan volume was €12.2 billion, according to S&P. How Boaz Weinstein And Hedge Funds Outsmarted JPMorgan (NYT) By May, when fears over Europe’s debt crisis again came to the fore, the trade reversed. The London Whale was losing. And Mr. Weinstein began to make back all of his losses — and then some — in a matter of weeks. Other hedge funds were also big winners. Blue Mountain Capital and BlueCrest Capital, both created by former JPMorgan traders, were among those winners. Lucidus Capital Partners, CQS and a fund called III came out ahead, too. Inside the hedge fund world, some joked that Mr. Weinstein had been able to spot the London Whale because he himself had been a whale once, too. Drunk Brooklyn woman crashes car through Long Island home (NYDN) A drunken Brooklyn woman crashed her Mercedes into a Long Island home Monday, smashing through the house and landing in the backyard, cops said. Sophia Anderson, 21, failed to turn left or right when the road she was driving on in Huntington deadended at a T-intersection with another street, officials said. She left a train of wreckage as she smashed through the modest house on Southdown Rd., missing the 90-year-old homeowner and her caretaker. Anderson, treated and released at Huntington Hospital, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, police said.

Opening Bell

Baupost booms; Citrix sells; ARK takes on water; Evergrande’s Versailles burns; and more!

Opening Bell

GameStop can’t stop; Citi readies the pinkslips; ARK-trocious; Izzy in Paris; and more!

Opening Bell

Stocks sink further; SEC strikes StraightPath; S&P shuns Tesla; Shkreli set free; and more!

Opening Bell

Greece Warns of Going Broke as Tax Proceeds Dry Up (NYT) Government coffers could be empty as soon as July, shortly after this month’s pivotal elections. In the worst case, Athens might have to temporarily stop paying for salaries and pensions, along with imports of fuel, food and pharmaceuticals. Officials, scrambling for solutions, have considered dipping into funds that are supposed to be for Greece’s troubled banks. Some are even suggesting doling out i.o.u.’s. Spain Warns It Needs Help (WSJ) Oh, hey, in case it was unclear: "Spain made its most explicit suggestion yet that it would seek help from Europe for its struggling banks, as the country's budget minister said high interest rates on Spanish bonds were a signal the government risks losing access to financial markets." Nobel Winner Stiglitz Sees More Recession Odds In Romney (Bloomberg) History shows that the adoption of fiscal austerity when an economy is weak can have disastrous consequences, as happened in the U.S. in 1929 on the eve of the Great Depression, Stiglitz told Bloomberg editors and reporters in New York Monday. “The Romney plan is going to slow down the economy, worsen the jobs deficit and significantly increase the likelihood of a recession,” said Stiglitz. US Already in 'Recession,' Extend Tax Cuts: Bill Clinton (CNBC) In a taped interview aired with CNBC, the 42nd president called the current economic conditions a "recession" and said overzealous Republican plans to cut the deficit threaten to plunge the country further into the debt abyss. Blanked Bankers Double As Bonuses Disappear, Survey Shows (Bloomberg) The proportion of investment bankers who got no bonuses last year more than doubled to about 14 percent, a poll by executive-search firm Options Group shows. The percentage of employees who weren’t given an annual award rose from 6 percent in 2010, a report yesterday from the New York-based company said. Getting no bonus, or being “blanked” by your employer, isn’t the smear it once was because base salaries increased afterthe 2008 financial crisis, said Michael Karp, managing partner of Options Group. The pizza has ‘sex’tra toppings (NYP) An Italian eatery just steps from Yankee Stadium is charging customers for slices of pizza — and sex with their wait staff, a new lawsuit claims. Yankee fans heading to Stadium Pizza after ball games are treated to a smorgasbord of waitresses and bartenders moonlighting as prostitutes, according to a lawyer for former employee Olga Contreras, who is suing the restaurant’s owners for sexual harassment, said her lawyers, Matthew Blit and Amanda Gudis. Contreras says she has spotted one worker frequently giving oral sex, and customers disappearing into the restroom with the staff. Morgan Stanley May Sell Piece of Commodities Unit (CNBC) Worried about the potential impact of new regulations, Morgan Stanley is considering selling a minority stake in its commodities business, say people familiar with the matter, and has held preliminary conversations with potential suitors in recent months about how a deal could look. Geithner Said To Seek U.S. Bankers’ Dodd-Frank Objections (Bloomberg) Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has challenged bankers to give him specifics on their longstanding complaint that the Dodd-Frank Act is imposing costly, confusing and burdensome regulations on them, according to four people familiar with the matter...Geithner offered to use his ability to reach across agencies to better coordinate and streamline rules if he found the report convincing, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to discuss the study. The complaints include the handling of so-called stress tests of banks’ ability to weather a crisis, capital requirements and restrictions on mortgage servicing. Feds probing Nasdaq’s $10.7M FB profit (NYP) ...some of the issues the agency is believed to be looking at is whether the exchange made its trades ahead of clients and other participants, sources said. The regulators also is looking into whether the trading systems at other Nasdaq member firms made matters worse. Italy To Push 'Pink Quotas' (WSJ) A new law requires Italian listed and state-owned companies to ensure that one-third of their board members are women by 2015. Currently, only around 6% of the total number of corporate board members in Italy are women—one of the lowest levels in Europe and a number that reflects how few women work here. Gold Bugs Defy Bear-Market Threat With Soros Buying (Bloomberg) Bank of America was joined by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and Barclays Plc in urging investors to buy in December and January. Now, after gold fell 10 percent in a four-month slide through May, they say prices will rebound this year or next as the Federal Reserve shores up the world’s biggest economy by easing monetary policy and devaluing the dollar. Billionaire George Soros bought more in the first quarter and hedge-fund manager John Paulson held on to the biggest stake in the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest exchange-traded product backed by bullion, Securities and Exchange Commission filings show. Some investors are refusing to capitulate even after failed elections in Greece drove the euro to a two-year low against the dollar and gold slumped as much as 21 percent in December from the record $1,923.70 set in September. Oregon woman wins $900K after contracting herpes from sex partner (NYDN) “He was 69, my client was a very attractive 49. My argument to the jury was he just wanted to sink his hooks into her,” the plaintiff’s attorney said. The jury found that the man was 75% at fault, while the woman was 25% responsible. The jurors also decided that by exposing her to the STD, the man committed battery and made her suffer greatly.