Opening Bell: 7.26.22

Goldman Sachs Chases Its Main Street Banking Ambitions—Slowly [WSJ]
Its high-yield savings accounts have amassed more than $100 billion in deposits, but its long-delayed checking account remains in beta testing. Its credit-card business has struggled to grow much beyond the splashy offering it launched with Apple three years ago. Marcus offers installment loans for big-ticket purchases, but no auto loans or mortgages…. The business hasn’t yet turned a profit, and Goldman isn’t saying when it thinks it will.

UBS misses expectations; CEO cites one of the ‘most challenging’ quarters for investors in a decade [CNBC]
The Swiss bank posted a net profit attributable to shareholders of $2.108 billion, below analyst expectations aggregated by the company of $2.403 billion…. Investment banking revenues came in at $2.094 billion, down 14% from the same period last year.

SEC Seeks More Details From Companies on Russia-Linked Losses, Risks [WSJ]
In recent weeks, it has sent out additional queries and, in some cases, follow-ups. Among the recipients were Citigroup Inc., United Parcel Service Inc., satellite-communications company Viasat Inc., petroleum-services provider Core Laboratories NV, and United Maritime Corp. , a shipping business that recently went public…. “There’s just more exposure in helping to identify the trends and drivers of results,” Mr. Knight said. “For companies, sometimes it’s very challenging to quantitatively figure out the financial impact of things like that.” The SEC’s staff can delay companies’ securities offerings or, in serious matters, refer them to the agency’s enforcement section if they don’t make the requested changes to their disclosure.

BlackRock Backed Fewer Climate-Related Shareholder Proposals in 2022 [WSJ]
The asset manager said it voted in favor of 24% of environmental and social shareholder proposals in this year’s proxy-voting season, down from 43% last year. The firm said the decline was partly because of a crop of “more prescriptive” shareholder proposals…. BlackRock said there was an overall increase in the number of environmental and social shareholder proposals this year, which contributed to the decline in the number of proposals the firm supported.

Tesla is under scrutiny by the federal agency that enforces workplace civil rights laws [CNBC]
Tesla said in its second-quarter filing that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission cause finding “closely parallels” complaints put forth in a lawsuit by California’s civil rights agency, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing…. Among other things, the DFEH alleges that Tesla has kept Black workers in California in lower-level roles at the company even if they had the skills and experience for promotions or more senior roles; assigned Black workers more physically demanding, dangerous and dirty work in their facilities; and retaliated against Black workers who complained formally about what they endured, including racist slurs used by managers in the workplace.

The Choco Taco, Ice Cream Snack of American Summers, Is Discontinued [NYT]
“Unfortunately, the Klondike Choco Taco has been discontinued,” one such [Twitter] response read. “We’ve experienced an unprecedented spike in demand across our portfolio and have had to make very tough decisions to ensure availability of our full portfolio nationwide. We’re very sorry for any disappointment!”…
“We’re working hard to find a way to bring Choco Taco back to ice cream trucks in the coming years,” it said.