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Dow falls greater than 100 factors amid price fears, Apple and Tesla shares decline

US stocks fell on Monday as a steady rise in bond yields hurt appetite for risk-weighted assets, particularly growth technology stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 120 points. The S&P 500 lost 0.7%, led by technology and consumer discretionary. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.1%.

Some equity investors have been increasingly concerned over the past few weeks about rapidly rising government bond yields as they could hurt especially high-growth companies that rely on easy borrowing while reducing the relative attractiveness of stocks.

Tesla stock lost 3% after falling 4% last week. Big tech stocks came under pressure as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix and Alphabet traded at least 1% less.

The yield on 10-year government bonds rose last week by 14 basis points to 1.34%, the highest level since February 2020. The reference yield rose on Monday by a further 3 basis points to 1.37%. So far this month the reference rate has risen by 28 basis points. One basis point is 0.01%.

“This movement in returns should be watched closely by investors,” said Matt Maley, chief marketing strategist at Miller Tabak, in a note. “Just because long-term interest rates are extremely low on a historical basis, we don’t think they need to rise as much as most experts believe … before they affect the stock market.”

All eyes will be on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as he gives his semi-annual testimony on the economy to the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday. His comments on rates and inflation could set the market direction for the week.

Meanwhile, many on Wall Street believe the rise in bond yields is a sign of growing confidence in the economic recovery and stocks should be able to absorb higher interest rates on strong gains.

“We don’t see the recent surge in returns as a threat to the bull market,” said Keith Lerner, chief market strategist at Truist, in a note. “Given that we are in the early stages of an economic recovery, monetary and fiscal policies remain supportive, and the strong recovery in earnings and cheap relative valuations maintain our overweight position on equities.”

The move on Monday came after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite posted a two-week winning streak last week, losing 0.7% and 1.6% respectively. The blue-chip Dow was up 0.1% over the same period, supported by Caterpillar and JPMorgan.

The market goes into the last week of February with solid gains. The Dow and S&P 500 are up more than 5% this month, while the Nasdaq is up 6.2%. The small-cap Russell 2000 outperformed this month, up 9.3%.

On the pandemic, the White House said it expects to ship millions of delayed coronavirus vaccine doses this week after a widespread winter storm disrupted logistics. Governor Andrew Cuomo said Sunday that a New York resident tested positive for the variant of Covid-19, which was first identified in South Africa.

The airline’s shares rebounded after Deutsche Bank upgraded several stocks. American Airlines rose more than 7%.

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Inventory Market, Bitcoin, Tesla: Reside Enterprise Information Updates

Here’s what you need to know:

Credit…Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Bitcoin continued its rally, the latest leg of which was set off by Tesla’s announcement on Monday that it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of the digital currency and would start accepting Bitcoin payments. Bitcoin rose above $48,000 per coin early on Tuesday, a record, before coming off that high later, according to CoinDesk, a trading platform for digital currencies.

It is up more than 45 percent in 2021, and other cryptocurrencies are rising, too — including Dogecoin, which rose about 1,000 percent over the past week.

The momentum has been building as more trading apps allow users to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies, reported Nathaniel Popper for The New York Times: “The rally is a moment of euphoria for the thousands of different versions of digital money, which years ago were dismissed as little more than online Beanie Babies caught in a speculative bubble,” he wrote.

  • On Wall Street, the S&P 500 was slightly lower in early trading Tuesday, after the index had climbed to another record on Monday. Through Monday, the S&P 500 had climbed for six consecutive trading days.

  • European market were modestly changed, with the FTSE in Britain up slightly while the Stoxx Europe 600 was slightly lower.

  • The Nikkei in Japan gained 0.4 percent, while the Kospi in South Korea fell 0.2 percent.

  • Democrats in the House on Monday proposed legislation to send stimulus checks of $1,400 to Americans earning up to $75,000 and households with incomes up to $150,000. The direct payments are a critical part of President Biden’s stimulus plan, although the proposal may run into opposition from Republicans and some Democrats who want to focus the payments on lower-income Americans.

  • House committees on Tuesday are expected to begin considering the overall $1.9 trillion package, aimed at supporting the economy through the pandemic.

  • Ocado, the online supermarket based in Britain, reported a 35 percent rise in sales over the past year. As the company invests in new warehouses, “The landscape for food retailing is changing, for good,” said the chief executive, Tim Steiner.

  • Still, the company reported a net loss of 44 million pounds (about $60 million), down from 215 million pounds the previous year, and its shares fell.

Neera Tanden is President Biden’s nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget.Credit…Leah Millis/Reuters

Neera Tanden, President Biden’s nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget, will tell a Senate committee this morning that she would “work in good faith with all members of Congress” if confirmed, in a bid to head off Republican complaints about her past criticisms of conservatives.

Ms. Tanden is the president of the liberal Center for American Progress think tank, a veteran of the Clinton and Obama administrations and a former top aide to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. She is set to testify on Tuesday morning before the Senate Homeland Security committee, with a second hearing scheduled for Wednesday before the budget committee.

Republicans in the Senate have criticized Ms. Tanden for past statements, including Twitter posts, in which she criticized Republicans in Congress and elsewhere. Ms. Tanden will nod to those criticisms in the opening statement she has prepared for delivery.

“The role of O.M.B. director is different from some of my past positions,” she plans to say. “Over the last few years, it’s been part of my role to be an impassioned advocate. I understand, though, that the role of O.M.B. director calls for bipartisan action, as well as a nonpartisan adherence to facts and evidence.”

Ms. Tanden will also stress her qualifications for the job, including her experience being raised by an immigrant single mother who was forced to draw on the government safety net at times.

“We relied on food stamps to eat, and Section 8 vouchers to pay the rent,” Ms. Tanden will say. “At school, I remember being the only kid in the cafeteria line who used 10-cent vouchers from the Free Lunch Program. I remember using food stamps at the grocery store.”

“If I am privileged to serve as director,” she will say, “I would ensure that O.M.B. uses every tool at its disposal to efficiently and effectively deliver for working Americans, small businesses, and struggling communities.”

Suzanne Scott will remain as the leader of Fox News Media, which includes Fox News, Fox Business and the streaming service Fox Nation.Credit…Fox

The chief executive of Fox News, Suzanne Scott, will remain in her role for several years to come after signing a new contract with Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corporation, the network said on Tuesday.

The new multiyear deal will keep Ms. Scott as the leader of Fox News Media, which also includes the cable channel Fox Business and the streaming service Fox Nation.

“Suzanne’s track record of success, innovative sprit and dedication to excellence make her the ideal person to continue to lead and grow Fox News,” Lachlan Murdoch, the executive chairman of the Fox Corporation and Rupert Murdoch’s eldest son, said in a statement on Tuesday.

The network did not disclose the exact length or financial terms of the deal.

Fox News is facing a major defamation lawsuit and working to regain the ratings crown it recently lost to CNN for the first time in decades. Some viewers left the network for alternative channels like Newsmax after Fox’s news division called the presidential election for Joseph R. Biden Jr., over the protestations of then-President Trump.

Until Election Day, though, Fox News had been enjoying another record year under Ms. Scott’s tenure. Its weeknight lineup ended the year as the third-most-watched in all of prime-time television, ahead of the ABC broadcast network.

“I am grateful to Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch for the opportunity to continue leading Fox News Media and positioning all of our platforms for future success,” Ms. Scott said in a statement.

Representative Richard E. Neal, Democrat of Massachusetts, unveiled the bill on Monday ahead of a week of legislative work to solidify the details of President Biden’s stimulus proposal. Credit…Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times

House Democrats on Monday rolled out a key plank of President Biden’s stimulus plan, proposing legislation to send direct payments of $1,400 to Americans earning up to $75,000 and households with incomes up to $150,000.

The plan, drafted the day before key committees are scheduled to being meeting to consider it, is at odds with proposals from some Republicans and moderate Democrats who want to curtail eligibility for direct payments, targeting it to lower income people. Mr. Biden has said he is open to such modifications.

For now, the measure would allow individuals earning up to $100,000 and households earning up to $200,000 to be eligible for some payment, though the size of the checks would phase out gradually for those with incomes above $75,000, or $150,000 for a family.

The bill, unveiled by Representative Richard E. Neal, Democrat of Massachusetts and the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, was one of a series that Democrats presented on Monday ahead of a week of legislative work to solidify the details of Mr. Biden’s stimulus proposal.

The decision to keep the income cap at the same level as the last round of stimulus payments comes after days of debate among the House Democratic caucus over the size of the checks, as some moderates pushed to restrict the full amount to those who make $50,000 or less and households earning up to $100,000.

The legislation also includes a series of significant changes to the tax code and an increase in an extension of weekly federal unemployment benefits. It would raise the $300-a-week payment to $400 a week and continue the program — currently slated to begin lapsing in March — through the end of August.

The $1.9 trillion plan would also provide for billions of dollars for schools and colleges, small businesses and a provision that would increase the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025, a progressive priority.

Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, is known for bucking convention, so his company’s purchase of Bitcoin is not surprising.Credit…Mike Blake/Reuters

Cryptocurrency prices are soaring after Tesla said that it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin with company funds. The electric carmaker wasn’t the first company to shift corporate cash into cryptocurrencies, but it was one of the biggest. It could make finance chiefs elsewhere consider whether they should follow suit, the DealBook newsletter reports.

Tesla’s move is an “exclamation point” for institutional acceptance of Bitcoin, said Matthew Graham, the chief executive of the Beijing-based blockchain investment firm Sino Global Capital. “It’s clear that Bitcoin is ready for Main Street.”

Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, is known for bucking convention, so his company’s purchase is not as surprising as it would be at, say, Ford or General Motors.

Tesla had more than $19 billion in cash at the end of 2020, a big enough cushion to make the Bitcoin purchase a relatively small share of its resources. But much of that cash was raised in recent stock sales, and the company only recently reported its second year of positive free cash flow. Because of Bitcoin’s unique characteristics, Tesla will have to record declines in the value of its Bitcoin against its earnings, but cannot book gains.

The software company MicroStrategy now holds Bitcoin worth about a third of its market capitalization, according to a site that tracks corporate holdings. MicroStrategy’s chief, Michael Saylor, held a conference last week that promoted Bitcoin for corporations.

Naresh Aggarwal of the Association of Corporate Treasurers in London is skeptical that many companies will follow Tesla and MicroStrategy and buy Bitcoin at scale. “Gold is probably a more traditional form of alternative investment,” he said, yet few firms outside the financial sector hold it. “If they’re not tempted by gold, then I can’t see them being tempted by Bitcoin,” he added, likening it to “putting money on a horse race.”

Keeping money in liquid, safe investments is particularly important during the pandemic, and many corporate finance chiefs remember being burned in 2008 by higher-yielding alternatives.

Supervisors told employees that Kroger was shutting down two stores because of local hazard pay requirements.Credit…Maggie Shannon for The New York Times

The race to distribute vaccines and the emergence of more contagious variants of the coronavirus have put a renewed spotlight on the plight of grocery workers in the United States.

The industry has boomed in the past year as Americans have stayed home and avoided restaurants. But in most cases, that has not translated into extra pay for its workers, Sapna Maheshwari and Michael Corkery report for The New York Times. After Long Beach, Calif., mandated hazard pay for grocery workers, the grocery giant Kroger responded last week by saying it would close two locations.

And now, even as experts warn people to minimize time spent in grocery stores because of new coronavirus variants, The Times found only 13 states that had started specifically vaccinating those workers.

“Kroger is sending a message, more than anything else,” said Andrea Zinder, president of Local 324 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, which represents about 160 employees at the two stores. “They are trying to intimidate workers and communities: If you pass these types of ordinances, there will be consequences.”

Kroger, which operates about 2,750 stores, has attracted particular attention because it pursued stock buybacks last year and because its chief executive, Rodney McMullen, earned more than $20 million in 2019. The median compensation of a Kroger employee that year was $26,790, or a ratio of 789 to 1, according to company filings.

General Motors plans a  Hummer pickup as part of its ambitious lineup of electric vehicles.Credit…General Motors, via Agence-France Press — Getty Images

“I’ve been writing about the auto industry for 19 years, and I’ve really never seen anything like this,” Neal E. Boudette, who covers the auto industry for The New York Times, told Shira Ovide in this week’s On Tech newsletter.

“When I saw the G.M. news, I sat back in my chair and reflected on how revolutionary this was,” Mr. Boudette said. “G.M., for more than a century, has been producing internal combustion engine vehicles, and soon it won’t be.

“We’re on the cusp of one of those big industrial transformations in which we shift from an old way of doing things to a completely new one, and everything will be turned upside down.”

They discussed the future of cars and whether traditional automakers or tech-focused companies, like Tesla and Apple, would rule the next generation of the roads.

“It’s not either-or,” Mr. Boudette said. “The companies that succeed will need to think like the other side. Auto companies need to adapt the mind-set and expertise of tech firms, and vice versa.”

Joe Biden in an October 2009 meeting with economic advisers, including Larry Summers, second from right. Mr. Summers, then the director of the National Economic Council, is one of the economists now questioning the scale of the Biden administration’s pandemic stimulus plan.Credit…Mandel Ngan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

For weeks, policy veterans have been fretting among themselves over the scale of President Biden’s proposal for more pandemic aid, in private emails and text chains, Neil Irwin reports for The New York Times.

Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary, made those concerns public with an op-ed article in The Washington Post last week. The article received some support on Twitter from another economist from the Obama administration and from a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund.

The core question is whether the administration’s $1.9 trillion plan is too big. Is action on that scale needed to contain the economic damage from the pandemic? Or is it far too big relative to the hole the economy’s in, thus setting the stage for a burst of inflation followed by a potential recession?

  • Mr. Summers argues that the plan’s total size reaches a scale that risks major future problems. That implies that much of that spending will just slosh around the economy, causing prices to rise.

  • Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other top officials argue that their proposal is prudent and appropriately scaled and that the United States is in a do-whatever-it-takes moment. They do not dismiss the possibility that there will be higher inflation down the road — but say it is a manageable risk.

  • The economy is in uncharted territory. There is a lot of money poised to be spent, and some things may reduce the supply of goods and services. Lots of money chasing finite supply is an Economics 101 recipe for surging prices.

  • But for the medium term, the more important question is whether any inflation surge would be a temporary not-so-harmful phenomenon or the start of something more lasting.

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Chinese language regulators reprimand Tesla over rising complaints about its vehicles.

Chinese regulators recently met with Tesla executives after several government agencies reported an “unusual acceleration” in complaints from consumers about battery fires and other quality issues with the company’s electric cars.

In a post on Chinese social media platform WeChat, the state administration for market regulation said officials from five government agencies interviewed Tesla executives and “asked them to strictly comply with Chinese laws and regulations, strengthen internal management and improve quality and implement company safety regulations. ”

Tesla recognized its “flaws in the business process” and agreed to improve the quality and safety of its vehicles, the regulator said in the release.

The electric car maker has struggled with quality issues as it increased its production from tens of thousands of cars a year to 500,000 in 2020. On social media, customers have documented numerous problems with the new Tesla, including large gaps between body panels, poor paintwork and broken glass. These complaints were confirmed in surveys and reviews of the company’s cars by JD Power and Consumer Reports.

Some of the issues cited by Chinese regulators aren’t unique to Tesla. The potential for fires in the large batteries that power electric cars has forced other automakers to recall cars. General Motors recalled Chevrolet Bolt electric cars from the 2017-2019 model years in the U.S. in November because they could catch fire under certain conditions. Tesla has previously said that its models are less likely to catch fire than other cars.

Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday, but the company’s executive director Elon Musk recently admitted quality issues with its popular Model 3 sedan in an interview with Sandy Munro, an auto industry consultant.

Last week, Tesla recalled 135,000 vehicles in the U.S. to address a touchscreen issue on its S and Y models. It was found that the screens had a high error rate. Tesla had initially refused to recall the cars but was pressured by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.

In a letter to the US security agency last month, a Tesla executive said the screens that drivers use to control many functions of their cars shouldn’t last more than five or six years.

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Tesla, Palantir, Hasbro, Goal and extra

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, unveils a new all-wheel drive version of the Model S on October 9, 2014 in Hawthorne, California.

Lucy Nicholson | Reuters

Check out the companies that are making headlines in midday trading.

Tesla – The electric car maker’s shares fell 1.6% after an SEC filing revealed that Tesla had bought $ 1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin. The company said it bought the bitcoin in order to “have more flexibility to further diversify and maximize the returns on our cash.” Tesla also said it would start accepting payments in bitcoin in exchange for its products.

Palantir Technologies – The big data company’s shares rose more than 8% after announcing a new global partnership with IBM that will expand Palantir’s sales reach. The deal will also expand IBM’s artificial intelligence offerings and make them easier to use. Palantir has more than quadrupled its shares since it debuted in the public market in September.

Hasbro – The toy maker’s shares were down more than 3%, despite the company’s fourth quarter beating estimates for sales and earnings. Hasbro earned $ 1.27 per share on an adjusted basis and had revenue of $ 1.72 billion. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv expected earnings of $ 1.14 per share and revenue of $ 1.69 billion.

Energizer – The battery maker’s shares rose more than 4% after beating the income statement for their quarterly results. Energizer made $ 1.17 per share on revenue of $ 849 million. Wall Street expects earnings of 89 cents per share on sales of $ 790 million, according to Refinitiv.

Target – The retailer’s shares rose about 2% after Stifel upgraded the stock to a buy rating. “Our positive stance reflects our belief that share gains have continued over the past few years in most categories, especially digital (~ 18% of F2020 sales),” the company wrote in a statement to customers. Stifel also raised its target for the stock from $ 200 to $ 225, with the new target indicating a 19% rally from which the stock closed on Friday.

Exxon Mobil – The oil and gas company’s shares rose 3.5% after BNP Paribas raised the stock from underperforming to neutral. The Wall Street company cited Exxon Mobil’s plans to cut fossil fuel investments. The stock is up 25% in 2021 after losing more than 40% last year.

Hershey – Hershey’s shares rose nearly 1.2% in midday trading after the chocolate company posted higher profits and sales in the fourth quarter than last year as customers bought goodies even amid the pandemic. CEO Michele Buck added that the company is ready for a strong Valentine’s Day and Easter seasons.

Westport Fuel Systems – Westport Fuel surged more than 39% in midday trading after it was revealed that Amazon has ordered approximately 1,000 truck engines that run on compressed natural gas for its fleet of delivery vehicles. The engines are a joint venture between Westport and Cummins of Vancouver.

– with reports from Yun Li, Pippa Stevens and Tom Franck from CNBC.

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Tesla buys $1.5 billion in bitcoin and plans to begin accepting it as fee for merchandise

Tesla announced Monday that it had purchased $ 1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin, according to a report with the SEC.

The company said it bought the bitcoin in order to “have more flexibility to further diversify and maximize the returns on our cash.” In addition to the purchase, Tesla announced that it would accept payments in Bitcoin in exchange for its products. This would make Tesla the first major automaker to accept Bitcoin as a means of payment.

The move immediately raised questions about CEO Elon Musk’s behavior on Twitter over the past few weeks, where he has been credited with raising the prices of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Dogecoin by posting positive news about them and bringing more people to buy has encouraged.

Bitcoin prices soared to new highs on the Monday after Tesla’s announcement, hitting a price of at least $ 43,200. The Tesla share rose in premarket trading by more than 2%. Tesla warned investors about the volatility in Bitcoin price in its SEC filing.

Tesla’s move on Monday means investing a significant percentage of his money in the investment. The company had more than $ 19 billion in cash at the end of 2020. This is evident from the most recent submission.

This is the latest news. Please try again.

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Tesla service now contains collision repairs

Jerome Guillen, Vice President of the US electric car manufacturer Tesla, poses on the last press day on October 3, 2014 at the Paris Motor Show. The Paris Motor Show will open to the public on Saturday.

Eric Piermont | AFP | Getty Images

Elon Musk’s electric car company told customers on Friday that Tesla Service Centers are now offering collision repairs, which the company has been talking about since 2018.

In a customer message titled “Collision Repair is Here”, the company pointed out its ability to repair everything from dents and scratches to “suspension and axle damage” in its own service centers as an “alternative option to a body shop.” ” to repair.

Services, including collision repairs, are likely to represent a larger segment of revenue for Tesla over time as the warranty on its cars expires and the company ships more of them globally. While Tesla reported $ 678 million from a combined services and other segment in the fourth quarter of 2020, the company does not split service revenue separately. Overall, this segment grew 17% from $ 580 million in the prior year quarter.

Tesla operates 140 service centers in North America. The company plans to open more stores, including 46 in the first half of 2021, Tesla President Jerome Guillen announced on Wednesday.

Service has been a sore spot for many Tesla customers over the past few months, to the point where investors asked executives on the fourth quarter 2020 earnings call, “What is Tesla doing to improve the service experience? Tesla had a reputation for being a great one Customer service. Now this is impossible. ” even call a service center and appointments are scheduled weeks later. ”

Guillen replied: “For us, the best service is not service. That is why we have made great efforts to improve the quality and reliability of our cars. In the last two years, the frequency of service visits has decreased by a third, so customers have less often put into service, which is actually the goal, no service. “

He stressed that Tesla also offers a “mobile service,” where a Tesla service vehicle and an auto mechanic go to a customer’s car to fix the problem. Mobile visits now account for 40% of all service visits in North America, and according to Guillen, Tesla plans to increase that number to 50% by 2021.

However, not all repairs can be carried out on a mobile visit. For example, the panoramic glass roof of a Tesla vehicle needs to be replaced in a shop.

Guillen also said that Tesla is pushing all customer communications about the service through the Tesla app – meaning Tesla service centers now prefer not to take calls or simply not to take them.

“The app is way better than the phone,” explained Guillen. “It can recognize warnings right from the car and make a service appointment. There is a written record of all communication between the customer and the service team. You can have pictures in it. You can take care of your payment without entering the credit card and all that to do. You will receive updates through the service. “

Guillen predicted that most other automakers will follow suit.

Here is the full communication with customers:

Collision repair is here

January 28, 2021

Fix minor dents, scratches, and more at your local Tesla Service Center as an alternative to a body shop. Our streamlined repair flow allows for a quick and seamless experience when you need it most.

Collision repair services may include: suspension and axle damage, front and rear bumpers, hoods, tailgates and side mirror caps, and doors, wheels, and all glass repairs.

To make an appointment, select the “Collision and Glass Repair” option in the “Service” menu in your Tesla app and track your service experience with step-by-step notifications.

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Inventory futures fall after a steep sell-off on Wall Avenue, Apple and Tesla drop after earnings

Stock futures, pegged to major US stock indices, fell early Thursday as the market appeared poised to extend a sharp sell-off amid concerns over increased speculative trading.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average indicated an opening decline of more than 100 points. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also traded in negative territory.

In its earnings report for the first quarter of fiscal 2021, Apple achieved its highest revenue in its history of $ 111.4 billion. Sales for each product category increased by double-digit percentage points. However, the tech giant’s shares were down 3.26% in expanded trading.

Tesla fell 5.07% in expanded retail after the electric automaker posted worse-than-expected earnings last quarter. The company expects average annual delivery growth of 50% in the future.

Wall Street suffered heavy losses on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and Dow recording their worst day since October as the speculative spending spree on sharply shortened stocks kept investors on their toes. Some fear that hedge funds could be forced to reduce their holdings in order to raise cash.

“Brief bottlenecks that lead to implosions in some hedge funds join SPACs, IPOs and Bitcoin as data points supporting a bubble thesis,” said Scott Knapp, chief market strategist at CUNA Mutual Group, in an email . “This is a time of caution for investors.”

The trading volume exploded in the previous session with 23.7 billion shares changing hands. This was the heaviest trading day since at least 2007.

Brick and mortar video game retailer GameStop, a target on the Reddit wallstreetbets chat room, rose another 134% on Wednesday and boosted its profits to a whopping 1,744% in January. AMC Entertainment was up over 300% on Wednesday alone, posting the highest volume ever.

GameStop fell 23% in expanded trading while AMC Entertainment fell 38%. Other heavily shortened names that had bounced back this week, including Bed Bath & Beyond and National Beverage, also fell after hours.

Facebook stock remained relatively unchanged in over-the-counter trading after the company warned that a reversal in pandemic trends could hurt its advertising business. The social media company prevailed in the upper and lower ranges in the fourth quarter.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Tuesday: “I kinda love Etsy.”

Etsy executives welcome the opening of Nasdaq MarketSite ahead of Etsy going public on April 16, 2015 in New York.

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Etsy stocks pop after Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent a simple tweet about the e-commerce company.

Ety’s stock rose as much as 8% after Musk tweeted, “I kind of love Etsy.”

The e-commerce company’s stocks weren’t at all ahead of Musk’s callout at 6:25 a.m. ET. The share recently gained 1.5%.

“I bought a hand-knitted woolen Marvin oar for my dog,” Musk tweeted, apparently referring to why he’s a fan of Etsy.

While Musk’s opinion certainly carries a lot of weight with investors, the stock’s surge in his short message is yet another sign of wild, speculative trading in the market. Musk is no stranger to wildcat activity on Twitter, with a history of swaying stock prices, especially Tesla shares, with bold statements on the social media platform.

Musk infamously tweeted last year that Tesla’s shares were “too high” and sent even higher shares a week later.

Etsy stocks are up more than 340% in the past 12 months as the shopping market emerged as the top winner in the coronavirus pandemic. Etsy helped small businesses with no online presence reach consumers during the lockdown.

The stock is up 25% this year alone.

Also on Tuesday, Jefferies raised its 12-month price target for Etsy to a street high of $ 245 per share.

“We believe that behavioral changes triggered by the pandemic will allow ETSY to tap a broader portion of its $ 1.7 billion addressable market, resulting in higher frequency and higher spending,” said John Colantuoni, analyst at Jefferies. towards customers.

“Our DCF-derived PT climbs to $ 245 (down from $ 205) as the accelerated traffic and our deep dive into the long-term GMS improve our confidence in ETSY’s ability to continue to grow faster than all e-commerce grow, “added Colantuoni.

Correction: Updated the headline to correct that Musk was tweeting about the company in general.

– with reports from Michael Bloom of CNBC.

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Tesla job openings for Semi truck manufacturing traces in Nevada

Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, shows the Tesla Semi as he introduces the company’s new electric tractor-trailer during a presentation on November 16, 2017 in Hawthorne, California, United States.

Alexandria saga | Reuters

Current vacancies show that Tesla is pushing ahead with its lengthy plans for its electric semi-truck, an initiative first unveiled in 2017.

Three current vacancies require employees to work on “semi-truck production lines” in Sparks, Nevada. Tesla is already producing batteries for its electric vehicles there in cooperation with Panasonic.

Tesla announced the Semi in November 2017, at the time it said it would deliver the trucks to customers in about two years. At that point, the company announced that it would sell a 300-mile version of the Semi for $ 150,000 and a 500-mile version for $ 180,000, and that the trucks with no cargo would go from 0 to 60 in five seconds Driving 0-60 miles per hour in 20 seconds with a load of 80,000 pounds.

After Tesla took reservations for the trucks from companies like Anheuser-Busch, DHL Group, PepsiCo, Pride Group and Walmart, Tesla announced delays in semi-production during a earnings call for the third quarter of 2019 and again in April 2020.

In June 2020, CEO Elon Musk sent an email to all Tesla employees requesting “mass production” of the Semi.

“It is time to do everything we can to get the Tesla Semi into mass production. So far it has only been produced in limited numbers, which has allowed us to improve many aspects of the design.” Musk also said in that memo, “Production of the battery and powertrain would take place in Giga Nevada, with most of the other work likely to take place in other states.”

However, in the company’s third quarter 2020 financial filing, Tesla mentioned its semi-initiative only twice, saying it was “in development,” and US locations for semi-production have not yet been determined.

In an interview at the European Battery Conference in November, Musk recently bragged that Tesla was aiming for a semi that could go further than originally promised on a single charge, saying, “You could use the range for a long range.” Trucks, easy up to 800 kilometers, and over time we see a way to achieve a range of 1,000 kilometers with a heavy truck. “

The company has some prototype semi-trucks that have been in operation for over a year. However, Musk has not disclosed when full production of the semi or longer range batteries could begin.

Today Tesla is taking refundable reservations of $ 20,000 to order a semi. (The initial reservation required was $ 5,000.) Base price for a 300 mile range version is $ 150,000 and for a 500 mile range it is $ 180,000. Potential customers can also order a Founders Series Semi for $ 200,000.

Meanwhile, Daimler is in small-scale production in the US with its heavy eCascadia electric vehicles, and Quebec-based Lion Electric is planning a SPAC, a new US plant, and has signed a contract to supply up to 2,500 battery-powered electric trucks to Amazon in the next five years.

Investors are likely to push Tesla for details on the status of its semi-program when the fourth quarter 2020 earnings statement is slated for Wednesday.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Tesla Mannequin three reportedly explodes in Shanghai parking storage

Model 3 vehicles made by Tesla China are on display during a delivery event at its facility in Shanghai, China on Jan. 7, 2020.

Aly Song | Reuters

BEIJING – A Tesla Model 3 exploded in an underground car park in Shanghai on Tuesday, Chinese media reported.

No people were injured in the fire, Tesla said in a statement to the Chinese media. Preliminary analysis shows the accident was caused by an impact on the underside of the car, the automaker added in the reports.

Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment. It was not immediately clear whether the affected Model 3 was a locally manufactured or imported version.

Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) said it did not make the battery for the car, which spontaneously burned up, according to Chinese media.

Scattered accident reports

A number of Tesla cars have exploded over the years, including in the US

In April 2019, Tesla sent a team to investigate the apparent explosion of one of its parked vehicles in Shanghai.

Elon Musk’s electric cars have been scrutinized in China for other reasons such as their self-driving technology. Earlier this month, the state-run business information daily said in a comment that there were at least 10 reports in 2020 that drivers had lost control of their Tesla vehicles in China.

A best seller in China