Reads
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- Why the Fed Isn’t Ready to Declare Victory on Inflation
- It’s Taylor Swift’s Economy, and We’re All Living in It
- The Great M&A Slump Is Shaking Up Giants of Investment Banking
- What Is the ‘Basel III Endgame’ and Why Are Banks Worked Up About It?
- Wall Street Is Grappling With Crypto’s Trillion-Dollar Custody Question
- OpenAI’s Sam Altman Launches Worldcoin Crypto Project
- Why Businesses Can’t Stop Asking for Tips
- Big Pharma Bets Big on China
- Drugmakers Are ‘Throwing the Kitchen Sink’ to Halt Medicare Price Negotiations
- Apple Aims to Keep iPhone Shipments Steady Despite 2023 Turmoil
- Musk Makes Fan-Created ‘X’ Twitter’s New Logo in Abrupt Change
- Tesla Is Lapping Germany’s Automakers in the Global EV Race
- Why GE Shares Are Hotter Than Apple, Meta or Tesla
- AT&T, Verizon Investors Have More Than Lead Cables to Worry About
- 3M’s Dark Chapter Deepens as CEO Faces Beaten Down Investors
- How a Mexican Lager Quietly Rose to Become America’s Best-Selling Beer
- At Hotel Spas, CBD Oil Nets 900% Markups—and Guests Pay Happily
- ‘Barbie’ Box Office to the World: The Pandemic Is Officially Over
Todays Open Interest Change
PREMIUM
Prepper
Delegates from most of the world's largest economies met in Goa, India, over the weekend to discuss the energy transition as extreme heat takes hold in many areas across the globe. The G20 Energy Transitions Working Group Meeting was intended to set tone and strategy, and while there were some points of agreement, the summit ended without any consensus on phasing out fossil fuels. Investors in energy and renewables are especially taking note ahead of a gathering of G20 leaders in September and the COP28 forum in December.
Snapshot: Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide continue to reach new record highs, while increasing temperatures, a loss of biodiversity and extreme weather events are said to be growing in intensity. It doesn't help that much fossil fuel manufacturing usage is being outsourced to developing nations, where deregulation of environmental protections has been used to advance their economies. This can even be seen among countries that are powering the green revolution, like nickel smelting for EV batteries, with further criticism being leveled at the sustainable commitments of some of the world's most profitable companies.
Many nations are also attempting to shore up their domestic fuel stockpiles as Russia's war in Ukraine and geopolitical tensions elsewhere threaten to weaponize energy supplies. The U.S. Senate last week voted to block China from purchasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, while U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm reiterated calls for additional supplies as "it gets dangerous when the prices are so high." At the same time, the American government has plowed billions of dollars in subsidies and tax breaks into businesses involved in electric vehicle technology and the energy transition, but other countries may not be able to finance such initiatives or those priorities, and that makes finding a consensus quite complicated.
Outcome statement: "Given that fossil fuels currently continue to play a significant role in the global energy mix, eradication of energy poverty, and in meeting the growing energy demand, the importance of making efforts towards phase down of unabated fossil fuels, in line with different national circumstances was emphasized by some members." The gathering also failed to set a specific global goal for renewable energy development, and there was also disagreement about the effectiveness of carbon capture technologies. To note, G20 countries account for more than three-quarters of global emissions and world's gross domestic product. Take the WSB survey.
When Elon Musk bought Twitter, he aimed to monetize the platform through three separate strategies: advertising, subscriptions, and becoming an "everything app." The initial months following his acquisition focused on the first two plans of action, but the latter is now kicking into high gear. In a series of tweets and retweets, Elon Musk said he would ditch the Twitter bird by rebranding to "X," with the future of the app focusing on audio/video, messaging, and payments/banking, as well as creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods and services that are powered by AI. As Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and others look to take away market share from the Musk-owned entity, will Mark Zuckerberg follow up on "Twitter-killer Threads" with a new pivot into the Everythingverse? (16 comments)
Stock valuations tend to have a tough time in a rising rate environment, but Goldman Sachs says there are three good reasons why that is not the case currently. The S&P 500 (SP500) (NYSEARCA:SPY) (IVV) (NYSEARCA:VOO) P/E has risen to 20x from 18x since the start of April, while the 10-year Treasury yield (US10Y) (NYSEARCA:TBT) (NASDAQ:TLT) has risen more than 30 basis points. "Our rates strategists expect that progress on a soft landing and our economists view for no Fed cuts until 2Q 2024 will lift the nominal 10-year UST yield to 3.9% at year-end before dipping to 3.75% in 2024," strategist David Kostin wrote in a note. "The key upside risks to our baseline valuation forecast are that the multiples of laggards 'catch up' or that bond yields fall." (4 comments)
"Barbenheimer" weekend was great for the box office, with two blockbuster films that resulted in the strongest weekend of 2023 for theaters in North America. It also led to the fourth-biggest weekend ever in the U.S., according to Comscore, as well as the only weekend in the top 10 of all-time that didn't include a movie from Jurassic Park, Marvel or Star Wars franchises. Warner Bros. Pictures' (NASDAQ:WBD) Barbie grossed $155M in the U.S. and Canada, while Universal Pictures' (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Oppenheimer brought in $80.5M domestically between Friday and Sunday. It's also a big cause of celebration for Hollywood, which is experiencing a double strike by both actors and writers, as well as theater stocks like AMC (NYSE:AMC), Cinemark (NYSE:CNK), Cineplex (OTCPK:CPXGF) and IMAX (IMAX). (10 comments)
Today's Markets
In Asia, Japan +1.2%. Hong Kong -2.3%. China -0.1%. India -0.5%.
In Europe, at midday, London -0.2%. Paris -0.5%. Frankfurt -0.1%.
Futures at 6:30, Dow +0.1%. S&P +0.2%. Nasdaq +0.3%. Crude -0.6% to $77.51. Gold +0.1% to $1968.40. Bitcoin -2.2% to $29,240.
Ten-year Treasury Yield -5 bps to 3.79%
Today's Economic Calendar
8:30 Chicago Fed National Activity Index
9:45 PMI Composite Flash
1:00 PM Results of $42B, 2-Year Note Auction
Companies reporting earnings today »
What else is happening...
Biggest stock movers today: AMC (AMC), POSCO (PKX) and more.
Chevron (CVX) waives mandatory retirement age for CEO Mike Wirth.
Who's next? Western companies on alert after asset seizures by Russia.
Inside Amex (AXP), Capital One (COF), Discover (DFS): Credit quality metrics.
GM (GM), Ford (F) revving up for solid results: Earnings preview.
Which crypto do asset managers see as the most compelling growth outlook?
Restaurant earnings are coming - watch these stocks.
Microsoft's (MSFT) generative AI push could cause a revenue 'tidal wave.'