Thursday Morning Reads

Fed cutting one-week dollar swaps with central banks - ECB

Starting September 1, the Federal Reserve will cut seven-day swap operations with major central banks from three tenders per week to one due to the improved funding environment. The Fed will maintain the one per week pace for the 84-day tender schedules for a few banks, including the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, and the Bank of Japan.

Household spending surprised Fed officials by its strength: FOMC minutes

While the Fed's policy-setting committee was surprised by how strong household spending grew since its June meeting, it was quick to caution that uncertainty over the economic outlook is "highly elevated", according to FOMC minutes for the July 28-29 meeting. Risks to the outlook include new waves of the coronavirus and the possibility that government fiscal support wasn't enough. Some Fed officials worried that banks and financial institutions might come under "significant stress" if they face a more adverse scenario due to increased COVID-19 infections. Several participants suggested that additional accommodations might be required to promote economic recovery and return inflation to the FOMC's 2% objective.

Nio now offers EV battery leasing

Chinese electric vehicle company Nio (NYSE:NIO) launched a "battery as a service" leasing program, making one of the most expensive parts of EVs more accessible to drivers. Removing the battery purchase requirement drops the price of Nio’s entry-level ES6 SUV from 343,600 yuan to 273,600 yuan.

FDA puts emergency approval of blood plasma on hold

Needing more time to review data, the FDA has paused the planned emergency authorization for blood plasma as a COVID-19 treatment. Government health leaders including Dr. Francis Collins and Dr. Anthony Fauci had urged caution, citing weak data from the country’s largest plasma study.

Intel announces $10B accelerated share buyback, reversing suspension

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) revived its buybacks with a $10B accelerated share repurchase agreement. The ASR is part of the $20B share repurchase program announced last October that was suspended in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. After the sale closes, Intel will have repurchased $17.6B of shares under the program.
Go Deeper: See Intel's financials

Epic-Apple judge ruled for Apple in similar 2013 case

The new judge assigned to Fortnite maker Epic Games' showdown with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) over the App Store's payment policy gave the iPhone maker a big victory in a 2013 case covering similar issues. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers dismissed a suit seven years ago that claimed Apple's apps monopoly had led to hundreds of millions of dollars in consumer overcharges. That older case zeroed in on Apple's 30% cut from the App Store as well - but plaintiffs' reasoning was rejected by Rogers, who called the fees a passthrough and not subject to consumer challenges over antitrust. Epic is 40% owned by Tencent (OTCPK:TCEHY).
Go Deeper: View Tencent's growth Quant ratings

Facebook wins court approval to settle biometric privacy lawsuit

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) has received preliminary court approval to settle a suit that charged the company with illegally collecting and storing user biometric data. Illinois users relied on the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act to say that Facebook's "Tag Suggestions" photo-recognition feature was illegal. Facebook had raised its settlement offer by $100M, to $650M, which looks to have resolved court concerns.

What else is happening…

JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) in talks for banking services at post offices.Icahn boosts stake in Xerox (NYSE:XRX) to 12.82%.GE (NYSE:GE) signs deals to add 1.5 GW to Iraq's power grid.