Tuesday Morning Reads

Tuesday Morning Reads

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U.S. House hints at Big Tech breakup

A House antitrust subcommittee report due this week on big tech - Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Alphabet (GOOGGOOGL) - is hinting toward breaking up the tech giants, according to a lawmaker in the GOP minority. “This proposal is a thinly veiled call to break up Big Tech firms. We do not agree with the majority’s approach,” says Republican congressman Ken Buck in a draft response seen by Reuters. He says he shares Democratic concerns about the companies' market power, but objects to requiring them to pursue a clear "single line of business."

Cisco ordered to pay $1.9B in patent infringement case

Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) has been ordered to pay $1.9B in a patent infringement case. The U.S. district judge said the case was “not a close call,” ruling that Cisco infringed four patents belonging to Centripetal Networks but didn’t infringe on a fifth. The award includes $755.8M in actual damages, multiplied by 2.5 to reflect “willful and egregious” conduct from Cisco plus prejudgement interest. Cisco plans to appeal.

Warner Bros. delays 'The Batman' to 2022; postpones 'Flash,' 'Shazam 2'

Warner Bros. (NYSE:T) delayed Dune until October 1, 2021 and shifted The Batman starring Robert Pattinson until March 4, 2022. The studio pulled Black Adam (starring Dwayne Johnson) and Minecraft from the release calendar. The newest sequel to The Matrix film series made the rare leap forward, from April 1, 2022 to Dec. 22, 2021. The Flash will move from June to November in 2022, and Shazam 2 leaves November 2022 for June 2, 2023.

Southwest Airlines asks workers to accept pay cuts in lieu of furloughs

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) is asking its union workers to accept pay cuts for the first time, to help the company avoid its first furloughs and/or layoffs. The company wants pay cuts on the table to avoid furloughs/layoffs through the end of next year. The passing of an Oct. 1 deadline tied to $25B the industry received in aid means struggling airlines are considering layoffs, and Southwest rivals United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) and American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) have gone ahead with more than 32,000 cuts.

Australian miner Northern Star offers to buy Saracen Mineral in A$5.7B deal

Northern Star Resources (OTCPK:NESRF) has agreed to acquire smaller Australian rival Saracen Mineral Holdings (OTCPK:SCEXF) in a A$5.76B (US$4.14B) deal that will create a new top 10 global gold miner according to its ~A$16B in market valuation. Northern Star will own 64% of the combined entity and Saracen will own the remaining 36%. The deal comes after the two mining companies each acquired 50% stakes in Australia's giant KCGM operation, commonly known as the Super Pit, Australia's largest open cut gold mine.

What else is happening...

Halozyme (NASDAQ:HALO) expands license agreement with argenx (NASDAQ:ARGX) for Enhanze Technology.Oil pipeline operators offer new discounts as demand drops - Bloomberg.BHP (NYSE:BHP) buys Hess' (NYSE:HES) Shenzi oil field stake in $505M deal.Fortive (NYSE:FTV) spin-off Vontier (VNT) to join S&P 500.Iovance (NASDAQ:IOVA) pushes lifileucel's US application submission into next year.

Today's Economic Calendar

8:30 Goods and Services Trade
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
10:00 Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey
10:40 Powell: “Global Reset? Economics, Business and Policy in the Pandemic”
12:00 PM Fed's Harker: “Machine Learning”
1:00 PM Results of $52B, 3-Year Note Auction
2:00 PM Fed's Bostic Speech
6:00 PM Fed's Kaplan Speech

Today's Markets

In Asia, Japan +0.5%. Hong Kong +0.9%. China closed. India +1.1%.
In Europe, at midday, London -0.5%. Paris -0.2%. Frankfurt -0.2%.
Futures at 6:20, Dow -0.1%. S&P -0.3%. Nasdaq -0.4%. Crude +0.9% to $39.59. Gold -0.2% to $1915.35. Bitcoin +

Known to most as Uranium Pinto Beans, Jason has more than 15 years under his belt of trading stocks, options and currencies. His expertise primarily lies in chart analysis, and he has a strong eye for undervalued stock. Because he’s got the ability to identify great risk/reward trades he usually enjoys taking the path less traveled and reaping the benefits from the adventure.

He is a co-founder of Option Millionaires, and he is best known for his weekly webinars with Scott, as well as his high level training webinars and charts found in the forums.

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