Author: MWN

Researchers at the Federal Reserve have issued warnings in recent weeks about possible disruptions in U.S. Treasuries due to the return of a popular hedge fund trading strategy that exacerbated a crash in the world’s biggest bond market in 2020. Hedge funds’ short positions in some Treasuries futures – contracts for the purchase and sale of bonds for future delivery – have recently hit record highs as part of so-called basis trades, which take advantage of the premium of futures contracts over the price of the underlying bonds, analysts have said. The trades – typically the domain of macro hedge…

Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser is putting her own stamp on the nation’s third-largest bank with a reorganization that she called the ‘most consequential” change to how Citi operates in nearly two decades, warning that it may make some within the company “very uncomfortable.” Fraser, who took the top job in early 2021, is trying to boost Citi’s lagging stock performance. Since the beginning of January, it has fallen 7.6%. Over the last 5 years, the stock has fallen 40%, putting Fraser behind her other big-bank rivals. The changes announced Wednesday eliminate a structure that had split the company into two…

General Motors made its first contract proposal Thursday to negotiators for its 50,000 United Auto Workers-represented hourly workers that includes a 10% increase in hourly wages, among other things. But UAW President Shawn Fain indicated the offer still falls short of the union’s demands. The proposal would partially eliminate tier wages, unlike a proposal last week from Ford Motor Co. to the UAW which did not address ending tiers as the union has pushed to do. Tiers are different pay rates for workers. Also, GM would give a 10% increase in hourly wages. But the union, which is bargaining with…

Oracle Corp. reported cloud sales growth that slowed in the quarter, dimming enthusiasm about the software maker’s expansion efforts in the competitive market. The shares declined about 9% in extended trading. Cloud revenue, a metric that is closely watched by investors, jumped 30% to $4.6 billion in the period ended Aug. 31. Of that, $1.5 billion came from renting computing power and storage over the internet and $3.1 billion from applications. That cloud growth rate was slower than the 54% jump in the previous quarter. The Austin, Texas-based company, known for its database software, is focused on expanding its cloud…

Smucker’s jelly-filled Twinkies may someday come to store shelves. “Never say never,” J.M. Smucker (SJM) CEO Mark Smucker told Yahoo Finance following the announcement that the company plans to acquire Twinkies’ parent company Hostess (TWNK) for $5.6 billion dollars. According to Smucker, the snack megamerger, which is expected to close in Smucker’s fiscal third quarter, made sense as the company looks to expand its offerings for a different “snacking occasion.” “[At] different times of day, different people are looking for a sweet snack versus a salty snack versus a protein-based snack,” the CEO said. “This obviously expands us into the…

Despite cooling inflation, a growing US deficit will force yields to stay elevated, Ed Yardeni wrote. The deficit has widened as tax revenue fell, but costs of federal programs have risen rapidly. The 10-year Treasury yield is likely to remain elevated at around 4.25%-4.5%. Despite declining inflation, the size of the US federal deficit will force bond markets to keep yields high, Ed Yardeni wrote on Monday. That’s as the Treasury Department will be pressured to attract T-bill buyers in order to offset the government’s overspending, which is headed for $2 trillion for fiscal year 2023. “That’s the highest ever…

Some of America’s largest cities risk falling into an economic “doom loop.” Cratering demand for office space will exacerbate problems for US cities, one Columbia economist says. Midsized cities could see higher tax rates and plunging property values as office demand falls. Some of America’s largest cities could be on the verge of an economic “doom loop” thanks to the crashing office real estate market, according to one Columbia economist. Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, a real estate and finance professor at the Columbia School of Business, has sounded the alarm for months on large to mid-sized US cities. That’s thanks to…

Bitcoin fell on Tuesday morning in Asia to hover above US$25,000 after briefly losing the key support level for the first time in the past almost three months. Ether also slid to lose control of the US$1,600 support level. All other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies also booked losses, with XRP leading the losers with a 24-hour drop of more than 5%. The drop came ahead of a potential FTX liquidation that could see the collapsed crypto exchange sell its US$3.4 billion worth of crypto assets by the end of the year. U.S. stock futures edged lower, after Wall Street logged…

Australia’s richest woman has amassed a stake in lithium producer Albemarle Corp.’s A$6.6 billion ($4.3 billion) takeover target Liontown Resources Ltd., and suggested she may push for a board seat. Iron ore mining billionaire Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd. confirmed Tuesday it had acquired a 7.72% stake in Liontown and said it believed it could help steer the company’s metal conversion and growth. The Australian lithium miner’s shares have been intermittently trading since Thursday above the A$3 per share offer price that won Albemarle four weeks of due diligence. Hancock said in a statement that it offers Liontown “the…

Arm Holdings Ltd.’s initial public offering is already oversubscribed by 10 times and bankers plan to stop taking orders by Tuesday afternoon, according to people familiar with the matter. Arm, controlled by SoftBank Group Corp., will close its order book a day early on Tuesday, but is still planning to price its shares on Wednesday, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. It’s not uncommon for books to close early on an IPO, which often indicates strong demand. The offering could end up as much as 15 times oversubscribed by Wednesday, the people added.…