48 minutes ago
European equity markets open marginally lower
European equities opened slightly weaker on Thursday as global markets appeared hesitant and directionless.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 0.2% on market open, with most sectors trading in negative territory. Tech stocks led the losses, falling 1.3%, followed by household goods, which fell 0.8%. Slight gains were led by a 1% gain in oil and gas stocks.
— Hannah Ward-Glenton
7 hours ago
Binance lawyers claim SEC Chairman Gary Gensler offered to act as an advisor to the company
Lawyers for cryptocurrency firm Binance claim that Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler offered to act as an advisor to the company’s parent company in 2019.
Court documents filed by the SEC on Wednesday showed attorneys for Gibson Dunn and Latham & Watkins, two of Binance’s law firms, claimed Gensler pitched the idea to Binance executives and founder Changpeng Zhao in meetings in March 2019.
Gensler has regularly called for greater oversight of the crypto sector.
Read the whole story here.
— Brian Evans, Rohan Goswami
8 hours ago
Headwinds from US regional banks will not spill over into the eurozone, says JPMorgan
According to JPMorgan, the strain of the US regional banking crisis is unlikely to affect the euro zone this year.
Economist Ravi Balakrishnan wrote in a note on Wednesday that European banks have not yet felt any significant headwind from the liquidity crunch at regional banks, despite both having lower deposit insurance levels.
Balakrishnan also pointed out that euro-zone banks have “stickier deposits” as well as lower downside risk for “undetected market-to-market losses.”
“…while banks in the euro area are less profitable than their US counterparts, they perform better on several criteria for solvency, liquidity and funding stability,” Balakrishnan said.
—Brian Evans
8 hours ago
Effective use of recent rallies? Take some profits and watch for returns, says BofA’s Jared Woodard
This year’s hot upleg for tech stocks presents investors with a great opportunity to cash in some chips and invest the proceeds elsewhere, said Jared Woodard, investment and ETF strategist at Bank of America.
“Investors should use rallies in technology and other types of megacap growth assets to lock in profits and invest in other parts of the market where there are better valuation opportunities,” he said in Closing Bell: Overtime on Wednesday night.
“I think the top priority for investors this year must be to seek yield where they can, protect themselves from the deflation and recession that we think is coming and maintain hedges in case it does stagflation risks proving to be an ongoing threat from 2022 onwards.” ,” he added.
For yield-seeking investors, he highlighted the iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF (PFF). “If you’re looking for income, I think these seedy, preferred businesses are the best place to go,” Woodard said.
– Darla Mercado
8 hours ago
GameStop slips nearly 20% after ousting CEO Matthew Furlong
Shares of meme-stock favorite GameStop fell nearly 20% in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the company announced the firing of CEO Matthew Furlong.
The company did not give a reason for Furlong’s dismissal. GameStop said CEO Ryan Cohen will take on the role of CEO. A company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission said Furlong was fired Monday but will continue to receive some payments and benefits related to “being fired without cause.”
See grafic…
GameStop stock.
GameStop stock is up more than 40% year-to-date.
—Brian Evans
9 hours ago
Stock futures open little changed
Stock futures were little to move Wednesday night, with all three major indices opening roughly flat.
Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 7 points, or 0.02%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were down 0.02% and 0.1%, respectively.
All eyes on Wall Street appear to be on the next Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting on June 13-14. Weekly unemployment and wholesale inflation data are due out on Thursday.
—Brian Evans