CORPORATE-ACTION
Apple Store workers in Maryland become first in US to form union
The decision could spark a wider unionisation movement among Apple store workers, similar to the first Starbucks union vote last year that has since prompted nearly 300 other stores to file for elections
CRYPTOCURRENCY
Bitcoin, Ether bounce off lows after record-breaking rout
The largest digital token by market value tumbled as much as 15% to $17,599 on Saturday, marking a record-breaking 12th consecutive daily decline
ECONOMY
Sri Lankan economy grinds to a halt as fuel supplies run dry
Thousands of vehicles were lined up in queues stretching for kilometers as drivers waited for filling stations to be replenished with fuel supplies
CRYPTOCURRENCY
Bitcoin breaches $20,000 for the first time since 2020 on fiscal tightening
Bitcoin fell as much as 6 percent to $19,377.08 at 2:54 pm Hong Kong on Saturday. The largest token by market value has fallen for 12 straight days. Ether breached the $1,000 mark briefly and dropped to $999.86, the lowest since January 2021, before paring losses
BUSINESS
WTO approves vaccine-patent waiver for Covid vaccines
WTO ministers approved a package of agreements that included the vaccine patent waiver, which Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala previously said was necessary to end the “morally unacceptable” inequity of access to Covid-19 vaccines.
BUSINESS
Crypto selloff resumes as post-Fed mood sours
Ether, down as much as 8.3% on Thursday to trade around $1,080, is facing a tougher road than most
BUSINESS
Edtech unicorn Upgrad doubles valuation to $2.25 billion
India’s UpGrad Education Pvt, founded by Ronnie Screwvala, increased its valuation to $2.25 billion in the round that included billionaire James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems LLC and US testing and assessment provider Educational Testing Service, according to a person familiar with the deal.
BUSINESS
Morgan Stanley’s Asia CEO Gokul Laroia joins most senior global committee
Gokul Laroia’s seat at the table of the firm’s most senior management group is a reflection of his strengths as a banker and leader, CEO James Gorman said in a memo that was seen by Bloomberg News and confirmed by a Hong Kong-based spokesman.
BUSINESS
Amazon pulled the plug on cricket, still believes in India
Securing digital streaming rights to the cricket tournament would be a huge coup, potentially luring hundreds of millions of viewers to Amazon.
BUSINESS
Airbus A350 jet deal on horizon for Tata-owned Air India
The airline may introduce the A350 by the first quarter of 2023, according to a letter sent to senior cockpit crew and seen by Bloomberg News. Pilots must respond to the offer by June 20, and those who accept will be ineligible for training on another aircraft type for two years, the letter said.
BUSINESS
FDA advisers back Covid shots for kids under 5
The 21-member committee advising the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously in favor of clearance for Pfizer’s three-dose vaccine for youngsters ages six months through 4 years.
BUSINESS
Recession call gets louder after Fed rate hike
The Fed hiked its policy rate by 75 basis points Wednesday to a range of 1.5% to 1.75%, as officials intensified their battle against inflation that’s remained stubbornly high.
BUSINESS
Fed hikes 75 basis points; Jerome Powell says 75 or 50 likely in July
Slammed by critics for not anticipating the fastest price gains in four decades and then for being too slow to respond, Powell and colleagues on Wednesday intensified their effort to cool prices by lifting the target range for the federal funds rate to 1.5% to 1.75%.
CRYPTOCURRENCY
Bitcoin veterans keeping their eyes on $19,511
Cryptocurrencies have tumbled this year, with prices of some digital assets falling as much as 90% as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to combat rampant inflation.
BUSINESS
Apple’s $2 Trillion market valuation on shaky ground
Apple Inc.’s run as a $3 trillion stock proved fleeting. Now its grip on a $2 trillion market value is looking wobbly, too.
BUSINESS
Bill Gates blasts crypto, NFTs as based on ‘greater-fool’ theory
“Obviously, expensive digital images of monkeys are going to improve the world immensely,” Gates said sarcastically while speaking at an event in Berkeley, California hosted by TechCrunch. He said he’s neither long nor short the asset class.
BUSINESS
Oracle jumps most in six months as cloud sales show momentum
Investors sent the stock up more than 10% to $70.72 at the close Tuesday in New York, the biggest single-day increase since December. The move came just a day after the shares hit a 16-month low.
BUSINESS
Joe Biden to unveil plan for next pandemic
A senior administration official, speaking under the condition of anonymity as the strategy has not yet been released, said that the government has paid close attention to research that suggests there’s a 50/50 chance of another Covid-like pandemic — or one that is more deadly — over the next 25 years.
BUSINESS
Pre-FOMC volatility at decade high, rush to exit on Wall Street
Particularly among managers who premise strategies on quantitative signals, exposure to stocks and other risky assets has been cut to the bone. Weeks of selling has pushed systemic positioning as measured by Deutsche Bank AG two standard deviations below average levels in data starting in 2010, among other examples.
BUSINESS
Fed mulls ‘game changer’ to jolt inflation: Decision day guide
The Federal Open Market Committee is expected to raise rates 75 basis points by Wall Street firms including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Barclays Plc, who cite rising inflation expectations among Americans in looking for the largest increase in nearly three decades.
BUSINESS
Stagflation fears surge and ‘sentiment is dire’ in BofA survey
Global profit expectations also dropped to 2008 levels, with BofA strategists noting that prior troughs in earnings expectations occurred during other major Wall Street crises, such as the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and the bursting of the dotcom bubble.
WORLD
World’s richest have lost $1.4 trillion in 2022 after rapid gains
It's a stark contrast to last year, when soaring markets boosted the world’s population of high-net-worth individuals by about 8%, including 13% in North America, according to a Capgemini World Wealth report released Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Drawdown fuels panic, S&P 500 could slip further
The S&P 500 has fallen nearly 9% in three days, a bruising stretch that has left virtually nothing unscathed, including energy shares, the year’s best-performing group.
BUSINESS
‘Bear-Market Blues’ test mettle of most devout Bitcoin holders
Bitcoin, down about 20% this week, fell to as low as $21,932 on Tuesday, putting it squarely below the average investor cost base of $23,500, according to UBS. That means prices have declined enough to test even long-term holders, who up until now in the 2022 drawdown were largely in the green with their investments.
