Benzinga - Good Morning Everyone!
The crypto community could not have asked for a better way to start the new year.
Prices as of 4 pm EST, 1/4/22; % YTD
MARKET UPDATE Is Bad Good?
- Example: Salesforce (NYSE: CRM)
- Grew headcount by 25,000 in the past 2 years
- This does not include headcount added via acquisitions
- Now they are laying off 10% or 8,000 employees to protect their operating margins
- Layoffs are not a good sign for future growth, which the Fed likes (slower growth = lower inflation)
- Expect more companies (like Google (NASDAQ: NASDAQ:GOOGL)) that added during the pandemic to cut now as growth slows
8:30 a.m. jobless claims
- 204,000 in December 31
- Fell 19,000 last week
- Private payrolls increased 235,000 last month, more jobs added than forecast
- Job gains were concentrated in businesses with less than 500 employees
Yesterday: Federal Reserve December meeting minutes
- Fed determined to stamp out inflation
- Warning investors not to underestimate the Central Bank’s determination to hold rates higher to bring down inflation
- Next meeting in February: a hike of 25 or 50 basis points expected
Fed officials speaking today:
- 7:30 a.m. Patrick Harker
- 9:20 a.m. Raphael Bostic
- 1:20 p.m. James Bullard
Crude 73
- Bounce higher today after falling 9% in the past 2 days
- API inventories were weaker than consensus
- China continues to be the biggest driver of oil prices
Auto
- December 2022 SAAR weak at 13.6 million as incentives remain at historic lows
- 2022 sales at 13.9 million
- Incentives down 26.7% year-over-year
T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS)
- Released preliminary Q4 subscriber results
- 927,000 postpaid phone net adds > street
Amazon (NASDAQ: NASDAQ:AMZN)
- Laying off more than 18,000 employees (5% of workforce)
- This includes reductions made in November
- November: 10,000 corporate jobs
- Now: an additional 8,000
- This is the biggest reduction in their history
- Majority of the cuts are in retail not Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Dell (NYSE: DELL)
- Aims to substantially reduce the number of “Made in China” components over the coming years
Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY)
- Company said there is substantial doubt it can continue as a going concern
- Sales down 33% y-o-y ending November 28
- Vendors cutting them off so reduced inventory available
- They have 967 stores
Earnings
- Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ)
- Walgreens (NASDAQ: WBA)
- Conagra (NYSE: CAG)
CRYPTO UPDATE
Coinbase (NASDAQ: NASDAQ:COIN) $100 million settlement-
Settles with NY regulator over compliance
- $50 million towards compliance practices + $50 million in settlement
-
Violated anti-money laundering laws (2018 and 2019)
- Didn’t perform complete background checks on customers opening accounts
-
One of crypto's largest settlements ever
- Biggest since BlockFi (also $100 million) in February 2021
Animoca Brands slashes fund target
- Previously seeking $1 billion for metaverse investments (before that, $2 billion)
- Now trying to raise $500 million
- Animoca owns stake in +380 crypto firms
- Plenty of cash
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