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By Swissquote Analysts
Morning News

Google Invests $1 Billion in Exchange Giant CME, Strikes Cloud Deal

Alphabet Inc.’s Google has invested $1 billion in futures-exchange giant CME Group Inc. and struck a deal to move the company’s core trading systems to the cloud. The companies said Thursday that their 10-year partnership would allow CME to bring on new users faster, streamline operations and develop new tools with Google technology, such as artificial-intelligence software for monitoring market risks. The CME deal gives Google Cloud a prize client in the sector. With a market capitalization of $79.2 billion, CME is the world’s most valuable exchange operator, a title it recently reclaimed from Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

Fed Dials Back Bond Purchases, Plots End to Stimulus by June

The Federal Reserve approved plans to begin scaling back its bond-buying stimulus program this month and end it by June, a major step toward withdrawing its aggressive, pandemic-driven economic support amid a recent inflation surge. The Fed cut its short-term benchmark rate to near zero when the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. economy in March 2020. It held rates at that level on Wednesday. It also has been buying at least $120 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage securities - initially to stabilize financial markets and later to hold down longer-term interest rates. The Fed’s holdings of those securities have more than doubled since March 2020 to around $8 trillion. The Fed will reduce its bond purchases by $15 billion a month in November and by a further $15 billion in December, the central bank said Wednesday. Fed officials are reluctant to lift rates until after they have ended the bond purchases.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

Avis Stock Surges On Strong Results, Brightening Rental-Car Outlook

Avis Budget Group shares gained 108.3% driven in part by third quarter results that beat analysts’ expectations and included a record adjusted pretax profit of $1 billion. Earlier in the day, shares traded as high as $545 a share, putting pressure on short sellers. Meanwhile, Tesla shares slipped $36.59, or 3%, to $1,172 after Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Twitter that the electric car maker hasn’t yet signed a deal for Hertz to buy its vehicles. Tesla’s shares surged last week after Hertz said it had ordered 100,000 cars. Avis also said it was executing on plans to add more electric vehicles to its global rental fleet and will announce those plans when they are ready. Avis has said it plans to reduce the company’s greenhouse-gas emissions by 30% over the next decade.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

Rivian Automotive Targets IPO Valuation Just Above $60 Billion

Rivian Automotive Inc. is seeking a valuation in the low-$60s-billion range in its initial public offering next week, one of the biggest and most-anticipated deals yet in a blockbuster year for new issues. The Amazon.com Inc.-backed electric-vehicle startup plans to sell shares between $57 and $62 apiece, the company said in an updated regulatory filing on Monday. At the high end of the range, that would give Rivian a valuation of over $60 billion on a fully diluted basis, as The Wall Street Journal first reported Monday.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

Coke to Pay $5.6 Billion for Full Control of BodyArmor

Coca-Cola Co. is buying full control of BodyArmor for $5.6 billion in a deal that values the sports drink brand at about $8 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, amping up a rivalry with Gatorade. Coke, which already owns 30% of BodyArmor, is buying the remaining 70% from the company’s founders and investors, as well as a group of professional athletes including the NBA’s James Harden and MLB’s Mike Trout who invested and helped market the drink. Gatorade still dominates the sports drink market, though BodyArmor sales have been climbing quickly.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

Facebook Changes Company Name to Meta in Focus on Metaverse

Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said the company changed its name to Meta to reflect growth opportunities beyond its namesake social-media platform in online digital realms known as the metaverse. “Over time I hope our company will be seen as a metaverse company,” Mr. Zuckerberg said. He unveiled the name, formally Meta Platforms Inc., for the company that also includes Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other products during Facebook’s annual developer event, where he detailed his vision for the metaverse that he sees as key to the tech giant attracting younger users.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

Boeing Reports Loss, Hit By Dreamliner and Starliner Setbacks

Boeing Co. on Wednesday reported a quarterly loss as 787 Dreamliner production problems and its latest space-launch setback offset a recovery in demand for new aircraft. The company said it had a net loss of $132 million, compared with the $466 million deficit a year earlier, on sales up 8% at $15.3 billion. The per-share loss of 19 cents was a penny better than the consensus among analysts polled by FactSet. Boeing's recovery from the prolonged 737 MAX crisis after two crashes of that jet has been hampered by manufacturing problems that have frozen most 787 deliveries for much of the last year.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

Microsoft Earnings Jump as Cloud Services Thrive

Microsoft Corp. continued to benefit from the global shift toward remote work as its cloud business boosted its revenue last quarter. On Tuesday it reported revenue of $45.3 billion for the three months through Sept. 30, up 22% from the year-earlier period. Net income rose 48% to $20.5 billion. The results exceeded analyst expectations of $44 billion in sales and $15.7 billion in profit, according to analysts surveyed by FactSet. The Redmond, Wash., software company said it expected to bring in between $50.15 billion and $51.05 billion in revenue in the current quarter. The company’s shares, which have climbed more than 45% over the last 12 months, climbed around 1.5% in after-hours trading following the quarterly report.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

Facebook Posts Slower Sales Growth with Apple Privacy Policy

Facebook Inc. blamed Apple Inc.’s privacy rules for posting slower sales growth and warned of further uncertainty for the social-media giant’s crucial advertising business. Facebook’s ad sales, its primary revenue source, saw slower growth in the first full quarter since Apple in April started requiring apps to ask users whether they want to be tracked. That change has made it harder for advertisers to target their ads at audiences and get information regarding how well their ads performed.

By
Nadine PEREIRA
Morning News

American Express Posts Earnings and Revenue Beats

American Express earned $2.27 a share in the third quarter on revenue of $10.9 billion, beating analysts’ estimates on both metrics, as cardholding spending jumped. Net income in the period was $1.83 billion vs. $1.07 billion a year earlier. The credit card giant was expected by analysts to report third-quarter earnings of $1.80 a share on revenue of $10.52 billion. Provisions for credit losses were a net of $191 million, compared with a provision expense of $665 million a year earlier. Cardholder spending jumped to a record high and was up 19% from the third quarter of 2019. Spending by Millennial and Gen-Z cardholders rose 38% from the third quarter of 2019.

By
Nadine PEREIRA