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Trump's fraudulent auditor goes by the name of Ben Borgers in legal documents but also uses the name Dan Borgers in promoting his CPA firm.
SEC shuts down Trump Media auditor over ‘massive fraud’ - https://www.ft.com/content/16947980-2da2-49f3-980c-401c80cb36a9
BF Borgers had accumulated the eighth largest client list of all US audit firms over just eight years, operating out of a small one story building in Denver
With just 10 CPAs on staff, Ben Borgers ran a ‘sham audit mill’ whose work affects more than 1,500 corporate filings, US financial regulator says.
Dan Borgers
http://www.bfbcpa.us/about-us/
The SEC has barred Ben Borger and his CPA firm from the industry, with the Borgers firm agreed to pay a $12mn penalty and Ben Borgers to pay $2mn. The SEC described Borgers as, “one of the largest wholesale failures by gatekeepers in our financial markets”. The move leaves more than 170 publicly traded firms in the US looking for new auditors and likely needing to restate their prior results.
Canada’s audit regulator barred BF Borgers from operating in that country last year after conducting fraudulent audits of retirement funds.
Donald Trump has promised, "to defund the very crooked and dishonest SEC which has been destroying our nation and our way of life."
Reaching for the extremists to win an election.
Closing BLDR.
Increasing MO, VRT, NVDA, SPOT and DUOL.
Have a good weekend everyone!
Replaced them with ACEL and CPNG, as well as a few sold puts.
Miami-based Tech CEO Gets 6 Years in prison and must pay $100 million in restitution for selling Fake Cisco networking equipment
https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/ceo-dozens-companies-sentenced-78-months-prison-massive-scheme-traffic-fraudulent-and
Some of the networking equipment sold by 40-year-old Onur Aksoy 'ended up in US hospitals, schools, and highly sensitive military and other governmental systems,' the DOJ says.
To create the counterfeits, his business associates in China took older, lower-model products, some of which were previously discarded, and modified them to appear new, while loading pirated Cisco software on the hardware.
Another Florida resident, Donald Trump, has reiterated his promise "to defund the very crooked Justice Department."
House cleaning. Closed: VVI, AEYE, ADMA, ANVS, DVA, PBA, RMNI and WFC. Overall gain was about 15%.
Not as many trades as i expected to take place today. Sold a few puts and calls and bought back a few. Mostly bounced in and out of NVDA via sold and bought back puts. Always looking for additional trading systems that can work consistently of course that would mean that they work in Bull and Bear Markets. Today was an up day.
Since 1/3/23 there had been a much lower volume of trading volume in AAPL. It went up a little when it moved up, but than faded again. Less excitement or less concern about it?
Was experimenting with PPO indicated trades in NVDA on a minute by minute chart. It works very well in giving the clear buy and sell signals about 30 seconds ahead of the move, so you have time to make the trades.
I like PFE anywhere in this range for a long term hold. Dividend over 6% and it looks like they've either bottomed or are close.
Just as filing for bankruptcy is Donald Trump's super-power
The one thing Elon Musk has always excelled at is firing people, even people absolutely essential to his business he has to later apologize to and try to hire back.
It’s only been two weeks since Tesla began reducing its workforce by ten percent, a move that impacted at least 14,000 staffers. Now, even more pink slips are coming.
The company let go of two senior executives today and plans to lay off hundreds more employees, as reported by The Information.
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/musk-plans-more-layoffs-as-two-senior-tesla-executives-depart
These layoffs include the entire Supercharger team, including senior director Rebecca Tinucci and 500 staffers. Daniel Ho, head of the new vehicles program, was also laid off, along with his team. Tesla’s public policy team is also being dissolved, which was led by former executive Rohan Patel.
CEO Elon Musk sent out a company-wide email that seemed more like a threat than anything else. "Hopefully these actions are making it clear that we need to be absolutely hard core about headcount and cost reduction," Musk wrote. "While some on exec staff are taking this seriously, most are not yet doing so."
This could be just the beginning. Musk also said that any staffers working under executives who “don’t obviously pass the excellent, necessary and trustworthy test” would also get cut. When all of this is said and done, Tesla’s headcount could be reduced by as much as 20 percent, as recently suggested by Bloomberg. This adds up to more than 20,000 employees.
Just how “hard core” is Musk about reducing costs?
Well, a judge recently rejected his proposal for a pay package that would grant him $55.8 billion of Tesla’s money, which was referred to in court as “an unfathomable sum” that was unfair to shareholders. Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick went on to call it “the largest potential compensation opportunity ever observed in public markets by multiple orders of magnitude.”
By comparison, these lay-offs all sound like kinda soft core cost-cutting to me.
Profit margins have sunk to a six-year low. The company’s most recent earnings report was abysmal, with profits falling by 55 percent. The Cybertruck continues to be something of a dangerous joke. Tesla’s Autopilot software was recently linked to 14 deaths. It has also reportedly given up on its budget-friendly EV in favor of a robotaxi, because why make a car everyone would want to buy instead of something only a few taxi start-up companies will buy? On the plus side, Tesla doesn’t really pay taxes, which is pretty hard core.
And car sharing start-ups have been so successful in China, less than 3,500 miles each, so there's that
We drove a Lexus ES300 4 cylinder hybrid (210hp) yesterday, as well as their ES350 6 cylinder (302hp). The hybrid with 43/44 mpg is impressive. Under $50k
Around town the hybrid acceleration feels comparable to my 5 series BMW, although it lags by 2 seconds on 0-60. But I'd need to access a freeway to experience that, and we only access freeways four times a year or less where we live in urban Los Angeles. To me the Lexus 6 cylinder has too much torque with this "benefit" largely lost by not having slip-differential.
Although the same size interior as a 2004 Lexus ES350, the interior feels "visually smaller" due to higher windows and the location of roof pillars. As with virtually all newer cars, two inches wider on the exterior to accommodate side airbags.
Wifi connected Android Auto or Apple Car Play is a big improvement over car built-in music or navigation.
It is not a point anyone can argue with.
Powell spoke more dovish than hawkish and said that the next policy move will not be a hike. However, now that he finished talking people will start to overthink what could happen later and the market probably will retreat,
It was a good market for nimble traders with several screens to make trades in and out, I was doing my fastest I could.
It will be difficult for another company to have a worse quarterly report.
There's another 10,000+ in warehouses in Europe. According to the WSJ they've got mold and other issues. So far BYD is not doing a great job. Also lots of mechanical issues with cars sold in China.
I think the worst would be for the markets if Powell says there may have to be rate hikes. Then we would tank, but I do not see that at all.
Selling NVDA, DUOL and ALL Put options.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) announced a proposed plan by its subsidiary, LLT Management, for the final resolution of all current and future claims tied to ovarian cancer stemming from cosmetic talc litigation against it and its affiliates in the US. The plan commits the company to pay ovarian claimants a present value of roughly $6.48 billion, to be paid over 25 years. Shares of the company were up 4.2% in midday trading.
Opened a few new positions: RYCEY, PROP, PACB and CEG.
Bought back 8 Covered Calls in CVS at 0.06 cents, were sold at 99 cents. This maybe the only profit for a while in CVS, lol.
Closed XOM after several years, were bought at 45.10.
I am looking forward to my technical indicators showing a nice turn today.
Dennis Falaschi, 77, the gregarious general manager of the Panoche Water District in Firebaugh CA, directed the theft of more than $25 million worth of water out of the federally owned Delta-Mendota Canal, already priced at a level heavily subsidized by taxpayers, over the course of two decades and selling it to farmers and other local water districts. - https://panochewd.specialdistrict.org/
The proceeds stolen from the canal benefited Falaschi, a former baseball coach, his water district and a small group of co-conspirators, much of it funneled into exorbitant salaries and lavish fringe benefits. The $25 million of water was already priced far below market, being heavily subsidized by federal taxpayers.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-04-28/san-joaquin-valley-official-accused-of-epic-california-water-heist
LOS BANOS, Calif. —
Robert Zavala was fresh out of the Marines and looking to escape dead-end work at a poultry plant in the early 1990s when his old baseball coach — now the head of a local water district — swooped to the rescue with a job offer.
Zavala was grateful for the job, which eventually paid more than $150,000 a year and included perks such as free housing and a new truck. Grateful enough, he later testified in state court, that when he learned the public agency he worked for was stealing water from the federal government he kept his mouth shut. For years.
And then one day in 2016, FBI agents showed up at his house.
“They told me they were investigating my boss for water theft, and they wanted to know if I wanted to go to federal prison with him,” Zavala said in his testimony.
We shall see by tomorrow this time.
Please disregard it was SWKS. Not SKYW.
Obviously in SKYW I made a blunder. Earnings were disappointing and were just now.
Just three rate hikes this year?
The market as usually, will overdo any move based on fear or greed. This time it is fear of what will Powell say tomorrow afternoon. I think tomorrow we could see a nice rebound if he is not as hawkish as the market is expecting.
I play the other side of emotion usually and I was betting today that we can see a rebound tomorrow.
Doubling up in COP as its is down over $3, and it is ranked high for me.
China's best, a premier Hongshi H9 the limo always used by Xi Jinping, destroyed in a charging fire - https://www.hongqi-auto.com/
Yes, China is making a record number of chargers.
Selling Puts in: VRT, VLO, NVDA, RCL, OC.
Bought back 30 Calls in MTW and 25 in BMBL.
A field of 10,000 BYD battery-powered autos, all made in 2021, all registered, each with less than 35 miles on them. Yes, China is making a lot of EVs.
The end-result of ponzi-scheme EV-vehicle sharing businesses.
One innovative feature of the new BYD Han is its commemoration of China as the inventor of fireworks.
BYD Han fires are quite frequent. It's become the best known feature of the Han. Yes, China is making quite a lot of batteries.
Watch out for the Bears. If the Bulls cannot breach and stay above 5120, then the Bears will show and may push the SPX down to 4890.
Of course there is good news too, but the Bulls have to go above that barrier and then 5420 maybe in the offing, but not before,
Looks like we need some kind of Mary Tyler Moore
"Who can take a nothing day — And suddenly make it all seem worthwhile ?"
The Real Estate sector has imploded so badly in China that Automobile production is now the largest part of China's economy,
generating a total value of CNY11 trillion (approx. US$1.52 trillion), accounting for nearly 10% of the country's GDP and surpassing real estate, but also
creating a price war which has created economic deflation. https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20240426PD205/china-automobile-ev-market-price-war.html
What is the difference between the stock market and roller coaster this morning? Nothing at all.
But the big drop could come tomorrow if Chairman Powell alludes to no cuts this summer or perhaps none at all..
Opened ERO, copper hit $10,000 a ton.
Opened SKYW great earnings.
The market stopped falling at DJI 166 as I observed and I was selling Puts and buying back calls.
Then The Consumer Confidence Index knocked the market down again so I am looking at my Puts to sell and other calls to buy back.
Waiting for my technical indicators to signal a reversal to this mornings drop nd then I will start selling Puts. In the meantime I should be able to buy back some calls for a net gain.
The market was flat until the ECI report came in higher than expected and now the SPX is at -17 points.
The Employment Cost Index (ECI), the broadest measure of labor costs, increased 1.2% last quarter after rising by an unrevised 0.9% in the fourth quarter, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Tuesday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the ECI would advance 1.0%.
This is long overdue. Many medical tests are hilariously inaccurate, Elizabeth Holmes . Theranos bad, with some test makers like Labcorp actually advising Doctors testing for pathogens or diseases to submit the same sample six different times in order to eliminate the bias built into their tests to avoid false positives. Sadly most existing lab tests will be grandfathered in.
Today trading NVDA was a good lesson to cheerfully take what Ms.Market choses to offer you. She was stingy, but willing to offer the same gain repeatedly.
I would like to be selling VRT puts, but I will not chase it. The same for JPM.
Moving in and out of SPOT and NVDA while taking a 5-10% gain each time. they seem to have an intraday trading range according to my technical indicators,
US STOCKS-Wall Street stocks gain as investors focus on Fed moves
REUTERS 3:10 PM ET 4/29/2024
Symbol Last Price Change
AAPL 173.78up +4.48 (+2.6462%)
META 430.5899up -12.7001 (-2.865%)
NVDA 871.051down -6.299 (-0.718%)
MSFT 400.91up -5.41 (-1.3315%)
PARAA 21.5534up -0.8166 (-3.6504%)
QUOTES AS OF 03:22:53 PM ET 04/29/2024
*
Tesla gains after clearing self-driving hurdles in China
*
Apple (AAPL) rises after report of talks with OpenAI
*
Domino's Pizza beats sales expectations, shares up
*
Indexes up: Dow up 0.30%, S&P up 0.19%, Nasdaq up 0.25%
(Updates to 2:48 PM ET)
By Chibuike Oguh
NEW YORK, April 29 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Monday, with sharp gains for Tesla and Apple(AAPL) leading the way, as investors looked toward what the Federal Reserve would say about the interest rate outlook after its policy meeting this week.
Traders expected the Fed to keep rates unchanged while striking a hawkish tone.
Tesla shares surged 15%, after the electric vehicle maker made progress in securing regulatory approval to launch its advanced driver-assistance program in China, its second-largest market after the U.S.
Apple (AAPL) gained 3.1% following a report that the iPhone maker had renewed discussions with OpenAI about using the startup's generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Bernstein upgraded Apple's(AAPL) stock to "outperform".
Other megacap stocks were trading lower. Alphabet, Meta Platforms(META), Nvidia(NVDA) and Microsoft(MSFT), were down between 0.3% and 3.2%.
Nine out of 11 S&P 500 sectors were higher led by stocks in consumer discretionary, utilities, real estates, materials and industrials.
"The bigger question than rates, because they're not going to cut this week, is how hawkish they're going to speak because they've already been pretty hawkish," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at hedge fund Great Hill Capital in New York.
Money markets are pricing in about 35 basis points (bps) of interest rate cuts this year, down from about 150 bps seen at the beginning of the year, according to LSEG.
At 2:48 p.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 113.70 points, or 0.30%, to 38,353.36, the S&P 500 gained 10.10 points, or 0.19%, to 5,109.84 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 39.69 points, or 0.25%, to 15,967.59.
Domino's Pizza jumped nearly 5% after topping expectations for first-quarter same-store sales. Of the 233 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported quarterly earnings, 78.1% surpassed analyst expectations, compared with a long-term average of 67%, according to LSEG data.
Paramount Global (PARAA) gained 3.5% after a report that the Redstone family and Skydance Media CEO David Ellison have made concessions to make a potential change in control of the streaming firm more appealing for other investors.
"The overall momentum is still to the upside and it's an important week, with a ton of earnings, the Fed on Wednesday and nonfarm payrolls on Friday, and the path of least resistance is higher," said Bill Strazzullo, chief market strategist at Bell Curve Trading in Boston.
Meanwhile, the Japanese yen
jumped
against the dollar on Monday, with traders citing yen-buying intervention by authorities trying to support a currency languishing at levels last seen over three decades ago
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.8-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, 2,640 stocks rose and 1,514 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.74-to-1 ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 18 new 52-week highs and one new low while the Nasdaq recorded 70 new highs and 55 new lows. (Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York; additional reporting by Shristi Achar A and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gregorio)
Spotify Co-founder Daniel Ek Cashes Out More Spotify Stock, Shifts Focus to Tech and Climate Startups
BENZINGA 11:00 AM ET 4/29/2024
Symbol Last Price Change
SPOT 286.51down -3.08 (-1.0636%)
SOCL 41.24up +0.09 (+0.2187%)
OND 27.38up +0.0835 (+0.3059%)
QUOTES AS OF 11:22:47 AM ET 04/29/2024
Daniel Ek, the co-founder of Spotify Technology SA(SPOT) , has recently sold 650,000 company shares through two transactions, marking a significant increase in stock sales compared to previous years.
The series of sales, valued at about $179 million, represents Ek’s strategic financial planning despite still holding a 7% stake in Spotify(SPOT), a significant component of his $4.4 billion net worth.
Spotify’s stock has risen significantly, increasing by 267% since late 2022, according to Bloomberg report.
Ek’s move aligns with broader trends of tech billionaires like Michael Dell and Jeff Bezos reducing their stakes after substantial share price increases.
Outside his role at Spotify(SPOT), Ek also diversifies his investments into fields like artificial intelligence, life sciences, and climate technology. He aims to invest around $1 billion in European startups.
In April, Spotify(SPOT) reported fiscal first-quarter 2024 revenue of $3.95 billion, up 20% year-on-year, above the consensus of $3.85 billion. EPS of $1.05 beat the consensus of $0.70.
Analysts projected accelerated revenue growth in 2024, supported by balanced growth across Premium Subscribers as it benefits from the shift from transaction-based to access-based streaming models.
Analysts expressed confidence in Spotify’s ability to ramp up revenue growth and significantly improve profitability, maintaining long-term solid pricing power.
Investors can gain exposure to Spotify(SPOT) via Global X Social Media ETF(SOCL) and ProShares On-Demand ETF(OND) .
SPOT price action: Spotify (SPOT) shares traded lower by 1.70% at $284.68 at the last check Monday.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Sold Puts on SPOT and NVDA. Opened MHO, YOU and ALL.
Mostly I look for those stocks that reported recently with a very large positive surprise and a boosted earnings forecast for the year.
Maybe he is our secret weapon? Lol.
Of the below stocks I own COOP.
This Analyst With 86% Accuracy Rate Sees Around 13% Upside In Chipotle Mexican Grill - Here Are 5 Stock Picks For Last Week From Wall Street's Most Accurate Analysts
BENZINGA 7:59 AM ET 4/29/2024
Symbol Last Price Change
COOP 78.73down 0 (0%)
SNAP 14.55up 0 (0%)
INTC 31.88up 0 (0%)
CMG 3186.97down 0 (0%)
QUOTES AS OF 04:00:00 PM ET 04/26/2024
U.S. stocks settled higher on Friday, with the S&P 500 recording its best week since Nov, 2023. The index surged 2.7%, snapping a three-week losing streak, while the Dow added 0.7% last week.
Wall Street analysts make new stock picks on a daily basis. Unfortunately for investors, not all analysts have particularly impressive track records at predicting market movements. Even when it comes to one single stock, analyst ratings and price targets can vary widely, leaving investors confused about which analyst’s opinion to trust.
Benzinga’s Analyst Ratings API is a collection of the highest-quality stock ratings curated by the Benzinga news desk via direct partnerships with major sell-side banks. Benzinga displays overnight ratings changes on a daily basis three hours prior to the U.S. equity market opening. Data specialists at investment dashboard provider Toggle.ai recently uncovered that the analyst insights Benzinga Pro subscribers and Benzinga readers regularly receive can successfully be used as trading indicators to outperform the stock market.
Top Analyst Picks: Fortunately, any Benzinga reader can access the latest analyst ratings on the Analyst Stock Ratings page. One of the ways traders can sort through Benzinga’s extensive database of analyst ratings is by analyst accuracy. Here’s a look at the most recent stock picks from each of the five most accurate Wall Street analysts, according to Benzinga Analyst Stock Ratings.
Analyst: Jay McCanless
Analyst Firm: Wedbush
Ratings Accuracy: 87%
Latest Rating: Maintained an Outperform rating on Mr. Cooper Group Inc.(COOP) and increased the price target from $85 to $100 on April 25. This analyst sees around 27% upside in the stock.
Recent News: On April 24, Mr. Cooper(COOP) reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results.
Analyst: Mark Kelley
Analyst Firm: Stifel
Ratings Accuracy: 87%
Latest Rating: Maintained a Hold rating on Snap Inc.(SNAP) with a Buy rating and increased the price target from $12 to $13 on April 26. This analyst sees around 10% downside in the stock.
Recent News: On April 25, Snap reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and issued second-quarter revenue guidance above estimates.
Analyst: William Stein
Analyst Firm: Truist Securities
Ratings Accuracy: 86%
Latest Rating: Maintained a Hold rating on Intel Corporation(INTC) and cut the price target from $45 to $33 on April 26. This analyst sees over 4% upside in the stock.
Recent News: On April 25, Intel(INTC) reported worse-than-expected first-quarter sales results and issued EPS guidance below estimates.
Analyst: Zachary Fadem
Analyst Firm: Wells Fargo
Ratings Accuracy: 86%
Latest Rating: Maintained an Overweight rating on O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. and cut the price target from $1,300 to $1,200 on April 25. This analyst sees about 15% gain in the stock.
Recent News: On April 24, O’Reilly Automotive posted upbeat quarterly earnings.
Analyst: Lauren Silberman
Analyst Firm: Deutsche Bank
Ratings Accuracy: 86%
Latest Rating: Maintained a Buy rating on Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.(CMG) and increased the price target from $3,400 to $3,600 on April 25. This analyst sees around 13% upside in the stock.
Recent News: On April 24, Chipotle Mexican Grill(CMG) reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results.
: Top 4 Materials Stocks That May Explode In Q2
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